Rich has a few details on the “Windows 7 Touch Pack” which consists of 6 multi-touch apps (3 games and 3 surface apps) that will be available with Windows 7.

I’m sure this blackboard thing is cool, but if you’re interested in making your own then Dr Dave can tell you how in parts 1, 2, and 3.

The bank holiday gave me a chance to get into the garden and continue to sort it Which I Am Determined To Do This Year. So far, I haven’t achieved much: I’ve painted the shed and most of the fence and have planned where to put some new beds and a new path. I’ve also started to grow my first ever batch of tomatoes. My grandad was actually very good at this sort of thing. I’m not sure he’d be so impressed with me as I slung a grobag and a bottle of Tomorite in the back of the car…

Anyway, rain stopped play in the garden, so I turned my attention to MarcZone and began to move a bunch of old equipment (PS2, GameCube, Old PCs, Endless Cables…) into the attic and garage along with about 4 ton of old computer books (SQL Server 7.0! VBScript! .NET Framework 1.0! etc.). Amazing collection of stuff that I’ll never need, but defines my path as a developer and so I don’t have the heart to throw them away. (I regretted throwing away the last batch.)

With that done, it meant that the little voice in my head that tells me I have a real life was appeased (LadyH mainly…), and it was on with the “Install Windows 7 RC!” parade.

It’s been a positive experience again. 3 machines are done with just my Netbook (MSI Wind) remaining (just because I couldn’t be bothered sorting out a USB key for the job- so lazy I know):

• Work: Lenovo T61p (x64). No trouble at all and I was back and running in less than two hours (with quite a bit of software installed).
• Home: Custom (AMD/ATI) (x64). Bit of bother this time around as the on board ATI X1300 is not being recognised, but the main card (X1800) is, so I’ve swapped a couple of settings and now running with two monitors rather than 3 (until I find a fix). (Then I started thinking “Hmm, I quite fancy a new monitor or two..”)
• MediaCenter: Custom (Intel/NVidia) (x64). Great experience. This one was troublesome last time as the NIC wasn’t recognised, but all of that has gone away in RC. Also, the MediaCenter configuration was faster and ‘worked first time’.

@Jamesoneill points out on his blog that the Easy Transfer Wizard is rather handy. Too true! I normally try to keep regular back-ups of code, and these days all of my documents are in Groove or Mesh so I tend not to lose stuff, but this time I had a load of AVCHD files and thought “Let’s give it a whirl”. Again, great experience and saved all of the annoying settings for me: email sigs, Notebook locations and all that.

The following links might help you:

• Download the Windows 7 RC
• A video explaining some of the differences between Beta and RC
• 50 top tips on Windows 7

I’ve not been able to confirm with sources, but apparently this isn’t true.

The Win 7 engineering blog contains some details on tweaks that are being made in preparation for RC. Rich does a good job of summarising these.

As I reflected on the smooth upgrade and performance I’ve had from the Win 7 Beta and how much I am actually looking forward to repeating the process with all my machines and the RC, it’s also good to know that installing Linux is a lot easier than it used to be.

Fresh up on the YouTube Channel is this awesome piece of work from the guys in the Microsoft Technology Centre. I’ve talked about the value the MTC for a business before . This particular work was by Dave and Andy who are some of the smartest guys I know. I know they’re really smart because even Mike Taulty said “Yeah, really cool” when he saw this stuff (or words to that effect).

When I saw this the first time, I thought “Hmm, looks like a smart integration with the Farseer Physics Engine” but in fact Dave said: “No, I wrote my own…”. FTW!

The physics engine makes all sorts of stuff possible – check out the business card action later in the video.

Awesome stuff.

No sooner had I blogged about not being able to get the guide working on my Win7 MCE than Andy - friend and MTC guru –  pointed me at the required fix. (I probably should have noticed it!)

There’s two versions: x86 and x64 of course.

Installed. Rebooted. Guide being received fine in-band.

Of course it’s only when it starts working that you realise there’s nothing on the idiot lamp worth watching in the first place. Ah well, Masterchef tonight.

If you’re not a TechNet or MSDN subscriber then time is running out (10th Feb!) to get your hands on the Windows 7 bits. If you’ve been procrastinating, now is the time!

My personal reflections are that it’s a very positive experience. I’ve only been at MSFT a few years so the only other OS launch I’ve experienced is Vista. The main issues around “dogfooding” that OS were related to lack of driver availability (surprise!) and the main effects I felt were issues with graphics drivers which was a bit of an issue as I was concentrating on WPF development…

Anyhoo, none of that has been any issue this time around. I’m running 3 Win 7 x64 (Lenovo T61p laptop, Custom-build “home” PC (AMD, ATI), Custom-build “media center” PC (Intel, NVidia, Hauppage)) and 1 x86 (MSI Netbook) installations. The laptop was a managed install from work, but the others were from the regular beta download.

The only minor fuss has been the Media Center: initial install didn’t find the NIC so I put a USB Netgear stick on it. NIC was identified fine via Windows Update. Final remaining issue has been not being able to get guide information into Media Center. (I think there’s an issue, but I’m something of a Media Center n00b so it might just be me.)

Other than that, all graphics cards, card readers, and assorted USB peripherals have been fine with the exception of an ancient Logitech web cam that I don’t use but just happened to be plugged into the back of the Home PC and I’d forgotten about it. Microsoft LifeCam (the one I actually use) has been fine and in fairness I didn’t try to solve the Logitech issue.

Do I like it? Yup. Do I love it? Yup. Fast with the “right kind” of innovation around UX (and explorer, and media) to keep me happy. I’d recommend an install over reading any kind of review (good or bad). It’s all about whether it works for you.

… this bumper list of tips, tricks and secrets pops up from Tims. Cool, and just makes me more excited to sort out MarcZone.