For arguably the best gaming platform spanning over a decade now, games management was never an easy or pretty task. I’ve seen desktops filled with icons, or start-menu lists that would span at least 3 columns of little microscopic icons and text. Folders and icons were not the most attractive solutions to organize your game collection.

The Games Explorer in Vista changed all that. It is a dedicated virtual folder where your entire games collection is universally accessible, populated with all the meta-data and artwork you’d expect to see from games just as rich with visuals. It reminds me of browsing a vivid collection of DVD covers which shows off its best visual characteristics to get you into the experience.

And what better ways to get a feel for what that might be like than to take a peek at this eye-opening collection of games by “marinexx” on the Neowin forums who shared his impressive library and a tip on how to manually add the box-arts for games which Windows does not support.

That’s more games than I have ever played in my life. Of course, I have faith in the legality of his collection. 😉

I was going to write about this on June 30, because that would have marked the half-year anniversary of Windows Vista, but since Josh Phillips has already started the conversation, I thought I should keep it rolling. It’s funny to read about this now, because I had already lost hope in February. In a post titled “Is Windows Vista Ultimate Extras a sham?“, I voiced some of my concerns about Ultimate Extras and why I thought it was going to disappoint. A lot of people didn’t agree with me, suggesting we needed more time to allow ‘progress’ to happen. Well, I think now is a better time than any.

A lot of people no longer remember the elusive dream that was Windows Ultimate Extras, so let’s refresh our memories. Straight from the horse’s mouth, this was the promise.

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Mary Jo Foley, whom I respect very much, has unintentionally started World War III. The Apple enthusiasts are on a full force assault against Mary Jo and other Microsoft enthusiasts, armed with some of the most childlike, indecent, or down right foul insults I could possible imagine. And for what? What is it going to achieve? Why are we so hostile? And why are we divided in the first place? Questions I think some people need to ask themselves, and without criticizing anyone else first, I need to ask myself.

So the back-story is that Apple demonstrated a lot of “sort of new” features in Mac OS X “Leopard” which some people were not all that impressed with, but with the overall census that it’s a great operating system. Sparks began to fly when people started comparing it with Windows Vista, not just because it was natural to compare similar products, but since Apple has mocked so much of it in the past, it’s probably fair to reverse the equation. For the sake of neutrality, I’m not going to say any operating system is better than the other. They’re just different.

Apple OS X Leopard (top).
Windows Longhorn demo (left). Windows Vista (right).

One of the big arguments was the “new desktop” feature in Leopard, demoed as feature number one by Steve Jobs, is very much like the Vista desktop. In essence, the desktop of Leopard has been updated with a translucent menu bar, a new dock and more focus on the wallpaper. Let’s not judge if these are for better or worse, but why. The answer is, “I don’t know”. Strange, but true. I don’t have any contacts with Apple and certainly not with the Apple Design Team. In fact, it would be true to say that 99% of the people ‘arguing’ don’t know either. They speculate, but that’s not the same as knowing the exact process behind the decision. (Which given Apple’s tendency to keep things very tight, most likely won’t surface for the next millennium.)

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The “Certified for Windows Vista” brand had a big push from Microsoft’s WinHEC 2007 conference last month. One of the better, if not the best highlight of the entire show were these viral “gym videos”. Two of them were shown during intermissions in the keynote. The other 3, has just been published on the official website, productofchampions.com. Here they are.

Let’s Get Certified. (The ending is priceless.)

110% Times 2.

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A few days ago I wrote about how Microsoft’s Surface computer was ambiguously but impressively showcased in the science-fiction movie, “The Island” of 2005. Today, someone was generous enough to watch the movie again, cut out the segment with the Surface and share it with me. So here it is.

What’s interesting now that my memory has been refreshed is that the desk is not like the Surface at all. It isn’t a solid object. It has only has a surface (no pun intended) and 4 legs, unlike the square box the Microsoft device is. I assume those are digital enhancements to provide a better looking concept instead of a big clunky box, but it is technologically far more superior than what we have today. So in terms of form, the Surface still has a lot of work to do.

Also, you’d notice to control applications on the desk, a diamond glass object is used instead of the hand. This is an interesting insight into what might be the ‘mouse’ for the Surface. The hand alone may not be sufficient to control all aspects of such a complex interface like this, so one ‘control’ object could be used to signify ‘system controls’ instead of just manipulating objects with fingers.

In retrospect, it is fascinating to observe predictions about the future made in 2005 can be realized just 2 years later – 12 years ahead of the 2019 timeline of the movie.

“PC” from the “Get a Mac” commercials took center stage yesterday when he announced he was Steve Jobs. And declaring the end of Apple.

A cheap shot at Fake Steve Jobs? Maybe. But for everyone who had mixed feelings about Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2007 keynote, I think most can agree this was an awesome parody. The ball’s in your court Microsoft.