Vista is being treated as the AOL discs that were sent out by mail to your house every week right now. Who wants it? =T

Gigabyte - You previously introduced a great extension of an old concept to the market in the form of the i-Ram drive, using RAM on a card which was then presented to the mother board as a normal hard drive. This products development appears to have ceased in a time when memory prices are falling dramatically; are there any plans in the future to bring out another edition of this card with extra large capacity support, say 64 Gig?

Will the new Atoms be viable for smartphones and cheap desktops? the current chipsets are holding it back and Intel is trying to block nvidia's Atom chipset.

Will Wee ever see good Wii games that use motion control well?

Could someone enquire at CES (im sure you have a bunch people running around) as to when the Keyboard slated for last year is ever going to make an appearance for the PSP, or if they will ever let logitech or logic3 press on with their creation that was in the works.

Laptops have been around for years now, and are as powerful as desktops, yet there is still no "standard footprint" for motherboards and components the way desktops have. Is there any movement in the industry amongst Intel/AMD/etc. to create laptops that are upgradeable? That is to say, I want to buy my laptop, and then able to upgrade the motherboard, or sound card, or video chip, the same way I would in a desktop.

Apple - will Apple ever consider releasing the Apple OS for non-Apple hardware. I feel that they would make a huge dent in the PC market with such a push. I personally don't like the Apple hardware but would be happy to purchase and use the software. I believe there are others who have the same opinion.

When will Research In Motion start marketing their devices to ALL carriers instead of exclusives to others. This becomes a administration nightmare.

Microsoft - Allow Vista Ultimate Owners free upgrade to W7, or for nearly free :D (that would be the best Ultimate Extra)

Chipset/OS makers: integrate 8gb onto mobo and os makers create custom install for "flash" based os.

Intel: pitch your atom chip to harddrive makers so that every new hd will have it's own brain, virus scans, formats, and defrags will no longer use any system resources

When do you expect to see solid state disks as a viable option for your consumer based notebooks (not netbooks) and what kind of effect would that have on battery life?

(audience: Sony Vaio, HP and Dell)

Yes, I am aware of the SSD's for netbooks, but I am referring to more of the release of drives that have the same capacity that is on the market today. This is in reference to the latest breakthroughs in SSD technology in larger volumes and it's actual affect on battery life. Knowing that one of the largest factors of a laptops battery life is dependable on the speed at which the disk drive spins. No moving parts - much lower power consumption on large SSD drives?

Microsoft: Will there be 6 - 7 versions of Windows 7, or 2 (two), like you did with Windows XP?

Will you continue to charge an amount equivalent to the cost of the hardware required to run the OS, for the OS?

Will you still be insisting on inserting DRM into the OS - even though it was a major point for people NOT to utilize Windows Vista?

Microsoft: Will there be 6 - 7 versions of Windows 7, or 2 (two), like you did with Windows XP?

Have they *ever* done this?

Will you continue to charge an amount equivalent to the cost of the hardware required to run the OS, for the OS?

Cheapest reasonable cost of a desktop to run Windows Vista Home Basic:$400.

Cost of Windows Home Basic: $85.00

Will you still be insisting on inserting DRM into the OS - even though it was a major point for people NOT to utilize Windows Vista?

Vista contains nothing but *support* for DRM that is not running unless you are playing back media that requires it (which you would not be able to do without installing 3rd party support if that were not the case)

Yeah, you're not a troll... [rollseyes]

1. When will Apple adopt the Open Source Movement for the Ipod allowing developers to create a viable alternative to ITunes?

2. When will we have a PC that will have absolutely no moving parts?

1. Are there any plans to adopt OLED sceens with (more) netbooks/notebooks in 2009/10
(audience: SONY vaio P)

2. Are there any plans in 2009/2010 to adopt faster charging and or more lasting batteries for notebooks?
(audience: Toshiba)

!) There have been many reviews of the WIndows 7 Betas, and the similarities to Vista. The initial specs for Windows 7 included a new file system as well as a complete rebuild of the core of the OS with built in emulation that would be implemented transparently in the background as each application was apparently going to run in a virtual box of sorts. Has this paradigm for computing been put away with windows 7 just being a modified vista with no REAL new technologies touted in the initial pre release blurbs of this new wonder OS of the future?

2) About a year ago a storage prototype using a semitransparent gel matrix which allowed through the focusing of low intensity lasers focused with mirror giving 3D addressing within the matrix allowing multi-terabyte storage within this type of medium. The expected developments were to be available to commercial television studios late 2009 to 2010. Is this future technology still going to make it to the surface of the tech revolution or will it become yet another hot air wonder?

3) The military has been using for a few years now and advanced polymer flexible LCD display in war zone that allowed communication with satellite and other communication protocols to help with planning of strategic military operations. When will this technology make it into mainstream society, and are their any available products yet using this technology?

1. With ability to surf the web anywhere when there is cell phone connection, are there going to be a internet only cell phones available in the future. it enables the user to call via VOIP or IM while on the go?
2. with current economy, how will the employee using Windows 7 be more efficient than that using Windows XP?
3. what do you think will be the next technology that will revolutionize the way we conduct business?

When will 64 bit operating systems actually have the support needed to actually become a viable alternative to 32 bit? Why is the industry fighting so hard to step and stay backward?

They have had the support for some time. 64-bit drivers are required for 32-bit signed WHQL certification since Vista's introduction.

If a driver manufacturer isn't providing 64-bit support, don't buy products from them ever again.

I have been using 64 bit operating systems for the last 4 years. I currently run 64 bit vista ultimate with dual monitor, HD tv tuner, a hp laserjet 5msi laser, epson r290 inkjet printer, canon CP740 dye sub printer, hp multifunction-5610, on a an AMD quad-core, 8gb ram, 85oogt video, 2x 1TB drives and DVD burner. My rig plays games,records television, edits video and converts to various formats etc, without a strain on top of the normal internet and office suite usage and a range of virtualization technologies. So I ask, I can run all this on a 64-bit OS, without issues with software and hardware, why does everyone have issues about when 64-bit computing is going to be viable. Its here and now doing it all, would be nice if there was more 64bit software, but it does the job very well.

Holding back 64 bit development?

Name a handful of apps the individual requires that require 2^64 memory!

Sudddenly the compelling reason shrinks considerably, doesn't it?

THERE is your reason for lack of a compelling reason!

To be fair, there wasn't much of a compelling reason to go from 16 to 32-bit either when it first started being used in the mainstream.

There is one major ability missing from Microsoft Media Center Extenders (including the XBox 360). We are unable to view our DVD library unless we are using a TV directly connected to the actual Windows Media Center.
My question is how long will it be before Microsoft adds this ability to the MCE Extenders? It is the one feature missing to make the Microsoft MCE and Media extenders the preeminent solution for all the Home Users Entertainment needs.

I don't think this has anything to do with Microsoft, but the technology is simply not allowed with DVDs.

Its called HDCP

That doesn't make any sense. we can see the digital library of dvd's when the tv is connected. this is just via another tv connected by an extender. i'm not talking about doing it outside of my lan.
sigh

1)Now that windows 7 is nearly ready to go how much longer will microsoft be updating and servicing windows vista ? or is it going to be backbenched like windows xp and 98 before it.
2)Is windows vista really a prize or a booby prize :( 1st prize is windows vista and 2nd prize is 2 windows vista :P
To be 1st on the list for windows 7 would be a worthy prize if what im hearing about is will come to term

1) As a Canadian, I have seen a lot of great offering from Microsoft to our neighbours in the south. I was wondering if such services (Zune Marketplace, Netflix for the Xbox, etc) will be available to Canadians and other parts of the world in the (near) future?

2)With a lot of focus on the environment, what is the current status of EV (electric vehicles) and how is development for battery technology progressing with them? Can we expect to see some commercially available in North America soon?

3) Plasma and LCD TVs have very large electrical footprints (my 50 inch plasma TV sucks about 600 watts). Is there any initiatives or technologies emerging that will help such devices reduce their consumption of electricity?

I work in family counseling, and have parents complain about the intrusiveness of the computer games into the life of their children. My question; why not have a few questions, that have to be answered, on the relationship between the gamer and the game, prior to starting the game that will give a warning on possible addictive nature of the gamer? The response will either terminate at a set time or not be able to be opened. Parents could answer these questions and thereby protect the amount of time spent on the game by their child

Because the game isn't a parental unit?

Because parents can utilize existing tools to limit their children's time spent on the computer?

..and the most important:

Because it's the parent's job to watch their kids, not the game developers?

:-O

What????? You aren't proposing that parents actually assume the responsibility of acting as parents. are you?

What is scary, and perhaps worth asking more than anything related to IT is whan will counselers advice parents to become responsible parents instead of simply assuming the now automatic victim's fetal position as they wait for others to assume the role of acting like a functional parent.

Heaven forbid they should actually be aware of what their kids do and set real limits and boundaries with actual ramifications! :-O

Oh my!

Apple: You sell many color iPods, but why aren't your other products available in different colors?

It is well known that Seagate had problems with the firmware on their 1.5TB drives. There is still very little information about this issue on the Seagate web site. Why won't Seagate admit their problem on their web site?

Why aren't there any multi-function ExpressCards, like 1Gbit-Ethernet + eSATA, or eSATA + USB2.0 + Encrypted Flash Drive, eSATA + Sound Card + Flash Drive, or ....

After USB 3.0 is released, I expect to see ExpressCards to support USB 3.0, but please add some additional multi-function capabilities!

Can we expect hard drive manufacturers to release any larger drives with the Parallel IDE / ATA interface?

There is STILL a very large market for drive upgrades.

The largest 2.5" parallel drive is 250GB, yet the largest 2.5" SATA drive is 500GB.

The largest 3.5" Parallel drive is 750GB, yet the largest 3.5" SATA drive is 1.5TB.

A simple guess is that the more recent machine interfaces have converted to SATA!

Buy a SATA I/O card to tide you over until you're ready to upgrade the system?

They work decently enough. You won't get full speed or be able to boot off of them easily, but you can always use a smaller IDE for that.

1) What's the next evolution for game consoles? Will the next generation of game consoles be merely improvements over the current one or is there something more?
2) With note book computers becoming more popular every day, will there be better choices of docking stations to support them? For a lot of people, a real keyboard and a big monitor are essential.
3) Will blue ray discs ever be popularized as the next writable media as DVD+-R? Seems like cheap, portable hard drives are more mainstream now.

Its time for the market and the press to pressure laptop manufacturers to offer socketed upgradeable GPUs for portable units - recognizing the fruitfly lifecycle of GPUs relative to the glacial lifecycle speeds of CPUs and that folks are not going to upgrade their entire unit simply to get a new video card.

Employ Expresscard for all netbooks/laptops allowing for expanded IO capabilities (including 3G/4G connectivity) as needed.

Employ Lucid's Hydra GPU load balancing chip allowing transparent load balancing between various configurations of integrated and (multiple) slotted GPUs.

Screw proprietary and dedicated eBook readers that cost as much (or more!) as a NetBook! Develope an open format for the use of files on all electronic devices ranging from phones to computers.

You're not very good at asking questions, are you.

ts time for the market and the press to pressure laptop manufacturers to offer socketed upgradeable GPUs for portable units

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5602

http://www.magma.com/pro.../expressbox1/index.html

External PCI Express adapter for laptops. Finally; Decent, multiple monitor, multiple GPU support using the same hardware available for Desktops.

We'll go slow for you Paul. You can turn any of them into a question by prefacing any of the concepts by "When are you" or Why don't you" or "When will you"....

Don't worry, I trust you will get that next year in school, along with the ability to wear long pants... Should be an exciting time! ;-))

Thanks - I hadn't see that particular expansion module.

But my hope is for the advent of integrated socketed video card(s), as are now available in a few high end (gaming) laptops- and ones that don't require a separate monitor - but support for multiple monitors would also be nice!

Microsoft: Will you be using virtual pc or something similar to run older programs in a compatibility mode rather then running it directly through the OS? If so, when?

Also, Will the Zune ever get support from car manufacturers to be able to integrate it into the car as seamless as the Ipod currently does and when will the software be integrated with windows mobile?

Finally, When will Xbox360 and Zune marketplace merge, they use the same points and login, I can't imagine there is a lot more work needed to be done to make this work and I believe it could be used to encourage more people to buy into the Zune brand.

good questions :)

Excellent stuff.

I know Windows 7 supports the creation and mounting of VHD's (played with that a little yesterday) through the Disk Management tool, so I am hoping they are considering that possibility.

Microsoft:
1) Will Microsoft go back and change Windows Vista/XP and Windows 7 so they are optimized for Solid State drives? Currently, an end user has to go to the manufacturer's website for custom settings and and then manually change those Windows settings to get best performance.

Microsoft
2) In Windows 7, will Microsoft allow two completely different graphics cards to be used at the same time, with different drivers? Example: An ATI card and a Nvidia card. Currently, Vista does not allow this.

Intel
3) Does Intel have any plans to manufacture more affordable solid state drives in the short term future (this year)?

(When) Will it be possible to add a USB 3.0 controller to an older motherboard?

Intel or AMD:
1# When will wee see motherboards with USB 3?

Microsoft:
2# When will you guys drop support x86 versions of Windows, Visual Studio, SQL Server, Expression Studio etc (all the 32-bit versions of Microsoft software) and just go for x64?

3# Security holes in browsers are one of the most targeted attacks by hackers. So when will see a feature in IE that will make exploiting security holes even via security holes in third party plugins/active-x control impossible? IE's protected mode on Vista is a really innovative feature and that's a feature that's not present in any other browser but it's not sufficient enough to make those attempts a futile attempt.

I want to know why we are all inundated with such crap with new names and tons of new buzzwords that all come down to all the same stuff that was already there. It's like Hollywood remaking every movie they ever did.

It's called "Marketing".

The ability to make everything old "New" again in the eyes of the consumer is gold.

Who is the next Apple?

Apple

1. @Microsoft: when will the Zune launch in other parts of the world, including EU and South Asia?
2. @Intel: Approx how long will their SSDs last under very heavy use (repeated erase and writes)?
3. @Microsoft: Will and when will they support OpenCL if not in Windows 7.

Tivo:

(1) It would appear that all attention from developers is focusing purely on the Series 3 and Tivo HD XL. Including the push for Netflix downloads on demand and viewing YouTube. For a subscriber like myself on the Series 2DT,
Should we continue to rely on 3rd party developers like Galleon and Audio Faucet just to name a few to meet our growing needs or should we expect more features to hit our boxes as well?

1) Are Netbooks a fad, or are they the next step in the computer evolution?

2) Are touch systems(Such as MS Surface, Apple iPhone) really the better way to improve consumer interaction, or will keyboards/mouse combination remain the dominate way to interact with technology?

3) Can WiMax and other "G4" wireless technology be used to improve the media computer system, and allow skype, or other VOIP system to be intergraded into our living rooms, giving consumers new forms to comnicate with one another.

Thats about the best three questions I could ask the 'Consumer technology' people.

Can I buy gOS Cloud for other netbooks?

Since gOS Cloud is for web-centric use, does it support streaming HD video from YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo, etc? Same question for Splashtop, though in future tense since they don't currently support it.

I'm not sure about how to redact it but, it may be like this...

Microsoft: the initial reaction for the new Superbar has been of surprise for the change of design, but immediately after it started receiving a lot of criticism for mixing launchers and open apps and being non intuitive, and it is now widely growing a shadow over Windows 7's perception. Will you re-evaluate the Superbar's design or leave it as it is and face any consequences in regards to the reception of the public?

- - -

In my case, it is growing as a concern. And the odd thing is that i have 2 very simple solutions for the problem, for which nobody seems to propose anything:
1) just put the Shortcut arrow in shortcuts, and for open apps, make a right-click menu option of "Open new window"!

or / and at the same time

2) just make the buttons auto-reorder in shortcuts and open apps!

Unbelievably logical, simple and easy!

???

Okay:

Open/running items on the new taskbar are highlighted (glow) and are "raised". There is an additional tab on the left for each open instance above the initial instance.

Right-clicking on the menu allows you to open a new instance if another is already running (Simply by clicking the name of the program, for example, Right-clicking on the firefox icon and clicking "Mozilla Firefox" will launch a new browser window).

You can re-order the icons by dragging them, I am sure by release an option to order them automatically will exist (or will be added by a third party).

Sounds like they've taken care of pretty much all of your concerns...have you actually *seen* the new taskbar?

Well, thanks for commenting even if i didnt seem to communicate my idea correctly. I wanna make clear that my question is about "perception", about how MS will shoot themselves in their feet if they dont "fix" what is being perceived by the critics and press as "the" negative point of Windows 7.
I have used 6801 patched with "blue badge", and seen/read a lot about the latter 6956 or 7000. It doesn't pose a usability "problem" but... it is solid as jelly. My proposed solutions would make it unquestionable :) Hehe, c***y but true.

As far as your hopeful wishing... "I am sure by release an option to order them automatically will exist (or will be added by a third party)." ...Trust your experience, dont expect anything. Third party may help someday... just someday.

Electronic Arts: Given the recent economic turmoil, how will the company enhance its global market strategies and video game development to maintain a balance in its reach to video game consumers?

Microsoft: How do you intend to bring a revolutionary change to the next major version of Windows Mobile to satisfy the increasing needs of the average and professional user?

Dell: What plan do you propose to improve Dell computers (laptops/desktops) in order to revive the consumer interest in Dell products rather than HP computers?

1. Why is Apple always ahead of Microsoft when it comes to product innovation?

2. Why is Windows 7 still living in Mac OS X's shadow and still playing catch up?

3. Why does a new PC come loaded with a bunch of trialware and crapware that is often difficult and time consuming to uninstall while a Mac comes with only the stuff you'd want and expect on a new computer?

4. Why is it that unlike a PC, a Mac out of the box just works?

Apple is for losers.

I would like to ask my self, why am I such an ignorant moron? why can't I do anything on my mac besides browsing, emailing, watching and editing movies?

My questions to Apple:

1: Will snow leopard be available for free? since there will be nothing new, just some performance optimizations and a 64-bit kernel. Oh yes we have already seen 64-bit kernel in both Windows and Linux, so that's nothing new. Yes guys do charge a lot for hardware because that's where you make all the money from but the software you make won't, despite that snow leopard should be free.

2: When will you guys provide innovative features for Mac OS X, besides providing the ones that are already present in Windows and then you guys introduce (copy) them in Mac OS X?

3: One of the coolest and innovative feature of Vista is "BIT locker drive encryption" and that's a feature that's neither present in Mac nor Linux. So when will we see that feature in Mac OS X? May be in a decade or never or maybe none of the apple programmers are so genius to make such an innovative feature for Mac OS X.

LOL

Dummy!!!
Read the topic 'tard!
As far as what I would like to know of the future direction of Windows, is why the hell do they not eXPerience on board to get it working in the manner advertised?
Internetworld7, you really are stupid kinda reminds me of DaveBG.
Lack of tolerance is no excuse.

Love how yours gets modded down while "Flame Thrower" still even has an account here...

If you'll permit a response from a self-proclaimed "Dummy";

eXPerience's releases are meant for a niche crowd, not the general public, hence why Microsoft seems to have zero interest in creating role-based operating systems further spec'd than "Server" and "Desktop".

I can imagine the endless support calls from the poor sucker (yet another victim of their own lack of forethought) who bought the "gaming" edition only to be confused as to why he could not join it to a domain or set it up to receive faxes.

Aren't most of the complaints about Vista that it comes in too many "Editions" and that it should be only one?

You'd suggest a "Micro", "Full_original", "Full with Applications" "Full without Applications", "Tiny with applications" and "Tiny without applications"?

(Not to mention the fact, though I guess I am, that none of these versions offer 100% of the functionality of the original "untouched" DVD)

I believe most people would rather their OS be able to handle anything they'd dream of throwing at it. Sadly, for the rest of us, this equates quite directly to what you would probably call "bloat".

Of course, Vista blew everything up. It was a load of **** from the get-go, and Microsoft will long be throwing countless monies towards the erasure of that total PR nightmare.

1. Will touchscreens on PCs make the mouse obsolete?

2. Can voice recognition (in PC's, laptops and smart phones) replace the keyboard?

3. Microsoft, will you ever get rid of the registry in Windows, to make installation and removal of programs easier and also get rid of some of the problems the registry brings.