Windows Vista and the Future of Hardware

NSIM writes to mention an article on ExtremeTech looking at the impact that Windows Vista will have on the future of computer hardware. In addition to obvious elements like CPUs, GPUs, and display interfaces, the article also touches on things like DRM (which Vista heavily supports) and audio formats. From the article: "Currently, only a few shipping products actually support the crypto-ROM needed to ensure compliance with Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, and CableCard. It's looking like next-generation cards will all implement the needed firmware. Continued... The impact on future displays is a bit more subtle, but we're starting to see the impact already. Widescreen displays offering very high resolutions, such as the Dell 2407WFP are starting to become more affordable. But a 1920x1200 resolution often creates legibility problems for some users resulting from the tiny size of the default Windows font."

Re:The ever vanishing pixel

[zlogic]

Vista's Avalon addresses the resolution issue in an elegant way (at least as Microsoft described it):
display resolution and font size are NOT related. So you can have a 4000x3000 resolution on a 15" monitor and all the fonts will be the correct size; in fact most sizes are defined as they will appear on the screen (e.g. cm, inches) and not as they are stored (pixels). However I think this applies only to fonts and not images; I'm not entirely sure.

And Opera alows you to zoom html pages scaling everything including images and fonts. Great feature because the layout never breaks (unlike IE and Firefox).

Re:Yeah...

[Jonah Hex]

I've run into many problems with end-users who cannot read even large or extra-large fonts at 1024x768, while they do fine at 800x600 with normal fonts. Yes they are older folks, and sure they are stuck using a 14" monitor, but like most small to medium size businesses they simply cannot find the funds to get something larger. Price for even replacing a 14" with say a 21" is a major concern, and most of the older monitors out there are not going to handle anything over 1280x1024. I've seen companies replace computers 2 or 3 times while keeping the same old monitors, only replacing them when they die.

Jonah HEX

Re:DRM?

[91degrees]

Why can't Microsoft use its position in the software industry to leverage content providers away from DRM.

Because they want to control the DRM. They want to do what Apple did with iTunes and the iPod. If all downlaodable media is designed for Windows, then they when downloadable content becomes mainstream, people will want PVRs with download capability running Windows CE because that will be the OS that's most compatible with the exisitng downloadable contnet.

Re:Font size? Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Many web sites depend on pixel precision placement of images and their elements to display properly. Fonts sizes are defined in pixels with CSS on almost every site I visit. CSS was to solve the problem of displaying web sites on different devices, but the way it's used, layouts don't even flow as well as it used to with simple HTML and tables.

icons!

[coyote-san]

Images are bad, but icons are worse!

My workplace issued new laptops with ~150 DPI (measured with a ruler). Basically twice what the old standard was. Twice what everyone designs their icons for, so those icons take up 1/4 the amount of screen real estate as they should.

I was able to get my applications to use reasonable fonts. It's NOT as simple as just setting the Windows display resolution to 150 DPI -- many apps merrily continue to insist on what they know you really meant and I still had to specify 24pt font to get what should be a 12pt font. But you can largely force the apps to behave.

But icons? WHERE ARE YE OLDE INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE?!

I'm serious. Few applications support multiple icon sizes, so I have to take it at faith that the icons on this application actually mean something. E.g., I'm told that the subversion plug-in indicates if the file has been modified, if it's been modified on the server, locally, or both, and probably other nifty information. I can't tell since the icons force that information into about 6 pixes square.

Controls aren't quite as bad since they're not trying to cram the information into such as small space, but they're still so small that I have to remember that the icon for the local webserver is the grey box that's the second icon in the third group, not the little icon of a server.

I'm only in my 40s and only need reading glasses occasionally, but mild presbyopia and icons a fraction of their intended size is a bad combination. ... and coworkers still wonder why I prefer the command line instead of the nifty new tools.

DRM is not a feature...

[russ1337]

the article also touches on things like DRM (which Vista heavily supports)

Vista does not 'support' DRM in the way that an an audio player 'supports' wmv, mp3, OGG, etc...

Vista 'shoves DRM down your throat like prison king-pin does, in return for 'protection'...

Re:at what point

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

I'm guessing ClearType isn't on by default because by its nature, it would make the display worse if improperly configured.

For example, I too normally use it even on my CRT at work, because it doesn't have an artificial lower threshold below which it won't smooth fonts. The standard anti-aliasing cuts out just around the point where most of my fonts are normally configured, making it pretty much useless. With ClearType, most of the fonts I use regularly do look smoother.

OTOH, a couple of the fonts I use regularly do get mangled by ClearType (I'm surprised it's so few...) and when working with those, or with much smaller text in a spreadsheet or similar, I do switch ClearType off to avoid the artifacts.

I guess it should be possible to enable ClearType automatically for suitable screens, as long as the monitor driver installed tells Windows how the pixels are physically arranged so it can perform the anti-aliasing to match.

Re:Font size? Huh?

[wbean]

A pica is 1/6 of an inch. A point is 1/72 of an inch. Thus there are are 12 points to a pica.

Re:at what point

[prisoner-of-enigma]

And then I discovered ClearType. Why ClearType isn't on in Windows XP by default (or even installed by default) I don't know. I had to go to a microsoft website to turn it on and download a control panel applet to let me tweak and configure it. But it made a great display even better... to much so that it was like getting glasses! I even use it on my CRT display at work, and it's better there too. It just seems odd to me that it's not the norm...

Turning it on for displays that don't respond well to ClearType results in blurrier text. This applies mostly to CRT's, and if you'll recall, flat panels weren't exactly popular back when XP was launched nearly five years ago.

As for fixing this, you can kind of institute this yourself. All you have to do is create a profile with the machine set up the way you want it (this applies to more than just display settings, but that's beyond the scope of this quick post). Then, log in as an administrator, go to the profile manager, select the profile you just configured, and click the "Copy to..." button. Copy the profile to the "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User" directory and tell XP to make the profile available to "Everyone".

What this will do is ensure than any new accounts created on the machine will automatically get all the customziations you put into the initial "seed" account you copied from. If you work in a networked environment like a corporation, you can extend this paradigm even further by copying the profile into a "Default User" directory inside the "NETLOGON" share of a domain controller. Any user who logs onto a machine without a profile for them will automatically download this default profile, ensuring your settings are propagated everywhere. Very handy, and fully documented on Microsoft's support site under KB article #168475.

I admit Microsoft doesn't make this overly easy, and the instructions aren't posted in obvious places, but this has been a tremendous help to us at my company, and I use it on my home network as well.

Re:Is this the road to the glue factory?

[mrchaotica]

No, Microsoft is enthusiastically supporting DRM because it wants to become the standard for it. That's what "Plays for Sure" is all about, and indeed is why Microsoft basically invented it (see: Palladium/"Trusted" Computing) in the first place!

Er... illegibility?

[arodland]

Has Microsoft not learned the meaning of "DPI" yet? A 12pt font is the same size on any monitor, provided that your software isn't stupid. It's just that on that 200dpi monitor, it will have nice crisp edges compared to your old 72dpi thing. Every halfway-modern display sends back information that can be used to scale fonts correctly. Linux even gets it right more often than not. What's the deal?

(yes, I know that it's actually PPI, not DPI. But the "standard term" is DPI nonetheless).

Re:at what point

[Alioth]

Sorry to be pedantic, but if you "could really care less about Vista", this implies that you actually care about it a lot. The phrase you're looking for is "couldn't care less".

Re:at what point

[Khuffie]

Even in XP, or other OSes, the GUI is still running in the background, it doesn't automatically go away. In Vista, the advanced Aero effects that utilize the GPU are turned off when you go fullscreen in a game.