• People want a simple place that they can share their life with other people.
• They want to know what other people are doing as well.
• They also prefer a Private Message system that they won't be bothered by Spam like Email. Also Private Message system keep friends in the proper network. For example, I wouldn't want people online dating via Email with me. That's after I have more contact with the other person. The incoming message stay in the dating site. I won't miss as if it is a junk mail and I know everyone's message has the same common purpose.
• People want to find old friends easier.
• People want web based IM as they are tired of installing IM software.

1. No more enable/disable quick launch bar. It is always active.
2. Task Group is moved to quick launch icon. Fairly similar to Mac OSX.
3. A launch icon that has open windows has special Hot Track color background. Just subtle simple eye candy.
4. Click on already launched icon will switch to the already opened window.
5. Right Click give you Jump List. A customizable list that can be anything. Like recently opened, IE history, messenger actions, and more.
6. Task Group has real time thumbnail previews (same mouse hover).
7. Interactive Thumbnail previews. It is like mini window. It has App Icon, Title, Close Button, and fully customizable buttons. For example, WMP has play music control, thus, you can control WMP without switching window. It works like WMP toolbar/taskband/deskband, but not taking up additional spaces.
8. And now, the most important feature since Task Group Feature is mandatory. "Peek". Do you remember annoying mouse clicks on task group and windows, and find yourself switch to the wrong one and have to do it again? This is the main reason I don't use Task Group since XP. Now, Peek is a very simple design, and it works extremely well IMO. When you hover mouse on task group, you get a list of thumbnails as stated on #4. You can see the thumbnail and the title for info, but what if it is not enough? Like Word documents are useless with thumbnail. Move your mouse on previews, Peek will "temporarily" bring up the window. A great way to see your window before doing the actual window switch. Or maybe you just want to see it without switching from the first place.

The new taskbar is the consolidation of Win98 Quick Launch Bar, XP Task Group, Vista Thumb Preview, and new important features like Peek, Interactive Thumbnail, and Jump List. Windows 7's improved taskbar is an attractive feature that many people will come to enjoy.

Here is my PhotoSynth on my stuff animal Marlow. Ok, I am a guy, but I have the right to fall for adorable stuff too.

PhotoSynth is a Microsoft free service. It reconstructs large collection of photos back to 3D space. When properly Synthed, you will experience virtual reality based on real photos, not fake rendering.

Link: http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=255aa6b6-cb3a-4320-87c5-f1da2dec3fda&i=0:0:10&z=718.6087741402403&g=0&p=0:0&m=false&c=2.10478:-0.468184:-1.03588&d=-1.97942:-1.96456:-0.448085

Hardrock

The best Deep Zoom project out there. Not only you can zoom to tons of photos, you can sort the result by artist like The Beatles. And more, you get to see what Deep Zoom is really all about. There is a fake stamp contains more photos to zoom in. Even more, one of the photo has more zoom all the way to wobble heads.

Link http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/

Yosemite

Use Deep Zoom to watch 45 gigapixels Yosemite photo. Enjoy high resolution nature.

Link http://www.xrez.com/yose_proj/Yose_result.html

My idea comes from looking at what MS already have and the trend of marketing. I think Web Based OS is the future. People want their application always be avaliable on web. Like on the web console, you may want to have Paint, Word, and other applicaionts on the Web Desktop where you can access them from anywhere.

I think it is possible with current status of MS.
1) We need a platform where applications are executed on. That's .Net
2) We need personal online storage. MS already can sustain SkyDrive.
3) App store. Windows Live Gallery is a start.
4) Unified Installer. Windows Sidebar gadgets are already using this.

What do we need from here?
1) We need a desktop application to be console host.
It will have its own desktop, gadgets bar, and application manager.
Application Manager list out all uploaded applications (self-upload or bought from MS marketplace).
You can set the application to auto-download. When you open the Web OS on a new computer, it will auto-download the applications using a low priority download manager.
The Web OS will save all the configurations online.
2) What's the name?
Windows Live Console
3) What's included by default?
Windows Live Applications all using WPF. Writer, Mail, IM, and more, like Paint and WMPL.
4) What about the size of the application?
User can deside to download all files or download when required.
Developer or MS will have to deside how to chunk the files.
5) Sub Accounts.
The main account host the billion, applications, and everything. But each OS usually has more than one user. So you have to login to you own account for your own application preference, like Mail setup.
6) Account Merge
You can merge accounts (main account, not sub), but no split.
7) Sub Account is limited to 10.
This is to make sure no one is sharing his paid apps by opening accounts for others.
Need more planing on this.
8) Security
Need more planing. If someone is offline, can be use the app. Like XBLA thing.


Really hope MS is going to look at this, probably won't, sigh.
Whoever does this first, they owns the Web Based OS. OS + Roaming User on the go.
I heard rumors about Midori using cloud computing. I wonder how my idea fits into this.

As my title suggested, I don't know the answer.

Currently I think Microsoft is going into a phase of transitioning assets to different department. Windows Live and Windows is currently colliding each other. Windows Live offers a free version of Email and Photo Gallery application that works better than its counterpart on Vista. It is reasonable because it has tight integration with Hotmail and Live Photo. But then, what's the point of having Vista version of it? Marketing only.

As you can see, XP users can use Live Applications, thus, the gap between XP and Vista is minimal for casual user stand point. This is actually hurting the new OS. However, it is clear that MS is putting a lot more efforts on Live Applications than Windows Applications.

Should the future Windows comes without applications that conflict with Live Applications? Should Microsoft bundle Windows Live Applications from now on when clearly a law suite awaits? How is Microsoft going to consolidate conflicting programs to reduce resources cost and confusion among users?

That's something I keep asking myself.

Anyway, for people want to know about the future of Windows. Search for Windows 7 or Microsoft Midori. Windows 7 features multi-touch interface. Look for Microsoft Surface for related info. Midori is a far away future that is based on Singularity, an OS made on managed code.

JMC Photo Gallery 1.1 Released.