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Microsoft’s official Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines, or more affectionately known as the “UX Guide”, has had a recent October 10 makeover. Topics added in this update include “Ribbons“, touch computing, pen computing and printing.

Of most interest is the article dedicated to Ribbons, explaining to developers how to design a great Ribbon experience in their own application, but probably more importantly when to and when not to use a Ribbon. The Touch article also provides some insightful tips to developing a user-interface that is touch friendly.

Considering Windows “technically 6.1 but doesn’t sound cool enough” 7 just happens to make advances in both the Ribbon (with “Scenic”) and touch computing, definitely a recommend read for developers if you want to be a step ahead.

For example, here’s how not to make a calculator with Ribbon.

On the other hand, there’s an interesting screenshot of a “touch version” of Calculator. Personally compared to the version in Vista (right), even looks better.

Would you like your own Microsoft Surface computer but don’t own a hotel chain, telephone company, Las Vegas casino, television network or themepark? If so, you need to sign yourself up for some Microsoft market research. To be precise, Microsoft recently delivered a marketing survey centered around a multi-touch computing device codenamed “Oahu”. It is, of course, a (hypothetical) consumer variation of the Surface computer.

Obviously one has to be skeptical of anything on a marketing research survey, I mean its whole purpose is to test out radical ideas in shallow waters. Having said that, these surveys also inherit some practicality or why would they waste the time and money right? Now let’s have a look at what they say about “Oahu”.

The survey starts off with this hefty foreword,

The following questions refer to a computing device called “Oahu” that has an innovative multi-touch screen. Oahu is a flat screen that sits horizontally like a table top. You can interact with Oahu by touching the screen, instead of using a mouse, and more than one person can interact with Oahu at the same time. You and others can move objects on the screen with your hands and touch icons to open up programs, games, or music. People using the device can also use their fingertips to expand and shrink objects on the screen. The screen recognizes people’s hand movements and touches and reacts accordingly. You can bring up an on-screen keyboard to input information. Oahu also works with other devices (such as digital cameras, cell phones, and MP3 players) by getting information from or sending information to them. Oahu is on with no waiting time to start up. Oahu can come as a freestanding table, placed into a piece of furniture, or built into a countertop. The type of Oahu devices we are asking about today are not portable but if they are furniture or tables, they can be placed anywhere in your home.

Then the survey asked the participant of several different “forms” of Oahu - table for meals, a countertop or games table. Here’s a couple of “table for meals” sample experiences. Interesting how many things you can do on the same table you eat food on.

• Family hub – Help your family stay organized by sharing and managing calendars (by bringing everyone’s input into one place), leaving messages, paying bills and planning each day in a central environment.
• Homework helper – Help your children with their homework or oversee their play activities while getting dinner ready.
• Information access – Quickly check information (e.g., recipes) or control the home (e.g., change music controls).
• Morning start – While eating breakfast, read newspaper headlines and e-mail, get updated on the daily commute, or use your fingers to expand your calendar and get details on the day’s events.
• Content creation – Create and edit your personal content (e.g., recipe books, calendars, and grocery lists)

The survey then goes on to ask some further questions about what we already know about the surface - casual games and wireless sync with portable devices. It however finishes with quite a bombshell - a hypothetical price.

Please rate how likely you would be to purchase the Oahu Stand-alone games or casual table, if it has the following features:

• Fixed location
• Size allows for 4 people to comfortably use it at the same time
• Looks like a Stand-alone games or casual table with a screen built into it
• Can have an onscreen keyboard
• Interact with it using “touch”; you can use multiple fingers or both hands
• Automatically gets information from and sends information to your portable devices when you put them on the screen
• Costs $1,499

For those who are curious, the name “Oahu” has some symbolic meaning. Besides being the name of the Hawaiian island - home to Honolulu, Pearl Harbour and Lost, it is indirectly translated as “The Gathering Place“. Fitting as the Surface computer encourages multiple people to interact at the same time.

Now I’d like to do a bit of marketing research of my own. Would you purchase a Surface computer if it was $1,499?

Thanks to Kieran for forwarding this.

A couple of months ago in May I wrote about an interesting Microsoft job posting that hinted at the idea of native Virtual Hard Disks (VHD) support in Windows 7 that would allow users to create, mount, unmount and even boot from these disk images without additional software allowing for interesting use-scenarios for not just enterprise users and home users as well.

Well the good news is that the rumor is now confirmed as a recently updated WinHEC 2008 agenda touts a session dedicated to this particular functionality with one subtle difference - targeted at Windows Server 2008 R2.

Windows Boot from One Image Format - ENT-T606
Presenter(s): Paul Rambo, Peter Brundrett

Virtual hard disk (VHD) is becoming a de facto standard image format for virtual machine operating system images. This session discusses native support of VHD in Windows Server 2008 R2. This support allows users, administrators, and vendors of storage and management tools to operate on VHDs as they would other storage devices. This creates opportunities for lowering operational costs by enabling customers to use a single image creation, deployment, and maintenance process and toolset across virtual and physical environments.

Technically Windows Server 2008 R2 is not Windows 7 - the name gives it away, but like Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, they are in theory based on the same kernel and developed in parallel. However just because it’s there doesn’t mean it’ll work - whether this feature will be “switched on” in Windows 7 remains a mystery. If my opinion is worth anything, I think it’ll be a killer feature for pro-users. Is it too early to speculate about Windows 7 Ultimate Extras?

I’m glad at least one charity is thinking outside the box - beyond depressing stories and pictures - to get people to take action. World Vision Australia has put together a competition with some interesting and albeit geeky prizes for bloggers to write about poverty as part of its Blog Action Day 2008 campaign.

The first prize includes playing with the only Microsoft Surface in Australia, chatting with the gurus at creative agency Amensia who owns the Surface, learning from experts at Yahoo and hanging out with the Googlers in Sydney - travel and accommodation included. On the other hand if you don’t care much about the big table, there’s also two iPhones for runner-up prizes. So either way, you win something multi-touch enabled. Everyone else gets a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Unfortunately for many of you, and fortunately for the few of you, this is an Australian only competition so your chances are pretty good. Competition ends October 29. Check out their site for more details. Get writing.

“Windows Strata” could be either another codename or even dare I say the final name for the “Windows Cloud” operating system Ballmer has been touting much lately as the name has recently condensed on the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference website. (See what I did there? I made a cloud pun.)

Either “strata” refers to “stratosphere” - the second layer in the Earth’s atmosphere above most clouds, or “stratus” - weather jargon for a type of cloud. Somehow I doubt it’s the latter since stratus is the type which casts a low gray blanket over an entire city, turning day into darkness and gloom. Probably not the association they were going for. On the other hand, stratosphere is above the rest.

(via Kit Ong)

Maybe not the best place to put the ad. Outdoors maybe? Image credit Aleyda Solis.

Update: There’s also a new “Life without walls” themed multi-screen video playing at JFK Airport. Similar to the print campaign, different devices fade in to display a larger object. For those who remember, these are the same screens used to display the original Windows Vista WOW and Windows Mobile ads.