Well, the day after the release I purchased a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

Overall, the installation went extremely smooth. Being a bit of a fanatic, I decided to perform a clean install rather than simply upgrading my existing Vista build. I wanted to make damn sure that there weren’t any traces of Vista left on my system.

The Win 7 OS install is extremely fast, even compared to Windows XP. It took approximately 30 mins from the time I first booted up using the setup disk to finally booting into the installed Operating System. This also included performing a Hard Disk Format during the installation process. The install is much like other Window’s installs, in that you only have a few simple questions to answer during the process.

First thing after completing the install was to check for and install any Windows Updates. After that it was time to fire up Internet Explorer and use it for the only thing it’s good for, to download Firefox. Once Firefox was installed, the next priority of course was to install Seesmic Desktop, so I could start tweeting again.

After completing these two very important tasks, the next step was to start re-installing all my applications (the only downside to performing a clean install, as opposed to an upgrade). All my important data was also backed up on a spare 500GB SATA Hard Disk that was connected to my machine via an eSATA connection. It was just a simple matter then of copying from one drive to another.

The only hiccups I had during the install was with iTunes & my iPhone. (not sure if this is ironic or not ) My PC is fairly new as I purchased a new one earlier in the year. When I purchased it, they pre-installed Windows Vista on it. If you’ve ever looked at the Windows Vista/Win7 file structure, you’ll know that your “std” Documents/Images/Music folders (among others) are stored in the c:\User\<username> folder. On my new Win7 build, this folder is c:\User\Anthony. On my old Vista build, they had apparently set it up with a username of “User”, so the folder structure was c:\User\User. The first problem I encountered was when I copied over all my music. iTunes could no longer find the files. I could’ve simply reimported all the music from the new location but I didn’t want to lose all my song ratings. Instead, I needed to actually rebuild my iTunes library. To do this, I needed to edit the Music Library XML file (“iTunes Music Library.xml“). Each song tag within the XML file had a key specifying the location of the physical file. There was also a key up the very top of the file, specifying the location of the music folder. I needed to make a global search & replace that replaced the old file location with the new file location. After performing the global search/replace I copied this file to my Desktop (or any other folder will suffice). I then deleted the “iTunes Library.itl” file. Once this is done, you start up iTunes and select File > Library > Import Playlist. When prompted, navigate to the folder containing the iTunes Music Library.xml and select it. iTunes will then start to recreate your Library, including all your Star Ratings and play count data.

The other problem I had was when I had to resync my iPhone to this new build. I was prompted about whether or not I wanted to copy all the applications from my iPhone, across to this new workstation. Since the apps on the iPhone were the lastest Sync, I said yes. What it did though instead, was to delete all the apps from the iPhone! Needless to say, I wasn’t very impressed. Unfortunately, there is no way to simple way to re-download all your previous purchases. I had to manually find all the applications within the iTunes App Store and then re-download them again individually. Quite a time consuming process and one which Apple should rectify, IMHO.

After finally resolving these two issues, it was then simply a matter of reinstalling the rest of my applications. Again, another time consuming process. Once I was happy that everything was working properly and all my applications and data was restored, I then used an application called Macrium Reflect to create an “image” of my hard drive. This effectively takes a “snapshot” or backup of your hard drive. Very useful if you need to restore your computer due to corruption or hard drive failure.

Overall, the install went very smoothly, apart from a couple of little hiccups with iTunes. Windows 7 in general is a HUGE improvement over Vista. As mentioned in a previous post about why Windows Vista sucks, previously my workstation took approximately 10 minutes to bootup (including loading all the “startup” applications such as Outlook, Windows Live Messegner, Skype etc.etc..). Under Windows 7, loading exactly the same applications, the Bootup process has dropped to approximately 4 minutes! Worth the upgrade alone! There are also a significant number of Vista “features” that have been fixed.

I find that applications are also considerably more stable as well. For example, to keep track of my income/expenses for my business, I use Quickbooks. The Australian version of this app is not supported under a 64bit OS. Previously I didn’t have to worry, but when I moved to 64bit Vista earlier in the year, I had all sorts of issues and the application was becoming almost unusable as it was constantly crashing. Even when set to “XP Compatibility mode”. Under Win7, the application has been working remarkably stable and *touch wood*, hasn’t crashed once. Under Vista I would also constantly see applications displaying “Not responding” in their Title Bar. With Win7, I still see it occasionally, but nowhere near the same sort of frequency. If you’re currently on Vista, then I’d highly recommend the upgrade. The speed improvements, improved memory management and overall stability are definately worth it.

Have you upgraded to Windows 7? Let me know if you have, I’d be interested to hear how your installation went.  

Before I get into what this new update means in terms of functionality, I’d like to share a few statistics that are quite impressive:

• The iPhone is now currently available in over 80 countries, worldwide.
• 13.7 million iPhone sales for the 2008 calendar year
• 30 million iPhone & iPod Touch units sold through the end of 2008
• 25,000 apps currently in the app store
• Surpassed 800 million downloads from the app store
• With the current approval process – 96% apps were approved. Of that, 98% were approved in 7 days or less
• 70% of app revenue goes to developer.
• App store is now available to 77 Countries. This includes 15 new countries.

OS 3.0 is going to be the most significant update we’ve seen for the iPhone. There is going to be over 1,000 new API’s for the application developer and over 100 new features for the end user.

Developer features

There are going to some significant improvements for the iPhone application developer, with over 1,000 new API’s available for their use. Briefly, the main improvements will be:

In-app purchases: This will new feature will allow applications to provide subscriptions such as for magazines, Level purchases for games and eBook purchases. No longer will you need to release a completely new app. Instead, you’ll be able to provide a “framework” for an app and allow the end use to purchase add-ons, when needed. One example where this can benefit both the end user and the app developer is for games. You may create your initial game with say, 10 levels. Within the application itself, you can then provide the option for the end user to purchase additional levels.

Peer to peer connectivity: Useful for multiplayer gaming or transferring contact information. This uses Bluetooth technology and doesn’t require “pairing” of the devices.

Accessories: Developers can now build custom applications that will “talk” directly to accessories via the dock connector and wirelessly, over Bluetooth. You’ll be able to use both standard protocols and custom protocols.

Maps: Applications will now have access to the Google Map API for incorporating maps directly within the app. There will also be the ability to pan & zoom along with providing custom annotations. One of the best features though is that apps can now provide turn by turn directions. The only downside if you want to provide this functionality is that you’ll need to provide your own maps. Due to licensing restrictions, you wont’ be able to utilise Google maps. This is not all bad, considering most providers of this technology currently provide their own maps anyway (TomTom, NavMan, Garmin, Magellan, MIO). Now there’ll be no need to have a separate GPS navigation system mounted in your car, along with your iPhone.

Push notification: Apple have spent the last 6 months re-architecting their Push Notification service. This will be “true” Push notification as well, not provided by running background services. This new service provides significantly better battery life, improved performance and is optimised for mobile networks. It will work via the Apple Push Notification Service which will keep a persistent connection to the iPhone.

Other services available for the developer will include in-app email, proximity sensor, iPod library access, streaming audio, shake API and in-game voice.

Consumer features

There are going to be over 100 new features available for the general iPhone user. The most significant and probably the most wanted feature among all users is;

Cut, Copy and paste: We’ll now have the ability to cut, copy and paste across all applications including 3rd party apps. It’s very intelligently implemented as can be seen in the screen shots below. Double-tapping on text will automatically select it. Once selected, a menu appears with the cut, copy & paste options. The “grab points” at the end of the selection provide the ability to extend or shorten the selected text. To insert, simply double-tap again and select paste. If you make a mistake, simply shake to undo (or redo). This feature will work on plain text as well as web content (HTML) and images.

Landscape display: Landscape display and the landscape keyboard will now work across all key apps such as Mail, Notes, SMS/Messaging applications.

Messages: Messages can now be forwarded or deleted, either individually or in multiples. Support for MMS has now been (finally) added as well. It supports send/receive of photos, contacts (using vCard standard), audio files & locations (from maps).

Voice memos: A new app has been developed called Voice memos. It provides the ability to record (surprisingly), voice memos using the built in mic or an external mic. It also provides the ability for you to edit the memo and then send via email or MMS.

Calendar: The calendar app now supports CalDAV and ICS format, including support for subscriptions.

Stocks: Added support for news stories/headlines, detailed views and landscape view

Search: Support for search is now available across all key applications. Currently, search is available in the Contacts app; this is being extended across all key applications including Mail, Calendar, iPod & Notes. Using a new “spotlight” icon on your home screen, you can search across the entire phone, including 3rd party apps. “Spotlight” will provide a single convenient place to search across the entire phone.

Other features that will be available include, Notes synchronisation, Shake to shuffle within iPod, WiFi auto login, stereo Bluetooth, anti-phishing within safari & auto-fill. There’ll be parental controls across TV shows, Movies and applications and further language support.

The 3.0 OS release is now available as a Developer Beta and also to SDK members. It will be shipping this Summer in the US. The upgrade will be free to existing iPhone owners but iPod Touch users will need to pay US$9.95 (not sure on AU pricing). OS 3.0 can be used on earlier versions of the iPhone but some features won’t be available.

Is it all you thought it would be? Anything missing? Feel free to leave a comment.