I am writing this on Windows 7, the successor to Vista that was previewed at Microsoft’s Professional Developer’s Conference in Los Angeles earlier this week. Microsoft is keen to avoid a repetition of Vista’s shambolic launch. Mike Nash, corporate vice-president, spoke at the press briefing about learning from the Vista experience, and the man in charge of Windows engineering, Steven Sinofsky, emphasized the rigor and discipline of the Windows 7 development process.
It appears to be working. Even in the preview handed out to the press, Windows 7 feels more polished and less annoying than its predecessor. The changes are not dramatic, but that is a good thing. Microsoft has left the core architecture untouched, so that software and devices that worked on Vista should still work.
Microsoft is also making Windows “quieter”; in other words, reducing the number of prompts that interrupt your work. For example, too many applications now install themselves in the Windows system tray and pop up frequent notifications. Windows 7 lets you hide them or turn off their messages, returning control to the user. You can also fine-tune User Account Control, the security feature that in Vista flashes the screen and shows a dialog whenever you change a system setting.
Windows 7 does have some user interface changes, the most obvious being a revised taskbar, which shows an icon for every running application. The Windows 7 taskbar has larger icons, full-screen application previews when you hover the mouse, and “jump lists”: pop-up menus that control key features, such as starting or stopping a song in Windows Media Player, or visiting a favorite site in Internet Explorer. Application windows can be made transparent to see files on the desktop, and when you drag a window with the mouse, it snaps to screen borders: a small touch but one that feels natural.
Windows Explorer, the main tool for file management, has a new feature called libraries, which pulls together content from multiple locations and lets you treat them as one. For example, if you have some photos on an internal hard drive and others on an external drive, you can include both locations in one library and search it like a single folder. Applets like WordPad and Paint have been refreshed, and now sport fat ribbon toolbars like those introduced in Office 2007.
However, it will not be the new features that make or break Windows 7, but rather its quality, compatibility and performance. Windows 7 is less ambitious than Vista, its development is less rushed, and provided Microsoft can dissuade its partners from overlaying it with third-party add-ons of lesser quality, this release promises to be one users will actually enjoy.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 national security speech marked a turning point. He signaled that the government was finally getting serious about a whole-of-society approach to defending the nation. The presidential office summarized his speech succinctly: “President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
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