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Contents
- Inside Windows 7 Device Stage
- What Can Device Stage Do for You?
- Hands On with Device Stage in Windows 7
For the upcoming Windows 7 operating system release, Microsoft is polishing more than just the kernel itself. The company aims to ease interaction between you and your cell phone, printer, camera, and more, through a new feature called Device Stage.
Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc describes the technology pretty well on The Windows Experience Blog, calling it a "new visual interface that makes it easy to find the things you want to do with your devices on your Windows 7 PC." With Device Stage, a photo-realistic picture of your gadget can live in your taskbar, providing one-click access to relevant apps, services, and information.
For Device Stage to work, Windows 7 loads a set of custom XML files (and possibly custom drivers) when you first connect a printer, scanner—whatever. And that's not just USB connections either; LeBlanc points out that Device Stage "works not only for devices connected to a Windows 7 PC via USB, but also Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as well. In many cases, software installation isn't required for Device Stage—with any additional drivers that might be needed automatically retrieved from Windows Update." Maybe in the final iteration things will work that smoothly, but it's proved a bit of a challenge for me so far.
The Reasoning Behind Device Stage
So where'd the idea for this come from, anyway? We can find some clues in a WinHEC presentation by Dennis Flanagan, group program manager at Microsoft. In it, Dennis noted the problems with devices in Vista:
- Inconsistent views and entry points
- Views are of functions, not devices
- Limited brand and function extensibility for partners
- Many partners are building similar applications for common tasks
- There's no recommended path to on-board and present services
That's a complicated way of explaining that each device works in its own way in Vista, since Microsoft really hasn't offered guidance to device manufacturers on this front. To check the ink levels in your printer, you probably have to access a custom-written app from Brother, HP, or whichever. Copying music to your phone more than likely involves a custom app from Motorola or Nokia. Flanagan underscores Microsoft's inconsistencies in Vista with a screenshot:
You might not have noticed, having simply adjusted to the way things are, but there are 17 Control Panel applets that all aim to help you "do stuff with your stuff." Want to adjust your modem? We've got a special panel for it. Need to sync your PDA? Go to the Windows Mobile Device Center. Got a tablet PC? You'll appreciate the Pen and Input Devices Control Panel. Ugh.