<p><img src="http://www.istartedsomething.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/wifi.jpg" alt="wifi" title="wifi" style="float:right;margin-left:15px;"/>WiFi is an incredible technology that has transformed how and where people used computers, however besides advancements in speed, range and security, very little has changed how we use wireless networks. Since 2002, <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/virtualwifi/default.htm">Microsoft Research has been exploring a fascinating idea to virtualize the WiFi adapter</a>, turning a single piece of hardware and radio into virtually (pun) unlimited adapters. Years after the project was seemingly abandoned, it is now uncovered Virtual WiFi technology has been baked into the Windows 7 networking foundations.</p>
<p>In essence, <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/virtualwifi/faq.htm">how Virtual WiFi works</a> is very similar to how <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_virtualization">virtualization works for operating systems</a> which most people are familiar with - the transparent sharing of limited hardware resources to many operating systems. Virtual WiFi, abbreviated to VWiFi, is a software layer that abstracts the wireless LAN card hardware into multiple virtual adapters. The software handles the connections of each adapter to ensure every adapter has an opportunity to connect to their respective networks limited by time. The result is an operating system none-the-wiser and acts as if you have multiple WLAN hardware adapters working independently.</p>
<p>If you like to dabble in a little hardware jargon, here’s an obligatory architecture diagram which explains how Virtual WiFi works in Windows 7 in much more detail.</p>
<div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://www.istartedsomething.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/vwifi_architecture.jpg" alt="vwifi_architecture" title="vwifi_architecture" /></div>
<p>If you got lost somewhere between the dotted lines, read on.</p>
<p>You might be wondering why anyone would ever need multiple WLAN adapters on the same PC, well to be honest, you don’t need but its sometimes good to have. In any case where you’re connected to an existing wireless access point and want to connect to another network whether that be a separate access point or even set up an ad-hoc connection, Virtual WiFi will allow you to do just that. But perhaps the scenario that is more appealing is the idea of a <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/mesh/">mesh network</a>. In a mesh network, every client becomes a repeater, growing the network organically as more clients connect. Virtual WiFi enables this, since every client can become an access point too.</p>
<p>Now you might be asking, “I’ve looked at every nook and cranny of Windows 7 RC, how come I haven’t seen this feature?”. Surprisingly, the feature is in Windows 7 today and has been for quite some time apparently, but hasn’t been exposed due to a lack of driver support. WLAN hardware vendors are required to <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd445708.aspx">recompile their drivers with a couple new additions</a>. The good news is that Virtual WiFi functionality is going to be a requirement for WLAN drivers under the Windows 7 certification logo so expect to see it soon.</p>
<p>Assuming it all goes to plan, the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd439506(VS.85).aspx">feature will be automatically exposed</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p>“On Windows 7 and later, the operating system installs a virtual device if a Hosted Network capable wireless adapter is present on the machine. This virtual device normally shows up in the “Network Connections Folder” as ‘Wireless Network Connection 2’ with a Device Name of ‘Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter’ if the computer has a single wireless network adapter. This virtual device is used exclusively for performing software access point (SoftAP) connections [...]. The lifetime of this virtual device is tied to the physical wireless adapter. If the physical wireless adapter is disabled, this virtual device will be removed as well.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Unfortunately as it seems, the implementation of Virtual WiFi in Windows 7 is not as liberal as the research prototype. In Windows 7, you are limited to exactly one virtual adapter. However by looking at the impact of multiple virtual adapters on latency and performance from <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/research/pubs/view.aspx?tr_id=668">their original research report</a>, this is probably for good reasons.</p>
<p>More technical information aimed at hardware vendors and developers is available at the WinHEC 2008 session, “Wireless LAN Enhancements In Windows 7″, <a href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/E/6/5E66B27B-988B-4F50-AF3A-C2FF1E62180F/MBL-T604_WH08.pptx">PowerPoint downloadable here</a>. You can also learn more about their <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/virtualwifi/documents.htm">original prototype and research paper here</a>.</p>
<p>Obviously this feature isn’t as <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/05/02/a-little-bit-of-personality.aspx">glamorous as the fancy new wallpapers</a> or as practical as Aero Snap in Windows 7, but I think it represents one of the many silent revolutions in Windows that probably won’t be <a href="http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080318/windows-me-deserve-more-respect/">recognized and taken for granted for releases to come</a>. I’d be interesting to see if Virtual WiFi catches on, and how new networking scenarios can be enabled by developers and hardware vendors.</p>

<p>At Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference <a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/05/27/microsoft-demonstrates-multi-touch.aspx">about a year ago</a> today, Julie Larson-Green first introduced Walt Mossberg to Windows 7 and its multi-touch capabilities, which we call <b>Windows Touch</b>. While we’ve been working on bringing natural user interface to you in many Microsoft products, we first introduced multi-touch in <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/surface/">Microsoft Surface</a>. Since then, the Windows and Surface development teams have been collaborating closely on bringing multi-touch to Windows, and last year demoed a few applications they created to run on Windows 7. Today, we thought it would be fitting on this “anniversary” of first talking about Windows Touch to introduce the <b>Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7</b>.</p> <p>While touch is built into the “DNA” of Windows 7, something that was talked about in the <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/03/25/touching-windows-7.aspx">Touching Windows 7</a> blog post on the E7 Blog, we thought it would be fun to give you some applications that show what’s possible with this new way to interact with your PC. The Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 is a set of six multi-touch optimized applications and games that are designed to truly showcase the capabilities of Windows Touch in Windows 7. It consists of 3 casual games, and 3 Microsoft Surface applications that have been created for Windows 7. </p> <p><b></b></p> <p>Let’s take a closer look at what’s in the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7…</p> <p><a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/surface_5F00_globe_5F00_1DA06BA0.png"><img style="border-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="Microsoft Surface Globe" alt="Microsoft Surface Globe" src="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/surface_5F00_globe_5F00_thumb_5F00_1B1739E2.png" width="400" border="0" height="250"></a> </p> <p><b>Microsoft Surface Globe</b> pretty much puts the whole world in your hands (well, kind of!). It uses the Virtual Earth 3D engine to display a 3D version of the world. Using multi-touch, you can navigate to different regions, get local information, and “pin” your favorite locations. You can even “fly” around 3D models of buildings in some cities. The Microsoft Surface Globe was one of the apps Julie Larson-Green demoed at last year’s D: All Things Digital conference. To see the Microsoft Surface Globe app in action – take a look at <a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&amp;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:8f5ee5db-24f5-45fb-a3f6-d1a9660155a6&amp;showPlaylist=true&amp;from=soapbo xembed">this video</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/surface_5F00_collage_5F00_604F910B.png"><img style="border-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="Microsoft Surface Collage" alt="Microsoft Surface Collage" src="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/surface_5F00_collage_5F00_thumb_5F00_2E2840C1.png" width="400" border="0" height="250"></a></p> <p>Take your favorite digital photos and arrange and resize them using only your fingertips with <b>Microsoft Surface Collage!</b> Once you have your photos in an arrangement you like, it’s simple to save your collage and make it your desktop background. I’ve made a whole series of backgrounds and cycle through them with the desktop slideshow.<b><i> </i></b></p> <p><a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/surface_5F00_lagoon_5F00_130F71B3.png"><img style="border-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="Microsoft Surface Lagoon" alt="Microsoft Surface Lagoon" src="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/surface_5F00_lagoon_5F00_thumb_5F00_60E82168.png" width="400" border="0" height="250"></a> </p> <p><b>Microsoft Surface Lagoon</b> is a screensaver that you can interact with using multi-touch. It recreates the natural environment of water and schooling fish. It is really relaxing to run your fingers through the “water” and hold your finger down and watch the fish gather around.</p> <p><a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/MicrosoftBlackboard2009041713560927_5F00_53A19855. jpg"><img style="border-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="Microsoft Blackboard" alt="Microsoft Blackboard" src="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/MicrosoftBlackboard2009041713560927_5F00_thumb_5F0 0_39612F31.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="250"></a> </p> <p>Solve a puzzle game of physics, called <b>Microsoft Blackboard,</b> by creating a nifty machine on a virtual blackboard. Use gestures to rotate and resize gears, fans, seesaws and more to move balloons and balls toward the light bulbs - and victory.</p> <p><a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/MicrosoftRebound2009041713415190_5F00_5837A30F.jpg "><img style="border-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="Microsoft Rebound" alt="Microsoft Rebound" src="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/MicrosoftRebound2009041713415190_5F00_thumb_5F00_6 8CF9DFD.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="250"></a> </p> <p>Use your fingers to propel a ball and annihilate your opponent in <b>Microsoft Rebound</b>. Play against the computer or challenge a friend and battle it out in the electrified court to see who the champion is. </p> <p><a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/MicrosoftGardenPond2009041713401627_5F00_0086D564. jpg"><img style="border-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="Microsoft Garden Pond" alt="Microsoft Garden Pond" src="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windows7/MicrosoftGardenPond2009041713401627_5F00_thumb_5F0 0_66466C3F.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="250"></a> </p> <p>Finally, with<b> Microsoft Garden Pond, </b>you can guide your origami creations to peaceful areas on the pond or direct them with gestures to complete goals that have been set for you. Gently move the origami by making ripples in the water.</p>

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Tuesday announced the date the latest version of the Windows operating system, Windows 7, will be in general commercial availability: Oct. 22.