Microsoft Goes Green with Windows 7
While noting that today is Earth Day, or the day that the world’s attention is drawn towards appreciating the environment, I thought it a good idea to showcase how the next iteration of the Microsoft-developed operating system, Windows 7, tackles power management. As you may be aware, carelessly using energy has the effect of releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (effect showcased by a report commissioned by McAfee in regards to the environmental impact spam messages have – details here).
A new whitepaper entitled “Windows 7 Power Management, Power Management Improvements in Windows 7 Beta” has been released and according to it “The Windows® 7 operating system provides several opportunities to decrease power consumption across the enterprise. The power management technologies in Windows 7 provide platform and processor efficiencies that reduce power consumption and can help lower energy costs. Windows 7 can also extend battery life for specific scenarios. Additionally, it provides diagnostic tools that enable original equipments manufacturers (OEMs), independent hardware vendors (IHVs), independent software vendors (ISVs), and IT pros to better manage and troubleshoot power management issues on computers and to extend the battery life for portable computers.”
There are several ways in which Windows 7 helps the environment:
- Key areas of the OS (like performance optimization, idle resource utilization, device power management, and key end-user scenarios) have been developed so that Windows 7 provides reduced overall power consumption; less power consumption means lower quantities of CO2 released into the atmosphere.
- When using Windows 7 on a portable computer the OS uses enhanced processor power management so that it can provide the highest level of performance while using the least amount of power. This equals to longer battery life while providing the user with a richer PC experience.
- Power management issues such as power-management diagnostic can be easily tackled by IT pros because Windows 7 comes with the tools needed to configure and resolve the aforementioned issues. These tools are: PowerCfg.exe, Group Policy, and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).
If you would like to take a look at the whitepaper for yourself, a download link is available here (PDF warning).
A new whitepaper entitled “Windows 7 Power Management, Power Management Improvements in Windows 7 Beta” has been released and according to it “The Windows® 7 operating system provides several opportunities to decrease power consumption across the enterprise. The power management technologies in Windows 7 provide platform and processor efficiencies that reduce power consumption and can help lower energy costs. Windows 7 can also extend battery life for specific scenarios. Additionally, it provides diagnostic tools that enable original equipments manufacturers (OEMs), independent hardware vendors (IHVs), independent software vendors (ISVs), and IT pros to better manage and troubleshoot power management issues on computers and to extend the battery life for portable computers.”
There are several ways in which Windows 7 helps the environment:
- Key areas of the OS (like performance optimization, idle resource utilization, device power management, and key end-user scenarios) have been developed so that Windows 7 provides reduced overall power consumption; less power consumption means lower quantities of CO2 released into the atmosphere.
- When using Windows 7 on a portable computer the OS uses enhanced processor power management so that it can provide the highest level of performance while using the least amount of power. This equals to longer battery life while providing the user with a richer PC experience.
- Power management issues such as power-management diagnostic can be easily tackled by IT pros because Windows 7 comes with the tools needed to configure and resolve the aforementioned issues. These tools are: PowerCfg.exe, Group Policy, and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).
If you would like to take a look at the whitepaper for yourself, a download link is available here (PDF warning).
