Microsoft said it is now shipping a key corporate desktop management suite for Windows 7, just in time for Thursday's big launch of the new operating system. However, one major piece is still missing.
The company has offered the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for various versions of Windows over the years, including for Windows Vista.
This latest version, dubbed MDOP 2009 Release 2, is now ready for download by enterprise customers, according to a post on the Official MDOP Blog Tuesday.
During an industry event whose original purpose was to concentrate on SharePoint 2010, Microsoft's collaborative server product, CEO Steve Ballmer revealed that his company is making ready an official "public beta" of Office 2010, the applications suite for Windows.
The most likely timeframe for such a release would be during PDC 2009, Microsoft's annual developers' conference now scheduled for the third week of November in Los Angeles.
Perhaps the belief on the part of Michael Dell and other PC hardware vendors that there is pent-up demand for new PCs isn't just them trying to sell their wares. Two new analysts' reports seem to back up their statements.
According to a worldwide survey by Information Technology Intelligence and Sunbelt Software of 1,500 IT decision makers released Monday, 49 percent said they will migrate to Windows 7 within a year of Thursday's formal launch.
An additional 11 percent said they will wait for the first service pack before adopting Windows 7. However, only 40 percent say they have no current plans to migrate to the new system, according to ITIC Principal Analyst Laura DiDio, who authored the study.
Already tired of all the hype and promotion swirling around Windows 7, with the launch still just a little over a week away? Don't even begin to think that will end on October 22, when Microsoft finally makes it available for sale to consumers.
Besides TV commercials starring four-year-old Kylie, Microsoft has plenty of TV commercials, print and online ads, and other promotions waiting in the wings.
However, at least one upcoming TV promotion will at least feature a hefty dose of humor along with Windows 7. A TV special, set to air on November 8 at 8:30 p.m., will feature cartoons and other content by "Family Guy" creator, Seth MacFarlane. You can see a trailer for here.
Despite some pundits' arguments to the contrary, one analyst is predicting that the release of Windows 7 could trigger an upgrade bonanza after all -- especially when it comes to opening the floodgates on corporate IT migration from Windows XP.
In a report titled "Raising the Roof on IT Spending. (And Another Look
at the Win7 Cycle)," Jefferies & Company analyst Katherine Egbert, forecast that as soon as eight months after its October 22 launch, corporate resistance to moving to the new operating system will likely start to dissolve.
I have to laugh at the sudden, slew of Mac bloggers taking swings at Windows 7 and asserting that Macs will continue to sell well after Microsoft's newest OS ships. Feeling a little defensive are we, bros? Their reaction shows worry that the thing they profess against -- surging PC sales that swamp Macs -- may yet be reality.
Windows 7 is simply Microsoft's best operating system ever. Mac fanboys should worry and circle together in defensive posture. Collectively, they're making a last stand against the PC giant. Please, please, boisterous Mac defenders, stand in the front lines and receive the first blows. You deserve them.
The version of Windows that succeeds Windows 7 will include a 128-bit architecture, according to an embarrassing leak from Microsoft's research and development team in the US.
Microsoft employee Robert Morgan appeared to detail the software giant's plans for Windows 8, and even Windows 9, on business networking site LinkedIn, where he listed his job as 'senior research and development'. His profile has now been removed from the main LinkedIn site, but is still viewable in Google's search cache.
In it, he says he's "working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and longterm projects.
Halo 3: ODST has already generated more than $125 million in sales its first two weeks, and with almo
st 2.5 million copies sold the Halo franchise is rapidly approaching the 30 million sales mark. Though Bungie may be getting tired of cranking out games featuring massive floating ringworlds, Microsoft's 343 Industries makes it clear in a recent interview with USA Today that there will be new Halo products for at least another six years.
Games
Bungie's final contribution to the series, Halo: Reach is the story of what happened when the Covenant first attacked humanity on the planet Reach. A prequel to the Halo trilogy, Reach is scheduled to release in fall of 2010.
Microsoft plans to replicate some processes from the PC industry to try to boost its performance in the mobile market and expects to see a growing number of applications in its new Marketplace, an executive said this week.
In a wide-ranging interview, Andy Lees, senior vice president of mobile communications for Microsoft, confirmed that for the first time the company will release hardware reference designs to make it easier for handset makers to use Windows Mobile. Microsoft has hinted at the reference design plan previously and Lees described the idea from a high level.
In a bold new experiment for distributing Office that, quite surprisingly, does not involve Office Web Apps, Microsoft announced this afternoon its plans to let OEMs pre-install the full Office 2010 on new PCs, but enable it to run in a limited format until users purchase their licenses. That format, for the first time, will be ad-supported.
When Office 2010 premieres (the official date is still unknown at this point), a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Betanews, new Windows 7 PCs will be made available through participating OEMs (no list has been revealed yet) that contain, pre-installed, a product that will be known as Office Starter 2010. It will contain partly functional versions of Word and Excel -- or perhaps more accurately, it will appear to contain partly functional versions, because the complete Office 2010 software will be installed on these systems.