With Windows 7 Beta getting positive reviews, more rumors are emerging that Microsoft's new operating system will be available before Christmas. But Microsoft is still
refusing to admit that Windows 7 will be ready by the end of this year and insists on the January 2010 release date.
equivalent version of Vista to Windows 7. As previously reported, the versions in which Windows 7 will come are highly similar to Vista's.
Microsoft reiterated several times that Windows 7 might not be ready in time for this year's holiday season, sticking to their
originally planned launch date in early 2010. However, if indeed Microsoft will give users who buy a new computer with Windows
Vista a free/cheap copy of Windows 7 when the new OS becomes available, the launch date of W7 shouldn't be too far away.
Did Microsoft just serve up more fodder for the wits who direct Apple's lacerating series of Mac versus PC commercials?
On the surface, the decision to open a Microsoft chain of retail outlets sounds like a reasonable idea. With consumer spending plummeting, the competition for shoppers' attention is keener than ever. Why not hang out a shingle and give your wares top billing?
But this route has been fraught for technology companies who lost fortunes paying for under-used real estate compounded by bloated employee payrolls.
To encourage consumers to keep buying Windows Vista PCs this year despite Windows 7's looming release, Microsoft will give away free Windows 7 upgrades to people buying PCs with Windows Vista until as late
as Jan. 31 of next year, according to a report.
The veracity of the report "seems reasonable to me," said Rosoff. "If they're soliciting OEM feedback now, that points to
a possible release in time for holiday 2009."
Microsoft declined to comment on the TechARP report.
"Microsoft often explores options with our partners to determine product offerings," a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
The Windows 7 beta, shown running on Ina Frieds Mac Mini.
A new build version of the Windows 7 beta has been available on several torrent sites as Microsoft ended the distribution of an earlier version, according to a report.
Computerworld noticed that Windows 7 Build 7022 has been available on sites like The Pirate Bay for download this week, the last days in which Windows users were able to download the beta before Microsoft pulled the plug Thursday. Several versions are still there as of this writing, which includes a Release Candidate version of Internet Explorer 8 for Windows 7 that was missing from the original beta release, and XTreview.com thought the new build was faster on certain benchmarks.
Microsoft on Thursday said it is offering a $250,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for creating the Conficker Internet worm that has infected millions of PCs.
Microsoft said it is offering the reward because the worm constitutes a "criminal attack" and offering compensation should hasten prosecution. Residents of any country are eligible for the reward and should contact their international law enforcement authorities, the company said in a statement.
Microsoft's SharePoint has become a wildly popular application, recently eclipsing $1 billion in sales in a period of 12 months. It's jam-packed with capabilities from content management to collaboration, but has been criticized as too shallow in some feature sets.
Microsoft announced plans to fill one of those gaps today by more deeply integrating into the next version of SharePoint, enterprise search technology acquired via Microsoft's purchase of Fast Search and Transfer about a year ago.
Microsoft, not necessarily known for being the company for hopeless romantics, is home to at least one.
In a posting on the Channel 10 developer site, Laura Foy put together a list of Redmond products that show that "Microsoft is a super romantic love machine of a company."
In the somewhat tongue-in-cheek video, Foy shows how the company's Web services, in particular, can keep February 14 from being a bust.
"Are you a bit of mess when it comes to Valentine's Day?" Foy asks in the text that accompanies her video. "Are you nervous and lost when put under the pressure of being extra romantic on February 14th?
Microsoft is marking on Tuesday the recent awarding of its 10,000 US patent, granted for its surface computing technology.
U.S. Patent No. 7,479,950 outlines how users can place objects, ranging from cell phones to fingers, on the surface computer's table-like display and the computer will identify the objects and track their position, orientation, and motion, Microsoft said. This allows objects to be associated with data or media, such as a collection of music or photos.
Microsoft was granted 2,000 patents in 2008, ranking it fourth among companies receiving US patents, Microsoft said. The company spends about $8 billion a year on research and development.
In a vote of confidence for Windows 7 's suitability for use on netbook PCs, Hewlett-Packard says it likely will offer at least three different editions of the upcoming operating system on future models of its Mini
netbooks.
As part of last week's announcement, Microsoft confirmed that there will be no special "netbook SKU" of Windows 7. Instead, PC makers will be allowed to install the Starter edition, formerly consigned to developing countries
only, on netbooks and other low-end PCs for sale in markets worldwide. Microsoft officials expect, though, that the majority
of netbooks will actually ship with Windows 7 Home Premium.
Microsoft has shut off the Windows 7 beta spigot, but will allow users who have started the download process to wrap it up by Thursday.
People who began to download the massive disk image file -- 2.44GB for the 32-bit version, 3.15GB for the 64-bit -- before
Tuesday have until noon Thursday to complete the process, and activation keys will be available indefinitely, LeBlanc
reiterated Monday.
The deadlines do not apply to subscribers to the TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network services. Those users, typically
IT professionals and developers, will continue to have access to the beta. Microsoft has not said when it will offer an updated
build of Windows 7 to the public, although the head of Windows development has announced that the company will move directly from the beta to a "release candidate" milestone.