Launching Windows 7 with a steeply discounted preorder offer won’t eradicate all memory of Microsoft’s widely criticized Vista operating system, but it might ensure that it receives a better reception at market. And so the company today said that beginning Friday, “select markets” can preorder Windows 7 at a more than 50 percent discount.
Windows XP is almost nine years old. And it will be almost 11 before it is finally retired for good now that Microsoft has once again extended XP downgrade rights, this time for 18 months following the general availability of Windows 7.
Apple (AAPL) is also updating the MacBook air. Two new configurations starting at 1.8 GHZ. “Great hardware deservers great software,” says Schiller. And with that he welcomes Bertrand Serlet to the stage to talk about OS X. Serlet immediately begins talking smack about Vista and Windows 7. “No end user should ever have to know about disc defragmentation,” he quips. Windows 7 is “fundamentally another version of Vista. “It’s the same old technology. This is so very different from OS X.”
How slow are government agencies at adopting new technologies? So slow that the U.S. Army is planning a major upgrade of its information systems–to Microsoft’s Windows Vista OS. Though Windows 7 is expected at market by the end of the year, the United States military has set that as a deadline for its migration from Windows XP to Windows Vista and from Office 2003 to Office 2007.
Microsoft has finally given Windows 7 a release date. According to Bill Veghte, senior vice president for Windows, the next iteration of the company’s operating system will arrive at market in time for the holiday shopping season.
Now that the marketplace has abandoned Vista, is Microsoft making preparations to abandon it as well? Earlier today, a Microsoft executive suggested that might be the case, hinting that the company could be planning to ditch Vista soon after Windows 7 ships.
Verizon Wireless is reportedly working with Microsoft to develop a new smart-phone. Plus, layoffs at Nokia and Microsoft’s “societal network.”
Think of it as Facebook for the people you actually know and like, those whose health and safety you’d worry about in a natural disaster. It’s called Microsoft Vine and it’s not so much a social network as it is a “societal” one–or at least, Redmond likes to bill it as such.
Technically, the term refers to the frenzied flow of games and the intensity of the contenders for the NCAA Championship crown. But the NCAA doesn’t have a corner on “March Madness”–those descriptors work well in other instances, too. To wit:
Much ado about the Amazon Kindle 2.0 this week:
After its official unveiling on Feb. 9, the e-book reader started shipping on Monday, and actually managed to grab much–but not all–of the hype that’s surrounded Twitter of late. The device has been met with much acclaim, though it’s by no means unanimous.
If you thought the Vista Capable lawsuit was all but over with its recent decertification as a class action, think again. The plaintiffs in the suit against Microsoft have narrowed its scope a bit and are asking a federal judge to reinstate its class-action status.
Looks the three-hour deposition Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave in the so-called “Vista Capable” class action suit was for naught. A judge Wednesday ruled that the lawsuit, which has troubled Microsoft for nearly two years now, cannot go forward as a class action.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Includes “Pigs in a Polka,” “Rabbit of Seville” and, of course, “What’s Opera, Doc?”
Take the famous ballads and duets of West Side Story, insert a dozen mentions of famous social media sites like twitter and facebook, and this is what you get.
An iPod mini rebuilt with a wooden case
Star Wars meets Magnum, P.I.
Music videos recreated with new lyrics based on what’s actually happening in them. Daydream Believer and Total Eclipse of the Heart are particularly good.
In response to numerous e-mails, I have no idea what planet the giant alien creature is from. Judging from its enormous gills, I’d have to guess it’s from a watery planet. Reminder: please let me know if you plan to be in the office on Memorial Day so I can request HVAC for your floor.
For those of you who mock the wolf shirt beware. There is an old Navajo story about a young man who made fun of another man for wearing a wolf trio shirt. Legend has it that in his sleep, the wolves on the other man’s shirt came to life and tore his body to shreds. They never found any part of that man’s body. The Wolf is something to be respected and feared, not treated like a novelty.
Hands down the most inexplicably bizarre game for Wii I’ve ever seen
Yo mama is so attractive she could be on the cover of Prevention.
The inspiration for this project was to determine who could generate the worst flatulence measurable in a personally unbiased manner.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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