According to 1 market research outfit, Windows 7 has outsold Windows Vista by 234% in their first few days of sales. Not surprising is it? The question is whether or not this is sustained and makes significant inroads into the business market where Microsoft makes a great deal of its income from operating system and productivity software.
Oh Microsoft. It’s really not a good sign that your launch celebration of Windows 7 with cascading dominoes had ‘bugs’ in it!
(If you don’t feel like watching the whole way through, I’ll give away the ‘bugs’ – there were sections where the dominoes didn’t fall and in one case, someone had to manually push them to finish the sequence.)
As promised, Microsoft just released its free security program for Windows XP/Vista/7 this week. This is anti-virus/anti-malware/anti-spyware/anti-trojan/anti-rookit software. It replaces Microsoft Defender.
The big question here is whether or not Microsoft will run products made by Symantec, McAfee, et al out of business.
Wondering what to do this Sunday? Maybe you should think about taking a trip to your local Target b/c they’re probably going to have Xbox 360s on sale for $250. Elite 120GB models will go for $300.
Microsoft have announced their latest addition to the portable mouse market – the Arc™ Mouse; a mouse which can fold away to 60% of its size to be carried and can be unfolded to make a comfortable pointing device for your laptop. The mouse utilizes laser technology for extra precision over optical, broadcasts over 2.4Ghz, allowing it to control your laptop from 30ft. away (should you ever need to have your mouse so far away from your laptop!) and features 4 customizable buttons with another button for switching between windows.
Originally designed with the ever-increasing notebook market in mind, the Arc Mouse would make a great addition to any computer or game console where space is an issue, but style is demanded – it comes in black or red to suit your personality.
Price: $49.95
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
A few months ago, we told you that Microsoft was shipping a new Zune, the HD, in Fall. Well that time is on us and it will be available Sep 15, but you can pre-order it now!
There are 2 models: a 16GB for $219.99 and a 32GB for $289.99.
A federal judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling Microsoft Word 2003 & 2007 versions in 60 days, because it was ruled that they [Microsoft] infringed Canadian company i4i’s patents. Of course, Microsoft says it will appeal.
What I wonder is if this ruling stands up, how is Microsoft going to handle the huge quantity of Word licenses that are sold as part of Office bundles particularly by OEM computer makers who include Office in their packages?
We’ve seen Google trying their hand at operating systems but what about Microsoft trying to steal power usage market share from Google? Back in February we took a look at PowerMeter – a product from Google that allows users to monitor their power consumption via ‘smart’ meters, but Microsoft has released Hohm (still in beta) to do pretty much the same job.
Hohm will check your levels of electricity, propane and oil consumption within a given time period and Microsoft will look at adding device monitoring (something already offered by PowerMeter) and water monitoring to give a complete picture of your resource usage. When you sign up for your free account you can see how much you’re spending on energy, how it compares to similar users and how it can be reduced.
It’s just a pity they couldn’t get hold of a better domain to host it on.
Google has taken the much rumored step of creating its own OS. Named Chrome after the browser of the same name, this new OS will have a windowing environment based on a Linux kernel (of course) and will naturally contain the Chrome browser as its browser-of-choice.
Google expects Google Chrome Operating System to be available in netbooks in the first half of 2010, and has been working with OEMs to make this a reality. This OS is really meant for those users who use computers mainly to access and use Web applications – e-mail, documents, social networking, shopping, etc. You probably won’t find too many power users switching to this OS, although it’ll be fine if it was on the family room netbook.
Is Microsoft worried? You bet they are, and if not, they should be. The scarier thing is that Google probably isn’t even doing this to ‘compete’ with Microsoft per se. They just want to get the Web in front of as many people as possible, because that means more people viewing and potentially clicking on their ads. This is not a direct revenue maker for Google, but would result in a revenue losses for Microsoft.
And if Google succeeds in creating an OS that is faster, more lightweight, more secure (with few or no bugs, viruses and malware), than current MS platforms then more people (and developers) will gravitate towards the OS.
Microsoft seem to be filing patents left, right and center these days, and the latest discovery is one that may sound ridiculous at the moment, but it is quite easy to imagine it being common practice in the future – the ‘Magic Wand’. This ‘wand’ doesn’t have quite as many uses as a wizard’s, but does sound pretty handy; it can support connections between various types of technology in your home, whether it be your home cinema or pool cover.
Okay, you say – just another home automation remote control. But wait. This new ‘Wand’ sounds like it could take on a more advanced form of the Nintendo Wii control, whereby accelerometers (like in the high-end Nokia N-series and various other phones), various speed sensors, pre-existing communication frequencies and even by video cameras on the device! Maybe it could be left on a desk and programmed to hide all your games when your boss walks in the room? Let’s hope the patent gets granted!
