Eighth in a series. The upgrade program, for which Microsoft charges $29 annually for desktop software over three years, is obtusely complex. Many stated benefits have a pleasing marketing ring to them but often turn out to be nothing useful at all. The saying "The devil is in the details" aptly applies to Software Assurance.

Three-Dimensional Matrix

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The latest version of Apple's flagship software iTunes has been released. The big news in iTunes 10.3 is support for the new iCloud service that can be used to automatically download apps, music and other purchases -- this is being labeled as iTunes in the Cloud. There is also newly added support for iBookstore which enables users to purchase ebooks from within iTunes.

iCloud is the replacement for MobileMe and will be made available to users completely free of charge. Once content, such as an app, has been purchased it can then be re-downloaded on any other compatible device without the need for payment. The purchasing options available in iTunes have been extended with the introduction of iBookstore that can be used to browse and buy a selection of ebooks that can be downloaded and synchronized in the same way as apps and music.

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Seventh in a series. Microsoft's volume-licensing upgrade plan locks Microsoft in as much as it does customers. Businesses choosing Software Assurance commit to paying for upgrade rights typically in three-year contracts. They're obligated to pay Microsoft 29 percent of the software's value annually. While Microsoft benefits from getting this money upfront, Software Assurance makes it difficult to reduce prices in response to competitors.

Software Assurance is a Drug

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Sixth in a series. In the decade since Microsoft announced Software Assurance, many customers have found it cheaper to skip upgrades rather than pay up front for the rights to them. Essentially, the licensing program does the opposite of its design.

The "Good Enough" Problem

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With software developer's updating their applications on a daily basis, it's easy to miss an important update or a minor, but essential, hotfix. We've rounded up some of the key new releases from the last 7 days.

Skype suffered a major outage this week, with some users unable to reconnect. As a result, an urgent "hotfix" was released. Skype for Windows 5.3.0.116 is this hotfix and is essential for anyone who is still unable to connect to the Skype network.

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If you thought three builds of Firefox was hard enough to keep up with, you might want to sit down. For those who really want to experience Firefox on the cutting edge -- and by that we mean version 7 of Firefox -- you can access the latest Nightly build, which puts you right on the bleeding edge of development, running code that didn't exist a few days previously.

Firefox Nightly effectly means -- like Google Chrome with its Canary, Dev, Beta and Final releases -- that you have four different builds of Firefox to choose from. Confused? So were we, until we investigated further. Read on, then, for our definitive guide to what version means what, and which version is the best one for you.

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Sparrow, the minimalist email client for Mac, has been updated to version 1.2. The latest release sees a number of improvements and additions, including the much requested unified inbox. This works in much the same way as the inbox in iOS, displaying all of your emails in one place. A neatly redesigned interface is in keeping with Sparrow's minimalist philosophy.

The app has been labelled 'the social email client' and to this end there are a number of improvements. There is better integration with Facebook meaning that friends' avatars are displayed in the application's chat window. In addition to Facebook avatars, Sparrow 1.2 adds support for contact images in your address book as well as the use of Gravatar.

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Xara has updated both of its flagship vector and bitmap design tools -- Xara Photo & Graphic Designer and Xara Designer Pro -- to version 7. New features include the addition of fly-out galleries, a magnetic snap feature, and a photo-erase tool that aims to simplify the process of replacing the background in one image with that of another.

Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 is aimed at graphic enthusiasts, while Xara Designer Pro 7, which adds web-design functionality and professional-level tools such as CMYK and PANTONE support, is geared towards professional designers and web builders.

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Mac owners have long been notoriously smug about the lack of viruses for their chosen operating system, but it is far from true to say that viruses do not exist for OS X. In reality, the platform has simply been of little interest to virus writers and coders of malicious software, but the Mac Defender Trojan highlights the fact that Macs are just as vulnerable as other computers. avast! Free Antivirus for Mac is, and there's a clue in the name, a free antivirus tools for Mac -- and a new beta version has just been released. Timing is appropriate given all the noise about Mac Defender.

Coming from a well-respected name such as avast! you would be right to expect great things from the application, and things certainly bode well. Although there is a memory resident virus scanner that is constantly on the lookout for potential viruses, on-demand scanning is available. If you want to be thorough you can opt to scan your entire system, but you can also perform custom scans or check only in your Home folder. Individual files can be scanned by dragging them onto a special drop zone in the corner of the application window.

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We recently took a look at Soluto, the self-proclaimed "anti-frustration software." The application started off by helping to improve Windows' startup times by analyzing the programs and services that were configured to run automatically and suggesting which were not necessary. This in itself was nothing new, but the suggestions were community driven, so everyone using Soluto was able to contribute to the improved performance of other users' systems. The application has now been updated and the latest beta adds new features to speed up your web browser as well as determining the causes of system crashes.

The web browser performance enhancement is achieved by analyzing which plugins and add-ons you have installed and advising you about which are not really necessary or cause the most slow-down. Your browser is also protected as Soluto will warn you about search engine hijkacking and enable you to prevent it.

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SoftMaker Office 2010 is an interesting productivity suite that delivers much of the power of Microsoft Office, at a considerably lower price. If you prefer your office suites to come without any price tag at all, though, you could always try the previous version, SoftMaker Office 2008. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation package and scripting tool, and is now available for free.

Opting for 2008 edition of the program may cause a few problems. In particular, there's no support for importing Office Open XML files, like DOCX, XLSX or PPTX, so you may not be able to view files created by a more up-to-date Office installation.

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Piriform makes some of the best free Windows utilities around, and issues new versions on a regular basis.  But although the programs will alert you to the new builds, they won't update automatically -- you'll have to download and install the latest versions yourself.

CCAuto Updater is a compact and portable tool that can change all that. In a click or two you can have the program launched when your PC boots, or schedule it to run at the date and time of your choice.  It then checks for updates to CCleaner, Recuva, Defraggler and Speccy, silently downloading and installing any new builds it finds, finally displaying a pop-up alert to tell you of the upgrade when the process is complete.

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Storing your data in the cloud has its pros and cons, but one of the biggest drawbacks has to be the speed at which you can both upload and download data from your storage pool. Not all online storage providers are equal, but there's also factors unique to your PC and Internet setup to consider too.

If you're in the market for signing up for online storage with the likes of Box.net or DriveHQ, it goes without saying you'll want to know which ones are quickest when it comes to making a decision. This is where a new freeware tool, currently in beta, comes into play: Online Drive Benchmark is designed to let you know which provider performs best on your computer.

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Trend Micro has released a public beta of Titanium Maximum Security 2012, the latest incarnation of its feature-packed security suite. As is often the case with betas, it has a few issues to contend with. There's no firewall just yet, for instance, and we found application launch times seemed to lengthen considerably once the beta had been installed.

The program's interface proved straightforward, though, providing easy access to on-demand scans, and a lengthy list of the tools that are available in this version: parental controls, data theft prevention, encryption, secure file deletion, antispam, antiphishing, browsing protection, and more.

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Lacie Inc has released a major new version of its online backup and sync client: Wuala "Hottingen," which runs on Windows, Mac and Linux as well as selected smartphones, includes new features, a redesigned user interface and extended functionality.

Perhaps most interesting to existing free account holders: Wuala has now extended all "Pro" services, including automatic backup, sync, file versioning and time travel, to all users. This brings Wuala into line with other online backup and sync services such as AVG LiveKive, SpiderOak and SugarSync.

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