Articles about Windows

A Russian Windows TechNet Blog Thursday evening announced "Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Released", and the presumption was that Microsoft had begun shipping SP1 (v. 601.17514.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850.) to OEM partners.

The update has been slated for a first quarter 2011 release, and in October, RC1 of this incremental service update was pushed out. So the final RTM is expected to be very soon.

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Microsoft has rolled out the release candidates of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, the last of the beta builds before the update's final release to manufacturing.

Windows 7 SP1 constitutes a bundle of minor updates for the client version of Windows 7 and has been in beta since June (Though a version leaked two months beforehand.) The main updates to Winddows Server 2008 R2 include new features in the virtual desktop infrastructure called RemoteFX, and Dynamic Memory.

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It's been one year since Windows 7 launched to the world, and to celebrate the passing of the year, Microsoft has released some information about the milestones Windows 7 has passed.

Most importantly among them, Microsoft announced that 240 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold worldwide, which gives it a 17% global OS market share. Microsoft communications manager Brandon LeBlanc today said Windows 7 is "the fastest selling operating system in history."

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Monday morning, Microsoft revealed the first handful of Windows Phone 7 devices. These nine new handsets will be available in North America on November 8th, and in Europe, and Asia on October 21. As a bit of a bonus, HTC announced an additional WP7 phone which will arrive a little bit after the first batch, some time early next year.

Microsoft has set a pretty high bar in terms of a baseline device specs. They are all on par with the top-of-the-line devices on Google's Android platform, offering 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, five megapixel cameras, and each with a price around $200 US.

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As marketing tactics go, Microsoft's Windows 7 Family Pack revival is shrewdly timed. That's right, Family Pack is back -- and for a limited time. According to Microsoft's Windows Blog, "while supplies last," whatever that means. Microsoft is drumming the public relations ahead of October 22nd global availability, when consumers can grab a box with three Windows 7 Home Premium licenses for about 150 bucks. The software deal already is available in the United States direct from Microsoft or from "select" retailers.

The reasons aren't rocket science for the timing, one of which Microsoft's blog post hints at -- Windows Live Essentials 2011, which officially released late last week. "Upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows XP also lets you take advantage to one of all the benefits of the new Windows Live Essentials 2011," Ashley Brown blogs. "Windows Live Essentials is a free suite of software designed to complete your Windows 7 experience." It's a marketing pitch but also an admission: Windows Live Essentials 2011 requires Windows 7 or Vista. XP users aren't allowed.

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Consumers are responding positively to Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, and thus their satisfaction of their PCs has also increased, the most recent edition of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The effect is being compared to the "halo effect" of Apple's iPod music player, which was thought to have engendered positive feelings about the Mac computer.

Dell's satisfaction score was up three points over last year to a 77, while HP, Acer, and a general "all others" category was up four points also to a 77. The only manufacturer not to see gains was Compaq, which remained at a 74 out of a possible 100. Apple remained on top with a score of 86, which was two points higher than last year. The Cupertino company has led the survey every year since 2004.

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In a sign that Windows 7 sales may be beginning to falter somewhat, Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it would be bringing back its Windows 7 Family Pack discount program. The offer gives multi-computer households the opportunity to upgrade three PCs to Windows 7 Home Premium.

The deal is available beginning October 3 at a price of $149.99. This is a considerable savings over individual upgrades: a single copy of Home Premium alone retails for $129.99. It is unclear when the promotion would end, although Microsoft began pulling last year's offer in December.

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The other night, I got quite the shock. A good friend, who is a Windows enthusiast and IT administrator/consultant, informed me that he had dumped Windows 7 for Ubuntu. I didn't see that coming. For one, he's a Windows fan. For another, I would rate Windows 7 as nearly Microsoft's best operating system ever (sorry, even with the driver problems, Windows NT 4 still ranks as my fav; for its time -- 1996ish). My buddy contacted me by Skype, and I kept the transcript which I offer here with his permission.

Many of my questions were deliberately pointed, for three reasons. 1) As with all interviews, I strive for impartiality. 2) This friend, whom I'll call IT Guy for this post, is a good buddy. I know his personality enough to press hard about certain things. 3) I don't want to give some of Betanews' more rabid commenters cause to accuse of bias against Microsoft or Windows (I have none, but they accuse anyway). Hey, I'm just as surprised as you about my buddy's Ubuntu conversion. He had tried Linux years ago and didn't really like the experience, particularly because of driver problems and deficient or missing applications.

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Mozilla has made the third beta of Firefox 4 available for download and testing this week, and the popular browser has received two major updates: one is very visible, one is not.

The less outwardly visible improvement in Firefox 4 beta 3 is the improved JavaScript engine, which now supports 64-bit "Fat Values." This promises more efficient code execution for complex graphical and animated content, among other things.

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Usage of Windows 7 has eclipsed that of its predecessor Vista for the first time, data from research firm NetApplications indicates. Regardless, Windows XP remains the most commonly used operating system.

Share of Windows 7 in July hit 14.46 percent, a hair above Vista's 14.34 percent share for the month. This was nowhere close to Windows XP, which saw a 61.87 percent share, which has declined slowly over the past year as adoption of Windows 7 rises.

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As announced at Tech Ed 2010 in New Orleans a little more than a week ago, Invitations for the first beta of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) have reportedly begun arriving in potential testers' mailboxes.

The beta of SP1 is expected to begin in July, with the release to market some time in the fourth quarter.

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Denver-based technology research firm Janco Partners, Inc. today released a study profiling the international browser and operating system market.

The study shows that in the less than seven months that Windows 7 has been available, it has already attained a 14.8% share of the international OS market.

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In March, the Windows team announced the upcoming release of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2, but did not set a date of availability.

At the time, Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc said, "For Windows 7, SP1 includes only minor updates, among which are previous updates that are already delivered through Windows Update. SP1 for Windows 7 will, however, deliver an updated Remote Desktop client that takes advantage of RemoteFX introduced in the server-side with SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2."

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Could someone please give back Steve Ballmer's brain? He really needs it. The Web is buzzing about a Microsoft executive telling APC Magazine that existing Windows Mobile handsets will not be eligible for Windows Phone 7 Series upgrades. Is Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, out of his fraking mind for letting this happen? Oh, right, someone took away his brain. Please return it.

What's all the fuss about? Firstly, the no-upgrade policy gives every possible Windows Mobile buyer every reason not to purchase. Secondly, the hottest WinMo phone, the HTC HD2, is suddenly a Windows Phone 7 Series brick. According to Natasha Kwan, Microsoft's Asia-Pacific region Mobile Communications Business GM, the HD2 "doesn't qualify because it doesn't have the three buttons." The smartphone has too much of a good thing--five buttons.

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Normally, Betanews doesn't like to do "inside baseball" stories, that deal with the individuals in the technology journalism business and all the insights as to "how the sausage is made." I'll try to make this one as painless as possible, but it needs to be done, because the individual involved had been cited by me in Betanews stories in the past.

Yesterday morning, ZDNet Editor-in-Chief Larry Dignan revealed the results of research showing that a blogger for IDG publications, and the CTO of a testing and research firm cited by that blogger, were actually the same person. Blogger Randall C. Kennedy, a trusted InfoWorld contributor up until yesterday, was Devil Mountain Software Chief Technology Officer "Craig Barth," the author of reports over the years claiming that Windows Vista performance was slower than Windows XP, and recently that Windows 7 performance was slower than Windows Vista.

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