windows

Microsoft recently took full advantage when given the opportunity to criticize longtime rival Apple about its iPhone 4. To their credit, however, Microsoft ended up offering some self-depreciating humor in the process. "It looks like the iPhone 4 ... might be [Apple's Windows Vista], and I'm OK with that," said Kevin Turner, Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer (COO) during their Worldwide Partner Conference held in Washington. (Source: thestreet.com ) It was only five years ago that Windows Vista was pegged as Microsoft's most comprehensive operating system (OS) to date, yet it soon fell out of ... (view more)

Just days after media reports suggested that the Windows XP downgrade function would be available in Microsoft operating systems until 2020 , the software company has now announced that the feature is unlikely to last quite that long. In an ... announcement about the release of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 on the official Microsoft Windows Blog on Monday, Brandon LeBlanc made a side-note on the timeline for Windows XP downgrade rights -- in short, the ability to revert to Windows XP while using Windows 7. WinXP Downgrade Rights Extended "[W]e have decided to extend downgrade rights to Windows XP ... (view more)

Microsoft will next week unveil a series of security bulletins meant to address five security flaws. The fixes are part of the company's monthly Patch Tuesday release, and will most importantly fix a critical Windows XP Help Bug flaw in Windows' ... Help and Support Center. The series of fixes include four patches for the five vulnerabilities, three of which have been dubbed "critical" by Microsoft -- the company's highest level of alert. Each of these critical issues involve holes that, if exploited, could allow a hacker to launch a remote code execution attack upon an unsuspecting user's PC. ... (view more)

Windows 8 may still be a few years away from reality, but according to a new study, small and midsize businesses can get a real financial boost by switching to Windows 7 right now. The reasoning has to do with a reduction in support costs. ... "Businesses with 250 or fewer PCs that are deploying Windows 7 are gaining more than happier users," said a report by researchers at analyst firm IDC. "They are lowering support costs, improving security, and making end users more productive." (Source: informationweek.com ) Support Savings as High as 65% Some support cost cuts have been higher than 50 per ... (view more)

Toshiba is hoping to do more than capture an iPad-friendly market with its upcoming Libretto W100 -- instead, the tech firm seems ready to unearth a whole new audience, one that will appreciate a dual touchscreen device sporting Windows 7. The ... Toshiba Libretto W100 measures 7.95 x 4.84 x 1.2 inches and weighs much less than most netbooks at just 1.8 pounds. However, it's not all that similar to the tiny laptops; instead, its dynamics fall somewhere between an Apple iPad and a Nintendo DS. Techies Push for Alternative to Android Just as important as Libretto's size is its operating system, ... (view more)

Microsoft's plans for Windows 8 appear to have been leaked online. It's hard to tell if they are legitimate, but they make for interesting possibilities. Windows Store In The Works? Of the supposed plans leaked, the most newsworthy feature is the ... possibility of a "Windows Store," which would allow software developers to distribute their programs similar to the iTunes App Store system and combines a central catalog with a rigorous vetting process. Software bought on one machine could be transferred, complete with user settings, to another machine subject to licensing. If closely tied ... (view more)

Microsoft has reported that Windows 7 has now sold 150 million units, which they claim roughly translates to seven copies of the operating system sold every second since its October 22, 2009 launch date. The figures come from a post on a ... Microsoft-run blog, written by the company's Brandon LeBlanc. (Source: windowsteamblog.com ) Businesses Upgrade Late Back in April, on the day which marked six months since Windows 7 went on sale to the wider public, the company reported selling "well over 100 million licenses of Windows 7." In most cases one might expect a slowdown in the total number of ... (view more)

Dell executive Amit Midha on Monday announced that the hardware company is considering using the Google Chrome operating system (OS) on a select list of its laptop computers. That could represent a step away by Dell from Microsoft's Windows ... offerings, and will likely be a major concern for the Redmond-based software giant. In an interview with Reuters, Google senior executive Midha admitted that the company was considering a partial switch from Windows to Chrome on its laptops and perhaps some of its smartphones and tablet computers. The move could be enormous for all of the firms involved, ... (view more)

Microsoft is running a special offer allowing students to upgrade to Windows 7 for just $29.99. They can also buy a special academic edition of Office 2010 for $79.95 outright. The upgrade offer is for the Professional edition of Windows 7. That's ... effectively the midway point between Home Premium (the edition most home users will be running) and Ultimate (the most feature-filled and expensive edition for individuals). Compared with Home Premium, the Professional edition offers some extra features which might not appeal to students, such as easier company network connections, but one which ... (view more)

Microsoft has released security updates for 34 different problems, a monthly total that has only been matched once. Three sets of problems are ranked as critical, and several are so-called zero-day bugs. A zero-day bug is one in which the problem is ... not discovered by the software developer itself. This creates the risk that hackers will be able to get a head-start on finding a way to exploit the bug before the developer is able to produce a fix. The critical issues affect both Internet Explorer and Windows itself. Of the 10 security bulletins, these are the priority for installation and ... (view more)