Microsoft will collect feedback on the Windows 7 release candidate over the next few months, fixing small issues. The company allowed developers and other testers to begin downloading the release candidate last week.

Windows 7 comes nearly three years after Windows Vista, which took five years for Microsoft to engineer but was regarded by some as underwhelming. Microsoft hasn't said when the final Windows 7 version will be released, although it's rumored to be out before year's end.

Microsoft warned it is not offering technical support for the Windows 7 release candidate, so those who install it are on their own. Users should be familiar with installing an operating system from scratch, formatting a hard drive and backing up data, among other skills, Microsoft advised.

In the Windows 7 release notes, Microsoft warns of several problems that haven't been resolved, including issues with its latest Web browser, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).

Debugging JavaScript with the developer tools in IE8 could throw up a warning that a Web site is not responding, but that warning can be ignored. Also, some Web pages may have misaligned text or missing images. Microsoft recommends clicking on the "compatibility view" button on the address bar as a fix.

Microsoft released the Windows 7 beta in Arabic and Hindi, but those languages have been replaced with French and Spanish in the release candidate. English is available for both versions.

"We needed to ensure certain features were tested for worldwide functionality, and Hindi and Arabic help us test a number of language-related features," Microsoft said.

The Windows 7 release candidate will only work for so long. It is due to expire on June 1, 2010. Three months prior, the release candidate will automatically shut down a person's computer after two hours.

The Window 7 beta expires on Aug. 1, and computers with that version will begin shutting themselves down after two hours beginning July 1.

Microsoft said that Windows Vista users will not need to reinstall their applications after upgrading to the Windows 7 release candidate. The company does, however, recommend backing up data as a precaution. Vista users will have to do a clean install, however, to go from the Windows 7 release candidate to the final version.

Windows XP users should back up their data and do a clean install of the Windows 7 release candidate.

To run the 32-bit version of the release candidate, a computer should have a 1 GHz or faster processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of hard disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 1.0 or higher driver.

For the 64-bit version, Microsoft recommends a 1 GHz or faster processor, 2GB of RAM, 20GB of hard disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.


You can also goto http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx for more information and download

source : PC WORLD

Microsoft on Wednesday released Service Pack 2 Release Candidate (RC) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

"Starting today, the RC of SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 will be available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers to test prior to final release," Brandon LeBlanc, a Windows communication manager, wrote in a blog post. "In the very near future, we will be making the RC broadly available for anyone to download and test. You can expect another blog post from me when that happens."

The final SP2 is expected to be released in the second quarter of 2009, he said.

"In addition to all previously released updates, SP2 will contain changes focused on supporting new types of hardware and adding support for several emerging standards," LeBlanc said. "SP2 will also continue to make it easier for IT administrators to deploy and manage large installations of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008."

Organizations that want to upgrade to Vista or Windows Server 2008 do not have to wait until the final SP2 release, LeBlanc said, though SP1 must already be installed.

"We encourage them to begin their Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 evaluation and deployment now," he said.

Beta versions of Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 were made available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers in early December.

source : www.pcmag.com

"We are applying to become a third party in the European Commission's proceeding," Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management, said in a company blog today.

Last month, the EU's commission submitted a preliminary list of charges, or statement of objections, to Microsoft, and accused it of shielding Internet Explorer (IE) from competition by bundling it with Windows.

Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, had earlier been granted "interested third party" status , which allows it to submit arguments to regulators, to see the charge sheet the commission sent Microsoft and to participate in a face-to-face hearing if Microsoft requests one.

The Norwegian browser developer Opera Software ASA filed the original complaint with the commission in late 2007.

Pichai said Google is getting involved because the field tilts toward Microsoft. "The browser market is still largely uncompetitive, which holds back innovation for users," he said. "This is because Internet Explorer is tied to Microsoft's dominant computer operating system, giving it an unfair advantage over other browsers."

Google, which launched its own Chrome only last September, cited such features as browser tabs and privacy modes as some of the things that have appeared because of competition among browser makers.

"We believe that we can contribute to this debate," added Pichai. "We learned a lot from launching Chrome last year and are hoping that Google's perspective will be useful as the commission evaluates remedies."

Although the commission has not spelled out what actions it might demand Microsoft take, agency spokesman Jonathan Todd has provided some clues. Microsoft could be fined, forced to let users choose alternate browsers to install in Windows or ordered to allow users to disable IE if a different browser is desired.

Speaking of remedies, Mitchell Baker, the former CEO of Mozilla and currently the chairman of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, today offered her take on changes Microsoft might be required to make.

n a blog entry of her own, Baker, who has been commenting regularly on the issue since Mozilla joined the case as an interested party, listed several potential cures, but stopped short of calling them recommendations. One possibility would be to make Microsoft divulge all APIs (application programming interfaces) available to IE to other browser builders, while another would be to require Microsoft to offer rival browsers whenever IE or Windows is updated, she said.

Other ideas she offered up ranged from bundling Windows with multiple browsers to including none at all. "This implementation ... has some obvious drawbacks for users," Baker acknowledged.

One antitrust expert has called the EU's investigation pointless .

"I just don't see what it adds to the final judgment in the U.S. case," said William Page, the co-author of The Microsoft Case: Antitrust, High Technology, and Consumer Welfare , (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and a member of the faculty of the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida. "OEMs are already free to delete most of the visible evidence of [Internet Explorer] and to install another browser if they want."

According to Web measurement company Net Applications Inc., IE accounted for 67.6% of the browser market in January, the lowest number since the company began compiling data in 2005. Firefox, meanwhile, held down a 21.5% share, while Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome ended the month with 8.3% and 1.1%, respectively.

source : networkworld

When Windows 7 is released later this year or in early 2010, many PC users who upgrade will be coming from Windows XP. Unlike Vista users, they can't do an "in-place upgrade," in which the new OS overwrites the old one, preserving their installed applications, preferences, and data. Instead, they'll have to do a clean install, which means they have to back up their data, install Win 7 (either deleting or XP or installing as a separate environment), reinstall their apps, restore their data, and re-create their preferences.

For Windows XP users who avoided Vista because of its many problems, that upgrade work may seem as adding insult to injury, making it harder for them to finally adopt a new version of Windows. Through its PR agency, Microsoft confirms to InfoWorld that there will be no "in-place upgrade" option for XP users, but it declines to explain why not. "More materials on your question are in the works," the spokesman says.

Why a clean-install requirement may make sense

But there may be good reason not to support an in-place upgrade, suggests Michael Silver, a Gartner analyst who follows Microsoft technologies. That's because viruses, registry errors, and other performance-sapping flaws in the user's Windows environment would be carried over into Windows 7; something that would not happen with a clean install.

Business IT typically does clean installs on user systems to avoid these issues, Silver notes, so the lack of an in-place upgrade will be a nonissue for most enterprises.

Consumers and small businesses are the ones who tend to prefer the in-place upgrade option, Silver notes, and they're the ones who may be annoyed by the clean-install requirement if coming from XP. "Microsoft is in a bit of a no-win situation here: Support the upgrade and live with whatever bad experiences users have or don't support the upgrade and make it harder for people to do it," Silver says.

"Most users will be better off doing the clean install anyway," he says, so he recommends that even Vista users avoid the in-place upgrade and proceed to the clean install.

Silver also notes that users who did not upgrade to Vista often have hardware that can't run Windows 7 or Vista (typically, PCs from 2006 or earlier), so they would likely get a new computer at the same time with Windows 7 preinstalled, which means reinstalling their apps, preferences, and data anyhow.

A precedent for providing in-place upgrades for earlier generations

When Microsoft shipped Windows Vista, it offered XP users the choice of an in-place upgrade or a clean install, but users of earlier Windows versions could do only a clean install. So the requirement for Windows XP and earlier users to do a clean install of Windows 7 follows that precedent.

But when Microsoft shipped Windows XP in late 2001, it gave not only users of the predecessor Windows 2000 but also users of the earlier generations (Windows 98, Windows Millennium, and Windows 98 Second Edition) the in-place upgrade option. In some ways, the situation then was similar to that situation today. Microsoft Millennium was a technical failure that customers avoided, causing Microsoft to issue Windows 98 SE. Then came Windows 2000, replacing the OS kernel and much of the architecture, which meant it needed newer hardware and was incompatible with many peripherals and applications. So most users stuck with Windows 98 or 98 SE, and Microsoft eased the path to XP by allowing in-place upgrades for them all.

Technically, the shift from Windows Vista to Windows 7 is small, so it should be easier to support an in-place upgrade from XP to Windows 7 than it was from Windows 98 to Windows XP. But Silver cites the performance and security issues that an in-place upgrade preserves as a reason that Microsoft may have chosen not to do so this time.

Silver contrasts Microsoft's situation with that of Apple, which lets users do an in-place upgrade three versions back (from Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, 10.3 Panther, and 10.4 Tiger) to the current Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. "This is an area -- efficiency, ease, and success of upgrade -- where Apple has an edge," he notes, due to its greater control over the hardware and the more focused reach of the OS.

source : PCWORLD

With Windows 7 Beta getting positive reviews, more rumors are emerging that Microsoft's new operating system will be available before Christmas. But Microsoft is still refusing to admit that Windows 7 will be ready by the end of this year and insists on the January 2010 release date.

Windows 7 will be available at retail by Christmas this year -- say both The Inquirer and CNet News, according to different sources. The Inquirer quotes Microsoft techie Mark Russinovich, who said in a webcast that Windows 7 "will be sent for manufacture three years after Vista did the same, which was in October 2006."

On the other hand, CNet's Ina Fried quotes "PC industry sources in Asia and the U.S." saying that "they have heard things are on track to launch by this year's holiday shopping season." CNet also says that Microsoft is prepping a program to offer Vista users an inexpensive alternative to updating to Windows 7.

My colleague over at ComputerWorld, Preston Gralla, also uncovered evidence in early January that Windows 7 will ship this year. Based on a leaked internal Microsoft memo regarding the Windows 7 upgrade program, Preston is "assuming that within two or three months of the July 1 date (upgrade program launch), Windows 7 will ship."

According to the leaked Microsoft memo, the Windows 7 Upgrade Program lets PC makers give free upgrades to Windows 7 for customers who purchase Vista computers starting July 1. The free or cheap update would be basically the equivalent version of Vista to Windows 7. As previously reported, the versions in which Windows 7 will come are highly similar to Vista's.

Microsoft reiterated several times that Windows 7 might not be ready in time for this year's holiday season, sticking to its original launch date in early 2010. However, if indeed Microsoft will give users who buy a new computer with Windows Vista a free or cheap copy of Windows 7 when the new OS becomes available, the launch date of W7 shouldn't be too far away.

source : PCWORLD

To encourage consumers to keep buying Windows Vista PCs this year despite Windows 7 's looming release, Microsoft Corp. will give away free Windows 7 upgrades to people buying PCs with Windows Vista until as late as January 31 of next year, according to a report.
The report, from the Malaysian blog TechARP.com, which has called similar details correctly in the past, is another clue that Microsoft plans to release Windows 7 before year's end, said Matt Rosoff , an analyst with the independent research firm Directions on Microsoft.

Citing purported confidential memos from Microsoft, TechARP.com had earlier reported that the Windows 7 Upgrade Program will begin July 1 of this year.

That would mean that any Vista PCs purchased between then and January 31, 2010 are eligible for free upgrades to Windows 7.

TechARP reported today that those Windows 7 upgrade DVDs should be delivered by PC makers to customers by April 30, 2010 . These dates are "open to change," TechARP reported.

The veracity of the report "seems reasonable to me," said Rosoff. "If they're soliciting OEM feedback now, that points to a possible release in time for holiday 2009."

Microsoft declined to comment on the TechARP report.

"Microsoft often explores options with our partners to determine product offerings," a spokeswoman said in an e-mail. "We are not announcing anything new at this time."

TechARP correctly named the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) dates for several Windows editions last year.

In Microsoft's prior Vista Express upgrade program, Windows XP PCs bought between October 26, 2006 and March 15, 2007 were eligible for free Vista upgrades.

Microsoft launched Vista to consumers officially on January 30th, or 45 days before the program's eligibility ended.

The program was plagued with delays , with consumers waiting weeks or months to get their Vista upgrade DVDs mailed to them.

TechARP has other purported details from the upgrade program, including screenshots and upgrade paths.

"The program sounds very similar to what they did before Vista," Rosoff said. "I think the terms are slightly different, but that's because there were fewer [versions] in XP, so the edition upgrade paths were similar."

source : www.networkworld.com