Those longing to get a-tinkering on Windows platforms with Microsoft's Kinect motion sensor for Xbox 360 will be pleased to hear that the Redmond firm will be releasing its Kinect for Windows SDK on the 1st of February.

Microsoft will be releasing APIs, sample code and Kinect drivers. The company are already working with over 200 development teams to get Kinect-compatible apps together in time for the launch of Windows 8.

"With Kinect for Windows, we are investing in creating a platform that is optimised for scenarios beyond the living room, and delivering new features on an ongoing basis, starting with "near mode", said Craig Eisler, corporate vice president in Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business Unit.

"As well, we will be supporting the Windows Embedded platform to enable a range of intelligent systems scenarios. We are building this platform in a way that will allow other companies the opportunity to integrate Kinect into their offerings. We have invested in an approach that allows them to develop in ways that are dependable and scalable."

Those hoping to use Kinect with other platforms are out of luck though; the SDK only caters for those looking to develop apps for Windows 7, 8 and the Xbox 360.

For more news from CES 2012, click here.

We all know that Apple produce some of the most powerful laptops and desktops that need no configuration at all. The build quality of the computers is second to none, im actually writing this on a four year old macbook which is still fully working and in great condition. The Apple software is also some of the industry's finest, if you know how to use it that is.

To many who have only ever had a PC in their life, sometimes working with Apple's operating system can be quite a daunting task, everything is new and there aren't any of your usual applications for doing your day to day tasks.

To try and provide a bridge between the two operating systems Parallels has come out with their software Parallels Desktop 7. It is usually a very big step to go from Windows to OSX, i know for me it was a huge step at first and sometimes you really want the comfort of your old PC as a safety net. The software allows you to run multiple operating systems on your macbook bringing together the best hardware and software together.

The software allows you to run two or more operating systems at the same time without the need to use Bootcamp or rebooting your system to switch between them, you can literally have them side by side. You can choose from Windows 7, Chrome OS, Linux or even get the developers version of Windows 8, all running on your macbook.

The software takes advantage of installing the operating systems as a virtual machine, making any additional operating system run faster by not putting additional pressure on the RAM and CPU of your computer. The only large specification you will need will be hard drive space, you will need around 15GB for every operating system.

If you are not that literate when it comes to computers, parallels has a feature called Parallels Wizard that will run through most of the installation automatically, choosing the best settings for your computer. The average installation time takes between twenty and thirty minutes, which for installing an operating system is pretty impressive.

But even though you are working with Windows software it doesn't mean the software ignores the Apple features. Trackpad gestures are supported in all programs related to Windows, a nice addition, you still feel like your working with the quality of a Mac computer. The main advantages of this software is using full Windows programs on your Mac, Microsoft Office being one of the main pieces that would be popular with users. Because you are working with a full version of Office everything works how it should, there is no limitations to make it work on a Mac.

A helpful addition is the full integration of copy and paste, across platforms. You can simply drag and drop files across operating systems without any file changing or reconfiguring. In the same principle the software also allows the user to transfer over their whole PC to their Mac, all their personal files, installed software, everything will be transferred saving all your investment into older machines.

The main idea behind this software if ease of use, it is about making the bridge between PC users going to Mac a lot safer and secure. It is a big choice switching operating systems and the easier and shorter the process the better for the consumer at the end of the day. A way that this has been implemented is with two hours worth of video tutorials built into the software with everything from installation to getting started with parallels.

The company gets a lot of its new features from its users. Requests can be made through a form built into the software so that the company can develop a tailored experience for the customers needs. So if you think that something would suit the software you have a say and the company an consider developing it.

This sort of software also brings opportunities to Mac users that they may never have had before, gaming would be increased with Window's games now being played on Macbooks and for professionals, more advanced graphic software such as AutoDesk applications.

Parallels have also launched an app for IOS devices to access their virtual machines from your mobile or tablet. The app will give you full access to your computer, if it is in sleep mode the phone will access the server and wake the computer up for use. There is no need to install any other software and the only information you need is your account information and that is it. The app is priced at £11.99

The software is priced at around £65 for the standard edition, the switch to my mac edition includes a USB cable in order to link together both PC's to transfer all your data. This is software that, for anyone considering the switch, would make the whole process that much simpler and a less stressful experience and with free updates always being produced it is a worthwhile investment.

Microsoft's annual Worldwide Partner Conference kicks off in Los Angeles today, and keynote-leading CEO Steve Ballmer was both his usual bullish self but also surprisngly frank when it came to discussing his firm's smartphone performance.

The success of Windows 7 was high on the agenda, with Ballmer revealing that over 400 million licenses for the operating system had been sold over the last year. He contrasted that with an unnamed rival OS that had sold just 20 million over the same period; a thinly vieled swipe at Apple's Mac OS X.

Though Bing, Xbox and Winodws 8 were discussed, nothing new in these departments was shared, with Ballmer instead telling the gathered crowds to hold out for the upcoming BUILD conference.

Moving on to Windows Phone 7, Ballmer openly bemoaned the slow uptake for their new mobile platform. "We've gone from very small to very small, but it's been a hell of a year," said Ballmer humorously, and though only a vague figure of "millions" was referenced in relation to WP7 handset sales, it seems that Nokia tie-in can't come soon enough.

Via: The Next Web

Microsoft are urging PC users to call time on their Windows XP operating system and migrate to Windows 7 or prepare to move to Windows 8, with the company only offering support for the ageing OS for a further 1,000 days.

Massively popular, XP launched nearly ten years ago on October 25th 2001, and ushered in the internet age with home computing. However, those who are security concious will want to think about jumping ship soon, as Microsoft will no longer be offering security updates and customer support for the product.

"Wouldn't it be great if the glory days lasted forever?" said Stephen Rose on the Microsoft blog.

"But reality is trophies get dusty, records are broken, and what it took to be the best ten years ago, just isn't enough for today's standards. Things get better, faster. And eventually, it's time to move from good enough to something much better," he added

"Windows XP had an amazing run and millions of PC users are grateful for it. But it's time to move on. Two reasons: 1) Extended support for Windows XP is running out in less than 1000 days, and 2) there's an OS out there that's much better than Windows XP."

Following the relative failure of Windows Vista, Windows 7 was a return to form for Microsoft, exceeding over 400 million in sales. Windows 8, the next version of the OS that i set to feature tablet optimisation, is expected to be released later this year.

As if college kids on campus weren't having a wild enough time as it is, Microsoft are launching a pretty incredible deal to ensure new and continuing US students work hard and play hard during the next academic year.

If you can prove your student status and head down to a participating retailer, picking up any Windows 7 desktop PC or laptop worth $699 or more will also bag you an Xbox 360 Slim edition with 4GB of storage.

"Are you about to head to college this fall for the first time? Planning another year on campus? Worried what next year has in store? Wondering what you'll need, how you'll succeed or what fun adventures will be around the corner? We can't predict the future but here at Microsoft, we've come up with a way to help you succeed in the coming year, while building on the fun and friendships that are key to your life," said Microsoft's Kristina Libby of the deal.

The offer begins on May 22nd, and while retailers set their own end date, they all roughly end around the first week of September.

No word on a UK equivalent of the deal right now, though French and Canadian readers should keep their ears to the ground as Microsoft are said to be planning something similar in those territories too.

Click here for more info.

Cybercrime is no longer exclusive to PCs and Macs, with hacks, spam, malware and trojans hitting smartphones, tablets and cloud storage services too. No-one knows this better than Costin Raiu of the security specialists at Kaspersky Lab. As the company's Director of Global Research and Analysis Team, he's got over ten years worth of computer and mobile security knowledge. We caught up with him at the InfoSec conference in London's Earls Court today and had a chat about the increased threat from smartphone hackers, social networking spam and the growing danger of international cyber warfare.

We associate malware and viruses most closely with desktop computing, but we're increasingly told that smartphone platforms are vulnerable too. Is there any particular mobile OS that is especially vulnerable?

There are four strong players on the market in terms of mobile platforms; Google with Android, Apple's iOS, RIM's BlackBerry OS, and with Nokia's Symbian OS effectively dead, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. In my opinion Android will become the standard operating system in smartphones, but has a few quirks that makes it attractive not only to users but malware creators too.

Firstly, it's very open, secondly it's well documented in terms of the best ways to make applications for it, and thirdly has security vulnerabilities, especially in older Android versions. The problem here is that Google left the responsibility of patching Android largely to the carriers or smartphone developers. Looking back over past years, patching has always been a weak point of operating systems and third party software, and I have a feeling this will be a problem for Android as well because it's not very easy to update the operating system. There will always be flaws and vulnerabilities that will be exploited by hackers.

Will the vulnerabilities of mobile operating systems extend into security flaws with tablet devices then?

Yes. Netbooks being replaced by tablets seems to be the trend for the future. I believe that with Android becoming more and more popular, growing in popularity on tablet devices too, we're going to see more and more threats here. Do we need protection? I believe so. What is different with Android is maybe the kind of protection that is necessary is different here. Applications bought from the Android Market come with a prerequisite set of permissions, and there's no easy way to allow only certain permissions to be given to an app without not installing it altogether. In the near future Android security needs to focus on application control, and restricting the length in which applications can access data on your tablet or mobile phone.

More and more of our personal data is stored on a wider number of sources online, sometimes without our knowledge. Should we be concerned with how we safeguard our cloud-stored data?

Yeah, I think this is another interesting development. For instance, Google recently launched version 10 of Google Chrome which has the feature to synchronise passwords to the cloud, meaning you don't need to enter passwords for things like Facebook every time you use a different computer running that browser. It's my feeling that Google and other big cloud providers are not doing a very good job at informing the user as to the extent to which they are storing user data into the cloud.

Interestingly, Twitter recently settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the fact that they put their users at risk by not providing a decent level of security. The fact that Twitter agreed to implement HTTPS encryption is not only a giant "Win" for consumers, but also shows that we need a greater level of security when dealing with social media in general. Remember, it's not only about ensuring that companies do their best to protect our data, but that the connection sending the data back and forth is secure too.

Are the social networks doing enough to educate users as to how to identify dodgy links and phishing scams?

The FTC ruling shows that at least Twitter aren't doing enough, but this problem goes back several years. MySpace for instance didn't have secure log-in, with passwords going without encryption over Wi-Fi networks and the like for anyone to steal. All the social networks could be doing more about it, especially in terms of making users aware of the risks. But the FTC did a wonderful job, and it's exciting that Twitter understood the problems and took the necessary steps to improve their security.

So the more general authorities are now taking cybercrime more seriously too?

Yes. Security companies are pretty limited in the amount of things they can do. We can tell the big players that they aren't fully secure, but it takes more than that to make them change their ways. Governments have a very important role here, not just in the US but all around the world.

Kaspersky Labs have previously stated that the recent Stuxnet worm could only have been implemented with "nation/state" support. What does this tell us about international cyber security in relation to foreign policy?

Stuxnet is a "one-of-a-kind" malware, totally different to anything we've seen before. We thought it couldn't be unique but we haven't been able to find anything similar. Stuxnet is opening the door to a new kind of security threat which indicates the existence of cyber way at the highest possible level within super powers. In the future we're going to see more of this as I believe it's a very cheap and effective way of attacking major targets. The evidence we've seen seems to indicate Stuxnet was successful in gaining the access it needed. Attacking an industrial installation with physical force is a lot more expensive and more complicated.

What sorts of security systems do you have planned for the future?

In terms of future Kaspersky Lab software we're looking into three new, very interesting directions for our products, be it in cloud and virtualisation, whitelisting and reputation or mobile software. Data Leakage Prevention is also important now; it's a lot more easy for you to lose your tablet or mobile phone than it is to misplace your desktop PC! A really interesting product we're looking to launch this year is for VMWare Visual; we've had a lot of talks with our customers and bigger cloud providers and they've all expressed an interest in having a security product that can be worked into their data centres.

OK to round things up then; if you could give three tips as to how Tech Digest readers can protect their data today, at as little cost as possible, what would they be?

In order of importance, firstly they should update their operating systems; Android, Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, whatever. I know this can be quite painful, but it's very, very important.

The second on is to make sure they don't use pirate software. A lot of pirate software, particularly with Mac OS, come loaded with trojans. This can also be extended to pirate movies; recently we've seen "movies" on pirate torrent websites where the files aren't actually real videos. Instead they claim the user doesn't have the proper codec to view the film, directing them to download it from unsafe websites. When they download it obviously their machines get infected. So staying away from pirate sources in general is my second free tip!

The third tip has to do with user mentality. A lot of things happen because users aren't aware of security threats, so they click on strange links or don't properly screen links that friends have sent purely because they trust their pals, even if they're not so sure of the source. It's about using common sense and being careful if you spot unusual messages from your friends or social network contacts. If you see strange applications trying to access your profile on Twitter or Facebook, just don't allow them unless you're absolutely sure they're approved! So that's my three tips for your readers!

Cool, thank you very much Costin!

No problem.

Windows 7 isn't only the best Windows operating system Microsoft have ever put together, it's also proving to be quite the cash-cow. Following its release, Microsoft have seen a 35% jump in quarterly profits, the release of their latest financial figures reveal.

"Windows 7 continues to be a growth engine, but we also saw strong growth in other areas like Bing search, Xbox LIVE and our emerging cloud services," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "Our record third-quarter revenue along with continued rigor on cost management resulted in exceptional EPS growth."

However, increased profits and critical acclaim wasn't enough to keep everyone happy. Though the figures reveal record breaking fourth quarter revenues of $14.5 billion, Microsoft's share prices fell with the news.

Microsoft remain optimistic however.

"Business customers are beginning to refresh their desktops and the momentum of Windows 7 continues to be strong," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer. "We are also seeing tremendous interest in our market-leading cloud services for business."

Adobe has just announced the launch of Creative Suite 5, bringing with it a wealth of updated tools for many designer's software package of choice. Click here for a run-down of what's new.

There are over 250 new updates to Adobe Photoshop alone. As well as making the jump to 64-bit for Mac users, there will now also be tools for making it simpler to quickly detect an image's border when cutting or applying effects to it, as well as a Corel Paint like colour-mixing tool.

As well as updated versions of Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash in the Web Premium version of the package, there is also a brand new program called Flash Catalyst. This is designed to simplify the process for designers looking to jump from print to interactive design. Flash itself will also have the ability to convert Flash animations into HTML5 Canvas code.

There will also be a Packager for iPhone application in Creative Suite 5, but given the iPhone's new OS 4 and Apple's decision to ban the conversion of non-native apps from the App Store, it may prove less useful than once imagined.

Look to see Creative Suite 5 hitting shelves and digital downloads within a month's time.

Another day, another Tech Digest CES 2010 round-up. Fancy Tweeting hands-free in your car or controlling your PC by breathing? Check today's top stories below and find out how.

Twitter coming to Ford cars
The digital equivalent of drink-driving?

Motorola announce Backflip Android Phone
Hinged smartphone is Motorola's big CES 2010 offering

Ion launch the iType full QWERTY keyboard add-on for the iPhone
Making the portable unwieldy

Vuzix demo Wrap 920AR Augmented Reality visor
Turning your trip to the shops into a scene out of Robocop

Zyxio's new breathing-based PC controller, the Sensawaft
Affordable accessibility gadget, perfect for disabled PC users

3D gaming headed to the Palm family
Apple isn't the only mobile now capable of some hardcore gaming action

Is the Viliv P3 the underdog tablet to look out?
Dual-booting tablet is looking very tasty indeed

Razer and Sixense bring motion gaming to the PC
But will it catch on within the incredibly competitive PC gaming peripheral market?

UK getting the Dell Mini 3i
Android phone hitting UK shores in the not-so-distant-future

Video- Armour Home Q2 Tilt Internet radio
Innovative and simple radio from Brit-based Armour

Video - "World's smallest Windows PC" the UMID M Book 1
It makes a gnat's bum look big. Well...not quite. But you get the idea

Video- Casio's Digital Art Frame
Making all those dodgy Facebook snaps look good

Video - The coolest retro iPhone hi-fi ever, Lasonic's i931
Bring 80's boom box street-chic bang up to date

Video - Toshiba's Cell TV that is controlled by hand gestures
Innovative tech, but it makes you look a bit of an idiot; not sure I want a work out in front of the telly

Video - Sony's BRAVIA XBR-52HX900 3D TV
Their flagship 3D set is a stunner

Video - Panasonic's 3D camera
Bet the adult-entertainment industry cant wait to get its mitts on this one

Click here for more CES 2010 coverage from Tech Digest

Tech Digest at CES is sponsored by Best Buy. For more CES stories and videos go here

A beacon of hope in an otherwise drab Microsoft keynote at this year's CES, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unvilied the HP Slate, a touchscreen tablet PC that the two companies have been working closely together on.

"It's a beautiful little product," Ballmer said, showing off a "prototype of a coming HP slate PC."

"Slate PCs that will be rolling into the marketplace this year [are] perfect for reading, for surfing the Web and for taking entertainment on the go," he said.

It may not be the Courier that many were hoping for, but the HP Slate looks to be a slick tablet PC in its own right.

With only a prototype on show here at CES 2010, there's still no pricing, availability or hardcore specification details ready yet. We'll wing them your way as soon as we have them.

Click here for more CES 2010 coverage from Tech Digest

Tech Digest at CES is sponsored by Best Buy. For more CES stories and
videos go here

Canon are set to launch the imageFORMULA P-150 portable duplex scanner on Monday 9th November, and Tech Digest were on hand at Canon HQ today to have a test.

Weighing less than a bag of sugar, the P-150 is incredibly compact. It measures up at 280 x 95 x 40 mm when closed, folding out to 280 x 222.7 x 202.2 mm to reveal the loading tray. It'd easily fit in a hand-bag or "man-bag", and is light enough to not be too much of a hassle when travelling.

Despite its size, the imageFORMULA P-150 packs a lot of punch for a scanner so small. Capable of 15 pages per minute/30 image per minute duplex scanning in black and white and 10 ppm/10 ipm in full colour, it churns through paper work at a pretty pace.

In a nice touch, the P-150 is fully powered by USB, and thanks to built in software can be plugged into any PC and used instantly, without the need to install any extra programs.

For the high-volume user, the P-150 will be compatible with Therefore software, offering remote management and streamlined indexing of scanned items. An Office-style UI will make the management system instantly familiar to most users.

According to Canon, 23% of office space is filled with filing cabinets. With the imageFormula P-150 not much bigger than a handheld gaming console, it could be a great solution for the space-conscious.

Look for a full Tech Digest review on the imageFORMULA P-150 early next week.

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Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy, confirmed that a Windows 7 themed, Microsoft sponsored episode of the irreverent TV show will air soon.

Never one to turn a blind eye to a potential dollar, McFarlane's hugely successful Family Guy and American Dad shows have already made him a multi-millionaire many times over. No doubt a tidy sum exchanged hands when this deal was brought to the table.

According to Arstechnica.com: "There will be no commercial ad time, no network promotions, and no commercial breaks--just a 30-minute Windows 7 trailer" when the show airs Stateside in November, and will feature "original animation, live-action performances of Family Guy's most memorable musical numbers, comedy sketches, and surprise celebrity guests."

So can we expect quick-fire satire on forced restarts, programs that won't respond or the global domination of the mega-corporation? Unlikely; Peter, Brian, Stewie and company will probably be kept on a tight leash as Microsoft tailor every last detail of the massive Windows 7 launch.

Is that a shark on the horizon that needs jumping, Seth?

Here's a rather unfunny sneak-peek at the episode:

Microsoft has pulled its Windows 7 discount pricing after apparently overwhelming demand lead to its online store crashing and has continued its EC hissy-fit confirming that their will be no Vista to 7 upgrade option.

Microsoft claim that they sold more copies of Windows 7 in the first eight hours than it did in 17 weeks in 2006 with a simliar offer for Windows Vista.

The blogosphere is already awash with rumours that actually, Microsoft were going to do it all along, to the fan the flames of hype around 7. Hype which hasn't been seen for a Microsoft OS since Windows 98.

And after pulling IE 8 from the Euro version of 7 following their EC anticompetitive fine, Microsoft have also said that there will be no Vista upgrade option in Europe.

Although Windows 7 will be released in Europe for the price of an upgrade package in the rest of world.

Microsoft's Leila Martine said: "What we are saying is 'we don't care as a consumer if you had Windows Vista or not because we can't tell that and we don't want to penalise you for our decision to take IE8 out of the Wndows 7 E version and to not give an upgrade option."

You can still download the release candidate which will work until late next, and which I have partitioned onto my macbook HD. Aren't I cool?

I'm not cool.

(Via PcAdvisor)

Anyone planning to buy themselves a copy of Windows 7 needs to be on their mark at midnight tonight. From 12:01am on Wednesday 15th July, you can pre-order a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium for £49.99 or Windows 7 Professional £99.99 saving yourself up to £120.

They haven't said how many cheaper copies there'll be but have quoted that "stocks are limited". So, with RRP set at £149.99 and £219.99, the smart move is to get in fast.

If you don't fancy it, there's probably still time to download a free copy of the Windows 7 RC and that'll last you a year before you have to do something about getting a new one. Otherwise, get yourself over to the Windows 7 pre-order site tonight or to any of their UK partners below is stocks run thin.

Windows 7 pre-order sites UK

Amazon
Currys
Dixons
Micro Anvika
PC World
Play.com
Tesco
Microsoft
Argos
Comet
Ebuyer.com,
John Lewis Partnership,
Littlewoods,
Staples

Microsoft has announced the release dates and prices for its latest operating system - Windows 7.

From 15th July the public can pre-order their copy of Windows 7 Home Premium for a special introductory price of £49.99 - not bad when you consider the RRP of £149.99. From the release date of 22nd October until the end of December, consumers will be able to buy a copy of Home Premium for £79.99.

If you were holding off buying a new PC because you were waiting for Windows 7 there's no need to wait any longer. From tomorrow until the end of January any new PCs bought with Vista installed will receive free upgrades to Windows 7. Make sure you agree with your PC dealer that the upgrade deal is in place before parting with your cash.

Users should also be aware that, because of Microsoft and the EC's little spat, the European version of Windows 7 (7E) will not be a simple upgrade - it will require a clean install. Make sure you back up all of your stuff before you do this - a clean install will wipe everything.

This all sounds like good news, until you consider that the Americans can pre-order their copies for $49.99 - not really fair when you look at the latest exchange rates.

Windows 7 Professional will also be available to pre-order for £99.99 and, along with the Home Premium version can be pre-ordered on Amazon or via the DSGi group (Dixons, Currys, PC World) from 15th July to 14th August or until they run out.

PC users will be hoping that Windows 7 is a major improvement on the disappointing Vista and not mereley a Vista Upgrade as was claimed by Apple's Bertrand Serlet at the WWDC.

(via The Guardian)

I'd like to sit here all smug saying we told you so after Acer let the cat out of the bag about a month ago but, as it stands, Windows 7 will actually be available one day earlier than we said. Can you ever forgive us?

Microsoft has promised that most retailers and manufactures will run an upgrade scheme for those who recently purchased Vista machines - we already know that Dell is a likely candidate - but it looks like only those with Vista Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate will be included with no joy for those who opted for Basic. That'll teach you to skate cheap.

Both the Windows 7 beta and release candidate have been well received and you'd think that the this full version will sit far better with the public than Vista ever has, despite being more or less identical. I'd still rather run XP after using the 7 beta for a while now but then perhaps I'm just a stick in the mud. It's very sticky and muddy down here. Probably best you do your own thing.

(via Windows Blog)

"23rd October is the date the Windows 7 will be available" says Bobby Watkins, Acer's UK MD. The company will be releasing its all-in-one Z5600 PC on that date, and it will come pre-loaded with Windows 7.

Microsoft is still claiming a release date of January 2010, but the company has acknowledged that it's running ahead of schedule on the follow-up to its poorly-received Vista. Any of Acer's Vista-based PCs purchased within 30 days prior to 23rd October will be eligible for a free upgrade.

Stay tuned for more news on Acer's 2009 lineup. We'll have the full details for you shortly.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your browsers. The release candidate for Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 7, is now available. Well, available to MSDN and Technet subscribers, anyway. If you're not one of them, then you'll have to wait till next Tuesday, May 5th.

The release candidate is what Microsoft hopes to release commercially in a few months time. They claim they're still aiming at a January 2010 release, but they've been running ahead of schedule up to this point, so it's entirely possibly that'll be brought forward a couple of months to hit the holiday season if there are no major issues with the OS between now and then.

The release candidate will be available from now until the release of the OS, and it'll work until June 1st 2010. Microsoft's basically giving you 12 months of a free operating system, in exchange for you letting them know when you have difficulties with it.

The company has seen well over a million downloads of the Windows 7 beta, and over 100,000 of those in the UK. They're hoping that demand for the release candidate will be even higher.

If you've been running the Windows 7 beta, then you'll already know about what it gives you over Vista or XP - considerably improved performance, security, usability and support for touchscreens and internet-enabled appliances, so that you can right-click files to send them to your television, for example.

Since the beta was released, Microsoft's made more than thirty major changes to the OS. There's changes to taskbar scaling, improved driver support, remote media streaming and more gestures for users of touchscreens, but the biggest addition is a virtual machine running Windows XP. This'll be available to small businesses who might be running software that has trouble with Windows 7 in the 'Professional' edition of the OS,

Microsoft has also removed a couple of bits of functionality from the beta. They've taken out Bluetooth audio support, as well as the ability for people to log on as a 'guest' to the computer. Interestingly, they've also taken out the ability for USB sticks to autorun programs when they're inserted. This is to help guard against virus infection by rogue USB sticks.

If you want to give it a shot, then keep an eye on this website on May 5th. When we get a proper download link, we'll update this post.

Have you been testing out the Windows 7 beta, and clicking that little 'feedback' button in the top right of every Window? Well, Microsoft has been listening, and they've just announced a massive list of the changes they've made as a result of the feedback.

The full list is here, but there's a few highlights that I'll share with you if you can't be bothered to read the whole thing. Firstly, there's plenty of functionality for making things more obvious on the taskbar, along with keyboard shortcuts. There's also a multi-touch onscreen keyboard (so you can shift-tap stuff).

There's better format support too, and anything that can't be played will be filtered out of Windows Media Player, so it doesn't bother you. There's also resuming video from sleep with actual files, like you would with a DVD, and some changes to what the Windows team call 'needy windows' - so you can see when a program wants your attention.

The full list is worth a look, because it's got a lot more detail in. Most of this stuff we're unlikely to see until release, though. Are you looking forward to it? Is there anything missing that you think needs changing? Let us know in the comments.

If you happen to inhabit the same deadly underground hacking world (forum) as the creator of the "Conficker" virus that's been wreaking havoc on PCs since last October and even left France vulnerable to aerial invasion, you might be in luck.

Microsoft has put up a $250,000 reward for information leading the the capture of the creator of the worm/virus, hoping that some of the man's internet friends might be a bit keen on grassing him up and bringing him to justice in return for more than enough money to buy a gaming rig and a Vaio P for on-the-go.

"People who write this malware have to be held accountable," George Stathakopulos from Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group said, rather worryingly, adding that "whoever wrote this caused significant pain to our customers and we are sending a message that we will do everything we can to help with your arrest."

Arrest. Then trial. Then EXECUTION by lethal injection.

Meanwhile, on the side of RIGHT and JUST and HONOURABLE, Microsoft has revealed it's planning a move into the retail world - and will be opening a worldwide chain of shops to flog PCs and software.

We cannot wait to go inside a Microsoft Store. It'll be like an Apple store, only with geekier, more dishevelled staff and much more swearing at crashed display machines.

(Via BBC)