Category: Windows 7
CES 2010: Day 3 Round-Up
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…
CES 2010: Microsoft's Ballmer announces the HP Slate
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…
First Look: Canon imageFORMULA P-150 portable duplex scanner
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.
Windows 7 themed episode of Family Guy coming soon
The marmite of animated comedy is set to split critics once again as Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy, confirmed that a Windows 7 themed, Microsoft sponsored episode of the irreverent TV show will air soon.
Microsoft pulls discount pricing and confirms no Euro Vista upgrade option
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)
Windows 7 for pre-order tomorrow from £49.99
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
Windows 7 – release details confirmed
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)
Windows 7 out on 22nd October
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)
Acer Exec confirms Windows 7 release date: 23rd October
“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 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.
(via Pocket-Lint)
Windows 7 Release Candidate now available
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.
