Microsoft has finally released a new operating system that is long overdue after the infamous Vista disaster. The new operating system, called Windows 7 (for the lack of a better name), offers a smoother user experience, multi-touchscreen capability and more seamless networking with other computers.
Early reviews have been promising. It’s argued to be the best operating system that Microsoft has released thus far. It’s even comparable to Apple’s Snow Leopard (much cooler name).
But before you rush out to purchase a copy of Windows 7, you need to consider the following facts to see if it’s right for you.
Today’s the day which Microsoft officially replaces its unsuccessful Live Search with a new technology invention: Bing. How is Bing different from Google? For starters, Bing is also set up to organize search results in relevant groups rather than as a series of links. It uses technology from Powerset (a search technology company Microsoft acquired) for its search presentation.
Microsoft has applied for a patent on metered, pay-as-you-go computing. The application details Microsoft’s vision of a situation where a standard PC is given away or heavily subsidized. The consumer then pays to use the computer, with charges based on length of usage time and performance levels.
Microsoft notes in the application that the end user could end up paying more for the computer, compared with the one-off cost entailed in the existing PC business model, but argues the user would benefit by having a PC with an extended “useful life.”
Remember when you were a kid and you misbehaved? What was the first thing your parents did to make you learn your lesson? Well, mine would take away my playstation and my tv. I could go WEEKS without my gaming fix. I do remember wishing i could run away to a world of fun and games but you know, thats not really logical is it… or isn’t it?
Well, one 15 year old canadian kid lost his xbox 360 privalages and has been missing ever since October 13th. Apparentlyn his parents took away his console and Call of Duty 4 privelages and he went missing that very same day. Do we blame him? Poor kid.
Apple and Microsoft have been having this bizarre pissing match for a few years now, but this new set of ads marks confirms what previous volleys seemed to imply: these companies have no intention of actually talking about their products. Microsoft’s feel-good “I’m Joe the Plumber and I’m a PC” campaign was about as substantive as Apple’s disingenuous and outdated attacks on its opponent’s software, but this new set of ads is really nothing more than a vague indictment of Microsoft’s marketing strategy. Maybe that’ll fly with tech news hounds, but most people who see these on TV won’t even know what they’re talking about, much less care.
One might suppose it’s due diligence to listen to the arguments of companies enormously invested in the outcome of regulatory decisions, so the onus of coming to a reasonable conclusion rests solely on Congress whether to believe Microsoft or Google in two hearings today in the Senate and the House.
And to be sure, legislative judgment will be closely scrutinized. At issue is whether Google’s search advertising deal with Yahoo violates antitrust laws and/or poses significant privacy concerns. It seems only fitting the government—with books on tube systems, dump trucks, and pervasive economic indicator denial—would be dragged out to referee the urination streams of three tech giants, all of them praying the wind doesn’t shift.
In one of the more bizarre responses in a three-way merger deal fracas since the Viacom/Paramount/Blockbuster deal of the early 1990s, a Microsoft statement this afternoon — ostensibly to refute some of the details described in a Yahoo statement early Sunday morning — also manages to separate Microsoft’s point of view from that of financier Carl Icahn. Specifically, the statement characterizes Icahn as exacerbating a deal that Microsoft was trying to put together at the request of Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock, not the other way around.
Ending all speculation, Microsoft has finally officially confirmed that it is cutting the price on its Xbox 360 Pro model by $50 USD as well as introducing a new 60GB model that will retail for $349 USD.
Starting today the 20GB Pro model will sell for $299. The software giant says the new model will go on sale beginning in early August. Strangely though, Microsoft will continue to sell their stripped down Arcade model for $279. The Elite model will stay with its $449 pricetag.
Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management, explained the release of the new model.
Yahoo formally rejected a proposal from Microsoft and Carl Icahn in a statement issued on Saturday.
They had been given 24 hours to reach a decision by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Friday night. They reached a decision, but probably not the one that Ballmer and Icahn were looking for.
Yahoo says that its advertising deal with Google offers “superior financial value, reports Kyung Bok Cho at Bloomberg.
Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock has said that the alliance between Microsoft and Icahn has “anything but the interests of Yahoo’s stockholders in mind…it’s ludicrous to think that our board could accept such a proposal”.
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said it was “very unlikely” his company would reach any type of deal with Yahoo and said Yahoo and Microsoft will not be involved in any type of transaction.
On the Microsoft/Yahoo deal Murdoch said,” There won’t be a deal. There’s bad personal feelings.”
Microsoft was in negotiations earlier this year to buy Yahoo for $47.5 billion but talks broke down in May after the two companies failed to reach an agreement.
“In six months, (Microsoft) will walk away,” Murdoch, said at the annual Allen & Co media and technology event, Reuters reported.
