Beta

For many years now, Microsoft has offered a "starter edition" of Windows aimed at first-time PC buyers in emerging markets. Though low-cost, the starter version has limitations such as only working on low-end processors, smaller screen resolutions and a cap on the number of programs that can run at one time.

Similar restrictions will remain with Windows 7, but Microsoft will allow the operating system to be used in a new way--to power low-cost computers, particularly Netbooks, in developed countries.

Microsoft confirmed its plans for Windows 7 Starter on Tuesday, as part of its announcement that it will … Read more

Updated at 1:15 p.m. PST with Microsoft comment and additional context.

When Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha said Tuesday that his company's phones would eventually carry Windows Mobile 7, he let on more than he probably thought.

In answering an analyst's question during the Q-and-A portion of his company's earnings call, Jha said: "Yes, we are still committed to Windows Mobile. As you know, Windows 6 series is available in 2009 and as compared to Android, we believe in 2009 Android is more competitive; more of our effort and focus in 2009 is going to Android, but in 2010 when Windows 7 will become available, we will then participate in a more focused way in Windows Mobile 7 in 2010."

Without commenting on Jha's comment, a Microsoft representative said the company has "nothing to announce today."

In September, CNET News reported that Microsoft told its partners not to expect Windows Mobile 7 until at least the second half of 2009. Jha's comment seems to indicate that the deadline has been pushed back even further. … Read more

Despite criticism that Windows Vista came in too many versions, Microsoft is moving ahead with plans to offer just as many editions of Windows 7.

Although the software maker will offer at least six distinct versions of the new operating system, Microsoft said to expect almost all PCs sold in the U.S. to come with either the Home Premium or Professional editions of the operating system.

"We're going to focus on two versions," Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview, noting that those two versions will likely account for 80 percent of Windows … Read more

After getting dinged for constantly changing plans with Windows Vista, Microsoft is taking the opposite approach with Windows 7.

The software maker is being extremely conservative with what it says publicly about the operating system--a move it says is deliberate.

"The lack of a predictable schedule combined with the churn of features late in the the process made it hard for partners to know is this the real Windows Vista," said Mike Nash, Microsoft's vice president for Windows product management. "The result of our lack of predictability was everybody (saying) 'Let's wait for this thing … Read more

I don't know why it took so long, but Microsoft has finally fixed Vista. Only it isn't calling it Vista. Instead the company is working on what it's calling a new version of Windows, Windows 7. The operating system isn't commercially available, but is likely to be out by the end of the year.

I don't know how much Microsoft plans to charge for the upgrade once it's officially available, but the company should give it away free to anyone who bought Vista or a PC with Vista preinstalled. Even though there are some new features, Windows 7 strikes me mostly as a bug fix. It speeds up Windows and fixes one of its most annoying "features" and makes one particularly useful change to the user interface. It seems to me that anyone who paid for Vista is entitled to this upgrade.

Microsoft has launched a free, public, beta test of the software, but to participate you must download it by Feb. 10. It's not for everyone. Microsoft strongly recommends that "only experienced computer users sign up" for the beta program. Displayed on the screen is the caveat, "For testing purposes only." The beta will expire in August, but should be replaced by a newer beta or the real product. If you're game, you can download the beta test of Windows 7 at Microsoft's Web site

I installed it on two machines, a brand new desktop and an older notebook PC. The notebook installation was an upgrade of an old copy of Vista that I've had for a couple of years. As is often the case with Windows, the OS on that machine got pretty slow after two years of use. But Windows 7 sped it up. Until now, every new version of Windows was slower than the one it replaced.

… Read more

January was a good month for both the emerging Windows 7 and the venerable Mac OS, according to Web metrics company Net Applications.

The Mac OS is now hovering around the 10 percent mark among operating systems accessing the Web.

In its Operating System Market Share report for January, Net Applications showed the Mac OS at 9.93 percent, up from 9.63 percent in December. The iPhone also trended upward to 0.48 percent in January, from 0.44 percent in December.

In its recap of the Net Applications numbers, Fortune highlighted the ground gained by Apple's iPod … Read more

Microsoft's efforts to make Windows 7 less annoying than Vista may also be making it less secure than its predecessor.

With Windows Vista, the operating system popped up a warning any time a major change was being made to the system, whether by the OS or by a third-party application. With Windows 7, users can choose how often to be notified, with the current default set to notify only when a third-party application is making a change.

Blogger Long Zheng, however, is drawing attention to an apparent shortcoming in that approach. Because changes to the user account control setting … Read more

Georgetown University is banning the use of the Windows 7 beta, informing students and faculty it will not support the trial version of Microsoft's latest operating system, according to a report in InformationWeek

The university's information technology group notes it generally does not support any beta version of software, unless otherwise noted.

And in the case of the Windows 7 beta, the Georgetown IT group reiterates Microsoft's warning that the beta could disable security software, as well as cause other hardware, such as printers and video cards, to function incorrectly, according to the report.

The university IT … Read more

Microsoft has confirmed that it won't issue a second beta of Windows 7, saying that the next test version of the operating system will be a near-final release candidate.

Windows engineering head Steven Sinofsky announced the move in a blog posting on Friday, confirming that Microsoft would stick to earlier plans for just a single beta.

"The next milestone for the development of Windows 7 is the Release Candidate or 'RC,'" Sinofsky wrote. "Historically the Release Candidate has signaled 'we're pretty close and we want people to start testing the release, especially because all the … Read more