Posted on 01/08/2009 6:03:39 AM PST by Red Badger
Microsoft Corp.'s next version of the Windows operating system is almost ready for prime time.
That's one message Chief Executive Steve Ballmer delivered on the eve of the official opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show.
The world's largest software maker also disclosed deals to make its Live Search programs the default search engines on more personal computers and mobile phones. And it announced a new version of its Ford Sync in-car technology that folds in the voice-operated directory service TellMe, which Microsoft bought in 2007.
For years, the opening keynote at CES belonged to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, whose status as industry pioneer justified the sweeping visions of the future he'd build into his speech. Gates passed the mantle on when he stepped down from day-to-day operations at Microsoft last summer, and Wednesday marked Ballmer's first time making the high-profile address.
"It feels like we've entered a period of reduced expectations, a time when we may be tempted to temper our optimism and scale back our ambitions," Ballmer said, in a nod to the recession. "But no matter what happens with the economy or how long this recession lasts, I believe our digital lives will only continue to get richer."
Ballmer said Microsoft would continue to invest more in research and development than its technology peers.
The CEO announced that a nearly final "beta" test version of Windows 7 will be available Friday for regular PC users to download and tinker with.
The new operating system - which could be available for purchase on PCs within a year - uses much of the same underlying technology as its predecessor, the much-maligned Vista. But Windows 7 aims to resolve many problems PC users had with Vista. For instance, Microsoft pledges to make it easier to install peripheral devices and to have the software pump out fewer annoying warnings and notifications.
Ballmer also pledged that Windows 7 will boot faster and drain laptop batteries more slowly.
"I believe Windows will remain at the center of people's technological solar system," Ballmer said. "We're putting in all the right ingredients: simplicity, reliability and speed, and we're working hard to get it right and to get it ready."
Ballmer is hoping to boost the number of people using Microsoft's Live Search engine, which ranks well behind Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. in popularity, through a deal with PC maker Dell Inc. Dell will put a special Live Search browser toolbar and Windows Live programs, including Microsoft's e-mail and instant-messaging applications, on most of the consumer and small-business PCs that it sells worldwide. That deal replaces a relationship between Dell and Google.
The CEO also announced Microsoft has formed a five-year partnership with Verizon Wireless that calls for the Live Search tools to be added to all Verizon cell phones in the U.S. that can access the Internet.
Among the other highlights from Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft: The company added Flash support - required for watching YouTube videos - to its cell phone version of Internet Explorer. And it created a link between Facebook and its own Windows Live social network, so when people update their status message or upload photos on Facebook, that information appears on the Microsoft site, too.
Me, too. Heck, I still have a Win 98 SE machine doing grunt work every day. I am in no rush to move 'up' to something I do not need to get the job done.
If all anyone does is check their email, surf the net, and run a few applications like word processing there's no reason to upgrade to Windows 7 anytime soon.
That may be, but a ZDNet blog is certainly not the place to establish proof of it.
ZD publishers have been Microsoft boot-lickers for as long as I can remember. I'd guess that it was MS themselves who created your chart, if history is any guide.
Dell always adds bloatware to their PC's (yes, I used to do tech support for them too).
As for MS, the latest IE already has Live Search integrated as the default engine. Firefox 3 installed with Google Search as the default but you can add Live with a couple of clicks.
Outlook Express was installed with XP and is called Windows Mail in Vista. (XP users: just click start and type "msimn" in the run box - same for Vista) If the new Win7 email app is something new and integrated into the browser like old Netscape Navigator, I'll pass! (though I didn't see it when on a Win7 box before Christmas)
That's what this is. It's not any promised re-write, it's just a Vista upgrade. I have heard some positive comments about performance though.
And, with $20 more RAM, smokes XP like a cheap cigar.
That's the first I've heard of it, and I've been using Leopard for over a year. Wiki doesn't mention it in its criticism section of Leopard's entry which is pretty short and mild unlike say this OS LOLOLOL
All you have to do is "Google it."
Even if it were true that they were near a release, that would just signal the begin of the supermassive debugging project by early adopters of 7.
Can you or anyone tell me if
OFFICE 2007
WORKS with XP-P 64 BIT?
Am thinking of changing when my computer comes back from being repaired/overhauled.
imho,
Microslop is part of the ruling global oligarchy.
They have as much info in their scattered massive data bases on everyone in the modern world they have the least bit of interest in . . . and there’s likely little to nothing to be done about it . . . apart from God’s care and protection to those who walk with Him . . .
that . . . and the massive amount of data they’d have to search through . . . though those functions have been updated for a long time.
I've run Vista 32 and 64 bit on two seperate machines with no problems (that I haven't caused myself)
Then I don't want it. It's not that I want to pirate media or that I do so now. It's just that if a company wants to sell me a product , 100.000% of that product had better be designed to serve my interests, and 0.000% designed to serve the interests of a contractually uninvolved third party.
Further I view every single CPU cycle and every single byte of RAM and EVERY had disk sector as my personal property, since I paid for them and am paying for the electricity to operate them. Therefore using one cycle, byte, sector, etc. to protect someone else from ME is theft.
Thanks for your helpful info.
Do you know if XP 64 BIT
will run OFFICE 2007 OK?
And would it be worth the investment? Or would you say ump to WIN 7?
Thanks for your helpful info.
Do you know if XP 64 BIT
will run OFFICE 2007 OK?
Most people don't keep computers more than five or six years. It makes no sense to upgrade the OS version on an old computer.
it is absolutely seamless.I'm typing this on a six year old iMac
running the most current OS X (10.5.6)
But Vista looks better than XP, which I haven't seen on the same hardware configuration. Yes, Vista can certainly be made to run "acceptably" and even "very well" but from what I've seen it takes more hardware than XP takes to get to the same performance level. Remember all the battles on FR where people were saying Vista sucked on the same machines that ran XP very well, and the Vista supporters would say "Yes, but if you put in 3-4GB it works just fine"? Something is rotten with those charts.
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