Stephen Baker of NDP Group said, “I would call it pretty good, but I wouldn’t call it great.”

“The fact of the matter is that prior to the launch, there were a lot of operating systems out there. When Vista launched, you didn’t see a lot of Windows Millennium PCs. Windows 7 will be more of a long haul,” he added.

The revenue of Windows 7 is only an 82% increase over Vista.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD

An update has been released for the Mac version of Windows Live Sync which is designed to fix a problem that locked out Snow Leopard users who upgraded from an earlier version of Mac OS X.

The update can be downloaded at sync.live.com. Users need to sign in with their Windows Live ID.

The software is designed to sync files across at least two computers with either a Windows or Mac OS X operating systems. Windows Live Sync used to be called FolderShare.

Source: Ars Technica

Eric Ligman of Microsoft is sending a message this week to bloggers that although it is technically possible to install a full version of Windows 7 using a Windows 7 upgrade version, it does not mean that it is legal.

“For those of you without an existing Windows license to upgrade from, you should be aware that an upgrade license by itself is not a license to install and run Windows on your computer,” he wrote in a blog post.

“In order to upgrade, you need to have a qualifying license to upgrade from. Again, that’s why it is called an ‘upgrade,’” he added.

Source: Channel Web

“The issue was caused by a high volume of SPAM messages being sent to Windows Live accounts which triggered Microsoft’s anti-spam software to block some emails, Microsoft has since liaised with the NHS to implement new anti-spam and anti-virus systems which will prevent this from happening again,” said a Microsoft spokesman.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Health said, “As soon as NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH) became aware of the issue, immediate steps were taken to rectify the matter.”

Source: The Register

On Tuesday, Microsoft will release the largest number of patches to fix flaws in Internet Explorer, Office, SQL Server, and every version of Windows including Windows 7.

13 updates will be released next and eight of them are “critical”. “Thirteen is not a lucky number,” said the director of security operations at nCircle Network Security. “They’ve been a busy bunch at Microsoft, that’s for sure.”

“The SQL Server update will affect a lot of people, especially those who use it as the back-end for their Web sites. And the Visual Studio update makes me wonder if it’s another fix for ATL,” he added.

Source: PCWorld

The development of Microsoft Works software suite has been abandoned by the company. Instead, users can get Office Starter 2010. This is a stripped down version of Office and it contain ads.

“Office Starter 2010 will provide new PC owners with immediate exposure to the Office 2010 experience on new PCs right out of the box,” said Microsoft officials.

This version also includes the Ribbon interface.

The officials added that it “enables a faster path for consumers to begin using any of three full versions of Microsoft Office.”

Source: Information Week

Those who will upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 may no longer access the recovery applications set by the original equipment manufacturer.

There is no way to resolve this issue at the moment.

Microsoft explained, “You have a computer that is preinstalled with Windows Vista by the computer manufacturer. After you upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 on this computer, you notice that manufacturer-specific recovery applications are no longer available on the System Recovery Options menu.”

Source: Softpedia

The XP mode for Windows 7 has been released as an add-on to manufacturing partners. It is up to them whether to include the add-on. If they do not include it, users could download it on their Windows 7 operating systems on the same day that it will be officially released which is October 22.

“We expect many Windows XP applications to be compatible with Windows 7. However, Windows XP Mode is meant to serve as an added safety net so small and mid-sized businesses can migrate and run Windows 7 without any roadblocks,” said Brandon LeBlanc of Microsoft in a post.

Source: InformationWeek

It has been nine weeks since a hacker showed how to spoof authentication certificates on almost any site but Microsoft still have not patched the problem.

“There are thousands of products on Windows right now that are still vulnerable to this SSL attack, and if someone were to publicly publish a targeted null prefix certificate, they’d be in trouble. Basically, everything that runs on Windows would be vulnerable with that one certificate,” said a white-hat hacker.

A company spokesman wrote to The Register which read, “Microsoft is investigating a possible vulnerability in Windows presented during Black Hat.”

Source: The Register

There is a news that circulated recently about an early release of Windows 7. The official date is October 22 but a system builder posted a note on its website that the operating system will begin to ship as early as October 13.

“…while in theory a system builder could get Windows 7 product pre-GA [general availability], based on supply chain analysis, the intended timing for customers to receive Windows 7 PCs from System Builders should be close to GA, October 22,” said a Microsoft spokesman.

Source: PCMAG