Tribalwar

Microsoft Unveils Win 7 Pricing, Upgrade Program

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 10:25 AM | Thursday, June 25, 2009 | (url: http://www.pcmag....)

Starting Friday, consumers who purchase a PC with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate at participating retailers will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available. The offer will run until Jan. 31, 2010.

For those waiting until the October 22 release date, a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade will cost $119.99 and the full package will retail for $199.99.

The Windows 7 Professional upgrade will cost $199.99 and the full system will be $299.99. For Windows 7 Ultimate, the upgrade version will retail for $219.99 and the full version will set you back $319.99.

Microsoft said these prices are about 10 percent less than what they charged for Vista the Home Premium upgrade version of which retailed for $129.99 at launch.

Vista Service Pack 2 released

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 02:58 PM | Tuesday, May 26, 2009 | (url: http://www.theinq...)

Although the Service Pack hasn't made it to Windows Update yet, you can now grab the official downloads from Microsoft's Download Center. The installer includes Service Pack 2 for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, resulting in a 348.3MB file for 32-bit version - and a 577.4MB file for 64-bit version.

Despite the massive file size, however, there's not much to get excited about. The update mainly includes all of the bits and bobs that have been released since Service Pack 1, although this doesn't include Internet Explorer 8.

Microsoft owns up to "E74" 360 errors, expands warranty

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 03:26 PM | Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | (url: http://arstechnic...)

A popular gaming blog tracked a new kind of Xbox 360 error, the E74, and Microsoft has finally owned up and added the issue to the three-year "Red Ring of Death" warranty. This is a win for consumers, but it's yet another black eye for Microsoft's hardware.

While Xbox 360 systems may be known more for the dreaded "red ring of death" than any other hardware failure, one gaming blog has been tracking the rise of the "E74" error, an issue that causes the console to crash and show a multi-language kill screen. You'll also get a single red section on your system's power button. Microsoft is aware of the problem, and has since amended it's three-year warranty to cover the error.

Windows 7 Has Secret 'Off' Switch for Internet Explorer

Submitted by: Jinzo @ 03:23 AM | Monday, March 9, 2009 | (url: http://www.foxnew...)

It appears that you can disable IE in windows now to combat the EU's anti trust againist Microsoft.

Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL search up; Google down

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 09:31 AM | Thursday, February 19, 2009 | (url: http://news.cnet....)

Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL each carved out a little more U.S. search market share in January, but Google still had the biggest piece of the pie, according to a report Wednesday by ComScore.

Yahoo Web sites accounted for 21 percent of the market (up half a percent) compared to the month before, while Microsoft grabbed an 8.5 percent slice (up 0.2 percent), and AOL nabbed 3.9 percent of the market (a 0.1 percent increase).

Google, while still holding the largest slice of the market by far, accounted for 63 percent of the search industry in January, down half a percent.

One interesting observation from Silicon Alley Insider is Yahoo's consecutive five-month run in posting modest monthly gains in U.S. search market share.

Microsoft to open retail stores

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 10:42 AM | Friday, February 13, 2009 | (url: http://news.cnet....)

After years of brushing off the notion, Microsoft said on Thursday that it will open up its own line of retail stores.

Without detailing the plans, Microsoft said it has hired David Porter, a 25-year Wal-Mart veteran, to lead the effort. Sources say that Porter's mission will be to develop the company's retail plans and that the effort is likely to start small with just a few locations.

Although Microsoft has generally relied on others to sell its wares, it's not Microsoft's first foray into retail.

Back in the dot-com days, Microsoft had one retail outlet, at the San Francisco Metreon mall. However, it never expanded the effort and closed that location in November 2001.

Details on Windows 7 SKUs

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 12:35 PM | Tuesday, February 3, 2009 | (url: http://www.winsup...)

Unlike with Vista, where Microsoft crowded the market with too many mainstream product editions, Windows 7 will ship in just a handful of common-sense product editions. And also unlike with Vista, these product editions are all true supersets of each other, so there are no overlapping feature sets (which is good) and upgrades will be much simpler (which is even better).

"As we moved to Windows 7, we looked back on the key learnings we had with Windows Vista and the conversations we've had with partners and customers," Microsoft senior vice president Bill Veghte told me in a recent briefing. "Everyone was looking for simplicity and clarity. They don't want to compromise capabilities as they stepped up."

Strong October NPD defies market plunge

Submitted by: DudeofDeath @ 11:34 AM | Friday, November 14, 2008 | (url: http://www.gamesp...)

US gaming industry sees 18 percent year-over-year growth to $1.31 billion; Fable II tops software, Wii retains hardware crown, while Xbox 360 outsells PS3 nearly 2 to 1.

TOP-SELLING HARDWARE - OCTOBER 2008
Wii--803,000
Nintendo DS--491,000
Xbox 360--371,000
PlayStation Portable--193,000
PlayStation 3--190,000
PlayStation 2--136,000

Rumor: Microsoft to Cancel Seinfeld Ads

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 07:14 AM | Thursday, September 18, 2008 | (url: http://valleywag....)

Remember those awful Microsoft ads with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates? Well, now you can forget them. Microsoft flacks are desperately dialing reporters to spin them about "phase two" of the ad campaign a phase, due to be announced tomorrow, which will drop the aging comic altogether. Microsoft's version of the story: Redmond had always planned to drop Seinfeld.

Blu-ray for Xbox 360 this fall?

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 07:47 AM | Friday, May 2, 2008 | (url: http://www.digiti...)

Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, has secured orders from Microsoft to assemble Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc (BD)-ROM drive, with shipments to begin in the third quarter of 2008, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper.

Windows Defender kills usb devices and more

Submitted by: Yetskii @ 10:56 AM | Thursday, April 17, 2008 | (url: http://http://www...)

Microsoft has admitted it is investigating reports that a recent Windows Vista security update causes havoc with some USB devices, but the software giant is yet to provide a fix for the cock-up.

The Windows Defender update was released last week, but some unfortunate Vista customers have claimed that their USB mice and keyboards among other devices refuse to work after the update is installed on their computers.

AT&T First to use Microsoft's Surface

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 11:42 AM | Wednesday, April 2, 2008 | (url: http://www.micros...)

Beginning April 17, AT&T customers can experience Microsoft Surface in select AT&T retail locations, including stores in New York City, Atlanta, San Antonio and San Francisco. Based on the success and learning from these initial pilot deployments, plans for further expansion across AT&Ts 2,200 U.S. retail stores will be determined.

pics of it in action:
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6158&cat=63

Windows XP may get another reprieve

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 01:40 AM | Wednesday, March 26, 2008 | (url: http://www.news.c...)

Although Microsoft is pushing hard to move everyone to the latest version of Windows, there are some market realities that are going to keep Windows XP around for some time--likely well beyond the current June deadline for large computer makers to stop selling the older operating system.

Microsoft has already extended the deadline once (XP was originally supposed to stop showing up on big-name PCs in January) and I would expect another extension to be announced soon.

The biggest area where XP is likely to stick around is in the nascent but growing market of low-cost, flash memory-based notebook computers, such as the Asus Eee PC. These devices are fertile ground for Linux, benefiting from its low cost and low memory requirements. Microsoft had to do some work just to get Windows XP onto the Eee PC and Vista would seem to be a non-starter.

Vista Service Pack 1 Released

Submitted by: KnightMare @ 02:40 PM | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 | (url: http://news.zdnet...)

Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) went onto Microsoft's Download Center website on Monday, fulfilling Microsoft's claim that it would be made available by mid March. According to Microsoft, the service pack will be pushed out via automatic updates to all Vista users next month.

Standalone installers for both versions of Vista, 32-bit and 64-bit, have been made available.

Vista SP1 is a roll-up of previous updates that have been pushed out to users of Microsoft's latest operating system since its release. The updates supposedly improve Vista's performance, but a prerequisite piece of software, labelled KB937287, had to be pulled by Microsoft in February as it caused problems with some third-party programs.

Microsoft says No Blu-Ray for XBox 360

Submitted by: DudeofDeath @ 08:30 AM | Thursday, March 13, 2008 | (url: http://www.reuter...)

Reuters reports that Microsoft isn't in talks with Sony over Blu-Ray, and that Microsoft is investing more time on the digital aspects of distribution instead of the physical. This was indicated by statements from Aaron Greenburg. Greenburg went on to say that the 360 was still supply-constrained going into the month of February.

Looks like rival Sony asked for more money than Microsoft wanted to pay for the Blu-ray drive.