Microsoft's Apple "Get a Mac" killer is live as of September 4, 2008. The new $300 million Windows campaign put together by advertising agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, has debuted with the first video ad featuring none other than Microsoft part-time Chairman Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Gates shopping for discount shoes with a trusty and voluntary Seinfeld sidekick is bound to put Apple out of business, but even if the Cupertino-based hardware company's "Get a Mac" ads catalyzed a reaction from Microsoft, the new Windows marketing campaign is, at least as far as the start-off is concerned, ignoring the noisy competito... [read more >>] If Windows Vista has taught Microsoft anything, and it did, it is that poor performance or even the perception of poor performance from a user experience perspective can kill a product just as much as lack of driver support and software and hardware incompatibilities. This is why with Windows 7 Microsoft is preparing to tackle head on the first UX killer on the performance front, as far as end users are concerned, namely pre-loaded OEM software. The Redmond company indicated that 15-second startup times for Windows systems are "very good" boot performance results, but only in the lab. In the real world things are a tad different. In th... [read more >>] It's right about due time for end users to start holding their breath for the final release of Internet Explorer 8. Although Microsoft has failed to confirm an official delivery deadline, the Redmond company did manage to let IE8 RTW details slip through its fingers. Now with the IE8 Beta 2 bits available for download since August 27, the IE team is wrapping up the next iteration of Internet Explorer. The gold build of Internet Explorer 8 will drop in November 2008, possibly as early as November 1. Information related to the Beta 2 and RTW builds was leaked as early as mid-August, courtesy of Mary Jo Foley, but now Microsoft has m... [read more >>] If Microsoft is moving into the Cloud, Google is expanding to the Desktop and to the Windows client. The Mountain-View search giant is on the verge of making available a beta version of Google Chrome, a browser initially designed to integrate only with the Windows platform, but which is set to be tailored to additional platforms in the future. Not even out yet, Google Chrome is positioned as an Internet Explorer killer, far beyond what Microsoft's rivals Mozilla and Opera have been capable of doing with their own products. "This is just the beginning – Google Chrome is far from done. We're releasing this beta for Windo... [read more >>] A 15-second boot time is the target Microsoft is aiming for with the evolution of Windows 7's startup performance. The software giant in fact spared no resources for the next major iteration of the Windows client, and has an entire team focusing exclusively on the performance associated with the startup process. However the effort is much larger than just a single team, spanning across the entire Windows project and to the Redmond company's hardware and software partners. "Startup can be one of three experiences; boot, resume from sleep, or resume from hibernate. Although resume from sleep is the default, and often 2 to 5 sec... [read more >>] Microsoft is making available for download one copy of Windows Vista RTM and three copies of Windows XP (one with Service Pack 2 and two with Service Pack 3) for free. In this context, the free downloads continue a tradition started back in 2007 by the Redmond company. Made available on August 28, 2008, the bits that went live on the Microsoft download center can weigh as little as 421.7 MB for the smallest release, and a total of 3333.6 MB, for all the components. All the operating systems have been activated and optimized by the Redmond giant in order to play nice as guest operating systems designed to run inside virtual machines. Th... [read more >>] The wait is over. At almost six months since the introduction of Internet Explorer Beta 1 in early March at MIX08, Microsoft unveiled the second Beta for the next iteration of its proprietary browser. In this context, the Redmond company lived up to its promise to deliver the second development milestone of IE8 by the end of this month, with the Beta 2 bits going live on August 27. According to Microsoft, Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is available for download for 32-bit Windows XP, and both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. The Redmond giant indicated that the browser would integrate wit... [read more >>] It's nothing short of a veritable Windows fiesta over in Redmond. Following the launches of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 earlier this year, Windows 7 Client and Windows 7 Server/Windows Server 2008 R2 are now taking center stage. But at the same time Microsoft has not given up on Windows Vista. Not only is the company pouring a reported $300 million to catalyze a face lift for Windows, but in addition to the marketing acrobatics planned for debut in early September 2008, the Redmond giant also introduced the Windows Codename Mojave. As of August 26, Microsoft is yet again focusing the limelight on Mojave,... [read more >>] Windows is one product that is not lacking in Nemesis candidates. From Apple's Mac OS X to the open source Linux, to RIA cloud-based operating systems, potential Microsoft Windows killers are advertised in a variety of scenarios incongruent with reality. Microsoft's own non-Windows platforms Singularity and Midori are the latest additions to the list of items designed to supersede Windows as the Redmond company's current flagship product becomes antiquated, obsolete and inferior. However, Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich indicated that a Windows killer, especially Midori, is nothing but a pipe dream. An evolution o... [read more >>] Time is virtually running out for Firefox 2.0. In this context, Mozilla is gearing up for the upcoming mid-December support cut-off date for version 2.0. With codename Shiretoko cooking for a late 2008, early 2009 release, starting on August 25, Mozilla has unleashed Firefox 3.0.1 as a major update for the open source browser, signaling the proverbial beginning of the end for Firefox 2.0. While still approximately months away from the moment when it will pull the plug on Firefox 2.0, Mozilla has kicked into high gear the migration to the latest iteration of the open source browser. The debut of this week was synonymous with the introduction... [read more >>] | 
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