Microsoft is moving forward with plans to launch Windows 7 this year, although the company still refuses to publicly commit to that goal.   PC industry sources in Asia and the U.S. tell CNET News that they have heard things are on track to launch by this year's holiday shopping season, which has been Microsoft's internal target for some time.   Microsoft is also putting the finishing touches on a program to offer Vista buyers a free or low-cost update to Windows 7. That program could kick of

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 is available in 25 languages for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server. You can download IE8 RC1 here: http://www.microsoft.com/ie8.

Editions Last month Microsoft delivered the beta version of Windows 7 for public testing. Today the company announced its plans for Windows 7 SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) strategy, explaining that Microsoft expects that a majority of customers will be best served by two primary editions of Windows 7: Windows 7 Home Premium for consumers, and Windows 7 Professional for businesses. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/feature...Win7SKU-QA.mspx   Windows 7 technet forum Questions, answers and discu

In 10 weeks, Microsoft Corp. will begin to retire Windows XP by shifting the seven-year-old operating system into a more limited support plan.   Windows XP, Microsoft's most successful operating system ever, will leave what the company calls "mainstream support" on April 14, and enter "extended support." Typically, Microsoft keeps a product in the former for five years, then moves it into the latter for another five, for a total of 10 years. However, the long span between the releases of XP an

Despite the success of the Windows 7 beta, which got leaked before it was officially released and had several deadline extensions, Microsoft isn't exactly sitting still. The beta build, with build number 7000, was built on December 12th, 2008, so that leaves enough room between then and now for several newer builds. One such build got leaked this weekend, and it contains some minor changes compared to the beta build.   via osnews.com

who's next ?   After much, much, much speculation, Microsoft let the cat out of the bag today: due to weak results, Microsoft is going to cut 5000 jobs. Those 5000 jobs will disappear over the course of 18 months, with 1400 jobs being cut immediately. Quarterly results, as well as the cost-cutting measures, were made known in a press release today.   via osnews.com

Infections of a worm that spreads through low security networks, memory sticks, and PCs without the latest security updates is "skyrocketing".   The malicious program, known as Conficker, Downadup, or Kido was first discovered in October 2008.   Anti-virus firm F-Secure estimates there are now 8.9m machines infected.   Experts warn this figure could be far higher and say users should have up-to-date anti-virus software and install Microsoft's MS08-067 patch.   In its security blog, F-Sec

Windows 7 beta is avalible for download at Microsoft website - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7...a-download.aspx.   The 32-bit version of Windows 7 Beta is available in five languages: English, German, Japanese, Hindi, and Arabic. The 64-bit version is available in English, German, Japanese, and Arabic. Windows 7 Beta is available for a limited time, to the first 2.5 million people who download the software. Just choose the version that fits the system you'll be using for the test,