Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO announced at CES that the official beta version of Windows 7 released today to members of Microsoft's development network MSDN and TechNet. A public beta version of Windows 7 will be available for free download this Friday on Microsoft's website.   It's fully confirmed that the beta 1 build will be 7000 that leaked shortly after Christmas. According to sources close to Microsoft, the company is significantly further Wednesday from build 7000 and it's understood tha

Microsoft has announced it plans to offer IE8 via Windows Update.   In a move that will likely anger rivals such as Apple and Google, Microsoft will be pushing Internet Explorer 8 via Windows Update. Google raised concerns back in 2006 when IE7 was originally released via Windows Update.   The IE8 update will be released as the highest priority update for each operating system. For Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, it will be listed as Important. For Windows XP and Windows Server 2003,

Reviewing the first beta of an important release like Windows 7 is never an easy job to do. A confouding factor is that many people have already made up their mind about Windows 7; not because they have tried it, but because it's a Microsoft product, and therefore it sucks. At OSNews we try to judge products by their own merits, not by the parent company that created it. Read on for a set of impressions regarding the Windows 7 beta.   read more > http://osnews.com/story/20722/Review_Windows

Even though the EULA accompanying the beta build of Windows 7 prohibits the publication of benchmark results (good luck enforcing that one, Redmond), everybody and their dog will still compare the Windows 7 beta to Vista and Windows XP. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is one of those benchmarking the beta, and according to his results, the Windows 7 beta beats both Vista and XP in just about every scenario.   read more > http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3236&page=1   via > osnews.com

via neowin

Several Microsoft watchers have speculated that Microsoft may release the Windows 7 beta to Microsoft Action Pack subscribers on or before the 5th January. Microsoft posted a note to its partner site regarding the latest Microsoft Action Pack Subscription quarterly update kit. In the update Windows 7 is included as "download only". The packs content is due to start shipping on "January 5, 2009, depending on region, and continues with the first month of each subsequent quarter (January, April, J

Windows Vista has been out and about for a while now, and it has already been updated with a service pack, with a second service pack on its way. Vista's successor, Windows 7, is also getting closer and closer to release, but despite all that, Windows XP is still going strong, and demand for the operating system remains high. Because of that, Microsoft has yet again extended Windows XP's lifetime for OEMs and resellers.   via osnews.com

I'm sure you're all still (sadly) familiar with the recent 'debate' I had with InfoWorld's Randall Kennedy, which detailed a lot of silly things. The seed of that discussion was planted with Kennedy's first article which, among other things, claimed that Windows 7 performed similarly to Windows Vista (meaning, slower than XP). Leaving the thread count discussion behind, Kennedy did include a benchmark which showed that Windows 7 performed similar to Windows Vista. There's a new benchmark out now