Windows 7, the much-anticipated successor to Microsoft’s Windows Vista OS, may arrive ahead of schedule. Although Microsoft has previously said that Windows 7 would not arrive until early 2010, new rumors surfaced Monday claiming that the company’s internal calendar puts the release date at June 3, 2009.
The rumor also says that Microsoft will use its upcoming Professional Developers Conference in October to launch the first public beta of Windows 7. Windows 7 could be announced on Oct. 27, during Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie’s keynote speech.
Microsoft has not yet responded to inquires from Webmonkey, but if the rumors are true it would be welcome news for those unhappy with Windows Vista.
Regardless of when it arrives, Windows 7 should offer a smoother transition than the one many users experienced moving from XP to Vista.
Much of the Vista backlash had to do with the system hardware requirements and the lack of third-party device drivers. Because Windows 7 will reuse the Vista Kernel and the same driver framework, a Vista-compatible PC should be just fine with Windows 7.
Microsoft and Novell have agreed to extend the controversial deal the two competitors struck back in 2006. The new agreement will see Microsoft purchase additional Novell certificates that its customers can redeem for Novell’s SUSE Linux service and support.
Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft, says “our increased investment in the relationship with Novell is intended to give [our] customers and partners the best possible Windows-Linux interoperability solution.”
What’s perhaps most interesting about the extension of the deal that caused a massive uproar in the open source community is that, this time around, Microsoft hasn’t been touting the “protection” component.
When the two rivals first announced their agreement back in 2006, Microsoft played up the angle that it was giving Novell customers “protection” from any potential lawsuits against Linux. The company then went on a blustering “Linux steals our intellectual property” tour, proclaiming that lawsuits against Linux would be forthcoming.
The response from the Linux community was a rather blunt, sue up or shut up, and it would appear that Microsoft has opted for the later. In fact, today’s press release only mentions the intellectual property agreement in passing.
Instead the focus is on making Windows Server and SUSE Linux work better together. The read-between-the-lines message is that Microsoft knows server virtualization tools are a threat and wants to head them off at the pass.
While the open source community may still view Novell with suspicion, at least Microsoft seems to have moved beyond its schoolyard bully tactics.
The popular, lightweight Windows torrent client, µTorrent, has released its first major update in some time, packing in some significant new features.
From a layout and UI standpoint, not much has changed, but under the hood µTorrent now supports Teredo, which promises much improved IPv6 support. Teredo is a tunneling protocol that allows even IPv6-unaware NAT devices to handle IPv6 traffic.
The end result is IPv6 connectivity without needing to upgrade NAT hardware, meaning better connections and improved torrent performance.
Other features in µTorrent 1.8 include better Windows Firewall registration in Vista, better skin handling for customizing the look and feel and quite a bit more. Check out the µTorrent forums for the complete change list.
Also welcome news is that with the release of 1.8, the µTorrent team plans to focus its effort on the long-anticipated Mac OS X version. No time line has been announced, but µTorrent developer Greg Hazel hints to TorrentFreak that “the first public Alpha version will be released in just a few weeks.”
As always µTorrent is free and you can grab the latest version from the downloads page.
What’s Microsoft without the Windows? While the next version of Windows will no doubt be the familiar desktop that still dominates the market, the future may hold something entirely different.
If the rumors are to be believed, Microsoft is hard at work on a project code-named Midori, which will pare down the operating system and might one day replace Windows.
Recently revealed documentation purportedly shows that Midori, while still in the very early stages, appears to be Microsoft’s answer to both “cloud computing” and virtualization. That is, rather than tying the OS directly to hardware, Midori would be available across networks or even possibly the web.
The SD Times claims to have viewed internal Microsoft documents that outline Midori’s proposed design which is, according to the site, “internet-centric and predicated on the prevalence of connected systems.”
Of course Microsoft Research has all sorts of projects under its roof and many will never see the light of day. But longtime Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley looked into Midori earlier this year and concluded that Midori has more legs than some of its Microsoft Research brethren.
Although Midori is “currently in ‘incubation,’” Foley wrote, “it’s likely to be launched sooner than a typical Microsoft Research project.” Of course she went on to say that Midori was unlikely to arrive in time to replace Windows 7 or even Windows 8.
So will Microsoft abandon Windows and start over, rewriting an OS from the ground up? Apple did something similar (though perhaps less radical) when it released OS X and it has proved a very healthy move for the company. Will Microsoft attempt the same sort of move? Let us know what you think.
Humyo.com is offering 30 gigs of online storage for free with every account sign up . The catch is 25 gigs is restricted to media files such as music and video, five is for whatever you want, and anything over that will cost you.
The website interface uses a Java Applet to drag and drop files to and from your online account. You can create folders, sort by type and edit files directly within the browser. Editing and sharing files via the web interface makes the online storage somewhat unique by simulating a shared drive and enabling collaboration.
Downloading via the web page is a little clunky — you can only download one file at a time. Humyo explains that instead of developing a way to permit mass downloads, development will focus on making it easy to access all your files online. Although it is unsaid, it will also probably also prevent software piracy.
Perhaps the most useful feature of Humyo’s offering is its Windows desktop client. The client emulates a network drive, complete with any files or folders you created or uploaded online. You can download and upload just as if you were moving files around on your computer. You can even play the media directly through iTunes or Windows Media Player.
Humyo’s desktop client is impressive because it blurs the line between the “cloud” and desktop software. You would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the Humyo drive or any local area network drive that appears under “My Computer.”
Of course, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Humyo makes their money by getting you to pay for the Premium account which will run you $59.99 for the first year, $79.99 after that. As with any online storage, you will probably want to hold on to the original files in case Humyo goes down. The client software comes with a 14 day trial, after that you’ll have to pay for the Premium account.
Humyo’s service is an example of what is next in store for the web. Apple’s MobileMe, announced in June, promises online synchronization between computers through online, mobile and desktop interfaces. MobileMe will be available to Mac users this summer for a hefty $99/year. Dropbox promises similar functionality for the Mac but is currently limited to beta testers by invite only.
Other services focus on the transfer of files rather than accessibility. Drop.io is a favorite and doesn’t require an account. Drop.io works like TinyURL for files. You can upload a file under 100 mb and share it with friends with a simple URL.
Windows 7, the much-anticipated successor to Microsoft’s Windows Vista OS, may arrive ahead of schedule. Although Microsoft has previously said that Windows 7 would not arrive until early 2010, new rumors surfaced Monday claiming that the company’s internal calendar puts the release date at June 3, 2009.
Browse Our Tutorials
Cheat Sheets
Color Charts
Cut & Paste Code