Why the Windows 8 launch isn’t as big as you’ve been told

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Three years ago, I was working at Microsoft to ensure that the security response process didn’t get in the way of the Windows 7 launch. Despite some white-knuckle moments, the launch went off without a hitch and Windows 7 has gone on to be the most popular version of Windows since Windows XP. With the… Read More…

Chart: Windows 7 is almost bigger than Windows XP

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August is already a big month for Windows 8, with Microsoft announcing this morning that it has finished the new version of its operating system and shipped it off to computer makers. But it’s shaping up to be a milestone month for Windows 7, as well. The current version of Microsoft’s operating system, originally released… Read More…

Farewell, Windows Vista: I’m going to miss you, old friend

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Microsoft is ending mainstream support for Windows Vista today, and I’m getting a little choked up just thinking about it. OK, not quite, but in contrast with the PC users and Microsoft executives who would rather forget about the ill-fated operating system, I actually have lots of fond memories of Windows Vista. As a reporter… Read More…

CES: Dell jumps into the Ultrabook game with XPS 13

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Posting from Las Vegas: This year’s Consumer Electronics Show may well be remembered as the year of the Ultrabook, and Dell took a plunge into the increasingly competitive market this afternoon, appearing at Intel’s news conference to unveil Dell XPS 13. One of the big selling points is its frameless edge-to-edge screen, which means that… Read More…

As IE falls overall, Microsoft touts IE9 gains on Windows 7

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Internet Explorer’s overall market share, which stood at more than 90 percent seven years ago, fell again in December 2011 and appears poised to dip below 50 percent across all computers sometime in 2012, according to the latest NetMarketShare numbers. However, in its own public observations, Microsoft is continuing its practice of focusing exclusively on… Read More…

IE9 share tops 20% on Windows 7 even as IE usage slips overall

ieneonnew

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 browser is now used on more than 20 percent of PCs running Windows 7 worldwide, outpacing the Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox counterparts. Microsoft’s IE team noted the milestone in a blog post last night, citing the latest market research from Net Applications. The numbers are even higher in the U.S.,… Read More…

HP shedding PC business: Why Microsoft should buy it

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Bloomberg News caused a big stir in the tech world today with a report that Hewlett-Packard is looking to spin off its PC business to focus more on software and cloud services, in connection with a possible acquisition of software maker Autonomy. HP is the largest PC maker in the world, shipping more than 15 million… Read More…

Verizon’s first 4G LTE netbook is a Windows 7 machine, sorta

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Verizon Wireless this week is releasing its first netbook computer running on its 4G LTE network, and it represents a precious victory for Microsoft in the mobile market — but not for its Windows Phone operating system. The machine runs Windows 7 Starter, a stripped-down version of the company’s PC operating system. The Compaq Mini… Read More…

Microsoft: Windows 7 hits 400 million licenses sold

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At its Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles this morning, Microsoft updated its Windows 7 sales figures — saying that the current version of its operating system has sold 400 million licenses, significantly outpacing Windows XP’s growth over the same period of its life. As we’ve noted in the past, the PC market itself has… Read More…

Kinect on Windows: Results from a 1-day coding marathon

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In conjunction with its release of a Kinect software development kit for Windows 7 today, Microsoft held a “Code Camp” where it invited outside software developers and computer science students from schools including the University of Washington to see what they could do with the SDK in a mere 24 hours. I got a chance… Read More…