Business

According to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, sales of the company's Windows 7 operating system have been nothing less than "fantastic" since its launch back on October 22. However, industry experts are wondering exactly why that is, ... and if the good times will last for MS. Speaking at a press event in Tokyo on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Ballmer gushed about Windows 7. He has reason to, thus far. According to industry stat-tracker NPD Group, boxed copies of Windows 7 have sold at a rate 234 per cent higher than Windows Vista during the same early period (in U.S. stores). Sales of ... (view more)

Microsoft says that not only will they benefit from sales of its new Windows 7 operating system (OS), but the local economy could benefit from it too. Microsoft hired research firm IDC Corp to conduct a study on the ripple affect of Windows 7 which ... launched on October 22nd this year. Estimates from the IDC study found that American companies could hire 25,000 additional workers through the end of 2010. Sales of Win7 Products Estimated at $110B Microsoft's launch of Windows 7 can affect tech companies that depend on Microsoft's software. Some companies make computer hardware, others produce ... (view more)

One of the most visible changes in Windows 7 is that the User Account Control (UAC) system has been made less irritating than with Vista. However, a security firm says that less hassle comes with a price. The UAC system, which debuted in Vista, ... means that once installed, software is not automatically able to run without restraint. Instead, when it wants to perform an action which will change Windows itself, a pop-up box asks the user for permission. The user must be logged in under an administrator account to give this permission. Vista Users: UAC Most Annoying The idea was to put a block on ... (view more)

With Microsoft grabbing all the headlines of late with its brand-spanking new Windows 7 operating system (OS), Apple has made its bid to turn consumer attention away from their Redmond-based competitor by employing the help of search titan Google. ... According to reports, search terms for "Windows 7 download" and even "Windows 7 upgrade" have triggered Google-sponsored links for Apple products. While some may think that an advertising campaign such as this is 'just business', others say that such a tactic is dirty. (Source: thenextweb.com ) Apple: Make the Switch to Mac Apple ... (view more)

There's no doubt that plenty of excitement has built up around Microsoft with less than two weeks since the launch of Windows 7. However, as of yet that hasn't translated to better market share numbers for either its operating systems (OS) or its ... web browser, Internet Explorer. Research Concludes 1 Year Study According to a recent study by research firm Net Applications, Microsoft's share of the browser market continues to decline . Microsoft's piece of the pie got significantly smaller between October 2008 and October of this year, dropping from 73.64 per cent to just 64.64 per cent. Mozilla ... (view more)

Microsoft's share of the Internet browser market has fallen by almost a tenth in the space of one year. The lost share has been split between Firefox, Safari and Google's new Chrome browser. (Source: informationweek.com ) Monitoring firm Net ... Applications has just released its browser statistics for October. While some reports are concentrating on the changes since September, which saw Internet Explorer drop by just one percentage point, the trends are much more striking when comparing October 2009 to October 2008. Firefox Does Most Damage During that one year period the percentage of Internet ... (view more)

A large part of the reason Microsoft's Windows 7 promises to be successful is because it won't be all that long before support for the very popular Windows XP ends -- somewhere around 2-3 years from now. So, how good is support for Windows 7 today? ... Microsoft recently took the opportunity to announce some of the best features behind its Windows 7 troubleshooting apparatus. It starts with something called "Action Center," the Redmond-based firm's new technical support system. According to Microsoft general manager of product quality and online support Lori Bronwell, Action Center includes over ... (view more)

Many users are taking up the offer for Windows 7 "Upgrade," which requires the user to have a pre-existing, legitimate copy of Windows 2000, XP, or Vista already pre-installed on the user's machine. However, Microsoft has recently confirmed it is ... technically possible to install an upgrade-only edition of Windows 7 on a machine that doesn't already have another version of Windows pre-installed. That said, the firm has also pointed out that doing so is an illegal breach of licensing conditions. Several websites have printed what they describe as 'workarounds', which use an upgrade ... (view more)

An unfinished feature has been discovered lurking within Windows 7, which would allow a regular laptop computer to be transformed into a wireless access point. The "secret" WiFi feature is not a foreign or accidental creation, however. Microsoft ... crafted "Virtual WiFi" in an effort to " virtualize " one wireless card as separate adapters for several different devices. Original efforts to forge ahead with "Virtual WiFi" were halted in 2006, when the project was discontinued. However, the work has apparently made a grand re-entrance with Windows 7, now known as Native 802.11 Virtual Wireless ... (view more)

In its attempt to make Windows 7 a success and build a successful chain of retail stores, Microsoft has declared war on one of the most annoying parts of buying a new PC: bloatware. Bloatware -- known less charitably as crapware -- is trial software ... which PC manufacturers include with new computers. To the manufacturers and developers it's a great deal: the manufacturers get some bonus content while the developers can expose their products to new computer buyers. However, many users find the programs useless and unwanted; they usually come with limited functionality until the full edition is ... (view more)