As expected, Microsoft will let computer makers sell PCs with the aged Windows XP for six months after it releases Windows 7, a move that will confuse companies and make it tougher for them to manage their licensing, an analyst said today.
Windows 7 will be generally available on Oct. 22 and the code will be finalized and sent out to manufacturing in late July, according to Microsoft.
In an effort to counter the growing dominance of Microsoft's Windows OS in netbooks, Intel on Tuesday announced a beta version of a Linux OS it has developed for low-cost laptops and mobile devices.
Though eight years old, Windows XP still powers 71 percent of all PCs, according to a recent report from Forrester. That translates to millions of users that Microsoft must convince to upgrade to either Vista or the upcoming Windows 7.
One of the most hated features of Windows Vista will be seen a third less often by users of the upcoming Windows 7, a Microsoft executive promised Monday.
Technical advisers to the antitrust regulators who monitor Microsoft's compliance with a 2002 antitrust settlement will test Windows 7 "more thoroughly" than earlier versions of the operating system, according to a recently-released status report filed with the federal judge watching over the company.
Microsoft Tuesday issued its first patch for the just-released Windows 7 beta, but it passed on plugging a hole in an important file-sharing protocol that it fixed in older versions of the operating system.
Downloads of a new build of Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system have soared in the past two days, with thousands of systems now pulling pirated copies from BitTorrent sites.