Windows 7

Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) will be the next release of Microsoft Windows, an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Microsoft stated in 2007 they were planning Windows 7 development for a three-year time frame starting after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Microsoft has stated that the final release date would be determined by product quality.

Some product features of Windows 7, such as the ability to watch and record live TV or navigation through the use of "touch," may require advanced or additional hardware. The features and functionality you find in the pre-release product may not appear in the final version of Windows 7.

Windows 7 Media Center adds to the impressive changes that VMC made to the XP release, that made it far easier to use and vastly improved the 10ft interface. Windows 7 beta allows you to try Windows for free (legally) on your Mac. For those who don't want to go the Boot Camp route, either because they are risk averse or because they actually want to use their Mac as a Mac, there are the usual virtualization options--namely VMware and Parallels.

Microsoft is projecting that Windows 7 Home Premium will be purchased by most consumers worldwide while Windows 7 Professional will be the choice of small and medium businesses. Windows 7 Enterprise has been reserved for large business while Windows 7 Ultimate (which offers the same feature set as Windows 7 Enterprise) will target specialized consumers who do not want to miss any features of the new operating system.

Microsoft pointed out that its up to the developers that write software for the Windows platform to continue this practice of being energy efficient and generally resource conservative. According to Microsoft, the developers now have sufficient tools to control the power consumption of their applications to a great extent.

Microsoft Closes adCenter Analytics

Mel Carson, Microsoft adCenter’s Community Manager, announced yesterday that they will close the adCenter Analytics program at the beta stage itself. Microsoft adCenter Analytics was designed with the intention of providing website owners with detailed reports of the activity of their users and also to let them track the performance of their advertisements. Microsoft's adCenter Analytics has not yet left beta, and it appears that it will not ever do so. The company announced today that the program will be shut down at the end of the year.

Microsoft notified testers that the analytics product was being discontinued. Testers have until December 31, 2009, to copy their historical data.

A Microsoft employee in the Advertising Platform group who has worked in adCenter Analytics expressed that a similar standalone product would not be forthcoming. “This announcement in an indication of a conclusion that they have come to that, for them, providing analytics in the form of a standalone tool like ACA does not present the best value or utility for our customers,” Ian Thomas, director of yield business intelligence product management, wrote on his personal blog. “Of course, it is not my place to be making ad hoc pronouncements about our analytics product strategy, especially not at a moment like this; so I have probably said enough already,” he cautioned.

It’s not clear whether this is the end for a home-grown Microsoft analytics solution or merely a pause before a different product is introduced in the future.