Windows 7 RC1 made available for download

Windows 7 RC1 made available for download

Microsoft made the first release candidate of Windows 7 available for free download on Thursday. In an unprecedented move for the company, the software will run on a user's PC for more than a year.

Windows 7 RC1 can be downloaded now by MSDN, TechBeta and TechNet subscribers, and the general public will be able to download it on 5 May. There is no limit to how many copies can be downloaded. The software will run until 1 June, 2010, in what a Microsoft marketing manager described to ZDNet UK as a "try before you buy" scenario.

"There is no cap on the amount of downloads [of Windows 7 RC1]," Laurence Painell said...

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Compliments to Obinna Osobalu for the article.

-Ken

First 'e-commerce diploma' unveiled

First 'e-commerce diploma' unveiled

What’s being claimed as the first postgraduate qualification developed in the UK specifically for Internet retailing professionals has been launched by research and training specialist Econsultancy.

The Postgraduate Internet Retailing Diploma has been devised in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, and Ian Jindal of Internet Retailing Magazine. The two-year syllabus is aimed both at individuals already involved in e-commerce plus those from a more traditional retail background, guides delegates through a wide range of internet retailing issues, from marketing, buying, and merchandising, through to logistics, engineering and technology.

Read about it here.

-Ken

'Increasing demand' for telecoms specialists

'Increasing demand' for telecoms specialists

Telecoms specialists are becoming an increasingly popular choice of staff for a number of companies, a recruitment agency has suggested.

Hays Telecoms reported that it has witnessed a steady rise in demand for telecoms professionals, particularly those with experience of business and core networks and mobile technology.

Other knowledge that is becoming desirable is an understanding of content and media and wireless networks.

'People skills and advanced technologies are being used to streamline networks and follow best practice in and around transmission of the data to make networks more productive,' explained Lee Chant, managing director at Hays Telecoms.

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-Ken

Windows 7 to have an 'XP mode'

Windows 7 to have an 'XP mode'

Microsoft is trying to make it easier to sway users of Windows XP onto the latest version of its operating system.

For some time now, the company has been quietly building a "Windows XP mode" that uses virtualization to allow Windows 7 to easily run applications designed for Windows XP. According to sources familiar with the product, the application compatibility mode is built on the Virtual PC technology that Microsoft acquired in 2003, when it scooped up the assets of Connectix.

By adding the compatibility mode, Microsoft is aiming to address one of the key shortcomings of Windows Vista: its compatibility issues with software designed for Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system.

Details of the Windows XP mode, previously known as Virtual Windows XP, were first...

Has Microsoft lost its war on open source?

Has Microsoft lost its war on open source?

Open source proponents say that it doesn't matter anymore if Microsoft threatens them with legal battles

Is Microsoft a friend or foe of open source? Going by the company's actions, Microsoft can't seem to decide whether to make love or war. But if it's war, Microsoft appears to lack the legal weaponry to defeat or even disturb its adversaries.

On one hand, Microsoft has extended an olive branch to the open source community, donating code to projects and backing big-name open source organizations like the Apache Software Foundation as part of an effort to do more than ever to acknowledge that it must work alongside open source, not fight it.

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-Ken

AMD overclocks new Phenom II X4 to 7GHz

AMD overclocks new Phenom II X4 to 7GHz

While 7GHz was achieved with extreme cooling, AMD says overclocking up to 3.8GHz for the 3.2GHz X4 955 is safe at home

AMD on Thursday introduced the latest member of its Phenom II X4 family of high-performance quad-core CPUs, which the No. 2 chip maker said it had run as fast as 7 GHz in extreme overclocking tests.
Out of the box, the new X4 955 Black Edition, which is aimed at gamers and hobbyists, runs at 3.2GHz, giving it similar performance to Intel's fastest desktop chips at lower cost, AMD says.

However, AMD was able to more than double the CPU's speed during its tests, said Brent Barry, an AMD product manager.

The Web site Ripping.org notes that hobbyists with early access to the X4 955 chip have been able to clock it at up to 6.7GHz.

Read the article here.

-ken

Budget: Cutting £7.2bn of IT costs is not enough

Budget: Cutting £7.2bn of IT costs is not enough

There is a need for greater efficiency and effectiveness in government, and as such the Operational Effectiveness Programme is a step in the right direction, writes Mike Zealley, associate partner at Atos Consulting.

It is good that the government recognises the need for innovative use of IT, and the need for further rationalisation and collaboration in procurement to enable this initiative.

However, given the current economic climate, the associated increase in demand for and expectation of government services, we believe that the OEP may not fully meet the challenge. Current plans focus on "more for even less" when what is needed is "much more, for many more, for much less".

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-ken

Microsoft 'best software brand'

Microsoft 'best software brand'

Microsoft has come in at first place in a list of top ten software brands compiled by one technology magazine.

Computing named Microsoft ahead of Google (second place) and Amazon (fifth) in its analysis of the world's best software brands and said that its decision should not surprise readers.

The publication estimated that the value of the Microsoft brand was just over £30 billion, almost three times the value of the third place candidate, Oracle.

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-Ken

IT 'reduces ad spend'

IT 'reduces ad spend'

Technology can help reduce organisations' marketing budgets but any changes should first be tested, an expert has suggested.

Thomas Brown, research projects manager at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), pointed out how IT has been 'changing the face of marketing' in recent years.

He added that businesses considering shifting their marketing strategies to the web should first do this on a trial basis before the completely go online.

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-ken

Windows 8 starts to come into focus

Windows 8 starts to come into focus

I get questions periodically about whether Windows 7 marks the end of the Microsoft operating system road.

Some users wonder whether will Microsoft’s next version of Windows be completely cloud-based? Will it be Midori with the Windows name slapped on it?

No and no. The bottom line: Windows isn’t done when Windows 7 is released to manufacturing (most likely in late fall 2009). Windows 8 has been on the drawing board/planning stages for a while now. And as the “Codename Windows” blog recently reported, Microsoft is starting to hire developers specifically for Windows 8.

Read the article here.

-Ken