Hasta La Gadget!

Aw snap, one of the final hurdles on the way to October 22nd has been passed: Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 R2, too) has been released to manufacturing. A post over on The Windows Blog explains that this build (7600) underwent tons of scrutiny and tweaking before being deemed sufficient for release, and considering that we know you’re anxious for details on dates, hear this:

“The RTM code will be delivered to our partners within the next few days who will then start preparing to deliver some amazing new products timed to hit at General Availability (GA) of Windows 7 on October 22nd. As always, current Windows Volume License customers, MSDN subscribers and TechNet subscribers will get first customer access, getting Windows 7 on August 6 (MSDN/TechNet) and August 7 (VL), and Windows Server 2008 R2 the second half of August.”

So, there you have it — now, are you prepared to wait until early August to get your download on? Nah, we thought not. The full announcement is posted after the break.

Update: Looks like some Microsoft employees were so excited by the RTM sign-off that they made a celebratory video. See it for yourself just after the break!

Continue reading Microsoft’s Windows 7 gets released to manufacturing

Filed under: Software

Microsoft’s Windows 7 gets released to manufacturing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As October 22nd hastily approaches, Microsoft is slowly but surely dropping all sorts of knowledge on to-be Windows 7 buyers. The latest tidbit about the forthcoming OS revolves around upgrades, with a company spokesperson reportedly confirming that users running an activated version of Windows 7 Release Candidate will not have to “reinstall an older version of Windows before using a Windows 7 upgrade disk.” Unfortunately, those who choose this path will see all of their files and such ushered into a folder labeled “Windows.old” when the final version of Win7 is installed, essentially putting a damper on what would’ve been an otherwise awesome experience. Interestingly, the fun doesn’t stop there; if you ever need to reinstall the final version of Win7 from scratch using the upgrade copy you purchased, you’ll first need to install (and activate) a copy of XP or Vista, which is different that Vista’s somewhat more lax upgrade policies. Check out the read link for the full spiel, and make sure you wrap your noodle around it good before you go off pre-ordering the wrong box.

[Via HotHardware]

Filed under: Software

Microsoft confirms Windows 7 RC upgrade rules originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google. Chrome. OS. Just reading that makes my pants tingle. But, uh, what is it exactly?

Here’s what Google says: “Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks” and “most of the user experience takes place on the web.” That is, it’s “Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel” with the web as the platform. It runs on x86 processors (like your standard Core 2 Duo) and ARM processors (like inside every mobile smartphone). Underneath lies security architecture that’s completely redesigned to be virus-resistant and easy to update. Okay, that tells us, um, not much.

After all, Google’s Android is a mobile OS that runs on top of a Linux kernel. But Chrome OS is different! Android is designed to work on phones and set-top boxes and other random gadgets. Chrome OS is “designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems” for “people who spend most of their time on the web.” Hey wait, they both run on netbooks? Hmm!

Since the official blog post is all Google has said about Chrome OS and it doesn’t say much, let’s do something I learned in college, turning tiny paragraphs into pages of “deep reading.”

It seems like there are two possibilities for what Chrome OS is, on a general level. The more mundane—and frankly uninspired—possibility is that it’s essentially a Linux distro with a custom user interface running the Chrome browser. As someone quipped on Twitter (sorry I don’t remember who), if you uninstall everything but Firefox 3.5 on Ubuntu, would that be the Firefox OS? What’s the difference between Chrome OS and a version of Chrome with Google Gears on Intel’s pretty Moblin OS?

The other possibility is more interesting. Look at this closely: “Most of the user experience takes place on the web.” The software architecture is simply “Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.” That sounds familiar. A lot like Mike Arrington’s CrunchPad, actually, which boots directly into the WebKit browser running on top of Linux.

Meaning? The entire experience of the CrunchPad takes place on the internet, and the web is its “platform” as well, essentially. Chrome is WebKit-based as well. (I’m surprised Arrington didn’t mention this in his post, actually.) If I had to guess, I’d say Chrome OS is somewhere in between an entirely browser-based OS and a generic Linux distro, though leaning toward the former.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.But running a full computer like Chrome OS, based entirely on web apps, is crazy, right—I mean, what if you’re not online? There are two things that show it actually might not be completely retarded.

You can already use Gmail offline. I think that will be really indicative of other app experiences in a totally web-oriented Chrome OS with Google Gears. The same goes for Google Docs in offline mode, an option some people have been using for over a year. It’s no coincidence that Google pulled “Beta” off of its web apps the day it announced Chrome OS.

Another reason it might work is Palm’s WebOS on the Pre, where most of the apps, like Pandora, are written simply using web languages. (It, too, is running WebKit on top of Linux kernel.) As Harry McCracken notes, it seems like a prime opportunity for Google’s long rumored GDrive online storage to finally rear its head, picking up on the line “people want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files.” That could make Chrome OS wildly more compelling. And don’t get me started on all the app-like possibilities from HTML5 by the time Chrome OS launches in the second half of 2010.

Actually, the more minimal it is, the more I think Chrome OS could be better, in some ways, than Android. Google half-assed a lot of Android at launch (UI inconsistencies, missing video player, etc.). If Chrome OS really is just a glorified browser, Google can afford to be that lethargic—all they have to do is maintain the browser, and everyone else will take care of the web apps. Which developers will code, because they’ll run on any OS with a browser—Windows, OS X, whatever—and because the web as a platform is the way things are going. Even Microsoft knows this, deep down, as their Gazelle browser project shows.

How will you sync an iPod, manage printers and network drives, or yank photos and videos from your camera? We don’t know. Some things may be impossible. Will there be an uproar, like there was with iPhone 1.0, about the limitations of web apps? Surely someone will bitch.

But I can almost see a day where phones run Chrome OS, too, when wireless internet is truly ubiquitous. It seems obvious, now, that this is Google’s long-haul play—not Android, even. Either way, Microsoft doesn’t have to be scared today. But they might be in about a year.

Still something you wanna know? Send questions about web tablets, web apps, the wicked webs Google weaves and anything else to tips@gizmodo.com, with “Giz Explains” in the subject line. Top image by Cobra Commander, from our totally insaney Google Chrome comic Photoshop contest.

We finally received the official word on Windows 7 pricing. For the most part, people itching to upgrade immediately or buy a new Win 7 machine are in luck.

Odds are, you won’t pay the official prices, so I’m telling you the launch specials first. If you play your cards right, you’ll either get it as a free upgrade for buying a PC, or you’ll pay $50 for Win 7 Home Premium and $100 for Win 7 Professional. It’s not the $30 Mac users will pay for the Snow Leopard upgrade, but it’s a move in the right direction.

Free Upgrades
If you buy a PC starting Friday, June 26th, it should be covered under a free upgrade plan. (I say “should” because it depends on the manufacturer, but most of them are jumping on this with both feet.) Say you buy a computer with Vista Home Premium this weekend; you get a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade on October 22, free. If you buy Vista Business, you’ll get Win 7 Professional, and if you buy Vista Ultimate, you’ll get Win 7 Ultimate. There’s no upgrade path for Home Basic (the reason is below) but as I understand it, the number of systems sold at retail with Home Basic on them are in the low single digits.

That should take care of most PC buyers.

The Half-Price Pre-Order Deal
People in the US, Canada or Japan who already own a PC running XP or Vista will be able to pre-order the upgrade disc at around half the price that they’ll eventually sell for. The pre-order deal also starts Friday, June 26th, and will run for a limited time.

As I said, Windows 7 Home Premium, usually $120, will cost $50, and Windows 7 Professional, usually $200, will cost $100. Windows 7 Ultimate is not part of this discount plan, but it might get its own incentive plan later on. (You could technically buy Home Premium upgrade, then pay to convert it to Ultimate, saving at least a little cash.) The pre-order deal will be visible at store.microsoft.com and at “most major retailers.”

What’s this about a limited time? Mike Ybarra, general manager of Windows Product Management, told me that the pre-order deal will go away when a certain undisclosed number of licenses is sold. “We have enough quantity,” he said, adding that the magic number was “equivalent to a year of Vista sales volume at retail.” (Ironically, those of you who want this upgrade offer to last have to hope that the Mojave Experiment worked, at least a little.) Some Microsoft materials suggest that July 11th might be the cutoff for the deal, but from what I understand, that’s an estimate—this is based on supply. Regardless, if you want Windows 7, pre-order the damn thing come Friday.

European Hijinks
Europe is getting kinda screwed in this deal, because of the European Commission’s banning of IE8 from any Windows installer media. Basically, starting July 15th in France, Germany and the UK, Microsoft will be selling full versions of Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional at the discounted upgrade prices, but that means there’s no way to upgrade directly from Vista.

Euros who buy Win 7 will be forced to perform a clean install, and migrate their data and apps over any way they know how. The logic is that, while the Windows team can do a clean install without IE8, there’s not enough quality assurance on what an upgrade install would be like without IE8, with assorted HTML rendering apps co-existing in the OS already. Could be messy, says Ybarra. “We don’t want to break anyone else’s software, we don’t want to break our own software, and we don’t want the customer on the phone with support.” That funky deal is supposed to run through December.

The Official Prices
So, now that we got the immediate realities out of the way, here are the “estimated retail prices” that we’ll eventually see in stores, for the people who aren’t yet moving on the upgrade offers:

Windows 7 Home Premium: $120 for upgrade; $200 for full version
Windows 7 Professional: $200 for upgrade; $300 for full version
Windows 7 Ultimate: $220 for upgrade; $320 for full version

To be clear, the term “upgrade” just means you already own and run a version of Windows on the PC you’re upgrading. It’s still a complete set of bits that you can clean install and even set up for dual booting. The “full” version is mostly for people who are building their own systems.

You may remember that there are other Win 7 SKUs such as Home Basic and Starter. Windows 7 Home Basic is not available in the United States or most of Europe though, along with residents of Burkina Faso and Vanuatu, Montenegrans will be able to buy it.

Windows 7 Starter will be offered to Dell, HP, Asus and other manufacturers to stick on netbooks. Just in case you were concerned, Windows XP will also be available, distributed and supported for 12 months after Windows 7 launches though limited to these same “small notebook PCs.” I think Microsoft—and quite a few non-vested-interests—are expecting netbooks to ditch XP for Win 7 pretty fast.

When You Actually Get It
As we’ve previously reported, October 22 is the day when almost everybody gets Windows 7. Anyone, anywhere in the world, in 35 different languages, will be able to buy a Windows 7 PC on October 22. The actual box of software will be available in most countries, covering 14 languages, on the 22nd, with the other 21 languages getting their retail boxes by October 31. It’s a damn fast rollout, especially given all of the terrain it’s going to cover.

Stay tuned, because we’re going to post more details on this pre-order business soon. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves. Is this a good deal? Is it crap? And most importantly, are you going to pony up cash on Friday? [Windows Blog]

And don’t forget to check out our Complete Guide to Windows 7, covering all the new features, plus our experiences with the Beta and RC1 releases.

You see, there’s not much wiggle room when it comes to netbook pricing. By and large, vendors have priced their machines about as low as they can in order to receive but a sliver of a profit, and there’s certainly no way they could eat another $20 to $30 on each unit and still feel good about themselves. To that end, we’re hearing that many companies may make their Atom N270 and Atom N280-based netbooks ineligible for the Windows 7 upgrade (from the factory, anyway), with those always-mysterious “industry sources” pointing to “increasing costs and low consumer demand.” In essence, these guys feel as if consumers will view Windows XP as sufficient for those underpowered machines, while it’ll be the Atom N450, Atom D410 and Atom D510 machines that’ll be most suited for Win7. ‘Course, we suspect you’ll be able to pony up for whatever upgrade you’d like once it’s in your hands, but we wouldn’t anticipate any handouts to suddenly be attached to existing machines.

[Via GadgetMix]

Filed under: Laptops

Atom N270 / N280-based netbooks may be stuck at Windows XP originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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