Even Windows 8 early adopters prefer Windows 7 by two to one

A survey finds that even hard-core Windows 8 fans prefer Windows 7 by a two to one margin. Forumswindows8.com, the self-proclaimed largest Windows 8 help and support forum on the Internet, is filled with posts on such subjects as how to try to terminate a process in the Windows 8 task manager when access is denied and the state of Winodws 8 HP printer drivers. These hard-core Windows 8 early adopters group recently polled their users. And, 50,000 votes later, they found that their memberships' favorite Windows operating system was overwhemling Windows 7. Read More

VMware Fusion 4 hands-on: Lion, Windows 7, Windows 8, and more

"Virtualization has long been important for Mac users, especially those who have to manage multiple platforms for their work. With Apple’s small share of the desktop market, virtual machines are a necessity for Mac users who can’t get by without access to Windows applications.

While virtual machine products from the likes of VMware, Parallels, and VirtualBox provide convenient ways to run Windows and other operating systems on your Mac, Apple’s recent upgrade to OS X Lion has the software makers scrambling to ship updates. VMware and Parallels have both released new versions that let Windows applications integrate with Lion-specific features such as Launchpad and Mission Control, and take advantage of Apple’s decision to let users run additional instances of Lion in virtual machines.

Ars has an extensive review comparing VMware Fusion 4 and Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac in the works."

VMware Fusion 4 hands-on: Lion, Windows 7, Windows 8, and more

IT BEGINS: Apple's iPads Are Invading The Corporate Market And Killing Microsoft's Laptops

Windows 7 Won't Raise Your Game

After installing Microsoft's latest operating system, one business owner finds his staff covering less ground

New equipment and software often don't do a lot to raise their users' games. Windows 7 is one of those kinds of upgrades. Nearly six months after its release, the business owners I know aren't getting much value from it. That includes me.

Sure, there's a snazzy new user interface. I can customize the task bar by "pinning" items to it, and see thumbnail previews of the windows I have open. I can make my computer more personal. No thanks. This is a business machine, not my car's bumper.

It's not all negative. My company's new Windows 7 PCs perform a bit faster than older ones that ran Windows XP, and they're better at recognizing new hardware that's plugged into them. Security continues to be strong, as Microsoft downloads updates to Windows 7 machines nearly each week.

Windows 7 resembles Microsoft's operating systems of the past. Some of my applications still freeze, and I still reboot and start over, hoping it won't happen again. Networking still takes an information technology professional to set up.

Making matters worse, Microsoft has changed the user interface, which makes us hunt for once-familiar commands. In response, my employees have wasted time reconfiguring the Windows 7 interface so we can readily find useful shortcuts.

Read the full story at BusinessWeek by Gene Marks

Advisory Windows 7 Security Bug

Microsoft releases an advisory to help users concerned about a new zero-day vulnerability affecting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The bug was made public last week after Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft released a security advisory to help users mitigate a bug affecting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 Release 2.

The security vulnerability was reported last week by researcher Laurent Gaffie and can be exploited to remotely trigger a denial-of-service condition in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Gaffie posted proof-of-concept code to the Full Disclosure mailing list and his personal blog last week.

The bug he uncovered lies within the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and affects SMB versions 1 and 2, the advisory states. SMB is the file-sharing protocol used by default on Windows-based computers.

According to Microsoft, users can block TCPports 139 and 445 at the firewall to defend themselves against exploits. Instructions on how to do that are contained within the advisory. Several Windows services use the affected ports, so blocking connectivity to the ports may cause various applications or services to stop functioning, Microsoft warned.

Read the full story

Windows 7 vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses

SophosLabs and loaded a full release copy of Windows 7 on a clean machine. We configured it to follow the system defaults for User Account Control (UAC) and did not load any anti-virus software. Unfortunately, despite Microsoft's claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows.

See the test results

InfoWorld: Snow Leopard beats Windows 7

PC vs. Mac deathmatch: Snow Leopard beats Windows 7

"Windows 7 was built to fix the problems that plagued Vista, and it unquestionably succeeds in doing that. It's a bit less bloated, and it runs a bit faster. The annoying security alerts from User Account Control have been quieted. And the compatibility issues with third-party software and hardware device drivers have largely been ironed away; after all, it's been two and a half years since Vista debuted. Windows 7 even includes a virtual "XP mode" for running legacy programs.

[ Which is better? The Mac OS and Windows 7 UIs face off. | GetInfoWorld's 21-page hands-on look at the next version of Windows, from InfoWorld’s editors and contributors. | Find out what's new, what's wrong, and what's good about Windows 7 in InfoWorld's "Windows 7: The essential guide." ]

Windows 7 goes a few steps beyond merely repairing Vista. It borrows --and improves on -- tricks from the Mac's playbook to make it easier and faster to organize files and launch programs. Like Apple's operating system, Windows 7 not only looks good, but it has tools and shortcuts that help you work more efficiently. If there were ever a Windows that could challenge Mac OS X, Windows 7 is it.

Still, once you've had Mac, can you ever go back?"

Read the full story at InfoWorld

The Engadget Show - 002: Steve Ballmer, Droid, Nook, and new Macs

New Apple ads

Performance showdown: Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard

"In time-based tests, Snow Leopard consistently outdid Windows 7. It took only 36.4 seconds to boot up, while Windows took 42.7 seconds. In a shutdown test, Snow Leopard took only 6.6 seconds, while Windows needed twice the amount of time: 12.6 seconds."

Read the full Story by Dong Ngo

FUD report: Snow Leopard 'not as secure' as Windows...

"Another week, another lax Mac OS X security FUD emanating from the usual quarters, making the risible claim Apple’s platform is inherently less secure than Windows.

Story goes like this: The hacker who successfully broke into a Mac at a hacker’s conference some time ago has tested Snow Leopard against WIndows 7, and accuses the Mac OS as being “less secure” than Microsoft’s Vista upgrade.

Charlie Miller is one of the team from Independent Security Evaluators who successfully "pwned and owned" an Apple MacBook Air, in a hacking contest sponsored by TippingPoint's Zero Day Initiative."

Read the full story at 9 to 5 Mac by Jonny Evans

"He conveniently forgets all of the other security features in Snow Leopard. Why doesn't he touch on:
- stack frame protection
- code injection protection
- automatic replacement of common C functions (e.g. srtcpy) with hardened versions
- heap consistency checks
- the reduction in setuid executables
His opinion on ASLR is valid, but extrapolating that to the overall security of the OS is garbage."

Enterprises Chucking Windows & Choosing Macintosh

"News Analysis. Macintosh is choice du jour for enterprises deploying operating systems other than Microsoft's Windows. Uh-oh. One Linux version is catching up.

Windows Vista dissatisfaction and concerns about Windows 7 compatibility and deployment costs have some enterprises looking at alternatives, according to the research. The economy is a factor, too, but more to the benefit of Linux than either Mac OS X or Windows. The number of businesses considering "an alternative to adopting Windows Vista or Windows 7" is 50 percent, up from 42 percent in 2008, according to the report."

Read the full story

Microsoft's Guided Tour of the Windows 7 Taskbar

As we pointed out in our Windows 7 walkthrough, one of the biggest improvements to the UI is the taskbar. It is hard to explain new features like "Peek" and how the functionality of the taskbar has evolved without actually showing you how it works—so this video should do a lot to clear things up. All-in-all it looks like a major upgrade.



read more | digg story

Why Windows 7 Will Smash Vista

Windows 7 is what Windows Vista should have been, what we hoped it would be. The Batman Begins to Vista's Batman and Robin. While superficially both are kinda the same (Batman!), there's a completely different thought process at work.

its next release of Windows will run even faster than the previous one, an unprecedented feat for Microsoft.

• If an application or device runs on Vista, it should run on Win 7.
• If a system runs Windows Vista, should run Windows 7 even faster.
• Notebooks should get better battery life in Windows 7.
• Windows 7 will be more reliable than Vista SP1 from Day 1.

Windows 7 is also way more brainy when it comes to crashy apps and errors, in a couple different ways. The Problem Steps Recorder watches what you do to trip an error—if you can repeat it after turning on the recorder, that is—and it generates a useful, detailed error report in a language that actually resembles English!

read more | digg story

Microsoft gives users six months longer to flee from Vista

Never mind that Microsoft has kicked off a hyped ad campaign to convince the public to buy Windows Vista PCs, - it's also given users more time to switch back to Windows XP. OEMs have been given an additional six months to sell PCs running Windows Vista with the ability to downgrade to Windows XP using an accompanying recovery disc. 

 The goal seems to be to help PC users who cannot move to Windows Vista move smoothly to the next version of Microsoft's desktop operating system, Windows 7.

read more | digg story

Microsoft Admits What Went Wrong with Vista!

"Way back in January 2007, after years of hype and anticipation, Microsoft unveiled Windows Vista to a decidedly lukewarm reception by the PC community, IT pros, and tech journalists alike. Instead of a revolutionary next-generation OS that was chock-full of new features, the Windows community got an underwhelming rehash with very little going for it. Oh, and Vista was plagued with performance and incompatibility problems to boot.

Since then, the PC community has taken the idea that Vista is underwhelming and turned it into a mantra. We’ve all heard about Vista’s poor network transfer speeds, low frame rates in games, and driver issues—shoot, we’ve experienced the problems ourselves. But over the last 18 months, Vista has undergone myriad changes, including the release of Service Pack 1, making the OS worth a second look. It’s time we determine once and for all whether we should stick with XP for the next 18 months while we wait for Windows 7. But before we answer that question, let’s review exactly what’s wrong with Windows Vista."

read more | digg story