Microsoft: 240 million licenses of Windows 7 sold in its first year

Today is the one year anniversary of the launch of Windows 7. To celebrate, Microsoft is releasing new numbers, claiming that the company has sold 240 million licenses of the product to date.

From an October 21 blog post to the Windows Team Blog:

“Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system in history. As of September, Windows 7 was running on 93% of new consumer PCs and has over 17% global OS market share (according to Net Applications as of October 1st). There is an amazing array of great PCs out on the market today. Six months after launch, 100% (over 18,000) of our OEM partners were selling Windows 7 PCs versus 70% for Windows Vista PCs at a comparable time period.”

Earlier this year, analysts were estimating that Microsoft might hit the 300-million-sold number with Windows 7 licenses by the end of this calendar year. It’s looking possible….

I bought a Windows 7 PC last October and it has treated me well. (Like Microsoft PC evangelist Ben Rudolph, I love my super-long-battery-life ASUS UL30 (I have the UL30A).

For all the uptake of Windows 7, it’s worth remembering there is still a lot of Windows XP out there. The latest Net Applications data showed XP’s market share at 60.03%, which was down from 60.89% in the month before.

No updated word today from Microsoft on Windows 7 Service Pack (SP) 1. Last we heard, it will be out before mid-2011. Should be about time for another beta refresh of it, I’d think. And also no word (new or otherwise) on Windows 8, Windows v.Next or any other version of Windows which may be coming to PCs and slates by 2012 or so….

Source: ZD Net

Tata-Indicom-Fly-Mobile-launch-dual-SIM-CG588

NEW DELHI: Tata Teleservices and Fly Mobile have launched a new dual sim handset CG588.

The phone comes with Qwerty keypad with with five-way scroll, and sports a 5.8-cm 262K color TFT display screen. It boasts of embedded social connectivity, mail service and on-the-fly access to social networking sites and a 1.3-Mega Pixel Camera and video player with recording capabilities.

A 1500 mAH battery promises a 300 hours of stand-by time, up to 8 hours hours of talk-time on CDMA and GSM networks. It also features a MP3 audio player, FM radio, 3.5-mm universal audio jack and an expandable memory up to 4 GB.

The phone supports WAP & Bluetooth and a CDMA USB modem, which allows CG588 to be connected to a PC for Internet browsing

The phone is priced at Rs 4,795.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Windows Phone 7 goes on sale today

Today sees debut of the brand new Windows Phone 7 operating system on five different handsets to choose from at launch.

Among them are the Samsung Omnia 7, complete with a vibrant Super AMOLED screen, and the HTC HD7 which features a 4.3in display and a kickstand to rest the phone when watching videos. Also available at launch are LG’s Optimus 7 and two other offerings from HTC, the 7 Mozart and the 7 Trophy.

 

Microsoft has specified a set of minimum specifications to which all Windows Phone 7 handsets must adhere, including at least 8GB of memory and a five-megapixel camera.

Five of the major phone networks will carry the handsets, which will be available on a variety of tariffs. The Omnia 7 will be available on Three, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone, while the HD7 is only available on O2, and the HTC 7 Mozart is exclusive to Orange, while the HTC 7 Trophy is only available on Vodafone.

Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s attempt to reinvent its smartphone operating system to better compete with the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Google Android devices. It features a slick new interface and some critics believe it could pose a genuine threat the other operating systems.

Stephen Fry sung Windows Phone 7’s praises at the launch event in London last week, insisting he wasn’t being paid to heap praise on Apple’s traditional rival.

Source: Tele Graph Media

Apple Unveils New 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air

The rumored MacBook Air has now finally been officially been launched and is what Apple thinks is you would get if an iPad and a MacBook Air hooked up . The new Air lacks an optical drive, hard drive or an SSD and uses built-in all flash storage from 64GB and 28GB on the 11-inch model and 128GB and 256GB on the 13-inch model. The 11-inch and 13-inch models get a 1366 x 768 and 1440 x 900 resolution LED backlit displays respectively.

The CPUs are Intel s Core 2 Duo across the board with the 11-inch model getting clocked at 1.4GHz and the 13-inch model getting a 1.86GHz. 2GB DDR3 memory is standard on all models as is NVIDIA s GeForce 320M graphics processor.

The new MacBook Air is only 0.3cm thick at its thinnest point and 1.7cm at its thickest. It uses an all aluminum unibody construction and multi-touch trackpads. Both models will get two USB 2.0 ports and a mini DisplayPort but only the 13-inch model gets the SD card reader.

The 12-inch model also gets 7 hours of claimed battery life whereas the 11-inch model gets 5 hours of battery life, with 30 hours of standby time on both.

The 11-inch model is priced at $999 and $1,199 for the 64GB and 128GB models and the 13-inch model is priced at $1,299 and $1,599 for 128GB and 256GB models respectively.

Source: Tech Tree

History of Search Engines

Nowadays we take the existence of search engines, especially Google (and Bing) as normal and for many among us a life without Google would be hard to imagine. Whether it is because they are not older than 20 yet and have grown up in a world dominated by technology and the internet, or because they are baby boomers, probably having taken out more than one credit loan over the last two decades.

Let’s face it: search engines are everywhere nowadays and have become an integral part of our life, invading our space ever more. Whether it is web surfing the web on your computer, browsing with your smartphone or even looking for directions online. Google and co. are the starting point for many users online. But how did it come this far and how did search engines evolve over the last two decades? We looked at the history of the crawlers and if you thought there was only Google, Yahoo and Bing this infographic will show you how wrong you are. For the internet nerds among us, let this infographic take you on a trip down memory lane.

Sadly the complexity and huge number of search engines made it impossible to include every single search engine available. Huge thanks to the awesome team at Infographiclabs for this analysis of the search engine history.

Courtesy: Performancing

Microsoft announces cloud-based Office 365 software suite – by Steven Mostyn

Microsoft has this week announced Office 365, a cloud-based software suite that rivals Google Docs and offers enterprise users a one-stop platform containing productivity tools such as Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online.

Compatible with a host of devices and described as “an always up-to-date cloud service,” Office 365 has been created alongside existing Microsoft companies in order to better meet their wide-ranging needs, Microsoft explains in its official release.

“Office 365 is the best of everything we know about productivity, all in a single cloud service,” said Kurt Delbene, president of Microsoft’s Office Division.

“With Office 365, your local bakery can get enterprise-caliber software and services for the first time, while a multinational pharmaceutical company can reduce costs and more easily stay current with the latest innovations,” he added. “People can focus on their business, while we and our partners take care of the technology.”

Office 365, which is presently in its closed beta stage, will be available in ‘small business’ and ‘enterprise’ flavours at launch, with the former costing $6.00 USD per month, per user, while the latter will cost from as little as $2.00 USD per month, per user, through to $24 USD per month, per user.

In terms of content and services offered in the enterprise package, users can expect basic email at the cheapest rate, while the highest monthly rate includes Office Professional Plus, email, voicemail, enterprise social networking, instant messaging, web portals, extranets, voice conferencing and video conferencing, web conferencing, 24×7 phone support, on-premises licenses, and more.

Office 365 is expected to be ready for full availability in 2011 and is presently being put through its paces by “a few thousand organizations” across 13 countries and regions around the world. The beta will be gradually expanded to include more Microsoft customers.

Projecting further into the future, Microsoft has also said Office 365 will eventually include Dynamics CRM Online and an education-based version of the productivity suite will also arrive in 2011 in order to meet the needs of students, faculty and school employees.

Courtesy: The Tech Herald

3G Service – Tata Docomo Begins from 8 November 2010

One of the leading mobile operator in India, Tata DoCoMo has announced date for launching the much awaited 3G service in India. The company will roll out it’s 3G service by Nov 5, 2010.

The Economic Times reported that Tata DoCoMo will start the 3G service in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh by Diwali.

Japan’s NTTDoCoMo has provided technical inputs to make our 3G network world-class. Progressively, NTT will bring various 3G products and services that it offers in Japan, such as i-modeTM, location based services and mobile payment and give our customers a flavor of tomorrow,” said Deepak Gulati, Tata DoCoMo executive president, mobility business division.

The 3G service will provide ultra-fast internet, videoconferencing, unlimited downloads, live TV channels, video call etc. Tata DoCoMo is the first telecom service provider in India to announce date of 3G launch. All other leading operators like Airtel, Reliance, Idea and Vodafone also planned to start the 3G service by the end of 2010. Currently state owned BSNL and MTNL are offering 3g service in different parts of the country.

The launch of 3G services in the country will boost sales of 3G enabled mobile phones. Presently leading mobile manufactures like Nokia, Samsung and Micromax have limited number of 3G enabled handsets. In next few months market will see the the rush of 3G handsets from major brands and Desi manufactures.

Courtesy: One India