Yahoo's new boss ...

Microsoft Office Mobile

Microsoft has released a updated version of Microsoft Office Mobile.

It's priced at $50 and you can pick it up here

Microsoft Zune 2 rolling out soon

Zune 2 might be rolling out as soon as tomorrow

Engadget reports that we might have two flash models and a slimmed-down hard drive editions

Silverlight is Moonlight on Linux

Flash on Linux will have some competition - Its called Moonlight - the Microsoft Silverlight implementation.

More screenshots here

Microsoft finally targeting the BIGGEST market ?

Microsoft has launched Windows Vista in India. The only difference between the older launches of Windows and Vista has been the hype built up and the pompous nature of the launch.

This was probably the first where a software has been launched in India when you had Bollywood stars and Political bigwigs at the same place. Is Microsoft finally targeting the potentially biggest market ever?

Software Piracy in India stands at 72% and it's unlikely to decrease any soon - the software is too pricey for everyone to buy, but I believe that's not what Microsoft is really targeting - it's the Govt Organizations that they are really looking at and its a HUGE market out there. With a Economy that's rollicking at a growth of 9% per year, its a good place to be in, isn't it?

Interestingly, India has a President who has been advocating Open Source and some states like Kerala and Maharastra have adopted Linux (Get Case Study). However, most of the Software Service companies predominantly have Windows based solution offerings.

It remains to be seen whether the Govt really falls to the evil empire.

The Microsoft JOKE!

First, they send laptops to bribe bloggers loaded with Vista. After that PR disaster, now, they want the laptops back saying they are for review only !

The first ever Microsoft Vista commercial!

Hmm ... If you thought Apple ads suck .. what do you call these ?

What Vista should have been in 2003

Source: Digg/anog

The Zune Site

Zune is launching on Nov 14. Microsoft has launched the Zune site

You get to see the Zune photo gallery and the technical specifications, the accessories available for it and even a Zune Windows XP theme

Let's wait for Nov 14 to do some reality check

IE7 Addons Site

Microsoft has an official Add-ons site for IE7 - is an equivalent of the Firefox Add-ons Site. The Add-ons are distributed through exe (executable) files and are added to your Add-Programs list

IE 7 available for download

Microsoft has released IE7 - features a 'new look', tabs, RSS feed, a search box and 'improved' security. Haven't tested it out but looks like a Firefox clone - except the security part ;-)

Download it anyway

Understanding Vista Licensing

DownloadSquad has an article on Microsoft Windows Vista licensing issues and how ugly and geek unfriendly the restrictions in the EULA

Microsoft forbids you from transferring the OS to another machine more than once

If you've built your own machine and plan on upgrading your motherboard regularly, prepare to shell out for a new copy of Vista the second time you do.

Microsoft has forbidden installing Vista Home or Vista Home Premium on a virtual machine like VMware or Parallels. If you want to do that you'll have to pay for Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, which will retail for $299 and $399, respectively

Vista's license spells out its right to "phone home" to Microsoft and require validation whenever it feels like it, and the ramifications if validation fails for any reason: "The software will from time to time validate the software, update or require download of the validation feature of the software. If after a validation check, the software is found not to be properly licensed, the functionality of the software may be affected."

Via DownloadSquad

Blue Screen of Death Top 10

The now infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) has been around since Windows 3.1. However, by chance, this screen made an appearance back in Windows 1.0! Have we finally discovered the original origins of this beast! There are many causes for this error: Bad DLL's, incorrect device drivers, bad memory, damaged registry, etc. This error has become less predominant in later years. Receiving such an error now, is much more serious than it used to be in the Windows 3.1/95/98 days. Below are some of the Top 10 Blue Screen of Death images! Some of these might be fake images, unless I was to take them myself how could I be sure obviously. Enjoy!

Via Real World

The Web According to Ballmer

A very interesting interview with Steve Ballmer on Businessweek where he discusses Web 2.0, Google, XBox, Zune and more...

Even the people running the richest tech companies are awestruck by Web 2.0 valuations. Microsoft boss Steven Ballmer, who sat down with BusinessWeek editors and writers hours before Google finalized its $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube, questioned how the online video service could fetch so much. He also talked about Microsoft's video-game and digital music business, as well as the new breed of competition the company faces.

Read more at Businessweek

Windows Vista RC2 Review

Information Week has come out with review of Vista RC2. Apparently, if you don't activate, Vista will stop working.

If you don't want to read the full review - here is the conclusion!

Performance-wise, RC2 looks and feels good and marks a continued progression from RC1. (I had only one unexplained reboot!)

The bottom line is that, with RC2, Vista is increasingly looking like a smart combination of heavy duty functionality sure to be welcomed by corporate users and an increasingly good-looking presentation that'll appeal to consumers.