Ultimate Windows Vista Celebration Sweepstakes winners from 25 states each receive 20 new computers equipped with educational software.

Thousands of students in 34 schools across the nation will have the opportunity to explore the new Windows Vista™ operating system for the very first time as new computers and software come rolling into their schools. Microsoft Corp. today announced the winners of its Ultimate Windows Vista Celebration Sweepstakes; each will receive $25,000 toward a computer lab “makeover” that includes a choice of 20 laptops or desktops equipped with Windows Vista Ultimate.

View: Full Story @ Microsoft Presspass

Microsoft on Tuesday launches a fierce attack on Google over its “cavalier” approach to copyright, accusing the internet company of exploiting books, music, films and television programmes without permission.

Tom Rubin, associate general counsel for Microsoft, will say in a speech in New York that while authors and publishers find it hard to cover costs, “companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the back of other people’s content, are raking in billions through advertising and initial public offerings”.

View: Full Story @ ft.com

NEW ORLEANS — Feb. 26, 2007 — The Gulf Coast region’s economic revitalization after Hurricane Katrina was boosted by an announcement today by Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer of $1.7 million in donations of cash, software and specialized curriculum to several nonprofit partners in Louisiana and Texas. Microsoft is supporting existing local government, academic and nonprofit organizations as they rebuild and establish community infrastructure, technology and work-force training centers. These centers support displaced residents in accessing the technology skills training they need to succeed in today’s technology-driven economy.

The grants Microsoft awarded to nonprofit partners in Louisiana and Texas today are part of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential 2007 program investments of $55 million worldwide. Unlimited Potential was started in 2003 to broaden digital inclusion and meet the need for computer literacy in society and the workplace. Microsoft’s goal is to provide, by the year 2010, a quarter-billion underserved people around the world with access to the technology and technology skills training they need to improve social and economic opportunities for themselves and their communities.

By working with local business and government representatives, who are the experts in their respective communities, Unlimited Potential provides the necessary training to help foster local economic growth. Toward this end, Microsoft has now invested $255 million in more than 800 projects around the world.

View: Full Story @ Microsoft Presspass

Think of how you treat a brand-new car: You cherish and pamper it at first. You even give up your Sunday afternoons to wash and wax it by hand. Your heart skips a beat whenever you see that gleaming steel beast waiting for you in the parking lot. A newly installed version of Windows XP can inspire similar devotion. Not only do you thrill at its pristine condition but you patiently, and even eagerly downloaded all the latest patches from Windows Update so as to keep your OS shipshape.

But over time, most of us begin to take that new car—and that clean WinXP installation—for granted. As it accumulates miles and wear and tear, your erstwhile pride and joy becomes just another drain on your wallet—and your time. Hand-washing, you discover, just isn’t worth the effort anymore. In its place: a quickie car wash at the local gas station. If only there were a simple wash-and-rinse equivalent for WinXP.

Guess what? Such a thing does exist. It’s called slipstreaming—the mystical art of creating an up-to-the-minute Windows XP setup CD with all the latest patches preinstalled, so you won’t have to spend half your life on Microsoft’s Windows Update web site. As always, Maximum PC is here to show you how to do it. Heck, we’ll even help you add RAID or Serial ATA controller drivers to your CD so you won’t need a floppy drive (or the F6 key) to install Windows. (Note: Service Pack 2 wasn’t available when we went to press, but it should be by the time you read this. If SP2 isn’t available, the instructions in this story will still work with SP1.)

View: Full Story @ MaximumPC

News that iTunes for Windows isn’t yet ready for Microsoft’s new operating system emerged earlier this week, with Apple warning PC folk to hold off on a Vista upgrade pending the release of updates.

Today’s tech support document names a range of additional Windows applications from Apple that don’t support that new operating system.

These include: QuickTime, the iPod shuffle reset utility, Bonjour for Windows, AirPort for Windows, the iDisk utility, AppleWorks for Windows, and Apple Software Update for Windows. The stand-alone iPod updater for iTunes 6 for Windows also isn’t ready for Vista.

View: Full Story @ ITWorld.com

If you choose to purchase an upgrade version of Windows Vista to upgrade XP, you will no longer be able to use that version of XP. Either on another system, or as a dual-boot option. The key will be invalidated, preventing activation.

View: Full Story @ TomCoyote.org

Today we’re announcing further detail on how Windows Anytime Upgrade works. Come 30 January, Windows Anytime Upgrade will allow customers to purchase and download a digital key to upgrade to a more feature-rich edition of Windows Vista. The user will then complete the upgrade process by inserting the Windows Vista DVD that came with their PC or with their retail purchase of Windows Vista. The program will be available in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan.

Manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (MSRP) to upgrade from a more basic version of Windows Vista are:

* Home Basic –> Home Premium: $79
* Home Basic –> Ultimate: $199
* Home Premium –> Ultimate: $159
* Business –> Ultimate: $139

View: Full Story @ Windows Vista Team Blog

To make it easier for households with multiple PCs to make the move to Windows Vista, Microsoft is launching a limited-time offer for customers who buy retail copies of Windows Vista Ultimate. From Jan. 30 through June 30, the Windows Vista Family Discount will allow North American customers to license two additional copies of Windows Vista Home Premium for use on other PCs in the home at the reduced price of $49.99 each. Before completing the order online, customers will need to enter one valid full or upgrade Windows Vista Ultimate key from their retail boxed product. After eligibility is verified online, the customer can purchase licenses to install Windows Vista Home Premium on one or two additional Windows-based computers. The Windows Vista Family Discount is available only in the U.S. and Canada. More information is available at http://www.windowsvista.com/FamilyOffer

View: Vista Family Offer
View: Full Story @ Microsoft Presspass

Microsoft announced Friday it has hit the 100 million installation milestone for Internet Explorer 7, a figure that makes the new browser the second most used behind IE6. Web analytics firm WebSideStory reports that 25 percent of all Web surfers in the United States are now running IE7.

“We expect these numbers to continue to rise as we complete our final localized versions, scale up AU distribution, and with the consumer availability of Windows Vista on January 30, 2007,” wrote IE group program manager Tony Chor on the IEBlog. Because IE7 is built into Windows Vista, Microsoft expects adoption rates to jump further as consumers upgrade. Already, Microsoft is preparing to discuss the next version of Internet Explorer at the company’s MIX conference that begins April 30.

Via: BetaNews

A quiet change Microsoft has made in the rendering engine used by Outlook 2007 is beginning to sink in among individuals who have gotten accustomed to having the Internet Explorer (IE) engine render HTML e-mail messages. And the reaction of many is one of anger and disbelief.

“While the IE team was soothing the tortured souls of web developers everywhere with the new, more compliant Internet Explorer 7, the Office team pulled a fast one, ripping out the IE-based rendering engine that Outlook has always used for email, and replacing it with … drum roll please … Microsoft Word,” according to a post by Kevin Yank on SitePoint blogs.

Yank continued: “Not only that, but this new rendering engine isn’t any better than that which Outlook previously used—indeed, it’s far worse. With this release, Outlook drops from being one of the best clients for HTML email support to the level of Lotus Notes and Eudora.”

View: Full Story Via: All About Microsoft