Windows 7 pricing and availability announced
Windows 7 pricing and availability has just been announced, along with a couple nice benefits to help put you into Windows 7 at half the price. First, Windows 7 will be rolling out on new PCs starting October 22nd. But starting tomorrow if you buy a new PC from a participating retailer you'll be able to get Windows 7 for little or no cost at all. (See [link] for more details)
As for pricing, the retail prices for full and upgrade versions of Windows 7 follow:
Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99
Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99
And if you want to skirt around paying full price - pre-order! From tomorrow until July 11th in the US and Canada (July 5th for Japan) you can pre-order Windows 7 Home and Professional from the Microsoft Store, Best Buy, or Amazon and get more than 50% off! That means Home Premium version for under $50 and Windows 7 Professional for under $100. Click here for more pre-order information.
link [link]

Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera have just unveiled a new feature of Windows 7 today that they have been forced to keep a lid on for quite some time. Introducing Windows XP Mode (XPM) for Windows 7!

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over a month ago, we were briefed about a secret Microsoft technology that we were told would be announced alongside the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) and would ship in final form simultaneously with the final version of Windows 7. This technology, dubbed Windows XP Mode (XPM, formerly Virtual Windows XP or Virtual XP, VXP), dramatically changes the compatibility story for Windows 7 and, we believe, has serious implications for Windows development going forward. Here's what's happening.

XPM is built on the next generation Microsoft Virtual PC 7 product line, which requires processor-based virtualization support (Intel and AMD) to be present and enabled on the underlying PC, much like Hyper-V, Microsoft's server-side virtualization platform. However, XPM is not Hyper-V for the client. It is instead a host-based virtualization solution like Virtual PC; the hardware assistance requirement suggests this will be the logical conclusion of this product line from a technological standpoint. That is, we fully expect future client versions of Windows to include a Hyper-V-based hypervisor.


XP Mode consists of the Virtual PC-based virtual environment and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). It will be made available, for free, to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions via a download from the Microsoft web site. (That is, it will not be included in the box with Windows 7, but is considered an out-of-band update, like Windows Live Essentials.)


More news - HERE - [link]
Screenshots - HERE - [link]

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Microsoft has launched a new "Personalize your PC" website for users testing out the Windows 7 beta. If you're on Windows 7, you can get to it directly from the operating system (Right click desktop > Personalize > Get more themes online). The site currently has 15 themes, 13 desktop backgrounds, 8 desktop gadgets, and 5 SideShow gadgets (only for Windows SideShow-compatible devices). That may not seem like much, but the message at the bottom of the site gives a little hope:

Information about Windows 7 is preliminary and subject to change. Themes and wallpapers provided during this beta release are for testing purposes only. A greater selection will be available at the time of final release of Windows 7.

Personalize your PC Website [link]

Source: arstechnica [link]

Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc announced the move in a company blog Saturday:


Due to an enormous surge in demand, the download experience was not ideal so we listened and took the necessary steps to ensure a good experience. We have clearly heard that many of you want to check out the Windows 7 Beta and, as a result, we have decided remove the initial 2.5 million limit on the public beta for the next two weeks (thru January 24th). During that time you will have access to the beta even if the download number exceeds the 2.5 million unit limit.

Get more info at the link below

[link]

Download the Windows 7 Beta [link]