With Windows 7 just months away from release, Microsoft is putting a new individual in charge of the whole Windows division. Steven Sinofsky -- who was previously responsible for squashing thousands upon thousands of early Win7 bugs as the senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group -- now has a shiny new title. We're told that as president, Mr. Sinofsky "assumes responsibility for the Windows business including both the engineering and marketing functions for Windows, Windows Live and Internet Explorer." Yeah, pretty broad. Oh, and it's not clear if the former prez's decision to green light that patently disgusting "vomit" spot for IE8 was the straw that broke the camel's back, but whatever the case, there's a new brain behind the future of Windows. No pressure, Steve-o.

[Thank, Neal]

Doom and gloom warnings about a new Microsoft operating system from some corners sure aren't anything new, but it looks like a particular licensing issue with Windows 7 could well cause some serious headaches for businesses transitioning from Windows XP. As InfoWorld reports, as things stand now, businesses that buy PCs before April 23, 2010 with Windows 7 preinstalled will have the option to downgrade them to Windows XP, which will let them upgrade to Windows 7 whenever they're finally ready to make the transition. Businesses that buy Windows 7-loaded PCs on or after April 23rd, however, will only have the option to downgrade to Windows Vista which, as Gartner analyst Michael Silver notes, is obviously of little help to XP-based organizations. Of course, Windows 7 does have its much talked about XP Mode, but Silver says that won't help many businesses since their IT departments would still be faced with the added workload resulting from managing a whole new OS. There are, however, a few workarounds, like Microsoft's Software Assurance Program, but those all involve an added cost, added work, or both.

Ouch. We're guessing this is one that the suits at Best Buy would like to have back. A leaked company memo detailing how the retailer will handle Windows 7 upgrades has accidentally given the world a tasty tidbit to opine upon. The note starts off as such:

"Microsoft is launching Windows 7 in mid-October 2009. This new operating system isn't just a "Vista that works" program - it's a new operating system with improved productivity, functionality and creativity that uses less computer resources."

Never mind the fact that we never knew an OS could posses "improved productivity" -- how about admitting that Vista, in effect, doesn't "work." Moving on, the note also makes clear that any PC sold with Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate between June 26th and the Windows 7 launch day (October 22nd) will be eligible for a free upgrade to Win7. Better still, the individual OSes also qualify for the update, and starting on June 26th, Best Buy will begin "pre-selling" the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade ($49.99) and the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade ($99.99). Have a look at the full letter below, and if you've come here for advice, here's the best we've got: don't buy a PC at Best Buy until June 26th.

Are you ready to have your mind blown by some truly incredible gadget news? No, we're not talking about our peek at the Zune HD with none other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. In fact, we have spicy hot new Windows licensing details. According to Tech ARP, Microsoft will soon allow end users to downgrade from Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate editions to either Windows Vista Business or Window XP Professional. If that weren't enough, OEMs may now choose to install XP Professional, XP Pro Tablet, or XP Pro X64, instead of Windows Vista Business / Ultimate -- as long as they fulfill a bunch of legalistic requirements regarding activation markers, certificates of authenticity, Windows Vista Logo criteria, and other stuff you probably don't care about. It looks like the repudiation of Windows Vista is continuing apace... and we're guessing that it doesn't stop until it results in a series of war crimes tribunals in The Hague. (We can dream, can't we?)

While a good number of its machines are already running the OS -- about 13 percent at this point -- the United States Army has mandated that before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, 2009 that all of its Windows-powered computers must switch from XP to Vista, presumably and hopefully with Service Pack 2. Additionally, all Office 2003 users will have to upgrade to the 2007 variant, but thankfully, someone with a little Vista experience made sure to omit standalone weapons systems from the mandate -- you know, because there's not really time to click through eight confirmation boxes when launching a time-sensitive homing missile. All jesting aside, we're flummoxed that the Army didn't just wait for Windows 7 to roll out in a few months before making this decision, but hey, what's a few more billion in upgrade costs next year, right?

[Via HotHardware]

It's not quite on the level of some of Microsoft's past patent showdowns, but a Texas federal jury found yesterday that the company should pay a still hefty $200 million in damages to Canadian software firm i4i Ltd for some supposed wrong doing. That company had alleged that Microsoft knowingly infringed on one of its patents in both Word and Vista, which apparently concerned "manipulating a document's content and architecture separately." For its part, Microsoft unsurprisingly begs to differ, and says that "the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid," adding that it will, of course, "ask the court to overturn the verdict."

Just because Windows 7 is right around the corner doesn't mean Microsoft intends to immediately sweep Vista under the rug and forget about it. After some confusion around the 'nets today, a company spokesperson confirmed with PC World that its policy is to back an OS for at least four years from launch, meaning January 2011 here, but also said it plans to cut ties and drop mainstream support for the three consumer models within three years, before April 2012. Despite the minimum, most Windows variants have seen longer lifecycles -- XP, for example, had mainstream support for eight years after launch. Business and Enterprise users will still receive security updates until April 2017. Sure, it's good to see people will still have the option for Vista further down the road, but we don't expect a lot of OEMs or consumers will be opting for it once 7 goes gold.

Read - Vista's fading support
Read - XP's support lifecycle

Looking to find out what's the better gaming experience out there right now -- Windows 7 beta or Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 -- the folks at PC Perspective put both operating systems through the ringer with help from seven graphics cards running the gamut of price ranges. Overall, three ATI Radeon HD and four NVIDIA GeForce cards were pitted with six games and applications in one of the lengthiest benchmarking features we've ever read. AMD / ATI gets credit for being the first to release combined drivers that work on both OSs, and with one lone exception, performance on the Windows 7 machine was equal to or better than Vista. That said, the recomendations for each system is the same: ATI gets an advantage here for cards in the $120 to $130 range, but the competition is much closer as you start looking at more expensive models. Hit up the read link for technical details that you can shake an anti-aliased stick at.

That Windows Vista / Server 2008 Service Pack 2 that hit Release Candidate status last week? You can now download and try for yourself, should you feel inclined and not patient enough to wait for the final version that's rumored for sometime this quarter. It's available for Vista x86 and x64 platforms and Server 2008 in x86 / x64 / IA64 varieties. Of course, anyone keeping this in tuned to the going-ons at Redmond probably already installed Windows 7 beta, but if you kept Vista and want Bluetooth 2.1 support and the ability to record data to Blu-ray discs, now's your chance.

Read - Windows Blog announcement
Read - Download Service Pack 2 RC

Well that didn't take long. Just last week, we heard about the Release Candidate (RC) builds of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 making the rounds, and now the official Windows blog has confirmed the updates should soon be available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers, with a public test to follow sometimes before its final release. And when might that be? Sometime in second quarter of this year apparently, which fits well with some rumblings we caught wind of last month.

It looks like the long-awaited Release Candidate build of Vista SP2 is hitting the streets today, alongside Server 2008 R2. According to Ars Technica, these guys will soon be available for testers via Windows Update, as a standalone installer, or as a slipstreamed version for select languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, and Japanese. Rumor has it that Microsoft is gearing up for a final release date sometime in April.

As we've learned over the past 72 hours, Microsoft is clearly changing its approach to the Zune. And connected TV. And just about every other entertainment-related aspect of its business. As it seeks to better connect people via its software and devices (and make "The Social" something worth showing up to), Robbie Bach has explained that the company's new retail focus actually has a lot to do with it. The bigwig recently sat down in front of 150 students in order to take questions and relive some childhood memories, and given that kids always say the darnedest things, it's not shocking to hear that some of the conversation was awkward, if not comical. Point blank, Bach was asked if Windows 7 would be better than Vista, and he expectedly shot back with "Windows 7 is a huge step forward." There's far too much dialogue to cover in this space, but if you're looking for a little insight from the top, feel free to wade through the read links below.

[Via CNET]

Read - High school questions
Read - Retail thoughts
Read - More retail thoughts

You might've heard that crazy rumor making the rounds that Microsoft leaked the Windows 7 beta on purpose to build some positive buzz, and while there's no real evidence (or likelihood) of that of any sort, the seemingly-magical build 7000 is certainly doing well for itself. Following up on wide praise for the fledgling OS, ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes pitted the beta up against XP and Vista in some informal "real-word" tasks like boot up, shut down, file maneuvers, installations and other common tasks. On both test systems, an AMD Phenom 9700 setup and an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 number (with ATI and NVIDIA graphics, respectively), the Windows 7 install soundly bested XP and Vista task by task, with few exceptions. Performance testing is never an exact science, but it's clear that Microsoft is taking performance very seriously this time around -- we can't wait for the next conveniently-leaked beta to bolster this rep even further. Next on the benchmarking agenda? Real World: Brooklyn tasks.

[Via Ars Technica]

It's not like (PRODUCT) RED versions of Windows Vista haven't been shipping on associated systems for months now, but for those who'd prefer to keep the rig they have and just get a colorful / charitable upgrade to Microsoft's latest OS, this is for you. Listed on the official (PRODUCT) RED website and up for pre-order now at Amazon, the special edition of Windows Vista Ultimate is slated to ship on December 15th. There's not too many extras here to make you splurge for a second copy (a few new wallpapers and a big warm, fuzzy feeling are definitely nice, though), but those looking to get a new OS and support the push to end AIDS in Africa can buy in now for $219.95 ($64.95 for students).

[Via iStartedSomething, thanks Long Z.]

Read - (PRODUCT) RED website
Read - Pre-order at Amazon
Read - Pre-order for students