Windows 7 available to Business Users this September 7

Yet another good news about Win7. Microsoft has recently revealed that business customers can start ordering Windows 7 beginning September 7, slightly ahead of the general release of the OS on October 22.

Microsoft and its partners will take orders for Windows 7 from volume-licensing customers on that date, Microsoft Senior Vice President of Windows Bill Veghte revealed in a keynote Monday at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans.

Microsoft also will offer a limited-time discount on the software to volume-licensing customers in the range of 15 percent to 35 percent, depending on the size of the order, he said.

Windows 7 was one of several products highlighted at Microsoft's annual partner meeting. In his keynote, Veghte stressed for partners the opportunity to provide services based on the OS, which will be available worldwide to both businesses and consumers on October 22, and will be released to manufacturing later this month.

Citing numbers from various research firms, including IDC, Veghte said that there are expected to be 77 million Windows 7 shipments by the end of 2010, and 59 percent of enterprises are expected to use Windows 7 in three years.

Microsoft will not be able to provide services and support for all of these customers, which is where partners come in. "We do not have the services capability to support that," he said.

However, another research firm believes that Windows 7 adoption may not be as widespread as some analysts and Microsoft think, despite the fact that many businesses skipped over Windows Vista and are still using the nearly eight-year-old OS, Windows XP.

A new survey conducted by ScriptLogic, the results of which were revealed Monday, found that nearly 60 percent of businesses don't currently plan to adopt Windows 7. The results were based on feedback from 1,000 IT administrators. ScriptLogic provides network administration software for Windows-based networks.

This article is adapted from PCWorld.in.

Google Lists HP, Acer Among Chrome OS Partners

Google is already working with several companies to develop devices around the new Chrome OS, including Hewlett-Packard and Acer, the company said in a blog post late Wednesday.

The list displays a vast regional spread among PC vendors, from the world's largest PC maker, HP, to China's biggest, Lenovo, and two of Taiwan's top vendors, Acer and Asustek Computer. Noticeably absent was Dell.

Google also listed three mobile phone chip developers in the posting, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Freescale Semiconductor. The world's biggest chip maker, Intel, was not on the list.

"The Google Chrome OS team is currently working with a number of technology companies to design and build devices that deliver an extraordinary end user experience," the Google posting says.

HP could not immediately be reached for comment.

The new Chrome OS will compete against Microsoft Windows in netbooks, laptop computers and desktops. Google is developing the Linux-based operating system for heavy Internet users, and it will begin appearing in netbooks in the second half of 2010, the company has said.