Microsoft has gone all double rainbow today in Redmond.
The software giant has pumped out a promo video for its Windows Live Photo Gallery application. The twist you ask? It features Paul “Bear” Vasquez, famous for his excited reaction to a double rainbow. The Microsoft workers invited bear to Seattle in order to film the special video.
“When I first showed the Windows Live team the famous “Double Rainbow” video back in July they thought it was hilarious. But when I said I wanted him to come and do a video with us, they looked at me as if I had been seeing rainbows all day…they thought I was kidding. I e-mailed Bear that night and sure enough, he responded, and with great enthusiasm,” wrote Microsoft worker Connor Lanman in a company blog posting today.
But what does it mean? Well Microsoft called on Bear to show him how to capture a full on double rainbow with Windows Live Photo Gallery using the panorama stitch feature. The video is light-hearted and comic and shows an un-usual side of Microsoft which is genuinely funny. Enjoy.
Microsoft announced today on their Windows Team Blog that the Windows 7 Family Pack will be making a return to the market, just in time for the one-year anniversary of Windows 7′s retail debut.
Windows 7 Family Pack will allow consumers to upgrade any three computers in their house-hold to Windows 7 Premium. Consumers can upgrade either their Windows XP or Windows Vista PCs to Windows 7 Premium, with compatible hardware. But don’t worry if you are worried if your hardware can handle it, you can download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor through Microsoft.com to check whether your computers are Windows 7 ready.
Consumers should take note that they need Windows XP or Vista Starter, Home Basic or Home Premium to be eligible for the upgrade, and the Family Pack is only meant for upgrading.
Windows 7 was released nearly a year ago, on October 22, 2009. The OS originally released to manufacturing over one year ago. Microsoft announced that Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system in history, selling over 175 million licenses to date. The company is projected to sell 300 million by the end of 2010.
Microsoft’s success with Windows 7 began before the product was even widely available. Released in October 2009, the operating system has received praise from consumers, businesses and the media. In November 2009, Windows 7 managed to surpass Apple’s Snow Leopard market share in just two weeks. In early February it was revealed that Windows 7 had reached 10% market share in just three months.
Windows 7 has also driven an uptake of 64-bit computing. According to ChangeBASE research, conducted with senior IT decision makers, more than 65% of businesses hoped to migrated to Windows 7 within 12 months of its release. Over 50% of those migrating will be choosing the 64-bit route. Microsoft confirmed earlier this year, that nearly half of all Windows 7 PCs run 64-bit versions.
The Family Pack was discontinued last year, but Microsoft is bringing it back on October 3, 2010, at least while supplies last. Windows 7 Family Pack will sell for $149.99 USD and can be picked up at your local retailer or online at the Microsoft Store.
Windows 7 Family Pack will be available in the United States, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Australia and many other markets.
Microsoft has officially finished Windows Phone 7 today. The software giant has officially released Windows Phone 7 to manufacturing (RTM).
The final build and code has been shipped to Microsoft’s hardware and carrier partners to allow them to integrate their own software and services before devices ship later this year. Paul Thurrott notes that there has been several last minute changes to Windows Phone 7 including:
Facebook contacts filtering in the People hub
Facebook “Like” capability from the People hub
Various user interface updates, including a new Search button in the contacts list.
Windows Phone 7 the most thoroughly tested mobile platform the folks at Redmond have ever shipped. According to Microsoft they had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. Microsoft has had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing Windows Phone 7 and providing feedback.
“We are ready” said Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Windows Phone engineering. “This has been one of the most incredible product development efforts I’ve ever been a part of. Today’s milestone is exciting not just because of what we’ll deliver to customers later this year, but how it sets us up for success over the long term in the mobile space… we’re really just getting started.”
Windows Phone 7 is expected to be available in October for those in Europe and November for those in the US. If you’re interested in more about Windows Phone 7 then please see our in-depth preview.
Microsoft launched the beta of Windows Live Sync along with Windows Live Essentials 2011, allowing users to sync files and data between PC and PC, and between your PC and the cloud. After the most recent beta refresh, Microsoft will be rebranding Sync to Windows Live Mesh.
Windows Live Sync allows users to sync between two Windows or Mac computers, sharing folders and files between computers, and even allows users to sync Microsoft software settings, including Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. Users can also sync their Windows-based PC or Mac with SkyDrive.
SkyDrive originally offered 2GB of storage, but with Windows Mobile 7 coming soon, users will be keeping more and more storage on the cloud, so Microsoft has upped the limit to 5GB. The beta started just in June, with over 240,000 people using Windows Live Sync. Microsoft mentioned that the average Live Sync customer syncs over 675 files with an average file size of 1.8MB, and uses roughly 240MB of storage on the cloud.
Microsoft also announced that they will be rebranding Windows Live Sync to Windows Live Mesh moving forward. Users can expect to see the new branding on future releases of Windows Live Essentials 2011.
