I know, it sounds like a post title to draw you in, but it really isn’t – you can own Windows 7, free for a year, to install on your PC!

Windows 7, the latest operating system from Microsoft, is trying to put to bed the bad press they’ve received recently with their Vista release. Windows 7, in combination with input from users, is being hailed as the best OS that Microsoft have released to date. It is quicker, leaner, and more compatible than ever before. Partly down to a re-written kernel, but also down to the modular approach to the OS – gone are all the extras like Movie Maker, although you’re free to add them to the OS if you want them. Also, with a Windows XP mode,  applications are virtualised in a real Windows XP environment, with the help of Microsoft’s Virtual PC.

But to top this, as the Release Candidate is made available to subscribers to Microsoft’s MSDN, there is also news that anyone, from May 5th, will be able to download the OS, install it and use completely free for year. This is truly a stroke of genius! All those people thinking twice about investing in a new OS, now have the option to use it for a year, and if they’re not happy, simply go back to their old OS without any cost! It raises the bar on the try-before-you-buy way of thinking, and could also eradicate piracy of the OS too. And at the same time, the PR is pure gold for the company. Bare in mind that this is a Release Candidate, and although you can be fairly sure it will contain all of the features you’ll get in the final product, there’s no guarantee of course. But, hey, who cares if it’s free?

Read the Microsoft press release

Planned limited copies of Microsoft’s latest OS have been removed. Anyone can now download Windows 7 Beta without restrictions. The beta will be time limited up until the 1st of August – which should be long enough to find all the bugs and get them ironed out.

I’m impressed by Microsoft’s approach to Windows 7. After the disappointing sales and uptake of Windows Vista, it’s good to see that lessons have been learnt at Microsoft. According to the press releases and general feedback from Microsoft staff, Windows 7 is trying to be everything that people wanted with Vista. And they’re actually reading people’s wish lists too. Part of the reason for the widespread beta program with Windows 7 is for people to play with the interface and let the developers know what they think, and what they want changed.

Hopefully with the long beta testing phase there shouldn’t be any of the rushed feel that Vista had – although it was more settled after the first service pack, the OS never really felt finished. With hoards of enthusiastic testers let loose, hopefully the same mistakes won’t be made.

If you’re like a lot of people, you will be wondering why Microsoft’s latest incarnation of their new OS is going to be called Windows 7. Surely there have been more versions than just the 7? Well yes and no – I think most people are getting confused by the fact that some versions of Windows, weren’t actually major releases but were really evolutions of previous OS’s.

For instance – did you know that Windows 95, 98 and Me were all covered by the same version number? It’s also a surprise when you realise that Windows 2000 and XP are also covered by the same version number. If you have been involved with the system side of those two OS’s, you’ll know that they do share a lot of commonality. So, here is the definitive guide to the numbering of Windows and why Windows 7 is going to be called Windows 7:

As you can see from the table above, the development for the business market, and the home market remained separate, until Windows XP came on the scene – although the two sides shared common version numbers.

Hopefully that clears up why Windows 7 is going to be called Windows 7 and not 8 or 9 or something else.

The new phone, although not the prettiest mobile, marks another avenue for Google.

The G1 will be available the day before Haloween from T-Mobile, free with a £40 per month contract, in the UK.

Google, already making headway into the browser market, although Chrome desperately needs some updates to keep interest high, is making it’s presence known in the mobile OS field with Android. Is Android a small stepping stone away from a fully featured OS? I think only Google can answer that, but it would make sense. Everything they do is in the cloud – so why not provide a thin client, for virtually nothing – if not completely free. It could serve up Google documents, mail, chat, video and all of the other services that we’re finding our online lives more and more dependant, directly from their servers, fully integrated into the desktop.

The search engine we all know and love has turned 10 years old today.

It’s odd to think that they’ve been around for only ten years to be honest – Google is intertwined with our online lives everywhere now. I personally use GMail, of course, Reader, Notebook, Analytics, Sitemaps, Video and Youtube, Maps and Earth, Chat – not to mention their search. In fact I can’t think of anything more convenient than everything under one Google account. How they make money I don’t think I’ll ever understand, but I guess if the advertisers want to pay the sort of money they do, who am I to argue – especially if I’m the one to benefit! Then there’s the browser & mobile OS markets with Chrome & Android respectively. The last ten years have been good for Google, and the future is looking very bright too. Happy Birthday Google!

I’m the sort of person that looks at something and wonders why it isn’t as good as something else I have. Example: In your modern browser you have tabs, and you can click-drag these to reorganise. Something you don’t need to do that often, but it’s nice to have the option. So I wondered why Windows doesn’t have this functionality for the Taskbar?

Well it turns out Jay Erox thought the same thing, and wrote a utility to fix it. Download Taskbar Shuffle (XP & Vista) and you can drag your Taskbar buttons around to your hearts content. My life is complete again – for the time being at least.

Even though I’m not that sure how many people will be buying, after the news that Apple is suing, Psystar still think that they’ll be selling in the future – with their website open for business as usual.

To add weight to Psystar’s cause, their founder, Rudy Pedraza says, “What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?” – Apple don’t say you can only use the Mac to surf apple.com by the same analogy. Or only use Apple software. That’s just missing the point. Anyway, if Honda said you couldn’t drive their cars on anything but their roads, you just wouldn’t buy a Honda – it doesn’t give you the right to buy the engines from a dodgy supplier and put them in Nissans, because they are cheaper and then drive them on Honda’s roads.. I know, it’s a bad analogy!

It’s a nice idea, and to be honest I think there shouldn’t be restrictions on what piece of hardware you can install an OS on, if you’ve paid for that OS. And I still think that this is a good thing for Apple, and advertising the OS. However, if those are Apple’s rules, and they’re the ones selling the OS, that’s how it is. If I had a product I was selling and built into the restrictions that it could only be sold to people who have moustaches, that’s my failing and I will ultimately loose out if it’s a bad idea. But it’s still my choice nonetheless. Not for somebody to interpret. Just as it is Apple’s choice to only allow OSX to be installed on Apple hardware.

Yeap, the last day for Mr. Gates – and a short history, with video, on the man has been compiled by the BBC. Well worth a look.

In an experiment to find out the popularity of different operating systems with illegal file sharers, I thought I would query isohunt.com to give me the answer..

There are two numbers associated with every download. Firstly you have the number of seeds. These people have a complete copy of the files, and are purely uploading them to share with others. Secondly you have the leechers. These second type of people are both downloading and uploading – although they don’t have complete copies of the files. So seeds are the people allowing others to get access to the files, and are an indication of interpreted demand (how much they themselves think people might want the OS), and also past demand, while the leechers are an indication of the current demand. Or at least, that’s how I see it. So how did the different OS’s fair?

Windows Vista

Vista is, surprisingly after all the bad press, one of the most sought after OS’s in my test! With 1142 people actively trying to get hold of this particular version, the demand is higher than any other. Interestingly there are only 303 seeds. This (rightly or wrongly) says to me that not many people are hanging onto it once they get it!

Windows XP

In a not-so-surprising twist – Windows XP has the largest number of seeds for any OS. At 656, a lot of people are hanging on to this. Is it because they’ve read the news and think people will want it more? Or are they just lazy? Equally as interesting in the number of leechers, at 152, it appears not many people actually want it. Now you could argue it’s because most of us have a copy now, of one description or another..

OSX Leopard

Apple’s latest OS is looking strong amongst the Windows contenders. A lot stronger than recent years, which probably shows a move away from Microsoft for the home user towards something a little more intuitive. I’m sure all you Mac users out there will have smug faces on now..

Windows 98

Wow – now this is pretty cool. 10 years after it’s official launch, Windows 98 is still going strong with a lot of interest. 202 people have the OS available, although demand is a little low with a meagre 58 leechers.

Windows 2000

Demand is pretty low for this OS – a lot lower than I thought it would be. I was expecting half to a third that of Windows XP. I thought Windows 2000 was a solid OS and I’ve still got it running on a few PCs at work – and it never gives me any problems.

OSX Tiger

Incompatibility problems with PC architecture probably are the reasons this OS is so far down the list. Not a bad OS, and not particularly old, I think it’s just the superior Leopard that’s always more likely to be a hit with intel-based PC pirates looking for a change.

Windows 95

20 Seeds? Who are these people? Sure Windows 95 was groundbreaking, but only for a couple of years until Windows 98 came along! And that lonely leecher, downloading it in the hope it will work on the old 486 he found in his dad’s garage. I have one piece of advice for you my friend – Linux. It’s a question, and answer and a solution all in one word.

Windows 3.1

I was half expecting a “no show” for 3.1. How surprised I was to find, although demand is 0, there are still people that have a copy of the OS on their systems for anyone that might be passing – and only 5 less than Windows 95! I can’t think of a use for this OS nowadays of course, the hardware it was destined to run on has probably rotted away by now at the bottom of some garbage heap somewhere.

Windows ME

No graphics for this one. Why? I couldn’t find it! Please don’t think I want a link to it, I made sure I did the most basic search, hopefully copying what a normal pirate would type into the search box. I guess you could try different search terms, but why would you repeatedly try to find this OS? Is this the biggest OS mistake Microsoft ever made? Or is that happening now?

So what does this all mean?

Well, to be honest, I’m not entirely sure.. On the face of it, the demand for Vista is strong. Windows XP has a strong perceived demand, by the seeds that are keeping it available for other potential downloaders. Windows 98 is still “downloadble” now, 10 years later, and Windows 95 is just a poor cousin of Windows 98, as we’ve always thought. Windows 3.1 is available for the hardcore elite, and Windows ME will always be the mutated-dog-from-the-fly-2 we love to look in disgust at.

Finally, I thought this wouldn’t be a balanced test, without the most talked-about OS amongst geeks – although it is also worth noting that this is a free OS – read into that what you will with the figures, but I presume it’s because people have 0 hangups about downloading a free OS, where they may have moral issues with pirating software.. Anyway, ladies and gentleman, I give you:

Ubuntu 7.10

How many seeds????

Firstly, sorry for the delay – I’ve been suffering from something horrible for the past couple of days – hopefully you can’t transmit viruses through the keyboard – human ones at least..

In what seems like now, a problem synonymous with Microsoft releasing a service pack, it appears that the lastest offering for Windows XP has a few problems of it’s own. Within a short time of the service pack hitting the web, users were complaining of lock-ups and random reboots. Now I don’t want to appear to be a person with clear thinking, but surely with a PC you should expect it? I mean by the very nature of the beasts, they are fitted with an infinite combination of different hardware and software no? So surely there will be a few bases left uncovered..? Read Information Week’s interpretation. Of course if you’re one of the “brave” you can get your copy here.