Today Microsoft launched its latest effort to "Light up the web", Silverlight 3 which is now available for download.

Silverlight has come a long way since its version 1.0 launched in 2007. It has even attracted big players like Netflix who use it as their primary video player. 3.0 brings a host of improvements such as "Smooth Streaming" and "out of browser experiences". Web developers will also appreciate the built in support for GPU acceleration.

Silverlight 3 introduces more than 50 new features, including 3D support, GPU acceleration, H.264 video support and out-of-the-browser capabilities to Silverlight.. The out-of-browser support will enable developers to build applications that work like Adobe's AIR plugin. Dramatic video performance and quality improvements are also included.

Microsoft has announced that its newest operating system software Windows 7 will be ready for sale in time for the holidays.

The company confirmed through its Windows Blog that Windows 7 will hit the store shelves on 22nd October 2009. The final code should be released to manufacture (RTM) sometime in the second half of July. It is also expected that Windows Server 2008 R2 will be available around the same timeframe.

The announcement comes just short of a month since the Release Candidate (RC) was made available to millions of users around the world.

More than 32,000 participants from approximately 10,000 companies have signed up to have access to a breadth of helpful tools and resources needed to prepare for Windows 7. Partners such as Corel, Cyberlink, Sonic, ATI and NVIDIA have already invested significant time and resources to preparing for Windows 7.

For IT professionals in enterprise environments, Windows 7 along with the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, an add-on subscription, helps enterprise customers make people productive anywhere, enhance security and control, streamline
IT management, and reduce costs.

Windows 7 enables Remote Media Streaming, enabling secure, remote Internet access to home-based digital media libraries from another Windows 7 PC outside the home. It also brings Windows XP Mode, a tool that will ease the pain of migration for some users who rely on legacy appications.

The new OS comes with different Windows 7 editions for specific market requirements. Each SKU is a superset of the previous SKU. This means that each higher edition SKU will have every feature lower edition SKUs have.

The company also says focus will be on two primary editions of Windows 7: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional.

A few targeted SKUs will be offered for customers with specialized needs: for price-sensitive customers with small notebook PCs, some OEMs will offer Windows 7 Starter. For customers in emerging markets, Microsoft will make Windows 7 Home Basic available.

The complete SKU lineup for Windows 7 is: Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic (in Emerging Markets only), Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate.

View: C|NET News / Windows 7 Team Blog

Thanks to Poker Face for the notice.

At a press conference today, Acer said it would ship a Windows 7 machine on October 23, though it promptly qualified that as "Windows 7 ready

Acer, one of the world's three biggest PC manufacturers, held a press conference in London this afternoon to announce its exciting new Timeline series of notebooks, and upstaged itself by appearing to pre-announce Windows 7.

One of Acer's future products is the Z5600 PC all-in-one running Windows 7, which Acer said would be "one of the key products going into Christmas". Launch date? "It will on the shelves on October 23."

"Have you just given away the launch date for Windows 7?" asked ZD-Net's David Meyer, amid much laughter.

From his seat in the audience, Acer vice president Massimo D'Angelo, in charge of Europe, said it would be on the shelves running Windows 7 "or Windows 7 ready: then we will have the final news."

D'Angelo said Windows 7 was "already available, and seems to run very well" -- albeit that's the RC (release candidate) version. If it isn't actually released by October 23, however, "there will be free upgrade options from Vista. I believe that, like last time, you will only pay the freight cost," he said.

Microsoft has not announced an official release date, and John Curran, the American who runs Microsoft UK's Windows Client Group, told me that Windows 7 will be launched before 1 June 2010, when the free RC beta expires.

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up my TechNet account today and found that they now offer Home product downloads. Yes, that finally includes Windows Home Server. So thanks to all of those that kept bugging and pestering Microsoft into allowing Windows Home Server to be downloaded via TechNet. On top of the server, Windows XP Home Edition is also now available. That comes in handy for me when I fix computers that need a clean install and half my CDs don't work and my product key is used up too much. Anyway, I just thought I'd let everyone know, I'm glad that they're here and I'm excited to try the new Windows Home Server.

-Jordan F.

The sign-up for Beta has been announced and ingame footage has been released on the Mortal Online web-site www.mortalonline.com

This means that gamers that are interested in participating in the Beta-phases can sign up and get registered for Beta testing. The number of Beta-testers is limited and the selection is made by the Mortal Online team. Depending on the number of gamers that sign-up the number of game-servers available at launch will also be calculated.

The Beta phases are the final testing-phases prior to launch. They are divided into separate stages for testing out different aspects of the game, and will end with the Open Beta. Directly after that the Launch phase will start.

"We are very proud to be able to announce the Beta sign-up, as it is another milestone in our development of Mortal Online. We have also been working very hard on putting together some in-game footage from during the production, call it a trailer if you like, which will show the gamers around the world some of the features of Mortal Online. For all gamers that are interested in participating in the Beta-testing, " please sign up!" -
says Henrik Nyström, CEO Star Vault AB

Link to super high resolution video http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4782281

The gold version of Internet Explorer 8 is now but weeks away, as the RTW (release to web) deadline is set for March 2009. Following the availability of Release Candidate 1 of Internet Explorer 8 at the end of January 2009, Microsoft confirmed that it had offered the last development milestone ahead of the final version of the browser. However, the Redmond company was mute, and continues to offer no indication as to when it plans to release IE8 to web. Still, the software giant's own actions, as well as independent reports, reveal that IE8 RTW will indeed be launched in March 2009.

TechARP reveals that it has received conformation of Microsoft plans to wrap up IE8 for general availability in the coming weeks. The Redmond company is reportedly looking to the final two weeks in March 2009 for the release of IE8. At the same time, it appears that the software giant will finalize all the details associated with the launch of IE8 RTW, including the schedule and language versions by March 5, 2009.

There are additional details that make an IE8 RTW release plausible, in addition to leaked information. Microsoft will only offer unlimited installation and usage support for the pre-release versions of Internet Explorer 8 (on Windows Vista and Windows) until no later than March 31, 2009, according to the official support page for the browser. Microsoft has already pushed back this date several times, but only as it planned to unveil new development milestones of IE8, namely Beta 2 and RC. However, at this point in time, there is no additional development Build except RTW.

Source: SoftPedia

The first Release Candidate of Windows 7 is beginning to take contour. Following the availability of Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 for the general public on January 10, 2009, and the discontinuation of all downloads on February 12, there has been nothing but complete radio silence from Microsoft on the development of the next iteration of Windows. Still, it is undeniable that the Redmond company is making consistent headway building Windows 7, and that the development process has already moved past the Beta stage to the Release Candidate branch. Leaked information from testers now reveals that Windows 7 Build 7048 carries the Release Candidate 1 (RC1) label.

Various sources, especially enthusiasts on Windows-centric forums, indicate that a select pool of Microsoft testers have received Windows 7 Build 6.1.7048.winmain_win7rc1.090211-1625. Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny that, as at just a little over one month since the public launch of Windows 7 Beta it has started compiling builds of the operating system belonging to the RC branch.

However, the version label associated with Windows 7 Build 7048 indeed suggests that the Redmond company has branched off winmain. At the same time, “090211-1625” indicates that Windows 7 Build 7048 was compiled on February 11, 2009, at 4:25 PM.

Source: SoftPedia

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Windows 7 will hit store shelves sometime next year. And if I had to guess exactly when it would happen, November 2 would be my answer.

Yes, I know that Microsoft has said that it plans on releasing Windows 7 by early 2010 and there has been no confirmation on the part of the software giant that would indicate a 2009 release. But when we consider that Vista is still in trouble, Microsoft extended the XP deadline even further into 2009, and there's no end to Vista troubles in sight, I simply don't see any other option for Ballmer and Company.

Microsoft knows all too well that it made a slew of mistakes with Vista. Intent on turning things around and putting this mess behind it, I think the company will make a major announcement in the next couple months detailing the future of Windows and the exact release date of Windows 7. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if we hear about it at CES when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer takes the stage to deliver his keynote address.

For the past year, all we've heard from top Microsoft brass is how great Windows 7 will be. Ballmer said it will be like Vista, but "better." Gates said that Windows 7 will be the next major release from the company that everyone will want. And time and again, when given the option of discussing Vista or Windows 7, Microsoft almost always chooses the latter.

Realizing that, doesn't it stand to reason that Microsoft would do its best to release Windows 7 as quickly as possible? And if it was shooting for an early 2010 release when it still hoped that Jerry Seinfeld and its own brand of "I'm a PC" ads would improve Vista's standing, don't you think it will try to release it sooner now that those ads haven't done anything to improve Vista's stance in the market?

November 2 seems like the perfect day for Microsoft to release Windows 7 next year. It not only provides the company with ample time to improve the OS and get it ready for the public, but it shows vendors, software partners, and consumers themselves that it's serious about getting Windows right this time. And perhaps most importantly, that release date puts Microsoft in the position it wants to be in: ahead of the holiday shopping season.

View: C|NET News