Wow. Awesome.

Quoted: After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced. It's a boost to productivity and a pleasure to use. Despite a few drawbacks, I can heartily recommend Windows 7 to mainstream consumers

Quoted: In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple's Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That's no longer true.

Quoted: Bottom line: Windows 7 is a very good, versatile operating system that should help Microsoft bury the memory of Vista and make PC users happy.

Of course "Microsoft knew what it was doing all along". ;-)

Quoted: In the No. 4 spot is the Windows 7 Launch Party instructional video. Microsoft has been relatively savvy when it comes to viral video; this one, however, seems to be of the "so inadvertently bad it's good" ilk that makes it onto the chart from time to time. It's promoting in-house Tupperware-style parties to show off the new operating system, but the cheesy, forced dialogue and awkward phrasing has made it the subject of all sorts of ridicule -- enough that it drove a half-million views. (Who knows, maybe Microsoft knew what it was doing all along.)

Some positive news on IE8!

Quoted: Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 again trounced rival browsers in a test of their malware-blocking abilities, catching 81% of attack-code-infected sites, according to testing company NSS Labs.

Quoted: IE8's improvement, and its dominance over competitors, could make some users reconsider decisions to abandon Microsoft's browser for one of its challengers. "Should people rethink that decision?" Moy asked. "By [this] data, absolutely."

A pretty good and entertaining review by Engadget. A few of my favorite quotes:

Quoted: With such broad aims, and such a diverse userbase, it's no wonder that there are plenty of spots where the OS still falls short, but taken as a whole it's clear that Microsoft has taken a strong step forward with Windows 7...

Quoted: Perhaps our favorite day-to-day improvement of them all, Aero Snap offers a surprisingly smart way of working with windows, using the mere power of a click and drag...

Quoted: Windows + P = magic!

Quoted: Windows Live Photo Gallery... You guessed it, another one kicked to Windows Live Essentials land, where supposedly "essential" apps go to die...

This is encouraging, and somewhat hard to believe.

Quoted: Microsoft's recent push to paint Apple as pricey is starting to work, according to data from BrandIndex.

Quoted: The perceptions of value the two brands offer has shifted dramatically in the eyes of 18- to 34-years-olds since Microsoft began running its "Laptop Hunters" campaign in late March. Apple's "value perception" has fallen considerably, while Microsoft's has risen.

It does seem incredibly easy to criticize Microsoft's marketing staff and vendors. To witness such a blatant and public pummeling is frustrating.

Quoted: Either way, Microsoft needs to fire a chunk of its marketing staff and get on the ball. If Microsoft cannot craft a clear, concise message as to why one should choose its products over Apple's, no one will do so, and Microsoft is going to lose.

I wouldn't go so far (at least not at this point) to say "Microsoft is going to lose", but it's certainly an up hill battle.

Ah, shame. So sad to see poor Apple and Google in antitrust litigation. My real question is, why is Apple Janet and Chrissy is Google? I would have defintiely put it the other way around. And Jack is the DOJ? Is Engadget trying to say that the DOJ is a fumbling idiot? Hm, ok, there is some correlation there.

Quoted: ...the relationship between the two companies is so tight they actually share board members: Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson take meetings in both Cupertino and Mountain View. That's apparently raised some hackles at the Federal Trade Commission, which has reportedly informed both companies they're being investigated for violating a rarely-enforced section of the Clayton Antitrust Act prohibiting "interlocking directorates" when it reduces competition.

Ugh. Not encouraging news. It makes one wonder though, how important is it really which browser people are using? Browsers may become irrelevant commodoties since it's really about the content that's being reached. What value add do the browsers offer? Speed? Security? Are the deltas really that big?

I certainly hope it doesn't come to commoditization or significant loss in market share. I'm confident that Microsoft can demonstrate that it's the best software maker in the world, and that browsing anything via IE is a superior experience. ;-)

Quoted: In February, I used a simple mathematical analysis to project that IE's days of domination are numbered. Put simply, if these trends continue, Microsoft's stronghold on the browser market will slip away sooner than most may think.

Quoted: So is the battle effectively over? Maybe. Given that IE 8 was hyped as the company's big leap into outperforming its competitors, and given the dismal results we're seeing so far, one has to wonder what further tricks Microsoft could possibly have up its sleeve.

Oops. Not the kind of PR MSFT needs..

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft on Monday said it goofed in trying to get back money it overpaid departing employees in severance packages and sent word to the former workers to keep the cash.

The US software giant said that last week it told 25 recently-departed employees they had accidentally been paid too much in severance and that the overages should be returned to the company.

"This was a mistake on our part," a Microsoft spokesman said Monday in response to an AFP inquiry.

"We should have handled this situation in a more thoughtful manner. We are reaching out to those impacted to relay that we will not seek any payment from those individuals."