Windows Archive

Look at you Windows 7! One year old and making everybody forget Vista was ever born. To mark the occasion, we highlight Windows 7 rollout lessons learned in CIO.com stories featuring BMW, Continental Airlines and more.

So, today was the big day for Microsoft. It's all or nothing. Die tot oder die gladiolen (cookie if you get that one without using Google). The software giant from Redmond officially launched its Windows Phone 7 operating system, alongside about ten handsets from different OEMs. Since Windows Phone 7 has been covered quite a lot already, leaving little to the imagination, did something actually new come out of all this? Yes, it did.

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but Windows 7 shipped around the same time I got married, and it includes a fascinating new technology called HomeGroup. Its goal is really simple: get all your home computers sharing documents, media, and printers with each other, in a way that is both secure and straightforward. But Microsoft also has a deeper aim here: they're trying to finally kill off the decrepit NetBIOS technology that's at the heart of most Windows sharing problems. So let's have a look at HomeGroup and the technologies involved that make it work. And just to keep things interesting, we'll compare HomeGroup with what Mac OS X offers."

In what has surprised me greatly, nobody has submitted anything to us regarding this day in the history of computing. Sure, memories of her may not be fond, and with the magical unicorn power of hindsight you'd rather forget you ever dated her so intensely, but she served a purpose. She led a revolution that changed the world forever, and while you may have hoped for a more charismatic leader, I think it's unfair not to honour the fact that she turned 15 today.

"Windows Phone 7 is entering a tough market. Apple's iOS and Google's Android have become well-entrenched, widely used platforms, and both have application stores boasting tens or hundreds of thousands of applications. At launch, Windows Phone 7 will certainly have its virtues - a slick user interface, a first-rate e-mail client, and extensive integration with online services -- but it will also lack a great many features that its competitors include. But the modern, consumer-friendly, touch-friendly smartphone market is still a new one, expected to undergo substantial growth over the next few years. Microsoft may be late to the game, but probably isn't too late - there's certainly no winner yet. And the company has one major strength its competitors lack."

Microsoft expanded the beta for cloud-based PC management platform, Windows Intune, to more users in more countries. Here's the lowdown on pricing and new features.