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Microsoft Suffers Leaks, Lagging Sales Numbers As They Look Forward To Windows 8

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the expect-it-to-get-much-worse dept.

nandemoari writes "With only a few weeks until Microsoft's Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is released, Microsoft is already looking for people to help with Windows 8. An April 14th job ad posted by Microsoft says the upcoming version of Windows will have new features like cluster support and support for one way replication. Apparently the Windows 8 kernel is being reworked to provide dramatic performance improvements. Windows 8 will also include innovative features that, according to Microsoft, will revolutionize file access in branch offices." Relatedly, several users tell us that both 32 and 64-bit versions of the Windows 7 release candidate have been leaked into the wild via p2p networks. The current leaked version shows little change beyond bug fixes, so it would seem what you see is what you get. This all comes as Microsoft posts quarterly sales that have fallen for the first time in the company's 23-year history. Seeing a 6% drop in revenue and a 32% drop in earnings, some within the Redmond giant expect the downward trend to continue.

3 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. Windows XP Mode by Aggrajag · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think the most interesting new feature will the new Windows XP Mode which is
    basically Virtual PC running Windows XP client seamlessly on the desktop. Most
    likely it will gain interest in enterprises planning to upgrade XP installations.

    http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/04/24/secret-no-more-revealing-virtual-windows-xp-for-windows-7.aspx

  2. Re:Buh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    And is "revolutionize file access in branch offices" the filesystem MS promised for Vista

    Microsoft never promised a new filesystem. WinFS was an abstraction layer running atop NTFS.

  3. Re:Buh? by neokushan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mod Parent Up.
    This lovely little tidbit of information is completely correct and it always gets iterated every single time someone bashes Microsoft over WinFS. It's not a file system. It never was. And it's not dead, it's now part of SQL server under a different name.

    But somehow, people don't get this. It's been years since it's been "dropped" from Vista (presumably because it's not actually all that useful after all) yet people still harp on about it.
    I don't know why the message isn't getting through: It's not a file system. It's not abandoned. It's not a big deal.
    Until it gets through, all we can really do is mod up the people that constantly point this out =\

    --
    +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill