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Using Windows 7 RC? Pay Up Or Auto Shutdown Warned
CWmike writes with a warning that free preview copies of Windows 7 in the wild will start nagging users to pay up in a couple of weeks until ultimately shutting down the PC altogether in a month. "Microsoft unveiled the schedule for Windows 7 Release Candidate's retirement in May 2009, when it issued the early look to the public. At the time, it said Windows 7 RC would expire June 1, 2010. Before that date, however, users are to receive warnings of the impending end. Starting on Feb. 15, Windows 7 RC will display notices every few hours that the machine will periodically shut down beginning on March 1. As of March 1, PCs running Windows 7 RC will automatically shut down every two hours. Those shutdowns will come without warning."
Yes it is, the pawns just didn't read the second page of the attack plan.
So if ya want to bring about "The Year of the Linux Desktop" helping Microsoft turn the screws on unlicensed installs is probably the most productive thing a non-coder can do. Especially outside the US.
Three stories the geek will studiously ignore:
Microsoft revealed that it had sold over 60 million Windows 7 licenses through the second quarter. This not only made it a record quarter for Windows units in general, but it makes Windows 7 the fastest selling operating system in history. Windows 7 leads the way to record quarter for Microsoft [Jan 28]
Apple's Aug. 28 release of its Snow Leopard software resulted in a boost of 1 point to 65 percent in the first week. Through the end of the year, the increase was 6.9 percent.
The percentage of customers satisfied with Microsoft reached 73 percent on Dec. 31, the highest since YouGov started surveying in 2007. Microsoft's reputation is benefiting from the positively reviewed Windows 7, after some customers held off personal-computer purchases to avoid the product's predecessor, Vista, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Kirkland, Washington- based Directions on Microsoft.
"People are saying, 'Okay, Microsoft got its mojo back,'" he said. "People who were thinking about buying a new PC are more likely to do so now. You'll see slightly better sales." Rosoff said the boost is probably also due to the June release of Microsoft's overhauled Bing Internet search engine.
Microsoft Outpaces Apple in Customer Satisfaction: Chart of Day [Feb 1]
For the last day in January Windows 7 Breaks 10% in Daily Tracking. Global Market Share Statistics [Feb 1]
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Highest Windows 7 Usage in U.S. - Redmond Area
Surprise! The Redmond, WA area has the highest usage share of Windows 7 in the U.S. Within the actual city of Redmond, 42% of internet users are on Windows 7. Market Share By Postal Code [Feb 1]
Ahhh... the microsoft motto
Be evil.
There is no other way to put this
Exception Duck - may or may not contain chicken.
That doesn't mean what you think it does.
It's used in the context of systems with redundant hardware that can be replaced while the power is still on and code still running and not a desktop PC that gets turned off every night or rebooted about once every two weeks after an update. Using what looks to you as cool tech language doesn't help you fit in, it's the equivalent of calling the beige box on the floor a "hard drive".
In XP the behaviour was changed from a blue screen to an exit back to the login screen anyway. I've seen a lot of those or just complete hangs. There is such a vast amount of utter crap that runs on XP that when it crashes it's most likely a third party app doing it - but it is still something common in that environment no matter what causes it.