WINDOWS 7 SNAPS

Windows 7 release likely in August:

"The Beta 2 version of Windows 7 is currently rolling, and all current licenses for Beta 2 are scheduled to roll till August," said a source, adding, "Microsoft generally announces shipments of its products a month or so before the beta licenses expire. Moreover, with the RC (release candidate) set to roll out anytime, the August rollout date is clearly a possibility going by feedback from Microsoft's project team at Redmond."

Officially, Microsoft has scheduled the public launch date of Windows 7 for January 2010. A Microsoft India spokesperson did not confirm or deny the information. "Microsoft is on track to release the Windows 7 RC to MSDN and TechNet subscribers on 30 April 2009, with broader public availability beginning May 5," the spokesperson said in an e-mailed response.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7:

With a feature called Windows XP Mode, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) will be using virtualization to let Windows 7 customers run applications designed for older versions of Windows without having to worry about incompatibility, the company said late Friday.

Software incompatibility caused many headaches upon the release of Windows Vista, contributing to Vista's poor initial reception and pushing back deployment for a large majority of companies, many of which have continued downgrading newly delivered PCs to Windows XP. Windows XP Mode is clearly aimed at ameliorating those concerns vis-a-vis Windows 7.