Windows 7 LIVE, Office 2010 Beta and Apple preempts Win 7 with fresh iMacs, Macbooks

I was planning a post on the impending official launch of Windows 7 on Thursday and of course many other authors have had the same idea.

First, Apple knows Win 7 is coming and of course wants to do everything it can to dull the impact of the new operating system. And it worked - here I am writing about Macs when talking about the Win 7 launch! Those Vista vs Mac ads were way too much fun - can they sustain them!?!

Apple preempts Win 7 with fresh iMacs, Macbooks

On-Site Technical Solutions is running Windows 7 on a production PC and the tech using it says "this is what Vista should have been!" That's also been the view of most everyone who has been testing Win 7. Of course it's not all praise - see Why Windows 7 may still fail but this post refers to issues with Win 7, Windows updates and HP printer drivers. HP printers have gotten to the point where we expect to spend an extra 30 minutes to two-hours dealing with their amazingly oversized and persnickety drivers. So we'll give Win 7 a pass on that one until we run into more real-world issues of our own.

We're cautiously optimistic about getting Win 7 into production environments with our customers. We've found Win 7 to be quicker than both Vista and Win XP on similar hardware. We weren't surprised at the improved performance over Vista, but certainly were not expecting the improvement over Win XP.

We're looking forward to using Win 7 with Office 2010 on the web, and The Register reports Office 2010 beta coming next month

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And Microsoft Strikes Back!

As a Microsoft Partner we've been concerned about Microsoft's direction in response to the assaults on their hegemony on the desktop, both the operating system and office tools. This was especially true in relation to the FREE applications being offered by competitors.

It looks like Microsoft is striking back in a big way by offering a free version of their flagship Office software with Microsoft Office 2010. We'll have to see how profitable this strategy will be, and it really doesn't do us partners any good.

For businesses that rely on Office to conduct business, this is nothing but good news. It's going to help hold down costs - whether it's for the core office products, not having to migrate to another tool (expensive projects!) or not having to train on another platform (expensive project!).

From Microsoft's perspective this will permit organizations to use a light versions of Office for collaboration on the web but keep the full blown versions on computers in the office (and laptops). No matter how it's rolled out, it will lead to lower costs for businesses and less of an Office cash cow.

We're currently using Google Chrome Browser and Google Apps and converting some of our customer base. We'll be looking at Google Chrome Operating System next year. This announcement may not slow that process, but it could keep our customers using Microsoft Office instead of looking at alternatives.

This is all over the Web and print, but here's an article from the LA Times on the announcement:

Microsoft plans free, online version of Office

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