People who attended the Gates/Ballmer interview during the D6 conference were given a sneak peek at the up and coming Windows 7 – which is scheduled to be delivered to consumers in late 2009. In the demo they showed the full screen multi-touch interface that is embedded in the operating system. There was also a demo of the Surface-like application that is used to organize photos.
Archive for May, 2008
GameStop has refused to stock and sell the Microsoft Zune player because of the poor sales that they have been experiencing. Many consumers are now wondering if this is the end for the Zune.
Microsoft’s entry into the consumer electronics space came with a thorny channel problem. Microsoft sells the vast majority of its products through PC makers, who bundle Windows (and often Office and other software) on new PCs, and through well-established partners who specialize in selling to large organizations and businesses. Microsoft had a retail channel for selling Windows and Office upgrades and other consumer products (like Money, Encarta, and keyboards and mice), but for the most part these products were sold through computer specialty stores like CompUSA. To succeed in capturing a broader audience, Microsoft had to broaden its retail channel.
NASA was able to relax (if only for a moment) and congratulate one another for the successful landing of the Mars Phoenix Lander. Scientists have been working on the new spacecraft for months now and have been preparing it for the ‘7 minutes of terror’ that many have referred to the landing process.
The lander promises to not only prepare for the ongoing efforts to send humans to Mars, but also will further the investigation of the possibility that life once existed on Mars. Before it could complete its mission, though, it had to land. After months of travel through the dark depths of space, it reached the fringe of Mars’ atmosphere and began a plunge. The seven minute entry has been a punishing one on past satellites — of the 11 objects which various nations have tried to land on Mars, only 5 survived.