Microsoft Corp announced yesterday that its latest operating systems (OS) — Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 — would be available on Oct. 22 after the company delivers the “release to manufacturing” (RTM) code in the second half of next month.
Steven Guggenheimer, Microsoft’s vice president for the original equipment manufacturing division, told a press conference at the Computex show in Taipei that the company’s manufacturing partners would launch hardware peripherals compatible with the new operating system by Oct. 22.
“The reason for the time gap between the RTM and commercialization is for our partners to migrate their technologies and produce compatible products for the public,” Guggenheimer said.
Microsoft had initially planned to launch Windows 7 early next year to replace the unpopular Vista operating system. But the company said recently it would adjust the scheduled launch to meet the shopping season demand later this year.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since we first started to see small notebook PCs running Windows come to the market,” Guggenheimer said at a separate Windows 7 presentation yesterday.
“At the time, less than 10 percent of these devices were powered by Windows; now nearly 90 percent worldwide are Windows-based,” he said.
Guggenheimer said the move toward Windows OS from Linux on netbooks was consumer-driven and reflected the fact that netbooks had evolved into powerful PCs as opposed to the basic Web surfing tools they were designed for initially.
Microsoft, however, is facing another challenge as several PC manufacturers are adopting Google Inc’s Android OS in their products. On Tuesday, Acer Inc (宏碁) became the first PC vendor to unveil a prototype of an Android netbook. Other PC makers also have Android products in the pipeline.
Asked about the potential of Android-based or even Moblin-powered netbooks and the impact they might have on Windows 7 smartbooks or notebooks, Guggenheimer said it was too early to tell.
“It’s news versus reality. It takes time to see what really happens,” Guggenheimer said.
However, he said that Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5 was an effective counterpart to Android-based smartphones, while Windows 7 is designed for fixed function devices that takes computing to a whole new level.
He said that the innovations of Windows 7 in the field of touch-screen technology would be specially suitable for all-in-one computers and tablet PCs.
Guggenheimer did not disclose the licensing fee for the new OS to Microsoft’s manufacturing partners, nor the retail price for Windows 7.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI