We’re getting a few more details about the Android 2.1 update that’s dropping tomorrow for the Motorola Droid. Here’s the deal:

The first batch of 1,000 updates will be pushed out at 9 a.m. PDT.
Assuming all goes well, another 9,000 updates will go out at 8:59 p.m. PDT.
After that, there’s a 24-hour waiting period (to make sure all’s still well.)
Then 200,000 updates will go out on Saturday, March 20.
Another batch of 200,000 goes out after that, until everyone has the update.
This stuff is brand-new as of this morning, and things are still subject to change. But we’re close, people, and we still expect a manual updating method to be had in short order, so don’t freak out if you’re not in the first group. Thanks, anon!

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• Android 2.1 to hit the Motorola Droid starting Thursday (mobilecrunch.com)

If you’re thinking about running the IE9 Platform Preview, don’t try installing it on any nearly-decade-old operating systems (I’m looking at you, XP): If you do, you’ll get to a dialog stating “Windows Internet Explorer Platform Preview does not support any operating system earlier than Windows Vista SP2.” And of course, don’t even think about versions for non-Windows operating systems. IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch told me that Mac and Linux versions weren’t currently in the company’s plans.

The reason IE9 doesn’t work in XP is that the browser uses the Direct2D feature of DirectX when accessing the graphics hardware to accelerate image creation and drawing. Direct2D was introduced in Windows 7 and then added

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• Microsoft confirms IE9 will shun Windows XP (go.theregister.com)
• Unsurprisingly, IE9 won’t be supported on an obsolete OS (arstechnica.com)

A new survey shows that businesses are increasingly planning their move to Windows 7, with more than half of those questioned planning to have some machines running the operating system in their corporations by the end of the year.

The survey, conducted of 923 businesses in January, found that 16 percent are already running some Windows 7, with a further 42 percent planning to start their deployment by the end of 2010.

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• Study: Businesses start to embrace Windows 7 (news.cnet.com)
• Microsoft unveils IE9 public preview (computerworld.com)

By March 1, 2010, all organizations with operations and/or customers in the state of Massachusetts will be required to follow comprehensive information security requirements regarding both paper and electronic records containing personal information. These requirements include enforcing password security, encrypting all personal information stored on laptops and removable devices and ensuring up-to-date firewall protection, operating system patches and the latest versions of security agent software.

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• Data Encryption Required: MA Property Managers And Data Protection (alertboot.com)

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• Motorola And Microsoft Strike A Deal To Put Bing On Cell Phones (ubergizmo.com)

At the RSA Conference held March 1 to 5 in San Francisco, Cisco Systems finally unveiled its own take on the secured borderless enterprise, which aims to provide mobile workers with seamless, always-on secured connections to protected enterprise data and applications—whether those applications are internally hosted or part of a cloud strategy. Even more specifically, Cisco wants to make clear that its technology is everything that Microsoft’s take on the borderless enterprise is not.

Based on my own experiences with Microsoft’s DirectAccess and its necessary extenders, I’ve found the technology to be interesting, innovative and pretty cool, but disappointingly limited—particularly in its native incarnation.

There’s a laundry list of problems with basic DirectAccess: It only works with Windows 7 clients (Ultimate or Enterprise SKUs); it requires critical back-end network services and applications run atop Windows Server 2008 R2 or Service Pack 2 due to DirectAccess’ reliance on IPv6; it can’t scale across multiple access servers for either performance or management purposes; its clients utilize split tunneling, which protect transmissions to corporate resources but not cloud-based applications; and it doesn’t support down-level virtualized client instances used for application compatibility.

Microsoft will issue two bulletins fixing eight vulnerabilities rated “important” in Windows and Microsoft Office products on Tuesday, the company announced on Thursday.

This represents a light Patch Tuesday, a contrast to last month when the company patched 26 holes with 13 bulletins, including critical vulnerabilities for Windows.

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• Microsoft Patch Tuesday for February 2010: 13 bulletins (arstechnica.com)

Redmond-based software company Microsoft announced more than two weeks ago the launch of a new mobile operating system, the Windows Phone 7 OS, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but it seems that it will indeed remain committed to the older Windows Mobile 6.5 platform too. It appears that more handsets powered by this mobile client are set to land on the market in the near future, at least this is what Oded Ran, head of consumer marketing, Windows Phone UK, said recently.

“We expect to introduce new phones running Windows Mobile 6.5 to the Windows Phone family in the coming months,” Oded Ran stated in a recent interview with Pocket-Lint. However, Microsoft seems not to be planning to deliver upgrades to Windows Phone 7 Series for existing devices powered by Windows Mobile 6.5. “For Windows Phone 7 Series we are enforcing a strict set of hardware requirements […] we cannot confirm that Windows Mobile 6.5 phones that satisfy those requirements will be upgradeable,” Ran stated.

Some of the previous reports on the matter suggested that HTC HD2, one of the most popular Windows Mobile 6.5-based mobile phones at the moment, might receive an upgrade to the newer operating system, but a Microsoft official already denied such plans. In the end, there are apparently little chances that any Windows Mobile 6.5-based device will receive an upgrade to the Windows Phone 7 OS and, the same as before, Microsoft is saying that the hardware requirements it put in place for the new devices would be the main barrier.

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• Older Windows Phones Can’t Be Upgraded to 7 Series (wired.com)
• Microsoft: Current Windows Mobile 6.x Phones Not Upgradable to WP7 (appscout.com)

News Analysis: Apple is suing HTC for allegedly violating several patents related to both its iPhone and operating systems. The lawsuit tells us quite a bit about Apple, its recent years of success and how it will use more than 20 years of development work to protect its current intellectual assets.

In a surprise announcement earlier this week, Apple said that it is suing HTC for violating a whopping 20 patents. The lawsuit is an important one. It could set a precedent in the marketplace and allow Apple to practically control the sale and distribution of touch-based devices around the world.

It could also cripple Google’s position in the marketplace, since it has relied on HTC to deliver several devices, including its Nexus One, to consumers.

But Apple doesn’t care. The company is trying to dominate the mobile phone industry. And it plans to take down any company trying to beat it. That said, Apple is playing coy. The company indicated in a press release this week that all his company is doing is protecting its patents. That might be true, but in the process, if it wins the lawsuit, it could easily discourage any and all competition from delivering devices that are even remotely similar to the iPhone.

For journalists and industry analysts, the lawsuit is a goldmine of information. The court documents reveal a number of interesting facts about Apple, the iPhone, HTC and Android.

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• HTC Sued by Apple Over 20 iPhone Patents (techeblog.com)
• Apple doesn’t mention Google in lawsuit against HTC (robbiz1978.blogspot.com)

Older Windows Phones Can’t Be Upgraded to 7 Series

Even the newest and fastest Windows phones won’t be upgradable to Microsoft’s next-generation mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7 Series, when it lands later this year.

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• Older Windows Phones Can’t Be Upgraded to 7 Series (wired.com)
• Upgrading to Windows Phone 7 May Not Be Possible (mashable.com)