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Intel has been busily migrating to Windows 7, and embracing 64-bit computing as an internal standard, but with those changes have come some issues with application compatibility and administrative access. Intel and Microsoft have been working closely to solve these issues, with an Intel engineer insisting in a blog posting that the migration is on schedule. Intel could save as much as $11 million over the next three years by using Windows 7 in place of the aging Windows XP, formerly the operating system of choice after Intel shunned Windows Vista.

Intel’s long-planned internal move to Windows 7 and 64-bit computing involves a lot of “heavy lifting,” according to an Intel engineer in a lengthy Feb. 24 posting on the tech company’s Open Port IT Community blog.

Intel and Microsoft have been partnered through the latter’s TAP (Technology Adopter Program) to bring the operating system, which was released in October 2009, into Intel’s enterprise in a security-robust and bug-limited way. Both companies partnered in the months ramping up to Windows 7’s release to promote the operating system as offering better processor performance and battery life than its predecessor, Windows Vista, which Intel infamously refused to deploy internally in 2008.

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• Intel faces challenges in Windows 7 migration (computerworld.com)

Though Windows 7 fever hasn’t yet overwhelmed the PC community, Steam users seem to be getting on board with the latest Bill Gates-approved operating system. A recent Steam survey has revealed that a little over 23 percent of the platform’s regular users have upgraded to Windows 7 — a stark difference from the 6 percent of the total operating system market which Windows 7 currently represents.

What we found more interesting about this survey is that so many people are still using Windows XP. Then again, considering the only alternative these people have had over the past four years was the most nightmarish, user-unfriendly operating system known to man, we don’t blame them for being a little gunshy when it comes to technological progress.

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• Steam shows massive adoption of Windows 7 by gamers (downloadsquad.com)

Better late than never, Apple has updated its Boot Camp utility to support Windows 7. But the update is more complex than we’re used to.

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Apple promised a Boot Camp update would arrive by the end of 2009 to provide Windows 7 compatibility, but it didn’t arrive.

Now it has. But curiously, the changes aren’t all wrapped up in one neat package.

Multi-pronged changes to Boot Camp start with the Boot Camp Software Update 3.1, which comes in two flavours: one for 32-bit Windows and one for 64-bit versions.

Both deliver support for the Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate versions of Windows 7, but is “highly recommended” by Apple even if you’re running an older version of Microsoft’s operating system.

Other changes include fixes to trackpad handling, and support for the Apple wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse. The update also turns off the audio LED in notebook models when digital output is not in use.

If you’re planning to upgrade an existing Windows installation from Vista to Windows 7, you’ll also want the Boot Camp Utility for Windows 7 upgrade. Why? According to Apple officials, it “safely unmounts the read-only Macintosh volume on Microsoft Vista.”

Using an iMac with GeForce 7300 or 7600 GT, or a Mac Pro with GeForce 7300 GT or Quadro FX 4500 graphics? You’ll need the Graphics Firmware Update 1.0.

One more thing: if you’re using a late 2009 21.5in or 27in iMac, you’ll also need the iMac Late 2009 Windows 7 Drivers. Why they’re not part of the driver set included in the Boot Camp 3.1 update is anyone’s guess.

The multiple packages might just be a way of keeping the minimum download as small as possible, but there’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple, for example by wrapping everything except the Graphics Firmware Upgrade into one updater.

Download the updates via Support Downloads.

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• Apple: Boot Camp will be late to the Windows 7 party (macworld.com)

Microsoft’s Windows resumed its usual losing form last month as the operating system’s usage share dropped by about a third of a point even as the new Windows 7 posted a second straight month of impressive gains, Web metrics firm Net Applications said Friday.

Although rival desktop operating systems — Mac and Linux — essentially remained flat, mobile OSes, including Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone OS, took up the slack created by Windows’ dip. Mobile operating systems, said Net Applications, now power 1.3% of all the hardware that surfs the Internet.

Windows finished the year with a 92.2% share, down 0.3 of a percentage point. It was the eighth month in 2009 during which Windows lost share.

As it did in 2008, Windows’ decline again accelerated in the second half of the year, when it lost 1.2 points of share. That compared to a drop of just 0.5 of a percentage point in the first six months of 2009. In 2008, Windows also lost more than twice as much share between July and December as it did in the preceding six months.

But the slip doesn’t mean Windows is in any danger of losing its grip on the operating system market anytime soon: At the pace of the last 24 months, Windows would retain a majority share for another 27 years.

As in November, both Windows XP and Windows Vista lost share in December, while Windows 7 gained ground. Unlike in November, however, Windows 7 was unable to make up for the decline in Microsoft’s older operating systems.

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• Windows market share slide resumes (computerworld.com)

The changes to the Windows start menu in Windows Vista and Windows 7 make it much easier to use, and keep you from having to dig through folders to open applications or find utilities that you want to run, but for some people it’s an annoyance, and for some people the simple fact that it’s changed makes it difficult to use. For those people, there’s Classic Shell – an app that re-skins the Windows start menu to look and behave the way it did in Windows XP, complete with nested folders..

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• Classic Shell Brings the XP Start Menu to Windows 7 (appscout.com)

Hope you already bought the Windows 7 Family Pack. Well, if you were planning to; you could be the type of person who still writes “M$” without a hint of irony. Anyhow, the Family Pack is now sold out.

The Windows 7 Family Pack, you’ll recall, was a special edition of the operating system that came with three Home Premium upgrades for $150. (A single Windows Home Premium upgrade retails for around $110.) The thing is, Microsoft had always said that the pack would be a temporary offer, sold while supplies lasted.

Supplies have been exhausted! Well, inasmuch as supplies of software can be exhausted.

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• Windows 7 Family Pack all but sold out (crunchgear.com)
• Microsoft “Runs Out” of Cheaper Windows 7 Family Packs, Just In Time For Christmas [Microsoft] (gizmodo.com)

When it comes to problems with Microsoft’s Windows 7, its new, ballyhooed operating system, the computer giant says “don’t blame us.”

The software behemoth is shooting down reports that a recent Win 7 security update caused thousands of users to suffer the dreaded “black screen of death,” in which their computers screech to a halt.

Microsoft — whose most recent previous operating system, Windows Vista, was reviled for its tendency to cause major problems — says it was a nasty computer virus and not Windows 7 that wreaked fresh havoc.

Last month, British computer-security firm Prevx said recent, automatically installed Windows 7 updates were causing major problems.

But Microsoft blamed the problem on “malware” that some users had been unwittingly downloading to their computers from the Internet.

The company also insisted the problem was not widespread.

Prevx, however, was offering its own online fix to the problem and said at least 50,000 computer users had already downloaded its software patch.

Within one month of its launch, Windows 7 is already ahead of Mac OS X in term of its market share. With the failure of Windows Vista, the market share of Windows has already been dropped in the past. But with the launch of Windows 7, the new operating system from Microsoft has started tasting its early success.

According to Internet metrics company Net Applications,
“Last Saturday and Sunday, Windows 7 powered an estimated 5% and 5.14% of all computers that were online those days. The two-day average of 5.07% was higher than the 5% of the market share that Apple’s operating system averaged for the week of Nov. 15-21″.

Windows 7 News has recently reported that, “It’s a clear indication that sales of Windows 7 are storming ahead and that Microsoft’s new operating system has indeed been extremely well received by the press, public and business. But with the total Microsoft Windows market share sitting at 92.5% it’s still got a huge mountain to climb to replace Windows XP and Vista on desktops around the world.”

Windows already have a good market share and with the launch of Windows 7, they are trying to prove that Microsoft will always be the winner in market share race. What are your opinions about the increase in market share of Windows 7? Which OS do you think is most affected with the rise of Windows 7?

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• Surprise: Windows 7 Passes Mac OS X in Market Share (mashable.com)

Hackers are racing to build reliable exploits to use against a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE), putting pressure on Microsoft to push out a patch before attacks go public, researchers said today.

Yesterday, Microsoft first confirmed that new exploit code could compromise PCs running Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), then later in the day issued a security advisory that said Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista users were at risk.

Because the attack code had been publicly posted to a widely-read mailing list, researchers today said that the clock has started.

“This is clearly a critical vulnerability, and as bad as it gets,” said Ben Greenbaum, a senior research manager with Symantec’s security response team. “It is a race, yes, it certainly is,” he added when asked whether hackers and Microsoft are pitted in a drag race.

“Definitely some kind of race,” agreed Wolfgang Kandek, the chief technology officer at security company Qualys. “It’s a matter of whether Microsoft can fix it first or attackers can get something that works reliably.”

According to Kandek, variants of the original attack code have appeared on the Web. “So attackers are already working on [more reliable versions],” he said.

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• Microsoft admits to zero-day threat to IE6 and IE7 (guardian.co.uk)