Last week we saw a revamped version of Paint in the third Windows 7 milestone. At the time there weren't any other screenshots available, but it looks as though someone who got their hands on Windows 7 M3 has decided to post some screenshots showing off more of the enhancements.
Some of you have probably seen some bits of information on the web over the last day about Microsoft canceling the Bill Gates/ Jerry Seinfeld ad campaign to focus on a "new" campaign.
The last time that we received any physical type of viral marketing materials from Microsoft was back in early 2007 when Microsoft sent bloggers and other members of the media a little box. Some of you may remember this. The box was a puzzle in itself to get open, but once we got it open, we found a slim 256mb USB drive that had a video and a cipher key.
Last week when Microsoft aired their first Windows ad, a lot of you had lots to say about it. Some of you thought that the commercial simply wasn't funny while others of you thought that despite the fact there was no direct message, at least they were getting the logo out.
Who would have expected that RIM, makers of the BlackBerry, would turn to Microsoft, a rival of theirs (Windows Mobile), for a partnership? We didn't expect it, but it happened. Just today the companies announced that Microsoft Live Search would be available on the BlackBerrys sometime this year.
Perhaps Microsoft was hoping to take a little bit of the spotlight away from Apple (their iPod announcement is coming tomorrow) by confirming the new Zune line-up today? Yes, new Zune's are on the way. Consumers can expect some extra storage space for both the hard drive and flash models.
We've known for quite some time that Microsoft was preparing to drop the prices of their various Xbox 360 consoles and now it has happened (although only in the U.S.). This comes at a convenient time shortly before the start of the holiday season, and they've managed to get the price down to the "sweet spot" for gaming consoles.
Microsoft has started their $300 million ad campaign that, as previously mentioned, features the talent of Jerry Seinfeld. I saw the ad last night, and there has been a lot of talk about the quality of it this morning. Personally I was expecting it to, at the very least, inadvertently show off some things Vista is capable of doing.
It was just a few days ago that Google unveiled their idea to come out with a central market for Android developers to share their latest creations, and now Microsoft is hot on their tail. The istartedsomething blog noticed a few job postings that Microsoft made regarding something called Skymarket.
Back in the beginning of June we told you about how Microsoft is serious about improving their brand by hiring a big name in the advertising market to put together a campaign for them.
It was just a few days ago that we got an idea of where Microsoft's Photosynth technology could potentially go in the future thanks to a project called "Finding Paths through the World's Photos." In the article, Ryan mentioned that the project involved some pretty awe-inspiring technology, which reminded him of Photosynth, another project by Microsoft.
Most of you probably recall the Photosynth project by Microsoft that gave us some breathtaking 3D navigation of popular areas. We haven't heard from the Photosynth team in almost a year, but the University of Washington and Microsoft Reasearch have collaborated on some more awe-inspiring technology.
Lately we've been finding ourselves discussing applications that we really like for one operating system, that would be great on another.
After a lot of silence by Microsoft they have finally created a blog that will serve as a hub for Windows 7 information. The Engineering Windows 7 blog published an introductory post yesterday stating their intentions.
A couple of weeks ago we started a poll asking which Office Suite you used. When the results came in, we found that about 59% of the voters, the majority, used Microsoft Office.
Microsoft has announced today that five Sheraton hotel locations around the United States will be sporting the Surface computer. Each unit has been customized to offer entertainment and information about the local area, including satellite maps that make it easier getting from the hotel to your destination. All of this is done on the 30-inch digital table.
Back in April, Microsoft's Surface Computer began appearing in select AT&T stores across the country but they still weren't available to the general population. That apparently has changed. A "Microsoft Surface Order Form" is now available as well as "Marketing Guidelines" and nowhere in those documents does it say that the general population can't buy one.
It looks as though Microsoft is dancing around the fact that they a forum - a place where people can go to post their tips and questions for anything Microsoft related whether it be Windows or the Zune. They just relaunched Windowslive.com as a community site which we see as a step in the right direction, but they aren't quite there yet.
Last week rumors started to fly that Microsoft was planning to drop the price of the Xbox 360 pretty significantly. We questioned it because in July, Microsoft already did some price dropping with their 20GB Xbox 360 - dropping it from $350 down to $300.
There are a variety of tactics that search engines can use to draw people in, and it looks as though Microsoft's tactic with Live Search is to throw up a nature scene of someone in a canoe, add some hotspots, and then hope people are intrigued enough to stay for a while. Below is a screenshot of what the Live Search homepage looks like while hovering over one of the "hotspots":
