Microsoft

Windows 7 is the latest in a growing number of elite products put out by Microsoft in recent years, and every user of a previous version of Windows should make the upgrade.

Oddly, most of the company's recent triumphs are hardware, namely the Xbox 360 video game console and Zune HD media player. But the Windows 7 operating system coming out Thursday is a true renaissance for Microsoft's core software platform after the botched and soon-to-be-forgotten Windows Vista.

After more than a week and a half of confusion related to the T-Mobile Sidekick data loss, Microsoft released a new recovery tool that allows them to get information back.

The Microsoft subsidiary Danger, which hosts Sidekick's service, had a power outage that caused an unknown number of Sidekick owners to lose text messages, photos, contacts, and other information on the phone. The exact issue leading to the data loss is unknown, but is expected to be related to a Danger server going down at some point.

Since its inception, Microsoft has made a practice of folding innovation by others into its proprietary products. Windows 7 is no exception. Beginning with version 1.0, Windows has accreted features that often eclipsed third-party products, sometimes killing them in the process.

The seven deadly sins -- for centuries, they've shaped the imaginations of poets, priests, and politicians, while giving the great unwashed a frame of reference: Do these things and you'll burn for sure!

When it comes to software, few products have inspired as much debauchery as Windows. From lust to sloth to envy, Microsoft's flagship OS platform has proven to be a source of manifold transgression. Zealots have praised it, and pundits have cursed it, while those of us in the IT trenches are forced to actually live with it.

Microsoft last week patched nine vulnerabilities, five marked "critical," in Windows 7, a move that will require users upgrading to the new operating system starting Thursday to download a security update to keep their PCs secure.

The patches were the first for Windows 7's final build, dubbed RTM for "release to manufacturing," that has been in some customers' hands, primarily enterprises with volume licensing agreements, since August.

Until now, Windows Vista was the most secure version of the Windows operating system. Windows 7 picks up where Vista left off, and improves on that foundation to provide an even more secure computing experience. Microsoft also incorporated user feedback about Vista to enrich the user experience and to ensure that the security features are intuitive and user-friendly. Here's a look at some of the more significant security enhancements in Windows 7.

Microsoft registered more than 1.5 million downloads of its free antivirus software in the week after it shipped.

The company's Security Essentials software is a basic antivirus program designed to appeal to Windows users who don't want to shell out the US$40 to $50 per year that most AV vendors charge. It was launched on Sept. 29, and by Oct. 6, the software had been downloaded more than 1.5 million times, according to a Thursday blog post by Microsoft.

For being the fastest growing server product at Microsoft, SharePoint is still largely misunderstood. There’s no question its one of Microsoft’s most important enterprise products, contributing more than $1 billion to the company’s coffers. Yet, as CEO Steve Ballmer himself acknowledged this week, SharePoint an “unsung hero.”

Microsoft is going to lose the battle to control mobile operating systems. It may even lose the chance to take any significant part. Such a statement isn’t anti-MS dogma nor does it have to do with any technical esoteric. It comes down to arithmetic.

Countries need to forge new trade rules governing the movement of electronic data across borders as the world becomes increasingly connected, a Microsoft official said on Wednesday.

As more and more software services are provided over the Internet, "people will be calling on computers located around the world," said Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for the U.S. software giant.