Microsoft is finally giving Apple some competition. At the Mobile World Congress today in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft unveiled its next generation of Windows phones, the Windows Phone 7 Series. Has Microsoft hit the jackpot with lucky number Windows 7?

The interface is stunning and the features are a brilliant combination of firsts and smart design. Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft, tells us, “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience.” It’s a phone that’s been designed for life in motion. “Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences,” Ballmer continues. The Windows Phone 7 also brings Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience to mobile phones for the first time.

Unable to attend the Mobile World Congress and review the product myself, I point you in the direction of TechCrunch, Gizmodo and Business Insider.

Windows Phone 7 phones will hit stores by the holiday season this year. For those who are antsy to play with the interface, head over to the Windows Phone 7 Series site for an interactive demo. Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Barcelona can also be replayed in full at Microsoft.

Are you “considering replacing your battery” since you’ve upgraded to Windows 7? Then decided to wait it out to see what Microsoft’s testing would uncover? Well, a blog article from Microsoft revealed that they “see nothing more than the normal course of battery degradation over time.”

The blog reminds us that “batteries usually have a warranty of 12 months, which is about the length of time when statistically we expect to see noticeable degradation.” And goes on to explain how Windows 7 calculates the battery life… Basically, the threshold is set at a 40% performing capacity or 60% degradation. If a battery originally had 5 hours of charge, it would now deliver an average 2 hours of charge. If a battery fails to perform at 40% capacity, the warning message appears. When testing systems that displayed the warning message, Microsoft concluded, “we’re simply seeing batteries that are not performing above the designated threshold.”

The test report discovered “only a very small percentage of users are receiving the ‘Consider replacing your battery’ notification, and as expected, we are seeing systems older than ~1.5 years.” However, if you’re still having issues contrary to these findings, Microsoft encourages you to send it in. TechNet, Microsoft Answers forum or the Microsoft Support page are their suggested means for reporting problems.

Do you want to upgrade your Vista or Windows XP computer to a Windows 7 system? But you don’t want to spend the money for a new computer? Past versions of the Windows operating system have all grown “more resource-hungry than the last,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Each time a PC user wanted the latest Windows system, that user usually had to buy a new, better computer — more RAM, better processor, etc., whatever the need may be for running the new Windows system. Then came the acclaimed Windows 7 OS.

Zazz, an online retailer, refurbishes a number of computers running Windows XP. And since “Customers started asking how these computers would run Windows 8,” Zazz media manager Scott Lewis had his team run a few tests. The results of his tests? Upgrade to Windows 7 already! Upgrading is especially recommended for computers running a dual-core processor and at least 2GB of RAM. However, those with less are also encouraged to upgrade. Surprisingly “Photoshop ran faster on Windows 7 even with 1GB or RAM,” says Lewis.

If you’re ready to upgrade, be sure to read Jeremy’s post on Windows 7 Upgrade Eligibility and Paths. Also, check out the Sydney Morning Herald article for more information on Lewis’ findings and a few useful links.

Have you been having issues with your battery and Windows 7 loaded laptop? Is your new, fully charged battery telling you to “Consider replacing your battery”? Well, you aren’t the only one. Engadget already has proof that something is wrong. And The Register posted an article just last week about the frustrations of Windows 7 users. After several months of this issue floating about, Microsoft is finally playing the same tune of their Windows 7 ads: listening to customer feedback.

“We are investigating this issue in conjunction with our hardware partners, which appears to be related to system firmware,” said a Microsoft rep. Fairly useless at this point for solving the issue, but Microsoft reassures its users that information will be provided as it becomes available.

Earlier this week, blog posts about Windows 7 “GodMode” fluttered the tech web. Jeremy was kind enough to capture a quick video for us. If you have Windows 7, just hit play to see how easy it is to enable “GodMode.”  Oh, this is the code you will need (for the convenience of simple copy and paste):

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Ina Fried, from CNET.com, says “GodMode” also works with Vista, but with possible problems. Find out more by reading her Beyond Binary blog.

Continue reading to find out what features GodMode reveals >>

With the release of Windows 7, there are many different options to upgrade. In typical Microsoft fashion, there is some complexity to upgrading to Windows 7. This blog will explain the difference between “upgrade eligibility” and “upgrade paths”, and let you know your options based on which version you are currently running.

Upgrade Eligibility:

You are eligible to purchase an upgrade to any version of Windows 7 if you own any previous version of Windows starting with XP or later. Windows 98, 2000, and ME don’t qualify you to purchase an upgrade. If the PC you want to install Windows 7 on has a version of Windows older than XP, you will need to purchase a full retail or OEM version of Windows 7.

Upgrade Paths:

An Upgrade Path is a scenario where you can install Windows 7 without needing to back up your files. For example, if you are currently running Windows Vista Home Premium, and you want to go to Windows 7 Ultimate, you would be able to insert the Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade disk while running Vista, it would then “convert” your Vista operating system to Windows 7 Ultimate; However, if you are currently running Vista Home Premium and you want to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, you would have to back up your files and perform what’s called a “clean install” by rebooting your system from the disk and re-installing the operating system from scratch. You can only perform an upgrade path from the following versions of Vista to the corresponding versions of Windows 7:

Supported Upgrade Paths

Note: If you are upgrading from any version of Windows XP you will have to perform a clean install. There are no supported Upgrade Paths from Windows XP.

In a message posted to a forum on the MSDN site about 2 weeks ago, one of Microsoft’s programming writers said that “A Windows 7 interoperability pack, known as the Windows 7 Client Platform Update, is to be released alongside Windows 7 in October of this year.” This update will be made available as a “Recommended Update” on the Microsoft Download Center and will support all versions of Vista, including the entry-level Basic and Starter editions. The “Ribbon” interface is a wide, ribbon-like display at the top of a window that replaces traditional drop-down menus and toolbars that have been the norm for Windows applications for decades. This update would allow Vista users to take advantage of the ribbon-menu in applications that have been written to support it. Windows 7 applications that have taken advantage of the ribbon interface include the re-designed Paint and Wordpad programs. One good example of the Ribbon Interface is Office 2007’s “Fluent user interface”, which so many people had a hard time adapting to. You can see this interface in action at Microsoft’s Website.

Many people have expressed concern about the switch from traditional drop-down menus to the Ribbon interface. What do you think of the new Ribbon interface that may become the new norm for Windows applications?

With the upcoming release of Windows 7 on October 22nd, you may be thinking about upgrading your operating system. In the past, Microsoft often confused customers as to which Windows edition to choose by not providing logical feature upgrades between editions, and by offering too many different SKUs. With Windows 7, Microsoft is simplifying the process of choosing which edition is right for you.

This time around, the Windows versions are logically designed so that each more advanced (and expensive) edition includes ALL of the features of the less advanced version. Unlike with Vista, there will be no need to decide between features that were available in a lower version but not in the more advanced edition. For instance, Windows Media Center was available in Vista Home Premium, but not in the more expensive Vista Business. With Windows 7, all of the editions build on the edition below it.

The three retail versions of Windows 7 that will be available in the U.S. are Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Let’s compare the main differences between these three versions.

Windows 7 Home Premium

This is the edition that will satisfy the needs of most personal computer users. It’s retail price is $199.99, with an upgrade available for $119.99. Home Premium includes every major feature that the home or small business user would typically need. Major components include:

-Aero Shake, Jump Lists, and Snap for simplifying navigation and customization of your desktop

-home networking through HomeGroup

-64-bit capability

-Windows Media Center for managing and sharing all of your media, as well as recording live TV (including HD)

Windows 7 Professional

I like Microsoft’s move to go back to the naming convention of the most popular version of Windows XP….Professional. Selling for $299.99 with an upgrade for $199.99, Windows 7 Professional does pack on a few extra features that do justify its price. Professional includes every feature found in Home Premium, plus:

-Windows XP mode for running older programs in a virtual XP environment

-Domain Join for connecting to business networks quickly and easily

-Automatic Backup that is improved in Windows 7 to easily and automatically recover lost files

Windows XP mode will be the biggest factor in driving sales of Professional. Many older programs will not work on Windows 7 without this mode, and if you are holding on to old software that you love, Professional may be for you. It is also a no-brainer for people that need to log into their company’s network remotely.

Windows 7 Ultimate

With a price just $20 higher than Professional (for both the retail and full versions), Windows 7 Ultimate does not come with any revolutionary features that you can’t live without. The main differences between Ultimate and Professional are Ultimate’s ability to switch between 35 different languages on the fly, and its integration of BitLocker. This technology protects your data on your internal drives, as well as external flash drives and other portable storage devices.

I guess if you are multi-lingual and can’t decide which language you like best, Ultimate could be for you. Otherwise, it’s not worth spending the extra money. Technologies like TrueCrypt are free and open source, and will handle data encryption just fine.

I hope this overview gives you an idea of which version of Windows 7 to purchase in October. For a more detailed look into each version, check out the official Windows 7 site.

Starting today, major PC manufacturers will be offering a promotion with new PC’s that allows you to upgrade to Windows 7 at a later date for free. To help boost computer sales right now, Microsoft is offering this promotion to users that purchase a new computer installed with Windows Vista. Their hope is that people will not put off buying a new computer in order to wait for the release of Windows 7 on October 22nd.

Participation in this program varies between different manufacturers. Check out this Microsoft page for the complete list of participating manufacturers. That link also contains the complete FAQ on the Windows 7 free upgrade, if you have any questions.

Also starting today, Microsoft is opening up a heavily discounted pre-order program for Windows 7. To reward loyal customers, Microsoft if selling a pre-order of Windows 7 Home Premium for $49.99 and Windows 7 Professional for $99.99. This is 50% off the standard upgrade price. To pre-order your copy right now, check out the Miscrosoft Store.

Microsoft also announced the estimated retail prices for Windows 7 yesterday. The upgrade prices are as follows:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

The full retail boxed version prices are as follows:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

Al of these products will start shipping on October 22nd.

I really like these aggressive pricing techniques from Microsoft. Let’s hope everyone will upgrade to Windows 7 right away, and we can finally put Vista behind us. Check out the Windows Team Blog for even more information.

Sometime tomorrow, Microsoft will make the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) available to the general public. The new Windows operating system will be completely free to download, and its license will last until June of 2010. That means you can try Windows 7 for free for over an entire year.

To download this final test version of Windows 7, just visit the Windows 7 page on Microsoft’s website starting tomorrow. If you are currently running Windows Vista with SP1, you will be able to upgrade to Windows 7 without having to do a clean installation. If you are currently running Windows XP, you must wipe your drive clean before you can install the new OS. The download will be around 2.5GB in size for the 32-bit version, and over 3GB for the 64-bit version of Windows 7. The download is a disk image (.iso) file, so that means you also need a DVD burner to create the installation disk.

Windows 7 will be shipping in its final retail form sometime before January 2010. That means you will able to upgrade your license to a full version well before your Windows 7 RC license expires that June. However, many people think the new Windows will ship well before then. The website Pocket-lint recently reported that Acer will begin shipping computers installed with Windows 7 on October 23rd. This confirms earlier rumors from inside Microsoft that Windows 7 will be ready in time for the Christmas shopping season.

Computerworld thinks Windows 7 will ship even sooner. In a recent blog post, they make the argument for a ship date between August 28 and September 20, 2009. These dates are based on the fact that Windows XP shipped 115 days after Microsoft made the release candidate available for download. Vista shipped 138 days after its release candidate version. Will this logic hold true this time around?

If you are planning on installing Windows 7 RC onto a virtual machine, VMware has a great installation guide. Even though this guide was written for the beta version of Windows 7, the procedures for the RC version will be very similar.

So go ahead and try the new Windows 7 RC for free. Let us know what you think! Will this version finally free Microsoft from the disappointment of Vista?