Microsoft—and the whole PC industry—has a little bit of a problem as they head into the 2006 end-of-year holiday season: Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 aren’t going to be available to consumers until early 2007. So consumers might put of the purchase of PCs until the new software is available, creating a sales slump during an all important retail period.
So, to encourage consumers to buy PCs over the holidays anyway, Microsoft has announced a plan to offer coupons good for low-cost upgrades to Windows Vista and Office 2007 when they’re available. In conjunction with computer manufacturers and systems builders, Microsoft will offer coupons with new computers pre-installed with Windows XP or Office 2003.
Offers will vary by region and with the software installed on a particular PC. In the United States, updates from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 will apply towards Windows Vista Home Premium, and upgrades from Windows XP Professional, XP Tablet Edition, and XP x64 Edition will apply towards Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Business 64 to a “nominal fee.” Upgrades from Windows XP Home Edition towards Windows Vista ome Basic and Home Premium editions will be offered at half-off the boxed product upgrade price (currently $99.95 and $159, respectively), plus shipping and handling.
Microsoft Office purchases made through “participating computer manufacturers in qualifying locations” will receive a coupon good for upgrades to a comparable edition of Office 2007 for just the cost of shipping and handling. Customers who purchase Office through a system builder will need to supply proof-of-purchase along with the coupon.
“Our customers can shop for a new PC with confidence this holiday season because of the Express Upgrade to Windows Vista and Office Technology Guarantee programs,” said Mike Sievert, Microsoft’s corporate VP of Windows Client Marketing. “These programs ensure people will have a great experience with their Windows XP-based PCs today, and an even better one when Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office release become available.”
The coupon program will run from Oct. 26, 2006, through March 15, 2007.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.