In remarks to an analyst gather at Microsoft‘s Redmond headquarters, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer noted that if current trends hold, the installed base of Windows PCs worldwide will reach 1 billion during the next 12 months, which represents Microsoft’s 2008 fiscal year.
"If you stop and just think about that, parse that for a second," said Ballmer, "by the end of our fiscal year ’08, there will be more PCs running Windows in the world than there are automobiles, which is at least to me kind of a mind-numbing concept."
Microsoft noted that it has sold 60 million copies of Windows Vista this year, including 40 million copies in the operating systems’ first 100 days of availability. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner also touted the security of Windows Vista compared to previous versions of Windows and other operating systems "In the first 180 days we’ve had far fewer high-severity vulnerabilities than XP. We’ve had 12 in Vista. We had 25 in XP. [..] Windows Vista had far fewer than Apple, as well as any major desktop Linux distributor. And that’s something, again, we feel very good about from a security and reliability standpoint."
Even though Microsoft remains by far the dominant player in PC operating systems, Ballmer insists Microsoft will be transitioning its business to new arenas, represented by products like the Xbox and Zune, and but its purchases of ad firms aQuantive and (just yesterday) of AdECN, Inc.: "We are going to be an advertising company, and we are going to be a devices company," Ballmer said, noting Microsoft is currently the number-three seller of online ads.
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.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.