Friday, February 20, 2009

Microsoft on the Move

It looks like Microsoft is busy readying three new pieces of software for later this year.

  • Windows 7 is their next operating system. There have been many complaints about Vista (some valid, some irrelevant to the average user), so Microsoft is working on a new version that removes some of the bells and whistles and improves functionality.
  • Internet Explorer 8 is, of course, an upgrade on their web browser.  I haven't seen it yet, but since MSIE7 is losing out to Firefox and even Safari (though it's hard to see why -- it is, by far, the worst browser out there), it made sense to come out with a version to compete with some of Firefox's advantages.
  • Microsoft Morro will be a free antimalware solution, focusing on viruses, spyware, and trojans.  I'm a bit skeptical that Microsoft can handle this (their last antimalware produce, Microsoft Defender, really doesn't work all that well), but it may be easy enough to use that more people get protected -- for awhile.

It should be interesting to see how this all shakes out.