Windows 7 works great on the MacBook Pro

ZDNet Asia

As a registered Microsoft developer, I had early access to the final release version of Windows 7, which I installed on my 17-inch MacBook Pro. I chose the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate. I’m happy to report that it installed smoothly and worked great for the past three weeks.

http://www.zdnetasia.com/blogs/mister-tech/0,3800019657,63013341,00.htm

Mac OS Snow Leopard: Great news for Windows 7

ZDNet Asia

Overall, the new Mac OS does not warrant a “wow”, but it is still definitely worth the US$29 upgrade price. Snow Leopard offers an even more streamlined Mac experience than Leopard and noticeably faster interface responsiveness. The application performance, however, is slightly slower than it is with Leopard, at least on the MacBook Pro we used as our test machine. As the OS is now a pure 64-bit operating system, expect the application performance to improve over Leopard as you add RAM or use it with a high-end desktop. Mac users can read more about Snow Leopard in my colleague Jason Parker’s full review, which is mixed. On the other hand, for Windows users, especially Windows 7, the release of Snow Leopard is straight-on great news. I recently blogged about running Windows 7 on a 15-inch Unibody Macbook Pro, which required some tweaking with Boot Camp 2.1. Snow Leopard comes with Boot Camp 3.0, which makes installing and running Windows on a laptop a much more pleasant experience.

Operating-System Upgrades for Mac Users

Wall Street Journal

By Walter S. Mossberg

August 20, 2009

Q: I enjoyed your columns on Windows 7 and Snow Leopard upgrades, but I’m wondering about the case of a Mac user who runs both platforms, e.g., Leopard and Windows XP or Vista?

A: Such a user would be able to upgrade to, and run, both new operating systems on the same Mac. Microsoft says Windows 7 will be licensed to work within a virtual machine on a Mac—a faux Windows computer—just like XP and Vista can. Apple also plans to offer Windows 7 drivers for its hardware after the new Microsoft system comes out on Oct. 22, so that users who wish to use its Boot Camp system for running Windows on a Mac can use the new Windows.

You can choose to keep running older versions of Windows on Macs equipped with Snow Leopard, or, presumably, run Windows 7 on Macs that still run Leopard. But note that if you do upgrade a copy of Windows to Windows 7 running on a Mac—even if it’s in a virtual machine—you must follow the same, sometimes painful, process that faces owners of standard Windows computers.

Q: I am color blind and am wondering if the DriveSharp driving improvement software you reviewed last week involves identifying colors as part of the learning process.

A: Yes, it does. Both of the program’s training exercises, which hone users’ abilities to track multiple moving objects and to expand their fields of vision, do rely to some extent on distinguishing colors.

Microsoft says Office for Mac will have Outlook

Associated Press

Microsoft says Office for Mac will have Outlook

August 13, 2009

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_MICROSOFT_MAC_OFFICE?SITE=ORPOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it will include Outlook, a popular e-mail and calendar program that’s ubiquitous on its Windows computers, in the next version of its Office suite for Apple Inc.’s Mac computers.

 The current Mac version of Office includes Entourage, a program for sending e-mail and organizing appointments and contacts. The new version, which will be available in time for the 2010 holiday buying season, will replace Entourage with Outlook.

 Microsoft’s Mac unit is building the software from scratch, so Outlook will work with the Mac’s backup and hard-drive search features.

 Apple recently said the next version of its Mac operating system, called Snow Leopard, will include support for Microsoft Exchange Server, the behind-the-scenes software that makes Outlook work.

 Microsoft also said it will change how it packages the currently available Office for Mac 2008 starting in September.

 The cheapest option, the Home and Student Edition, will remain priced at $150. But it is eliminating the $400 standard version and the $500 Special Media Edition; a $400 Business Edition, available for $240 as an upgrade, will replace those two.