Q. How many versions of Windows 7 are available for the Philippines?

A. There are five versions of Windows 7 available in the Philippine market — Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate.

Q. Are customers who bought computers lately able to upgrade to Windows 7 for free?

A. Microsoft now allows up to N-2 for the free upgrades if you bought your computer after the October 22 global launch of Windows 7. That means systems with Vista and XP can avail of the upgrade. There are some exceptions, of course.

Q. How about the Family Pack? Is it going to be available in the Philippines?

A. The Windows 7 Family Pack is a promo Microsoft is doing in the US. It is still in test phase and Microsoft is studying its viability in the Philippines. It is not currently available for the Philippine and there’s no exact date when it will become available. You will need at least 3 computers at home to be able to qualify for the Family Pack if ever it becomes available.

Q. How about Student or Academic pricing and discounts?

A. Microsoft has discounts for students and the academe. This will be handled by the respective schools and universities for easy verification/implementation for those who qualify.

Q. Can I upgrade my old Windows XP directly to Windows 7?

A. No, you need to do a fresh install. You can only upgrade to Windows 7 if you currently run Vista.

Q. How about those who have Windows 7 RC pre-installed? Can they upgrade to RTM directly?

A. Unfortunately there is not an easy upgrade path from RC to RTM. Microsoft recommends a clean install with Data Migration of Windows 7 RTM. Read more about the upgrade scenario at http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/.

Q. Until when can I use my Windows 7 RC?

A. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Plan ahead for when the RC expires. You’ll get two weeks’ notice, and then beginning on March 1, 2010, your PC will start shutting down every two hours.To avoid interruption, you’ll need to rebuild your test PC to replace the OS with a valid version of Windows, and reinstall all your programs and data before the software expires.

Q. What are the minimum system requirements for Windows 7?

A. RTM Hardware requirements are as follows: 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor, 1GB of system memory, 16 GB of available disk space, support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme).

Q. What’s inside the Win7 DVD installer?

A. Two DVD disks — one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit.

There are some promos and discounts as well at the Microsoft 7 event. On November 7 and 8 (that’s until today only), check out the CyberZone Activity Hall at SM North EDSA Annex for some discounted Windows 7 DVD installers.

Here are the promo prices (save between Php1,500 to Php3,000 from SRP):

Windows 7 Home Basic: Php6,500
Windows 7 Home Premium: Php7,000
Windows 7 Professional: Php14,500
Windows 7 Ultimate: Php15,500

Buyers also get a free high-end webcam with every purchase of Windows 7.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

No related posts.

Here are the current price list of the various versions of Windows 7 (based from a the price list of PC Gilmore on October 24):

Windows 7 Home Premium – Php6,050
Windows 7 Professional – Php8,100
Windows 7 Ultimate – Php11,500

No price for the Home Basic yet but it should be just under Php5,000.

{Thanks to reader Jan Lorenz for the tip.}

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

Related posts:

1. The 6 flavors of Windows 7 Microsoft has finally announced the SKUs of their upcoming OS,...
2. Microsoft blames Netbooks for lower revenues The last quarter numbers from Microsoft are out and it’s...

The usual search feature for movies, TV schedules and restaurants are all there (plus recent articles) but the most helpful function is the Search “NearMe” function. It uses the GPS in your iPhone to find your location and all establishments in your area. Not sure how far but from experience, it’s around 500 meters (half a kilometer).

The app costs $3.99/year on the Apple App Store but if you own a Nokia N97, Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic it’s free (not sure if it has location-based search too). That might be a little unfair to iPhone/iPod Touch owners but I think it’s still worth it.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

No related posts.

• Snow Leopard comes as 32-bit and 64-bit out of the box and system applications such as Finder, Mail, iCal and Safari are also on 64-bit.
• Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) provides new ways for to create applications that’s optimized for multiple core processors.
• Introduction of the OpenCL (somewhat derived from OpenGL) to maximize the power of the GPU.

Apple is finally ditching the PowerPC so Snow Leopard can only be installed on an Intel-based Mac system. Almost half of the Apple presentation was dedicated to bashing Windows 7.

Existing Leopard users will only need to pay a Php1,690 license fee to upgrade to Snow Leopard. A Family Pack costs Php2,790 (up to 5 users) and a Mac Box Set that includes iLife and iWork will have a suggested retail price of Php9,490.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

Related posts:

1. Snow Leopard on a Macbook Pro So Apple sent in a 13″ Macbook Pro with the...

It’s been like close to a half a decade now that 64-bit editions of Windows are available and yet it hasn’t gone mainstream (the x86-64 was introduced in 2003).

Before, the main concern is that even if the OS and the hardware is capable of 64-bit, majority of the softwares are compiled into 32-bit code so you don’t really get any significant improvement. Moreover, with the 32-bit Windows OS, it can only use up to about 3GB of RAM so even if you have 2 sticks of 2GB RAM (4GB total), your system can only see 3GB and the remaining 1GB is unused.

The biggest issue that’s causing the slow adaptation is because most device drivers aren’t compatible for 64-bit. If your printer, scanner, etc were manufactured before 2007, chances are they don’t have drivers for 64-bit OS (I have 2 USB WiFi dongles from LinkSys and they don’t have drivers for 64-bit Vista).

Maybe in a couple more years, we’ll see 64-bit take on a larger user base.

For now, I’m enjoying the speed bump running Windows 7 64-bit on an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 with a full 4GB of RAM. Firing up Adobe Photoshop CS4 64-bit is a joy (launch time: 4 seconds).

Anybody out there running a 64-bit Windows OS?

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

No related posts.

The announcement same out today:

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Google Chrome OS will be based on a Linux kernel and will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips. Google is actually talking to several netbook manufacturers to bring the Chrome OS to market by middle of next year.

Google Chrome OS is a separate project from Google Android. Everybody is going to get very busy — Nokia and Intel is cooperating on Moblin, Google has Chrome OS and Microsoft has Windows 7. Since Chrome OS is basically just another Linux flavor, will it succeed or go the same path as Xandros on the Eee PC?

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

No related posts.

Nokia is forever married to the Symbian platform and it’s going to be a long shot if we can ever see a Nokia handset with an Android OS in it. Why?

Well, first of all, there’s that $700 million dollar reason. Nokia bought out the remaining 52% of Symbian last year for a reportedly €264 million ($368 million) big bucks.

Nokia is also promoting its own non-profit Symbian Foundation which combined several different operating systems (Symbian OS, S60, UIQ, MOAP) and made the whole thing open source (read: free, just like Android).

Nokia also bought into a lot of other properties that ride on the same ecosystem. One prominent example is Navteq for $8.1 billion (it has to make money off of Nokia Maps to get that investment back). Going Android also means dropping Nokia Maps for Google Maps (Navteq provided maps to Yahoo, Google and Microsoft and makes over half a billion in sales a year).

Last month, Intel and Nokia announced a strategic partnership and support development of Moblin and Maemo platform for future mobile computing devices.

Nokia is slowly losing the smartphone wars — analysts at HSBC reckon Nokia had 47% of the global smartphone market in 2007; that was down to 35% last summer and 31% at the end of the year {via}. Meanwhile, the Blackberry, iPhone 3G, Palm Pre and Android phones are gaining momentum.

If Nokia gives in to Android as the better platform than Symbian, it will continue to lose market share in the growing smartphone market. It has also invested a lot of marketing money and resources to promote Ovi. It looks like it’s Symbian or nothing for Nokia.

Do you think Nokia should just drop Symbian, specifically the S60 platform, for a better one?

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

Related posts:

1. Sciphone goes for Android Dream 2 Maybe this is what Google wanted all along — for...

I have to admit, it’s a nice commercial though.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

Related posts:

1. Chrome trumps Firefox on Google Pack Google Chrome recently got promoted to version 1.0 and dropping...

I wrote something similar back in October 2008 (Is Linux Failing the Netbooks?). Some might say it’s too early to say yet all the signs are pointing to Microsoft XP taking the role of the quarterback.

• Asus was a pioneer with the netbook and they did it with a free Linux-flavored OS, Xandros. It was supposed to be the big chance for Linux to go mainstream but the idea that netbooks are underpowered and can only run light OSes like Xandros or Ubuntu did not fly. Windows XP became the #1 alternative. If my Pentium 3 450MHz with 256RAM can run XP very well, why not a Celeron 900MHz or an Atom 1.6GHz?
• Acer and Asus fought fiercely at the top of the list for market share and moved on to develop newer models. None of the newer models have the Linux option. Everything runs in Windows. Acer and Asus would not say why they scrapped Linux altogether but I think we all know why. Even the switchers from Vista didn’t really moved away and went Penguin; they just downgraded to XP.
• After sales support could have been costly. It’s cheaper to get tech support for Windows than for Linux. Besides, most sales engineers on the retailers side are just familiar with one OS, Windows. Retailers would not spend more money for a new hire just to be able to expertly support Linux.
• Windows 7 is just around the corner. Even if XP is permanently laid to rest, Windows 7 will eagerly wait to replace it (skipping the dreaded Vista altogether). The timing is just right.

Well, there could be other potential contenders like the Android OS but it’s just that — potential. In a new but growing market like netbooks, everybody wants in and competition is so fierce that one wrong move could spell your defeat or success. HP learned that the hard way with the Mini 2133.

The time to experiment on an OS+CPU netbook combo is over and I think no one else is willing to bet on alternatives.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

No related posts.

While there’s been some word from Apple that Mac users are recommended to use anti-virus, this has been downplayed because Macs have been marketed as free from any sort of virus.

I guess the need for anti-virus for the Mac has become more important now that the newer Intel machines are able to run Windows (via BootCamp, etc). Besides, most exploits seems to be targeted towards the Safari browser.

Even Mac owners are susceptible to online threats, and when it comes to phishing, it doesn’t matter what platform you’re using,” said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president, Consumer Business Unit, Symantec. “The data we are seeing from Symantec’s Security Response is showing that Macs can be a target for viruses and malware. Norton Internet Security for Mac now helps safeguard users from phishing threats, malware and hackers, without compromising system performance.

The suggested retail price for Norton Internet Security for Mac is PHP4,890, which includes a one-year subscription to Symantec protection updates. The suggested retail price for Norton Internet Security for Mac Dual Protection is PHP5,510, which includes a one-year subscription to Symantec protection updates.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

No related posts.

Adobe CS4 has been built to run more optimized in 64-bit and multiple-core processors. I have yet to re-install this collection in my Intel Q6600 running Windows Vista 64-bit. Will do additional tests when I’m done with that.

More than half of the softwares included here, I haven’t tried using ever. I’m only familiar with Premiere, PhotoShop and Dreamweaver from my old job many years ago. However, initial impression is that the apps are more integrated with each other so you can basically work on a single project and switch between the apps seemlessly.

The Adobe CS4 Master Collection includes 17 applications and services in all — PhotoShop CS4 Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Contribute, After Effects, Premiere Pro, SoundBooth, Encore, OnLocation, Bridge, Version Cue, Dynamic Link and Device Central.

Price of the CS4 collection starts at $1,699 while the Adobe Master Collection tops at US$2,499.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

No related posts.