For the last week I have been running Windows 7 on a notebook and touch wood I have had very few problems. I have also been able to witness a brilliant array of content that is offered to US consumers via the new Windows 7 Media Centre content service.
During the CES opening keynote Steve Ballmer the CEO of Microsoft made it clear that Windows 7 was a key product for Microsoft in the consumer market however there is no evidence that Microsoft Australia is as committed to the consumer market as Microsoft Corporate.
At the recent CES show we saw some superb content services streamed to Microsoft’s Windows 7 Media Centre we saw live TV running along with music and other services such as live traffic and weather updates. Unfortunately Microsoft Australia is cutting back personnel in the consumer division concentrating instead on selling software to a core base of Xbox 360 customers.
Microsoft Australia that has refused to deliver content or EPG services despite most other Microsoft subsidiaries offering content services in markets like Europe, Canada the USA and the UK.
David McLean, the Regional Director of the Microsoft’s Entertainment Division refuses to talk to ChannelNews after we exposed massive problems with another Microsoft consumer product the Xbox 360 last year.
McLean who openly claimed that there was no “Red Ring Of Death” issues with the Xbox 360 2 months prior to Microsoft announcing a $1.6 Billion fix for faulty Xbox 360 has twice hung up on ChannelNews and SmartHouse when we have attempted to question him about the lack of consumer services for Microsoft’s Media Centre offering. We have also wanted to question him about the lack of music streaming services as promised by Microsoft when they launched the ill fated Vista operating system.
Late last year we exposed that the Company was openly misleading consumers in Australia into believing that there were consumer content services available for their Media Centre in Australia when in fact none of the exposed services were available.
Late yesterday Microsoft reinitiated their Windows 7 downloads of the public test version of its new software after a one-day delay due to demand issues that were impacting server download times.
The “beta” launch of the highly anticipated update to Microsoft’s Windows franchise was to began on Friday, but the company had to halt downloads to add more servers.
A Microsoft spokesman said today that the company did not yet have a tally of how many copies of the program have been downloaded.
However, it has eliminated its limit of 2.5 million copies for the first two weeks of availability, to allow more people to get a copy.
