While the reports cannot be verified at this point, it certainly isn’t outside the realm of possibility to believe Microsoft is cracking down on loose-lipped employees spilling the company’s biggest secrets.

What remains to be seen now, however, is if the flow of Windows 8 information/leaks slows or stops entirely now that two of the claimed “biggest leakers” are out of work.

Via: Electronista, WinRumors

A big thanks to Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie, for stumbling on this little nugget of the past. For the full rundown of Windows 1.0 in all of it’s 1985 glory, point your browsers right over here.

Via: Switched

While WP7 isn’t available for mere mortals yet, the developers in Redmond are strutting around campus with WP7 in tow. Naturally, they’re testing out the earliest apps for personal enjoyment to test the platform as well as giving feedback to devs preparing for the platforms launch. With the screenshot above, we can see just where their preferences lie.

Source: Flickr
Via: TechCrunch

With that said, Team Redmond is probably readying the lawyers as we speak. So if this theme tickles your fancy, you might want to download it asap while there’s still something worth getting tickled over.

Oh yeah, there’s quite a bit of underlying tweaking that has to be done by the end user. This isn’t nearly as simple as your standard ROM Manager theme install. There’s several stray files, images, fonts, etc. that all need tending to, with some of those not even included. Best get crackin’…

Source:
MobileCrunch
XDA

Microsoft hasn’t always released the coolest, most “hip” consumer oriented products. Nor have they even gotten as far as choosing a clever and catchy name that didn’t sound dorky or “pushed too hard”. Lucky for us, they did alright with their search engine Bing, for it was almost “Bang”. Now being the somewhat mentally unstable person that I am, hearing of a search engine named “Bang” has failure written all over it. Take these few light hearted examples:

1. Don’t know much about Mrs. Obama? Bang her.
2. No idea on the true size of a fully grown female water buffalo? Bang it!
3. Need a splendid new apple pie recipe for Easter? Bang it!

Yes, Bing could have been Bang and all hell would have broken lose. Just think of all the money Microsoft would have thrown in the trash if they actually went forward with Bang, only to have to re-educate people once they renamed the search engine so it’s verb could actually be used in church. Good job Microsoft. You avoided the but of our jokes for the day.

AlleyInsider

If you could pick one thing that bugs you most about Windows Mobile, what would it be? Would it be the ugly interface, poor touch screen support, sluggish performance even on top of the line hardware, *insert reasoning here*? One thing is for certain, Windows Mobile needs more consumer minded design and implementation. What was once a corporate staple has since fallen to other victors such as RIM and doesn’t begin to even hold a candle on the multimedia front when compared to the iPhone. Windows Mobile 6.5 was chapstick on a pig. Will WinMo 7 really be any better?

From the get go, Steve Ballmer has already let slip that Zune integration and features would be coming to Redmond’s next attempt at a mobile OS. But even more surprising is new word that Windows Mobile 7 will incorporate a more consumer friendly gaming UI. Not everyone wants to play games on their phone. I understand that. But looking at Apple’s success with their iPhone/iPod Touch platform with a heavy mobile gaming influence means Microsoft would be stupid not to try their own hand at it. But a smashing music player won’t by itself sell a device or platform. For that, M appears to have more up their sleeve…

Other good news is that a new version of Mobile IE will ship with the new OS. Even the latest version of IE — both desktop and mobile version — are terrible excuses for a browser. On the mobile front, IE isn’t even worth using because of poor rendering and speed attributes. A reworked browser is a great start for Microsoft and Windows Mobile 7. Regular readers know I really don’t like Microsoft or their products, yet a part of me is still excited to see what they can do. The best course of action would be to dump IE all together and take up webkit as two of the best mobile browsers in the world — Mobile Safari and Mobile Chrome — make use of said engine and are far better browsers all points considered.

So what and how will Microsoft do to salvage what little faith many have left for the once great mobile giant? UI elements can be easily found by doing a simple Google search. How much or little these early leaks resemble the final version of the OS is a crap shoot. All we can do is speculate. Though as Windows Mobile 7 gets closer to it’s late 2010 launch and as the juicy leaks continue to trickle out, the excitement will continue build.

Electronista > Microsoft Kitchen

{Image Source}

Yes I’ll admit it. I harp on Microsoft a lot. Though every once in a while they do something worthwhile and sincere that deserves some praise.

After the Zune HD got biopsied by the FCC, many who looked at the pictures questioned the placement of a few words inside the unit which read: “For Our Princess”. At the time seemed rather odd and I even saw some blogs speculating that it was a left field attempt to be “cool” and emulate Apple’s “Made In California” on their gear or even earlier Zunes’ “Hello From Seattle”. However, the dust has cleared and the true reason has come out. Sadly, a Zune HD team member passed during the development of the Zune HD and the entire team felt it was only right to honor her with a little note on one of millions of Zune HD’s to go out in to the world. A touching farewell and gesture on Microsoft’s part isn’t it?

CrunchGear

I’ll start by saying that if you were hoping for Microsoft to loosely follow Apple in terms of pricing on OS upgrades on their up and coming OS releases, I’m sorry to say that considering Microsoft’s revealed pricing “loosely based” to Apple’s would be a stretch to say the least. For XP and Vista users who are upgrading, the pricing is as follows:

Upgrade Pricing:

• Windows Home Premium Upgrade: $119

• Windows Home Professional Upgrade: $199

• Windows Home Ultimate Upgrade: $219.99

So the upgrade prices aren’t exactly spectacular…but it could be worse right? So how much are users who need the full install getting stuck with? All that and some juicy pre-order discount goodness right inside.

Those of you needing the full disc won’t get off so easily…

Full Disc Price:

• Windows Home Premium Full: $199.99

• Windows Home Professional Full: $299

• Windows Home Ultimate Full: $319

The pricing madness doesn’t stop there folks as starting June 26th, Microsoft junkies can partially quench their windows loving thirst by pre-ordering Redmond’s latest and greatest. The greatly reduced prices are close to what I’d consider ideal…

Pre-Order Pricing (limited quantity):

• Windows Home Premium (Pre-Order): $49

• Windows Home Professional (Pre-Order): $99

Again, pricing is a bit disappointing. I completely understand getting paid for your work, however there isn’t anything that revolutionary in Windows 7. In all honesty it is more like a Vista 2.0 — much like Snow Leopard is an extension of Leopard, hence the dramatically lower upgrade price of only $30 vs. the buffet of options Microsoft gives you…(though that’s a completely different story). Are you happy with the revealed pricing or where you honestly looking for something a bit more reasonable/cheaper? It’s ok to raise your hand now…

Source: Engadget, Microsoft, Image Source