Windows 7 officially Released to Manufacturing

Looks like they’ve gone and done it, Ollie.

Windows 7 has been officially released to manufacturing, with build 7600.16385.090713-1255. (At the same time, as expected, Windows Server 2008 R2 also RTMd.)

The 090713-1255 build has been available via torrents and on the newsgroups for about five days.

32-bit version MD5: c7102805815abb3b6b4796a8cc3fb008

64-bit version MD5: 4171999e05724d309a62104d83485d69

You can and should check the MD5 key for any downloaded file before you install it. That’s a simple procedure using the free MD5 Check 2.1 program from Angus Johnson.

Breaking news on Windows 7

MS spokesman Brandon LeBlanc just confirmed a bunch of details about the Windows 7 release – although he left unanswered the biggest questions, which is “When will Windows 7 RTM?”

August 6 is the magic date for official availability of the English version on MSDN and TechNet. One day later, big companies with Volume Licenses and Software Assurance will be able to download the bits.

Brandon also confirmed the existence of a “Family Pack” – an upgrade version for Home Premium that will install on three separate PCs. There are still lots of questions about that one, including the price, but the general upshot is a good one: those of you who missed the scramble for $49 upgrades in the US will probably be able to get three upgrades for roughly the same price.

My guess is that the Family Pack will be the upgrade avenue of choice for small businesses.

Firefox 3.5.1 now released

The first bug fix release of Firefox 3.5 has been released today. Get FF 3.5.1 here.
This version fixes a critical security flaw mentioned here.

Microsoft-Yahoo search deal imminent?

Kara Swisher at All Things Digital says Microsoft is close to offering Yahoo boatloads of money to acquire Yahoo’s search advertising.

Top executives at Microsoft–including SVP of the Online Audience Business Group Yusuf Mehdi, search head Satya Nadella and top digital exec Qi Lu, as well as others–have all flown down to Silicon Valley from their Redmond, Wash., HQ today to iron out the remaining issues, which seem to have to do with the deployment of technology.

Expect speculation to run rampant. Will they finally seal a deal? My guess is yes – but it’s only a guess. Microsoft has a lot of money burning a hole in its pocket, and Yahoo could use the infusion.

Price break for UK Windows 7 upgrades

I haven’t seen this on any of the PC sites yet, but DD just wrote to me to say:

Users in the uk who signed up for the RC (I did, but didn’t get it because it wouldn’t download and I just gave up after 10 attempts) recieved notification yesterday that we can pre order from a selection of retailers for up to 47% off up until the start of August (subject to limited numbers) for the the 22 October release of it.

Good news. Anybody have details? The UK versions are horribly over-priced…

UPDATE: The Telegraph reports:

for this limited pre-sale period Windows Home Premium is available for £49.99 instead of £149.99 and Windows 7 Professional for £99.99 instead of £189.99.

Remember, the “Windows 7 E” version – which is the only version available in UK – is a full install package, not an upgrade version. At current exchange rates, MS is offering the full Windows 7 E Home Premium for US $ 82, down from the (outrageous!) list price of US $ 246.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Microsoft has posted its official description of how to install the “E” versions of Windows 7. That page also includes a good overview of Windows Easy Transfer, the utility you will probably use to save all of your data if you do a clean install of any version of Windows 7.

July 2009 Black Tuesday – and another 0day in IE

July’s Black Tuesday has come and gone, with Microsoft releasing six security bulletins covering nine separate “CVE” numbered security holes.

MS09-028 / KB 971633 patches the 0day hole in DirectShow that I talked about a few weeks ago. If you use Firefox, as I explained back then, you’re already covered.

MS09-029 / KB 961371 patches a security hole in the OpenType interpreter. No known exploits.

MS09-030 / KB 969516 fixes Microsoft Publisher. N o known exploits.

MS09-031 / KB 970953 only affects ISA server, so you probably aren’t at risk.

MS09-032 / KB 973346 is yet another ActiveX killbit rollup that, inter alia, fixes the Internet Explorer Video ActiveX control 0day hole I talked about last week. It’s another messy bunch of ActiveX zappers, most of which aren’t necessary if you use Firefox or Chrome. Note that, in spite of what you might’ve read on the Microsoft site, this rollup does NOT include a patch for the Excel ActiveX 0day problem described in KB 973472. If you want to avoid that ActiveX 0day, you should use Firefox. Is there an echo in here?

MS09-033 / KB 969856 only affects Virtual PC.

If you use Firefox, you don’t need to be overly concerned about any of the patches yet. I shudder to think how many programs will get killed by the new ActiveX killbit rollup. (Remember that Firefox doesn’t use ActiveX – nor does Chrome – only Internet Explorer.)

I’m putting us up to MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.

Let’s see who starts screaming the loudest.

Windows 7 RTM

Looks like we’re going to get the RTM version of Windows 7 today.Wzor reports it’s build 7600, and the details look like this:

File Name:

7600.16384.090710-1945_x64fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULXFRER_EN_DVD.iso

Size: 3,224,717,312

SHA-1: 0×31849B315290EFABFD81F967ED3C553D82925E4C

Happy downloading, and stay tuned for the official announcement (which will undoubtedly appear on every news medium in the world).

UPDATE:  Looks like we’ve got a waffler here. Microsoft issued a press release on July 13 quoting Bill Veghte as saying:

BILL VEGHTE: Good morning. How is everyone doing out there? (Applause.) All right. You watch that video, it’s such an exciting time. It is such an exciting time. This morning we will release Windows 7 to manufacturing, and we write that next chapter, we go after that opportunity.

On July 13, Brandon LeBlanc, on the official Windows 7 blog, said:

We are close, but have not yet signed off on Windows 7. When we RTM you will most certainly hear it here. As we’ve said all along, we will RTM Windows 7 when it’s ready. As previously stated, we expect Windows 7 to RTM in the 2nd half of July.

Clearly there’s a little, uh, discrepancy floating around. Bottom line: I’ll bet on build 7600.16384.090710, but it isn’t yet official. My guess is that MS didn’t want to steal the thunder from the Office 14, er, Office 2010 Technical Preview announcement.

ActiveX patch KB 969898 – same old, same old

Reader SH writes:

I am showing an update Active X Killbits for Windows XP KB969898. Is that one OK?

Unfortunately, KB 969898 includes all of the old ActiveX killbits in KB 960715, plus three additional killbits that knock out ActiveX controls made by HP, eBay and Microgaming. I say avoid it, for the same reason that I advise avoiding KB 960715.

Use Firefox. That’ll keep you safe.