As anticipated, Microsoft used CES to launch the beta of Windows 7, posting the preview of the company’s next operating system to its developer download services. Microsoft made it clear that the beta will be available for a “limited time,” and said it will cap the beta after the first 2.5 million downloads. IT professionals and developers who subscribe to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) or TechNet services, however, get a jump on the public at large; they can grab the beta right away. The beta, which Microsoft called “feature complete,” requires a PC with...

Following is the code that will launch a command prompt on the client machine when you click on the link. This code runs only on Internet Explorer. I’ll shortly write code for Firefox and other browsers as well. So stay tuned. This is the javascript code that will launch the application function StartThis(CommandToRun) { if (window.ActiveXObject) { var shellObject = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell"); shellObject.run(CommandToRun); } } To call this code in your HTML use, Start explorer

The CNN-Microsoft project to create a commemorative 3D portrait of the presidential inauguration is live, and you can view it here. Using Microsoft’s Photosynth technology, the joint venture is designed to capture the historical event by stitching together digital photos shared by anyone who was there. The Photosynth software, part of Microsoft’s Virtual Earth software group, lets users create “synths”-3-dimensional renderings of multiple images of the same scene. Users can rotate and view the synths from many angles. The more photos supplied, the better the 3D effect. The...

Microsoft issued its first patch for the just-released Windows 7 beta, but it passed on plugging a hole in an important file-sharing protocol that it fixed in older versions of the operating system. Yesterday, Windows Update, Microsoft’s primary update service, began delivering the first patch to Windows 7 since the company struggled to launch the public beta last Friday. The update fixes a flaw that shaves several seconds of audio from any MP3 file that’s edited, including files modified automatically as users connect to the Internet. “Without action on your part, all MP3 files...

Microsoft has delayed the public release of its Windows 7 beta download due to an overwhelming demand that its servers couldn’t handle. “Due to very heavy traffic we’re seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta,”.