Operating SystemsEssentials

Microsoft is considering giving its Windows client OS the capability to be turned on very rapidly by allowing users only limited access to the OS, a concept it's calling "Instant On," according to a survey Microsoft conducted.

Microsoft said Wednesday it would purchase up to $100 million in coupons for Suse Linux support from Novell, furthering a controversial 2006 partnership aimed at customers who run both Windows and Linux in their server environments.

Could Microsoft be switching away from Windows?

The planned successor to the embedded version of Windows XP, due from Microsoft two years from now, may bypass Windows Vista and instead be based on the oft-maligned operating system's own successor, which is codenamed Windows 7.

Comments by Steve Ballmer at a press conference in Europe last week have led to speculation that Microsoft is reconsidering its June 30 deadline to stop selling most new Windows XP licenses. A spokeswoman from Microsoft's public relations firm said that there is no plan for a change in deadline, however.

Companies should think twice about skipping Windows Vista and should get started sooner rather than later on updating their client desktops to the latest Microsoft operating system, according to an independent report issued by Forrester Research.

If you're waiting to see market-leading Linux vendor Red Hat release a desktop Linux operating system anytime soon to compete in the consumer market, then think again.