Windows Vista is around one year old and although Microsoft and everybody should be celebrating it looks like most of the individuals that look into such subjects around the world are only thinking about Windows 7. I mean we can see Windows 7 screen shots on the Internet, Windows 7 videos, talks about Milestone 1 Windows 7 build and the upcoming M2 and M3 and so on. A lot of people think that Microsoft tries to build excitement to the next Windows release but this is probably not right at all. A sound approach would be to lower the expectations as much as possible in order for the end product to be better as anyone was thinking of prior to launch. The best proof for this is the fact that nobody in Microsoft will release an official statement of any kind linked to Windows 7.

A lot of people are anti-Vista and want Windows 7 to put an end to it although Vista is selling well for Microsoft. It is not as expected but it is still bringing in revenues and helping Bill Gates’ baby take in more money. On the other hand we need to think about the fact that Windows 7 needs to be good for Microsoft and this means that the problems that were present with Windows Vista must not appear. It is highly possible that we will see Windows 7 available somewhere in 2009 although the official release date is 2010. Now the one thing that people do not really realize is that Windows 7 can not make everybody happy! It will have flaws and will have problems, just like any operating system out there. The trick is pleasing the majority and not those that come out with a loud mouth, criticizing every little aspect as much as possible to create an audience.

Earlier this week we got to witness a convention held at the Ubuntu Developer Summit with developers and artists participating in a special desktop theming specification meeting. The theme of the meeting was talking about a visual refresh of Hardy Heron, which is actually the future major release of Ubuntu Linux. Everything was led by Kenneth Wimer, Ubuntu art director. He explained that Hardy aims to have a radical change in both artwork ant theming. This means that all should be changed or at least modified from boot to logout.

Everything will need careful planning of course and it will be interesting to see what Ubuntu will come with when talking about the new Hardy Heron. A lot of fans are waiting for it but few are actually expecting anything particular. Anyway, a lot more details on the upcoming Ubuntu re-design can be read on ArsTechnica

Hewlett-Packard just launched their first ever desktop PC with preloaded Linux in Australia. We have an HP DX2250 low-end business desktop system that is available with differend AMD processors. Possibilities range from the 1.6 GHz AMD Sempron 3000+ to the 2.8 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-COre 5600+. 2 GB of Ram are already installed and the hard drive can go as high as 250 GB. Depending on choices you can implement different optical storage devices from a normal CD drive to a DVD+/- RW LightScribe in Double Layer or Dual Format drive.

Talking about the Linux installation, we have Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5, the Desktop version with Evolution 2.8 email and groupware client, Gnome 2.16 desktop manager, OpenOffice 2.04 and Firefox 2.0X web browser. Price starts at around $489 US and the package comes with three possible levels of technical support.

HP selling pre-loaded RHEL 5 Desktop versions is another blow to Microsoft that is starting to struggle. Hopefully for them Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will bring in a breath of fresh air.