Microsoft is releasing software which should allow older Windows applications to run in Vista. The firm hopes the software will remove one of the reasons some users have stuck with XP rather than upgrading.

It’s time for some updates on recent stories from VISTA.BLORGE. To start, there are a couple of noteworthy points to add to our coverage of this week’s Patch Tuesday update, which surprisingly had just one fix for a vulnerability.

Beta downloads are, by definition, likely to have problems. Microsoft has now issued its first automatic patch for Windows 7, fixing a problem which was effectively beheading some music files.

Windows 7 is real and you can use it in beta test. (But do not expect to see the finished product real soon.) The word from Redmond is much later this year even if it could uncharitably be described as ‘Vista Sorted’.

Microsoft has revealed that this month’s sole security update is a fix for three problems in Windows’ filesharing system. The firm has also suggested blocking two specific ports as a secondary method of minimizing the problem.

Sometimes when we make a cynical suggestion or prediction here at BLORGE, we end up looking foolish. But sometimes it turns out our snarky suggestions may even be an understatement.

Microsoft is still preparing the final version of Vista SP2 and it will be released at some point before Windows 7.  At least it should be released before Windows 7.  But is anyone really paying attention to Vista at this point?  Not really.

Microsoft fumbled the initial Windows 7 beta offering taking it down for about 24 hours will it added “infrastructure” to deal with “demand.”  That’s not all the company may be doing.  The download is back up but something odd has cropped up in the activation keys.

Microsoft has announced that this month’s ‘Patch Tuesday’ update will have just one fix. That’s a marked contrast to a few months with notable security problems.

Microsoft has officially announced MSDN and Technet availability of the Windows 7 beta, as previously reported.  What was a bit sketchy at the time was the limitation of 2.5 million downloads.  The company isn’t really limiting the downloads but they are limiting how many keys are handed out for the beta.

If you want to try Windows 7 without braving the world of leaked torrents, the wait is over. The system is available for public download tomorrow from the Microsoft Web site.

During Microsoft’s CES keynote the company announced that the Windows 7 beta would be available to MSDN and Technet subscribers.  Surely enough of it is there for those users to download.  Windows 7 beta should be available to the general public very soon.

A leaked Microsoft document suggests the firm will allow computer manufacturers to offer customers a cheap or even free upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. The deal would likely apply to people buying a Vista machine after July 1.

A security software firm has warned against downloading the pirated copies of the Windows 7 beta that are available through torrent sites. It says there’s a serious risk of copies being infected with malware.

The first major independent tests of Windows 7’s beta edition show it outperforming both XP and Vista. However, the method of the testing only shows it is superior and doesn’t accurately tell us the margin of improvement.