Windows 7 is still three months away from general availability, but that hasn’t stopped the final version leaking to the Internet. Earlier this week there were rumors the Lenovo Windows 7 Ultimate OEM DVD ISO had also leaked. Microsoft has acknowledged this has happened but claims it isn’t a problem.

Microsoft has officially confirmed that a family pack edition of Windows 7 will cost $149.99. It’s also announced the price for upgrading netbooks to the full-fledged edition of the system.

Windows 7 is set to be a fine addition to the line-up of Windows operating systems on the market when it’s released to the public on Oct. 22. A big part of the reason for that are the testers who entered the Technical Beta Program in order to test the various builds of the OS to ensure they are as bug-free as possible before release.

Intel has said it will upgrade its employees’ machines to Windows 7 sooner rather than later. More than the potential 80,000-plus upgrades involved, it’s a symbolic boost for Microsoft given Intel’s previous rejection of Vista.

Microsoft and Yahoo have finally reached an agreement to collaborate and work together after two years of an on-off relationship more suited to a daytime soap opera than a business deal. So what changed Yahoo’s mind after years of being wooed by Microsoft? It seems Bing had a huge part to play.

Microsoft and Yahoo have signed a ten year deal to collaborate on both their search engines and the associated advertising. But the long-awaited deal may attract the attention of regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

Microsoft has publicly released a game used to improve Bing’s search results. During a test period, it was the players’ mistakes rather than successes which assisted researchers.

Microsoft’s proposal to offer European users a choice of browsers upon installing Windows may satisfy regulator concerns over competition issues. But the practical implementation may throw up some other problems.

It looks as though Microsoft may have conceded defeat in its fight against the European Union’s antitrust charges relating to the bundling of the Internet Explorer Web browser in Windows 7. The EU wasn’t happy with the plans to exclude a browser from the OS completely, so it seems European Windows buyers will now be given a choice via a ballot screen.

Microsoft has slightly altered one of its recent ‘Laptop Hunters’ ads after receiving a complaint from Apple about pricing misinformation included in it. Rather than being a cause for Apple fanboys to whoop with joy at having forced Microsoft to act, this is a sweet victory for Microsoft because it shows Apple is being affected by the campaign. And not in a good way.

Now and again a buyer of a computer with Windows pre-installed will go through the usually lengthy battle to get a refund for the cost of the operating system and instead switch to Linux. But a British Amazon customer appears to have got one of the most-hassle free refunds ever seen.

The recession, it seems, is now affecting even the largest companies in the world. And Microsoft is no exception. Faced with the economic downturn, and what is described as, “weakness in the global PC and server markets,” Microsoft announced its fourth quarter financial results, and they don’t make for positive reading.

It’s little news to followers of tech sites that upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 could be a whole bunch of hassle. But now mainstream news sources are starting to spread that message to the masses.

Windows 7 is done and dusted, with Microsoft today announcing the new OS has been released to manufacturing (RTM). Which means the process of getting the retail version on shop shelves has begun in earnest. But now the real work begins, with Microsoft actually having to persuade everyone that they need Windows 7.

Microsoft is to close its video sharing service Soapbox by the end of next month. If you’d never heard of the site, it seems you’re not alone.