As Microsoft resides in the transitional phase between Windows Vista and Windows 7, the government doesn’t plan on letting pressure off the software giant. With anti-trust violations a serious concern as development of Windows 7 continues, the government is making sure Microsoft doesn’t try to pull any swift ones on the industry.

Vista’s rather topsy-turvy life has, at the very least, demonstrated that the corporate and business worlds can truly decide the fate of an operating system. CIOs from around the U.S. and Europe have spoken, and the verdict isn’t a good one for Microsoft’s drowning operating system.

Silverlight, Microsoft’s recently debuted web platform, has a whole lot of potential relatively untapped at this time. In fact, Silverlight could be Microsoft’s “in” to the web. If Silverlight really has the potential some believe it to, and if Microsoft is really looking to get with the times, could Microsoft be preparing to release a web-based version of the Office productivity suite to the world?

It seems like the computing community is just waiting for Microsoft to step forward and admit the mistakes made with Vista, but in a recent interview with CNET, a high-ranking Microsoft chief continued Microsoft’s distasteful trend of corporate double-speak and PR fluff. What will it take for Microsoft to change its direction as a software company and of refusing to listen to consumers and the media?

With a rather glum 2010 release projection already established by Microsoft, it seemed as though there was no hope of seeing anything significant of the next Microsoft Windows OS for quite a while. However, word on the web is that Windows 7 might be making a bold step out of the closet at the D6 conference, which should leave quite a few happily shocked onlookers in its wake.

How does any search engine compete in a market dominated by a giant like Google? The answer is simple: you take money out of your own pocket and put it in the pockets of your users. That might not be textbook business practice, but for Microsoft, there aren’t many other options.

It has to be difficult, being just as old as Apple but never really having that youthful glow that Apple created when Steve Jobs returned to the company in the late 1990s. Microsoft sees that being cool actually has very real value, and was willing to pay a large $300 million in hopes of getting a cool makeover.

Perhaps one of the largest factors to Vista’s success or failure is whether or not companies choose to adopt the new Windows Vista operating system, stick with the tried and true XP, or hold off until Windows 7. It would seem that businesses don’t see any perks to adopting Vista, which doesn’t bode well for Microsoft.

Everything is swell when you’re a monopoly; you have the run of your playground, and plenty of minions to look up to you. In Microsoft’s case, Google is the monopoly running an adjacent playground, and threatening to come over and take control, because Google will be more profitable than Microsoft Windows within one year.

There’s no way around it: the vast majority of consumers and businesses are in a full-on funk as to what to do with Windows. Do they stick with the tried and true Windows XP, grudgingly adopt Vista with the knowledge that Windows 7 might be no better, or play the waiting game for Microsoft’s “apology” OS, Windows 7, hits the market? A Microsoft memo grants these insights: Windows 7 will probably be the embodiment of what Microsoft intended to do with Vista and more, but don’t hold your breath, because you’ll be waiting for Windows 7 until 2010.

Grand Theft Auto IV, released by the much acclaimed Take Two Interactive, is one of the most successful pieces of software to ever hit the market. Are there things that long-time software giant Microsoft could learn from the one of the most successful software launches in video game history?

Selling Windows Vista isn’t just about glassy interfaces, optimizing performance, and let’s not forgot those “gadgets.” Productivity software is just as important to consumers as a “modern” interface, and doing things like overhauling and reinventing applications like Outlook could have just be the key to getting consumers on board with Windows Vista, and might be the cause of some consumers’ dissatisfaction.

Sometimes having the most used operating system in the world still isn’t enough to get buyers to to adopt a system that isn’t catching good vibes from the media. Microsoft seems to be having that very problem with Windows Vista, but there are still a few tricks it can pull in hopes of increasing popularity.

Though many consumers aren’t suffering the woes of being forced to upgrade to Windows Vista, what with a very suitable XP SP3 readily available, businesses are in an altogether different position. Analysts believe that Microsoft’s halt on distribution of XP to retailers and manufacturers will force businesses to upgrade to Vista, whether they like it or not.

Now that Cuba is out of the control of Fidel Castro and is in the hands of Raul Castro, some things are definitely changing; one of those things is a lift on the ban of computers. Though it’s probably very exciting for Cubans, there’s only 1 model of PC being sold, and its just a bit more than underwhelming.