Microsoft has devised a way to induce people to upgrade from old versions of Windows (XP, Vista, and the like) to the shiny, new Windows 7. And what would that be? Oh, you know, 50 percent off the cost of a license for small-to-mid-size businesses. That means Windows 7 Professional upgrade for $35.

Would you run Windows 7 on a netbook? It’s a good question, especially when you look at some of the benchmarks vis-à-vis battery life and past versions of Windows, namely XP. But let’s put that aside for a moment. Let’s say you do, in fact, want Windows 7 on that shiny new netbook of yours. Problem: your netbook doesn’t have an optical drive, which makes installing Windows 7, oh, impossible. Until now! Microsoft has released the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool that let’s users create a bootable Windows 7 USB drive or DVD ISO.

Hope you already bought the Windows 7 Family Pack. Well, if you were planning to; you could be the type of person who still writes “M$” without a hint of irony. Anyhow, the Family Pack is now sold out.

Well Windows 7 is out, the reviews are in, the service packs are starting to be worked on – that’s the end of it right? Wrong. Microsoft is already looking forward to the next generation of its OS, Windows 8.

Have you run into the black screen of death in Windows 7 yet? I haven’t, but that’s probably because I only use Windows as a conduit to playing Team Fortress 2 and spend only as much time as I can in there. I also haven’t applied any security updates to it, and that may be the culprit.

There’s no real cause for alarm here, but it might be a good talking point (or at least something to be aware of) that Windows 7 is nose and nose with OS X for install numbers, according to stats published by Net Applications. This isn’t really significant in and of itself, as it was sure to happen at some point or another.

The fun part is that both sides can use it as ammunition: “We sold more copies in a month than you’ve sold in ten years!” or “A month later and only 5% have upgraded? Either Windows 7 sucks or you’re all stupid, or both.” Good points all around, guys.

Remember that hubbub a few weeks back about Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy advertising Windows 7? But the show was apparently deemed to raunchy so Microsoft replaced Family Guy with Warner Bros. Well, did you catch last night’s episode? There was a Family Guy segment that certainly looked like an advertisement and was then followed by a regular Windows 7 commercial. Check out the video after the jump. It makes you wonder if there is more to come and the deal isn’t dead after all.

Okay, so I intentionally used a salacious headline to get your attention. It’s Thursday. The NSA didn’t really help make Windows 7. Rather, using their “unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities” the National Security Agency helped shape “Microsoft’s operating system security guide”, according to Richard Sharffer, Information Assurance Director at the NSA. The NSA works with other companies, like Red Hat, Apple, and Sun, too. The NSA started the Security Enhanced Linux initiative in 2003, so it should come as no surprise that they’ve been working to help secure Windows, too.

Windows 7 users would be well-advised to block outgoing ports 139 and 445. Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a vulnerability that affects SMB in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 RC2. Worst case scenario: you connect to a malicious server then it crashes your PC.

Somebody should tell Doug “netbook” Aamoth that Windows 7 seems to be a battery hog. The fine folks at Laptop magazine have put three different netbooks to the test, determining their respective battery life under both Windows XP and Windows 7. Looks like Windows XP is the winner.

Anyone that has used both Windows 7 and OS X can see the similarities. It’s clear that some Windows 7 parts were sampled from OS X, but now there is confirmation from Microsoft’s partner group manager, Simon Aldous, that OS X was indeed the mold all along.

Arr… Vendors in Beijing’s Zhongguancun market are charging customers $7 to install Windows 7 onto any computer. The hilarious part? The copies of Windows are pirated.

With all the launch parties, cute ads, and reviews going on, you could be forgiven for thinking that the whole world was suddenly going to turn over to Windows 7 on the day of release. Unfortunately, that kind of instant turnover (hmm… sounds delicious) isn’t really feasible in the real world. Some people are getting 7 when they get a new computer. Some want to see it on a friend’s PC before they drop the bills on it. Others are still using the RC. And there must be some like myself who are just waiting for the initial hiccups to be worked out — something I’m waiting on with Snow Leopard as well.

How keen are you on touchscreens? Keen enough to navigate Windows 7 while using such a monitor? Acer has a new one, the T230H, which will allow you to do exactly that. A big selling point is that it’ll increase your productivity, but I’m not so sure.

Judging from this video, the Windows 7 launch in Japan was certainly more, shall we say, flamboyant then the launch here in the US. But the really amusing part is the fact that the host couldn’t get the touchscreen to work.