Customers purchasing a computer with an operating system pre-installed will usually have the option to downgrade or upgrade that o
perating system.
Microsoft confirmed yesterday that customers purchasing computer systems with Windows 7 would be allowed to downgrade the operating system not only to Windows Vista but also to Windows XP.
Microsoft is allowing HP to sell PCs with the Windows XP downgrade for another year.
Microsoft is allowing manufacturers to keep Windows XP alive as a downgrade feature for pre-installed Windows Vista systems.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) is one such company, and according to an article over on AppleInsider, Microsoft generously granted the PC giant an extension to its current Windows XP rights beyond that July 31 termination date.
This means that HP can continue to provide the eight-year-old operating system on laptops, workstations, and business desktops for another year.
“Microsoft will allow PC OEMs to structure similar downgrade OS SKUs for Win 7 Professional once available,” said HP.
Pick of the week: 
The Chronicles of Riddick –Assault on Dark Athena (PC, PS3, 360).
One of the great sleeper hits for the original Xbox, The Chronicles of Riddick was a perfect example of how to do a licensed game right. It featured plenty first-person action and garnered somewhat of a cult following.
Other notable games this week include a sequel to The Godfather videogame which adds in some strategy elements; Tales of Valor, the second expansion for the RTS Company of Heroes and the quick-time-event heavy action game Ninja Blade. Here’s the complete list:
PC
The Godfather 2
DCS: Black Shark
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
Elven Legacy
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Since HD 4000 series was launched last summer, ATI has been sitting more-or-less on top of the GPU performance market.
The GT200 series of cards haven’t been bad products but the HD 4600 and 4800 lines have made it difficult for NVIDIA to create and maintain any serious momentum in the OEM space.
An early version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine leaked to BitTorrent on April Fools. 
Fox has vowed to track down the leakers and prosecute to the full extent of the law although it may not have anything to worry about – the MPAA has been bragging about record box office sales despite piracy.
Wolverine first leaked to BitTorrent allegedly in DVD quality. This version is said to be incomplete, however, with a number of missing scenes, unfinished special effects, and scores from other films spliced in for portions of the soundtrack. Nevertheless, the leaked Wolverine was downloaded over 75 000 times within the first few hours of its premature Internet debut.
Sony believes that the PS2 will only stop selling if the company stops supporting it, and that it eventually will lure more buyers to
the PS3.
The PlayStation is the most popular piece of gaming hardware in the world. It sold more than 136 million pieces of hardware around the world. The PS2 recently saw its price drop to $99.99 in North America.
Ars caught up with John Koller, Director of Hardware Marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America, to talk about the system.
Koller told Ars that the primary audience centers on casual and social gamers, skewing more towards families who want to play as a family and individuals who enjoy PlayStation2, with its wide variety of games and its capabilities as a DVD and CD player.
Thanko made it happen. USB-powered Health E-Cigarette; a name that craftily stops short of raising the anger of the WHO while still givin
g you the hope that they might really be “healthy.”
Like other electronic cigarettes, it uses a heating element to vaporize a nicotine solution to supposedly give you a purer smoking experience.
Motion Computing, leader in mobile computing and wireless communications, announced on April 1, 2009 that the F5 rugged tabl
et PC and the C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) are available for use on the Verizon Wireless mobile broadband network.
Motion announced upgrades to the devices including enhanced performance, the latest WiFi technology and a new 64GB solid state drive (SSD) option.
Under Verizon Wireless open development program, Motion’s C5 and F5 tablets is designed to offer business and consumers the ability to use wireless devices, software and applications not offered by the company on its nationwide wireless network. Motion C5 and F5 users can access email, download files and browse the internet at broadband speed.
On Monday, Google announced a major expansion, a venture capital fund with full Google branding: Google Ventures.
These investments will be all about profit and the company is taking pains to ensure potential investees that the money will come with no strings attached.
Bay and Boston will be the new investments group offices, both hubs of emerging software and biotech companies.
The Bay Area gets someone in the Internet start-ups background who previously managed healthcare/biotech investments.
The Boston branch will be headed by someone who came to Google when it purchased Android. Google assure anyone who might be considering pitching to them that Google’s money won’t come with any strings attached.
We do not have any doubt that Acer’s producing a few laptops based on Intel’s forthcoming consumer ultra low voltage (CULV) platfor
m.
We last heard that the platform was still on track for a summer release.
