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Microsoft's pared-down, in-the-clouds version of its Office productivity suite, Office Web Apps, has rolled out today across Ireland and the UK.

Office Web Apps is direct competition to Google Apps - with the ability to both create and edit Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote files but its first advanatge is the fact it obviously integrates easily with the offline full version of Microsoft Office.

As Microsoft announced a few weeks ago, Web Apps Live is integrated into the existing SkyDrive, a free cloud storage service that allows users to store documents, images and even audio files to the tune of 25GB and which will now serve as a storage place for Office Web Apps files.

The Web App version of the full Office is lightweight and only has a fraction of the features you will find on the full software version but it does have a few different fonts inside Word and several templates for creating PowerPoint presentations, plus it works quite well when editing your own documents previously created inside Office and uploaded to SkyDrive.

It may seem that those still clinging to the fear that Windows 7 will eventually pan out to be another Windows Vista may have no choice but to take the upgrade plunge thanks to the evolution of the hard drive. This won't mean an early death of XP by any means, but more of a performance hit despite other system specs.

Here's how it will work: most hard drives sold in late 2011 may use an advanced format that will make it easier for hard drive manufacturers to produce bigger drives while making them more reliable and less power hungry. Of course, this is a good thing. Bigger games, bigger software, and our addiction to downloadable media means that hard drives need to keep up with the times. Unfortunately, this is where Windows XP comes crashing down in flames.

Current drives are formatted into blocks of 512 bytes in size - this has been standard since the days DOS ruled PCs. By the end of 2011, all new hard drives will be formatted into blocks of 4K in size. Windows XP doesn't know how to handle sectors of that magnitude. To resolve the conflict, the new drives will have the ability to "pretend" they still use sectors 512 bytes in size. Reading data via the emulation isn't expected to be a problem: it's the data writing that may impact performance.

"All other things being equal you will have a noticeable hard drive reduction in performance," said David Burks, a product marketing manager for storage firm Seagate. He also added that it could make a drive 10-percent slower in some circumstances.

With that said, Windows XP users may have some decision-making to do next year if their current drives fail: purchase a new drive and suffer a reduction in performance via Windows XP, or purchase the new drive and a fresh copy of Windows 7.

Microsoft are performing well at the Winter Olympics in Canada, as all of the computers used at the event run Windows. It's not Windows 7, but rather the ever-lasting Windows XP.

Acer won the contract to provide the computers for the 2010 games and confirmed that it shipped more than 6,000 notebooks and desktops for organizers of the event – all of which pack Windows XP rather than the Windows 7 OS found on all of Acer's retail offerings today.

"It was the operating system requested by VANOC (the Olympic organizing committee) and Atos Origin" (the technology integrator managing the Olympics tech operations)", said Todd Olson, who manages Acer's tech work in Vancouver.

Olympic organizers opted to go with Windows XP because Windows 7 was "a bit too new to be used."

So far, Windows XP has been doing exactly what is asked of it, with the only notable computer trouble coming at the hands of a bowl of soup rather than software. The incident came when an Olympics worker went into an excited cheer and spilled soup all over a laptop. The worker then shut off the laptop and later found that it still worked.

Acer offered to replace the machine, but the worker declined a new one as she didn't want to part with a notebook hearty enough to survive a bowl of soup

Went to twitter to tweet about a twat tweeting away on Twitter and was thwarted by too many tweets. I kid you not - check it out (today, about 12:15 pm and still now, nearly 15 mins later)

Could there actually be a connection?

Unfortunately, it seems that Windows 7 won't be doing much to change the phenomenon of "Windows rot." According to findings by LA-based iolo technologies, makers of System Mechanic PC tune-up software, Windows 7 is also susceptible to aging through use.

"Windows 7 slows down over time (ages) just like Vista, with boot times increasing more 330 percent over the course of two years of regular use," iolo technologies shared with technology site Tom's Hardware.

Thankfully, it seems that Windows 7 might age more gracefully than Windows Vista, as the newer OS seems to be able to keep its legs in better condition even after months of usage.

In a comparison of three- and six-month systems, iolo technologies found that Windows 7 outperformed Windows Vista in the area of boot times.

Microsoft Corp. has taken the rare step of warning about a serious computer security vulnerability it hasn't fixed yet.

The vulnerability disclosed Monday affects Internet Explorer users whose computers run the Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating software.

It can allow hackers to remotely take control of victims' machines. The victims don't need to do anything to get infected except visit a Web site that's been hacked.

Security experts say criminals have been attacking the vulnerability for nearly a week. Thousands of sites have been hacked to serve up malicious software that exploits the vulnerability. People are drawn to these sites by clicking a link in spam e-mail.

The so-called "zero day" vulnerability disclosed by Microsoft affects a part of its software used to play video. The problem arises from the way the software interacts with Internet Explorer, which opens a hole for hackers to tunnel into.

Microsoft urged vulnerable users to disable the problematic part of its software, which can be done from Microsoft's Web site, while the company works on a "patch" - or software fix - for the problem.

Microsoft rarely departs from its practice of issuing security updates the second Tuesday of each month. When the Redmond, Wash.-based company does issue security reminders at other times, it's because the vulnerabilities are very serious.

A recent example was the emergency patch Microsoft issued in October for a vulnerability that criminals exploited to infect millions of PCs with the Conficker worm. While initially feared as an all-powerful doomsday device, that network of infected machines was eventually used for mundane moneymaking schemes like sending spam and pushing fake antivirus software.

Here it comes, ready or not..........

It's a week or so since Microsoft started sending out Internet Explorer 8 through Windows Automatic Updates for customers who installed early beta versions of the browser. But now the company is preparing to start pushing the update to users who still have older browsers including Internet Explorer 7 or 6 installed.

The update should start showing up the third week of April for Windows users running Windows XP, Vista, or Windows Server 2003 or 2008. Microsoft is planning a phased rollout, so you might not get the update right away.

But what if you don't want the new browser? First, IE8 will automatically be downloaded through Windows Update, but it won't automatically install itself on your system. You'll see a prompt asking if you want to install the browser.

You can also install a blocker tool (recommended, imho) that will prevent Windows from automatically downloading Internet Explorer 8 if you want to hold off on installing the browser indefinitely.

Earlier this week, the Texas state Senate gave preliminary approval to a policy that would forbid the installation of Windows Vista on government computers.

Everyone, including Microsoft, knows that Windows Vista isn’t the most appreciated of operating systems. Large businesses have chosen to stick with Windows XP for support issues, and some consumers shy away from Windows Vista based on performance and other things they have heard.

Even though Windows 7 is nearly upon us, the Texas state Senate gave preliminary approval to a budget that would include a policy to ban the use of Windows Vista on government computers.

"We are not in any way, shape or form trying to pick on Microsoft, but the problems with this particular [operating] system are known nationwide," Sen. Juan Hinojosa said. "And the XP operating system is working very well."

While the bill also outlines that agencies who have a use for Windows Vista would have to first get the written approval of the Legislative Budget Board.

Microsoft was predictably disappointed by the proposal. "We're surprised that the Texas Senate Finance Committee adopted a rider which, in effect, singles out a specific corporation and product for unequal treatment,” a spokeswoman wrote. “We hope as the budget continues to go through the process, this language will be removed."

Texas Department of Information Resources spokesman David Duncan said that the department’s 265 employees remain on Windows XP and Mac OS X, and might skip straight to Windows 7 at the next upgrade. "We're not holding off as a reaction to what Microsoft is producing," he said, adding that Windows 7 also fits better with the agency’s upgrade cycle.

This still another black mark on Windows Vista, but fortunately for Microsoft, Windows 7 is the 'next big thing'

The Microsoft Certified Partner model is this: An MCP buys contracts from Microsoft and sells them to businesses as a three-year timed contract, payable in annual installments. Okay? So far so good.

Now, Iceland's economy has collapsed, so 1500 businesses have gone bankrupt and aren't paying the fees any more. But Microsoft has told the MCPs: 'Our deal was with you, not them. Pay up.'

The MCPs that don't go bankrupt in turn are moving headlong to Free and Open Source Software, taking most of the country with them. Microsoft has scored an own goal. Read all about it on this blog.

Couple this with Mozilla's continuing conquest of entire continents, and Microsoft is now walking on thin ice indeed