Microsoft's next major computer operating system, Windows 7 - a follow-up to the somewhat shaky Windows Vista, is temporarily being offered in the UK for half price to pre-order customers (release date – 22nd October). Granted, this isn't our traditional ISP news, but we do think that it deserves a mention.



The offer will end on August 9th 2009 or when Microsoft's "limited" quantities run out, though it's worth pointing out that - due to a political conflict - the UK/EU version of Windows 7 will annoying not come with the Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) website browser pre-installed (make sure you have a browser - Opera, Firefox, IE8 itself, Safari or Chrome - ready to install when you get it).

Having said that, and based on our own Beta and Release Candidate testing of Windows 7 over the past 6 months, Microsoft's latest operating system looks to be a much better and faster performer than Windows Vista. I haven’t said anything like that since the release of Windows 2000 all those years back, which was a good OS.

Most consumers will get Windows 7 with their next PC upgrade, but for those of you who like to tweak and modify your existing kit then this offer looks like quite a good deal. On the other hand you could just get Linux :cool: or a MAC if you can afford one.