Steve Ballmer sent an email to Microsoft employees earlier today regarding the addition of their latest staff member - and it's a big one! Dr. Qi Lu, former Executive Vice president at Yahoo, has been hired to take on the role of President of Microsoft's search division. Ballmer goes on to explain some credentials that Lu has acquired over his years of experience. It seems as though this is finally the right choice for Microsoft; they seem to have good faith that Lu will perform well for them, and get them 'back in the game' after drawing a few "miss-a-turn" cards along the way. Read the email by clicking the "More" link below. News Source: Tech Crunch

When Google pulled out of its ad deal early in November, there was something interesting that we weren't aware of until today. The time at which Google backed out of the potential advertising deal with Yahoo! there were three hours left on the clock ticking down the seconds until the Justice Department was going to file an Antitrust lawsuit to prevent the deal from occurring. According to Tech Crunch, Google was fully aware of the time-limit and after a few executive decisions, they logically pulled out. Here's a quote from Sandy Livtack (the prosecutor hired by the Justice Department to handle the dispute): "We were going to file the complaint at a certain time during the day. We told them we were going to file the complaint at that time of day. Three hours before, they told us they were abandoning the agreement." They are still keeping a close eye out on Google as usual, and if they try to pull anything again, they'll be right back on Google's case. News Source: Tech Crunch

According Bill Veghte, Vice President of Microsoft's Windows Division, Windows 7 is a lot more than a service pack-like release. It has a lot more in store. He clarifies it specifically in the area of compatibility. It's a "minor release" in terms of compatibility, because most software and hardware compatible with Vista will be compatible with 7. In terms of features, it's a "Major Release". Aspects such as easier networking through the "Direct Access" feature, multi-touch capabilities, and an improved taskbar just underline some of the new features of Windows 7. Rumors about 7 being a "minor release" may have been started or agitated by Microsoft's designation of the next Windows Server version as "Windows Server 2008 R2". R2 releases are usually very small compared to others; with the server variant of Windows being released as an R2 build, it may have sparked some confusion and/or rumors from the tech community that Windows 7 will share the same description. However, Microsoft stresses that, despite the confusion being spread, it's easy to see that Windows 7 will be a major release, and most definitely a worthwhile upgrade for both consumers and businesses alike. News Source: CNET News

At PDC 2008, Steven Sinofsky announced a general availability date of Windows 7 to be sometime "early next year". This appears to be true according to a Microsoft Insider, who has 'guestimated' the official date to be January 13. Ed Bott from ZDNet predicts that a demo of Beta 1 will be shown at CES. Ballmer will be giving the pre-CES keynote on January 7, and he has no doubt in his mind that Win7 will be unveiled during that time slot (traditionally given by Bill Gates). It only makes sense that a public release comes soon after the demo, so if Ed's predictions are correct, the release date of January 13 makes perfect sense. Keep your eye on the news throughout the month. We're sure to hear some more on the topic very soon! News Source: ZDNet

While it was already known that the system requirements for the PC release of GTA IV were going to be relatively high, nobody was expecting any rival to Crysis, certainly not this soon.

However, mere hours after the game's release, users are already flooding various community forums expressing their disbelief at how badly the new title is running on their modern PC's. Some quoting it as more of a resource hog than Crysis.

One of the top sales points of the release was the anticipated, and I quote, "even more stunning graphical detail" versus the console release. However, even Rockstar released a statement today saying:

"Most users using current PC hardware as of December 2008 are advised to use medium graphics settings. Higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available."

In other words, unless you're one of the lucky few to be visited by Dr. Brown, don't even bother.

Many other users are also complaining that they are unable to sign into the online service due to a server error. Rockstar later confirmed the issue was on their side but provided no ETA for a fix. In the meanwhile, early adopters are stuck in the lonely, lonely world of Singleplayer.

View: Official GTA IV for PC System Requirements

It seems without much fanfare, Microsoft has slipped the download for the Games for Windows Live 2.0 redistributable with the integrated Marketplace on the Microsoft Downloads site. The new client provides Games for Windows Live users with long awaited access to the Live Marketplace to download games, demos, movies, videos, trailers and additional content. As it stands, the marketplace is fairly bare, comprising of only one demo (of Viva Piniata, woo!) and several game trailers. However, additional content is expected to be added in the near future, such as add-ons for Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV. Still not included in this version however is the out-of-game experience, allowing GFWL users to manage their account, friends, messages, etc. without having to launch a GFWL enabled title. Download: Games for Windows Live 2.0 View: Games for Windows Live 2.0 Screenshots Forum: GFWL 2.0 Discussion

To mark the release of Grand Theft Auto IV for PC, Microsoft has launched a "Connect & Win" weekly sweepstakes promotion. Every day, from now until January 19th, Microsoft will be awarding registered users who connect to the Live system through any Games for Windows Live PC title with an entry into the weekly sweepstakes. You will be awarded one entry per day that you play. Some of the prizes include Grand Theft Auto IV prize packs, Microsoft Points, a copy of Fallout 3 Survival Edition, 17" Alienware Area-51 m17x laptops, and a trip for two to the 2009 San Diego International Comic Con. Unfortunately, only residents within the US, UK, Germany and France are eligible for these sweepstakes. For full details and to register your gamertag for the sweepstakes, see the Connect & Win sweepstakes homepage below. View: GFWL Connect & Win Sweepstakes

A Chinese website, HKEPC reported recently, that AMD will be unveiling a new line of CPUs in the near future. The new line consists of 45-nm Quad-Core models in the range of 2.83GHz to 3.0GHz, and on average, a decent amount (8MB) of L2 cache. Interestingly, the model numbers on AMD's new CPUs are strikingly similar to Intel's latest Core i7 competitors. Comparing the equivalent models yields these results: Intel Core i7-920 (2.66GHz) = AMD Phenom II X4 920 (2.8GHz) Intel Core i7-940 (2.93GHz) = AMD Phenom II X4 940 (3.0GHz) It's hard to tell if it's merely a coincidence, or if it was planned, but it seems a bit peculiar that the model numbers would be exactly the same. Nonetheless, these new models are looking much more "in with the times" than some of their previous releases. Do you think they'll be able to make a comeback at Intel and create some good competition? We can only hope so. At this point, only time will tell; they are scheduled to be released sometime in January. News Source: CNET News

Microsoft intends to rebrand its Live Search service as Kumo next year, according to a TechCrunch report that cited a source within the company. Apparently, the software giant acquired the kumo.com domain name last week and since then has been busy snapping up all the other variants such as .net, .jp, .fr, .ru and so on. News Source: Techspot

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