"Windows 7" to affect the PC market is insignificant - say Microsoft executives

Microsoft's Windows division's top executive in the U.S. on June 8, "Windows 7" and am very excited about, but the release of the OS that will lead to a surge in PC sales has not said .

"In general, Windows has the market when released, it is a minor effect, witnessed by the history that" a Microsoft senior vice president Bill Veghte said, "UBS Global Technology and Services Conference "in the" fireside chat ". "Although you see some impact, it is negligible" (Veghte's)

Veghte said last week, Microsoft is on October 22 announced that Windows 7 will ship. The company is in a few weeks, "Windows Vista" with a new buyer for the PC, Windows 7 also launched a program to provide free or cheap upgrade. Leaked memo from Best Buy, said the program would be scheduled to start late.

Veghte said the market for many companies is "Windows 7 zealot" but that, in order to determine when to upgrade your computer company to become the biggest decisions of their enthusiasm.

"Enthusiasm, it might have been masked by the macro economic environment," said Veghte, Microsoft said in a speech webcast on the Investor Relations website. "The macro environment is restored, people will be forced to買WAZARU a new PC. In the current environment, people often use the PC is not decreased at all" (Veghte's)

Mr. Veghte, Windows 7 by, Microsoft Windows is the average selling price (ASP) will increase if the questions were tough. Windows in ASP, low-cost notebook PC with an expansion of the popular online book is a big hit.

"The answer to that question is very difficult," Veghte said. "In the current economic environment, (for Windows XP, Windows Vista and around the time that has just been released) will be a similar situation I think it is very difficult. If the economy, it is very interesting questions will "(Veghte's)

In addition, Veghte said Microsoft also asked about recent efforts to cut costs, this approach has enrolled his 19-year period in which Microsoft has ever experienced even once, he said. Veghte said that if what you really need all the spending that is under consideration.

"Everything has been examined in detail," Veghte said. "I am, you change the corporate culture, are forced to pay the price really hard. I am, which Microsoft believes that it is wonderful for its corporate culture" (Veghte's)

Microsoft Windows Vista for the user on whether to prepare an inexpensive upgrade, Veghte said there was no clear answer. However, Veghte said, Microsoft is, at prices from a "very smooth" and hopes to provide an upgrade path.

Microsoft denies it profits from Vista-to-XP downgrades

Microsoft Corp. has denied that it makes money when users "downgrade" Windows Vista to the older XP, as a lawsuit filed last week alleges.

The lawsuit, submitted to a Seattle federal court last Wednesday, stems from the $59.25 fee that a California woman was charged in mid-2008 when she bought a Lenovo laptop and downgraded from Vista to XP.

"Microsoft does not charge or receive any additional royalty if a customer exercises those [downgrade] rights," said Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster in an e-mail late last week. "Some customers may choose or need to obtain media or installation services from third parties to install the downgrade version."

In fact, it's computer makers, not Microsoft per se, that charge users the additional fees for downgrading a new PC from Vista to XP at the factory. For example, Dell Inc. adds an extra $20 to the price to downgrade a PC.

However, Microsoft may profit from the way it structures downgrade rights. Only buyers of PCs with preinstalled editions of Vista Business and Vista Ultimate can downgrade, and then only to Windows XP Professional. All three editions are higher-priced versions of their respective lines, a fact that the lawsuit mentioned in passing.

"Customers have been forced to purchase the most expensive version of [Windows XP] in order to 'downgrade' from the Windows Vista operating system," the complaint read.

That was the cause of some confusion last year, when Dell was accused of gouging customers by charging $150 to downgrade a new computer to XP. Dell countered that although it did charge $20 to install XP on the machine, as well as to cover the cost of the additional media, the bulk -- $120 of the $150 -- was the price of upgrading the PC from the standard Home Premium to the more expensive Business edition.

Microsoft does not offer downgrade rights with its Vista Home Premium, the most popular of Vista's editions.

"Microsoft mandates that customers who want to downgrade to XP must purchase the license to Vista Business or Vista Ultimate," said Dell spokesman David Frink last December. "[That's] typically about a $130 premium, though some retail outlets charge more."

"Downgrade" describes the Windows licensing rights that Microsoft gives users, who are allowed under some circumstances to replace newer versions of Windows with an older edition without having to pay for another license. The practice became popular last year when users, unhappy with Vista's performance on the new PCs they bought, instead sought ways to run the leaner XP.

The lawsuit, filed by Los Angeles resident Emma Alvarado, charged Microsoft with multiple violations of Washington state's unfair-business practices and consumer protection laws through its policy of barring computer makers from continuing to offer XP on new PCs after Vista's early-2007 launch. She claimed Microsoft's practice resulted in customers paying more for XP than they otherwise would. "They have been forced to pay substantially more to acquire the Windows XP operating system than they would have to pay in a competitive marketplace," the suit said.

Alvarado also named 100 "John Doe" co-defendants. "[They] are the persons, firms and corporations who have participated with Microsoft in the wrongdoings complained of and performed acts and made statements in furtherance thereof," the lawsuit read. "The Doe defendants acts as co-conspirators and aided and abetted, or participated with, Microsoft in the commission of wrongful acts."

Bowermaster claimed that Microsoft had no downgrade program as such. "Microsoft does not have a downgrade program. It does offer downgrade rights as part of some Windows Vista licenses, including Windows Vista Business purchased through the OEM channel." That, however, belies the fact that Microsoft has regularly offered downgrade rights to users. When it released Windows XP in 2001, it allowed people who had XP licenses to downgrade to Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98, according to Gartner Inc. analyst Michael Silver.

FIX: "Access to the Registry Key Denied" Error Message When You Register .NET Assembly for COM Interop

When you try to register a .NET assembly for COM Interop, you receive the following error message:

"COM Interop registration failed. Access to the registry key denied"


This error can occur under the following circumstances:

- You build an assembly that registers itself for COM Interop. -or-

- You use the Assembly Registration utility (Regasm.exe) to register the assembly for COM Interop.

The error may occur even if the person who performs the operation is an Administrator on the system.

This problem occurs because the current user does not have the correct permissions for the following key in the Windows registry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Component Categories\{62C8FE65-4EBB-45e7-B440-6E39B2CDBF29}

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs.

1. Log on to the computer with an account that is a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.
2. Click Start, click Run, and then type regedt32 to start Registry Editor.
3. Locate and then click the following subkey:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Component Categories\{62C8FE65-4EBB-45e7-B440-6E39B2CDBF29}
4. If your computer is running Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, click Permissions on the Security menu.

If your computer is running Windows XP, right-click the key, and then click Permissions.
5. Click Advanced.
6. Click to select the Inherit Permission from Parent Object check box, and then click Apply.
7. Verify that all of the users or the groups who will be registering or using .NET assemblies through COM Interop have the following advanced permissions:

- Query Value
- Enumerate Subkeys
- Notify
- Read Control

To verify the permissions, double-click the user or the group. If any of the users or the groups do not have any of these permissions, click to select the Allow check box for the missing permissions.

To add additional users or groups to the list, click Add in the Advanced Settings dialog box. Typically, as long as the Users, the Power Users, and the Administrators in the group are present with the correct permissions, everything works correctly.
8. Close Registry Editor.
9. Register the .NET assembly for COM Interop by using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET or the Regasm.exe utility.