A UK government agency has advised schools to avoid upgrading to Microsoft's Vista and Office 2007 software, saying that upgrade costs would not be offset by "appropriate benefit." It also recommends that open-source alternatives be explored.

The evidence shows that Microsoft’s marketing department has not done particularly well with Windows Vista. Almost every story you see about Vista is a negative one. Even I, as a Linux user, think that Vista is better than its reputation. But Microsoft’s marketing is not always a failure, it appears.

VMWare, who once owned the virtualization market, has been under pressure from free alternatives and pre-installed options like Microsoft Hyper-V, which is included with the latest version of Windows Server.

Coming at the time of an economy in recession it looks like Microsoft might actually be scared that customers might not spend money on a Windows upgrade. There's no way to go back in time and prevent the damage to Microsoft's credibility done by the Windows Vista release, we'll just have to wait and see what the future actually holds for Windows 7.

In preparation for the stupendous launch of Microsoft Windows %NEXT_VERSION% in October, Microsoft is organising a detailed word-of-mouth push.

Host your own Windows 7 launch party and play the Windows 7 Drinking Game!

Results of a survey released this week, Windows Vista Adoption and Alternatives: A Survey of Technology Professional, found what many open source supporters had long suspected - Vista is driving more companies away from Microsoft than it is attracting.

Microsoft have listed 100 reasons why people really ought to upgrade from Windows XP. They appeal to usability, mobility, security and entertainment. Yet, looking through the list, we reckon they’re actually talking about Ubuntu Linux, not that dog Windows Vista.

A Microsoft product manager couldn't correctly explain the "Vista Capable" marketing slogan, according to recent filings in a lawsuit that claims the company misled consumers with a prerelease Vista campaign last year.

Is Windows Vista the biggest PR failure in Microsoft's history?