Live updates from Apple’s September 1st Media Event

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Live updates from Apple’s September 1st Media Event

Microsoft brings back Windows 7 ‘family pack’

Microsoft plans to again sell a “family pack” of
Windows 7 that includes three copies of the Home Premium edition of the operating system.


(Credit:
Amazon.com)

Microsoft offered such a bundle when Windows 7 launched, but billed it as a limited-time offer. In less than two months, supplies had largely run out. The Windows 7 Family pack will go back on sale on Oct. 3 for a suggested price of $149.99. As before, the licenses are upgrade copies, meaning each computer already needs to be properly licensed for Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Once again, Microsoft is choosing to sell only a limited number of family packs.

“Don’t delay,” Microsoft said in a blog post Wednesday. “The Windows 7 Family Pack will be available soon while supplies last.”

Microsoft also plans to start selling the family pack again in many other places, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Australia, though places outside the U.S. will have to wait until at least Oct. 22.

I have to say, creating scarcity out of a resource as seemingly infinite as ones and zeros is an impressive marketing trick.

Apple has a similar option with
Mac OS X, though its bundle covers five computers in the same household and Apple has offered the option consistently since it first added it in 2002.

Microsoft brings back Windows 7 ‘family pack’

Mac OS X version of AutoCAD due out in October

Autodesk is bringing AutoCAD, its industry standard design software, back to the Mac in October. A free AutoCAD viewer app for iOS is on its way as well.

Autodesk senior vice-president Amar Hanspal told the Financial Times that a Mac OS X version of its flagship software will be released by the end of October. Pricing will remain the same as the Windows version.

The last time AutoCAD was available on the Mac was in 1992. 13 releases have followed since then, including the current Windows-only Release 25, which was released in March.

The addition of the $4,000 program to the Mac software lineup could help Apple see continued growth in Mac enterprise sales. According to figures from the June quarter, Mac business sales increased 50% year-over-year, compared to 16% growth in the market.

AutoCAD has over 10 million users, many of whom, according to Hanspal, have requested a Mac version of the software.

Hanspal also announced an upcoming iOS application that will allow users to view and make small modifications to their designs. The app will work on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

The iPad’s not the only tablet that Autodesk is interested in. “The tablet is becoming an interesting form factor. There are multiple operating systems people are looking at,” Hanspal said.

A browser-based limited-function version of AutoCAD is also in development.

In May, screenshots of a Mac OS X beta of AutoCAD were published on an Italian Mac forum, confirming speculation that Autodesk was at work on a Mac OS X release.
Mac OS X version of AutoCAD due out in October

Microsoft to build massive Virginia data center

Microsoft has confirmed plans to build a large new data center in Mecklenburg County, Va., as the company is once again expanding its data center operations.

In a press release from the Virginia governor’s office, Microsoft said it will spend up to $499 million to open the facility, which will use its latest modular, fourth-generation approach and will be located near the town of Boydton. The governor’s office touted the plant as “the largest economic investment in Southern Virginia history.”

Microsoft was quite vague in its description of the center, saying only that it would use the company’s latest modular design, which can be almost entirely pre-outfitted with computers, networking, and power connections. “This new data center will enable the best possible delivery of services to our current and future customers,” General Manager Kevin Timmons said in a statement. Microsoft declined to offer any further details.

Such facilities add a lot in terms of local construction jobs, but employ only a relative handful of people once built, with a good number of those handling security. In this case, the data center is expected to create about 50 full-time jobs.

For Microsoft, it’s a sign that the company is once again looking to add capacity for Windows Azure, Windows Live, and other hosted software. Microsoft had been aggressively adding facilities including new centers in Dublin, Ireland, and a Chicago facility that opened last year. However, it slowed things down a bit as the economy faltered, announcing a delay in plans for a facility in Iowa, just five months after that facility was announced.

However, the Iowa center is now back on, with plans to open it by Spring 2011. Microsoft is also in the process of expanding its facility in Quincy, Wash., using the fourth-generation data center technology.

Here’s a look at Microsoft’s Chicago facility from a tour we did last year as well as a video interview with a pair of Microsoft executives talking about the data center strategy.