If you are planning to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, you can forget about it. 

Microsoft has confirmed it isn't providing an upgrade path for Windows XP to Windows 7.

The not unexpected confirmation came in a new post on the Engineering Windows 7 blog outlining the latest developments with the new OS as it moves swiftly towards release.

In the post - signed 'Windows 7 Team' - the subject of XP upgrading is broached, but it admits that, actually, an upgrade option has never been part of the plan.

"We realized at the start of this project that the 'upgrade' from XP would not be an experience we think would yield the best results. There are simply too many changes in how PCs have been configured (applets, hardware support, driver model, etc) that having all of that support carry forth to Windows 7 would not be nearly as high quality as a clean install. This is something many of you know and already practice."

To be fair to Microsoft, an upgrade isn't the best way to install a new OS - especially one so different from XP as Windows 7. After all, we're talking eight years since XP first hit the streets. Added to which, many users will simply look to get Windows 7 when they buy a new machine anyway.

However, Microsoft, does say that the installation process does "provide support for moving files and settings and will prompt at setup time, but applications will need to be reinstalled." Fair enough. "We know that for a set of customers this trade off seems less than perfect, but we think the upfront time is well worth it."

STARHUB has won the four-horse race in the bid to install the networking equipment that will direct data traffic across Singapore's upcoming broadband network.

Technology sector regulator Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) on Friday announced that StarHub has been appointed the operating company (OpCo), the final missing piece in the drive to build a faster and more competitive broadband market beyond the ability of any single party.

Singapore's current Internet infrastructure was built by SingTel and StarHub, which control who can use it and how much to charge them for it.

A new fibre-optic network capable of speeds ten times faster than today's is now being built, and the IDA is making sure no one party could monopolise it or lock competitors out of it.

It has offered generous subsidies to OpenNet and StarHub, which will get the new network up and running by 2012 - but they will have to sell access to this new network to anyone, at the same price - and this includes their competitors. OpenNet is laying the cables, while StarHub will install the equipment to direct traffic on it.

IDA chairman Yong Ying-I on Friday said that while the contenders put in 'good bids', StarHub's stood out for 'the competitiveness of the (price of its) wholesale offering'. Ms Yong declined to elaborate as the bids are confidential.

The other bidders were Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), MobileOne (M1), and the IntelliNet consortium comprising networking equipment company Cisco and Canadian telecommunications firm Axia NetMedia.

The OpCo contract comes with a government grant of up to $250 million, to help defray the cost of the networking equipment. Mainboard-listed StarHub, Singapore's second-largest telco, will be putting in $750 million of its own money over the project's 25-year contract period.

As part of its winning bid, StarHub has also committed to selling broadband access to this new network to Internet service providers at a wholesale rate of $21 per month for a 100Mbps residential line. Prices for business users will be $75 per month. StarHub will also have to meet IDA's adoption targets of 330,000 residential users and 80,000 business users by 2015. It is expected to begin commercial services by the first half of 2010.

Faster Youtube videos aside, consumers and businesses can also look forward to new services like virtual reality worlds and hyper-realistic video-conferencing not possible on today's networks.

StarHub chief executive officer Terry Clontz said the company was 'delighted' to be picked, adding that its bid was 'the culmination of years of StarHub's extensive experience in managing and operating what is already Singapore's highest speed broadband network'.

Source: Straits Times

Whee~ Faster broadband speed in the year to come. Should change to Starhub soon, i guess? haha