Week in Microsoft: is IE8 a fast browser?

By Emil Protalinski

Let's look back at the week that was in Microsoft news:

Running the Windows 7 beta on a MacBook. Windows 7 may still be in beta, but it's good enough on a Mac. Whether you prefer a separate partition or a virtual machine, Ars helps you install Microsoft's latest OS on Apple's latest machines and points out some pitfalls along the way.

Microsoft's own speed tests show IE beating Chrome, Firefox. Microsoft has released its own tests that show IE8 can load many websites faster than two open source browsers: Firefox and Chrome.

Will Windows Mobile 7 fix updating?. According to a recent job posting, Microsoft might be changing how updates work on Windows Mobile with the release of version 7 next year.

Bill Gates is world's richest man again. Bill Gates has once again become the world's richest man. I guess there are people who win in this recession after all, though Gates did lose $18 billion over the last year.

Rollout for Hotmail POP3 worldwide support complete. Microsoft has finished the worldwide roll-out of POP3 support for Windows Live Hotmail.

Windows 7 build 7048 outperforms build 7000, Vista, XP. According to recent tests, Windows 7 performance just keeps looking better, both on low-end systems and high-end systems.

Windows Microsoft finally underlines a useful feature in MSN Toolbar. Microsoft has finally detailed a feature in the MSN Toolbar that many users will find useful: a cashback-offer-detecting mechanism.

Windows 7 beta gets its first security update. Microsoft has released the first security update for the Windows 7 beta (both 32-bit and 64-bit) via both Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center.

Kumo homepage screenshot leaks, shows many minor tweaks. A screenshot of the Kumo homepage has leaked, so we dive in to check out the minor changes between it and the Live Search homepage.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile details for developers arrive. Microsoft has given a bunch of details on what developers should expect with the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

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