It's been a little while since Microsoft had leaked bits distributed on torrent trackers by -- shall we say enthusiasts?

Everything is cyclical, though, so I wasn't totally surprised to find reports of the updated Beta 2 of Microsoft Office 2010 making a public appearance on one of the more popular torrent sites.
The torrent is labeled as build 14.0.4514.1009, which matches up with what some testers have already received directly from Redmond. It certainly looks like the real deal, though nothing is certain when you download from anyone other than the original source. NeoWin is also reporting that while a product key is required, technical preview keys seems to be working just fine.

The public beta is due to arrive sometime next week, though at this point it looks as though Microsoft will probably have no shortage of "unofficial testers" to gather send-a-smile data from.

[via NeoWin]

First you got your hands on a leaked copy of the Windows 7 RTM. Bad idea, says Microsoft.

Then you tracked down 7loader, which took advantage of a leaked Lenovo product key. We know it's out there, came the nonchalant reply from Redmond.

And now, thanks to a cooperative effort, the workaround has already been defeated. The official blog post touts improvements in Windows 7, which "already includes an improved ability to detect hacks, also known as activation exploits, and alert customers who are using a pirated copy." The post continues, stating that no systems will ever be sold using the particular OEM key that was utilized by the exploit.

So what's Microsoft's real goal here? "Our objective isn't to stop every "mad scientist" that's out there from dabbling; our aim is to protect our customers from commercialized counterfeit software that impacts our customers' confidence in knowing they got what they paid for."

Sure...There's absolutely no reason it would have anything to do with crippling the biggest Windows competitor on the market - pirated copies of Windows.

Microsoft is head-over-heels excited about this announcement: Build 7600.16385 has been officially declared the RTM version of Windows 7.

Strike up the marching bands! Bring in the dancing girls!

But hang on just a tic. Isn't build 7600.16385 already floating around all over the P2P filesharing ether? The previous incremental build 7600.16384 looked pretty real, based on what Softpedia shared.

It sure looks like the new leak is the real deal. IsoHunt has several results for 7600.16385 and they've been happily active for several days. I've even seen it installed firsthand - on someone's Toshiba laptop, though I can't recall where *cough*.

Of course, Microsoft's official line all along has been to stay away from leaked ISOs, because you never know what kind of pure digital evil might be hiding inside. And there could very well be some subtle differences between what's been leaked and what winds up preinstalled on systems and boxed on retail shelves.

I'm pretty convinced that what's out there is legitimate and that someone, somewhere (possibly in Eastern Europe - Wzor, we're looking at you) leaked the build that was later signed off on as the RTM.

What about you?

Breaking addition! Check after the break for ACTION-PACKED footage of Steven Sinofsky signing off! It's better than an episode of Briscoe County Jr....

Remember the panic a while back about social music site Last.FM supposedly leaking listener data to the RIAA? TechCrunch sure does, because they started the rumor, and then faced accusations of shoddy reporting from basically the whole Internet when it turned out to be false. Well, now TechCrunch have uncovered some new information that shows they were right after all ... sort of.

Last.fm's parent company, CBS, was the source of the leak to the RIAA. Last.fm didn't know about it at the time, having just turned over the data to CBS, which explains their vehement denials. TechCrunch isn't saying Last.fm lied, but they are saying that CBS duped them during the reporting for their original story, asking TC to attribute a CBS quote to Last.fm.

The reason for the link, according to Techcrunch's source at CBS, is that the requester (it could have been the RIAA, or an individual label) had the ability to hurt CBS/Last.fm on streaming rates. The source also claims that Last.fm premium accounts aren't making any profit, and the leak was made with the intent of protecting Last.fm from increased rates that could put it out of business.

No comment from Last.fm yet, but it's still early (and a three-day weekend) at their headquarters in the UK. We'll know more when they've had a chance to respond.

Who wants to wait until July 1st to try out Microsoft Office 2010? Heck, even if you do want to wait and register your name, you still might not be chosen as a tester.

Fortunately, your friends at the Internet have got your back once again. Yes, the Office 2010 technical preview - like every build of Windows 7 that ends with an odd or even number (or zero) has been leaked to torrent trackers.

This time, Wzor.net didn't just share screenshots of the leaked apps, they've actually provided links to the torrent files themselves.

I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but remember: if you do decide to download the leaked ISOs, make sure you take the necessary precautions. No, that doesn't mean putting on your tin foil hat.

Thanks, Sandip!

update (5/16/09 7:17 ET): screenshots coming up after the break - stay tuned!

Apparently you won't even have to wait until January to get your hands on the Windows 7 Beta release as I mentioned in a previous post. That's right, there's already been an ISO file leaked to several torrent trackers.

The ISO appears to contain the Windows 7 M1 build (7000) highlighted by Paul Thurrott on SuperSite. So far the new build seems to perform slightly better than 6801, and memory usage has been improved. A number of previously hidden features - like the iconized task bar - are also now active.

Before comments start asking why there's no link to the file, it's because this is something that we're not supposed to have yet. If you want to get your hands on it, check your favorite torrent search site. Also keep in mind that this is a leak, and there's always the possibility that the ISO has been tampered with.

Yesterday we posted some images that are allegedly screenshots of an early build of Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista. A number of skeptical readers pointed out in the comments that the screenshots look an awful lot like Vista. And the fact that the build number appears to be version 6.1 build 6519.1.071220-1525 doesn't help.

But now the guy who posted those screenshots is back. And this time he has video evidence on his side, which would be much harder to fake. Not impossible, but harder.

Worried that Microsoft might ask YouTube to remove the video, the folks at the AeroXP forums went and uploaded the video to a few file sharing sites. So if the video above stops playing, check out the AeroXP links.

[via istartedsomething]

Evidence is mounting that Microsoft has really given a select group of testers/partners an early look at the next version of the Windows Operating System. The other day a member of the Neowin forum posted a brief review of Windows 7 before deleting his comments. And now a Chinese web site has posted what could be real live pictures of Windows 7.

Overall, these shots of Windows 7 (or an artist's fictional rendition thereof) show an operating system that looks a lot like Windows Vista. That's not particularly surprising, since Windows 7 won't be launched for at least another two years. Odds are most of the changes would be under the hood at this point.

The images do show a few difference. For example, you can display hidden items in the system tray through a new pop up window. The Control Panel features some rearranged menus, and the display properties dialog for changing screen resolutions looks pretty awesome. Check out the screenshots after the jump.

[via WinBeta]

Last week we started to hear a rumor that Windows 7, the successor to Vista could be on schedule for a 2009 release. And it's also rumored that early builds of Windows 7 are making the rounds to early testers and developers. So it should come as no surprise that someone claiming to have access to Windows 7 surfaced this weekend and posted his initial thoughts on the web.

A member of the Neowin forums says that he installed Windows 7 this weekend and was less than impressed (which wouldn't be surprising for such an early build). But that member has not presented any screenshots and has since deleted his post, so we're going to take anything he says with a grain of salt. Of course, it's possible that his post was legit but that he was contacted by a team of lawyers.

In a nutshell, he said that installation was difficult and the driver support was lacking. The GUI, he says looks a lot like Vista, but Gadgets are integrated into Explorer, rather than hosted in a separate sidebar. In other words, you can add, or hide gadgets by right clicking on the desktop. There are also reportedly some changes in the start menu and search box.

The most interesting bit is that Windows 7 aims to streamline the integration between the operating system and Microsoft's online services. For example, you should be able to sync your Internet Explorer settings with your Windows Live account so you can use them on any PC. This is and other online features are on a list of goals though, and aren't currently integrated into Windows 7. If in fact, Windows 7 is even out there right now.

OK, time to put your salt shakers down. What we do know is that Microsoft is already working on the next version of Windows. We also know that Microsoft has been playing up its Windows Live online services. It's not much of a stretch to imagine that Windows 7 will bridge the gap between desktop and online software. But whether the Neowin report is a leak or a pretty decent guess of what Windows 7 will look like, it's too early to say.

[via istartedsomething]

Google Blogoscoped has published a summary of an apparently-leaked internal Google memo that outlines the Big G's secret plans to breed evil radioactive mutant rats, er, take over the world, er, make a ton of money this year. To summarize the summary, this year Google planned to:

• Improve infrastructure and make engineers more productive with uber-search tools
• Build 10MW of green power toward its goal of becoming carbon-neutral
• Become the best in search (duh), which includes building the world's top AI lab, eliminating spam, and launching products with UIs that "that people love"
• Sell lots of ads, with a goal of $1 billion in new business this year
• Expand communities and content, in particular video
• Push Google Pack deployment
• "Increase the scale of innovation"
• Test a "radically improved" Google News prototype in Q4

There's lots more in Google Blogscoped's report, so if you're a Googleholic like us I don't recommend missing it.

According to Think Secret, Apple has fired at least five employees of its retails stores for illegally downloading copies of the upcoming Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. Pre-release copies of the OS were distributed by Apple to WWDC attendees two weeks ago and have since made their way online, and "dozens" of Apple retail employees now face termination after being overheard discussing their "acquisition" of the software. "All of us know that we violated our NDA and ethics policy. Therefore, because we had the character to tell the truth and to face the consequences of our actions, we were terminated," said one of the fired employees told Think Secret on condition of anonymity. "My only question is, if we all lied and denied it would we still be working at Apple today? Even more so, is that the kind of person that Apple wants working for them?"

[Via Engadget]