Microsoft recently confirmed there will be six different editions of Windows 7. Most home users will only see Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional, which will be the two main editions targeted to average users. The four other editions are: Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic (only for emerging markets), Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 7 Enterprise (for large volume licensing).

If you plan on upgrading to Windows 7 once it is released, cheaper upgrade versions will be available to current Windows XP and Windows Vista users. However, if you currently use Windows XP, you will have to do a “clean” install of Windows 7, which means you will lose everything on your hard drive and will have to restore all of your data from external backups. Current Windows Vista users will only be able to “migrate” to a similar version of Windows 7 (i.e. Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium). If you want to switch versions (say, jump from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional) you will have to do a clean install. An easier way to upgrade would be to install the similar version of Windows 7 to you current Vista version, and then use the Windows Anytime Upgrade feature found in Windows 7 to purchase an upgrade key to activate additional features.

5,000 jobs at Microsoft Corporation will be cut over the next 18 months. After the announcement earlier this month, 1,400 jobs were cut immediately. “Economic activity and IT spend slowed beyond our expectations in the quarter, and we acted quickly to reduce our cost structure and mitigate its impact,” said Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell. 5,000 jobs equates to 5% of its workforce, although overall workforce is not expected to drop that much as they continue to hire in key areas. Other expense cuts, like delayed salary increases, were also announced. The announcement also included a warning that profit and revenue will most certainly drop over the next two quarters. The news sent shock waves across financial markets. Other software companies have announced major cuts as well: SAP to cut 3,000; Autodesk to cut 750; IBM to cut 2,800.

Microsoft shipped an emergency security update this Wednesday, December 17th. The update, considered critical, was released outside of the usual monthly release cycle to protect customers. It is meant to counter an escalating wave of malware attacks targeting a zero-day browser vulnerability. The publicly disclosed vulnerability could allow remote execution if a user views a specially crafted web page using IE. The update modifies the way IE validates data binding parameters and handles the error resulting in the exploitable condition. Microsoft recommends that you immediately assess your systems and networks and apply this security update. Click here for full details.

Adobe has few true competitors who actually threaten the design software giant’s domination. But is Microsoft the biggest threat? The Redmond based software manufacturer is using its deep pockets to challenge Adobe’s dominance in the Web design space. The main competing products to keep an eye on are Adobe’s Flash and Microsoft’s Silverlight. Netflix recently announced it would use Silverlight to stream movies over the Internet. And the CBS Corp college sports group built its Web site in Silverlight instead of Flash. Currently, 98% of PCs have Flash Player installed; only 25% have Silverlight. But Microsoft is “willing to invest” in order to win over certain sites. Have you used Silverlight? Do you have it installed? What is your opinion?

Microsoft has ruled out any chance of another takeover bid for Yahoo. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, speaking at a shareholders meeting, said “We thought we had something that made sense. Didn’t make sense to them. We’ve moved on.” While discussions of acquisitions are clearly finished, Ballmer did say they would be open to a partnership on internet search. “There is no active discussion on that front, but we’d be very open to it.” Google accounts for over 70% of all US searches; Yahoo for 18%; MSN for 5%.