After arriving first on torrent sites and then last week showing up on Microsoft’s developer program Web sites, the operating system arrived on the main Microsoft.com late on Monday night. The software was slated to be made publicly available on Tuesday.

The release candidate version, officially build 7100, is expected to be the last major public test of the product before it is finalized. The company will only officially confirm it plans to release Windows 7 before Windows Vista hits its third anniversary of broad availability in January. However, the software maker is widely seen as aiming to finish it soon enough for it to be on PCs that ship during…

Intel has made ten predictions for technology in the next ten years.

“Predicting the future of information technology especially on a ten year time scale, can be a perilous business,” said Intel technical marketing manager Steve Cutler, speaking at a Press/Analysts day in London.

“One of the defining characteristics of IT is a rate of change that is so fast it is unmatched in any other area of human endeavour - both today and historically. Yet it’s fair to say that the next decade is set to drive even more far-reaching and potentially radical changes.

1. New classes of portable devices with ten times more battery life
2. Low-cost silicon photonics for faster, more reliable data…