The Live Indian Entertainment Blog

Verizon has just released its first iPad commercial. We expected a blitz of ads, so it is somewhat strange that the carrier waited this long to air this ad.

The ad is called "Breakaway" that features a man using the iPad and Verizon's MiFi (no built-in 3G on the Verizon iPad, remember?) to break down the walls of his unfurnished home, ending up on a bluff in a plastic chair, with a "magical" vista.

Introducing iPad, on Verizon. All the magic of iPad, all the nationwide power and reliability of Verizon.

While not, perhaps, as portable as the AT&T version, with 3G built-in, the Verizon iPad / MiFi combo offers the ability to use the MiFi with four other devices, at the same price as the AT&T version. Not a bad deal, really, if you don't mind carrying the MiFi with you.

Watch the ad.

The slow, gradual death of Windows XP is about to start, as Dell announced on Wednesday that it would stop offering Windows XP as a pre-installed option on computers at the end of September. That's early, as Microsoft's drop-dead date for the end of such pre-installations was set to be Oct. 22nd.

Here's what Dell said, in a blog post:

"Per Microsoft guidelines regarding Windows XP, system vendors like Dell will no longer be able to ship systems with XP Professional and XP Home after October 22, 2010. This means that we will stop offering XP as an option for customers starting this month in preparation for next month's deadline. One other important thing to note is that Dell plans to continue Windows XP driver support until December 2012."

This is just for pre-installation of Windows XP. Microsoft has previously said that Windows XP Downgrade rights, which gives buyers of PCs Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate the ability to get an XP disc (or even Vista) that they can downgrade with, themselves, will be an option through the life of Windows 7.

Naturally, those with volume-license agreements have further options with regards to XP and Vista. Despite the fact that XP's market share is finally dropping, as Windows 7 gains fans, it still has a huge number of proponents who say its "good enough."

It is the OS that wouldn't die. It sounds like a horror movie, and for Microsoft, it probably seems like one. Microsoft announced on Monday that the "Windows XP Downgrade rights," which allows a purchaser of Windows 7 to choose to downgrade their OS to Windows XP, without paying for two copies of Windows, would continue until 2020.

In the past, Microsoft has terminated such a program a few months after the "next, next" version of Windows was introduced (in this case, 7, which was released in Oct. 2009). The problem is that 74 percent of businesses have not transitioned off of Windows XP, and many businesses want to standardize on a single operating system to simplify IT support.

The new policy, Microsoft announced in a blog post, will allow customers to downgrade to either Windows XP or Vista throughout the life cycle of Windows 7. Windows 7 Professional won't retire until 2020, which means XP will have a life that spans nearly 20 years (it was introduced in 2001).

Downgrade rights are available only for OEM copies of Windows 7 (those that are pre-installed by manufacturers or system builders). Also, despite this extension, while currently some vendors have been pre-installing the downgrade copy of Windows, that factory-install feature will expire on Oct. 22, 2010. That means that Windows users who want to downgrade a Windows 7 system to XP will be forced to do it themselves beginning on Oct. 23 of this year.

At the same time, OEMs must stop installing Windows XP Home on netbooks as of Oct. 22, 2010; finally, those netbook vendors may sell PCs with Vista pre-installed only through Oct. 22, 2011.