As you’re undoubtably aware, Bill Gates is set to retire on June 27th at the ripe old age of 52. Bill’s Harvard bud, Mr. Dancin’ Steve Ballmer, also 52 and a notable fan of the developers, has been itching to take over since his appointment as CEO back in 2000. Speaking at an event on Tuesday, we now know that he intends to remain in command, “for another nine or 10 years… until my last kid goes away to college.” Still, as easy-going as the relationship appeared at D, the transition was forged in fire. In fact, the power conflict was reportedly so severe, according to the Wall Street Journal, that it “paralyzed business strategy decision that the company still wrestles with today.” The tension at least once unravelled into a public shouting match (no really, from Ballmer?) between the two. The struggle was apparently resolved in 2001 when Bill finally accepted that he was number 2, “I had to change,” says Gates. Keep in mind that Bill will continue “working” for Microsoft one day a week and serve as the chairman of the board after his so-called retirement. And with Ballmer packing up Gates with a parting quote like, “I’m not going to need him for anything. That’s the principle. Use him, yes, need him, no,” well, let’s just say things don’t seem 100% resolved.

Read — Retirement
Read — Conflict

We didn’t think it’d take too terribly long to make it happen, but Albatron is taking Microsoft’s heed and is already demonstrating a prototype 22-inch monitor with multi-touch, intended for use with whatever Windows 7 will eventually come to be called. The early verdict on the 1680 x 1050 display? TG Daily says it “works much better than we expected,” but we said the same thing about Surface when it debuted last year — so maybe it simply works as well as it should.

When everything looks like a netbook, anything out of the ordinary sticks out like a festering wound at Computex. One such sore thumb came from the Thermalright display, which saw a number of new cooling devices basking in the glory and just waiting for photographers. While most items at the booth were generally uninteresting, this particular image shows off one TR-360 — something we can only assume is a replacement heatsink for the Xbox 360. All we’ve got right now is the picture above along with one other in the read link, but here’s to hoping Thermalright gets around to sharing more information soon.

[Via Xbox-Scene, thanks Xant]

That 80GB Zune above looks mighty familiar, now doesn’t it? At least it does if you checked out our totally wild guess mockup that we created upon hearing of this gem. The limited edition Joy Division-themed Zune has finally been pictured (officially) and priced, with just 500 of ‘em to be offered up through the Zune Originals website. Of course, we have no idea how quickly these will (or won’t) go, but if you’re looking to grab one, we’d have that trigger finger ready to roll on June 17th.

Don’t want to wait until March for Windows Vista SP1, but not feeling the whole torrent thing? Microsoft has posted a disc image to its OEM partner site with a full copy of SP1 on it, and the download is free — if a bit slow at the moment, thanks to all y’all grabbing a copy. The 1.2GB disc image requires you run it as a clean installation, so you’ve gotta ask yourself it’s just worth waiting a few more weeks for an easy peasy update courtesy of Windows Update. Decisions, decisions.

[Via Download Squad; read link is the disk image]

Don’t want to wait until March for Windows Vista SP1, but not feeling the whole torrent thing? Microsoft has posted a disc image to its OEM partner site with a full copy of SP1 on it, and the download is free — if a bit slow at the moment, thanks to all y’all grabbing a copy. The 1.2GB disc image requires you run it as a clean installation, so you’ve gotta ask yourself it’s just worth waiting a few more weeks for an easy peasy update courtesy of Windows Update. Decisions, decisions.

[Via Download Squad; read link is the disk image]

At this point all the snazzy new websites and re-focused marketing efforts in the world aren’t going to get Google, Microsoft, and the other members of the White Spaces Coalition anywhere if they don’t actually demonstrate the broadband-in-between-TV-signals tech in action — and it looks like that’s proving to be harder than expected. For the second time in seven months, a prototype device has failed testing at the hands of the FCC, although this time it wasn’t because it was interfering with TV signals — it just wouldn’t stay powered on. Microsoft says the power issue is “unrelated to the technology points we’re trying to prove,” but as usual, those prickly pears at the NAB aren’t being shy about this latest setback, calling it proof that white space broadcasts are “risky technology that has proven to be unworkable.” At this point we’re honestly torn — we hate to side with the NAB and we had high hopes for the white spaces concept, but it just doesn’t look like it’s panning out. Maybe it’s time to move on to bigger and better things, eh?

At this point all the snazzy new websites and re-focused marketing efforts in the world aren’t going to get Google, Microsoft, and the other members of the White Spaces Coalition anywhere if they don’t actually demonstrate the broadband-in-between-TV-signals tech in action — and it looks like that’s proving to be harder than expected. For the second time in seven months, a prototype device has failed testing at the hands of the FCC, although this time it wasn’t because it was interfering with TV signals — it just wouldn’t stay powered on. Microsoft says the power issue is “unrelated to the technology points we’re trying to prove,” but as usual, those prickly pears at the NAB aren’t being shy about this latest setback, calling it proof that white space broadcasts are “risky technology that has proven to be unworkable.” At this point we’re honestly torn — we hate to side with the NAB and we had high hopes for the white spaces concept, but it just doesn’t look like it’s panning out. Maybe it’s time to move on to bigger and better things, eh?

Hey, it’s not Microsoft’s fault that 2011 sounds like the realm of jet pack VR massage cars, but it’s certainly a long ways away any way you slice it. Contrary to previous rumors of Microsoft planning a Windows 7 release sometime in 2009, Microsoft has apparently gotten in touch with WinVistaClub and set the record straight: Windows 7 is in “planning stages,” and development will take approximately three years. Microsoft wouldn’t comment on that supposed leak we spotted last week, and of course denied any implications that development was being accelerated to make up for Vista shortcomings. We can’t help but wonder how different the OS landscape will look three years from now, with Linux rapidly reaching feature and usability parity, while Apple plugs away at OS X and cloud computing lands everywhere, but we’re sure Vista SP1 won’t be the last bid Microsoft makes at this generation.

[Via The Inquirer]

Update: Other quotes from Microsoft has the date set at 3 years from the launch of Vista, which would indeed land it around 2009, so perhaps all hope is not lost. No date is set yet, and our money is on 2010 at the earliest.

Hey, it’s not Microsoft’s fault that 2011 sounds like the realm of jet pack VR massage cars, but it’s certainly a long ways away any way you slice it. Contrary to previous rumors of Microsoft planning a Windows 7 release sometime in 2009, Microsoft has apparently gotten in touch with WinVistaClub and set the record straight: Windows 7 is in “planning stages,” and development will take approximately three years. Microsoft wouldn’t comment on that supposed leak we spotted last week, and of course denied any implications that development was being accelerated to make up for Vista shortcomings. We can’t help but wonder how different the OS landscape will look three years from now, with Linux rapidly reaching feature and usability parity, while Apple plugs away at OS X and cloud computing lands everywhere, but we’re sure Vista SP1 won’t be the last bid Microsoft makes at this generation.

[Via The Inquirer]

Update: Other quotes from Microsoft has the date set at 3 years from the launch of Vista, which would indeed land it around 2009, so perhaps all hope is not lost. No date is set yet, and our money is on 2010 at the earliest.