IEblog has nnounced the release of the Beta 2 version of IE7 for Windows XP SP2:

This evening we released IE7 Beta 2 at http://www.microsoft.com/ie. This release is not the preview or the update to the preview, but the real Beta 2 of IE7 for Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and Windows XP 64-bit Edition. Simply: please try it.

We acted on a lot of the feedback and bug reports from the previous public releases. In particular, I feel good about changes we made based on reports from web developers around some CSS behaviors, application compatibility feedback, reliability data (yes, we do analyze the information that comes when you click “Send Error Report”), and user experience feedback. People on the team will post additional details about changes over the next few days.

The European Union’s Trademark and Design Office, is claiming that Microsoft’s new font for Windows Vista and Office 2007 is a copy of Frutiger Next, a design patented by Linotype, an old German company.

The agency says that Segoe’s letterforms “differ only in minor details” from Frutiger. The three judges in the case noted that Microsoft disputed the documentation of Druckmaschinen’s fonts but “does not contest the claim of the Applicant that they should be considered identical.”

Microsoft applied for at least eight design registrations in January 2004 for different weights of Segoe UI, its user interface font. However, Linotype’s parent company, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, has appealed against the move.

Jensen Harris, a Microsoft program manager, has written: “We’re not just introducing a new UI in Office [2007] — we’re also introducing a new UI font. It was conceived, designed, and totally optimized for ClearType,” a technology that smooths fonts on LCD screens. It will be turned on by default for the first time in Windows Vista.

It appears that Microsoft is naming its successor to Windows Vista “Fiji”, having previously dubbed it “Vienna”.

So before we’ve even got our eager hands on Windows Vista we’re being jollied up for the next one. We’ll probably need anti-ageing treatment to see us into the 22nd century. Monkey glands, anyone?

Shakespeare wrote: “A rose by any other name is still a rose?” We have evidence to doubt the bard’s wisdom, though. The rose named Vista is still receding over the horizon at a rate of knots. It may have been just a mirage, after all.

Gizmodo comments: “Of course, by the time these products reach the real world marketplace, if ever, they will probably have some other vaguely aesthetic-sounding name. But until then, we’ll call it Fiji. Our bets are on an operating system that’s not even shrink-wrapped, but web-based, certainly by the time we get to Vienna.”

Why not call it “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon” and we’ll recognize it for what it is: a pleasant dream.

We know that Microsoft has not given us a great deal of information about Windows Vista’s hardware reuirements. One comment suggested that 512 MB of RAM would suffice. But is that strictly true?

BetaNews says that, “Microsoft has not yet rolled out its ‘Windows Vista Capable’ program, or provided any solid hardware recommendations.” Meanwhile, Gartner, the industry analyst, has stepped in to provide some information to businesses. It basically says that vigilance is necessary “in order to avoid future migration costs.”

Gartner recommends that, as a minimum requirement, computers should have the Intel 945G chipset, a Pentium 4 processor and 1GB of RAM, with up to 2GB of memory needed for added performance. Similarly, laptops should have a Core Duo processor based on the 945GM chipset with 1GB of RAM.

“The firm said it would not provide guidance for AMD yet as enterprise adoption of the company’s chips have been rather slow. Also, Gartner told businesses to focus on the above requirements rather than the graphics side, as most would not see a benefit from the Aero UI.”