For better or worse, it seems as if Windows 8 will be available in nine separate editions. That’s up three flavors from Windows 7. The unofficial news comes from a registry key found within the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. If this key is to be believed, Windows 8 will be available in the six editions of Windows 7 with the addition of Windows 8 Professional Plus, Enterprise Evaluation, and ARM edition. That makes nine Windows 8 versions in all — seven more editions than Apple’s OS X.

The difference is important. It speaks to the approach these to companies have toward OS sales. Microsoft, the still massively dominant player in desktop computing, has a version for nearly every environment ranging from OEM netbooks to massive enterprise environments.

Microsoft laid out a grand plan to turn your Xbox 360 into an even stronger hub for everything from television shows and movies to music at E3 this year. That dashboard update launches tomorrow, bringing with it the ability to use your Kinect to search for content across every service you have connected to your system, as well as Microsoft's digital storefronts on Xbox Live and live television.

Unfortunately, not all of Microsoft's content partners will be ready for the service's launch tomorrow. HBO Go won't be available until early 2012, nor will Comcast's Xfinity on-demand library. Here are the services that will be available tomorrow, along with which market they will be active:

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) web browser has finally overtaken Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome on Windows 7, Microsoft claims.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 was the firm's first web browser in years that actually had something going for it, and is widely acknowledged as having improved standards compliance and performance. However even with a persuasive brand, only now has IE9 overtaken its open source rivals Firefox and Chrome on Windows 7.

Citing Net Applications' figures, Microsoft's said its latest web browser has just edged above Google Chrome to take top spot among what Microsoft terms 'modern browsers' on Windows 7. While Internet Explorer 9 has surpassed its contemporary rivals, Microsoft concedes that Internet Explorer 8 is still the most popular web browser among Windows 7 users.

Windows Phone's "Mango" update has been pushed out to the last few stragglers. The final handset to receive the update is the Dell Venue Pro—a quirky device with a portrait mode keyboard and a different WiFi chipset from most other Windows Phone models.

From start to finish, the whole upgrade process has taken a little over two months, with most users receiving the update at or soon after its release. Over the last few weeks, certain "problem" handsets—most notably a variant of Samsung's Focus—have also received their updates.

This successful rollout has been a refreshing change after the difficulties faced with the first significant Windows Phone update, "NoDo." That update trickled out over a period of many months, amid problems with failed installations, bricked phones, and recalcitrant carriers.