Windows 7 beta overload

In today's podcast: Windows 7 beta overload; Satyam chairman arrested; and Microsoft launches new ad campaign.

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Microsoft was forced to add resources to its Web site on Saturday to keep up with attempts to download the beta version of its next operating system, Windows 7. Visitors overloaded the company's servers as the beta version went online on Friday, after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer drew attention to it in his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Microsoft will issue 2.5 million activation keys for the beta version, but users who try the beta after that limit is reached will be able to use it for at least 30 days, the company said.

The Indian government appointed three members to the board of outsourcing company Satyam Computer Services on Sunday, promising that the new board will provide direction to the company, which is reeling from a financial scandal. On Friday, police in Hyderabad arrested the company's former chairman, B. Ramalinga Raju, and his brother B Rama Raju, the former managing director. They arrested Chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas on Saturday. Ramalinga Raju resigned as chairman last Wednesday, after admitting to inflating the profits of the company. Interim CEO Ram Mynampati warned last week that the company has liquidity problems.

The World Bank has barred Indian outsourcer Wipro from direct contracts with the bank, after family and friends of the bank's CIO and other senior executives purchased Wipro shares under a program set up by the company. Wipro maintains that the number of shares offered by the company were too few to amount to an inducement. The World Bank revealed the ban on Sunday, saying that two other companies, Satyam Computer Services, and Megasoft Consultants, are also barred from the bank's corporate procurement program.

Microsoft's latest ad campaign will try to convince businesses that software can save them money even in a turbulent economy. The ads, carrying the theme "It's Everybody's Business," feature interviews with executives at companies such as Coca-Cola and clothing retailer Quicksilver, which expound on how good software keeps them competitive. Print, TV and online versions of the ads are being created. The new campaign is much more focused and on-message than Microsoft's bizarre, inscrutable consumer campaign featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and company founder Bill Gates from last September. That US$300 million campaign was intended to spur interest in Windows Vista, but was cancelled after about two weeks in the wake of criticism that the ads weren't funny and gave no compelling reasons to buy a Windows PC.

And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I'm Peter Sayer in Paris. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.