May 5th should prove to be an interesting day for tech fans, as it would appear that both the much hyped Windows 7 operating system and the HTC Magic Android mobile phone will be launched to the waiting public.
Neowin spotted that a Microsoft Partners web page (now replaced with a bog standard information page) had been published which announced that Windows 7 Release Code would be released to the public on May 5th. OK, so we have sort of been here before with these so-called Microsoft leaks have we not? I prefer to think of them as viral press releases. The last one came at the end of March, and also pointed to a May date for RC. As with this latest one, that page was pulled just as soon as the blogosphere had picked up on it, so as to let the viral marketing take over. Mind you, Microsoft needs all the publicity it can get right now as recent reports suggest that a whopping 84 percent of folk have no intention of upgrading to Windows 7 anytime soon.
Maybe the HTC Magic, the second of the Android powered phones (the T-Mobile G1 and the HTC Dream were, after all, the exact same thing) to make it to market, will fare better. When it makes it to market, that is. It had better hurry up if it wants to see off the flood of competition that could be coming this year. It had been expected to be with us already, or at least before the end of this month, according to the publicity pushed out after the Barcelona statement earlier in the year. But now Vodafone is giving an expected delivery date for pre-ordered HTC Magic handsets of May 5th. Could this have anything to do with the rumoured problems that have been dogging the Magic online? Considering that one of these could be related to potential user-interface problems regarding how Android works with the Magic virtual keyboard the answer could well be yes.
So go on then, are you getting excited about either of these or will May 5th just remain the birth date of that unlikely duo Karl Marx and Michael Palin as far as you are concerned?
