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All summer long we’ve given you some great reasons to purchase a new PC and make the move to Windows 7, an operating system loved by a whopping 94% of folks who use it! Here’s one more: starting October 3 in the U.S., Windows 7 Family Pack will be available for purchase at participating retailers and online at the Microsoft Store.

The Microsoft Education team shared the graphic below with us last week.  As students head back to school, they’re going to face a job climate that will increasingly require tech skills – 77% of jobs will require some tech within the next ten years. 

It’s been a long year. Just when the economy was starting to look perky job growth stalled in its non-Census tracks. Then summer, which we normally can’t wait to see, broke down the door and turned most of the country into a sweltering puddle of sweat—except Seattle, where it’s freezing and rainy. And since we Puget Sound-based Microsofties only see an average of 58 sunny days a year, our gloom is particularly profound right now.

So, we decided to give a bunch of stuff away to make you feel better. We’re calling it the “Recession Sweepstakes”.

We’ve been talking about the value that Windows 7 Professional brings to small businesses for a while, including productivity benefits that can help businesses save time and money. Today we’d like to share some details from an IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft worldwide research study, which explores the business value and return on investment (ROI) of Windows 7 for small and midsize businesses.

This is just a quick PSA to let you know that our Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU) offer is ending in the U.S. this Saturday, July 3.

Right now, with the purchase of any new PC, you can upgrade from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium for $49.99 ERP (normally $79.99) or Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional for $79.99 ERP (normally $89.99).

What small business wouldn’t want to upgrade their technology and save money on their next business trip? Amazon.com and Southwest Airlines have an offer for all SWABIZ members. (If you’re not a member, you can join at SWABIZ.com.)

The Round Rock crew just refreshed the venerable, budget-friendly, Inspiron line with the Inspiron R series, and from what I’ve seen they look like very capable everyday laptops.

Acer is probably best known for being one of the players responsible for sparking the netbook craze with the launch of their immensely popular Acer Aspire One. Today, they’re refreshing that line with two new AMD-powered netbooks, the 11.6” Acer Aspire One AO721 and the 10.1” Acer Aspire One AO521.

As Brandon mentioned in last week’s post, we’ve started a TV campaign that recreates some notorious internet scams to show how easy it is to fall victim to online attacks.

More cool news from the Sony camp. The new VAIO Z and VAIO Y Series laptops will come with Sony’s embedded wireless technology called Share My Connection™ (SMC). SMC lets you turn a laptop into a mobile wireless access point that can connect up to five other PCs or networked devices.