Week in Review: The Windows 7 hype starts here

There has been a great deal of anticipation within the tech community about Windows 7 for a while now thanks to Microsoft's regular updates about the progress of the new operating system.

But now it is serious as we edge ever closer to the full release.

The release candidate of Windows 7 is already out for MSDN and TechNet subscribers - while if you are of a particularly brave or crazy/law un-abiding disposition, you can always resort to an illegal download.

You may not have long to wait for the full version of Windows 7 though Acer's European vice president Massimo D'Angelo may have inadvertently revealed the release date as the 23 October of this year.

This week was also the week of Infosecurity, as the great and the good of computer security conversed in to London's Earls Court to learn about the new threats in addition to promoting their products to businesses in need.

In his opening keynote ex-home secretary David Blunkett caused a bit of a stir, talking about the dangers of a cyber attack on the Olympic Games at London 2012, while also stating that biometric passports could be a possible replacement for ID cards.

Britain turning into a surveillance state' and its treatment of e-crime were two big themes to come out of the event.

It was also the chance for the Police Central e-Crime Unit to tell the IT industry that help is required, with either part-time police volunteering or even the chance for people to become hi-tech special constables.

And finally, Wolfram Alpha was shown to the public, with the words Google killer' being bandied around. This is due to the way it works, as it allows users to ask a fact-based question which the computer system can work out.