In just a few days after Internet Explorer 9 RC being released, the browser has already hit 2 million downloads. Not too bad, but not really surprising either. Microsoft also clearly states that these were all user-initiated downloads, not downloads through Windows Update.

If you have a TechNet or MSDN subscription, Windows 7 SP1 is now available for download on those websites, according to Paul Thurrott of WinSuperSite.com. Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 won’t add too much to the operating system, but from what I hear, SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 will.

With the iPhone now on Verizon, many thought that the phone would sell quickly when initially launched, and according to CNET, that’s not true. iPhone sales for Verizon weren’t much higher than sales for AT&T, which is not surprising. I am not saying the interest in the iPhone has died down — anything but — however, many people are probably currently locked into contracts with other carriers, and don’t want to pay the fee to get out. Just give it some time.

It appears that Nokia won’t be shipping a phone running Windows Phone until the “Mango” update (what people are calling Windows Phone 7.5) is ready to go, this is being speculated because Elop never mentioned “Windows Phone 7″ but instead just “Windows Phone.” The difference may be minute, but if this is true, then this should give the Windows Phone team some motivation to work quickly.

Could Microsoft’s next version of Windows be ready in the first quarter 2012? According to a leaked Dell roadmap, it certainly could be, but Mary Jo Foley says that Windows 8 isn’t supposed to be out until late 2012 or early 2013, so how is this possible? Foley thinks that the SoC version of Windows 8 could be shipped first, but I have another idea, this idea includes one of my predictions for Windows 8 I made earlier this year. I believe that Windows 8 will become very modular, allowing multiple user interfaces, removal of legacy support, and so on. Well, what if the core of Windows 8 is finished, and the first interface to be completed is the tablet interface, while the others are worked on after. Crazy? Just crazy enough to be possible!

The Internet was abuzz when word came out that Microsoft was banning GPLv3 licensed applications in the Windows Phone Marketplace, but as usual, this was not the full story. So what’s the deal, then? Surprisingly, Microsoft has banned GPLv3 licensed applications in order to comply with the license — yes, you read that right. You can read the whole thing at Arktronic.com, but here is the important part:

Because version 3 of the GPL family of licenses includes what has been dubbed the “anti-Tivoization” clause. Tivoization, from the name TiVo, is what that company did to its hardware in order to prevent unauthorized firmware modifications. In essence, they released the complete source code to the firmware that runs on TiVo boxes, but compiling such source code does not yield binaries that can run on the TiVo. That is because the authorized, official binary code is modified by TiVo to include a digital signature that must be accepted by the hardware before said code is allowed to run. GPLv3 includes a clause that prohibits this behavior.

That’s all for now, more later!