Randomness, randomness, randomness is the order of the day today.

So, random ramblings and links.

CNN is reporting that Microsoft has announced they are giving a limited number of American consumers a limited opportunity to obtain cheap upgrade copies of Windows 7. After that date American consumers will have to pay full price for the OS that Vista should have been. As per usual, there will be a slight price break for those upgrading from the previous OS, and it looks as though they are extending this pricebreak to those who decided not to downgrade from the perfectly usable XP to the broken Vista. However holdouts using older versions of Microsofts Windows OS will need to pony up a little extra for the full version. Unless of course they are in Europe where, in order to comply with anti-monopoly statutes, Microsoft will provide browser free versions of the full software for the upgrade price.

Thanks for screwing your countrymen over during a recession Bill! We appreciate that! I mean, first you let us have Vista before its ready (at a princely sum, natch…) and now you’re gonna let us subsidize the bonus cash your losing for being forced to provide Europeans upgrades at a fair price. Thanks AGAIN! Capitalism rocks!

In other news, Michael Jackson may or may not be dead. TMZ (a source nearly as reliable as Vista is stable) has been reporting the King of Pop passed away last night after suffering a heart attack. Other news outlets refuse to confirm his death, but seem to have no problem leading off with headlines that read “Jackson Dead: according to unverified reports”.

We here at Anomaly won’t believe he is dead until we see the death certificate in news sources with just a touch more legitimacy than TMZ. But if it turns out reports are true, we are expecting a trend where Jackson death deniers claim he wanted to escape fame for obscurity, a la the King of Rock, and faked his death to that end. We’ll also expect reports of Jackson sightings to start pouring in from Las Vegas before the end of the month, (hopefully sharing fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches with the other King.)

*Update, CNN has confirmed that Jackson has indeed passed away. Our thoughts are with his family and children at this time.

Time now to go home, pull out the vinyl, put on “Off the Wall” and try to forget the controversies of the last two decades while the sheer unadulterated talent washes over us.