Consumer Confidential: Windows, duds and newspapers

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Here’s your this-must-be-Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- It’s Windows 7 day! Yes, the latest iteration of everyone’s favorite computer operating system has arrived. So why aren’t I more hyped? Remember when Windows 95 was unveiled? Now that was a party. This time, it feels more like our pals in Redmond are just trying to wipe Windows Vista from our memories, like a character waking up at the end of a bad movie and realizing the whole thing was a dream. The reviews say Windows 7 is pretty cool, and I’ll probably upgrade at some point from my creaky old Windows XP. But I’ll wait for the rest of you to work out the bugs first. We’re talking Windows, after all.

-- J. Crew isn’t the cheapest place to shop for clothes. So when the company says it’s feeling pretty bullish about its prospects, you know there’s a whiff of economic recovery in the air. J. Crew has boosted its third-quarter profit forecast and says it’s feeling pretty darned good about the fourth quarter as well. It probably also doesn’t hurt that the brand is a favorite of first lady Michelle Obama.

-- Speaking of recoveries (sort of), our friends at The New York Times Co. say their losses narrowed in the most recent quarter, even though the paper’s ad slump continues. The company’s chief exec, Janet Robinson, cited ‘encouraging signs of improvement in the overall economy and in discussions with our advertisers.’ All I can say is that from where I sit on the Left Coast, things remain pretty tough in the newspaper biz. Thank God we’re all blogging, right?

-- David Lazarus