The Start button and accompanying menu are iconic parts of Windows first introduced in Windows 95 over a decade and a half ago, and it looks as though the run will end with Windows 7. Leaked photos of Microsoft's Windows 8 "Consumer Preview" build show a Super Bar without a Start button, whereas in previous versions it showed up with a flat Metro-style makeover.
Get ready to wave at your PC and welcome the motion control revolution on the desktop, Microsoft just made available the Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) version 1.0 for download. After shedding its beta tag, the Kinect for Windows SDK now supports up to four Kinect sensors on a single computer, skeletal tracking, a Near Mode feature that lets the camera recognize objects just 40cm away, improved stability and audio, and API updates and enhancements.
Nokia may have just announced a massive quarterly loss due to a precipitous decline in handset sales, but it remains confident of “establishing a beachhead in this war of ecosystems.” The Finnish company is now banking on its Windows Phone lineup to turn things around. But are its plans only limited to the smartphone market, or is it also considering venturing into the increasingly crowded media tablet market?
The Windows operating system is Microsoft's bread and butter and added $4.74 billion to the Redmond software giant's bottom line for its second fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2011. Oddly enough, that number represents a 6 percent drop in sales from the prior period. What's more, Windows sales accounted for just 22.7 percent of Microsoft's overall revenue, the lowest share in more than two years.
While more of a steady smolder than a spectacular blaze when compared to the iPad, the Kindle Fire has shown that consumers are not averse to buying a non-iPad tablet as long as the price is right and the specs not too shabby. Amazon has literally lit up the tablet market, with a number of vendors now taking its lead in releasing affordable Android tablets. All the combustion metaphors aside, this surge in the ranks of decent budget tablets is only going to make the task that much harder for Wintel tablets, especially given Microsoft and Intel’s reluctance to subsidize their products. Everyone wants to know just how the duo would respond. Will the two giants try and enter into a price war with their rivals?
Much of the focus on Windows 8 has been centered on the Metro UI and whether or not it will translate well to non-touch devices, like your typical desktop PC or notebook computer. Dig a little underneath the hood, however, and you'll find a nifty nugget in the form of a next generation file system. It's called ReFS (Resilient File System), a newly engineered file system built on the foundations of NTFS.
As the saying goes, 'If at first you don't succeed, get your stuff together and roll out another hotfix already, it's 2012!' Maybe the saying doesn't go exactly like that, but it should if you're talking about the combination of Microsoft Windows and AMD's Bulldozer line. After 
Palo Alto-based OnLive is expanding its presence in the cloud beyond its eponymous streaming game service. The company, which debuted the OnLive app for mobile (Android for now) as recently as last month, is now gearing up to stream “a seamless Windows desktop experience” to a variety of devices, beginning with the Apple iPad later this week.
Today marks the end of an era for both Microsoft and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. CES isn't shutting its doors -- not that we know of, anyway -- but the keynote Steve Ballmer delivered is Microsoft's final one. It's pulling out of CES, and before the divorce is final, Ballmer has one final message he wants to make clear.
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