Windows

Microsoft Pulls Disappearing Act with Start Button in Windows 8 Preview

Paul Lilly — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:31:38 +0000

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.

Chinese website PCBeta posted images of the Consumer Preview, which were picked up by The Verge and confirmed with its sources that the Start button is out of sight, but not out of mind.

"Fear not though, the Start button functionality isn't as dead as it seems. We have confirmed with sources close to Microsoft's Windows 8 development that a hot corner has replaced the Start button orb," The Verge reports. "A thumbnail-like user interface will appear in Metro or desktop mode, providing a consistent way to access the Windows desktop and Start Screen in Windows 8 regardless of touch or mouse input."

Users will be able to activate the new interface by hovering over the lower-left corner of Windows 8, which will also be available in touch mode, likely through a swiping action.

Image Credit: PCBeta

Kinect for Windows SDK v1.0 Now Available

Paul Lilly — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:11:59 +0000

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.

Motion controlled game play is one obvious application for using a Kinect with a PC, but there's so much more that's possible, some of which we've already glimpsed through various hacks. With the release of the official SDK, developers have a chance at getting creative and coming up with some unique uses, if they decide to run with it.

Hardware requirements consist of a dual-core 2.66GHz or faster processor, 2GB of RAM, dedicated USB 2.0 bus, and Windows 7 or Windows Embedded Standard 7.

The Kinect for Windows SDK is a 226.8MB download available here.

Did Nokia Just Hint at a Windows Tablet?

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:38 +0000

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?

Late last year, the head of Nokia France, Paul Amsellem, supposedly confirmed the existence of a Nokia-branded Windows 8 tablet in an interview with French paper Les Échos, only for the company to quickly deny the report. But if Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s comments during the company’s recent earnings call are anything to go by, Paul Amsellem’s may not have been quoted out of context, after all.

“The broader digital experience is coming into focus,” Elop said with in response to a question about Windows Phone’s competitiveness against iOS and Android devices. “If you look at the overall Microsoft strategy, you see the consistency of user experience… across PCs, tablets and phones. And for the operators, I suspect they see an opportunity to participate in a larger play when a consumer walks through their doors.”

If anything, this is only a hint. But with most smartphone vendors dabbling in tablets these days, Nokia might find it difficult to simply observe their tussle from the sidelines. What’s more, the company has once previously succumbed to the urge of joining in the fun. It launched a netbook called the Booklet 3G back when such mini laptops were still a rage.

Further, it also has some experience with tablets, having sold a number of so-called Internet tablets before the advent of the iPad. To be fair, though, that experience hardly counts now, as back then it was possible to market anything with a display size in excess of 4-inches as a tablet.

Microsoft Posts Record Revenue Despite Slumping Windows Sales

Paul Lilly — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:52:14 +0000

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.

It didn't matter. Microsoft still posted record revenue of $20.89 billion, up 5 percent from one year prior. The Microsoft Business Division performed particularly well "despite the soft PC market and continuing economic uncertainty in key parts of the world." Business products and services netted Microsoft $6.28 billion for the quarter, up 3 percent year-over-year.

"We delivered solid financial results, even as we prepare for a launch year that will accelerate many of our key products and services," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. "Coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, we’re seeing very positive reviews for our new phones and PCs, and a strong response to our new Metro style design that will unify consumer experiences across our phones, PCs, tablets, and television in 2012."

The Xbox 360 also continues to deliver strong results. There are now 66 million Xbox 360 consoles in the wild and 18 million Kinect sensors, along with 40 million Xbox Live members, the latter of which is up 33 percent from a year ago. All this contributed to Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division posting revenue of $4.24 billion, a 15 percent quarterly increase.

Wintel Tablet Prices to Start at $600

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:04:30 +0000

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?

The answer, according to Digitimes’ sources at notebook vendors, is a loud no. While not quite as much as China’s ridiculously overpriced RedPad, these anonymous sources expect tablets based on Intel processors and Windows 8 to cost anywhere between US$599-899. But they believe that the decision to offer discounted prices to tablet vendors won’t be an easy one, should the Wintel duo want to. This is due to the fact that cheap Wintel tablets could “seriously damage pricing in the PC market and bring down their gross margin performance.”

The paper’s sources find Intel’s situation to be a bit more unenviable than Microsoft’s, as a failure to offer affordable pricing on chips to Windows 8 tablet vendors could result in them opting for cheaper alternatives like AMD’s x86 APUs and ARM-based SoCs.

Microsoft Reveals Next Generation File System in Windows 8 (for Servers)

Paul Lilly — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:09:06 +0000

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.

It's going to be introduced only as part of Windows Server 8, which is a bit of a bummer for home users, but it's also the same approach Microsoft has taken each time it's introduced a new file system, the company said in a blog post.

Designed from the ground up, ReFS maintains a high level of compatibility with a subset of NTFS features. In case it's not obvious by the name, ReFS is intended to be more resilient and features meta data integrity with checksums; support for large volume, file, and directory sizes; data striping for performance; disk scrubbing for protection against latent disk errors; and a whole bunch of other things outlined in great detail here.

Microsoft Issues Hotfix for AMD Bulldozer Processors (No Fooling this Time)

Paul Lilly — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:55:00 +0000

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 pushing out a Bulldozer-boosting hotfix in mid-December, the Redmond software giant pulled it offline a few days later at the request of AMD, which called the patch "incomplete." Now it's back and it has the full blessing of the Santa Clara chip maker.

"Currently, the CPU scheduling techniques used by Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 are not optimized for the module architecture of the AMD Opteron 6200 and 4200 Series processors," AMD said in a blog post. "This means that certain multi-threaded workloads will not be optimally distributed between cores, which can result in decreased system performance.

"Microsoft has just posted a hotfix for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 documented in KB2645595 that enlightens the OS kernel to the AMD Opteron 6200 and 4200 Series topology so that the kernel can do a better job of scheduling threads to the processor cores. This patch leverages work that AMD and Microsoft have done cooperatively for future versions of the Windows kernel, and can be applied as desired by users running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1."

The patches also apply to Windows 7, not just Windows Server 2008 R2. According to AMD, after applying the update, your OS will be 'enlightened' to the ways of Opteron 6200 and 4200 Series topology, allowing the kernel to do a better job of scheduling threads to the processor cores. It's not likely to affect legacy applications too much, but could give a boost to workloads that are moderately threaded, such as virtualization, database, or transactional environments, AMD says.

Links to patches:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2646060
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2645594

OnLive Desktop App Streams Windows Desktop, MS Office to iPad

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:40:36 +0000

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.

Even though the cloud gaming app that it announced in early December has yet to appear in the App Store, the company has chosen the iPad as the debut client platform for its OnLive Desktop VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) service. But unlike the previous app announcement, the company has announced a specific release date this time. The OnLive Desktop app for iPad will arrive on Thursday, as per the official announcement.

“Launching a brand-new chapter for OnLive (and everyone), OnLive Desktop gives users instant access to a seamless Windows desktop experience, with full-featured Microsoft Office applications and 2 GB of free cloud storage for secure file access anywhere,” wrote OnLive’s CEO and Founder Steve Perlman in a blog post Monday.

Following its launch on the iPad, the service will expand to iPhone, Android, Mac and PC. Also, those with an OnLive MicroConsole will be able to access the cloud-based Windows 7 environment on an ordinary TV.

Besides the standard service that is absolutely free and includes 2GB of cloud storage, there will also be a paid service called OnLive Desktop Pro. This $9.99/month service will include 50GB of cloud storage and the ability add additional PC apps. But as these two plans may simply not be adequate for enterprise needs, the company has also announced a third, IT-managed service tier called OnLive Enterprise.

Windows Matters Most, Ballmer Says During Final CES Keynote

Paul Lilly — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:59:14 +0000

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.

"Overall, nothing is more important at Microsoft that Windows," Ballmer told Ryan Seacrest when asked what comes next for the Redmond software giant, according to PCMag.com.

Those were his parting words, if you will, and while Microsoft isn't closing shop on Skype, Xbox Live, Windows Phone, and every other side show, Windows is and will remain the main attraction in Redmond.

It's a simple, but important message, even if not everyone was not impressed with Microsoft's swan song. During his time on stage, Ballmer talked up how much he liked having all the competition in the mobile phone space, but is glad he has Windows. He said there are 1.3 billion Windows PCs in use today, and as Microsoft moves to Windows 8, he promised that all Windows 7 PCs will be ready for the new operating system on Day One, another important message.

Microsoft has been delivering keynotes at CES since 2008, but decided to make this one its last since the convention rarely aligns with its product news milestones.

Microsoft Brings back Drive Extender Features with Raid Style Performance in Windows 8

Justin Kerr — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:51:30 +0000

When Microsoft announced that drive extender was being stripped out of the final version of its new Windows Home Server line, the full wrath of the Internet literally fell upon them. The comments on the on the announcement were less than kind, and even though they had a workaround of sorts to keep your data duplicated, nothing really matched the allure of a single protected pool of storage.

For those unfamiliar with it the concept, drive extender is fairly simple to understand. Take any number of disks, add them to a storage pool, and files copied to it can optionally be duplicated across multiple disks to safe guard against individual failure and are presented as one large volume to the user. Fast forward to 2012 and they are ready to make amends by bringing the feature back, however this time they are going to reach a much wider audience by packing it in with Windows 8.

From a feature perspective Windows 8’s “storage spaces” operate in much the same way storage pools did in older versions of Home Server, however Microsoft has clarified that the technology behind it is very different and not backwards compatible. Users can continue to manage disks independently of course, but if they choose to use storage spaces an unlimited number of disks can be added using any combination of USB, serial ATA or SCSI. Users will also need to pick either “mirrored” or “parity” for the entire pool, though both offer file redundancy. Parity is described as superior choice for large sequential files or less frequently-accessed content since it has higher random I/O overhead.

Of course storage is one thing, but this is Maximum PC, what about performance vs. Raid? Well, according to Microsoft storage spaces also makes use of data stripping giving it performance characteristics similar to raid 0 or raid 10. You no doubt still have questions, but rather than try to address them all here head on over to the Windows 8 blog and check out the FAQ. If you can’t find the answer there, we probably don’t know either.

Microsoft Puts Its Mad Face On, Sues U.K. Vendor for Selling Counterfeit CDs

Paul Lilly — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:22:17 +0000

Microsoft doesn't take kindly to software vendors selling counterfeit copies of Windows and other Microsoft software and will sail the seven seas to chase down pirates when need be. Most recently Microsoft went in pursuit of a Comet, the name of a U.K. retailer the software giant alleges sold more than 94,000 counterfeit copies of its Windows Vista and Windows XP operating systems on pre-loaded PCs and laptops.

"As detailed in the complaint filed today, Comet produced and sold thousands of counterfeit Windows CDs to unsuspecting customers in the United Kingdom," said David Finn, associate general counsel, Worldwide Anti-Piracy and Anti-Counterfeiting at Microsoft. "Comet’s actions were unfair to customers. We expect better from retailers of Microsoft products — and our customers deserve better, too."

According to the lawsuit, Comet printed the counterfeit copies in a factory in Hampshire and then sold the media to customers from its retail locations across the U.K. Comet, which is part of Kesa Electricals, issued a statement of its own defending its position.

"We note that proceedings have been issued by Microsoft Corporation against Comet relating to the creation of recovery discs by Comet on behalf of its customers. Comet has sought and received legal advice from leading counsel to support its view that the production of recovery discs did not infringe Microsoft’s intellectual property," Comet said. "Comet firmly believes that it acted in the very best interests of its customers. It believes its customers had been adversely affected by the decision to stop supplying recovery discs with each new Microsoft Operating System based computer. Accordingly Comet is satisfied that it has a good defense to the claim and will defend its position vigorously."

It's not entirely clear, but it appears Comet is fessing up to creating recovery Windows discs for its customers. If that's the case, the company probably doesn't have much of a legal leg to stand on.

Image Credit: Comet

Wintel Tablets Coming from Acer, Lenovo in Late 2012

Paul Lilly — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:16:09 +0000

One of the most popular tech categories in all of 2011 was the tablet PC. For the most part, Intel and Microsoft missed the boat, but luckily for both, the tablet ship hasn't sailed and looks to be just as popular in 2012 as it has been for the past 12 months. Come Q3, Acer and Lenovo will punch their ticket with tablets built around Intel's Clover Trail platform rocking Microsoft's Windows 8.

Apple iPad shipments accounted for 60 percent of the tablet PC market in 2011, according to DigiTimes, and will probably maintain a majority share in 2012, but not without increased competition from Amazon's Kindle Fire and high-end Android tablets like the Eee Pad Transformer Prime in early 2012. Wintel tablets will further challenge the iPad later in the year and could prove especially popular in enterprise circles.

In the meantime, Intel is getting ready to unveil its Medfield processor for Android-based smartphones and slates, which it hopes will provide a counter punch to ARM.

IDC: Happy Windows 7 PC Users Won't Switch To Windows 8

Brad Chacos — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:03:51 +0000

It’s December, and you know what that means: egg nog, Christmas trees, and Internet top ten lists from both the year past and the year to come. One early attempt at divination amounts to a lump of coal in Microsoft’s stocking: IDC doesn’t exactly expect the desktop version of Windows 8 to leap off the shelves. In fact, the analysis firm bluntly says that Windows 7 users probably won't even care about the new OS when it launches.

“Windows 8 will be largely irrelevant to the users of traditional PCs, and we expect effectively no upgrade activity from Windows 7 to Windows 8 in that form factor,” IDC reports, according to ZDNet’s Mary-Jo Foley (the IDC report itself costs $3,500). IDC expects the new operating system to launch by August.

It’s not surprising to hear forecasters predict that, given that the tiled Metro look is obviously geared towards mobile devices. But IDC also expects Windows 8 to have a rough initial start on tablets, as well. The issue? IDC says delivering an awesome experience on both x86- and ARM-based tablets is “a tall order” for Microsoft.

So, have any of you played around with the Windows 8 Developer’s Preview? What do you think of the new OS? Since all new OEM PCs will likely ship with Windows 8 once it's available, it's hard to think the new OS will stay "irrelevant" for long, but are you planning on upgrading from Windows 7 when Windows 8 launches?

Consumers Are Over Windows on Tablets, Says Report

Ryan Whitwam — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:25:40 +0000

Whenever someone in recent months questioned Microsoft’s intention to make Windows 8 its tablet OS, the company would emphatically point to surveys showing that users actually wanted Windows-based tablets. A new Forester Research report however, claims that consumer interest in Windows tablets has declined sharply in the last six months. According to the report, Microsoft may have missed the boat on the tablet market.

Back in the first quarter of 2011, a Forester survey found that 46% of consumers wanted a tablet device running Windows. That certainly buoyed Redmond’s spirits. The new numbers show that only 25% of consumers are interested in what Microsoft is selling. if Microsoft has really passed the peak of interest in its tablet products, its sluggishness may have just ceded the market to Apple, Google, and others.

In general, Forester is confident that Windows 8 will do well, but that says nothing about the tablet market. If Microsoft is unable to get Windows 8 on tablets until mid-2012, there might be no one left to notice that doesn’t have their nose buried in an iPad or Android tablet.

Patch Tuesday Brings Four Security Updates, Leaves Duqu Unpatched

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:02:50 +0000

Yesterday was no ordinary Tuesday. It was Microsoft’s eleventh Patch Tuesday of 2011. In keeping with Microsoft’s practice of releasing a lower volume of patches during odd-numbered months as compared to even ones, this month’s Patch Tuesday only contains four security bulletins, which is half of what the company shipped in October.

Microsoft’s latest batch of patches contains two “important”, one “moderate” and one “critical” update. However, it does not contain any patch for the Kernel vulnerability being exploited by the Duqu computer virus. A few days back, the software giant said that it plans “to release the security update [targeting Duqu] through our security bulletin process, although it will not be ready for this month's bulletin release.”

Duqu aside, the most important security update this month happens to be MS11-083. It carries Microsoft’s highest severity rating - critical. The vulnerability it addresses can be used to “allow remote code execution if an attacker sends a continuous flow of specially crafted UDP packets to a closed port on a target system.”