While Microsoft announced the different editions of Windows 8 that will be available today, they also confirmed that Windows Server 8 will now be called “Windows Server 2012″ and have committed to launching it by the end of this year.

At Microsofts’ Management Summit, Corporate Vice President Brad Anderson spoke to around 5,000 IT professionals about the opportunities provided by Microsoft to deliver fast and reliable services with cloud computing. He announced Microsoft System Center 2012 which is now available for purchase. It allows users to set up their own secure private cloud network.

In conjunction with this, he also announced that Windows Server 2012 is a “fully cloud optimised OS” that will integrate very well with cloud computing. He claimed that “nothing Microsoft has ever done has ever been as ambitious” as the features that have been incorporated into Windows Server 2012.

Microsoft released Windows Server 2012 back in March, around the same time as the Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released to the public. Of course, there hasn’t been half as much coverage of Windows Server 2012 because as we all know, the corporate side of things is never as glamours as the consumer side.

Since Microsoft are expected to release Windows 8 this year, and now they’ve gone and promised that Windows Server 2012 will also be released this year, I can only assume that they will be releasing them around the same time. Of course Windows 8 will be launched to a massive marketing campaign, where as Windows Server 2012 will be a small little side note for the corporate scene to pick up on.

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This probably doesn’t come as much as a surprise to many of us, we all knew well that Microsoft are looking to release Windows 8 towards the end of 2012. It also makes sense that they’d want to ship it in time for the holidays to get a some extra bang for their buck. Going on Bloomberg’s report, Microsoft are aiming to ship Windows 8 in October of this year.

According to their report, Microsoft are looking to wrap up work on Windows 8 this summer, with an army of Windows Tablets and other hardware devices shipping with the new OS in October. We’re also being told that both Intel and ARM devices will be hitting our shelves at release.

We’re being told that Microsoft are getting ready to hold an even in April for its industry partners. At this event they will outline release schedules as well as their marketing campaign for the new operating system.

This report pretty much confirms everything we had already been expecting, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Microsoft will want to get Windows 8 on the market as soon as possible. It has to if they want to prevent themselves losing much more ground to Apple.

A lot of Windows 8 success will come down to the range of hardware on offer at launch. There needs to be some killer devices launched with it to tempt people away from the iPad, but more importantly their cash.

Now who wants to place a bet on the release date?

I’m going for October 22nd… sound familiar?

Source:

Bloomberg

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There can be no denying that Windows 8 has brought a radical new change to Windows as we know it. The Metro UI is completely new to Windows, it does take some time to get used to. One Ex-Microsoft employee has decided to express his views about the new Metro UI and Windows 8 as a whole. And he doesn’t like it.

The former employee has launched a website called “Fixing Windows 8” (at the time of writing this the website appears to be down) where he outlines various different suggestions that Microsoft could do the improve the user experience. The former employee is Mike Bibik who is a user interface designer.

Like a lot of people, Mike is pretty annoyed by the lack of a start button in Windows 8. His biggest gripe however seems to be with the new Metro UI and how it all seems to be based around touch ,with mouse and keyboard controls thrown in as an after thought.

During the MWC keynote, Microsoft made it very clear that Windows 8 will work fantastically if you are using touch, mouse or keyboard, Unfortunately, that’s not entirely true.

Mikes main concerns are as follows:

• New users won’t have a clue how to navigate through the interface as so many choices are hidden from view. You’ll need to know the various gestures to open up settings, the charms menu and other options. Also the lack of the start button will have users confused as to where they can find a master list of apps on their machine.
• Because of the new Metro apps and how they function, they don’t have window controls like minimize and exit which will confuse users. They may not be aware of the fact that Windows 8 will pause apps and that they do not have to close them
• Because the charms menu is hidden from view until the user goes looking for it, it makes it very difficult to perform basic options like searching within apps or powering off your device unless you know where to look.

I can agree with him on some of these points, but not entirely. I think that novice users, who are used to using a traditional desktop like Windows 7 will have trouble getting to terms with the lack of a start button and the hidden charm and settings controls. But power users and even intermediate Windows users should not have any problems getting to grips with the new controls very quickly.

You can be sure that Microsoft will have a very comprehensive walk through of the new features when users power up a Windows 8 machine for the first time. I can imagine that there will also be an extensive marketing campaign to inform users of how different Windows 8 is compared to previous Windows OS’s.

Mike say’s that he’s not trying to be negative, he just wants to be informative and offer his opinion for alternative solutions. These include

• Combining the desktop task bar with the new Start screen
• Combining Charms and the master apps list into a single menu
• Adding a dedicated Charms bar to the bottom of the screen
• Reinstating a Start button on the desktop

Windows 8 is a big change, there’s no denying that, but there is an increasing number of people starting to be won over by it. I for one was a little sceptical at first, but after using it for a while now with just a mouse and keyboard, I’ve actually become quite used to all the gestures. I think what freaks most people out is the fact that you can’t see any on screen options until you actual perform a gesture by moving to the corners etc.. but it doesn’t take too long until that becomes second nature.

What do you think?

Do you agree with what Chris has to say?

Let us know in the comments

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If you have been following this blog or any of the other excellent news site that cover Windows 8, or had your first hours of first-hand experience with the Consumer Preview version of the operating system, you know by now that the Start button is not in the location anymore that it used to be in.

This removal has caused quite the controversy, with many veteran users criticizing Microsoft for the move. The replacement is the new Start page which users can access in a number of ways. This includes pressing the Windows key on the keyboard, or moving down the mouse cursor into the left bottom corner where a click will open the start screen as well.

Microsoft seems to be aware of the confusion the move caused, and addressed the issue in a new blog post on the Windows Experience Blog.

According to Microsoft, the start button is still there but in another location. Before you get to excited about this revelation, you need to know that the company refers to the start button in the Charms menu as the start menu’s new location.

It should be obvious on first glance that this is not an exact replica of the start button of, say Windows 7 for instance. That does not mean that all of the start button’s functionality is gone, as Microsoft points out. Searching for instance happens in exactly the same way as before, only the interface is different. How did you search in Windows 7? Most users clicked on the start button or tapped on the Windows key, and started typing afterwards. In Windows 8, you tap on the Windows key and start typing. The key difference is that Windows 8 switches to the start page automatically, and back if you start a regular app and not a Metro app.

Power users find a few interesting tips in the post that may speed up their experience with the operating system. They can right-click in the lower left corner of the screen to bring up a menu that links to common administrative tasks on the system. This includes direct links to the control panel, device manager and command prompt, as well as search and run options.

The second is a listing of all new keyboard shortcuts for Windows 8. The shortcuts are shown as an image, and available as pdf or xps documents for downloading.

The blog post is a good read for users new to the operating system. What’s your take here? Has everything remained the same functionality wise, or do you feel that something is missing in this regard?

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Microsoft in a new blog post on the Windows Experience Blog clarified the company’s intention to go forward with the way themes have been provided recently. Windows 7 users may remember the changes the company made to themes in their operating system. The fundamental change made themes distributable, and as a result incompatible with previous Windows operating systems.

While it it possible to extract the theme contents to make use of the wallpaper images they contain, there is no option to install the themes directly in Vista, XP or another pre-Windows 7 operating system.

Themes get new improvements and features in Windows 8, namely auto color settings, panoramic theme support and better dual monitor support in general.

The auto coloring feature changes the color of the desktop class and taskbar color to the dominant color of the background image.  You can read more about the feature here: Windows 8 Aero Auto-Colorization

The feature is optional though, and Windows 8 users who prefer to stick with a select color can do so as well.

Panoramic themes are themes optimized for dual monitor systems. They are designed to display a panoramic image on both monitors. They can be installed on single-monitor systems as well, in which case the images will be cropped on the left and right so that only the center will be visible.

The second dual monitor feature is support for different wallpaper images if a regular-sized theme is installed. Windows 8 will automatically display two wallpaper images from the theme instead of the same image on both monitors.

Because of those changes, Windows 8 themes are not compatible with Windows 7 operating systems. The other way round works though. Windows 8 users can install Windows 7 themes on their system just fine.

Check out the full post here.

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Windows Reader is a new program that Microsoft has developed exclusively for the Windows 8 operating system. The reader is integrated into the Consumer Preview version of the operating system, so that it can be checked out by everyone.

Windows Reader will open all pdf documents by default, regardless of their origin. The Metro UI app opens local pdf documents and those that you download from the Internet. Windows users who prefer a different pdf reader can install it on the system to associate pdf documents with the program instead. The core benefit of Windows Reader is that it adds native pdf support to the Windows operating system, so that you do not need to install a third party application anymore for that. Windows Reader on the other hand is just a document viewer, it cannot be used to modify pdf documents in any way.

The program is not added to the start page by default, which makes sense as it is opened automatically when you click on a pdf file. You can however easily add the program to the start page. When in Metro, enter Windows Reader, and right-click the result afterwards. This pins the program to the start page. You can then launch it with a click, and open pdf documents from within.

The fullscreen app displays only the opened document on the screen. A right-click displays a toolbar at the bottom that lets you open, save and find documents, switch between a one or two pages layout or rotate documents.

When you use find or open to load pdf documents, you are taken to a filtered view of My Documents where only pdf documents are visible and every other file is hidden from view.

Windows Reader is  a basic pdf reader, comparable to the built-in pdf reader of the Google Chrome browser. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially so for users who just need a program to access the occasional pdf document on their computer. The inclusion makes sense from a usability point of view, and maybe even security, considering that the most popular pdf reader, Adobe Reader, is also one of the most attacked.

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Despite all of the recent attention to Windows 8, there have been other developments in the Microsoft product market. One that has made Microsoft happy is the attention to the Browser, IE9.

For starters, IE9 dominates both world-wide and also US market.

They continue to dominate the market for those PC’s running Windows 7.

Figures from MarketShare, a company that specializes in Market analysis recently showed where and how much mobile and the pc make up the market.

Here is the breakdown on the mobile market, which makes up only 7.2 percent of the computer market.

These figures show at the tablet/mobile level Internet Explorer is not making any kind of impact. Neither is Mango, Windows Phone 7.

The browser market would normally fall to Apple, with their iPhone and iPad, and that is what Safari shows. The Search engine environment is overwhelmingly dominated by Chrome and Bing makes only a slight appearance. But turning to the PC market, which makes up 92.5% of the computer market, the numbers look different.

Internet Explorer continues to dominate the browser market in the PC arena with Firefox in 2^nd place followed by Chrome and then Safari. And as everyone knows, so it is no surprise that the Windows OS overwhelms the PC market.

One of the interesting elements of this is the focus on diversification that Microsoft is pursing. For two decades Microsoft was content to be number 1 in the OS arena, with Office the happy step child. But now they are into a variety of areas, mobile, tablet, the Cloud, browsers, Xbox, embedded products, servers, and software development frameworks. A very quick lesson here is that if you don’t keep up with technological changes, you could end up like Blockbuster or Kodak. So as it is, Microsoft is in a position to maintain it’s dominant form for at least a decade.

Source: MarketShare

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I remember a remark by Steve Balmer shortly after Windows 2000 Professional came out. He said something to the effect that It was too bad that this product was going to replace the successful Windows NT product. In other words, you don’t kill a successful product. But that is what Microsoft did in 2000.  But recently, someone else said something like that, Samsung executive Hankii Yoon said at Mobile World Congress, “The best thing to survive in the market is to kill your products.” What this can mean for Microsoft, is that the successful introduction of a product can keep the company healthy in the long run.

Apparently, that is what must be done because computer products get old very quickly, and if you don’t replace them, then the market will leave you by the side of the road. So this brings up the case where Windows 8 may actually be in the right position to compete with the iPad. Here are some items that can make the case for the Windows 8 tablets arena.

Legacy compatibility

The ability to run older Windows applications (for x86 tablets, not ARM) is huge. A lot of users of the Windows tablet are comfortable with it because it runs older applications, like Microsoft Office.

Enterprise Engagement

Microsoft is making an effort to have one operating system for mobile phones, tablets, and PC’s. That’s a relief because compared to Android that has multiple variants, the Microsoft way can establish a unified system for corporate/personal users.

True keyboard/mouse compatibility

Another thing that stands out is that other tablets from Apple or Google, don’t do well with mouse or keyboard connectivity. The iPad doesn’t handle the mouse, and Android can but to a limited extent. However, Microsoft tablets can do the job well. Now with the newer OS and an engaging user interface, that can change users views.

Apps

Microsoft still has a ways to go to catch up to Apple or Google in this area, but in 2012, they could have their own app library that could compete with the others.

Windows 8, could be a salvation for Microsoft in both the mobile phone and the tablet market. At least it could offer Microsoft a better and alternative way to deal with those other competitors.

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Still wondering if Microsoft will cut down on the number of Windows 8 editions that the company will make available when the full version gets released later this year? Worry no more, we have all the information that you need.

If you search the Registry of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview version, you will find a listing of all the different versions that Microsoft intends to release. But first, let me explain how you can access the information in your version of Windows 8.

Open the Windows Registry Editor first. If you are on the desktop, use Windows-R to bring up the run box, enter regedit in there and tap on the return key. Select yes if an UAC prompt comes up. If you are in the Metro interface, type regedit, hit enter and select Yes in the UAC prompt.

Now navigate to the following Registry key:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionComponent Based ServicingPackageIndexProduct

The Registry key lists the following Windows 8 editions:

• Microsoft Windows Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Windows Enterprise Eval Edition
• Microsoft Windows Home Basic Edition
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium Edition
• Microsoft Windows Prerelease ARM Edition
• Microsoft Windows Prerelease Edition
• Microsoft Windows Professional Plus Edition
• Microsoft Windows Starter Edition
• Microsoft Windows Ultimate Edition

The majority of editions are identical to Windows 7. Only the ARM edition appears to be new. The Eval and Prerelease editions appear to be for testing purposes only. (via Caschy’s Blog)

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Downloads can be a rough indicator of the popularity of a particular product. If a company can report a lot of downloads, or even better, more downloads than for a previous version of the product, then it is generally assumed that the product is in higher demand than the last. We unfortunately do not have download information about Microsoft’s previous product, Windows 7 Beta.

The Redmond company yesterday posted a message on Twitter stating that the Windows 8 Consumer Preview has been downloaded more than one million times since its release less than a day ago.

It is a big milestone and Microsoft seems proud enough about it to post a public message on Twitter to announce it.

If you look back to the days of the first Windows 7 Beta, you may remember that servers were  hammered with requests back then and that Microsoft had to extend the beta download period so that everyone could download it. Initially designed for 2.5 million users, the limit was removed as well.

The situation may not be comparable though for a number of reasons. Microsoft may have invested heavily in their server infrastructure in last years, especially with their move to the cloud. Servers may have additional capacities which may be the reason why there were not reports of slow downloads or hammered servers.

Everyone was waiting for Windows 7 back then, as Vista had a bad image, and XP was still good but quiet old at that time. With Windows 7 being such a success, many users might not feel the need to switch just yet to another operating system.

Still, one million downloads is a solid number for an operating system that is not as well received as Windows 7 was back in 2009.

Have you downloaded Windows 8 yet? Or are you waiting for the release candidate or final build, or skipping this version of Windows?

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Microsoft seems to be receiving a much-needed and much-deserved stock bump from its Windows 8 announcements and release yesterday in Barcelona. The new operating system from Microsoft is a bold bet and major transition for the company that many believed to be stagnant in the new touchscreen computing world. The current stock price for Microsoft is 32.29 and is expected to hit at least $36 very soon on the positive release of the first beta of Windows 8.

The new version of Microsoft Windows, Windows 8, is receiving very positive reviews from most tech journalists and blogs. More importantly, for Microsoft, the build that was released to the public dubbed “Consumer Preview” is very stable and looks to be nearly complete with some minor tweaking and bug fixes certainly yet to come. This means that Microsoft could conceivably have a Windows 8 release in mid-2012, beating most estimates.

Microsoft expects Windows 8 to beat even the incredible sales of the current-generation OS, Windows 7, which has sold approximately 550 million licenses to date.

Source: Forbes

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For some unknown reason Microsoft decided not to do a live webcast for their event yesterday when they unveiled the Windows 8 consumer preview. Microsoft normally have a live webcast so if you weren’t lucky enough to be at the keynote in Barcelona yesterday you had to rely on the tech news sites live blogging from the event.

But just in case you were hiding under a rock for the last 24hrs and you haven’t actually heard about everything that happened at the keynote yesterday, you can now go and watch it for yourself online.

Microsoft have now posted a video of the whole keynote over at their news center. The 90 minute long keynote is there available to stream or download (at 688mb).

Microsoft have also posted a few demo clips of specific sections of the keynote which are much shorter. Much handier if you only want to look at a certain part of the keynote. They cover topics such as

• Announcement of the consumer preview
• The new start screen
• Using a mouse and keyboard
• New hardware

They also link to a further 3 videos on YouTube which includes a flashy introduction for Windows 8 as well as a longer more detailed demo of Windows 8. I’ve embedded them both below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aebfjzdLxJA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDYQmQ-phX8

Source:

Microsoft News Room

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Yesterday the Windows 8 Consumer Preview (beta) was released, so I am going to give you my first impressions of the software.

The Installation

After the download, I went to a Dell Vostro 200 and commenced with the installation. This machine has 4 Gig of Ram and a 100 Gig Hard Drive. It already had Windows 7 Installed on it. So when the installation began, with a ISO file, it asked a few questions about getting ready, and then it was preparing the computer for the new configuration. This part took about 10 minutes. The screen had a new interface, and a rotating circle of dots, which basically told you that it was not stuck or jammed. But my first impression of the process was to be patient. So I was.

The system did a reboot, and continued to install the system. I noticed that it did not ask to create a new partition, or if I wanted to update my existing operating system; it just did the installation.

After about an hour, yes, an hour, the installation was complete, and the computer rebooted.

When it came up the fish icon screen came up. You can tell that it is beta because it wasn’t even a classy or showy icon, but that can get fixed.

Metro

I also notice that some of my icons from the Windows7 configuration are on the screen. I press the Microsoft key on the keyboard (between the ctrl key and the alt key on the left side.) Ok, so now I see metro in its full glory. But where is the start button? How do I get to my applications?

Then I right clicked on the screen and a ribbon appeared on the bottom with the word “All Apps” at the left side. So I clicked that and I found this:

But there were so many icons, that another ribbon appeared at the bottom so I could drag it to the right to see the rest of the icons. All told there were about 50, and did not fit into the screen. So after I dragged the arrow across the screen I saw the rest.

I also noticed that all of my programs were still there; they hadn’t been changed or modified. Then I realized that part of the installation process was to make Windows8 backwards compatible so that users would not have concern about their current data. Clever.

How this will play out on the real version is unclear. In my case, there was room to put the new OS, but what about a new computer and a clean install, how will that work? We’ll have to wait and see. Also, the new software programs that will be installed, will that be the same as in the older systems? My guess that it is the same, but I’ll be checking that out in the days ahead.

If you are familiar with smartphone Apps, or tablets with Apps, then Metro shouldn’t be difficult to use.

I also noticed that when I tried to run Microsoft word on the system it wanted an activation key, when I clicked cancel, my document opened, but I was unable to edit it, just view it.

So after an initial sitting here is what I’ve seen: The installation may take too much time, but it preserves your current settings so, it’s a plus. Metro may take some time to get used to and you have to use the Microsoft key on your keyboard. Again, that is not a game killer. Then again, I’ll be reporting on other changes as I start to use it. But so far so good. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

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Well it’s here. Microsoft is at the Barcelona Spain for the Mobile World Congress, and it is bringing out the Windows 8 big guns. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is available.

Yes, Windows 8. The next OS version that is expected to make big changes to the computer PC market because the OS is different. So what is supposed to come out?

First the download of the Consumer preview (beta) is available. If you are anxious to test the OS, you can download it here. You can also download the Visual Studio “11” for developing programs for Windows 8 because that is also available today.

Is ARM ready to go?

Not at this time. That is because ARM is a hardware element, which will be part of the Windows 8 on ARM. Since the hardware has to be developed by manufacturers, Microsoft instead is focusing only on the software side now. These manufacturers are by invitation only. And it remains to be seen whether there will be demonstrations of the ARM side. But to download it, no that is not available today.

What Changes are expected?

Aside from the GUI interface, which has drawn a lot of attention, there is the touch screen feature, but most importantly, is how it will work with existing Laptops and PC’s. This is important, because notwithstanding the expected new development in hardware to match the software, if the OS doesn’t work well on existing units, then it’s a bomb now not later.

If everything is alright, is this the final deployment?

That’s hard to say. This is called beta because Microsoft expects to make further tweaks and changes to the system. However, it is also true that the core foundation will not change, meaning that the cake is baked, but there may need to be changes to the icing. That said, the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) should be out soon, with a release to the public by the 3^rd or 4^th quarter, 2012.

Source: Microsoft

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Guess what! With the official unveiling of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview less than an hour away, Win8China have leaked all the new wallpapers and lockscreens in the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 to us. I know I covered a story yesterday on this, but we didn’t have as many wallpapers then.

Chances are you will all be able to see these wallpapers for yourself later on today when you Download Windows 8, ,but here’s a teaser to what you’ll see.

Here’s the gallery of lockscreens

[Show as slideshow]

And Here’s the gallery of Wallpapers

[Show as slideshow]

12►

You can download all the Lockscreens and Wallpapers from the link below

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Wallpapers and Lockscreens

Download

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Microsoft has released the Windows 8 Consumer Preview Product Guide for Business in time before the public release of the new preview version of Windows 8 later today. The pdf document highlights some of the new – and some of the old – features that Windows offers for businesses around the globe.

The guide covers the new Start Screen and touch experience, Internet Explorer 10, new mobile productivity features, end-to-end security and unified management across devices.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview Product Guide for Business provides a detailed look at the many new and improved features in Windows 8. The guide is designed as an accurate source of information that can help businesses understand how Windows 8 enables users to be ready and productive practically anywhere, allows for a personalized user experience, and provides IT with more secure, easy-to-manage intelligent infrastructure.

The guide offers a quick summary for interested users who have not followed the development process closely up to this point. Users who did won’t find new information or features that have not been talked about before. It is a good read even for home users, as it covers both home and business related topics.

Growing mobility and consumerization trends pressure IT professionals to provide users with secure access to a corporate operating system and apps in situations when a device or network is out of the IT department’s control. Windows 8 includes the ability to provide users with a full corporate copy of Windows (along with user’s business apps, data, and settings) on a USB storage device. When users insert their device into any Windows 7 or Windows 8 compatible PC and restart the PC, they get their entire personal environment, and operate as a fully managed device. When they sign out, they can remove the USB device, and it is ready to use on another PC

The guide should not be confused with a user manual though, as it is to short for that and does not cover installation of the operating system or configuration options.

It is likely that Microsoft will release a Windows 8 Consumer Preview guide with today’s release, as it has done with the Developer Preview release.

You can grab your copy of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview Product Guide for Business from Microsoft’s Download Center.

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After taking the forums offline for a much needed update, we are happy to announce the Windows 8 Forums relaunch just in time for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.  The forum is a great place to talk to other readers and to draw upon our community for any help you might need.

The forums are fully integrated into the site, making access easy.  To visit the forums, just click on one of the links in the header or the sidebar. Registering is just as easy – you can connect your facebook account or you can create a fresh account with this site.

We hope to see you in the forums soon!

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There’s not long to go now, in about 24 hours time, Microsoft will be officially unveiling the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 in Barcelona tomorrow. Microsoft have interestingly decided to reveal Windows 8 at the Mobile World Congress which is currently under way there. This really goes to show Microsoft’s dedication to pushing out Windows 8 to portable devices like tablets instead of the traditional PC set up.

I know that we will all be able to get our hands on the consumer preview pretty soon, but there’s been a few leaks popping up on the web recently from people who’ve managed to get their hands on it sooner than others. Apparently the Consumer Preview has been uploaded to Microsoft’s servers over the last few days.

I’m sure we will probably find that there is plenty of wallpapers that will be available in the consumer preview.

Another interesting screenshot I came across is of the icon for the hard drive. As you can see below, it appears to have the new Windows 8 Logo on top of the hard drive icon. My reckoning is that Microsoft will display the Windows 8 logo on the drive which has the actual Windows 8 OS installed on it, I can’t see them placing this logo on all the drives connected to your computer if you have more than one.

Well there’s just a few teasers for you now to get you in the mood for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Hopefully from tomorrow you will get to see a lot more screenshots as well as be able to install the Consumer Preview yourself.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview 64-bit (x64) (English)

Download

Windows 8 Consumer Preview 32-bit (x86) (English)

Download

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It used to be that Bell Labs, in New Jersey, was one of the  premier scientific research labs in the US. After all, Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone started the Volta Lab, which later became the Bell Laboratory. One of their most prestigious inventions came in 1948, the transistor, which now appears in every electronic device in the world. But now, Microsoft may be the company that is pushing the boundaries of new technology.

Microsoft TechForum

At the Techforum exhibition, new technologies were presented that have a certain Star Trek feel to them, meaning that you don’t have to wait for the 23 century to see the future.

The holoflector is a device where graphics are superimposed on your reflection to create an extended reality experience.

Behind the screen overlays utilizes a transparent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display with view-dependent and depth-corrected gaze to manipulate virtual objects on screen.

Display changes using Seeing Display This format uses flat lenses to see through a semi-transparent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) to enable novel above-screen gesture and scanning interactions.

Lifebrowser builds a timeline around landmarks like appointments, photos and computing activities, which enables people to search and retrieve associated content. It manages machine learning and reasoning to help people navigate through large stores of information to access “memory landmarks” – events and activities that people would find important.

The Translator Hub enables language communities and others to create automatic translation systems.

[Show as slideshow]

12►

You have a meeting with participants in different cities. One person writes on a board, but everyone else takes notes. But IllumiShare enables people to remotely share any physical or digital object on any surface. People can sketch together using real ink and paper, remote meeting attendees can interact with conference room whiteboards, and children can have remote play dates in which they play with real toys. Illumishare also integrates Skype video chatting.

3D Telepresence provides a glassless 3D display that enables correct camera pose and view pose for a live view-dependent 3D Window Telepresence experience.

So how do you measure time? This may be one of physics biggest problems but it is also one for evolutionary biologists, historians, anthropologists, astronomers, you name it; anyone that needs to show time frames knows the difficulty. ChronoZoom will enable transitioning between scales of one year to billions of years, putting historical episodes in context, comparing vast amounts of time-related data across different fields and disciplines.

Marketing operations…so you want to open a new retail shop, where do you put it? You can use a large-scale display to overlay multiple sources of data and information to help him decide the best location to open a new retail shop.

Want to see a concert? How about a sports event? You can use Bing to search for and purchase game or concert tickets directly.

From these examples, Microsoft shows that their R&D is not just about software and operating systems. In fact, some of these examples, may portend a new company that makes some of these products. With the changing focus to Xbox, Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Mouse, and embedded systems, Microsoft may be planning a new direction, the way Apple went from PC’s to tables and mobile phones. They won’t abandon software, but they may be ready to make a transition to another type of company, not just a company product. They may create a new company that does hardware.

With multiple technologies available and still more on the drawing board, Microsoft could be the 21^st technical innovator that could lead many other companies into Star Trek territory.

You hear that Spock?

Yes Captain I heard that.

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft’s Techforum Shows Off New Technologies was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

The “Live” brand name has been running throughout Windows for quite some time now, but it looks like Microsoft are getting ready to remove the branding from Windows as it attempts to unify it’s software across the board.

Currently the Live name covers many products such as Messenger, Photos, Mail and more. However in Windows 8 these services are going to be bundled applications with a native Metro UI look as well as simpler names. Mail will replace Windows Live Mail, Photos will replace Windows Live Photo Gallery and so on. The new apps will be tightly integrated into Windows and still retain all the cross functionality that we’ve seen to date. They will all now be unified by one single “Microsoft Account” to make things easier to manage.

A similar story has been happening with Microsoft’s Zune branding as of late as well. While Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7 owe much of their characteristics to Zune, Microsoft is quietly putting that brand to bed. Zune is now going to be replaced by Xbox Live as the main entertainment centre for Windows 8. Microsoft are still going to be retaining to Live name here as the Xbox Live branding has become a very strong image for Microsoft’s entertainment division.

One product which we haven’t really heard too much about is Windows Live Messenger. A few people reckon that Microsoft are going to look at integrating that it Skype and incorporate that into Windows instead of having a stand alone Live Messenger program which pretty much does the exact same thing that Skype does.

This is a big branding shake up for Microsoft, probably the biggest they’ve ever done, and while I’m sure it’s going to be quite tricky to get it done properly, I say the vast majority of people will be glad that Microsoft is unifying everything under a single brand. It just makes things easier for everyone involved.

What do you think of this big branding shake up?

Let us know in the comments.

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Just before all the expected hype around the arrival of Windows 8 Beta (Consumer Preview) occurs I thought I’d report on an innovation from Australia’s telecom communication giant that will impact on Australian users of the Internet. Big Pond is Australia’s largest provider of ADSL, Cable and Wireless broadband services providing both ADSL and cable technology at various speeds ranging from 256kbps to 30,000kbps.

This innovation involves the Telstra‘s T-Box. The Telstra T-BOX is a device allowing you to integrate Internet and free-to-air entertainment on your TV, so you can watch what you want, when you’re ready to watch. It is available when you subscribe to a BigPond® Broadband service.

It allows you to access the following features –

• Movie rentals from BigPond® Movies
• On screen Electronic Program TV Guide, seven days in advance
• All recording features for free-to-air programs via My Recordings including Series Record
• BigPond TV channels such as V8, AFL, NRL, Racing, Music, News and Sport
• FOXTEL on T-Box if you are eligible
• BigPond® Videos
• Applications such as YouTube® videos, AFL and NRL Game Analyser, BigPond Games and Picasa.

Telstra's T-Box

The recent addition of My Media to the T-Box allows you to access photos, music and video files directly via the wireless link to your home computer.

How can I use My Media?

To do this you use your T-Box. You have two options –

• Connect a compatible USB Stick or portable hard drive containiing your media files via the USB port, front or rear
  

  USB Access on T-Box

or

• Connect your compatible PC through Windows Media Player to view selected content via your Big Pond Network

Note: It is important to ensure your Home PC is connected to the same network as your T-Box.

Before you get started, please ensure:

1.    Your home computer is running Windows 7 with Windows Media Player 12 installed.

2.     

3.     

Media Folders on Windows Media Player

4.     

5.     

1.     

2.     

3.     

 

 

4.     

 

Choosing Media Type

5.     

6.     

Music Folders

<7.      Scroll through the music clips and click to play.

Music Clips

Toolbar

Back button to revert to the previous screen.

• OK button in the remote to play the clip.
• blue button on the remote to revert to Home your entry point to My Media.

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/25/big-pond-thinks-big/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/24/microsoft-nix-zune-branding-summer-2012/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/24/microsoft-nix-zune-branding-summer-2012/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:22:59 +0000 Jason Lefevers http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22863

Posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes

Microsoft looks to be removing all Zune branding in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Is this the end of the Zune brand?

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It seems Microsoft is finally beginning to phase out the Zune branding, but not services, which would confirm a long-held position of the SuperSite’s Paul Thurrott that Microsoft was getting rid of all things Zune.

Microsoft has been less-than-clear on what their intentions are with the brand, however, they have said that the services are here to stay, which means that we will simply have a new name to go by. Rumors peg the new name to be something along the lines of “Xbox Music” or “Xbox LIVE Music”, but nothing has been confirmed by Microsoft.

These new rumors are based on the screenshots of the Windows Store in the upcoming Windows 8 Consumer Preview. The Zune branding seems to be found nowhere, replaced with more generic terms like “Music” and “Video”. We had also heard rumors about the Zune PC client being scrapped, based on a PocketNow leak of Windows Phone 8 information a few weeks back. Also of note is that the term “Windows Live ID” is rumored to be changed to “Microsoft Account” as reported by Tom Warren of The Verge.

Edit: Raphael Rivera is reporting that Microsoft’s Your Account is simply a rebranded service which aggregates a users Microsoft IDs and accounts.

As a long time Zune user, it’s a shame to see Microsoft going away from the branding. Zune was often a joke in the tech world, being labeled as a failure, due in large part to a non-existent marketing campaign. Microsoft seems to be going all-out in their overhaul of their products and services and the consolidation of their Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox brands is hopefully a move to create a more unified, recognizable ecosystem.

Source: TheVerge

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/24/microsoft-nix-zune-branding-summer-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/24/windows-8-edition-names-revealed-hp/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/24/windows-8-edition-names-revealed-hp/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:42:49 +0000 Martin Brinkmann http://www.windows8news.com/?p=2315

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Up until today we did not know how Microsoft would name the editions of the Windows 8 operating system. Heck, we still do not know if Windows 8 will be…

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Up until today we did not know how Microsoft would name the editions of the Windows 8 operating system. Heck, we still do not know if Windows 8 will be the name that the operating system will ship with in the second half of the year.

While it was likely that Microsoft would keep some of the names, history has shown that the company likes to make changes to edition names. If you look at the editions of Vista and compare those to Windows 7, you will notice several changes, for instance that Vista Business became Windows 7 Professional.

ZDnet’s Stephen Chapman noticed that a HP Alcor Micro Smart Card Reader Driver support page listed all the operating systems the product was compatible with. Included in the list were three Windows 8 editions.

Microsoft Windows 8 32 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 64 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise 32 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise 64 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 32 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64 Edition

If the information are correct, Windows 8 will keep two edition names -Professional and Enterprise-, and change a a third. Windows 7 Home Premium turns in Windows 8.

• Windows 7 Home Premium –> Windows 8
• Windows 7 Professional –> Windows 8 Professional
• Windows 7 Enterprise –> Windows 8 Enterprise

What about the Ultimate, Starter and Home Basic editions? Microsoft could have made the decision to drop some of the editions to reduce customer confusion. It could also be that the HP product is just not compatible with those editions, or that Microsoft has not yet told HP about those editions.

This listing furthermore does not reveal anything about the ARM versions of the Windows 8 operating system. It looks as if the ARM versions will use the same naming conventions as the 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

What’s your take here? Do you think that those three editions are the only ones, or will there be more?

Windows 8 Edition Names Revealed by HP was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/24/windows-8-edition-names-revealed-hp/feed/ 4 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/ie10-automatically-detect-apps-site/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/ie10-automatically-detect-apps-site/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:09:19 +0000 Martin Brinkmann http://www.windows8news.com/?p=2299

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Microsoft in a new blog post at the Windows Store for developers website have revealed additional details about how apps discovery works for users of the operating system. Russell Wolf,…

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Microsoft in a new blog post at the Windows Store for developers website have revealed additional details about how apps discovery works for users of the operating system. Russell Wolf, a program manager on the Store Services team, describes the features that developers have at their disposal to improve the visibility of their app on the web.

All Windows 8 apps receive a web listing automatically when they are added to the store. This listing is automatically created for all markets and languages the app is available in. The core benefit of this listing is that it is easy to link to on the web. That’s good for developers who may want to link directly to their apps from their own websites or social networking sites, users who would like to read more about an app, and journalists and reviewers who like to review these kind of programs.

Windows 8 users furthermore will see a View in Windows Store button on app listing pages that is taking them directly to the store in their operating system from where they can install the app.

This feature is currently supported by Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari, with the likelihood that other browser vendors will add support for the Windows 8 protocols as well.

The apps’ web listing displays all the information that the developer has added during the submission process. This includes the description, price as well as user ratings and a screenshot of it.

Microsoft furthermore has added an app discovery feature to Internet Explorer on Windows 8. Developers need to add metadata to their site’s header to make the browser automatically aware of apps that are available in the Windows 8 app store.

<meta name=”msApplication-ID” content=”Contoso.Labyrinth”/>

<meta name=”msApplication-PackageFamilyName” content=”Contoso.Labyrinth_h91ms92gdsmmt”/>

You can find the msApplication-ID in Visual Studio (it’s the ID in the Application tag when viewing the code of your package.appxmanifest file), and the msApplication-PackageFamilyName is the same Package Family Name that we retrieved above from either Visual Studio or from the source code of your web-based listing.

Both the availability of the Windows Store on the web, and the app discovery feature of Internet Explorer are great additions to the operating system. What’s your take?

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/ie10-automatically-detect-apps-site/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/windows-8-add-14-languages-including-uk-english/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/windows-8-add-14-languages-including-uk-english/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:30:18 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=2258

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Microsoft explained that they are adding an additional 14 new languages to Windows 8 which brings the total number to "a market leading" 109. Microsoft are also going to include UK English in Windows 8 as well. With these additional languages, Microsoft hopes to cater for over 4.5 billion people.

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Currently Windows 7 supports an impressive 95 different languages, but with Windows 8 Microsoft are looking to improve on that again.In a post on the building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft explained that they are adding an additional 14 new languages to Windows 8 which brings the total number to “a market leading” 109. Microsoft are also going to include UK English in Windows 8 as well. With these additional languages, Microsoft hopes to cater for over 4.5 billion people.

It’s great that Microsoft are adding these new language packs, however this isn’t the biggest change that they are making. Users will be able to switch between all the different language packs, quickly and easily. There will be one central control panel which will let you easily see which LIP (Language Interface Packs) are available for your machine and then you’ll be able to download the ones that you need.

You’ll then be able to easily select the language your prefer to use and set it as your primary language. If you want to change to another language at any time this isn’t a problem either. Microsoft have also given you the option of choosing a different input language. They used the example of selecting Hindi as the preferred language, and Hindi Traditional as the preferred input language. This allows workers to have a work environment customized to their native language while they are logged in, while still allowing others to use the device with their preferences as well.

The addition of the UK English means that Windows 8 will be more localised for the likes of Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand who use UK English instead of the traditional US English.

Microsoft have added languages which are specific to emerging markets which have seen great growth in PC usage over the last number of years

This set of languages includes language coverage for emerging markets that are experiencing great growth in PC usage:Punjabi (Pakistan), Sindhi (Pakistan), Central Kurdish (Iraq), Uyghur (People’s Republic of China), Belarusian (Belarus), Kinyarwanda (Rwanda), Tigrinya (Ethiopia), Tajik (Tajikistan), Wolof (Senegal), Kiche (Guatemala); and a few languages that are preferred by groups of customers in developed markets:Cherokee (United States), Scottish Gaelic (United Kingdom), Valencian (Spain).

It’s good that Windows 8 will provide more language packs than ever, but also that it will be easy to switch between languages easily and quickly.

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/windows-8-add-14-languages-including-uk-english/feed/ 1 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/onlive-pushes-windows-7-ipad/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/onlive-pushes-windows-7-ipad/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:32:19 +0000 Jason Lefevers http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22823

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OnLive seeks to bring their cloud computing experience to enable iPad users a decent way to access the Windows 7 desktop and apps on their tablet device.

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For many users, having a separate tablet and a PC experience might be enough. They can do their serious work on their Windows desktop or laptop and then when on-the-go, they can use some sort of tablet device for email, browsing and less-demanding computing tasks. For others, they would prefer to have their cake and eat it to, so to speak. And until Microsoft begins releasing their “no compromise” Windows 8 solution we’ll have to make due with what we have.

Solutions to bring the Windows desktop to devices like the iPad have been around for quite some time and have always seemed a bit slow and often clunky. OnLive seeks to remedy that with their latest offer to bring the desktop to your iPad tablet with their OnLive Desktop solutions.

OnLive became famous for their ability to bring cloud gaming to the masses. Essentially doing all the work up in the cloud on their servers, OnLive is able to provide users with a small, gateway device to access their gaming content. The company has taken this philosophy and applied their approach and experience to desktop computing.

There are currently two options for users: a free option, dubbed OnLive Desktop, features the ability to push the Windows desktop to your iPad along with access to popular Office applications. The free version comes with the ability to sync documents back and forth to your 2GB of free storage. The paid version, OnLive Desktop Plus, comes with a $5 per month subscription fee that brings a 1GB connection speed and adds Flash player support.

OnLive plans to expand their services with a pro version of the service for $10 a month which will give users access to 50GB of storage and the ability to install any Windows application. The expanded program is also coming to Android devices, iPhones, PCs and Macs. No word on whether Windows Phone will eventually be compatible, although if Microsoft truly integrates Windows Phone and Windows 8 together it may be unnecessary. 

Source: OnLive

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/onlive-pushes-windows-7-ipad/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/hp-readies-windows-8-devices/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/hp-readies-windows-8-devices/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:18:03 +0000 George Garza http://www.windows8news.com/?p=2018

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HP is moving ahead in getting Windows 8 products ready for the 2012 holidays. According to CEO Meg Whitman, “We have a product line lined up in Personal Systems Group…

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HP is moving ahead in getting Windows 8 products ready for the 2012 holidays. According to CEO Meg Whitman, “We have a product line lined up in Personal Systems Group on Windows on X86. We believe we’re going to be well-positioned for holidays on Window 8 x86.

No mention of ARM was made. So how an x86 Windows 8 implementation will work is not clear. ARM, after all, is supposed to be the chip that removes legacy operations. X86 is legacy, going back almost 30 years.

Another item that is in question are the hard drives that continue to be short of. Earlier, the hard disk drive shortage had a significant impact on HP revenue in Q1. And apparently this has affected the entire industry, not just HP, as the supply of hard drives was about 30 percent below expected demand. Consequently, HP was forced to ship servers that were not as highly configured as they would like because of this shortage.

Which brings us back toWindows 8. Since the new technology is as much about hardware as it is about software, then other manufacturers are bound to feel the same constraints. With new motherboards in the offing, this means that new hardware components will also be redesigned and also their corresponding drivers as well. So if there is going to be a viable Windows 8 operating system released by Q4, then there already is a lot of activity to make that happen.

Much rests on how dynamic Microsoft has been with the 3^rd party hardware producers, i.e., giving them the appropriate technical specs to allow them to patch their systems to Windows 8. But this means that Windows 8 must be in the final stages. The core must be ready, or it has been for at least a year. The UI area is probably the icing on the cake, and that may still be changing. If the core is still in the design phase, then this does not speak well for Windows 8. It will be a failure like Vista was.

 

Source: CNET

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/23/hp-readies-windows-8-devices/feed/ 3 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/22/windows-7-themes-dark-skies/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/22/windows-7-themes-dark-skies/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:10:11 +0000 George Garza http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22807

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Earlier this month, Microsoft talked about how Hotmail was revived as an alternative to Google’s Gmail. Privacy issues abound, and there is ad domination. But Microsoft also now has released…

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Earlier this month, Microsoft talked about how Hotmail was revived as an alternative to Google’s Gmail. Privacy issues abound, and there is ad domination. But Microsoft also now has released some information about how successful people have become in eliminating greymail from their e-mail collection.

What is Graymail?

Simply, it is junk e-mail that you get on a daily basis. They are messages like newsletters, daily deals, and notifications, which fill up inboxes all over the world. Newsletters alone may make up more than 50% of a person’s email.

The Hotmail Solution

Getting rid of the graymail can be annoying and sometimes time consuming. But Hotmail has a way to eliminate them. Hotmail’s has a newsletter category that automatically identifies most newsletters and lets you see them all in one place with a single click. You can click unsubscribe in one click and it lets you get rid of unwanted newsletters instantly.

Another feature, Schedule Cleanup  lets you automatically manage bulk mail. With Schedule Cleanup, you can keep only the latest message from a given sender. You can also delete messages as they get old (3 days, 10 days, 30 days, or 60 days). You can also move messages to a folder as they get old.

Then there is Sweep. Do you want to control the e-mail that is coming in?  Well Sweep lets you move or delete unwanted graymail quickly. You can even automatically set up rules for managing new mail as it arrives.

Finally, Categories lets you organize your mail the way you want. What way is that? Well, Hotmail can automatically categorize things like newsletters, social updates, photos, Office docs and shipping updates. But you can also create your own categories and have each one show up as a QuickView.

Recent Uses

Since last November 2011, Hotmail users have performed over 100 million actions to control or eliminate graymail. With the size of the graymail deletion the results makes it imperative that users recognize that there are other e-mail products that don’t compete with Hotmail. Try it.

 

Source: Inside Windows Live

See Also: Hotmail

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/22/windows-7-themes-dark-skies/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/microsoft-extends-support-windows-7/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/microsoft-extends-support-windows-7/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:01:07 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22622

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Microsoft have been pretty clear with their support policies when it comes to Windows.But now Microsoft have changed their mind and extended support for both Windows 7 and Windows Vista consumer editions to 10 years as well

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Microsoft have been pretty clear with their support policies when it comes to Windows. The general rule that they’ve followed is that consumer editions of Windows get 5 years support, while business versions get an extended 5 years on top of that. This would mean that Windows Vista will be losing support for consumers on April 10, 2012 and Windows 7 on January 13th, 2015.

But now Microsoft have changed their mind and extended support for both Windows 7 and Windows Vista consumer editions to 10 years as well. Microsoft did not make a whole lot of noise about this change and it was only brought to light recently when Ed Bott uncovered details of the change on the Microsoft Japan page.

However what’s still confusing is that Microsoft haven’t actually updated the details on their US website. If you go to look up a products life cycle information such as Windows 7 is still has the old support expiry dates. Maybe Microsoft just haven’t got around to updating that as of yet.

Fear not though as they have confirmed with Zdnet by email that this policy change is correct.

Microsoft is updating the Support Lifecycle policy for Windows desktop operating systems, including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

The update will provide a more consistent and predictable experience for customers using  Microsoft Windows operating systems across OEM, consumer and business editions.

Microsoft still requires that customers have the most current Service Pack installed in order to continue to receive updates.

Through this update, customers who remain on the most current supported service pack will be eligible to receive both Mainstream and Extended Support, for a total of 10 years. 

So the new support expiry dates are as follows:

Windows XP   4/8/2014

Windows Vista   4/11/2017

Windows 7   1/14/2020

 

This is good news for everyone really and it’s good to see that Microsoft are willing to continue to support its older operating systems even with Windows 8 coming out.

Source:

Zdnet

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/microsoft-extends-support-windows-7/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/skydrive-integration-coming-windows-vista-7-8/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/skydrive-integration-coming-windows-vista-7-8/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:37:29 +0000 Jason Lefevers http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22616

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Microsoft has detailed the upcoming integration with SkyDrive into current and future Windows versions, which includes a SkyDrive app for Widnows 7 and Vista.

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Many Windows users who partake in Microsoft’s free cloud storage service, SkyDrive, have always found it odd that the software company did not make it easier to access those cloud-stored files directly from the desktop. There are third-party ways of doing this, but it has always seemed like integration that should be included from the box.

In a post on the Building Windows 8 blog, program managers on the Windows 8 team, Mike Torres and Omar Shahine, have detailed the upcoming integration with the SkyDrive cloud service and their new Windows 8 OS set to beta any day now. In this post about the new SkyDrive integration are some tidbits about the upcoming integration in previous and current versions of Windows, Vista and Windows 7. Here’s what the post had to say:

“We’ve consistently heard from our most loyal customers that you want SkyDrive on the desktop, and we’re happy to announce that we will be releasing a desktop app”…”The benefits are obvious: easy drag-and-drop upload and download support for SkyDrive, anywhere access to your data, offline access, and the power of Windows Explorer to manage your files and folders. All of these things will be available with SkyDrive on the desktop.”

If you’ve ever used a Windows Phone and have switched devices for whatever reason then the implications of the desktop app will be very obvious. Let’s say you have a massive picture collection which currently takes up many gigs of local storage on your PC. You can simply upload them to SkyDrive as photo albums and access them anytime, anywhere you have a PC with a web connection. Upload them once, access them anywhere.

Of course, the SkyDrive integration in Windows 8 is going to be much better and weaved throughout the OS as a standard, but the addition of a SkyDrive desktop app for Vista and Windows 7 should make it a bit easier to future-proof yourself and merge your information over to the cloud. You can read more about the SkyDrive integration as well as other Windows 8 news over at Windows8News.com.

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/skydrive-integration-coming-windows-vista-7-8/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/windows-8-skydrive-integration/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/windows-8-skydrive-integration/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:33:02 +0000 Martin Brinkmann http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1940

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Ever since Windows 8 was announced for the first time, we heard rumors about cloud data synchronization options built-into the operating system. Microsoft later on confirmed that Windows 8 users…

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Ever since Windows 8 was announced for the first time, we heard rumors about cloud data synchronization options built-into the operating system. Microsoft later on confirmed that Windows 8 users would be able to sync some of their data and customizations with the cloud, so that these would become available on all Windows 8 systems the user had access to.

Today, in a new blog post over at the Building Windows 8 blog, the company revealed how it intended to integrate the feature in the operating system.

SkyDrive, Microsoft’s online storage and document editing service, will be used for that, and a lot more. The blog post reveals three major features that Microsoft plans to integrate into Windows 8. Best of all, we will see at least some of them in the upcoming Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

• SkyDrive Metro style app on Windows 8
• SkyDrive files integrated into Windows Explorer on the desktop
• The ability to fetch remote files through SkyDrive.com

If you are in a hurry, watch the four minute long video that highlights the features:

SkyDrive Metro style app on Windows 8

This is the synchronization feature we heard about earlier. But that’s far from all of it. When you log in with an online account, Microsoft will automatically check the connected SkyDrive account for Windows 8 and personal data that was synchronized earlier on with the service. It will then automatically make available those files and customization on the current computer.

This includes personalization options, the browsing history and settings, among other data. Windows 8 users are also able to see photos, and access documents that they have hosted in the cloud.

Inside Microsoft, we’ve all been using Windows 8 on multiple PCs for some time now. We clean install Windows 8 on a new PC and sign in, and all of our settings, browser history, and customizations just show up. In addition, one of the most important steps we take to make a new PC “ours” is to copy over our personal files – like documents and photos. With Windows 8, we wanted to make sure that your files would be instantly available and up-to-date as you move between PCs – without configuring add-ons or using a USB drive.

SkyDrive will also become available for other Metro style apps that feature a load and save files option, and the new Share charm. Microsoft notes that this brings the “file cloud” to every Metro app supporting the feature.

SkyDrive files integrated into Windows Explorer on the desktop

Microsoft plans to release a desktop software for Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. This application integrates SkyDrive into Windows Explorer in very much the same way that the Dropbox installer integrates the file synchronization service currently.

A root directory will be created in the user profile folder, and all files changes in that directory will be synchronized with the cloud. For this, Microsoft will increase the current maximum file size limit from 100 Megabytes to 2 Gigabytes.

Microsoft has not mentioned other figures yet. Current SkyDrive users get 25 Gigabytes of free online space.

Windows Vista and 7 users who plan to upgrade to Windows 8, or buy a new PC with the operating system, could use the SkyDrive feature to move all of their important files to the cloud to have them available on the new PC the second they log into the account there for the first time.

<The ability to fetch remote files through SkyDrive.com

Windows 8 users in addition to the features mentioned above, can access files remotely on other computer systems through SkyDrive. It is not clear if all systems need to run Windows 8 for this, or if only the active system needs to run the operating system. It is however likely that both the host and remote system need to run Windows 8.

The remote feature can be used to retrieve files from a system that are currently not stored in the cloud. This works only if the remote PC is up and connected to the Internet.

A 2-factor authentication via mobile phone code or email is used before connections can be established. This is done to prevent unauthorized access to files, for instance if a PC gets stolen or if someone manages to get access to a PC that is on and not monitored.

The SkyDrive integration in Windows 8 can improve the user experience significantly, especially for users who work with multiple PCs from time to time or regularly.

What’s your take on the integration? Lets discuss in the comments.

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/20/windows-8-skydrive-integration/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/19/microsoft-extends-windows-8-developer-preview-expiry-date/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/19/microsoft-extends-windows-8-developer-preview-expiry-date/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:56:52 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1937

Posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes

The Windows 8 Developer Preview build is set to expire on March 11, 2012 and Windows 8 Server preview on April 8, 2012. But now Microsoft have extended the expiry date.

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Microsoft released the first developers preview of Windows 8 back in September of 2011 and since then it’s had several million downloads from developers and keen tech enthusiasts looking to try out Microsoft’s latest operating system. However what most of you probably don’t know is that the Windows 8 Developer Preview build is set to expire on March 11, 2012 and Windows 8 Server preview on April 8, 2012.

This doesn’t really give you much time to update to the Windows 8 Consumer Preview which will more than likely be released on February 29th 2012. However 2 days ago Microsoft announced that they will now be extending the expiry date for the developer preview to January 15, 2013. That gives you plenty of time now to upgrade from the developer preview. Also the chances are that the full version of Windows 8 will be out on the market by then.

If for some reason you still want to use the developers preview edition of Windows 8 after March 11, you’ll have to update it via the Windows Update program. There’s an update available now which extends the expiry date for both Windows 8 and Windows Server 8 developer previews to January 2013.

14 days before your license is about to expire you will get notifications telling you “This pre-release version of Windows will expire soon. Go to Windows Activation to purchase and install a released version of Windows.”

Then once your license has expired Windows will restart every hour.

But somehow I don’t think that too many of you will be caught out by this and I’m sure you’ll all be upgrading to the Windows 8 consumer preview as soon as it comes out.

You can read Microsoft’s support post here

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/19/microsoft-extends-windows-8-developer-preview-expiry-date/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/19/pokeball-images-windows-7-wallpapers/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/19/pokeball-images-windows-7-wallpapers/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:38:38 +0000 George Garza http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22497

Posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes

PokeBall by the artist Wazzy. Here are 15 images to download. They are provocative and inspiring. What is a PokeBall? Start with a game, Pokemon. A Pokemon is an agent,…

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PokeBall by the artist Wazzy. Here are 15 images to download. They are provocative and inspiring.

What is a PokeBall?

Start with a game, Pokemon. A Pokemon is an agent, which must be stopped, but only a PokeBall can do it. The gameplay of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games involves the capture and training of a variety of fictional creatures called “Pokémon” and using them to battle other trainers.

A Pokeball  is a field item that is critical to a Trainer’s quest. A trainer is a person who catches, trains, cares for and battles with Pokémon. The majority of people within the known Pokémon world are Trainers. A PokeBall is a general term used to describe the variations available. And it is also a specific term to refer to the most basic among these field variations. Poké Balls are everywhere in the modern Pokémon world. Stylized Poké Balls are used in many places to symbolize Pokémon in general. Up to six Pokémon can be carried with a Trainer in Poké Balls, while any number of other Poké Balls can be held in the bag for later use.

[Show as slideshow]

12►

Trainer Class

In the games, a Pokémon Trainer is used for certain storyline characters. These opponents tend to be the most powerful non-arena trainers the player will face, notably including the rivals of all generations. In link battles, all players have this Trainer class.

Pokemon battles

Battles between Pokémon are the central game mechanic of the Pokémon video game series. They are used to train Pokémon to become stronger, as competition and to reach certain objectives within the game. Battling can also be done between human players through a cable or wireless link technology.

Want to play Pokemon? You can download the emerald game version, or the Pokemon online version for Windows, android, or Mac.

To download the images click the link below.

Wazzy88

Download

 

Source: http://wazzy88.deviantart.com/

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/19/pokeball-images-windows-7-wallpapers/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/18/microsoft-talk-windows-8-gaming-gdc-2012/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/18/microsoft-talk-windows-8-gaming-gdc-2012/#comments Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:35:04 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1935

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The annual Games Developer Conference takes place on March 6th and this year Microsoft will be holding a session to take a look at gaming in Windows 8 as well as Xbox Live.

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The annual Games Developer Conference takes place on March 6th and this year Microsoft will be holding a session to take a look at gaming in Windows 8 as well as Xbox Live. The sessions will be held on Tuesday March 6th from 10am – 5:30pm at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

It will be interesting to see how Microsoft envisage what the future of gaming will be on Windows 8. Of course we can certainly expect to see a much bigger focus on touch based gaming, but I’d also bet on seeing a lot of Kinect integration. Kinect recently came to Windows 7 and the hardware has proved massively popular on the Xbox console. It provides a completely new range of gaming opportunities on Windows 8, and I can also see it integrating very well with the new Metro UI.

The sessions to be covered at the event include:

• Entertainment Reimagined
• Developing a Great Metro Style Game for Windows 8
• The Making of Metro Style Marble Maze
• Async Gaming
• Xbox LIVE on Windows 8 Deep Dive
• Xbox LIVE Services – Entertainment Powered by the Cloud
• Game Data Anywhere Using Xbox LIVE Cloud Storage
• Asynchronous Gaming with Xbox LIVE Services
• Connecting Xbox LIVE Web Games with Xbox LIVE Services

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is set to be unveiled on the 29th of February and we’re also expecting Microsoft to make it publicly available to download on that day as well.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft include any games in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to demonstrate its potential.

Source:

MSDN

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/18/microsoft-talk-windows-8-gaming-gdc-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/17/active-directory-cloud/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/17/active-directory-cloud/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:48:15 +0000 George Garza http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22449

Posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes

Active Directory on the Cloud? Yep. That is Microsoft’s new move to make cloud services more secure. Network Management System Active Directory is Microsoft’s Network Management System that resides on…

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Active Directory on the Cloud? Yep. That is Microsoft’s new move to make cloud services more secure.

Network Management System

Active Directory is Microsoft’s Network Management System that resides on servers, 2003 and 2008. Among the things it provides is identity and access for individuals to connect to the network.  Now the same approach will be extended to the Azure Cloud Services. Microsoft offers that “Windows Azure Active Directory is a cloud service that provides identity and access capabilities for applications on Windows Azure and Microsoft Office 365. Windows Azure Active Directory is the multi-tenant cloud service on which Microsoft Office 365 relies on for its identity infrastructure.”

With the Active Directory elements on hand, individuals can bring applications to the cloud easily. There, one can enable a single sign-on operation, and work with security enhanced applications. All of this coming with the interoperability available with existing Active Directory deployments using Access Control Service (ACS), which is a feature of Windows Azure Active Directory.

Other Features and Benefits

• Flexibility to use your tools and social identities
• Simple interoperability with your existing on-premises Active Directory, meaning that, the Active directory features of your local server can also apply on the cloud.
• The same programming model, Windows Identity Foundation is used thereby making local to Cloud application transitions possible.
• Administration Portal is used to integrate Access Control System with your applications and set up authentication and authorization rules used to govern cloud applications access.

Pricing

There are three plans

• Pay-As-You-Go which is 1.99 per 100,000 transactions.
• Cloud Promotions: Microsoft is running a promotion and will provide free use of the service through December 1^st, 2012.
• Subscription Offers Specials: Then if you purchase subscription offers or the Introductory Special Pay-As-You-Go Plan, you will not be charged for any overage beyond the allotted amount that is part of your offer.

Source: WindowsAzure

ZDnet

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/17/active-directory-cloud/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/16/microsoft-msnnow-social-media/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/16/microsoft-msnnow-social-media/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:03:49 +0000 George Garza http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22442

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Well there’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+, now Microsoft is entering the social contact medium with msnNow. Microsoft looks at the situation like this did you ever feel like you have to…

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Well there’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+, now Microsoft is entering the social contact medium with msnNow.

Microsoft looks at the situation like this did you ever feel like you have to jump from site to site in order to piece together what’s happening in the world? So msnNOW, is a new service from MSN at now.msn.com. It will help you stay in the connected and in the know. It is the first service to put together the latest buzz from Facebook, Twitter, Bing and BreakingNews.com, all in one place.

Who Gets What, Where and When

If you are into social media, then you would be one of a quarter of Americans under the age of 30 who get their information from various social media sites.  Trying to keep up with the latest news and information can be challenging…What is relevant? What is important? Getting the information in a timely manner can be challenging to ensure you’re seeing the relevant and credible content that matters most to you.

Furthermore, this view applies to everyone, not just generation Y.

Main Categories

Here are the main topics covered with the new service:

•	Breaking trends. Up-to-the-minute coverage on breaking trends from across the Web.
•	Variety of sources. Coverage on and insight into the hottest social.
•	Anywhere access. Access via PC, mobile, tablets, Facebook and Twitter.
•	Biggest movers. Keep track of the day’s most buzzed-about and discussed.
•	Topic pages. A closer look at a topic, including a summary of why it’s trending.

 

The point is that now.msn cuts through the clutter of the Web, providing an up-to-the-minute view of breaking trends and the hottest social conversations, what people are saying about them, and why they matter.

Rumors? Sure, but also facts and important information are covered. Microsoft uses Bing to access the information to provide users with a one source location to go to.

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/16/microsoft-msnnow-social-media/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/16/windows-8-coming-q4-2012-fujitsu/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/16/windows-8-coming-q4-2012-fujitsu/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:25:00 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1900

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This doesn't really come as too much of a surprise to many of us, but according to Fuijitsu, Windows 8 will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2012

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This doesn’t really come as too much of a surprise to many of us, but according to Fujitsu, Windows 8 will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2012. The slide that you can see below was apparently shown off at one of Fujisu’s conferences where they were touting their plans for 2012.

As you can see in the bottom right corner it quite clearly says “Win8 Launch” in “Q4 2012″. Now we have received no official word from Microsoft as to when Windows 8 would be released, but we’ve all been pretty certain that it would be towards the end of 2012.

However there’s also been speculation that Fujitsu are actually referring to when they first plan to release a Windows 8 tablet which could potentially mean that Windows 8 will be released even earlier.

The thing is, Microsoft themselves probably aren’t too sure when they will actually be releasing Windows 8 either. Of course it’s in their interest to get it out to the market as soon as they can and in time for the holiday season, but they still don’t know how consumers will react to it as of yet. There was plenty of complaints that the developer preview of Windows 8 wasn’t very mouse or keyboard friendly so Microsoft have promised that the final release of Windows 8 will improve a lot on this. Microsoft will be showing off the first consumer preview of Windows 8 at the end of this month and we’ll get a pretty good idea then how far Microsoft have come along with Windows 8.

So unless Microsoft find that they still have a lot of work left to do with Windows 8, the chances are that we could see Windows 8 released towards the beginning of Q4 2012.

Source:

NetbookItalia

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/16/windows-8-coming-q4-2012-fujitsu/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/15/windows-8-accessibility-options/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/15/windows-8-accessibility-options/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:27:30 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1896

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Windows has always been pretty good when it comes to accessibility options, and Microsoft are looking to develop these helpful tools even further in Windows 8

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Windows has always been pretty good when it comes to accessibility options, and Microsoft are looking to develop these helpful tools even further in Windows 8. We’ve always had the built in Narrator that can read text aloud and the magnifier which is used to zoom in and display content for those with trouble seeing. Not to mention the array of Voice Recognition commands that Windows has built into it. However Microsoft claim they’ve improved all of this in Windows 8.

In their latest post over at Building Windows 8 Microsoft have gone into great detail on how they’re adding new accessibility options and improving existing ones in Windows 8.

For a start the Narrator will help you with the installation of Windows 8, something that’s already integrated into the developer preview of Windows 8. There is also a redesigned built-in screen reader, improving performance speed while adding more languages and voices. The screen reader will now have the ability to read output from applications which aren’t actually part of Windows.

The voice assistant has also been beefed up and has improved processing speed as well as keyboard shortcuts to navigate during narration. You’ll even be able to create your own customizable voice commands.

And of course since Microsoft are focusing a lot on touch screen devices, Windows 8 has several new accessibility features which can be activated by touch. To start off you’ll be able to enable the narrator at any time by simply pressing the Windows key and Volume up. Then by tapping a certain part of the screen the Narrator will read out whatever text is underneath your finger.

You’ll also be able to pinch the screen with two fingers to zoom in at any time. Tapping the left and right borders at the same time will quickly zoom out to full screen and then you’ll be able to drag a small rectangle to the area you want to zoom in on.

And finally, Microsoft is also going to include a whole load of developer tools so that developers can easily integrate all these features into their programs as well.

 ”If you are a developer, build an accessible app and reach a larger spectrum of users! If you are an AT (assistive technologies) vendor, come work with us and refresh your applications using our platform. This is an exciting and compelling release that will change how people of all abilities interact with PCs.”

The majority of these new features are based around touch input, but then again that’s certainly much more accessible for those who find it difficult to navigate with a mouse or type on a keyboard.

Check out the full post for more detail and there’s also a video below you can watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZB3U2kH8aI&feature=player_embedded

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/15/windows-8-accessibility-options/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/15/critical-browser-vulnerabilities-announced/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/15/critical-browser-vulnerabilities-announced/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:53:47 +0000 George Garza http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22434

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Watch out. Microsoft has announced that IE vulnerabilities have been discovered and that users should take precaution by downloading the latest security patch, MS12-0100. What the Browser Vulnerability Leaves Open…

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Watch out. Microsoft has announced that IE vulnerabilities have been discovered and that users should take precaution by downloading the latest security patch, MS12-0100.

What the Browser Vulnerability Leaves Open

The most severe browser vulnerabilities could

• Allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted web page using Internet Explorer.
• An attacker who successfully exploited any of these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user.
• Users whose accounts at the administrative level could be impacted more than users who have fewer user rights on the system.

What the patch does

The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by modifying the way that Internet Explorer handles content during copy and paste processes; how it handles objects in memory; and how it creates and initializes strings.

Other Vulnerability

Microsoft also announced a vulnerability that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted media file that appears on a website or sent as an email attachment. Microsoft says that if a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. That vulnerability is discussed on MS12-013.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by modifying the way that the msvcrt dynamic link library (DLL) calculates the size of data structures in memory. What the calculations reported was not specified, but one would think that the number showed the size of the content, and this number could be extended or modified, thereby exploiting the software, and making room for hackers to enter.

Security Update Download Options

Microsoft announces upgrades and they are available for download on a Tuesday. If your computer is set for automatic download, then the patch will be placed on the user’s computer. If not, review the upgrade system to make the download available.

 

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/15/critical-browser-vulnerabilities-announced/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/13/firefox-windows-8-metro/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/13/firefox-windows-8-metro/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:42:57 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1888

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The Windows 8 Metro UI is likely to be very popular amongst tablet users and people with touchscreens on their PC's. Today Mozilla outlined in the 2012 road map plan that they hope to get Firefox working with the Metro UI as soon as possible.

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As I’m sure all of you know by now, Windows 8 has two very different interfaces. One of them is the traditional Windows desktop which we all know and then there’s the new Metro UI which is predominantly based around touch. The Metro UI is likely to be very popular amongst tablet users and people with touchscreens on their PC’s. Today Mozilla outlined in the 2012 road map plan that they hope to get Firefox working with the Metro UI as soon as possible.

Mozilla has quite a large amount of the browser market share so it 0nly makes sense that they’re looking to be ready to go on the Windows 8 Metro platform as well.

“The feature goal here is a new Gecko-based browser built for and integrated with the Metro environment, Firefox on Metro, like all other Metro apps will be full screen, focused on touch interactions, and connected to the rest of the Metro environment through Windows 8 contracts,”

If integrated properly with the Metro UI, Firefox will be paused and suspended in the background when not in use, but also able to interact with other aspects of Windows.The Firefox Metro browser will be a new Gecko-based browser focused on touch interactions. It  will have both full-screen and partial-screen modes to take advantage of the Snap feature. We might even see a live tile so users can see updates of the Start Screen.

The company wants to have a proof of concept ready for the second half of this year which will then be followed by Alpha and Beta builds. Mozilla say that a simple evolution of it’s existing code will mean that Firefox will work fine with the Windows 8 desktop, but the Metro UI requires a lot more work.

So it sure sounds like Mozilla’s coders will be very busy, but I’m sure that the Firefox community will be more than appreciative of their efforts when they get it done and dusted.

You can read more about this at Mozilla’s Windows 8 page

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Posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes

More news on the Windows 8 hardware front. AMD, Intel’s biggest rival is preparing a chip called Hondo, which will ship with Windows 8 tablets later this year. AMD Hondo…

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More news on the Windows 8 hardware front. AMD, Intel’s biggest rival is preparing a chip called Hondo, which will ship with Windows 8 tablets later this year.

AMD Hondo Chip Specs

It’s based on a 4.5W APU with 1 – 2 low voltage Bobcat cores and an on-die DX11 GPU built on a 40nm process. A 40nm mature platform can produce lower power silicon than a 28nm. AMD is producing that 40nm chip right now. There is no time to wait more for the large 28nm mature production.

The Bobcat Cores

For AMD to compete in the tablet markets, they had to change architectures, to wit, stop relying on Phenom II derived architectures. The Phenom II and its relatives currently span a range of TDPs from 9W to 140W, and they are at the lower end of that spectrum, meaning that there were some very low clock speeds and performance targets. Getting down to 1W was out of the question without a separate design.

So AMD came up with was a core called Bobcat, which was initially targeted for netbooks, notebooks, and entry-level desktops. Architecturally Bobcat is a step ahead of Atom: but while still dual-issue, it features an out-of-order execution engine making it the Pentium Pro to Atom’s Pentium.

Windows 8 tablet

Which brings us back to Windows 8. Microsoft is betting heavily on the new design. There is the Metro UI, the ARM factor, and other programs and apps that will be redesigned to handle the new technology. Along with Microsoft, AMD and Intel both have a lot riding on the Windows 8 tablet platform, since they’ve become behind the 8-ball in the mobile space. So new chip technology is just a new manifestation of the marketing wars that are taking place to make the Windows 8 product viable in more ways than one. Microsoft needs Windows 8 to inject new consumer vision and confidence in their products. Windows 7 and Office dominate, they are behind in the mobile technology. They would like to remedy that.

Source:  Anantech

 

 

 

 

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/13/amd-hondo-chip-windows-8/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/12/ready/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/12/ready/#comments Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:00:42 +0000 John http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22352

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According to numerous rumours, but not yet confirmed by Microsoft, the ubiquitous Start button will no longer be available in Windows 8 Consumer Preview, aka Windows 8 Beta.

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According to numerous rumours, but not yet confirmed by Microsoft, the ubiquitous Start button will no longer be available in Windows 8 Consumer Preview, aka Windows 8 Beta.

The useful and well-known Start button, with its Windows Flag, appeared 17 years ago. It’s one of the pillars for successful computing and why on earth has it been given the flick.

The well-known blogger, Paul Thurrot, confidently states in a recent blog that the “. . . hardware button replaces the Windows button, and it will be present on all PCs and devices that come with Windows 8 preinstalled.” So can we assume that you will be able to access the Start Menu using the Windows key on all current computer keyboards?

Now, if you’ve downloaded and tried out Windows 8 Developer you’ll have come across the Orb Menu, the obvious replacement for the earlier Start Menu. While it hasn’t worked perfectly in the Preview version it has real potential. Maybe Microsoft replaced the Start Menu with the Orb Menu to break us into losing the old Start Menu. Personally I’ve not been too bothered and haven’t missed the Start Menu at all.

Other bloggers claiming to be in the know, state that Microsoft will, in an effort to appease the detractors, provide some form of access to the Start menu by hovering your mouse over the region where it once was. This method is known as using the “hot corner”.  Goodness knows what you’ll see! Will it be the “Orb” menu current in Windows 8 Preview or something else?

Is this a sop for those thousands of users, dare I say millions, currently happy with the old Start menu?

All this remains as pure speculation at this stage, so really we’ll have to wait until Windows 8 Consumer Preview is released at the end of the month. You can bet there’ll be a furore or two when it becomes available for one reason or another!

 

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/12/ready/feed/ 5 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/12/window-8-tablet/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/12/window-8-tablet/#comments Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:33:04 +0000 George Garza http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1875

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The Windows 8 brand may be the ticket to success for the next Microsoft tablet. Going after the iPad is not easy, especially since others are doing it, like Android,…

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The Windows 8 brand may be the ticket to success for the next Microsoft tablet. Going after the iPad is not easy, especially since others are doing it, like Android, and Amazon.

But disappointments run on the Android version because there is nothing to differentiate them for iPad. It’s a “me-too” approach. That’s what is supposed to be different with the Windows 8 tablet, it’s not “me-too.”

What will the Windows 8 tablet look like?

That hasn’t been released but here are some things that people don’t like about some of the current tablets. It’s been reported that “The default Android browser on the tablet fails at doing some really basic things like rendering Web pages quickly and opening mobile Web pages on some sites. Other browsers like Opera Mobile are fast but have other shortcomings.” Speed is one thing that has to improve.

Customer support

Although this would seem to be a basic ingredient in any software/hardware company, apparently there has been a lack of a reliable customer support environment over at Android. Google also has a fragmented approach to upgrading Android, which causes some panic among users when they hear that an upgrade can be coming soon.

That’s where Microsoft has an advantage. They are about customer support. And upgrades, well they come around on Tuesday every week. Some are security, some OS, some Apps.

Office Applications

Another thing that can make a difference is that a Windows 8 tablet can have Office installed. That can make a big difference for users who want both the tablet and Office experience on hand. Favorite apps from Microsoft could be installed, making the transition from PC to Laptop to Tablet. This could be a real transitory step. For Microsoft and the consumer community, a Windows 8 Tablet could be the hardware device that Microsoft needs to get back in that market.

Source: Cnet

 

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/12/window-8-tablet/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/11/microsoft-arc-touch-mouse/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/11/microsoft-arc-touch-mouse/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:34:26 +0000 George Garza http://www.everything-microsoft.com/?p=22338

Posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes

Microsoft has released a new mouse called Arc Touch Mouse. It is different from other mouse designs anywhere as the image below shows.   Use it just about anywhere, even…

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Microsoft has released a new mouse called Arc Touch Mouse. It is different from other mouse designs anywhere as the image below shows.

Arc Touch Mouse

 

Use it just about anywhere, even on a rough wood surface or carpet. The technology behind this is BlueTrack Technology 1. It also allows you to keep wireless control of your computer up to 30 feet away. Pop it up to turn it on, flatten it to turn it off.

How it Works

Arc Touch Mouse’s design allows for quick use and storage. To get it started curve it. Then glide your finger up or down the scroll pad. You get a response precisely to the speed of your finger movement, using a Haptic feedback, i.e. a light vibration that signals scrolling speed. So you scan through documents or web pages as quickly, or as slowly as needed, entirely by feel.

When you’re done, you keep the transceiver plugged into your computer’s USB port, or tuck it into the underside of the mouse. Then flatten Arc Touch Mouse to turn it off, and slip it into your pocket or bag just like a cell phone.

Arc Touch Models

There are three models of the Arc Touch Mouse. The artist edition – Year of the Dragon, Limited edition, and the standard model. Each costs 59.95.

Other Touch Models

Microsoft has developed other mouse touch models.

• The Touch Mouse is the highest valued mouse model. It features a large touch-sensitive surface that responds to one-, two- and three-fingered movements that are optimized for window management.
• Explorer Touch Mouse. It has a four-way Touch scrolling technology for fast navigation. It has five customizable buttons and three scroll speeds that use haptic feedback. It also has a battery life of up to 18 months. It has a low position so it speeds up everyday tasks with a touch strip optimized for quick vertical and horizontal scrolling.

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/11/microsoft-arc-touch-mouse/feed/ 5 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/10/uk-pc-vendors-wait-windows-8-boost-sales/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/10/uk-pc-vendors-wait-windows-8-boost-sales/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:47:53 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1871

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While Microsoft have announced that a consumer preview of Windows 8 will be made available at the end of this month, UK retailers can't wait for it to arrive.

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While Microsoft have announced that a consumer preview of Windows 8 will be made available at the end of this month, UK retailers can’t wait for it to arrive. Sales of PC’s in the UK and around most of the world have dropped off an awful lot, mainly because of the global recession. In the UK alone, PC sales have dropped by a massive 20 percent in the final quarter of 2011.

For the whole of 2011, sales had dropped 15.9 percent, which was equivalent to a drop of 2 million units. We also have to remember that this is a drop on 2010′s sales, which also saw a large drop from 2009 sales figures. So in reality the drop is a lot steeper.

Most major manufacturers saw a drop in their sales apart from Apple and Lenevo. According to Gartner, Acer lost 46 percent year on year, HP nearly 16 percent, and Dell 9 percent, with only Lenovo rising 14 percent. In fact, the market has contracted so much that now Apple accounts for 10 percent of the sales, a big increase from 4 percent in previous years.

UK retailers are hoping that Windows 8 will be able to give them a boost in sales, sooner rather than later. As the year progresses, we will becoming closer and closer to the final release date of Windows 8 and people will be reluctant to shell out for new Windows 7 machines when they know an update is only around the corner. This is unfortunate news for retailers, but it’s something that happens with every new release of Windows. However Microsoft did run program for the release of Windows 7 which meant that anyone who bought a Windows Vista machine in the run up to the release of Windows 7 got a free upgrade to it.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft introduced a similar scheme for Windows 8, they’ll have to if they don’t want sales to drop off completely.

Retailers are also hoping that Windows 8 will get the consumer excited as well. The new Metro UI is sure to be visually appealing to consumers, particularly on the tablet side of things and should spur on sales there. UK retailers are also banking on sales of Ultrabooks to pick around the release of Windows 8 when Intel’s range of Sandybridge processors are brought to the market. Netbook sales have dropped off a lot and hopefully Ultrabooks can pick up where they left off.

“PC vendors face a long, uphill struggle to regain the interest of consumers. The introduction of Ultrabooks in late 2011 is desperately needed.”

So I know a lot of you guys are desperately waiting for Windows 8 to come out so you can play around with it, but it’s also clear that UK retailers really need it for a much needed boost in their sales figures in these recessionary times.

Source:

Gartner

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Windows on Arm (WOA) is the new member of the Windows family. Like Windows Server, Windows Embedded, or Windows Phone, WOA builds on the foundation of Windows, so this means…

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Windows on Arm (WOA) is the new member of the Windows family. Like Windows Server, Windows Embedded, or Windows Phone, WOA builds on the foundation of Windows, so this means that it has a commonality and shared code with Windows 8.

Two different Windows 8 products

One thing that became apparent with the blog post from Microsoft about WOA is that it is different from Windows 8.

Here are some of the main points from the post:

• WOA PCs are still under development and our collective goal is for PC makers to ship them the same time as PCs designed for Windows 8 on x86/64.
• Metro style apps in the Windows Store can support both WOA and Windows 8 on x86/64.
• WOA can support all new Metro style apps, including apps from Microsoft for mail, calendaring, contacts, photos, and storage. WOA also includes industry-leading support for hardware-accelerated HTML5 with Internet Explorer 10.
• Desktop support will be available WOA and Windows 8.

Here is what they are saying. WOA will have one set of PC’s, Windows 8 another. Metro Apps will be available on WOA and Windows 8.

Confusion?

It looks like the dynamics at Microsoft are in a compromised state. While some developers may have wanted to have just one version of Windows 8, the ARM version or WOA, others may have wanted a backward compatible version, using the DOS through Windows7 legacy. Neither side won, or rather both sides won. Each is keeping its own version, but not overlapping with the other.

 

Here is what one part of the blog says:

“The availability of the Windows desktop is an important part of WOA. The desktop offers you a familiar place to interact with PCs, particularly files, storage, and networking, as well as a range of peripherals.”

Then later they say:

“At the same time, WOA (as with Windows is designed so that customers focused on Metro style apps don’t need to spend time in the desktop.”

Then they finish with:

“Some have suggested we might remove the desktop from WOA in an effort to be pure, to break from the past, or to be more simplistic or expeditious in our approach. To us, giving up something useful that has little cost to customers was a compromise that we didn’t want to see in the evolution of PCs.”

So you have two different development approaches to Windows 8, the traditional one, and the ARM one. This looks confusing to me because they will overlap and it will cause confusion for developers; which brand to develop for? That can’t be good.

Source Microsoft

 

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/10/windows-arm-woa/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/09/windows-8-consumer-preview-metro-apps-revelead/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/09/windows-8-consumer-preview-metro-apps-revelead/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:23:12 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1839

Posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes

Microsoft is currently finalizing the Metro apps that will be included in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview when it's released this month. According to sources "familiar with the matter" the Verge is reporting that the following Metro apps will ship in the consumer preview of Windows 8 later on this month.

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Well as of yesterday we now know that the Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be unveiled on February the 29th, and Microsoft is currently finalizing the Metro apps that will be included within its release. According to sources “familiar with the matter” the Verge is reporting that the following Metro apps will ship in the consumer preview of Windows 8 later on this month.

 

 

• Camera
• Messaging
• Mail
• Calendar
• SkyDrive
• People
• Photos
• Video
• Music

They are just the known apps so far, the chances are that there could be more when the Consumer Preview is revealed. They will also all be updatable from the Windows Store where we will probably find more apps.

The Metro interface

The Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging apps will be the core Windows communications apps and they haven’t been branded by Windows Live. Microsoft is also apparently working to integrate SMS support into the Messaging app as well since at the moment it operates the same as Windows Live Messenger.

The Music and Video applications are currently branded with the Zune brand and were built by the Xbox team. According to the source however, this branding will probably be removed ahead of the final Windows 8 release and changed to Xbox Live. Making Xbox Live the primary brand for Windows 8 entertainment.

Microsoft is still trying to decide on which apps it will actually bundle with the final release of Windows 8, which is expected to be towards the end of this year. With Windows 7 they removed Outlook Express in an attempt to make things easier when updating the OS and individual programs. In Windows 8, the Windows Store will be responsible for updating Metro Apps and also provide easy access for users to go and download new ones if they wish. Microsoft will probably only add the essential core apps for the release of Windows 8, leaving it up to consumers to choose more apps from the Windows Store.

Source:

The Verge

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Posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes

Metro seems to have caught the fancy of Microsoft, the whole company. Recently, Steve Ballmer at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, touted the value and importance of this…

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Metro seems to have caught the fancy of Microsoft, the whole company. Recently, Steve Ballmer at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, touted the value and importance of this new User Interface (UI). When it is released it will go to the Windows Phones, and also to Windows 8. Ballmer hopes that this new UI will change users view of the Microsoft Smartphone, because it is so unlike iPhone or Android.

Origins of Metro

Going back to 2009, Ballmer put together a new design team to come up with something that could compete with appeal of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, but still be uniquely Microsoft. A new UI? Yes, that was expected, but they came up with new design principles as well, which are to become the new look and feel of Microsoft’s key consumer offerings.

Before that, its lineage goes back to the Zune digital music player, which foundered against Apple’s iPod. Nevertheless, the Zune user interface won kudos from reviewers when the Zune HD debuted, even though consumers largely ignored it. Next, the Metro designers also drew on work done years earlier in Microsoft’s Encarta encyclopedia s and its Windows Media Center interface.

How It Looks

So why does it look so different? Here, Metro takes its design cues from way-finding graphics used in transportation signs. With bold, clear lettering and iconography, this helps commuters find their way to subways and air travelers navigate to their boarding gates. The focus on clarity and readability would be crucial to the new interface.

The Metro interface

Then the group came up with a look using white space. This would eliminate clutter that they felt would only confuse users. This means also that the chrome frame that separates one app from another on a screen is gone, because the decoration around the app detracts from the experience of using the program. Instead, they implemented a newly developed typeface called Segoe because it is easy to read, and it relies on animations that roll screens away as users navigate through the interface, for example, giving them context about where they’re going or where they’ve been.

Other Microsoft Consumer products

For Microsoft, the big impact is that now they have a new design approach to their products. This will affect them as new upgrades or products are rolled out. Metro will be the universal interface for products at Microsoft.

Source: Cnet

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/09/metro-stay/feed/ 0 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/08/windows-8-desktop-run-arm/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/08/windows-8-desktop-run-arm/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:27:02 +0000 George Garza http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1806

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ARM and Windows 8 desktops…will it be possible? Ok, that is a good question because Windows 8 is supposed to be a radically different type of operating system. In fact…

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ARM and Windows 8 desktops…will it be possible?

Ok, that is a good question because Windows 8 is supposed to be a radically different type of operating system. In fact it uses System on Chip (SoC) architectures. What is that?

SoC

An SoC is an integrated circuit that brings together all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single chip. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal, and often radio frequency functions … all on a single chip design. A typical application is in the area of embedded systems. One benefit is that SoC designs usually consume less power and have a lower cost and higher reliability than the multi-chip systems that they replace. And with fewer packages in the system, assembly costs are reduced as well.

New development features

Unlike current x86-based machines, which mainly use processors from Intel and AMD, ARM-based SoC devices generally draw less power and can wake from standby instantly. The impact for Windows 8 systems is that SoC systems can enter a near-sleep state but they can still retrieve e-mails, text messages and other information.

Intel ARM Development

Who’s working on ARM? And will it be ready for Windows 8 deployment?

Intel’s first system-on-chip, “Medfield,” is at the final prototype stage according to VR-ZONE. Moreover, it is performing well, even against other chips like NVidia Tegra, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon.

So there are multiple companies preparing to use ARM. Already the market for ARM is the mobile and tablet market. The question is whether ARM will handle Windows 8.

Some blogs mentioned that ARM-based devices use SoC architectures, and that SoC devices will run both Metro-style and desktop apps suggests that ARM-based computers will support the Windows 8 desktop after all. That said, Microsoft still has to say officially how the Windows 8 desktop will run if Metro will be the new GUI version.

Source PCWorld, ZDNet

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]]> http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/08/windows-8-desktop-run-arm/feed/ 3 http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/08/microsoft-launch-windows-8-consumer-preview-mwc-february-29th/ http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2012/02/08/microsoft-launch-windows-8-consumer-preview-mwc-february-29th/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:09:32 +0000 Robert Boland http://www.windows8news.com/?p=1802

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Well it's finally official, Microsoft have begun sending out press invites to the launch of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. The event will be taking place at Mobile World Congress on the 29th of February in Barcelona.

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Well it’s finally official, Microsoft have begun sending out press invites to the launch of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. The event will be taking place at Mobile World Congress on the 29th of February in Barcelona.

Microsoft haven’t given very many details regarding the event, but it’s scheduled to take place between 3pm and 5pm CET.

It looks like Microsoft are celebrating the leap year by announcing the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 on the last day of February. We had heard plenty of rumours that Microsoft would be announcing the Consumer Preview before the end of February, so that much has turned out to be true at least. Microsoft generally make the Consumer Previews and Beta’s available the same day that they are announced.

It’s quite interesting that Microsoft have decided to announce it at the Mobile World Congress which is primarily reserved for mobile gadgets. I guess you could read from that, that Microsoft are looking to push hard into the mobile market with Windows 8.

Anyway, there’s not too long to wait now before Microsoft release the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. You can be sure that we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available

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