Not everyone knows, but all of our brilliant Windows 7 Themes here at Everything-Microsoft also work perfectly fine on Windows 8. So if you’re looking to give your Windows 8 Desktop a bit of a refresh, be sure to go and check out our extensive gallery of Windows 8 Themes.

Today I have 4 Water Inspired themes which will work on both Windows 7 and Windows 8. There’s nothing more majestic and graceful than flowing rivers, gushing waterfalls and churning seas which is why this selection of themes will be be brilliant for any Windows 7 or Windows 8 desktop.

Blue Water Theme

Bodies of water in all their varied magnificence are seen in this free theme for Windows 7: reflecting the lights of the city, flowing under picturesque stone bridges, winding through rolling hills, and glowing with a tropical ocean blue.

Blue Water Theme

Download

Australian Shores

The best of Australian beaches and waterways are on display in this free Windows 7theme by photographer Anton Gorlin, including alpine lakes, beaches lit up with pastel sunsets, and towering hills of sand under brilliant blue skies.

Australian Shores

Download

Aqua Dynamic Theme

Churning seas, rushing rivers, and gracefully curling waves are just a few of the images you’ll get with this free Windows 7 theme. Water: powerful, serene, and dynamic, captured by our community of contributors in splendid color and form. This theme updates automatically through an RSS feed.

Aqua Dynamic theme

Download

Waterfalls Theme

Gurgling canyon creeks, rushing mountain streams, and cascading, terraced rivers: Waterfalls in all their glorious diversity are featured in this free theme for Windows 7.

Waterfalls Theme

Download

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When new hardware or software is released, there is a period where some users with buying intentions wait for the new hardware or software to be released before they make the purchase. That’s bad for business, as hardware and software sales may suffer during this period. That’s one of the reasons why Microsoft will allow Windows 7 PC to Windows 8 Pro upgrades starting June 2.

We have already mentioned previously that Microsoft will run a promotion to avoid a drop in sales during that time period. New details have come to light, which we would like to share with out.

Consumers who buy a PC running Windows 7 from that day will have the option to go to Microsoft’s special offer site at windowsupgradeoffer.com, to redeem a code that updates the PC’s operating system to Windows 8 Pro.

It is not clear right now if all PCs that you can buy from June 2 on will have the code included, or if there will be PCs and Windows 7 versions that do not. I’d advise anyone to check with the retailer before making purchases, to make sure you get the upgrade code.

The price for the update will be $14.99, and the PC will always be upgraded to the retail flagship version Windows 8 Pro. This is different from Microsoft’s last promotion, where Vista users were only able to upgrade to the Windows 7 version closest to the one that the PC came preinstalled with.

It is also interesting to note that the offer will start around the time that Microsoft intends to release the Windows 8 Release Candidate to the public.  The operating system itself is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 2012.

It is not clear yet if eligible customers can redeem the code right away, or if they have to wait until Windows 8 gets released before they can do so. We will keep you in the loop when additional information are released by Microsoft.

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I think Microsoft’s recent earnings announcement even surprised them a little bit. While there’s been plenty of hype around the completely revamped Windows 8 OS, it looks like Windows 7 sales are still going strong for them.

Microsoft reported a stronger than expected set of earnings for the first quarter of this year, raking in an impressive $17.41B USD  in revenue and a net profit of $5.11B USD ($0.60 USD per share).  Revenue was up 6 percent from last year and easily beat analyst expectations. Profit is actually down 1 percent from last year but that’s mainly due to Microsoft’s increased spending.

Windows 7 sales were partly responsible for the increase in revenue. Even though Windows 7 is starting to near the end of its life cycle, sales for it rose to $4.62B USD,  which is an increase of  4 percent from last year. Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system of all time and is currently on around 40 percent of PCs.

An excited Steve Ballmer

Sales for this quarter are only down $112 million than the fourth quarter of 2011, which is normally the strongest quarter due to an increase in sales for the holiday season.

So what drove this boost in Windows 7 sales? Well there was an 8 percent increase in Business Sales when compared to the same time last year while consumer sales remained flat.

It’s quite a feat that Windows 7 is still so successful nearly 3 years after it was released, it just goes to show how popular and operating system it is. It will be interesting to see how it holds up against Windows 8.

What do you think?

Will Windows 8 supersede Windows 7 as the fastest selling operating system of all time?

Let us know in the comments below

Windows 7 Sales Still Going Strong 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.

Microsoft are still shifting plenty of copies of Windows 7 despite the fact that it’s starting to come towards the end of its life cycle. As you all know, Microsoft are hard at work finishing of Windows 8 but of course they still want to squeeze more life out of Windows 7. Microsoft are still selling Windows 7 for it’s original retail price, but I’ve spotted a bargain.

If you head over to Harris Technology, they’re selling the Windows 7 Family Pack for just $149. That pack includes 3 licenses for Windows 7 Home Premium. The catch? Well there is none, if you live in Australia that is.

From what I can see, Harris Technology don’t actually ship outside of Australia (Feel free to correct me) but regardless, this is a great deal for anyone in Australia looking to update to Windows 7. If you’re not too pushed about upgrading to Windows 8 just for the Metro UI, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t take advantage of this offer.

Microsoft’s suggested retail price for this package is $249 so you’re making a saving of $100 there.

You’ll want to be quick though, this offer is only available while stocks last, and there’s currently 185 copies left in stock at the time of writing, and once they’re gone, the deal’s over.

But as I said, it’s a great saving and well worth taking advantage of and it’s also cheaper than buying a single license of Windows 7.

Source:

Harris Technology

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Hi all, it’s that time of the month again (every first Thursday) for my free webcast and I think this month’s one is going to be very popular.  Manually Removing Viruses and Malware from Windows 7 is a masterclass in what you need to do to get meanies and nasties off your computer.

On the O’Reilly website, who are hosting this free event, they say…

Getting a virus on your computer is a pain and they’re becoming ever more difficult to remove. In this webcast, Mike Halsey, the author of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out, talks you through the process of manually and safely removing viruses and malware from your computer without damaging your files or Windows itself.

It can be extremely difficult to remove malware and viruses, especially when they will almost always keep on running in Safe Mode so you can’t even get at them there.  I’ll talk you through all the steps you need to perform, how and when you need to do them and tell you what you need to shut down when and where.

This webcast also delves into some of the Administrative tools in Windows 7 that you may not be familiar with or may not have used before.  Everything is explained and you should be ready to clean up infected computers from then on.

The webcast starts at 10AM PT San Francisco | 6pm – London | 1pm – New York | Fri, Apr  6th at 3am – Sydney | Fri, Apr  6th at 2am – Tokyo | Fri, Apr  6th at 1am – Beijing | 10:30pm – Mumbai and last for one hour.  There will also be a Q&A session afterwards where you will be able to answer questions, and the chat room is always busy with people offering advice as well.

I hope to see you all there.  Again the webcast is completely free and you can register here.

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These days, because our computers have become more and more powerful, we’ve started to multi task a lot more. We regularly will have several programs open at once. It’s not uncommon to have an Excel Spreadsheet, 2 Word documents, a PDF, Your Music Playing as well as a few browser tabs going all at once.

However when you’ve eventually finished all your work, it can become a bit tedious to manually close each program. Wouldn’t it be so much handier if you could just close everything with a single click?

Well there’s a great little app called Close All which will do just that for you.

The program itself is tiny and doesn’t take up any of your memory as it doesn’t need to run in the background. It simply sends a close command to all the open windows and doesn’t even require any installation.

Simply download the ZIP file from the link below.

Close All

Download

Now extract the ZIP file to a location on your hard drive.

Once you’ve done this, just go ahead and pin this CloseAll.exe file to the task bar by following the steps in the screenshot below.

You’ll know find an icon in your task bar, all you have to do now is click that and it will close all your programs for you. Don’t worry, if you’ve forgotten to save any work, you’ll still be prompted to save it before the program closes.

Now all you have to do is click on the icon and all your open programs will close

Credit:

NTWind

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Windows 8 has been greeted with mixed reviews, some users just aren’t happy with the new Metro Start Menu, but one things for sure, they won’t be complaining about the performance increases. PCWorld have been carrying out some benchmark testing of their own and in all but one test, Windows 8 was quicker.

PCWorld Labs loaded up their test machine with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and put it through a wide range of tests against Windows 7. Windows 8 beat Windows 7 in every test except for an office productivity test. What’s even more impressive is the fact that Windows 8 is still only at the Consumer Preview stage and in theory should become more refined and quicker when it’s released. We’ll also see drivers coming online that are tweaked and optimised for Windows 8 and Windows 7 which will add more performance.

The test machine used by PCWorld was by no means a slow fella. It packs a 3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM clocked at 1333MHz, a 1TB 7200-rpm hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics card.

When pitted against Windows 7 in the WorldBench 7 tests, Windows 8 was 14 percent faster than Windows 8. They say a difference of more than 5 percent is noticeable in real world situations

Windows 8 was also much quicker when it came to start up times. This is one of the biggest factors for people as it’s something which drives most of us nuts on a daily basis. In PCWorlds tests, Windows 8 started up 35 percent faster than Windows 7.

The  average startup time for Windows 7 was 56.2 seconds, running Windows 8 this dropped to 36.8 seconds. I’d certainly agree with this as I have noticed a massive difference in my startup times since I’ve installed Windows 8. Also, in this test Windows 8 was at a slight disadvantage. For the test, PCWorld require that Windows boots up and opens a text file. With Windows 8, it boots directly into the Metro Start Menu, so it has to then switch to the desktop mode before it can open the text file. Still it managed to do it quicker than Windows 7.

Why?

Well Windows 8 is quite clever in that it used hybrid boot technology. When you should down your PC, everything in the RAM is actually saved to that hard disk. This is then simply loaded back into the RAM when you restart your computer so all the applications, tabs etc.. you had open are back when your restart your computer.

Windows 8 also outmatched Windows 7 when it came to web performance.  Using the WebVizBench benchmark which measures how well the system renders dynamic Web content, including JavaScript and HTML 5, Windows 8 out performed Windows 7 yet again.

It was the office productivity test where Windows 7 won decisively. This test uses the Productivity section of Futuremark’s PCMark benchmark tool, and includes usual office tasks like editing text, launching applications, and scanning for viruses. This time Windows 8 was roughly 8 percent slower than Windows 7.

However it’s important to note that Futuremark is currently in the process of updating it’s benchmarks suits for Windows 8 so these figures will likely change once that’s done.

Regardless, Windows 8 is certainly outperforming Windows 7, and it’s only in its consumer preview stage. I’d imagine once Microsoft have tweaked it some more and we see software and hardware become optimised for it, the performance gap will increase.

Source:

PCWorld

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Windows 7 is well known for being more energy efficient than previous Windows OS’s, but it was never really designed to run on smartphones. However that hasn’t stopped ambitious Chinese manufacturer ITG from bringing a Windows 7 powered smartphone to the market. The company had originally planned to release the device in January, but they’ve only got around to revealing a working demo to the public this week.

While you may laugh at the idea of Windows 7 running on a phone, bear in mind that this device does have some pretty good specifications. It has to after all to run a full desktop OS. The device is 17.5mm-thick and packs a large 4.3-inch 800 x 480 LCD made by Sharp. You’ll get an Intel Atom Z5xx series processor up to 2GHz, up to 2GB of RAM and up to 112GB of SSD storage. It’s also equipped with a microSD slot as well as a HDMI Micro socket which doubles up to handle audio, video, data and charging.

Granted it’s not the slimmest of phones, nor the prettiest but it is rocking the full Windows 7 OS. And from reviews apparently it’s able to run Windows 7 quite smoothly, with performance comparable to that of a netbook. Most of the phone is made out of a smooth solid magnesium alloy giving it a quality feel. On the back interestingly enough there’s a small little LCD for showing the statuses of the phone, such as caller numbers, new messages and text messages. Inside it’s packing a massive 11.1Wh battery which is twice the size of the batteries you’d normally find on smartphones these days. ITG is yet to confirm what the final weight of the device will be, but you can be pretty certain that it will be heavy….

Now ITG claim that this device will have incredible battery life of 18 hours, and as great as this sounds, unfortunately it’s not entirely true. This phone is actually able to operate without even booting Windows 7. All the calls and messages can be managed by separate circuitry and that small LCD on the back. However if you want to tap in numbers or write new messages you’ll actually have to boot into Windows 7. But if you’re going to be running Windows 7 all day, don’t expect to see much more than 4 hours from this device.

ITG have developed their own xpPhone application to let you manage your calls and texts from within Windows 7 since it doesn’t have native applications to support this.

Of course, this being a smartphone, it’s going to be tricky using Windows 7 on such a small screen since Windows 7 is not optimised for touchscreen devices. Also the price is something you may want to consider before making a purchase. When the device eventually launches in a month or so, prices will range between ¥7,000 ($1,110) and ¥12,000 ($1,900), depending on what specifications you want.

It’s a shame really that ITG didn’t have Windows 8 to work with and launch on this device because I’m certain that it would work a lot better since Windows 8 is optimised for touchscreen devices.

I’m sure that we’ll see them bring out a Windows 8 powered device once the OS has been brought to the market. But for now, if you’re looking to buy one, you’ll have to stick with Windows 7.

So would you be interested in a Windows 7 powered smartphone?

Let us know in the comments

Source:

Engadget

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There’s plenty of hackers out there all over the world trying to crack big software companies like Google and Microsoft’s programs. Many of them fail, after all these software companies are amongst the wealthiest in the world and have invested incredible amounts of money into securing their programs. However from time to time, a new exploit rears its head before the companies can discover it. This isn’t great for the companies image, let alone for the consumer who is using their software.

So to try and avoid embarrassing situations like this from ever occurring in the first place, Google have being holding their very own compeition for hackers. The Pwnium contest invites security researchers to try and hack into the Chrome web browser. This week, Sergey Glazunov became the first researcher to be awarded the top prize of $60,000 for demonstrating a “full Chrome exploit” in a Chrome browser running on an up to date Windows 7 system.

The Pwnium contest has a prize pool of $1 million and is a much cheaper alternative for Google to find exploits in its programs instead of paying its employees to spend hours trying to find exploits. It also means that Google will know about the exploits before they go public so they’ll have a chance to fix them and preserve their public image.

Of course since this exploit has been discovered, Google have been hard at work to get a fix out as soon as possible. They’ve already pushed out a patch via their auto-update feature for Chrome. Version 17.0.963.78 for Windows,Mac OS X and Linux fixes this flaw as well as fixing a few issues with Adobe Flash.

So although Glazunov is lucky enough to be receiving the top price of $60,000,  there is still an incredible $940,000 up for grabs in Google’s Pwnium competition.

Hacker Paid $60000 After Finding Chrome Exploit On Windows 7 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.

While Microsoft has recently cut prices on Windows Azure Storage, Microsoft also intends to add a government Cloud offering to its Office 365 line-up of services.

A new option is now available called BPOS-F (Federal). It is compatible with its Office 365 predecessor known as the Business Productivity Online (BPOS) suite.

Office 365 and The BPOS-F Bundle

This bundle hosts SharePoint, Exchange, and Communications Server. But what also makes it a special service it the lock down part. Microsoft has made it a highly secure venture. Microsoft has restricted access to special individuals. There are biometric access controls to gain physical access. The individuals gaining access must be in compliance with International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), a US State Department agency. The individuals must be citizens of the United States who have undergone rigorous background checks, including fingerprinting.

The new Business Productivity Online Suite Federal is optimized to meet the security, privacy and compliance needs of U.S. federal government agencies. In addition, new capabilities and certifications will continue to add more expectations in cloud security and privacy. Part of this is includes two-factor authentication, enhanced encryption and the attainment of Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification, an important requirement for government information technology.

Microsoft offers a wide variety of cloud computing solutions. They can be in the area of infrastructure to applications for organizations and individuals. The Microsoft government cloud services are interoperable and have options that enable the delivery of solutions in response to changing business needs and at the same time taking advantage of existing IT investments, like software and familiar applications.

The existing venture has been a success as 48 of the 50 U.S. states have chosen the Microsoft Online Services for offerings because the are built from the ground up with enterprise-grade security and privacy in mind.

With the new Office 365 bundle in Azure, government services will have a reliable and secure system to work with.

Source: ZDnet

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First off I apologise for being slightly late with the collection of Calendar Wallpapers for March this month. With the release of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview we’ve all been very busy covering it and keeping up to date with the various developments.

Anyway this month Smashing Magazine have got 20 new brilliant wallpapers for March. The wallpapers naturally revolve around Spring and there’s even a few references to St.Patricks day which is next weekend.

Every month Smashing Magazine put together a great selection of these various wallpapers from users all around the world. They have all these wallpapers which you can see below available to download on their website. They’ve got a wide selection of resolutions and they also offer versions of the wallpapers without the calendar if you don’t want to have the dates of the month on them.

Be sure to head over there if you want to download the wallpapers as they also credit all the brilliant authors who submitted these wallpapers.

[Show as slideshow]

123►

Source:

Smashing Magazine

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Over the past few months we’ve been covering OnLive, a great app that allows you to stream a full Windows 7 desktop to your iPad so that you can use it as well as Microsoft Office applications on your device. It’s been widely covered since it essentially allows you to have Windows 7 on Apple’s very locked down iPad. However it looks like OnLive may be running into some trouble over licensing agreements with Microsoft.

Microsoft recently published a blog post about volume licensing in which they make particular reference to OnLive and how they believe that it’s in breach of their licensing agreements.

Companies are allowed to offer some ”desktop-like functionality” to users via remote hosting, however hosting Windows 7 itself and Office through an actual Windows 7 installation is excluded from this agreement. If OnLive wanted to continue with this setup, Microsoft are saying that the end user needs to hold a license with Microsoft for the relevant software that they are using on the remote hardware. Basically if you’re using OnLive, you’ll have to have a license for Windows 7 and Office if you’re using it.

At the moment OnLive’s services do not seem to meet these license requirements at all and Microsoft have said that they are “committed to seeing this issue is resolved”.

Some inquiries about these scenarios have been raised as a result of recent media coverage related to OnLive’s Desktop and Desktop Plus services. Additionally, the analyst firm Gartner raised questions regarding the compliance of these services last week. We are actively engaged with OnLive with the hope of bringing them into a properly licensed scenario, and we are committed to seeing this issue is resolved.

OnLive has proved quite popular recently, especially for businesses. They currently give 2 GB of cloud storage and full access to Microsoft Office and other apps as well as Windows 7. There’s also a Plus version with full flash support and faster Internet speeds that costs $4.99 per month. The premium version – OnLine Desktop Pro costs $10 per month and adds even more features to OnLive Desktop Plus.

OnLive will be surely missed if Microsoft put their license agreement into effect and prevent them from offering the service unless users have the correct licences. They might still be able to retain the service, but the price for the end user would go way up.

It will be interesting to see how this develops

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It’s probably one of the worst kept secrets and I doubt it comes as a surprise to many of you, but Facebook have now officially released their Messenger app for Windows 7. The application was leaked last year and was also available in beta mode for quite a while now and it’s not really clear why Facebook took so long to actually release it officially.

Facebook already have a similar app available on smartphones which has proved to be quite popular to date so I imagine that people will find this app quite handy as well for their desktops. However unless you’re running Windows 7, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. Facebook haven’t made this app available for users running Windows XP or Windows Vista for some reason.

Unfortunately there is no video chat feature available in this app, which is rather odd. Facebook already have video chat built into their website so it’s strange that they haven’t actually included it into the app.

Messenger for Windows will give you the ability to chat with your friends without ever having to open your browser at all. It also lets you get notifications straight to your desktop. The notifications aren’t just for chat messages, but they also include notifications for comments,tags etc..

Facebook have also said that the Mac OS X Version will be coming along soon, and that there will be plenty of updates in the future.

Part of me thinks that this app is kind of pointless for Windows 7. I mean I very rarely find myself on my laptop and not having a browser window open. It’s just a simple matter of having an extra tab with Facebook in it and you can chat and have full access to Facebook by simply switching tabs.

Are you guys going to be using it?

Let us know in the comments

Facebook Messenger For Windows 7 Now Officially Available 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.

We’ve gathered a fairly extensive collection of Windows 7 Themes here at Windows7News over the last number of years (check out the gallery), and even though the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 is right around the corner, I’m still going to keep bringing you even more brilliant Windows 7 themes.

So today I’ve got an international collection of themes for you. This collection is composed of the majestic landscapes of Germany, Japan and Australia. You can indulge in the rural, peaceful German landscape as you travel through mountain forges and gaze at the sunset. Or watch the sun rise and set over Japan as some of the world’s busiest cities wake up. Then afterwards you can take it easy as you look at rustic images of the greener parts of Australia as well as it’s extensive shoreline.

Without further ado, here are your 5 themes. And remember if you only want the wallpapers to follow this guide

German Landscape Theme

German Landscapes Theme

Download

Germany: Mountains to Sea Theme

Germany Mountains to Sea Theme

Download

Dusk and Dawn in Japan Theme

Dusk and Dawn in Japan

Download

Australian Landscapes Theme

Australian Landscapes Theme

Download

Australian Shores Theme

Australian Shores Theme

Download

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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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I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting pretty excited to finally get my hands on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, hopefully on the 29th of February when Microsoft has promised to unveil it at MWC. However I’m not entirely sure what to expect if I’m perfectly honest. I never got hold of a developer preview edition of Windows 7, so I only had experience with the Beta’s and Release Candidates. As I’m sure many of you may remember, the beta of Windows 7 was extremely stable which is why Microsoft were able to bring out a Release Candidate and ship Windows 7 earlier than expected.

With Windows 8 it’s a new experience for me. I have had a chance to play around with the developer preview of Windows 8, and while I was slightly impressed by the new Metro UI, I haven’t been completely blown away by the whole experience as I was with Windows 7. I haven’t really used the Windows 8 developer preview OS for a while now as I didn’t see much point in it, and it kept causing trouble for me.

However I’m hoping that this first consumer preview of Windows 8 will be similar to the beta build we had for Windows 7. In regards that it actually runs smoothly and doesn’t crash every time it feels like it. When I bought my laptop it was running Windows Vista, the first thing I did was reformat it and install the Windows 7 beta and later the Release Candidate as my primary OS, that’s how stable they were.

Now you can be sure I won’t be formatting my laptop again for Windows 8, but I certainly will be dual booting Windows 8 with Windows 7. Of course I’ll have to make myself familiar with Windows 8 so I can get a good opinion of it as well as a few guides together for you guys.

But what’s going to be different in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview vs the Developer Preview?

Skydrive:

Martin recently covered a story of who Windows 8 is going to be closely integrated with SkyDrive. We didn’t really see this in the Developer Preview of Windows 8 so this will certainly be something new to the Consumer Preview. Be sure to check out his post for more info on that

New Logo:

As most of you probably know by now, Microsoft have come up with a completely new logo for Windows 8. This new logo has been designed to reflect the new Metro UI that Windows 8 is bringing. It’s rather simple but will also change colour depending on your colour scheme and set up.

This new logo I’m sure will be in the consumer preview of Windows 8 as it wasn’t unveiled until earlier on this week

Mouse and Keyboard Friendly:

Microsoft were strongly criticised over how focused Windows 8 was on touchscreen devices. Many users felt that Microsoft were just ignoring their main customer base of traditional desktop and laptop users who primarily use mice and keyboards to navigate Windows. Microsoft did promise that they were still working on integrating mice and keyboards into the Metro UI so hopefully this will remain true.

There’s a few other little things that we know Microsoft have been working on since the developer preview of Windows 8.

• Metro Customisation - This is pretty limited though and will only include changing the background colour, you won’t be able to choose an image.
• New File Management Improvements
• Better Accessibility Options

Of course I’m sure Microsoft will unveil a whole load of new little bits here and there when they reveal it at MWC a week from now. Of course we’ll be covering it all here at Windows 8 News.

What else you do you expect to see that will be new in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview?

Let us know in the comments below

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

Download

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

Download

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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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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.

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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

PokeBall Images for Windows 7 Wallpapers 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.

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:

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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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.

Two Critical Browser Vulnerabilities Announced 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.

Hotmail is among the best at spam protection. Late last year Microsoft hired Cascade Insights to hold a contest ranking the spam-stopping abilities of the big three Web e-mail providers. The test results put Microsoft’s Hotmail on top but almost tied with Google’s Gmail, while Yahoo Mail was a distant third. This is in contrast to the 2009 findings from Cascade. They ran the same study and at that time ranked Gmail first, followed by Hotmail.

Notes on Avoiding SPAM

While the SPAM-blocking capabilities of Web mail providers are good, they will never be perfect, and SPAMers can be expected to evolve their tactics in an attempt to circumvent SPAM filters. So to avoid spam there are some guidelines to follow on what users can do to minimize the amount of SPAM they receive:

Recognize suspicious sites.

How can you avoid spam? Consider some of the following items because it is usually an invitation for SPAM (or identity theft) to submit your email address and other information to sites that:

• Request your email address on their home page.
• Claim to be free but request your credit card information “for verification purposes.”
• Make any claims that seem too good to be true.
• Make it hard to leave by popping up “are you sure” types of notifications.
• Open popup windows as soon as you visit them.
• You can get something valuable for very little work (“get a free iPad just for filling out a survey”).
• It claims that you are a randomly selected winner.
• It claims that there is only a limited time to act on an offer.

Trying to avoid spam is one thing, trying to recognize it is another, so here are some items to consider.

Recognize SPAM.

Spam is often identifiable in your inbox, based on certain characteristics:

• The content of the message is mostly in images.
• The sender looks like something randomly generated, such as: 3489203490@cardinalproject.com.
• The email is similar in content to suspicious Web sites (such as telling you have won, or promises an iPad for filling out a survey).
• The email asks you to confirm your name, address, or other information.
• The email claims you need to change your password at a legitimate site, such as PayPal or a banking site.
• The email contains seemingly random or nonsensical text.

What to do with SPAM.

Here are some specific steps:

1. Delete the email.

2. Use your Web mail provider’s ability to mark it as junk. However, do not mark an email as SPAM if you have intentionally subscribed to it and no longer wish to receive it.

Here are things to avoid…Don’t:

• Display the images in the email. Spamers will know that have a working email address.
• Click on links. This also sends a signal to the spammer that they have a good email address.
• Unsubscribe issues. If it’s legitimate email, you can unsubscribe, but if it’s truly unsolicited, then unsubscribing notifies the spammer they have a real email address.

Source: NYTimes

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Yes it’s that day of the year again. That day where you’re meant to be sending your other half a box of chocolates and bouquet of red roses. Followed up by a romantic candle lit dinner for two and a typically cheesy Valentines day movie. Chances are though, some of you have forgotten all about it! But don’t panic, there’s still hope for you. Why not serenade your other half with a romantic Windows 7 Valentines Day Theme, that’s sure to get you some brownie points.

Here’s a collection of 4 Valentines Day Themes that you can choose from that will hopefully get you our of trouble.

Valentine

Valentines Day Theme

Download

Valentines (DeviantArt)

Valentines Day Theme

Download

Courtesy PC World

LoveBirds

LoveBirds Theme

Download

Roses 

Roses Theme

Download

So hopefully one of these themes helped you to win over your other half.

4 Windows 7 Valentines Day Themes 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.

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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Microsoft and NUI and the Windows 7 Interface

Microsoft has been in interested in developing alternative interfaces for users. Their touch and speech technology, which has entered the Windows 7 OS system and has been a player for different models saw a new partner enter with Microsoft.

Natural User Interface

A natural user interface (NUI) is a user interface that is effectively invisible, or becomes invisible with successive learned interactions, to its users. It is natural because most computer interfaces use artificial control devices where users must learn the operation. Moreover, a NUI relies on a user making a quick transition from novice to expert. Thus, while the interface requires learning, a special interface design gives the user the feeling that they are instantly and continuously successful. This technology allows users to carry out relatively natural motions, movements or gestures that they quickly discover control the computer application or manipulate the on-screen content. The goal is to make the user feel like a natural; and not part of a suspect view that the natural user interface is  somehow a mimicry of nature, or that some inputs to a computer are somehow more ‘natural’ than others.

24/7

So today, Microsoft entered an agreement with 24/7 to jointly bring the power of natural user interfaces (NUIs) and data analytics at cloud scale (Big Data) to enable the future of customer service for businesses.

Last year, Microsoft saw its Kinect system grow from a game computing add on to a science development system. But now, this new partnership extends this NUI system to business applications. With Microsoft and 24/7, new ways to use NUI should develop and this will give businesses a new way to present their data and information. It should also extend the type of users to Windows 7 that weren’t available before because of disabilities or other handicaps. But even though that is not their first goal, which is instead to provide mobile and social media connections, still using this approach can add many users and start the switch over to an alternative natural interface.

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With Microsoft expanding its NUI technology in Windows 7 and  the upcoming Windows 8 this can make an big impact on how users will use computers.

Source: Microsoft Press

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The Windows 8 Consumer Preview can’t be too far away now. We’ve had loads of leaks to do with Windows 8 which you can read all about over at our sister site Windows 8 News. Recently there was a few leaked screenshots from the Consumer Preview build of Windows 8 which hasn’t been made available to the public yet. Along with those screenshots came some wallpapers that are set to be made available in the consumer preview of Windows 8.

I know that you guys love the huge range of wallpapers that we have here at Windows7news, so I decided to get the wallpapers from the Windows 8 Consumer Preview  to add to our extensive collection.

The first one is actually the same as the log on wallpaper for Windows 7, the others are new as best as I can make out. There’s also 2 widescreen wallpapers which I imagine would be for multi monitor displays.

You can check them out in the gallery below. To save them simply right click on the image then choose save as.

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You have Windows 7 operating system and want to enjoy your high speed Internet connection on many computers or you want to share it with your friends who live nearby you? Windows7News will show you how to use this functionality in Windows 7 with the help of Connectify. This software will indeed transform your computer into an internet access point, the only thing you need is a WiFi card. Here are the steps you have to follow to make this work:

Step 1: Make sure first that your WiFi card is enabled by going to Control Panel, Network and Internet, View Network computers and devices, right click on your WiFi card and then choose Enable. If you WiFi card is already enabled don’t change anything and continue to next step.

Step 1: Download Connectify for Windows 7.

Step 2: Run the installation file and accept the license agreement, the installation in simple and only takes a few seconds. During installation your computer will probably have to restart few times so don’t worry about that.

Step 3: Now once installation is finished, start Connectify. If an update for Connectify is available, make sure you download it and update the software. Then run the program.

Step 4: Your previously enabled wireless device is automatically detected. Then you must enter the name of your wireless network.

Step 5: A password of at least 8 characters is required. This will serve users to connect to your access point.

Step 6: Once the password is set, below password field you will have to choose which internet connection you want to share, click on dropdown men and select one.

Step 7: Then click Star a Hotspot button. It may take a minute or two until its setup.

Step 8: Once it’s done. Windows Security Alert may popup, choose Allow Access.

Here you are now with your own WiFi access point type WPA2-DSK. It is accessible from the list of wireless networks Network and Sharing Center, make sure you provide the password to people you want to share the connection with!

Note for those users with an Intel WiFi card, a simple driver’s update can in most cases, activate Windows 7 Virtual WiFi so you can benefit from the ability to turn your computer into an Internet Access Point without having to go through Connectify. Also make sure your WiFi network is secure, and always pay attention who is connected on your network and who is using your internet connection.

Windows 7: How to share an Internet connection via WiFi 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.

Valentines day is fast approaching, so here are some new Windows 7 themes that you can download an use on your desktop. These are Roses, and they are some of the most wonderful looking pictures ever.

Queen of the Flowers

Known as “the queen of flowers,” roses have been valued for thousands of years for their beauty and fragrance. Their connection to romance also spans the generations, popping up in songs, poems, and in lovers’ bouquets since at least the Middle Ages.

Backdrop

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, and there are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colors ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. The name rose comes from French, itself from Latin rosa.

Earliest roses are known to have flourished 35 million-years ago  and petrified rose wreaths have been unearthed from ancient Egyptian tombs.

Roses are best known as ornamental plants grown for their flowers in the garden and sometimes indoors. They are also used for commercial perfumes and commercial cut flower crops. Some also work as landscape plants. They also have minor medicinal uses.

Art

Roses often appear in art and appear in various artistic disciplines. They appear in portraits, illustrations, on stamps, as ornaments or as architectural elements. One artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté is known for his detailed watercolors of flowers, particularly roses.

Legends and mythology

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, created the rose from her tears and the blood of her lover Adonis. The Romans, turning Aphrodite into their goddess Venus, also adopted the rose: it became the symbol of love and beauty. Cupid, offering a rose when trying to bribe the God of Silence to hush Venus’s amorous escapades, made the flower into a symbol for secrecy.

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New Roses Themes for Windows 7 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.

Microsoft are constantly working on making new themes for Windows 7, as a result there’s a great selection of themes for Windows 7 available (check out our extensive gallery here). This latest theme from them is entitled “Animal Affection” and is one of the cutest themes I’ve ever seen.

This is really a perfect theme for all you animal lovers out there, you’ll be constantly staring at these awe inspiring wallpapers every day. Even reading Microsoft’s description of the theme is enough to set any animal lovers heart racing.

Goldfish kiss, horses nuzzle, hummingbirds tenderly touch beaks, cats nap in an intertwined heap, and leopards groom each other in this collection of adorable displays of affection from the animal kingdom. A free theme for Windows 7.

I’m not going to keep you waiting any longer. Check out the gallery of wallpapers below and you’ll also find the download link for this theme. Of course if you only want the wallpapers from this theme you can follow my guide here on how to get them.

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Animal Affection

Download

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Yesterday the very first official Kinect devices for Windows went on sale in 12 different countries all over the world including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain and the US. The initial retail price is $249 and Microsoft announced plans to have a special discounted price of $149 for qualified education users in the near future.

In a blog post over at MSDN, Craig Eisler, The general manager for Kinect wrote about the improvements that Microsoft have made in the recent Kinect SDK and developer tools. Version 1.0 of the SDK and Runtime tools are now available to download from here

Some of the improvements that they’ve made in this version are outlined below:

• Support for up to four Kinect sensors plugged into the same computer
• Significantly improved skeletal tracking, including the ability for developers to control which user is being tracked by the sensor
• Near Mode for the new Kinect for Windows hardware, which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 40 centimeters in front of the device
• Many API updates and enhancements in the managed and unmanaged runtimes
• The latest Microsoft Speech components (V11) are now included as part of the SDK and runtime installer
• Improved “far-talk” acoustic model that increases speech recognition accuracy
• New and updated samples, such as Kinect Explorer, which enables developers to explore the full capabilities of the sensor and SDK, including audio beam and sound source angles, color modes, depth modes, skeletal tracking, and motor controls
• A commercial-ready installer which can be included in an application’s set-up program, making it easy to install the Kinect for Windows runtime and driver components for end-user deployments.
• Robustness improvements including driver stability, runtime fixes, and audio fixes

The Kinect sensor for Windows comes with a shorter USB cable and is also more sensitive to movement up close to the camera than the current Xbox 360 Kinect sensors.

Kinect For Windows Has Arrived 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.

Microsoft are desperate to squash Windows XP.  The operating system is now more than 10 years old and has been replaced twice!  Yet, despite all of this, and because Vista was late and (frankly) rubbish, millions of people are still using the “comfortable old shoe” and despite their now being less than 800 days left for extended malware and security patch support, they are mostly resolutely refusing to upgrade, insisting that Microsoft will have to back down instead and continue support until their computers eventually die, or perhaps even longer.

Now figures released from NetMarketShare appear to show that Windows XP usage actually increased slightly in January of this year, up to 47.19% from 46.52%!

XP’s usage has been steadily declining since the launch of Windows 7, with a very healthy 56.78% of computers using it in March 2011 compared to just 25.23% of computers running Windows 7.  Now Windows sits at 36.4% but this still lags more than 10% behind Windows XP, which resolutely refuses to die.

Data released by other companies in the coming months may show XP still on the decline, or they may back up these figures.  It is interested to see a small jump in XP usage however which also comes in a month that saw Windows 7 usage drop slightly from 36.99% to 36.4%.

XP users are becoming a bit of an odd bunch, maintaining their unconditional love for an operating system that’s widely known to be very insecure and was a figure of fun throughout its main life.  Around the time XP was being installed on new PCs, it was generally considered that GNU/Linux users were the people who declared unconditional love for their operating system.

Now though Linux is widely considered good enough to switch to on a full-time basis and nobody would ever criticise Apple’s resolve again.  Windows 7 users can now sit safe from name-calling and fun-poking, knowing that they’re as secure as they need to be and it’s XP users who are on the receiving end of the jokes that GNU/Linux users received in the past.

So what is your view of this news?  Do you believe it or do you fully expect XP to usage to drop further?  Are you still using XP and don’t want to move to WIndows 7 or Windows 8?  Why not tell us in the comments below.

Did Windows XP Usage Rise in January 2012? 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.

Well January flew by if you ask me, it seems like only yesterday that I posted about how I was going to start off a series of publishing Smashing Magazine’s calendar wallpapers for every month. Now it’s February, and while it may be the shortest month of the year, even with a leap year this year, I’ve got no less than 27 wallpapers for you this month. That’s nearly a new wallpaper for you every single day!

Of course all these wallpapers come courtesy of Smashing Magazine where they have a bunch of very talented artists who contribute to their collection every month. I think you’ll agree with me that there are some very creative desktop wallpapers in this collection.

I wont go posting all the download links here for the wallpapers as Smashing Magazine have that covered here. They offer you multiple different resolutions as well as an option to get the wallpaper without the calendar. But most importantly they credit all the the authors who contributed so be sure to check it out.

I’ve published a gallery of the images below so you can have a look at them for yourself.

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Go to Smashing Magazine to download them

February 2012 Smashing Magazine Calendar Wallpapers 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.

Microsoft’s Internet explorer has been the dominant browser for the last 10 years. A few months ago, Microsoft showed that IE9 had surpassed IE8 in US growth. In January 2012, continued to grow, even out pacing Firefox and Chrome.

Cut the Rope

One of the applications that Microsoft is happy to tout because it works so well in IE9 is Cut the Rope. This game now has an HTML 5 version, with 25 levels now available online for free.  With the power of HTML5, IE9 and Windows, experiences that were once limited to applications are now coming to life across the web.

Cut the Rope

The game is about a green monster who is hungry. As a player, you can use your mouse to manipulate ropes, airbags and bubbles to feed him candy, and collect stars along the way for more points. But here is a fair warning, it is an addictive game which has been downloaded over 60 million times to date.

Other Games

Other games that are working well and popular on IE9 are Pirates Love Daisies, Tron, and WorldsBiggestPackman. These games extend the limits of HTML5, and Microsoft wants users to see that the browser can be more than a viewer of websites. They are pursuing a lot of new experiences not only showcase the beauty of the web, but demonstrate how fast, interactive and rich the web is becoming, enabled by platforms such as IE9 and Windows 7.

Indeed, the old days of file transfer and e-mail, which helped form the ideas behind the Internet, never saw how complex packet transfers could actually become.

Even in recent years, developers in the Internet or WWW, had a limited view of what they could do. But with new browsers running on sophisticated operating systems, like Windows 7, and its anticipated replacement, Windows 8, there may be a lot of new concepts coming.

This is why it may be that IE9 is just the right browser for users to work with who want a different Internet experience.

Download IE9

IE9 is growing and Multiple Games can run on the Browser 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.

I think we can all agree that Windows 7 didn’t really get off to a flying start when it came to tablets. While Microsoft did do a bit of work making Windows 7 more touch friendly, there was still a lot left to be desired. Microsoft hadn’t really planned on entering the tablet market with Windows 7, they’re planning on doing that with its successor, Windows 8. Personally the only time I’ve seen a tablet running Windows 7 has been a display model in a shop. I’ve never actually seen one in the wild.

There’s a reason for that, according to statistics from Strategy Analytics, Windows 7 is only running on about 1.5 percent of tablets out there. That means that there’s approximately 400,000 Windows 7 tablets around the world at the moment, out of a total of 27 million that were shipped last quarter.

Of course I’m sure you all know who’s got the number one spot. It is of course the Apple iPad which now controls 58 percent of the market. Android on the other hand isn’t that far behind with 39 percent of the market. Of course you have to remember that the Android army includes the likes of Amazon, Samsung, Asus, Toshiba and more.

Global tablet shipments have grown at an incredible pace as well, 26.8 million units were shipped in Q4 2011, up 150 percent on 2010′s numbers.

Windows 7 Tablets Only Have 1.5% Of The Market 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.

Two weeks ago Microsoft issued a security bulletin regarding  at least eight vulnerabilities affecting all versions of the Windows operating system. The company was urging Windows users to pay special attention to MS12-004, which is a “critical” bulletin that provides fixes for two serious flaws in the way Windows 7 Media PLayer handles certain media files security flaws.

New Flaws

Well, since then hackers have found new Media Player Security  flaws and are exploiting this issue to plant malware on unpatched computers. The vulnerability works when the in-the-wild attacks are launched through web sites rigged with booby-trapped Windows media files. The vulnerability occurs when Windows Multimedia Library in Windows Media Player (WMP) fails to handle a specially crafted MIDI file, this allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.

So what happens? The end result is a malicious Trojan with rootkit capabilities infecting the computer.  The attack happens silently in the background and all the user sees is a blank WMP application playing a file. So with the Trojan in place, the attack on the computer can begin.

With a specially crafted MIDI file, the successful attacker could gain remote code execution against a target running the ubiquitous Windows Media Player.

The second critical vulnerability caused by the Media player occurs when filters in DirectShow do not properly handle media files in the way that they should.  The filter is supposed to keep out certain code, preventing it from executing. But it doesn’t do that. DirectShow is a part of Microsoft DirectX, a Windows feature used for streaming media on Windows operating systems to enable graphics and sound when playing games or watching video.

Since the media player keeps working, users do not notice anything wrong until the virus or root kit launches. Then they may not even know or suspect where the problem originated, or even what is launching the virus now.

Microsoft suggests that getting the update patch, on the original vulnerability is necessary. However, they will have to make another patch quickly.

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Microsofts Kinect has certainly been popular among consumers and hackers a like. Before Microsoft announced an official Kinect SDK, hackers had already managed to get the Kinect sensor running with Windows 7. Microsoft are now also set to release a desktop version of Kinect which will go on sale from February 1st. This sensor is slightly smaller and more accurate with close range objects.

But what if you could buy a laptop with a Kinect sensor built directly into it?

Well according to the Daily, Microsoft are looking to do just that. It’s been said that Microsoft are currently testing out the Kinect technology on Asus netbooks. They appear to be running Windows 8, probably the developer preview. They have a small array of sensors covering the top of the screen where the webcam is normally found and at the bottom of the display there seems to be a set of LEDs.

The Daily is also reporting that a source at Microsoft has also confirmed that these are in fact prototype devices that Microsoft are testing out.

It would be very interesting to see what you could do with a laptop, netbook or even tablet which had Kinect sensors built into it. Not only would it make navigating through Windows a completely new experience, but it would also interact quite well with the new Metro UI in Windows 8 I reckon. Of course since Kinect is primarily used for gaming, I’m sure that it would add to the gaming experience on these devices as well.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft announce further details on this. Since they are just about the release the desktop edition of Kinect as an accessory, they probably don’t want to hurt it’s initial sales.

The chances that we’ll get to see Kinect sensors in Windows 7 powered laptops is probably pretty slim since Windows 8 is on its way, but  you never know!

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Linux may not be dead after all. Microsoft is looking for software engineers to make Linux available on Azure, Microsoft Cloud system.

Job Requirements

“Senior Software Development Engineer/Linux Virtualization
This position requires a proven track record in the open source community.
The Windows Interoperability Team at Microsoft has an immediate opening for a senior software development engineer. The purpose of this position is to become a key member of a highly specialized development team whose mission is to identify, define, scope, implement and drive to completion software projects that promote full, transparent interoperability between Windows and Linux in Microsoft virtual and cloud environments.”

Why Linux?

Microsoft is looking to make its Azure Cloud services available to as many users as possible. While Linux consumers are a small part of the OS market, their contribution to OS design and computer stability has played a role in making other operating systems be more in tune with this system. By adding Linux to the complexity of the Cloud, it will increase the market propensity where it can become a universal system. All systems can handle the Azure cloud. That at least is the goal.

Linux Virtual Machines

Microsoft is planning to allow customers to make virtual machines (VMs) to run on Windows Azure. So Linux customers who want to run Linux without losing the data state in VMs on Microsoft’s Azure platform-as-a-service platform will be able to do so.  The problem that has been noted is that as the Linux program runs on the Cloud, if there are problems, the data disappears. This unsteady element is one that Microsoft wants to correct.

But with the new developer position, Microsoft hopes to start making inroads into some of the problems and correct them. The Linux virtual machine system, which they hope to make available, then will allow other applications to run on the cloud.

Source The Register

 Zdnet

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I’m sure many of you are familiar with the features in most browsers which let you reopen tabs that you may have accidentally closed. However such a feature doesn’t exist in Windows 7 for reopening programs and windows that you may have accidentally closed. UndoClose is a great little application that will add that feature to Windows 7 for you.

This great little program is from Addictive Tips and logs all the programs that you’ve closed on your computer. And then it’s got hotkeys assigned that lets you reopen these windows, in the same order that you closed them. It runs in the background the whole time and uses 35 MB of memory, but if you’re running a large number of apps and folders this will increase so it’s worth taking that into account.

The program also knows to distinguish between explorer windows and actual program windows. It’s got two different hot keys for restoring the two different types of windows

Ctrl + Shift + F = Reopen folders
Ctrl + Shift + P = Reopen programs

This really is a very handy little program, the only drawback with it is that it can’t distinguish between different windows within a program. For example if you have you IM client running and have a few different chat windows open, it will only be able to identify the main IM clients window and not the extra chat ones.

All in all it’s a nifty little program and if you’ve got a high powered machine and aren’t worried about using up a tiny bit more memory I think it’s well worth having.

You can see a detailed video explaining how to use it below as well as the download link

You can download it here

Source:

Addictive tips

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A lot is going on with Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 8, which is expected to be released sometime this year. Now there is also talk about Microsoft’s new OS version for their next installment of Windows Phone. Call it Windows Phone 8, or Apollo as it is called in Redmond. In it, the rumor is that Windows Phone OS will make a swap out to the new variant of Windows 8.

Problems with Windows Phone 7 Kernel

One of the biggest overall complaints about Windows Phone, starting with Windows Phone 7 and continuing through NoDo and Mango, is the lack of 3rd-party native mode application support. Developers have problems because they do not wants to embed Windows CE’s idiosyncrasies in new apps. Again some of that is reliability and some is a desire to make apps portable across the three-screens (PC, Phone, TV) and a cloud world.  So by moving to WinNTk this eliminates the CE idiosyncrasy problem and makes native mode applications (and particularly WinRT-based ones) possible.

Three other issues also play into having one operating system for the devices. One is that when you do the same things twice (a computer operating system and a smartphone operating system) it is almost impossible to have them both be completed at approximately the same time, and  be truly compatible with one another, and also be of equivalent quality. Secondly, the cost of staffing to repeatedly do the same thing twice is nonsense, even for a company the size of Microsoft. And finally, the closer you get to wanting two things to be almost the same provides less the justification for having two different things at all!

RedHawk

So developers want better integration with the Kernel. Or so it seems. So Microsoft has come out with Redhawk. It is a new managed-code execution environment that would be more lightweight and more appealing to developers who have been put off by the perceived overhead of the current Common Language Runtime (CLR) at the heart of the .Net Framework.

That said, it appears that Microsoft is making changes in more ways than one, and is certainly trying to streamline it OS kernel to make it a more compatible development environment. The challenge for Microsoft is that as a descendant of Windows 7, Windows 8 must be as good as if not better, and Windows Phone 8 should be a lot better in order to increase the Microsoft market share in the smartphone arena.

Source: Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8: Cousins or Siblings

Zdnet

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Android 4.0 is the most recent operating system from Google that’s been dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s a slick looking UI that’s becoming quite popular on tablets as of late. Well Flickr user David Molina wanted to bring the beauty of Ice Cream Sandwich to his desktop. So he set about tweaking a few things and downloading a few bits. The final result is a very Ice Cream Sandwichy looking desktop as seen below

Unfortunately it’s not that straight forward a process. It’s not as simple as downloading and installing a Windows 7 theme. Instead you’ll have to download and set up the following wallpapers, fonts and applications

• The Ice Cream Sandwich wallpaper from WallBase
• The APPOWS2010 theme for Windows 7 from DeviantArt to tweak the taskbar
• RocketDock with a blank theme to create the dock on the left side
• The Ice Cream Sandwich Icon Pack from DroidPirate
• The Rainmeter system monitor and configuration tool for Windows
• The Minimal Bar skin for Rainmeter to display the time and date
• The Lexis skin for Rainmeter to display the weather
• Simplesentencethree for Rainmeter for the currently playing music display in the lower-right corner
• The Google Search Bar for Rainmeter
• The Roboto Font (specifically Roboto Light)

(Thanks to lifehacker for putting together that list)

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We’ve heard about the recent attempts by the US Congress to pass legislation regarding downloads. It seems that the legislation is on hold after an outcry that surprised most Congressional leaders. One of the larger issues involved is privacy because, users expect a certain amount of privacy while they surf the net. And going to websites for download purposes would expose that user. In a larger sense, privacy also involves data protection and application protection. In that vein, Microsoft has recently been involved with this issue.

Data Privacy Day

On January 28, Data Privacy Day will be celebrated. This is an international holiday with the purpose to raise awareness and promote privacy education. The National Cyber Security Alliance is coordinating and promoting the event within the United States and Canada. Given some of the recent events, involving Anonymous and potential Congressional legislation it is good to harken back and look at the environment. At the event Microsoft speakers will be addressing Microsoft’s Tracking Protection software.

Tracking Protection

Tracking Protection lets you filter out content in a page that may have an impact on your privacy. As you know, many webpages include content from other (third-party) websites. This program helps you identify different types of content.

How it Works

When content is loaded from a third-party site, standard information, including your IP address and the address of the webpage you’re viewing is sent to each of the third-parties that have content in the page you’re viewing. If the website you’re visiting has a business relationship with the third party, then more information about you may be sent. Then over time, these third parties can build a profile of your browsing history by using “cookies” and other techniques.

But now, you can filter out content from any website by using Tracking Protection Lists. So, you can have “Do Not Call” lists for content. When you add a Tracking Protection List, Internet Explorer will prevent your information from being sent by limiting data requests to websites in the list.

Tracking Protection and Do not track

Tracking protection is not the same as do not track. They are complimentary. The most important difference is that the Do Not Track protocol is an honor system. When a consumer attaches a “do not track” imperative, they hope that sites will honor their request to contain tracking. But this is an ongoing issue. Because what sites must do to in order to honor that request is still under discussion. Also, it is not clear who is to monitor and enforces that, and how. There is a sort of honor’s pledge that sites make, but it is not enforceable. Consequently for some people that that’s not enough. That being the case, if an honor system can’t resolve the issue, then perhaps put the focus on the consumer to derail any information from being perpetrated. That said, that is why Microsoft is advancing Tracking Protection. Microsoft’s trusted data tracking protection only works with IE9.

The Tracking Protection Working Group Charter

Tracking Protection is now a standard under development at the W3C and the momentum over the last year has been encouraging. Indeed, according to Microsoft, when they released IE9, there were only five tracking protection lists available. However, several months later, there are over twenty lists worldwide from six different groups.

One group, EasyList is an open community effort to help filter unwanted content. It is available as a Tracking Protection List. They have had over 250,000 subscriptions to their list.

Another list comes from TRUSTe who is one of four preferred providers of TPLs used for the new IE9 Tracking Protection feature. Their Data Collection is a new program for ad and data companies that collect consumer data on other company websites or use data collected to show more relevant ads. This program certifies the notice, choice, and privacy practices around data collection and usage.

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The Enterprise Rocks Microsoft. That’s the story. Sure the Cloud, Xbox, Kinect, and Windows Phone 7 are getting attention and publicity. Windows 8 will be launching this year. But what Microsoft is basing its success is on Enterprise support.

Microsoft is IBM

Microsoft is IBM; it is the international business machine company. How is that possible? Consider this

• Microsoft had good cost discipline.
• The company has a well-rounded product line-up: Software, entertainment, business, scientific, programming languages, and applications.
• Its enterprise businesses are chugging along.
• Kinect is making an impact on the entertainment and device division.
• Corporations continue to upgrade to Windows 7.
• The Cloud service and Office 365 is growing.
• It has data-centers in different parts of the world, like

East Asia – Hong Kong
South East Asia – Singapore
North-central US – Chicago, IL
South-central US – San Antonio, TX
North Europe – Amsterdam, Netherlands
West Europe – Dublin, Ireland

Enterprise Facts

Microsoft may have been an OS and Applications company, but it has done a lot more. Consider the following:

• Six quarters since launch, Office 2010 upgrade continue.
• Microsoft had double-digit revenue growth for Exchange, SharePoint, Lync and Dynamics CRM.
• Office 365 has 100,000 businesses in the fold.
• Windows Server Premium and System Center had double digit revenue growth quarters.
• Microsoft’s Lync unified communications platform continues to gain steam.
• Windows Server 8, SQL Server 2012 and System Center 2012 are on tap to launch.

Microsoft may not look “cool,” but businesses like sound operations. That is “cool.”

As a business systems provider, it has done a lot with the software concepts, some its own, others borrowed from others and this made Microsoft the top computer company in the world. Yes, Apple may have flashier programs and a coven of followers that march to the Apple tune, but at the business level, Microsoft still carries the day. That’s why it is the International Business Machine. That is why Microsoft is IBM.

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Office 365 continues to grow in business circles. According to Microsoft over 90 percent of their Office 365 customers have less than 50 employees. Now a new group of companies  have entered into the Azure/Office 365 fold. These are JetBlue, Patagonia, and the American Heart Association. This adds to the existing stack of companies like Campbell Soup Company, Marie Claire, Roush Enterprises, Hersing Corp, UL (formerly Underwriters Labs), and Wunderman. So there are small companies and large companies that have accepted this product. And it shows that the productivity suite can fit the needs of any size business.

Patagonia

Why did Patagonia, a leading provider of outdoor gear, move to using Office 365? Answer: to make real-time communications and decision making possible throughout its organization; plus the cost savings made an impact.

Here’s how.

Patagonia expects to save $300,000 in future upgrades and infrastructure improvements, and $15,000 a year in savings by moving to the cloud-based e-mail system that is part of Office 365.

There is also the green effect. Patagonia has a program called “drive-less” meaning that they encourage employees to work from home in order to reduce their carbon footprint. Office 365 supports the company’s “drive-less” program, so it is a win-win situation.

Updates

Last year, Microsoft pushed out 30 updates on the Office 365 suite to make it even more user friendly. These included support for Lync for Mac, SharePoint Business Connectivity Services, support for Windows Phone 7.5, and making SkyDrive simpler to use with app-centric sharing for Office.

The updates are beginning to resonate on the market, making an impression on IT managers who are pushing out to enterprise management as a viable alternative to purchasing new equipment and software.

Earlier I wrote about Azure and making the connection as Microsoft’s new OS. Obviously, Azure will not replace Windows 7 or Windows 8. But it is a way of using the computer with connection to the cloud, in a different way. It is a system that lets companies operate in a new way; allowing customers and enterprises to perform their own operations in their unique style and brand.

Source: Microsoft blog

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Problem: Say you are working on a project with several people who are located on a different city, or even a different state. Furthermore, some may be using a PC or a MAC. You put together a document and want to save it on the cloud, but will the others in the project access it? And what if others decide to modify the document and save it, will others be able to access the most current document?

SkyDrive and Office

Here is a solution, use SkyDrive. With it you can store all your files in one place, so everyone can access the latest version. You can also use free Office Web Apps for basic editing from any browser.

Here are some of the things you can do with Web Apps:

• Upload documents to SkyDrive
• Edit documents
• Share your documents
• Work with others on projects
• Embed a presentation on a webpage
• Embed a spreadsheet on a webpage

But what makes this solution even more inviting is that SkyDrive and Office Web Apps integrate with the Office apps installed on your PC or Mac so you can work together on documents in the cloud right from your desktop apps. With the right setup, you can work together on a Word doc or PowerPoint presentation with your teammates at the same time. Creating an account is easy and free. Start with a Windows Live account.

Next create a SkyDrive account and a Web Apps account. Then once you have the Web Apps and Windows SkyDrive, you can follow several tips to make your work easier.

1. Add SkyDrive.com to your desktop for quick access
2. Create one space for the team that’s easy to find
3. Capture meeting notes, brainstorming notes, and to-do’s more efficiently than email.
4. Access SkyDrive docs right from Word, Excel or PowerPoint—online or offline
5. Use Word co-authoring to ensure your team’s plan flows nicely
6. Use version history to avoid disasters

These tips can help you manage a project and keep the documentation easy to use. Plus because SkyDrive can be accessed anytime and anywhere you are not limited to when or where you can work on the project.

Note that you must have a Windows Live ID to access SkyDrive.

Source: Microsoft SkyDrive

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Microsoft had a good year…again. Not surprising. But what was surprising was that it primary money maker, Windows and Office were not at the top of Redmond list of profitable divisions.

According to Microsoft 2nd Quarter Earnings results ending Dec 31 2111, Windows and Windows Live came in third, behind the Microsoft Business Division and the Server and Tools division. In contrast, last quarter, the Business division was No. 1 and Windows was still No. 2.

What’s changed

First of all, there may be a slowdown in moving to Windows 7, in part because of the move to the tablet world. Secondly, it could be that with Windows 8 on the horizon, companies, that want to upgrade to Windows 7, may be putting a purchasing hold and wait for the next iteration of Windows to come out.

One other fact may be in place, the number of PC’s being shipped has declined over the last few months. The flooding in Thailand is affecting PC production, and that will continue for some to come.

The good news for Microsoft is that the company may not have to be locked into one product to make its annual profit goals. Now other products and divisions can make a significant impact.

Another thing that is important for the whole revenue side of the process is that some of the additions to the company have increased costs, and now they are hitting the profit range. For instance, with the addition and integration of Skype the long term profit may take time to work out, but on the short term side, the costs affected the profit margin now. Then there were payments made to Nokia related to Windows Phone strategic initiatives, also higher Xbox Live royalty costs, and a higher mix of Xbox 360 hardware sales vs. software. All of this takes a toll on the company’s profit margins.

On the other hand, a quarterly earnings report showing 20.9 billion is what…good?

Source: Microsoft

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Microsoft has successes with the OS, Windows Client and Server plus multiple applications. It has been moderately successful with Azure, its cloud service and Office 365. It has had very limited success with its own smartphone, Windows Phone 7. But one other area where it has had tremendous success is with Xbox and its Kinect side kick. And this leads to the question. Will Microsoft try to enhance the status of this commercially successful hardware, albeit, gaming device?

Incoming…Dave Cutler

Dave Cutler? You don’t know who he is? He is not well known outside of Microsoft circles, but Cutler was the father of Windows NT. Right now, his status is so high at Microsoft that he reports directly to Steve Ballmer. And now Steve Ballmer may also be thinking…can we use Dave in some other capacity? He was working on Azure, but Cutler considers that project “done.” So Cutler may be looking for something else to get involved in. That something is Xbox.

Gaming and Beyond

Xbox was designed around the NT OS. So Cutler is well poised to make contributions. The most important would be to expand the range of Xbox into something else besides gaming. Microsoft recently said:

“Dave is one of our brightest minds and is currently working on projects that will help advance our goals in the consumer space as we continue to grow the Xbox from a game-centric console to a complete home entertainment device.”

Since the hardware console has been everything that gamers want, and more, can that technology form the basis of another area of customer interest. Here are some of the things that could develop:

• Making Xbox more of a TV with HomeStore
• Making Xbox also become a home videoconferencing / telepresence hub
• Making XBox a whole home-automation system
• Making Xbox a new type of TV device

With developers like Dave Cutler at the helm, Xbox could turn out to be a new and successful addition to the market that Microsoft has had a firm lock in, namely gaming. Now they may be moving in the direction of Home Entertainment.

Source: ZDnet

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There’s been quite a few little programs created over the past couple of months which aim to imitate the new Windows 8 Metro UI on Windows 7 and other Windows operating systems. A lot of them actually do a pretty good job, but I don’t think you will ever get the full Metro UI experience until Microsoft release the first beta for Windows 8 in about a months time.

But if you’re still interested in trying out the new Metro UI and can’t be bothered to go through the hassle of downloading the Windows 8 developer preview, then Metro7 could be just the program you’re looking for.

 All you have to do is go and download the app and install it.

Metro7

Download

As you can see from my screenshot above, once you start up the app you will be presented with a familiar looking tile based UI that is modelled on Windows 8′s Metro UI. You are able to customise this by dragging and deleting tiles as well as adding new ones as you go. There isn’t really much in the line of built in apps that can be added to the program but it is possible to build up your own collection of tiles and apps with a bit of patience.

It’s pretty cool if you want to play around with the new Metro UI that is coming with Windows 8, the chances are we’ll all need to get used to using it pretty soon. Of course if you are just curious as to how the new Metro UI will work, this is a pretty good place to start and try it out.

Obviously since this isn’t actually the official Microsoft Metro UI, it has been reversed engineered so don’t be surprised if it lags and or crashes on you. It’s really just for playing around with than for practical usage.

Download it here

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Over the next few years, companies are expected to move to the Cloud over the next few years. But some may still want to maintain their own servers on hand, their own datacenters. Microsoft has a solution for this. It is System Center 2012.

Say you are a company that wants tight control of the data in the system. They have looked at cloud computing but are not ready to make the full commitment to it. They want to retain their own datacenters. Yet the cloud offers advantages to the enterprise that it wouldn’t ordinarily offer to its clients or remote branches. The Microsoft System Center can help with that.

Private Cloud

When an enterprise builds a datacenter, it can make that center available on the Internet for its company or its clients. Data is stored and available to all. Companies can develop web applications to make information available. But running some applications on the cloud may not be possible. For example, Excel, or Access are not the kinds of apps that you can transmit and run across the Internet. For that, you would need Office 365, Microsoft’s Azure Cloud application service.

Cloud Integration

System Center 2012 can help enterprises make the slow transition to the cloud by helping them build the private datacenter that can run cloud operations. With the right combination of hardware and software, private cloud services can become important gateways to get the most efficient operations from their existing hardware. They will have the options of designing and running their own applications, and controlling and distributing them to their business partners as they see fit. Plus they will have server tools available from Microsoft to enhance the local private servers to get the best performance from them.

Once a company feels confident that cloud services are worth using full time, they can move their entire data center to Azure.

Source: Microsoft Blog

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There is no denying that Bill Gates is one of the greatest entrepreneurs and businessmen of all time. We can all thank Bill Gates for bringing Windows to the masses and changing the way that the everyday normal consumer uses computers.

Gates was the pioneer for Windows and it was his dream to have Windows running on every computer in every home. If we look at the 90%+ market share that Windows now enjoys I think it’s fair to say that he got pretty close to that dream.

Of course Gates is also known for donating extraordinary amounts of his wealth to various charities around the world. This great infographic that I found from Frugaldad shows just how much work he’s done as well as how many lives he has saved. Interestingly enough they compare him to Batman, but this infographic is well worth looking at.

If you didn’t know the extent of the work that Bill Gates does, be sure to check it out

Source: frugaldad.com

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Tablets are becoming more and more popular all the time, and the vast majority of them are iPad’s. Of course everyone knows of the limitations that this brings but OnLive is looking to getting around these barriers. At CES this year they announced their new OnLive Desktop Service which allows you to use Windows 7 on your iPad over the internet.

OnLive have been around for a while now and are known more for their OnLive Gaming service. OnLive Desktop is a free app that’s available on the iTunes app store (US only for the moment) that allows you to access a Windows 7 virtual machine from your iPad. OnLive starts up a virtual machine on one of its servers and streams the screen to your iPad. The user can then interact with the screen and the information will be relayed back to the virtual machine.

Once you’ve loaded up the app and have connected to a desktop you will be presented with the standard Windows 7 interface. There’s also a number of Microsoft Office applications for you to use for free including Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Of course all the other standard Windows 7 programs will be available to you as well as a few touch based games.

You interact with your Windows 7 desktop the same way you’d normally use your iPad, ie. pinch to zoom etc.. and you can even use an external bluetooth keyboard if you wish. At the moment this free service operates on an “as-available” basis, which means it just makes use of the left over capacity from OnLive’s gaming service and only offers 2GB storage

However this won’t do for most businesses so a subscription service called OnLive Desktop Pro will be available soon for $9.99 per month. This service will provide a larger selection of applications and features, 50GB of storage space, and also priority access to OnLives server resources. Another service “Onlive Enterprise” will also be available which will allow installation of custom programs and allow IT staff full access to the virtual machine.

Of course the big limitation with this service is that you will need a pretty quick internet connection to use it which isn’t really much good for people who are travelling or who have below par internet connections.

All in all it’s a pretty cool app and I’m sure many people will be grateful to have it.

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The bad economy notwithstanding, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has been very successful. For 12 straight months, the Xbox 360 has been a successful selling console.

By the Numbers

According to Microsoft, the Xbox 360 captured 49 percent of consumer retail spending, leading the industry with $6.7 billion in sales in the U.S. for the calendar year—more than $2.1 billion on consoles and $4.6 billion on games and accessories. Overall, internal Microsoft figures show that the company has now sold more than 66 million Xbox 360 consoles and more than 18 million Kinect sensors worldwide, and has nearly 40 million Xbox LIVE members.

Games

Overall, Xbox 360 has seven of the top 10 console game titles including:

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Battlefield 3
• Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
• Just Dance 3
• Kinect Sports Season Two
• Dance Central 2

Specifically for 2011, Xbox 360 had six of the top 10 console game titles including:

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Gears of War 3
• Battlefield 3
• Madden NFL 12
• Call of Duty: Black Ops

Sales for December 2011

In December, the Xbox 360 sales were impressive. It holds 46 percent share of the overall current-generation console market. The Xbox 360 sold more than 1.7 million units in December, retaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. This is impressive because it marks the tenth consecutive month Xbox 360 held on to more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share, and twelfth straight month Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in the U.S.. Finally, total retail spending on the Xbox 360 platform reached $1.5 billion, the most for any console in the U.S..

What’s Next?

Looking forward to 2012, Microsoft expects to keep up with new experiences for Xbox LIVE and new installments in the “Halo” and “Fable” franchises. Not to mention that the Kinect hardware is also adding to the success of the XBox, as some of the recent posts have shown, See. New Kinect for Windows Coming on February 1st, and Microsoft Kinect in Science and Medicine.  Current users will not be disappointed.

Source: Microsoft Blog

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