Displaying items by tag: Windows

Because of the Windows Store, fearing for their own distribution service Steam, Valve's director Gabe Newell has once claimed that Windows 8 is a disaster unlike he has seen before and that user will definitely want to replace it with something better. In the meantime, the market has punished Microsoft's bad marketing, and Newell has released Steam for OSX and Linux, making them very interesting alternatives to Windows.

According to data collected by Kantar Worldpanel, in the second quarter of this year, the share of Windows Phone at the five largest European markets, in the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany rose from 4.7 last year to 6.9%.

Last week it was announced that Microsoft has plans to lower the prices of their tablet Surface RT. Information have now become official, and tablet in the cheapest version now costs $150 less than before.

Believe it or not, thanks to Windows 8, PC sales have just gone through the biggest decline in the past 20 years. These sales, combined with the increasing popularity of tablets, beg the question:  is Windows 8 going to destroy the PC Market?
I own a PC that came with Windows 8, and I can tell you, I wasn't pleasantly surprised when I began to use the operating system. Lets take a look at why or why not PCs might be on their way out.

Microsoft’s recent reorganization has been in the news for a couple of days and while everyone seems to be using the same euphoric language we have to wonder if this change is really for the good (and if it might come back to haunt Steve Ballmer). Traditionally Microsoft has existed in multiple (and separate) business units. According to insiders at Microsoft this has led to inefficiency and reproduced efforts when developing software and services. Now Ballmer wants to bring those units back together into a much more cohesive unit. The intention is to build a better, more nimble and efficient Microsoft.

Microsoft on their website Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) announced a new policy for producers of Windows applications, which are required to resolve security issues within 180 days, in order to satisfy the so-called "in-app security act" and patch the dangerous vulnerabilities because otherwise they will be ejected from the Windows Phone Store. This notice is issued by Microsoft at the time when they published the patch package for July intended primarily for Surface tablets.

Microsoft as a corporate entity has had an interesting life cycle. When Bill Gates was in charge the goal was to build systems and software that would interconnect and build the back bone for corporate and home networks. Interoperability was the key and the folks at Microsoft insisted on creating their products to work now and also support older programs (and in some cases hardware). This was vital for their target market; the enterprise. Bill Gates knew that if he build a solid back ground in companies, universities, schools etc then it would spread to the consumer market. The plan worked and continued to work simply because most people want a similar experience across their computing platforms (remember this point). The move was brilliant and Microsoft managed to get themselves very firmly entrenched in the market.

At the Windows Build conference Microsoft is all about pushing Window 8.1. This is the new release of Windows that Microsoft hope will capture the consumer imagination enough to finally bring sales back up. The question is (and always has been) has Microsoft really made any significant changes to the OS in areas that matter? We are talking about an OS that is just now (after almost a year) pushing past Windows Vista. Vista was almost as hated as the failed Windows ME which was another of Microsoft’s attempts to change the way they did things. Can Windows 8.1 really impact consumer perception of the OS? Sure there are some things to like, but it is unlikely that these changes will have a major impact.

Microsoft on the BUILD conference announced some more information about DirectX 11.2, which will come with Windows 8.1 and Xbox One. Possibilities of a new API, that will provide an even greater level of detail in future games, was demonstrated by vicepresident of Windows department, Antoine Leblond.

Once upon a time Nokia was a giant in the industry. They towered over everyone even Apple and held the market with their own OS Symbian for a number of years.

Unfortunately as the rest of the world broke into Android and iOS Symbian was quickly forgotten even though it is one of the founders of the smartphone era. Nokia was also no slouch at developing hardware either. They are the holders of a large number of patents (their own inventions too). Still despite all of this Nokia could not hold onto the crown. After a few years trying to make Symbian more relevant they have dropped several rungs in the ladder and now are partnered up with Microsoft as the premier partner for their Windows Phone platform.