Microsoft dumps Aero in Windows 8, bets on tablets over desktops
In a gargantuan, 11,300+ word post, on the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft’s Jensen Harris, Director of Program Management for the User Experience team, discusses new design elements coming in the final release of Windows 8. The post offers a “brief” history of the Windows user interface and explains why Microsoft has made many of the changes ushered in with each major, new release of Windows. Read more
Microsoft offers Signature de-bloating service for Windows 7 systems
For over a year, Microsoft has been offering “Signature” systems from a handful of its hardware partners, which feature minimal, if any, pre-installed bloatware. The vast majority of companies selling Windows machines tend to load-up their systems with annoying trialware and advertisements to help mitigate costs, usually to the detriment of end users. Read more
Microsoft revamps chkdsk tool in Windows 8 to minimize downtime
In a recent post on the Building Windows 8 Blog, Senior Program Manager, Windows Core Storage and File Systems, Kiran Bangalore, discusses a new NTFS health model and redesigned chkdsk (check disk) tool coming with Windows 8 that can detect and fix data corruption issues much more quickly than Windows 7, and presumably older versions of Windows. Read more
Microsoft opens two more stores, one right in Apple’s backyard
Over the last couple of weeks, Microsoft opened a pair of new Microsoft Stores, one in Palo Alto, California and the other in Austin, Texas. Although the official announcement of the grand openings was just posted to the company website today, the stores have been open to the public since mid-to-late April. Read more
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble cozy up to deliver enhanced e-book experiences
There’s some fresh news out of Microsoft today that could mean trouble for Amazon’s Kindle business moving forward. Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation and have entered into a new strategic partnership. As a result, virtually all of Barnes & Noble’s digital e-Book content will be made available to Windows 8 users via a new NOOK application which is in development. Read more
Microsoft a decade ahead of Apple on security, says Kaspersky boss. We’re not so sure.
There’s been a lot of chatter lately that the recent Flashback and Flashfake malware infestations plaguing Apple’s Max OS X are a sign that the Mac is not nearly as secure as Apple and its devout fans would like you to believe. Read more
Expect a more polished Windows 8 when Release Preview arrives in June
Although the original announcement came at Japan’s Windows 8 Dev Days event, Microsoft spread the word about an upcoming Release Preview of Windows 8 via one of the company’s Twitter feeds earlier today. A tweet from the Building Windows 8 Twitter feed (@BuildWindows8) stated, “Announce...Windows 8 Release Preview first week of June. Here's the announce from Japan's Windows 8 Dev Days #thankyou”. Read more
Microsoft and Facebook strike deal over AOL patents
In a joint release, Microsoft and Facebook announced that they have entered into a half-billion dollar deal over Microsoft’s recently acquired AOL patents. According to the announcement, Facebook has agreed to acquire a large portion of the patent portfolio in exchange for $550 million in cash. Read more
Microsoft outs official Windows 8 editions and feature sets
Microsoft has taken much flak over the years for complicating their Windows product stack with more editions of each OS than some would argue are necessary. Take Windows 7, for example. Disregarding a myriad of regional versions, there are six editions of Windows 7—Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. Each edition has a different feature set and target price point. Read more
First LTE-enabled Windows Phones due to arrive April 8
Although Windows Phone is showing signs of life abroad, Microsoft’s smartphone OS has failed to grab the attention of the U.S. market, where iOS and Android currently dominate. We have hypothesized that at least part of the reason for Windows Phone’s lack of success stateside are the devices themselves. Read more
Microsoft dishes on touch hardware and Windows 8
Microsoft continues to dole out an abundance of information related to the company’s upcoming OS on the Building Windows 8 blog. In the latest post, Jerry Koh, Group Program Manager, and Jeff Piira, Test Manager, Human Interaction Platform team, dive deep into Windows 8’s touch requirements and user-experience goals. Read more
Microsoft’s proposal to accelerate mobile apps and the web: HTTP Speed+Mobility
On the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog, Jean Paoli, General Manager for Interoperability Strategy, and Sandeep Singhal, Group Program Manager for Windows Core Networking, recently published a post dealing with the company’s intent to submit a proposal to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) with plans to speed up web browsing and mobile app performance. Read more
Microsoft’s Challenge: Scaling Windows 8 across different screen sizes
In a recent post on the Building Windows 8 blog, David Washington, a senior program manager on Microsoft’s User Experience team, talks about the extensive research Microsoft is doing and design decisions that have been made to ensure a “a polished, consistent, and predictable user experience” with the company’s upcoming OS on a wide range of screen sizes. Read more
Microsoft wants to alter your perception with ultra-fast touch response
In a video posted by the Microsoft Research Applied Science Group, Assistant Director Paul Dietz discusses advances in high-performance touch systems being worked on at the company that could actually change the way users perceive what is happening on a digital device. Read more
Cutting Edge Technologies Demoed at Microsoft TechForum
This week, Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie hosted an event dubbed TechForum, along with Interactive Entertainment Business President Don Mattrick, Online Services Division President Qi Lu, Business Platform Division Corporate Vice President Ted Kummert and Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid (among other technology partners from various institutions). Read more
Windows Phone Smokes its Competition at MWC...Sort Of.
With Mobile World Congress taking place this week in Barcelona, there has been a near constant influx of smartphone and tablet related news. Most of the buzz has surrounded the upcoming crop of quad-core SoC (system on a chip) designs and Intel’s recent successes with Medfield and its subsequent design wins in the smartphone space. Read more
Windows Phone Showing Signs of Life, Thanks To Nokia
Despite mostly positive reviews and a steady increase in the number (and quality) of apps available for the platform, Windows Phone has performed poorly in the marketplace. Read more
Microsoft Reveals Revamped SkyDrive Cloud Service
The building Windows 8 blog continues to be an invaluable resource for those looking for in-depth information on Microsoft’s upcoming OS and many of its new or customized features. In the latest post on the blog, Mike Torres and Omar Shahine, Group Program Managers for SkyDrive, detail the changes coming to Microsoft’s cloud storage service and its tight integration with Windows 8. Read more
Microsoft Reveals More Details on Windows on ARM
When Microsoft first revealed that it planned to create a version of Windows for ARM-based devices at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, details of the OS were scarce at best. In the past year or so that Microsoft and its partners have had to work on Windows on ARM, however, far more information has trickled out from various sources. Read more
Microsoft and TechStars Team Up; Giving Away Free Cloud Services to Fledgling Startups.
Microsoft and TechStars, a prominent startup accelerator which operates programs in Boulder (Colorado), Boston, New York, Seattle and Texas, just announced a new program in which high-potential startups could earn $60,000 worth of compute and storage Cloud Services on Windows Azure over a two-year period. Read more
- About Microsoft Insights
Marco Chiappetta is a freelance journalist specializing in PC and consumer device hardware reviews. Or in his words, Marco is a "self-confessed keyboard geek." In addition to covering Microsoft for Network World, Marco's work also appears in PC World and he is an editor at Hothardware.com.
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