Wayne Williams

As soon as Microsoft announced it was making Windows 8.1 RTM available to IT professionals I logged into my MSDN account and started downloading the ISO for it. The size of the file varies depending on the edition you download -- approx. 3,537MB for the x64 version, and 2,643MB for the x86 release.

You can install Windows 8.1 from directly inside Windows 8/Windows 8.1 Preview. Just launch the setup.exe inside the ISO and windows will prepare the files and launch the installer. It’s all plain sailing at this point.

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Two weeks ago I wrote a piece called Microsoft, if you want apps for Windows 8.1, don’t piss off developers in which I expressed disbelief that Microsoft wasn’t making the RTM build of Windows 8.1 available to app creators. Microsoft’s plan was to only release the RTM to hardware makers, which seemed a crazy decision.

Fortunately, Microsoft has once again listened to the complaints and performed one of its frequent U-turns, announcing that developers and IT professionals will now be able to get their hands on the Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro RTM builds early -- from today in fact.

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Nearly a year after it debuted Xbox Music, Microsoft has introduced iOS and Android apps for its impressive music service, and sent out a clear warning to the likes of Spotify with the introduction of free web streaming.

iOS and Android users with an Xbox Music Pass can now enjoy unlimited access to 30 million songs for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. When you add a song to your music library on Xbox, it will be instantly available on the mobile device.

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HP yesterday revealed two reclining touchscreen PCs and in the accompanying press release Mike Nash, vice president, Product Management, Consumer PCs and Consumer Solutions, HP said: "Customers have told us that they want touch on their PCs", but do they? Really? Because the list of bestselling PCs on Amazon tells a different story. That suggests customers don’t want touch on their PCs.

According to the latest figures from NetMarketShare, just under eight percent of PC users are on Windows 8. What percentage of those use touch? I don’t know, but I could hazard a guess of no more than around 30 percent.

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HP today announces two new All-In-One PCs with -- as is the fashion these days -- different positioning options. Available in 23-inch and 27-inch sizes, the HP ENVY Recline TouchSmart PCs have apparently been designed to allow “for a more comfortable experience and greater control than ever before”.

The press release accompanying the announcement states, "an HP study revealed that while using touch screens, an overwhelming majority of people preferred their screen in a low and close position for 100 percent of touch-related tasks". Seriously? HP needed to conduct a study to discover that?

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Eighth in a series. It feels weird admitting this. Akin to declaring a fondness for Piers Morgan, or dancing in public to One Direction, almost. But I like Windows 8.1. A lot.

I was never a fan of Windows 8. In fact I'd go so far as to say I detested the Modern UI which on my uber-fast desktop system simply got in the way when I was trying to work and slowed me down or tripped me up. Every time I wanted to do something simple like launch a program it insisted on throwing me out of the desktop and into a weird tiled nightmare I couldn't wait to wake up from.

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Mobile technology moves pretty fast these days. Think back ten years and things were very different. Most people had basic mobile phones with physical button keypads, and despite Microsoft’s attempts to bring tablets to the masses it was Apple launching the iPad in 2010 that finally made it happen.

The past decade has seen some amazing innovations, and changed the face of business. According to a 2013 AT&T Technology Poll, 98 percent of small businesses use wireless or mobile technology in their daily operations and 66 percent of small businesses have stated that it would be a major challenge to operate their business without such technology.

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Microsoft might want you to wait until October 18 before upgrading to Windows 8.1, but the ever-impatient Internet has other ideas. The RTM versions of the OS refresh are now available to download and install if you know where to look (i.e. the usual torrent sites).

The leaks began on Tuesday with a Chinese version, and then there was a WIMs (Windows Imaging Format) release in English that had less technically minded would-be installers scratching their heads and begging for help.

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Microsoft needs better Windows 8 apps, and in greater numbers, but, at times, it seems at a loss on how to get them. The company has introduced various initiatives, but then for reasons that are hard to fathom, does its best to hamper developers.

In a blog post yesterday, following the announcement of Windows 8.1 hitting the RTM milestone, the Windows Apps Team put out a call to developers to get their apps ready for the Windows 8.1 launch. It went down like a lead balloon with app makers asking exactly how they're supposed to do this without early access to Windows 8.1 RTM.

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Ten months after Microsoft launched the polarizing Windows 8, comes the news that the software giant has now reached RTM on Windows 8.1, and started to roll out the OS refresh to its hardware partners.

I’m using Windows 8.1 as my primary operating system, and frankly can’t wait to install the finished OS, but will have to wait a while yet -- that’s not set to be made available to consumers until October 18. I was never a fan of Windows 8, but 8.1 is a huge improvement.

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I’ve personally never had any great problems with my Raspberry Pi overheating, but then I work in a cool office and rarely push the uncased credit card-sized device to its limits.

If you do have problems with the ARM GNU/Linux computer getting a little too warm, the good news is you can now buy a heatsink for it.

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While every armchair tech pundit and analyst pontificates on Steve Ballmer’s retirement bombshell and speculates on who Microsoft’s next CEO might be and what the future holds for the tech giant, I’d like to take a moment to just enjoy this video of Steve selling Windows 1.0.

Sure, there are many amusing videos of the departing CEO on the web -- including his famous monkey boy dance, this one where he disses the iPhone, and of course developers, developers, developers etc.  But it’s Steve in full used car salesman mode that I really like.

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There will be plenty of people thrilled by the news that Microsoft’s long-term CEO is planning on standing down. After all, Microsoft hasn’t exactly had the greatest success with Windows 8 and Surface in recent months, and maybe it is time for a new hand on the tiller as the tech giant continues to head off into new and at times uncharted waters as a devices and services company.

Even so, the news is a shock. In a press release Microsoft says "Steve Ballmer has decided to retire as CEO within the next 12 months, upon the completion of a process to choose his successor". That doesn't mean he'll be around for another year, it simply means he'll be in charge until a successor is found, which could be a matter of months.

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A month ago my colleague Brian Fagioli complained that childish names were undermining Linux. He singled out Fedora 18 -- "Spherical Cow", and Fedora 19 -- "Schrödinger's Cat", as prime examples of the problem.

Fedora contributors are currently voting on the name for Fedora 20, and Brian will no doubt be lobbying hard for fan favorite "Santa Claus", although "Cherry Ice Cream" and "Superego" both also have a shot of being picked as the next release name.

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When Canonical launched its crowdfunded Ubuntu Edge campaign on Indiegogo, few people expected it to succeed. Building a "smartphone and desktop PC in one state-of-the-art device" was a noble and ambitious aim, but seeking $32 million to do it meant the project had little chance of victory.

Before Ubuntu Edge, the most funding a single project had raised on Indiegogo was $1,665,380, for a Tricorder-style medical scanner. Rival Kickstarter’s record was $10,266,845 for the Pebble smartwatch. Ubuntu Edge did manage to eclipse both, which was an impressive achievement in itself.

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