Articles about Windows 8.1

This is the week that saw the web celebrating its 25th birthday and Tim Berners-Lee took the opportunity to call for a web bill of rights, which I argued is essential for the future of democracy.

Another week means a fresh batch of security concerns. In Europe, users were warned of the dangers of connecting to public wifi hotspots, while a new report found that cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their techniques. Ian was on hand with advice for anyone trying to tackle or avoid viruses.

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Windows RT/8 users rejoice: a Modern UI version of the fan-favorite VLC Media Player tool has just surfaced in the Windows App Store. VLC for Windows 8 Beta 0.2is currently available for Intel-based processors only, so users of WinRT tablets will need to wait until VideoLan is able to successfully compile an ARM version.

As the version number attests, VLC for Windows 8 is a very early public peek at running VLC on the Modern UI platform, and sadly it shows.

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It's been a busy week for Microsoft -- and not necessarily for the reasons the company might have expected. For anyone unwilling to wait until April to receive Windows 8.1 Update, a few methods emerged that made it possible to grab a copy of the eagerly awaited update ahead of the official launch. While some of these options appear to have been stopped in their tracks, where there's a will there's a way, and numerous users -- my good self included -- jumped on the downloads as soon as possible. Some were impressed while others -- yep, me again! -- were not. Perhaps it is little wonder that Windows XP usage continues to grow faster than that of Windows 8.x. This lead to analysts suggesting that the decline of the PC will be slowed rather than avoided by the continued popularity of XP.

Windows 8.1 Update wasn't that only Microsoft download that was on the agenda this week. Brian had details of how Windows RT users can update their copies of Office 2013 to SP1. At the top of Microsoft, a quick reshuffle saw a change of faces in a number of key positions as well as the departure of some well-known characters. Skype rolled out to Outlook.com around the world and gained HD video calling as well. It is normally Microsoft that is to be found on the giving-end of a smeary advertising campaign (hello, Scroogled), but after the Oscars it was Nokia poking fun at Ellen DeGeneres' blurry selfie that was taken on a Samsung device.

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Windows 8.1 Update. Windows 8.1 Update 1. Windows Feature Pack. Windows 8.1 Service Pack 1. Call it what you will, the big update to Windows 8.1 is just around the corner and it promises much. Or at least it did. It was revealed yesterday that it was possible to get hold of the update ahead of schedule with a quick and simple registry edit -- or by downloading the necessary files from the numerous mirrors that quickly sprang up -- and it appears that this is final code; the RTM version that will hit Windows Update for the masses very soon. Was it worth the wait?

This update was Microsoft's chance to put things right, to win back people who hated Windows 8 and have failed to be won over by 8.1. I make no secret about having a love-hate relationship with Windows 8.x. There have been parts of Windows 8 -- particularly the Metro/modern side of things -- which I disliked from day one, but for the most part I have been able to just avoid using them. Microsoft has even acknowledged that people want to avoid the Start screen whenever possible, and has provided tips on how to do so.

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Microsoft is readying an update for its tiled operating system that is expected to be released next month. Thanks to various leaked builds we have a good idea of what to expect from it -- plenty of tweaks to make it more keyboard and mouse friendly mostly -- and we thought we knew what it would be called too -- Windows 8.1 Update 1. However, it turns out that might not be the case.

Help files for the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 8.1 (leaked by WZor.Net) refer to the forthcoming pack as simply Windows 8.1 Update (so apparently not "Spring Update" or "Feature Pack" as some have suggested). They also reveal more about the mysterious "with Bing" edition of the OS.

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It's a new month and so once again NetMarketShare reports desktop share for all of the major operating systems. What's interesting this month is all versions of Windows showed fairly minor changes. Whether dropping or gaining, the differences in share were minimal.

However, one inescapable truth is clear from the figures. While Windows 8.x might finally have shifted 200 million licenses, use of the OS has pretty much plateaued. In February, Windows 8's share declined from 6.62 percent to 6.38 percent, a drop of -0.24. Windows 8.1 increased shared from 3.94 percent to 4.30 percent, rising by 0.36. Combined, Windows 8.1 grew by just 0.12 percent.

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Rumors run rampant on the internet. A new one has surfaced recently that has a couple of trusted sources behind it, as both Tom Warren and Paul Thurrott point to the possibility of a version of Windows 8.1 with Bing -- a Bing OS if you will. It would be geared towards competing against Chrome OS, which has become an increasing concern for Microsoft.

Warren reports that "sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the company is building 'Windows 8.1 with Bing', a version that will bundle key Microsoft apps and services". Yes, "sources familiar" is not the first words in reliability of a report, but Thurrott also concurred, stating "Microsoft is testing whether it makes sense to provide a free version of Windows down the road. And while recent leaks have revealed the existence of something called Windows 8.1 with Bing, it's unclear what this bundling would mean to users", a somewhat less sure, and perhaps more realistic approach. As Paul points out though, a leaked version is already out, so the possibility is very real that this could see the light of day.

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On April 8, 2014, Microsoft will officially end support for Windows XP. After that date, users of the aging OS will no longer receive new security updates, hotfixes, support options, or online technical content updates.

Obviously the tech giant is worried about the dangers than might befall XP users who continue to cling on to the decade-and-a-bit old OS after that date, and that’s the reason for all the blog posts that have been appearing lately. I mean, sure, it looks like Microsoft is cynically using the death of XP support purely to try and persuade people to upgrade to Windows 8.1 but that’s not the case, honestly. Oh, okay, maybe it is. A bit.

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There have been a lot of interesting announcements made at MWC this year, and HP is one of several companies making it clear that business users have not been forgotten. The new HP ProPad 600 has been unveiled alongside an upgraded HP ElitePad 1000 G2, and both have been designed with mobile computing in mind.

Both tablets run Windows 8.1 and the ElitePad 1000 G2 picks up where the HP ElitePad 900 G1 left off. The hardware is impressive enough, but there is a strong focus on battery life and portability.

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According to reports, Microsoft is set to slash the price it charges OEMs for Windows 8.x. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to pick up a copy of the tiled OS for any cheaper, but it does mean significant savings for (some) PC builders.

At the moment, Microsoft charges all OEMs $50 per copy of Windows 8. The price cut will see this license figure reduced by 70 percent to $15 per copy. However, there is a caveat -- it will only apply to devices that will be sold for $250 or less at retail. In other words, Microsoft is hoping to kick start a run of lower-priced PCs, in an effort to compete with Chromebooks.

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Today Mobile World Congress officially got started in Barcelona, Spain. Despite the name, and the expectation for handset announcements, Microsoft had a bit more in store when it took the stage. Joe Belfiore talked a lot about Windows Phone, as should be expected, but that wasn't all he had up his sleeve.

Windows 8.1 Update 1 isn't exactly unheard of -- it's been leaking all over the place the past few weeks. But official word from Microsoft has not been put forth until now. The company has a major perception problem with its latest operating system, and this was rumored to be a big step towards fixing that.

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To say Windows 8.x is a controversial operating system is an understatement. Heck, it is downright polarizing, causing a schism between users that love it and others that hate it. It has arguably set Microsoft back and potentially damaged both the Microsoft and Windows brands. This is both disappointing and sad as Microsoft is a story-booked American darling that has enjoyed years of success and domination.

I'll admit, while I loved Windows 8.1 at first, I soured on it once I noticed an impact in my productivity. Performing a balancing act between the classic UI and Modern one, is maddening. It was so distressing to me, that I actually turned my desktop into a Hackintosh. While Linux distributions are my go-to choice, I still have a need for some other software, such as Office, and OS X meets that need. But Windows 8.1 isn't all bad, it truly shines in one place -- tablets.

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WindowsX has updated both of its skinning tools, Windows 8 UX Pack 8.0 for PCs running Windows 7, and Windows 8 Transformation Pack 8.0 for earlier versions of Windows, including XP.

The latest version of the tools, which aim to give users the Windows 8 look and feel in earlier versions of Windows, have been updated to better reflect the changes introduced in Windows 8.1 as well as provide a number of other tweaks and bug fixes.

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Very little has been said about sales figures for Windows 8 of late, but today Tami Reller, Microsoft's executive vice president of Marketing outed the most recent number of sales during a webcast. Reller revealed that 200 million Windows 8 licenses have now been sold. This is an impressive increase from the last sales figures of 100 million back in May 2013, but sales of the latest version of Microsoft's operating system remain slower than its predecessors.

The 200 million licenses do not include volume license sales, but the number does include sales to the public as well as those to OEMs. A doubling of sales in under a year is not to be sniffed at, but it will probably do little to calm the vocal groups keen to bash Windows 8's success. Ultimately the speed of sales is still a little slow. While more than 40 million licenses were sold in the month after Windows 8's release, this was not sustained.

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Yesterday I wrote about the forthcoming Windows 8.1 Update 1 and called it a "Frankenstein product stitched together with compromises". My view was based on my experiences with a leaked build of the OS. I didn’t realize, at the time of writing, that others were saying the same things, or that the update was being so roundly criticized online (I try to form my own opinions based on experience rather than get them second-hand).

Since then I’ve read numerous articles on the subject, and ploughed through hundreds of comments, and the general consensus of opinion is that Windows 8.1 Update 1 is, at best pointless, and at worst, a disaster. That seems a little unfair, seeing as the finished version isn’t even out yet, but that’s been the story of the tiled OS since the very beginning -- people haven’t been willing to give it a chance.

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