The past two Windows 10 Insider Preview releases -- Builds 14316 and 14328 -- have been packed with new features and notable changes.

The very latest Fast ring release, Build 14332, marks the start of the Bug Bash, in which Windows Insiders will be set quests to help Microsoft eradicate problems and fix flaws in the OS in preparation for the big Anniversary Update out in July. However, the new build is not only about fixes, there are some new features and improvements too.

Continue reading →

The future of computing is open source -- the writing is on the wall. Major companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google are embracing this software ideology, and more and more consumers are expecting it.

Of course, for open source to continue its ascent, we will need students to be knowledgeable about it. Microsoft had this in mind when it announced its Open Source Challenge for students, and now we have four official winners. The top champion is a dude named Akond Rahman -- yeah, that is his smiling face to the right -- and he is now $5,000 richer. Better than the money, he has ultimate bragging rights in the open source community. Jealous?

Continue reading →

Apple users will be familiar with Handoff. This feature lets you start working on one Apple device -- be it a Mac, iPad or iPhone -- and then pick up where you left off on another, provided the devices are within Bluetooth range of each other.

At Build 2016, Microsoft talked about its plans to introduce a Handoff-style feature to Windows 10, codename Project Rome, and the first glimpse of this has appeared in the latest build for Windows Insiders.

Continue reading →

In November last year, Microsoft announced that it would be cutting back on the amount of free storage offered to OneDrive users, taking the base storage figure from 15GB to 5GB, and discontinuing the 15GB camera roll storage bonus. Office 365 Home, Personal, and University users were also informed that they would no longer get unlimited storage, and some paid tiers were to be removed too.

After an outcry from outraged OneDrive users, Microsoft backtracked and permitted users with 15GB of OneDrive space to keep their base storage quota and camera roll bonus, even after the changes rolled out, but only provided they acted before January 31 2016. If you didn’t take action before then, you’ve probably been wondering exactly when you were going to lose your storage. Well, now we know.

Continue reading →

Microsoft's Surface line of computers have been rather wonderful, although its latest machines have been plagued with problems. For the most part, issues for both the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 have been fixed through updates, but like a game of whack-a-mole, more pop up as others are smashed down.

Despite these issues, Microsoft is highlighting the good aspects of its latest Surface devices -- plus Windows 10 -- in a series of new video advertisements. Over on YouTube, you can see all eight videos, as seen below.

Continue reading →

One of the big changes Microsoft introduced in Windows 10 was mandatory updates. It’s easy to see why the software giant believed this was a good idea -- reducing the number of unpatched systems is great news for everyone -- but it does mean when a bad update is released by Microsoft, everyone installs it.

Case in point is two new updates released this month that have created problems for some users.

Continue reading →

Windows 10 has been the subject of a lot of criticism since it launched, including quite a lot from me. But at the same time, Microsoft reports that the latest version of its operating system is installed on a staggering quarter of a billion devices. The company must be doing something right. Where Windows 10 succeeds -- particularly for Windows Insiders -- is that it is constantly evolving.

Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14328 is the latest build out of the door and it shows great signs of improvement. It might be a little early to call it, but if this massive update is anything to go by, the summer release of Windows 10 Anniversary Edition (or Windows 10 Anniversary Update) could be the real turning point for Windows 10 when it manages to win over the doubters and jump to justified -- rather than forced -- dominance. Build 14328 is a big update, and there's a lot to love.

Continue reading →

The arrival of Bash in Windows 10 took many people by surprise, but it opens up a number of opportunities including the ability to run GUI Linux apps. But it's about much more than just that. Microsoft wants people who are confused about the arrival of (deep breath...) Bash on Ubuntu on Windows to know of the potential, and has produced an explainer about the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Microsoft's Deepu Thomas says that the subsystem was created by the Microsoft Windows Kernel team, and goes on to explain that this is much more than an interpretation layer or virtual machine. In fact, the Windows Subsystem for Linux was born from work carried out years ago for the NT kernel that was meant to bring POSIX and OS/2 support.

Continue reading →

It’s been a couple of weeks since Windows Insiders on the Fast ring got a new build of Windows 10 for PC. A PCI bug prevented a promising build from being released sooner, but the problem has been fixed, and so today Build 14328 arrives for both PC and Mobile.

The past few Windows 10 Fast ring releases have debuted some great new features, and Build 14328 is no different, introducing, among other features, Windows Ink, a wealth of Cortana improvements, and a new Start experience.

Continue reading →

It is hard to take Windows 10 Mobile seriously when Microsoft announces sales of just 2.3 million Lumias in a whole quarter. If you ever thought that the platform can actually be competitive in today's market, now is the time to wake up. This year, smartphones sales are expected to reach 1.5 billion units. If Microsoft manages to move 10 million Lumias in 2016, Windows 10 Mobile's market share would likely be around the one percent mark.

Microsoft is not the only Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile vendor, but it is the largest by far. It sells about 90 percent of the smartphones running the tiled operating system, so its performance has a major impact on the platform's popularity.

Continue reading →

Windows Phone has been dead for some time now. I knew it. The world knew it. Dogs knew it. The only people that were seemingly unaware were those that pledged allegiance to Microsoft. You know who they are -- those men and women that some call "fanboys".

Even the journalism community has them. Folks like Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley are unapologetic fans of Microsoft. While Thurrott has long since abandoned the horrific Windows Phone platform, Foley has been one of the few holdouts. Today, she announces that she -- Microsoft's biggest fan -- is choosing the Linux-based Android instead. If this doesn't signal the death of Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile, I don't know what does.

Continue reading →

I don’t use the Windows Calculator very often, but occasionally I need to work something out and so fire it up. Today, upon opening the calculator, I was presented with a message asking me to rate the app in the Windows Store. If I was enjoying it. Which of course I wasn’t. It is a calculator after all, and the only time I’ve ever enjoyed using one of those was as a teenager when I typed in "5318008" and turned it upside down. Even the enjoyment of doing that was very short lived.

Now, the Windows 10 calculator begging for user ratings in the Windows Store isn’t a new phenomenon. A thread on Reddit discussed this some months ago, but this is the first time I’ve experienced it for myself, and obviously three months after it was first flagged as a nuisance, it’s still going on. Seriously who at Microsoft thought this was a good idea?

Continue reading →

Yes, the Internet of Things, commonly called the IoT, has been steadily growing and increasingly hard to ignore. It's not all bad, though. In fact, it's great when it works and when it isn't being hacked. Security is obviously the number one concern. Nobody wants a hacker turning off lights, or worse.

Now Dell is teaming up with a number of companies for what it calls its "IoT Partner Solutions Program". Those involved, at least initially, are GE, Microsoft, OSIsoft, PTC, SAP and Software AG.

Continue reading →

Once again, as it has done in the past, Google makes the classic monopolist defense for its competitive—or anticompetitive, depending on perspective—behavior with respect to Android. Today, the European Union's Competition Commission formerly charged Alphabet and its major subsidiary, which has 12 weeks to provide satisfactory legal response before the Commission issues corrective sanctions.

Simply stated, the EC finds that the company abused its dominant position, in part by contracts compelling Android licensees to preload Google apps and related services, including search. Microsoft ran into similar bundling headaches starting in the late 1990s with respect to Windows. Responding today, Kent Walker, Google general counsel, claims that licensees and consumers can choose to install third-party apps. Microsoft made like-claims during its antitrust defense here and in Europe; they fell flat.

Continue reading →

Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 14322 less than a week ago, introducing numerous improvements and changes to Action Center, notifications, Cortana, Settings, emoji, Microsoft Edge, lockscreen, and more.

Today, the software giant rolls out another new build to the Fast ring, Build 14327, which, as well as fixing various known issues, also introduces a couple of noteworthy additions, including a Messaging Everywhere preview which lets users send and receive text messages from a Windows 10 PC.

Continue reading →