Articles about Windows 8

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wants 2012 to be "the most epic year" for the company determined to make a splash in October with the launch of Windows 8, Surface, and Windows Phone 8 all within a few days of one another.

To complete the package, Microsoft has announced a major update for the Xbox dashboard, the launch of Xbox SmartGlass, and a cheaper Xbox 360 console.

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Analysts, bloggers and other pundits can't make enough predictions about Windows 8's future, whether or not the operating system launching later this week will be success, failure or something in-between. My advice: Ignore them all and look to developers. Their commitment counts, particularly when Windows goes through such major overhaul. My eyes are on those delivering services in the cloud.

Today Hulu joins a growing number of developers supporting Windows 8 and Modern UI -- what we've all come to know as Metro. Commitment from cloud service providers like Hulu is crucial to the new operating systems' consumer acceptance and is vital to the expansion into new device categories like convertibles and tablets. There is presumption among pontificating iPad idolaters that developer support for iOS is a brick wall Windows 8 and RT can't climb. Cow pies!

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Microsoft's voice, video, and text chatting service Skype has revealed that the new Windows 8 version of Skype will be available on Windows 8 day one, October 26. The entire application has been crafted to follow the Windows 8 design ethic, with big touchable icons, a new dialer screen, a live tile on the homescreen that shows incoming messages and missed calls, and integration with the Windows 8 People app.

Prior to Skype's announcement today, there were plenty of hints that Skype would be getting a major Windows 8 upgrade, with mentions of "dual microphones tuned for Skype" and "hands-free Skype video chat" on Surface hardware pages, among others.

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Eight days before Windows 8's big launch, Microsoft served up expected, dismal news about its successor, in the wake of disastrous third-quarter PC shipments. They sapped Windows division revenue and profit, keeping to a recent trend. There was never a question of negative impact, merely how bad -- as Wall Street analysts expected overall company revenues to decline. The question everyone should ask: Can Q4 be any better than this?

For fiscal first quarter 2013, ended September 30, Microsoft revenue fell 8 percent to $16.1 billion, year over year. Operating income: $5.31 billion, down 26 percent. Net income: $4.47 billion. Earning per share fell 22 percent to 53 cents. The results are impacted by a $1.36 billion, or 13 cents-a-share, deferral related to Windows 8 and Office 2013 launches.

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If you think you read my title wrong, take a second look. You'd think from all the overblown attention that the Modern interface is garnering, that I was going to focus another drab op-ed around that sole feature. Yes, the Modern UI is a radical change and will turn a lot of people off. But let's not forget that with every new Windows release comes features that actually don't get the time of day. I think a few of these deserve a sliver of attention.

We've been down this road before. Let's not forget that the introduction of the Office ribbon menu system was considered shocking back in 2006, and years later a majority of users have accepted and embraced the changes. Apple received similar kickback on its radical iPhone design back in 2007. I truly believe the heat on Windows 8's Modern UI will come and go like the rest of modern tech's evolutionary moments.

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Microsoft Surface is available for pre-order, and to attract future buyers that have yet to be mesmerized by the new Windows device class, the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation released a new video that does quite a good job at showing off some of its key features.

Unlike the previous promo that was more about giving Surface a "coolness" factor, the latest spot titled "Learn more about Surface" takes various people using Microsoft's tablet from the moment it is powered on to finally folding and carrying it, while highlighting some of its distinctive features such as the Touch Cover that is available in five distinct colors.

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Registration for Microsoft's global Windows 8 hackathon began on Wednesday. The event, called Wowzapp 2012 despite the fact that there's never been another event called "Wowzapp" before, will take place in more than 60 cities across the globe on the weekend of November 9th to the 11th.

The event, previously listed as "Gen Appathon," invites students and aspiring app developers to bring a Windows 8 PC and their rough apps or general app ideas for one-on-one support from Microsoft and community experts, free food and entertainment, and prizes for best Win 8 app, best Windows phone app, and best use of Azure. Attendees will be given Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows 8 and a free Windows Store registration code, and apps will be published straight to the Windows Store.

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Microsoft revealed pricing for its long awaited Surface RT yesterday. Starting at $499 with 32GB of storage and going up to $699 for the 64GB model with Touch cover included, the devices are priced in about the same price range as Apple's new iPad. It feels natural to compare Microsoft's entry into the tablet market with the leading product that is already there, and many have done so. Joe Wilcox, for instance, believes that Microsoft prices Surface RT to go head to head against Apple.

There is certainly some truth to that, but it may be a different truth than what seems obvious.

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Tuesday afternoon, seven members of Microsoft's Surface team, led by General Manager Panos Panay, fielded questions from the public in an "ask me anything" (AMA) forum on popular Web community Reddit.

In the two-hour session on Reddit, the team was hit with several hundred questions about Surface; of which, about 50 were directly addressed. Like the United States Presidential debates, there is a considerable amount of equivocation and evasion involved in this sort of question and answer session, so some questions get glossed over with no mention. This happened quite frequently with two questions in particular: Why is there no NFC (near field communications) and why does it cost as much as it does? Neither was directly answered.

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Microsoft announces calendar third-quarter earnings in three days, and during the conference call, as usually is the case, some financial analyst almost surely will ask about the percentage of professional to consumer versions sold, since the former typically yields higher margins. But that question may soon be a thing of the past, as Microsoft seeks long-term gains from a little short-term pain. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is quietly, but quite deliberately, trying to put Windows consumer, once called Home, out to pasture (hopefully with a bullet in its bytes).

The signs are everywhere. In April, Microsoft reduced the number of Windows editions to three -- 8, Pro and RT -- or four when looking at volume-licensing-only Enterprise. Most people can't buy Windows 8 Enterprise or RT (which is preloaded only). They also can't buy the consumer edition -- yet -- and Microsoft makes it awfully damn easy to get Pro. Existing users of most any version of Windows going back to XP can, until Jan. 31, 2013, upgrade to 8 Pro for $39.99. That's a helluva bargain, and the lowest launch promotional price for a professional Windows edition ever. Meanwhile, buyers of new Windows 7 PCs starting June 2 get a $14.99 free upgrade -- to Pro 8. Last week, Microsoft and retailers started taking boxed Windows 8 Pro upgrade preorders for $69.99. Windows 8 "consumer" upgrade isn't available. Is the pattern clear enough?

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Whether you think Microsoft wants to be Apple, or not, the company continues to roll out products designed to compete with its major rival. Today’s announcement is for Xbox Music, a digital music service for the Xbox games console, which will also appear as the default music player in Windows 8.

The service, which goes live tomorrow and will be available in 22 countries from launch, is a cross between Spotify and iTunes. Users will be able to listen to songs or full albums for free, create artist-based streaming radio stations, and put together music mixes and playlists. The iTunes element comes in the form of a music store, which will allow users to purchase and download tracks. The store will reportedly offer over 30 million songs, some four million more than Apple's store. There will also be over 70,000 music videos on offer.

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Well, hello, Windows 8 advertising. Microsoft smartly chose tonight's "The Walking Dead" season 3 premiere (and perhaps other programs I didn't watch) to kick off marketing for the new operating system. Considering post-PC advocates treat Windows as something like an undead creature, there's certain appropriateness to using the popular AMC series.

I'm stoked about the first commercial, "Windows 8 is coming soon", which begins with blast-off countdown "10, nine, eight, eight, eight..." I love the exploding laptop, because everything is changed, baby. The spot moves fast, uses jump cuts to bounce around and tells you absolutely nothing specific about Windows 8 other than release date: "10-26-12".

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What the frak? Did Microsoft hire the same artist for Windows 8 packaging that Google used for Nexus 7? Because I am absolutely struck by similar color choices and graphic fluidity. You wouldn't confuse the boxes on a store shelf, because the products would be nowhere near one another. But one wonders if Google tapped a new trend in graphic box design, and Microsoft just copied along.

Before posting, and as sanity check, I asked colleague Tim Conneally about the boxes. "The similarity is kind of shocking", he responded. "That gunmetal grey color was nowhere to be seen in tech two years ago".

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In advance of Windows 8 Day on October 26, the big computer makers are all rolling out incrementally updated models in their different PC lines to support the touch activities central to Windows 8. Friday, long-running Texas PC maker Dell announced it had put up three new touch-enabled PCs for pre-order in the U.S., which will ship on October 26.

The three new PCs fall under the category of "seen it before, but not in this exact way," and they include the XPS 12 convertible notebook with the "spinning target" hinged display we first saw on the Inspiron Duo two years ago; the XPS One 27 All-in-one PC, and the Inspiron One 23 All-in-one, both of which had launched previously, except without the touchscreens.

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Two weeks to launch, Microsoft's newest operating system is available for preorder -- that's standalone software or preinstalled on new PCs available from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Samsung and Sony. Upgrade price is $69.99 for Windows 8 Pro, which in the United States is available from major retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Microsoft Store, Newegg, Office Depot and Staples.

"Customers outside the US will also have an opportunity to reserve Windows 8 Pro during this promotion, via participating retailers worldwide such as Best Buy in the United States, Future Shop in Canada, Walmart in Mexico, Casas Bahia in Brazil, Dixon’s in the UK, FNAC in France, Yamada in Japan, Suning in China and many more", a Microsoft spokesperson tells BetaNews. "We also recommend checking with local retailers for more information".

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