Tags: microsoft / windows / Windows 8

Windows 8: 3 Hidden Features You Should Know

- Tuesday, 29 January 2013 No Comments

You already know my overall opinion of Windows 8: that it's two very good operating systems - one for touch screens, one for mouse and keyboard - idiotically superimposed on each other. You wind up with duplicate everything: two Web browsers, two help systems, two search features, two control panels (actually three, but never mind). It's very confusing. 
But for the last few weeks, I've been up to my neck in writing a how-to book on Windows 8, and that means mucking around in its deepest, darkest corners. That means learning its idiosyncrasies and quirks. That means getting to know its most embarrassing lapses and its most unsung brilliance. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd share three completely overlooked gems that I've unearthed in my explorations. 

Xbox Music
Don't be confused. In Windows 8, the term Xbox has nothing to do with the game console. It's now just a generic term that Microsoft puts on its online stores. Anyway, Xbox Music is a completely great music service . It combines elements of Pandora, in that it can play endless free music in a style you choose; Spotify, in that you can listen to any song or any album or any performer, on command , free; and iTunes, in that you can buy songs to download. It's a Windows 8 exclusive; it doesn't work on Windows 7. And it's free. 

Bing magazines
In TileWorld (my name for the second operating system, the full-screen , colorful, tappable tiles), you get a handful of brilliantly executed, full-screen , perpetually self-updating "magazines" for news, sports, finance and travel. 
Each, behind the scenes, is simply grabbing articles from hundreds of big-name news websites. No hard-to-read color schemes or ugly fonts. No blinking ads, banners or obnoxious animations. They all work essentially alike. 

Narrator
Those who are blind or have limited sight can use Narrator to describe every item on the screen, either in TileWorld or the desktop. It can describe the layout of the Web page, and it makes little sounds to confirm that you've performed a touchscreen gesture correctly. Even if you're not blind Narrator is still handy; it can read your email back to you, or read your web articles as you're getting dressed in the morning. 
When you open Narrator, you end up at its Settings dialouge box - and the voice of Microsoft David starts talking, reading everything on the screen. 
So yes, there is a lot of good in Windows 8, and a lot that's getting no press. Here's to the unsung engineers who came up with this stuff - and to the hope that Windows 8's split personality problem will somehow improve.

Tags: microsoft / windows / Windows 8

The Revolutionary Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 is Finally Here : Things You Need To Know

- Friday, 26 October 2012 1 Comment

So finally the most awaited operating system windows 8 is here. Microsoft Corp. today announced the global availability of its popular Windows operating system, Windows 8. Beginning Friday, Oct. 26, consumers and businesses worldwide will be able to experience all that Windows 8 has to offer, including a beautiful new user interface and a wide range of applications with the grand opening of the Windows Store. As a result of close work with hardware partners, more than 1,000 certified PCs and tablets, including Microsoft Surface, will be available for the launch of Windows 8 — making it the best lineup of PCs ever across the Windows 8 and Windows RT ecosystem. 

The windows 8 is designed for use on a variety of machines desktop PCs, notebook computers and tablets, including Microsoft's new Surface tablet, the first computing device the company has manufactured after focusing almost exclusively on software for more than 30 years. The redesigned operating system represents an attempt to pull off a difficult balancing act as Microsoft maintains its highly profitable heritage in software while trying to get a foothold in the newer, more fertile field of mobile devices.


Windows 8 Launch Slideshow

New features and functionality in Windows 8 include a faster startup through UEFI integration and the new "Hybrid Boot" mode (which hibernates the Windows kernel on shutdown to speed up the subsequent boot),a new lock screen with a clock and notifications,and the ability for enterprise users to create live USB versions of Windows (known as Windows To Go). Windows 8 also adds native support for USB 3.0 devices, which allow for faster data transfers and improved power management with compatible devices,along with support for near field communication to facilitate sharing and communication between devices.

Windows Explorer, which has been also re-named File Explorer, now includes a ribbon in place of the command bar. File operation dialogs have been updated to provide more detailed statistics, the ability to pause file transfers, and improvements in the ability to manage conflicts when copying files. A new "File History" function allows incremental revisions of files to be backed up to and restored from a secondary storage device, while Storage Spaces allows users to combine different sized hard disks into virtual drives and specify mirroring, parity, or no redundancy on a folder-by-folder basis.

Task Manager has also been redesigned, including a new processes tab with the option to display fewer or more details of running applications and background processes, a heat map using different colors indicating the level of resource usage, network and disk counters, grouping by process type (e.g. applications, background processes and Windows processes), friendly names for processes and a new option which allows to search the web to find information about obscure processes.Additionally, the Blue Screen of Death has been updated with a simpler and modern design with less technical information displayed.

Top Windows 8 Features

Windows 8 will be available for download to upgrade existing PCs in more than 140 markets and 37 languages at http://www.windows.com/buy beginning at 12:01 a.m. local time and at retail locations around the world. At retail, Windows 8 will be available in two primary versions — Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro — as well as Windows 8 Enterprise for large organizations. Launching at the same time is a new member of the Windows family — Windows RT — designed for ARM-based tablets and available pre-installed on new devices. In addition to Microsoft Office 2013, Windows RT is designed exclusively for apps in the new Windows Store. Windows 8 features the new fast and fluid Start screen that gives people one-click access to the apps and content they care most about. It also features an entirely new Internet Explorer 10 that is perfect for touch, and built-in cloud capabilities with SkyDrive.

Microsoft is offering Windows 8 upgrades priced at just $39.99USD/£24.99 for anyone using an existing product. The offer will be open until January 31 and after that the OS will cost a higher price. If you're currently running Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP on your PC or laptop you'll qualify for a downloadable copy of the top-level Windows 8 Pro for the knockdown price. You will also get Media Center as an additional free download.

Related story : Windows 8 : is it really a OS revolution ?

Tags: microsoft / social network / software

Software giant Microsoft is getting ready to launch its own social-networking platform

- Tuesday, 15 November 2011 No Comments

Speculation began to mount that the software giant was getting ready to launch its own social-networking effort after it accidentally published Web site called Socl.com earlier this year. The site, which was found to be a Microsoft project, was described as a "social search" service that would allow users to "find what you need and share what you know."
The service offered Facebook and Twitter sign-in buttons, but little else was known about Socl.com. Microsoft soon took the site down, saying it was "an internal design project from one of Microsoft's research teams which was mistakenly published to the Web."

Now, we have a clearer picture of Socl thanks to The Verve, which recently got an exclusive look at the service. The site, which is still in private beta testing and may never be released publicly, "mixes search, discovery, and, go figure, a social network," the blog reported.
Socl offers a basic three-column layout that is reminiscent of Facebook's design, with navigation tools to the left, a social feed in the center, and invites and other options to the right. Central to the experience is a pseudo status box at the top of the page that asks users "What are you searching for?" Search functionality would presumably be provided by Bing, Microsoft's search engine.
The site relies heavily on tagging, allowing users to identify topics they are interested in and receive social updates on those interests. However, The Verve contends that Socl's approach isn't much of an improvement over Google's saved searches function.
Socl also touts a video party feature that allows users to chat and view YouTube videos with their friends.
While the site is intended to get people interacting more with each other based on their search queries, there is not much in the way of private interaction with other users, such as messaging or @replies. It's unknown when or if Socl will be rolled out publicly.
Microsoft already relies heavily on its partnership with social network giant, Facebook. In May, Microsoft unveiled a new feature to its Bing search engine, baking in recommendations from a Web surfer's Facebook friends in order to make the results more relevant.


source:cnet

Tags: microsoft

Microsoft Launches Productivity in the Cloud with Office 365

- Thursday, 30 June 2011 No Comments

Your Office in the cloud began Tuesday with Microsoft's formal launch of the online version for businesses of its venerable Office productivity applications. Called Office 365, the service offers Microsoft Office's word processing, e-mail, spreadsheets and collaboration programs on the web.

The programs are designed to work with smartphones as well as laptops and desktops, and prices are related to the size of the business. Office 365 can be used on Microsoft's servers or hosted in a company's own data center, and it replaces the previous Business Productivity Online Standard Suite. Microsoft also offers a consumer version of Office Web Apps.

Office 365 vs Google Apps

Tuesday's launch was accompanied by events in New York and London. The move is largely seen as a risk that Microsoft had to take. The risky part is that it offers many of the features of the desktop suite at a fraction of the cost, so Microsoft is essentially competing with itself. The necessity comes largely from the challenge posed by Google Apps, as well as online business offerings from IBM, Salesforce, Zoho, OpenOffice and others.

Google is the main competitor in this space, and the search giant was ready with a blog posting Monday that presented counterarguments to Office 365. Writing on the Official Google Enterprise Blog, Google Apps Product Manager Shan Sinha noted several arguments in favor of his company's cloud products over Microsoft's.

Among other things, he wrote that "Office 365 is for individuals," while Google Apps "is for teams." Although Microsoft also pitches its online versions of Office as designed for team use, Google contends that its apps are designed from the ground up for real-time collaboration.

Sinha also wrote that "Office 365 is built for Microsoft," but "Apps is built for choice." While Office is intended to be used on a variety of devices, Sinha contended that it's "optimized for Windows-based PCs and devices, which reduces your flexibility."

Microsoft's Ecosystem

Sinha also pointed out that Google Apps was built specifically for the web, while Office 365 has to accommodate Microsoft's older product, and he noted that Office 365 has "11 different plans, three editions, and two tiers," compared to Apps' rate of "$5/month with no commitment."

Although Google argues that Microsoft's need to build on its legacy product is a disadvantage, Information Technology Intelligence Corp. analyst Laura DiDio sees the billion users of Office as Microsoft's strength.

"Google Apps is great for what it does," DiDio said, "but it is not nearly as mature as Microsoft's ecosystem." That ecosystem, she noted, includes the company's established service and support, as well as access to cloud-based versions of SharePoint for collaboration, Exchange for messaging, and Linc for conferencing.

Easy and inexpensive access to Microsoft's ecosystem through Office 365 could have great appeal for small and midsize businesses in particular. For instance, only about a third of SMBs run SharePoint, and the remainder could find the low price and low technological hurdle of Office 365 to be just what they're looking for.