Articles about Microsoft

Even though more than one year has passed since Windows Phone 8 arrived, Microsoft has yet to officially take the wraps off the upcoming new version of its tiled smartphone operating system. This long release cycle is uncommon in this business, as more popular competitors boast two major iterations launched in the course of a year. Windows Phone 8.1 has a lot of catching up to do, giving us plenty of leeway to compile and compare our own wish lists before the grand unveiling.

The foundation that Windows Phone 8 has laid out for its successor, starting with the original release that was subsequently improved by three minor updates, is solid enough for Microsoft to build upon and launch something mind-blowing (whenever that happens). Nothing else will cut it, as the platform needs a big boost to overcome the paltry 3.6 percent market share from last year. And, it is about time Windows Phone gets a solid head start on the competition, that has created an unshakable duopoly in the market, responsible for 94.4 percent of smartphone shipments in 2013. What Microsoft decides to bake in Windows Phone 8.1 can make or break the operating system's chances of ever becoming that respected third player, that is taken seriously due to its traits not its incidental place on the podium.

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I have to admit I look forward to seeing NetMarketShare’s monthly breakdown of desktop OS market share. The figures always provide a great talking point. You can pretty much guarantee that Windows 8’s share will decline, Windows 8.1’s share will increase, and combined the tiled OS’s growth will be outpaced by one of the older versions of Windows.

Usually it’s Windows 7 that’s showing the top growth. Sometimes besting Windows 8.x by a tiny amount, other times absolutely trouncing its newer sibling. But this time around, there’s a brand new leader in the growth stakes, and it’s a 13 year old OS that’s set to reach its end of life in April.

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There have been lots of rumors about what to expect from Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 8.1 update, including that it will allow users to pin Windows Store apps to the taskbar -- a time saving tweak for anyone who avoids the Modern UI but still likes to use apps from time to time. So is it true, and what other tweaks has Microsoft made to its tiled OS?

Well, a version of Windows 8.1 with Update 1 in place has leaked on to the internet, revealing (nearly) all. The 64-bit build is not the final release -- it’s three weeks old -- but it gives us a good look at what to expect from Update 1 which is set to be released next month.

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Super Bowl Sunday is a big day for Americans. While baseball may be the national pastime, football has captured the hearts and minds of many people with fantasy leagues and tailgating. Yes, for many, football is not about watching the actual game, but instead eating food, partying and watching commercials.

While it seems most Super Bowl commercials are about comedy, sometimes they tug at the heartstrings too. Last year, I damn-near cried when Budweiser showed a friendship between a man and a horse. This year, in an early unveiling, Microsoft has me both inspired and teary-eyed with its new Super Bowl commercial, simply titled "Empowering".

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Phew! Well it seems that 2014 is finally in full swing -- the past seven days have been the busiest in a while. It was a busy week for security. A piece of malware came to light that was using Windows computers as a means of infecting the Android devices connected to them. Yet another security breach meant that the credit card details of Michaels customers were compromised.

While the computing world worries about whether or not the NSA is reading their email or recording their phone calls, school children in Britain learned that their computing activities are being monitored in the classroom. There was celebration as companies such as Microsoft and Google won a lawsuit that means they are now able to reveal more information about US Government data requests.

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When Google Chrome first came on the scene, it did not support plugins like Firefox. It was not until later that extensions were introduced. Recently, it was discovered that rogue extensions are capable of compromising the security of the web browser. While not all extensions are malicious, it does call into question the feasibility of an open extension market.

Sadly, that is not the only negative aspect of Google's browser. In addition, the settings can be hijacked by malicious software. Fear not though, according to a new blog post, Google is here to help.

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It has been suggested that the people who are still hanging onto Windows XP after all of these years are going to continue to do so once support officially ends in April. Microsoft is obviously keen to herd people towards Windows 8.1, but there is a good deal of resistance. Some have proposed Linux as a viable alternative; to me, this seems like a completely nonsensical "upgrade" path. Brian managed to cause quite some excitement yesterday when he wrote that Windows XP refugees should migrate towards Linux rather than considering the latest version of Windows. Without wanting to fall out with Brian, I think he's plain wrong.

One of the reasons many people cite for not wanting to upgrade to Windows 8 or 8.1 is that they don’t want to have to deal with the Start screen. They have become used to things working in a certain way and, while not perhaps entirely resistant to change, need a little encouragement into seeing the value of things. Brian suggests that one of the reasons to switch to Linux is that "you get to learn something new." If this is supposed to be an attractive element of Linux, then users may as well spend the time getting used to Windows 8.1.

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Due to my geeky nature I am prone to making rash decisions. If something interesting grabs my attention chances are I will want to try it out right away, without giving too much thought to the possible implications as curiosity gets the best of me. More often than not (luckily), I enjoy the experience from the get-go and end up accepting the new, but this has not been the case with my switch from Windows 8.1 to Mac. Things just did not make sense to me right from the start, it did not feel natural and it did not just work. I have since wanted to go back more times than I can remember.

Years and years of muscle memory and computing habits, that I developed whilst using Windows, went down the drain as I started my Mac experiment (a costly one at that). Bye, bye! The software that I needed or wanted to use was simply not there, or working as I would have liked it to, on OS X. I definitely did not enjoy this part, nor the one where I had to find good alternatives to my favorite programs, learn how to do basic things again, and adapt to what was basically a quirky new platform for me. I am not a masochist, I enjoy trying out new things, but even I had to admit that I was in over my head.

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Canada's leading cloud service provider, iWeb, is launching a Microsoft Private Cloud hosting service.

Aimed at giving businesses more control and flexibility over their IT infrastructure, it allows virtual servers to be deployed quickly without the expense and complexity of in-house data centers.

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Microsoft is asking us to rethink our opinion of Internet Explorer in its latest marketing blitz, and those with a Windows 8.1 device have been given further food for thought on which browser to use.

Internet Explorer has been named the browser that will squeeze the most life out of your Windows 8.1 laptop or tablet battery in a head-to-head study.

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Today on the Windows Experience Blog, Microsoft has done something a little odd -- admitted that the Start screen "can take some time to get used to". But more than this, the blog post by Kirsten Ballweg outlines five tweaks that can be used to "make Windows 8.1 feel more familiar". Given that the first line of the post is "Windows 8.1 looks a whole lot different than Windows 7 or Windows XP", it appears that Microsoft is conceding that Windows 8.1 just isn't everyone's cup of tea.

The solution? A series of tips to help make the latest version of Microsoft's operating system feel more like a version that is several years old! The first tip is interesting. Rather than suggesting the ways in which the Start screen could aid productivity, rather than pointing out all of its cool features, users are advised to simply bypass it. Microsoft has given up trying to sell the new features of Windows to users, opting instead to show how they can be avoided -- after all "the desktop we all know and love is still there".

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Google is the undisputed search king, but it is not the only player in town. Microsoft's Bing is a distant second, but some people prefer it. While I prefer Google's offering for search, I like Bing for one thing -- rewards.

Yes, Bing Rewards is pretty darn cool, as it provides perks to users for simply using the service. This is a win-win relationship as users earn points for searching and Microsoft gains search activity. Users can then redeem points for things like raffles and gift cards. Sadly though, the experience was not available for mobile -- until today. Microsoft releases Bing Rewards for iOS and Android. Shockingly, Windows Phone is not yet supported.

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Bad news for Microsoft today, as a new report that was just released by research firm Strategy Analytics places its smartphone operating system, Windows Phone, at less than 4 percent market share in 2013. It may be in an honorable third place, but, by contrast, Apple's iOS, which ranks second, had a market share of 15.5 percent in the same period, while Android, the most popular of the bunch, dominated the landscape from afar with 78.9 percent market share in the past year.

In 2013, shipments of smartphones running Windows Phone reached just 35.7 million units, leading to a low market share of 3.6 percent. Overall, a previous Strategy Analytics report released earlier this week places smartphone shipments in 2013 close to one billion units (990 million, to be exact). The tiled mobile OS grew in both shipments and market share compared to 2012, from 18.8 million and 2.7 percent, respectively, but has yet to reach a threatening position to its more popular rivals, even for iOS which has been losing market share in major markets across the globe.

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When it comes to American Football, I am a big fan of the Jets. This is a great tragedy in my life, as this team has been consistently bad for many years. There is only one time a year that I will support a different team -- Superbowl Sunday.

Yes, I like to pick one of the two teams to root for during the big game. Typically, I pick it arbitrarily -- whoever has the prettier cheerleaders, cooler quarterback, etc. This year, I am rooting for the Denver Broncos, because I like Peyton Manning. As a Jets fan, I don't get many opportunities to root for a quality quarterback. However, according to Bing, I am in the minority, as the majority of my state, New York is rooting for the Seattle Seahawks.

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To close an app in Windows 8 all you need to do is drag it to the bottom of the screen. In Windows 8.1, Microsoft made a small change. While you can still close the app in this way, removing it from view, this method doesn’t stop all of the processes associated with the app (Windows will, however, close the app properly, eventually, if you don’t use it after a while).

So in other words, if an app is misbehaving, dragging it down to the bottom of the screen and then relaunching it probably won’t fix the problems you’re experiencing. You could reboot, or use Task Manager to close it that way, but there’s an easier method.

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