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Posts Tagged ‘Windows 8’

Giblets: Microsoft’s Surface Pro will be coming to SA

Microsoft SA managing director Mteto Nyati yesterday tweeted that the company will be launching Surface Pro locally in the second half of 2013, which is around June/July. Pricing and availability details aren’t available yet and Microsoft will have a tough challenge eking out a profit where others like Dell and Gigabyte have already begun to steal the limelight, especially since they don’t run on ARM chips but are on Intel’s Atom Z-series and Core i3 mobile chips. Surface Pro is powered by Intel’s Core i5-3317U dual-core at 1.7GHz, uses either 64 or 128GB of storage, peaks out at 4GB of RAm and has been rated by iFixit with a score of 1/10 in terms of repairability. In the US, the 128GB Surface Pro retails for $1050.

Microsoft Surface Pro

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Posted by Wesley Fick Apr 18, 2013
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Windows Blue will continue the status quo

I know that many of you NAGlings aren’t on Windows 8. The lack of a Start menu (even though it’s now full-screen) and the extra complexity of merging a touch interface with one driven by a mouse and keyboard does complicate things, I admit. For many, the massive change from a desktop-centric model that Windows has relied on since Windows 95, to one that’s rather alien in appearance is a startling one. I’ve found Windows 8 to work for me so far but those of you still on the fence may be pushed back onto the side you’re most comfortable on after you see the direction Windows Blue is taking the platform.

blue-desktop-black

Credit: Paul Thurrot’s WIndows Supersite

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Posted by Wesley Fick Apr 04, 2013
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“Blue” will be affecting all Windows products this year

For those of you who didn’t read my review on Windows 8, I’d suggest you go catch up on it and see what it has in store for you. I’ve been using it since launch and its working pretty well for me. In my review, I noted that its possible that with the low prices Microsoft chose to launch the new OS at, that the company is targeting a pricing scheme and release schedule similar to that of Apple – that is, release an update every year that includes major bugfixes and new features that would normally come in a service pack or new version of the OS. But instead of making a new OS every three years with it all built in, you merely do incremental releases every year. And it looks like the ball may get rolling with Windows “Blue”, a set of incremental updates to Microsoft’s entire lineup.

windows 8 tablet

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Posted by Wesley Fick Feb 28, 2013
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So, Microsoft’s Store is not as secure as you might think…

Earlier this week I heard something along the lines on Twitter that a Nokia engineer has exposed a few vulnerabilities in apps downloaded from the Windows 8 store. I’ve wondered privately for a while how long it would take for someone to figure out how to crack and side-load applications downloaded from the store as demos – turns out, this has actually been a known issue for months.

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Posted by Wesley Fick Dec 14, 2012
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Microsoft’s Surface pricing leaves much to be desired

Microsoft announced last month on its Windows 8 blog that the pricing of the Surface Pro, based on Intel’s Core i5 chip, was subject to change and would be between $600 and $1000. There weren’t any hardware specs available and nothing was mentioned about how things would be set out. As more details spilled from Redmond, so the hype engine revved up and loads of people across the internet got excited. So, get ready for an awesome, awe-inspiring…..! Wait, what the hell is this? I’m confused, is this for real? Did somebody move my cheese, am I being punk’d?

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Posted by Wesley Fick Dec 03, 2012
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Windows 8 has sold 40 million licenses so far

In its first month on the market, Windows 7, Microsoft’s most lauded and, so far, best-loved OS hauled around 35 million in license sales. While Microsoft never revealed any official numbers for Windows 7, this is based on estimation given that the OS sold over 150 million licenses since its release in 2009 and its retirement in October this year. While many of the license sales were for upgrades and some were even given away for free by accident, 40 million is indeed a good number. One wonders how many of those are comprised of upgrade sales and hardware sales, but nontheless its good news for Microsoft that its new baby isn’t dead in the water.

Source: TechpowerUp!

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Posted by Wesley Fick Nov 29, 2012
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Microsoft: Well, this is embarrassing…

Windows 8 has been out since October 26th and has captured approximately 3% of the desktop market through new license sales and hardware sales – upgrades aren’t counted in that  percentage. Microsoft originally offered upgrades for new machines at R125 and for pre-existing licenses at R350. But what if you wanted it for free?

Please note: my activation is a legal copy!

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Posted by Wesley Fick Nov 22, 2012
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Windows 7 won’t receive DirectX 11.1 Update

Before there’s a great clamouring among the gamers that this reeks of the same tactics employed by Microsoft to convince tons of people to migrate to Windows Vista, there’s a legitimate reason why Windows 7 won’t receive the update in full. Because Windows 8 is based on a new kernel and supports ARM architectures, it was necessary to revise the code so that battery life in portable devices like the Surface RT tablets with Nvidia’s Tegra 3 would be conserved better when playing games or using apps that used DirectX calls. DirectX 11.1 adds support for graphics virtualisation, native 3D support, shader-based filters for video streams (minimising stuffer when a video is buffering) and changes to GPU utilisation to conserve battery life. Does that mean that all DirectX development on Windows 7 ends with version 11? We’ll know when the next update is due to land, but for now there are no cosmetic or performance differences between the two, just an updated feature set.

UPDATE: Hit the jump for an update, seems like all is not what it seems. 

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Posted by Wesley Fick Nov 13, 2012
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Steven Sinofsky steps down from Chief Developer role

Windows 8 has been out barely a month and there’s a general positive mood from the public once they get a hands-on with the OS and the devices that power it. But despite that and the possibility that sales have been doing well in the first month since the launch, Steven Sinofsky, the brains behind the entire project, has stepped down from his role as Windows Chief Developer and is replaced by Tami Reller (formerly in charge of the Surface marketing team) and Julie Larson-Green, credited for the UI designs of Microsoft’s Ribbon and the current look of Internet Explorer. Both report to Steve Ballmer and Sinofsky steps out of his role at the company with immediate effect.

Source: Techreport.com

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Posted by Wesley Fick Nov 13, 2012
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Laptop Buyers Guide: November R10,000 to R13,000

With Windows 8 on track and gaining popularity since its release, this segment in the guide is bound to have changed quite a bit. Last month we saw the cheap Ultrabooks from ASUS encroaching on the territory normally reserved for the cheap laptop segment. With a generally thinner profile and lighter weight, they’re becoming the de facto choice for bargain buyers that have realised the DVD drive is becoming redundant, even here in sunny South Africa with our rather slow internet compared to the rest of the world. Remember kids, every recommendation made here today also qualifies for the R125 upgrade to Windows 8 if Windows 7 is pre-installed. So, lets get on with it!

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Posted by Wesley Fick Nov 13, 2012
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