Microsoft is today showing off pieces of the next version of Windows (we’re all calling it Windows 8 ) but I’m wondering if anyone cares anymore about Windows in the tech enthusiast space.
Why do I say that?
With technology being anywhere and everywhere today, and the Internet so accessible from wi-fi hotspots, cellular devices, iPods/iPads, and other electronic devices, it is very easy to “stay connected” wherever you are without having to be tethered to a computer. With this in mind, coming in 2011, you will be able to access the internet (and other Windows-based applications) in a truck.
As we all know and have seen, Apple has taken hold of the “portable” market by releasing iPods and just recently their iPad device, which is a paper-sized tablet that lets you read books, surf the web, and even access social networks without the use of a laptop. With this in mind, Microsoft’s Windows operating system wants to be a visible part of this market as well.
In some circumstances, you may need to reinstall Windows XP. It may have been quite some time since you have installed Windows XP, and have accidentally misplaced the original case that your CD came in, which includes the CD key that is needed during the installation process. With this in mind, I would like to bring your attention to a piece of software called Magical Jelly Bean that will allow you to automatically recover the CD key that was entered during your last Windows XP installation.
Microsoft Security Essentials continues to win industry-backed, third-party security certifications. A good, comprehensive anti-virus is a must-have application in any Windows system. An anti-virus application that scans for up-to-date virus signatures, one that runs concurrently in the background for real-time protection, and also importantly, one that does not hog system-valuable resources during runtime is what a pro user desires whatever the cost. For years that personally has meant only one choice for me: using Kaspersky. Keeping up with yearly subscription costs of many anti-virus applications can be an expensive proposition, and its second-class citizen status on the Windows platform often means system performance degradation. In recent years, Microsoft has continued to improve Microsoft Security Essentials to the point where choosing anything else seems nonsensical.
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During its Application Infrastructure Virtual Launch Event, Microsoft introduced the Windows Server AppFabric Release Candidate and announced that final availability will follow in June.
The company also made available the first public beta for BizTalk Server 2010, which supports Windows Server AppFabric and is scheduled to release to manufacturing in the third quarter of 2010.
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At the Mix10 conference, the Windows Phone 7 teams had some very big announcements – a lot of it had been kept secret and first revealed to the public now. There is however still some details they keep secret. Some of these secrets are the user agents of Internet Explorer for Windows Phone 7, which they simply wouldn’t give us.
Every so often I go to download some software for my Acer Windows PC and have to decide between a 32-bit and 64-bit version of the application. I’m running Windows Vista but when I look, it just says that I’m running “Home Premium”. How do I know if I’m running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows?
When I left Microsoft about four years ago, I remember Steve Gillmor telling everyone that Office was dead.
I sort of went along with that, after all I was leaving Microsoft partially because I thought that Microsoft didn’t have an interesting product pipeline and wasn’t going to get the Internet for the second time. Only this time I didn’t sense Bill Gates screaming “turn toward the Internet.” For the most part I was right, at least until this year.
Microsoft has possibly pulled a fast one on the European Commission (EC) in its wrestling match to see whether their Internet Explorer browser (IE) will be packaged in the new Windows 7 offering. The EC has contended that by including the browser in the operating system that competition is being squeezed out unfairly by Microsoft. Well, we may be seeing that EC stands for ‘Exceptionally Clueless’ considering how they may have stepped all over their own case against the software giant.
