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Showing posts with label Windows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows. Show all posts

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Windows 8 Enters the Final Phase Before Release


Microsoft announced Wednesday it was releasing Windows 8 to its manufacturer partners. That means it’s all done tweaking and finalizing the operating system, which is now ready to be incorporated into products.

PC makers such as Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba will certainly be happy to get their hands on the final build of Windows 8, which will let them put the final touches on the first round of PCs that will ship with the new OS when it goes on sale Oct. 26.

It’ll also let them create proper drivers and software for existing Windows 7 machines, most of which will be able to run Windows 8.

In a blog post, Microsoft’s Windows chief, Steven Sinofsky, lauded his team for the work they’ve put into Windows 8.

“Back when we first demonstrated Windows 8 in May 2011, we described it as ‘reimagining Windows, from the chipset to the experience,’ and that is what Windows 8 (and Windows RT) represents for both Microsoft and partners,” he wrote. “Together we are bringing to customers a new PC experience that readies Windows PCs for a new world of scenarios and experiences, while also preserving an industry-wide 25-year investment in Windows software.”

Sinofsky also said the most exciting innovations were “yet to come” — referring to the work developers will soon begin crafting Windows 8 apps. Developers will be able to download the final build of Windows 8 on Aug. 15, and the following day (Aug. 16), business customers will be able to download the Windows 8 Enterprise edition so they can run pilot programs with it and start testing.

More than 16 million PCs participated in the pre-release testing of Windows 8, Sinofsky revealed, installing some version of the pre-release software — the most participants ever for a pre-release of any software Microsoft has ever done. The most recent publicly available build, the Release Preview, was downloaded 7 million times in just eight weeks.

Windows 8 completely re-imagines the Windows to be friendly to both traditional PCs and toucscreen devices like tablets. In doing so, it borrows the minimalist design aesthetic of Windows Phone, called Metro.

Are you looking forward to Windows 8? Share your thoughts on Microsoft’s new PC operating system in the comments. (Mashable.com)

Outlook.com Gets 1 Million Users in First 6 Hours


The team behind Outlook.com revealed in a tweet that one million people signed up for the new email service in just six hours.

Microsoft unveiled its Hotmail replacement Tuesday at noon Eastern, and by dinnertime it had cracked seven digits.

That’s an impressive spike, illustrated in the chart that @Outlook attached to the tweet (shown below). However, it’s still a tiny fraction of the user base of Hotmail, which comScore pegs at about 350 million — making it the most popular free email service in the world.

One of the first web-based email services, Hotmail has been around since 1996 and was acquired by Microsoft in 1997. In rebranding it as Outlook, Microsoft has integrated social networks and replaced the formerly cluttered interface with a clean layout that’s in line with the design aesthetic of Windows 8.





















The label on the chart the Outlook account tweeted out says one million people signed up for the new service, and we’ve confirmed with Microsoft that the number indeed refers to account holders, not mere aliases. Outlook users can create up to five @outlook.com email aliases per year for every account. (Mashable.com)

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Microsoft: Windows 8 to Go On Sale Oct. 26



Microsoft on Wednesday announced a release date of Oct. 26 for the consumer release of Windows 8.
The company had previously announced a “late October” launch date for the new OS, but Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live unit at Microsoft announced the more specific date at the company’s annual sales meeting.

The date was updated on Windows 8′s Wikipedia page within minutes of the announcement.

Meanwhile, the “RTM” (Release to Manufacturing) version of Win 8 is set to hit the first week of August. The dates are not particularly surprising, since the Redmond software giant typically delivers operating system updates in October. Still, there was always the worry, especially among Microsoft partners that are anxious to bundle the latest OS in their new computers and tablets, that the Metro-design-sporting update could ship too late for inclusion in holiday-buying-season systems. Microsoft revealed its schedule during its annual Windows Partner conference in Toronto.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced an aggressive upgrade pricing model. Users running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 can upgrade to Windows 8 Professional for just $39.99 via an online download. Some earlier reports indicated that Microsoft would no longer provide retail box copies of Windows 8 (aside from some upgrade DVDs), but Microsoft didn’t address store availability in its blog post on the subject.

Not only will Windows 8 ship on partner devices in late October, but the company revealed that Windows 8 will, at the same time, ship in 109 countries and 231 languages. (Source: Mashable)


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