Displaying items by tag: Microsoft

Microsoft is no stranger to controversy and throughout its history has made some pretty bad decisions that still come back to haunt them. Now, it seems that Microsoft might be getting ready to make an error that will trump all of the others in its past. We are talking about Windows 8 and the say that Microsoft appears to be closing in its ecosystem and also the platform as a whole. This move to a closed system has not only raised concerns with end users, but also with developers who see the move as a serious issue.

Today marked the day that Microsoft released Windows 8 to the general public. We have tinkered with several builds of Windows 8, but so far we have not been all that impressed with what the guys in Redmond have come up with. Our big issue has been the lack of functionality and usability in the new MetroUI. In our last public coverage we had to switch back to Windows 7 after only three days or testing. So now let’s take another stab at getting Windows 8 running on current hardware, namely our Asus EEE Slate EP121.

Last week a flurry of articles popped up showing that Microsoft had sent improper DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) take down notices claiming infringing material on sites that criticized their new Metro (or not Metro) UI. The move appeared to be done in order to directly harm these sites search rating. Some of the sites affected were Betanews.com, ngohq.com, gHacks.com, Hardware Canuck.com Technize.com and more. It was a very unusual move, but one that we predicted after Google changed their search algorithm to reduce site’s search rankings after “valid” DMCA takedown notices were received.

Apple is in an interesting position right now and it is one that we are not sure will work out to their benefit. Although Apple is following other smart phone manufacturers and catching up to where they were 2 years ago they are also working very hard to patent items that should NEVER be allowed. Because of this we have a feeling that Apple will be pushing their legal battle on the smartphone and tablet front even harder than before. The problem is that they will only come out looking bad in the end especially overseas where some of the courts are starting to wake up to Apple’s pattern of broad “attack” patents meant for use against competitors.

So after our look at the installation of Windows 8 on our Asus EEE Slate EP 121 we have gotten through the mess of installing drivers that are not meant for our device and getting some basic applications installed. We are now ready to take a look at the Metro UI and some of the features built into the Windows 8 platform. Let’s kick off with how fast this new OS starts up from a cold boot.

So Microsoft is on a push to get out as much information as they can about Windows 8. This new operating system represents a massive change for Microsoft and not just in the way the new OS will function, but also in the manner they are interacting with the public. This is evident in almost everything they are doing, from the building Windows 8 Blog to the public statements, demos and interviews that are happening frequently.

Not that long ago I received an email from a reader that asked a simple and valid question; “why do you care about what Apple and Samsung are doing?” Like we said; a simple and valid question, but not one that is simple to answer. The  obvious although inaccurate answer is that it is news and it is news about the consumer electronic world. However, that answer (as we just said) is not the whole truth, it is not even close to the whole truth. The reason it is so difficult to answer is that the real reason has nothing to do with Apple or Samsung. The real reason boils down to a few simple concepts; control, innovation and competition.

Today was an interesting day in gaming. Considering that it is a Saturday in the US (May 19th 2012) which is normally not a big new day we found some of the information interesting to say the least. One of the first is a bit of news from Microsoft. Here the title in question is Halo 4, the next episode with the now famous “Master Chief” in a new “trilogy” of Halo games. The new was an interesting counter to the claim that the November 2012 launch date for Halo 4 was going to signal the launch of a new XboX.

Xbox 720 Info Possibly Leaked

Information about the next-gen xbox console has been leaked, giving a pretty good representation of what we can expect from Microsoft for their next system. Somebody using the alias DaE tried to sell the console, code named “Durango”, for a large price of $10,000 on the Assemblers Game Forum last weekend, but their posting was quickly deleted and their rights to post on the forum were revoked.

Linux version of Steam beta expands

About a day ago we brought you good news about Steam sales and today we bring you more; especially if you are a Linux user. Valve has announced on their official website that they will drastically increase the number of beta testers for the Ubuntu Linux version of Steam's client. So far there are about 1000 Linux users that testing the platform which was launched with 12 Steam titles and the Big Picture mode, running on Ubuntu 12.04.