Microsoft unveils Windows 10: ten things to know

Microsoft has pulled a U-turn on its reinvention of the PC, ditching Windows 8 and creating something that blends the old Windows with the new

• Samuel Gibbs
• theguardian.com, Wednesday 1 October 2014 20.34 BST
• Jump to comments (437)

Windows 10 is the next version of Microsoft’s Windows computer software for tablets, desktops, laptops and smartphones, which brings back the start menu. Photograph: Microsoft

Microsoft has unveiled its next version of the Windows software which presently powers about 1.5bn PCs in use on the planet. Windows 10 will aim to entice users put off by Windows 8, whose lack of a start menu (introduced in 1995 with Windows 95) was more suitable for touch interfaces than a keyboard and a mouse – even though keyboard-reliant users outnumbered touch users by millions to one.
Windows 8 was a radical departure from the tried and tested Windows interface introduced in Windows 95. Users were puzzled at best, and businesses were slower to update than usual. Microsoft hopes Windows 10 will bring users back and entice businesses to ditch the four-year-old Windows 7, seven-year-old Windows Vista and the now-discontinued 13-year-old Windows XP.

1 Start menu

The start menu is back, but it’s still got Microsoft’s live tiles from Windows 8 bolted on to the side. Photograph: screengrab

After complaints from users about its absence, the start menu is back. Clicking the start button brings up a menu, which – although isn’t exactly the same as Windows 7 or those before it – is more familiar than the full-screen tiled interface of Windows 8. This should be much more useful for desktop users, but the tiled interface from Windows 8 is tacked on to the side.

2 Continuum

When connecting or disconnecting a keyboard Windows 10 will switch between a touch-based interface and a mouse and keyboard-focused interface. Photograph: screengrab

Windows 10 attempts to blend the best of Windows 7 with Windows 8. One of the smartest things Microsoft has added is Continuum, which detects the state of the computer and presents the right interface depending on whether a keyboard and mouse is being used or the screen is being touched.
For machines like the Surface Pro (which has a detachable keyboard), when the keyboard is attached it behaves like a desktop machine; without it, Windows switches to a more touch-friendly interface with an on-screen back button and other touch elements to make things a bit easier with fingers on a screen.

3 One Windows for all devices

Microsoft is using Windows 10 to attempt to unify its various software platforms across different devices under one Windows brand and software. Photograph: screengrab

Microsoft has talked a lot about Windows being more than simply desktop computer software. Windows 10 is meant to unify desktop PCs, Windows tablets and Windows Phone smartphones with one interface, one way of operating and one account.
Apple has taken a similar route with its iCloud accounts and the upcoming Continuity feature between iPads, iPhones and Mac computers – although its iOS software on the iPhone and OS X on the desktop have been kept separate.

4 Universal apps

Microsoft promises that Windows universal apps will run on any Windows product, including smartphones, tablets and desktops.

Along with the “one Windows for all devices” idea, Microsoft is pushing what it calls “universal Windows apps”, which is the new name for apps downloaded from the Windows Store. The idea is that one app will be able to run on all Windows platforms, including Windows Phone. Microsoft has been talking about this for over a year.
How it will work is not yet clear, but it is likely that new Windows apps will have a condensed version for Windows Phone and full-size versions for tablets and computers. Apple’s universal apps do something similar between the iPhone and iPad, but are not the same as the desktop OS X apps.

5 No more full-screen; universal apps can be windowed

New Windows Store apps, which previously only operated in full-screen mode, can now be used in traditional windows on the desktop. Photograph: Microsoft

Bringing back the start menu has given the traditional Windows desktop more prominence again. To help merge the Windows 8-style “modern” apps from the Windows Store with the traditional desktop, Windows 10 can now run the newly renamed “universal apps” in windows on the desktop, as though they were any other desktop app.

6 Snap assist

The window Snap feature has been enhanced to size windows for better multi-window productivity. Photograph: Microsoft

The snapping feature, which automatically resizes windows on the desktop to fill part or all of the screen, has been enhanced, allowing tiling of windows, snapping side-by-side and an array of new layouts to including virtual multi-desktop modes to try to help computer and tablet users be more productive with both universal apps and traditional desktop Windows apps.

7 What will it run on? Is Windows RT dead?

Is Windows RT dead? Photograph: Alamy

Windows 10 will run on most things that Windows 8 can run on. That includes almost any new PC bought in the last couple of years, but will exclude some older PCs, as Windows 8 requires a 64-bit processor.
Processors supporting 64-bit operation have been on sale from Intel and AMD since 2004, so most PCs still in operation will support 64-bit software.
The fate of ARM-based Windows tablets (that is, not running x86 processors) is unclear. Windows RT powers the Microsoft Surface and Surface 2, Nokia Lumia 2520 and the Dell XPS 10, among others. Microsoft has yet to announce whether Windows RT, which only runs on tablets powered by smartphone-class ARM processors, will be upgraded to Windows 10. A question about RT’s future wasn’t answered at the introduction on Tuesday.

8 When will it be available, and what will it cost?

The technical preview of Windows 10 will be available soon, with but Windows 10 won’t be available to buy until 2015. Photograph: Screenshot

Microsoft showed off Windows 10 on Tuesday, but it won’t actually be available to users until 2015, after Microsoft’s developer conference in April called Build. Microsoft will be courting businesses before consumers, but Windows 10 is unlikely to appear in most businesses until the end of 2015 at the earliest.
Most consumers will buy Windows 10 with a new PC, but for those feeling adventurous and wanting to have a poke around Microsoft’s latest and greatest, the company is allowing users to sign up for early previews of the software still in testing.
It is recommended only for those that are happy to deal with and tech savvy enough to cope with buggy software and the potential for data loss, but those interested can check out the Windows Insider Program.
How much the final retail edition of Windows 10 will cost Microsoft hasn’t said. Windows 8.1 costs £100 from Microsoft, but a Windows 10 introductory discount is likely.

10 What’s in a number?

Terry Myerson and Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s Operating Systems Group unveil Windows 10. Photograph: Microsoft

Yes, Microsoft did skip from Windows 8 (or 8.1 to be precise) straight to Windows 10.
What happened to Windows 9? Perhaps Microsoft has been using base 9, so 9 is 10. Or 10 just sounds better? The Xbox 360 (aka the Xbox 2) and its successor the Xbox One (aka the Xbox 3) are proof that Microsoft is happy to throw out conventional numbering when it feels like it.
• Microsoft unveils Windows 10: ‘It wouldn’t be right to call it Windows 9’
• Surface Pro 3 review: the most lappable tablet yet

Satya Nadella named Microsoft CEO as Bill Gates steps down as chairman

Veteran insider becomes only third boss in tech giant's history as co-founder Gates assumes new role on Microsoft's board

• Dominic Rushe in New York
• Follow @dominicruFollow @guardian
• theguardian.com, Tuesday 4 February 2014 17.05 GMT
• Jump to comments (244)

Satya Nadella. Photograph: Microsoft/Reuters

Microsoft settled on a veteran insider as its replacement for long-time CEO Steve Ballmer on Tuesday, ending a five-month search with a choice some analysts called a “safe pick” for the software behemoth.
India-born Satya Nadella, 46, head of the company's cloud computing division and enterprise business, was appointed after a team of headhunters concluded a five-month search that included some of the most world’s most famous executives.
Nadella is only the third person to lead Microsoft; since the company was founded 39 years ago, only co-founder Bill Gates and Ballmer have headed it. But in recent years the company has looked flat-footed as rivals Apple, Google and Facebook have dominated and innovated in hardware, online services and social media.
In a nod to Nadella's low profile outside the company, Microsoft introduced him with a sleek web page that was heavy on biographical details including the revelation that he relaxes by reading poetry.
Ballmer said he would step down last August amid mounting criticism of the company’s dependence on its Windows, Microsoft Office and workplace software, products that have generated massive profits for the company for decades but are being increasingly challenged by online alternatives. In a statement, Ballmer said Nadella was “the right leader at the right time” for Microsoft.
Some were less sure. In a note to investors, analysts at FBR Capital Markets said the appointment of Nadella was a "safe pick" compared to choosing an outsider. Microsoft was among the first to innovate in areas like smartphones, tablets and cloud services. But it has seen those ideas better executed by rivals including Apple and Amazon, the note said.
As part of the announcement, Gates said he would step down as chairman to assume a new role on the board as founder and technology adviser. John Thompson, the Microsoft board member who oversaw its search for a new chief executive, becomes chairman. “During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella,” Gates said..
“Satya is a proven leader with hardcore engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth,” Gates said in his statement.
Nadella may be little known outside of Microsoft’s sprawling Redmond campus, but inside it he is a star. Before being named as CEO he ran one of Microsoft's fastest growing divisions, cloud services. Revenue at the division soared 107% compared to a year ago, the company said when it reported its fiscal second-quarter results on 23 January. Most of his experience is in serving corporate customers – the source of two-thirds of Microsoft profits.
He has also been unafraid to speak his mind on sensitive issues. In December, speaking at the Le Web conference in Paris, Nadella addressed the revelations of the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, saying they demonstrated that “the surveillance system has to be reformed”.
"Businesses and users are going to use technology only if they can trust it," said Nadella. "Clearly now it's the responsibility, I think, of governments – the US government included – to restore that trust. The only mechanisms that I think we have learned is that the respect for the liberties of people and the rule of law is the one way to have societies thrive."
Microsoft's decision to retain Gates worried some observers. Sydney Finkelstein, a leadership professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, said there were huge challenges ahead for Nadella. Finkelstein said making changes within a company as large as Microsoft was difficult for any CEO, and more so when the senior figures being replaced were, as in the case of Gates, still playing a part.
“The next CEO needs to instil a level of risk-taking and innovation,” said Finkelstein. He pointed to examples of insiders shaking up big companies after the resignation of a famous CEO – Bob Iger, for example, took over at Disney after Hollywood legend Michael Eisner was forced out amid criticism that the the media firm was losing its way to younger rivals. Iger went on to revitalise Disney, buying Pixar and Marvel.
“But that’s much harder to do if the people who used to run it are still breathing over your shoulder,” said Finkelstein.
Finkelstein also noted that before Nadella’s appointment, the top job at Microsoft had been linked to a number of leading executives outside the company, including Ford CEO Alan Mulally. “The fact that he is relatively unknown outside Microsoft is interesting, especially in the light of the big names that were associated with the job. It makes you wonder if he was the first choice,” Finkelstein said.
James Staten, an analyst with Forrester Research, was more positive. "Satya Nadella is a tough, number-driven leader. [His appointment] will be a great thing for the overall direction of the company," Staten said.
"Nadella is a visionary, is making it happen, and knows what it takes to drive change in the unique Microsoft culture. An outsider would have a hard time accomplishing this coming in fresh. And time is of the essence."

In a statement about his hiring, Nadella called Microsoft “one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology,” and said, “I couldn’t be more honoured to have been chosen to lead the company.
"The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly.”
Nadella joined the company in 1992 and as well as heading cloud services, he also held leadership roles in server software, internet search and business applications. Born in Hyderabad, he holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, and a master's in business administration from the University of Chicago.
Married for 22 years and with three children, he counts cricket and poetry among his hobbies. In an email to Microsoft employees on Tuesday morning, he wrote that he is “defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning.”
On the web page constructed for his announcement, Microsoft said:

Microsoft’s new CEO finds relaxation by reading poetry, in all forms and by poets who are both Indian and American. “It’s like code,” he says. “You’re trying to take something that can be described in many, many sentences and pages of prose, but you can convert it into a couple lines of poetry and you still get the essence, so it’s that compression.” Indeed, he says, the best code is poetry.

In a video interview, Nadella said he was “honoured, humbled, excited,” by his appointment. “We have tremendous opportunity and that’s exciting. And I’m also grounded on our challenges. In fact that is the adventure and the constraint that also creates, I think, the competitive zeal in me to be able to do great work,” he said.

"We empower people and businesses to realize their potential"

Craig Bailey
20 de febrero de 2013

    "We empower people and businesses to realize their potential"
    The most interesting part of this interview with Steve Ballmer is his answers to the following two questions from Jason Pontin:
    “ I understand Google’s vision for the future of computing....

"We empower people and businesses to realize their potential"

The most interesting part of this interview with Steve Ballmer is his answers to the following two questions from Jason Pontin:

    I understand Google’s vision for the future of computing. I know what Apple stands for. I used to understand what Microsoft stood for. I no longer know. What’s your vision for the company?

    This question quintessentially is a question of altitude. So, in this context tell me what Google and Apple stand for, and I’ll give you the equivalent.

    Google stands for indexing the world’s information in a useful fashion. That’s their claim to planetary utility. Steve Jobs said Apple made insanely great devices for consumers. That altitude.

    At that level of altitude, I’ll give you the slogan, and then I’ll sort of put just a little meat on it. We empower people and businesses to realize their potential. And to expand, I would simply say we’re about defining the future of productivity, entertainment, and communication. In the new world, software is going to have to come in kind of an integrated form—or at least a well-designed form that includes cloud services and devices.

Ballmer says “we’re about defining the future of productivity, entertainment, and communication”. I think that’s a good goal, but I don’t think Microsoft are really understanding the needs of the user. Windows 8 for example, has been a productivity killer for me and many others. 

More than 10% of PCs worldwide run Windows 8

Software & AppsNews03 Jan 2014 by Chloe Albanesius

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More than 10 per cent of global PCs are now running Windows 8, but Microsoft's new operating system still has a long way to go to catch up to its predecessor.
In December, Windows 8 market share hit 6.89 per cent while Windows 8.1 was at 3.6 per cent, or 10.49 per cent in total, according to data from Net Applications. That's up slightly from November, which put Windows 8 and 8.1 at 9.3 per cent of the market.
Between November and December, Windows 8 actually dropped slightly from 6.89 per cent to 6.66 per cent, while Windows 8.1, the newer version of the OS picked up steam, from 2.64 percent to 3.6 per cent.
At this point, however, Windows 7 still reigns supreme at 47.52 per cent of global OS market share, up slightly from 46.64 in November. Windows XP lands at number 2 with 28.98 per cent (down from 31.22 per cent) - four months before Microsoft plans to end support for the ageing OS.
Vista is clinging to life at number 4 with 3.61 per cent, but Windows 8 at least outpaces that unpopular OS. Apple's latest, OS X 10.9, has about 2.79 per cent of the market, up from 2.42 per cent the month before.
When it comes to mobile gadgets, meanwhile, iOS was the top operating system in December with 54.27 per cent, followed by Android at 35.41 per cent. Apple's share got a boost from the iPad, which made up 31.29 per cent of that traffic, followed by the iPhone at 22.36 per cent. Android 4.1 is the most popular version of Google's mobile OS at 13.29 per cent.

Net Applications found that Microsoft's mobile OS - Windows Phone - nabbed only 0.55 per cent of global mobile OS share in December, down slightly from the month before.

http://www.itproportal.com/reviews/software/apple-os-x-109-mavericks-review/

Published under license from Ziff Davis, Inc., New York, All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012-2013 Ziff Davis, Inc

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2014/01/03/more-than-10-of-pcs-worldwide-run-windows-8/#ixzz2pMXfOosA

Publicidad

avast! 2014: el futuro es la ligereza

avast! 2014 ya está aquí. Más ligero y adaptado a Windows 8, es el último producto de una empresa que lleva 25 años en el negocio de los antivirus....

Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti |

15 de octubre del 2013

• Windows
• Antivirus y seguridad

avast! 2014 ya está aquí. Más ligero y adaptado a Windows 8, es el último producto de una empresa que lleva 25 años en el negocio de los antivirus. Lo analizamos.

Antivirus hoy: una lucha por la supervivencia

En estos años la seguridad informática ha cambiado mucho para el usuario doméstico: los sistemas operativos son cada vez más seguros y la gente pasa cada vez más tiempo usando aplicaciones web. Los virus tradicionales ya solo afectan a quienes usan sistemas obsoletos; es el caso de países donde la piratería de software es fuerte y los sistemas se actualizan poco, lo que lleva a malware que aprovecha vulnerabilidades sin parchear.

Volumen de búsquedas mundial para la palabra "antivirus" (datos de Google Trends)

Pero hablar de la muerte de los antivirus es prematuro, sobre todo por la gran capacidad de adaptación que están demostrando, y por el éxito de los modelos gratuitos. En este sentido, avast! ha demostrado un conocimiento profundo de lo que quieren los usuarios. Pero el riesgo de un estancamiento es evidente, y por eso avast! se ha renovado.

Una nueva interfaz para los nuevos tiempos

La seguridad se sostiene en la estética, y no hay nada que emocione más a un usuario que ver que su arma de defensa favorita, el antivirus, tiene una nueva piel. avast! ha sido quizá el antivirus que más ha cambiado de aspecto, con cinco cambios radicales en cinco años; manteniendo, eso sí, los característicos gris y naranja corporativos.

La nueva interfaz de avast! es un canto de alabanza a “Windows 8”

La nueva interfaz es un guiño a los cuadrados de Windows 8, un camino ya tomado por su competidor AVG. Sus proporciones y aspecto, con esos colores planos e iconos minimalistas, trascienden el concepto original de ventana y recuerdan más a una página web. Lo que no ha cambiado es el gusto de avast! por las ventanas enormes, poco manejables en netbooks y equipos que usan resoluciones de pantalla pequeñas.

En busca de la ligereza: menos escudos y megas

Una cosa que llama la atención de avast! 2014 es la menor cantidad de escudos. Hemos pasado de los ocho escudos de la versión 8 a los tres actuales, que son: escudo de archivos -que incluye los de comportamiento, chat y P2P-, escudo de correo y escudo web -que incluye los de red y scripts-. Es una organización más racional.

Menos escudos: solo tres frente a los ocho del pasado. ¿Han pasado de moda?

En AVAST deben de haber pensado que ocho escudos, además de generar confusión, transmitían una imagen de pesadez. Esa misma obsesión por la ligereza, además de verse reflejada en la interfaz, se nota en el tamaño del instalador, que pasa de 120 megabytes a los 60 megabytes actuales para el instalador completo. Incluso hay un instalador compacto que descarga todos los archivos desde el sitio de avast!.

Las estadísticas globales y la retórica del poder

Antes hablaba de la estética y su relación con la seguridad. La otra cosa que pone contento a un usuario del siglo XXI son las estadísticas. avast! 2014 ha potenciado mucho este aspecto, hasta el punto de dedicarle una ventana aparte en la que se pueden consultar las estadísticas de detección y los historiales, así como el estado del sistema.

La dominación mundial está cada vez más cerca para avast!...

Donde el usuario tiene más probabilidad de babear, sin embargo, en con las estadísticas globales, un compendio fabuloso de estadísticas de seguridad y usuarios que recuerdan las del popular cliente de juegos Steam. Nada podría dar una imagen mayor de poderío que los números que aparecen en el mapa.

La seguridad que te puedes permitir

El mensaje que avast! 2014 transmite con sutileza es el siguiente: “en este mundo tan inseguro, necesitas algo más que un escáner en tiempo real para estar seguro”. Coherente con su idea, avast! despliega una tienda integrada que permite adquirir versiones de pago y módulos de seguridad para todos los bolsillos.

Potenciar la seguridad de tu vida digital tiene un precio...

El diseño modular de avast!, donde puedes elegir qué accesos directos tener en la pantalla principal, es muy inteligente, pues a la vez que da al usuario libertad para elegir con qué funciones quedarse, lo incita a “rellenar los huecos” con algunas de las ofertas de pago (o micropago). Es una suite que se construye a trozos, siguiendo la moda de las aplicaciones móviles.

¿Cómo será avast! dentro de unos años?

Cuando ejecutas un antivirus actual, lo primero que notas es que el antivirus propiamente dicho está escondido entre una multitud de funciones. Los que antes eran escáneres de malware puros y duros, ahora se afanan en ser completas suites de seguridad. Al abrir avast! 2014, la primera impresión es justamente esa: el escáner es una pequeña lupa.

“¿Dónde está el antivirus? es la pregunta que me hice al iniciar avast! 2014

El escáner es cada vez menos importante porque el malware tradicional es cada vez menos importante. Además, los antivirus del futuro no solo tendrán que hacer frente a amenazas de lo más variado, sino también a un cambio de tendencia en la seguridad informática, que es la incorporación de mecanismos de seguridad en sistemas operativos y hardware. Windows 8, por ejemplo, se distribuye con Security Essentials (Defender).
En el caso de avast!, creo que veremos una convergencia de la versión móvil y de escritorio, con una mayor comunicación entre los dispositivos protegidos por avast! y una integración cada vez mayor con los navegadores. El antivirus se moverá por completo a la nube de servidores, donde se llevará a cabo gran parte de los análisis.
En resumen: avast! actuará cada vez más como un plugin de seguridad y menos como un cliente pesado. El impacto de avast! en el rendimiento llegará a ser mínimo, pues estará presente allá donde el usuario pasa más tiempo: el navegador. El escáner clásico tendrá cada vez menos importancia (ya tiene muy poca mientras escribo esto).
¿Y las ediciones de pago? En mi opinión, avast! acabará por abrazar por completo su modelo "tienda de apps" para que el usuario pueda construirse un antivirus a medida a partir de componentes de bajo coste. Un poco como ocurre ahora con aplicaciones de dibujo para tabletas, en las que puedes comprar pinceles según tus necesidades.

Si alguien puede salvar a los antivirus, es avast!

Al probar un producto como avast! tenemos que preguntarnos qué es un antivirus hoy en día, a quién protege y a quién va dirigido. A quién le hace sentir seguro al usar un ordenador y quién está dispuesto a invertir dinero en sus funciones adicionales.
avast!, con sus casi 200 millones de sistemas protegidos, cierra con la versión 2014 una brillante trayectoria de 25 años de éxitos. Revolucionó el mercado con su apuesta por un producto gratuito, y ahora puede que haga otro tanto con su propuesta modular.
Queda por ver si este enfoque busca invertir la tendencia decadente de los antivirus o si es solo una forma de ganar tiempo antes de la próxima evolución radical -que, de esto estoy bastante seguro, podría llegar otra vez de la mano de avast!-.

¿Qué te parece el rumbo que ha tomado avast! con la versión 2014?