No Support Windows Phone 8.1

By July 11 2017, Microsoft is officially ending support for its aged mobile OS, Windows Phone 8.1, which means that users will no longer receive updates.

It is reflected in Microsoft's End of Support page at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4001737/products-reaching-end-of-support-for-2017

It also marks the end of the road for Redmond’s initial foray into phones, and essentially paves the way for Android and iOS to rule the roost.

Itz interesting to know why they made this strategic move?

Microsoft has been moving away from WP towards Windows 10 Mobile, which is essentially an extension of its desktop platform that’s geared towards letting users take their files and apps with them – but it’s no real rival to Android or iOS. The company has been working on numerous cloud-based and cross-platform apps and services lately, so Windows 10 Mobile doesn’t seem like much of a priority anymore.

In my view, Microsoft is focusing more on mobile cross platform development Xamarin to boost the business benefits of time to market, development cost benefits, easy maintenance, etc.

Quicktime Uninstall

Anyone running QuickTime on their Windows computer is being urged by the government to uninstall the program right away.

The US government is urging PC users to uninstall Quicktime from their computers, over fears that weaknesses in the software could leave them vulnerable to cyber-criminals.

As discovered by security firm Trend Micro, Apple, which develops Quicktime, is ending its support for the Windows version of the software.

This means it will no longer be issuing security updates, making it easier for hackers to use the software as a way into their targets' computers. The firm's experts also identified two "critical vulnerabilities" affecting the software, which could provide a window for hackers to launch cyberattacks against users.

Trend Micro's warning was echoed by the US Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), which said users who still have Quicktime for Windows running on their machines could now be vulnerable to "loss of confidentiality, integrity or availability of data," as well as facing increased risks from viruses and other security threats.

The Department of Homeland Security issued an alert on Friday, noting that Apple will stop providing security updates for QuickTime for Windows. Ref: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA16-105A

“Computer systems running unsupported software are exposed to elevated cybersecurity dangers, such as increased risks of malicious attacks or electronic data loss,” the department said.

Directions for installing QuickTime for Windows can be found at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205771.

The department notes that QuickTime will still work for Windows, but the risk of getting a virus and other security threats will increase.

Win8 vs Android

Android and iOS have many advantages over Windows Phone 8, but perhaps the biggest is the length of time they’ve been available. The first Android-powered handset – the T-Mobile G1 – came out in 2008 and Apple’s first 2G iPhone landed in 2007. Since then both platforms have evolved significantly.

Windows Phone, by comparison, is a newbie and is still very much finding its feet within the space. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as it’s always good to have new ways of doing things. But it does pose problems for certain types of users invested in other platforms.

Coming from Android 4.2 to Windows Phone 8 was an odd experience, almost like stepping back in time. On the surface Windows Phone 8 looks ultra-modern and fresh. The UI is snappy and navigating around the phone is simple. Few key points are:

• Microsoft’s vision for how you interact with a mobile device is also very bold, it dares to try something new – and that’s highly commendable
• Microsoft’s SkyDrive is thoroughly excellent, offering all the functionality of Dropbox and top-notch syncing between mobile, desktop, and tablet, which is great
• It looks pretty, has lots of cool things like the People hub, which aggregates all your social feeds into one place, and it powers some of the best hardware
•  Xbox Music, which is by far the best music service available on any platform, absolutely wiping the floor with iTunes and Google Music in my opinion.

Perhaps Windows Phone is best viewed by someone who's never used iOS or Android. It’ll be interesting to see how Windows Phone stacks up against RIM’s BlackBerry 10 platform, which is scheduled to launch on January 30. 2013 will be an interesting year for both companies

Windows8 Phone Skydrive

Microsoft has a bunch of new developer tools related to its SkyDrive file-sharing and cloud storage service, including new software development kits for .NET and Windows Phone 8.

The new SDKs for the .NET software framework for Windows and the recently released Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system are available for download at Microsoft's own developer portal or via NuGet for Visual Studio projects, the company said in a blog post announcing their availability.

The .NET SDK comes in both a client and server version, providing a .NET library for client desktop apps as well as for ASP.NET applications, Microsoft said, adding that "[w]ith this release you can now create applications that target traditional desktop scenarios and as well as server side scenarios."

Along with the Windows Phone 8 SDK, the devkit for .NET allows developers to build SkyDrive functionality into their apps and programs. For example, with the client version of the .NET SDK, developers can now create WPF, Windows Form or console applications that let your users use their SkyDrive data.

Windows8 Chief Resigns

Barely two weeks after playing a prominent role in Microsoft's launch of Windows 8 and the Surface tablet, Redmond veteran Steven Sinofsky is out as head of the Windows Division, effective immediately.

Sinofsky, who led development and marketing of Microsoft's flagship product for more than three years, joined the company as a software design engineer in July 1989. His departure, announced late Monday, was abrupt and took the tech and business worlds by surprise

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressed Sinofsky's departure in a company statement, describing the move as a "leadership change" without explaining why such a prominent and out-front executive was leaving the company so soon after the roll out of its biggest new product in years.

"I am grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company. The products and services we have delivered to the market in the past few months mark the launch of a new era at Microsoft," Ballmer said.

Sinofsky took over the Windows Division in July 2009 after more than a decade contributing to and leading the development of Microsoft's Office products. He was also heavily involved in recruiting talent to the Redmond-based company over the years.

Windows 8 Phone

With Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Windows Azure, developers using Visual Studio 2012 can build experiences that span the Windows ecosystem, from desktops to laptops to tablets to smartphones to the cloud.  And with that in mind, today’s release of the Windows Phone SDK 8.0 enables some exciting new capabilities for developers, such as using C++ and DirectX to build stunning experiences, enabling in-app purchases to sell virtual and digital good within apps, helping developers to streamline their efforts with the advances in Visual Studio 2012 and .NET, and more.

The Windows Phone SDK 8.0 works with the Visual Studio 2012 and enables you to get started today building great apps for both Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.x.  It includes emulators for both environments, including the ability to validate for multiple chassis, and support for simulating various network conditions (e.g. ‘2G’, ‘3G’).  It includes new templates for developing Windows Phone apps, such as for building apps with Direct3D, and it sports enhanced diagnostics for analyzing apps, such as power and network profiling and responsiveness monitoring.  It enables building native apps as well as building managed apps that consume native libraries.  It enables much easier portability between Windows 8 apps and Windows Phone 8 apps.  It includes .NET portable library support, so you can write your libraries once and reuse them across all your apps. The list goes on.

Windows8 Launch

Microsoft Corp launched its new Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet on Thursday 25 Oct in a bid to revive interest in its flagship product and regain ground lost to Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing.

"We've reimagined Windows and we've reimagined the whole PC industry," Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told Reuters Television early Thursday ahead of the launch.

Windows 8 devices and the company's new Surface tablet, which aims to challenge Apple's popular iPad head on, go on sale at midnight on Thursday.

Steven Sinofsky, head of Microsoft's Windows unit and the driving force behind Windows 8, opened the launch event in New York in front about 1,000 media and PC industry partners.

He showed off Windows 8's new look, but stressed that the system was built upon the base of Windows 7, Microsoft's best-selling software that recently passed 670 million license sales.

The new design of Windows, which dispenses with the Start button and features square tiles for apps, may surprise some users. Initial demand appeared solid, but customers were wary.

Win8 PC Market Transition

"The launch of Windows 8 is the beginning of a new era at Microsoft," CEO Steve Ballmer said in a prepared statement. "Investments we've made over a number of years are now coming together to create a future of exceptional devices and services, with tremendous opportunity for our customers, developers, and partners."

While investors will scour the earnings statement for clues to the future -- as well as the investor conference call scheduled for later -- this was one of those rare moments in Microsoft's history where the important news accompanying its quarterly earnings statements was not so much the quarterly earnings statement itself. The reason: next week Microsoft will officially release the Windows 8 operating system as well as its Surface as the company takes its next big steps toward a post-PC world that it has dominated for much of the last three decades. That's a market that continues to slow down, a trend underscored by recent warnings from both Intel and Hewlett-Packard of sluggish demand ahead.

But with PC sales slowing, Wall Street is hoping that the Surface tablet will help secure Microsoft s future. Indeed, Credit Suisse forecast PC shipments to grow by just 5.6 percent year-over-year in calendar 2013. The opposite side of that coin: the firm says that Windows 8 "will have a more meaningful position in tablets than the market appreciates, which we believe will serve as a catalyst for the stock."

Netflix Win8App

Windows 8 is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablets, and home theater PCs.

Development of this operating system started before the release of its predecessor in 2009. Its existence was first announced in January 2011 at Consumer Electronics Show. During its development and test phases, Microsoft released three pre-release versions: Developer Preview (September 13, 2011), Consumer Preview (February 29, 2012), and Release Preview (May 31, 2012). On August 1, 2012, Windows 8 graduated from the development stage and was released to manufacturing. Windows 8 is scheduled for general availability on October 26, 2012.

Microsoft confirmed that a Netflix app would be available for Windows 8, and it turns out it's available well before the big October 26th launch date. Netflix announced today that the app is now available for download from the Windows Store for those who've already upgraded to an early version of the OS. Expectedly, the app matches the overall style of Windows 8, and Netflix says that it's also made the app more efficient to cut down on both CPU and battery usage. It's quick to point out that this is only the first version of the app, though, noting that it has "more updates and ideas in the pipeline for later this fall."

Win8 Copy NewLook

After conducting research with users of Microsoft 7 and older operating systems, Microsoft has discovered that when it comes to using Windows Explorer, 50% of us use it for copying files, moving files, renaming files and deleting files.

They also found that whilst for most of us, these tasks complete within seconds, for some people, especially those who are copying or deleting huge amounts of data, these tasks can take over two minutes to complete.  So, they've re-designed the whole thing. Now when you copy files, you get one user interface, (UI) open to show all copying jobs.

To help you to decide which job to pause, if you click on the 'More Details' button you can see a graphical representation of how much data is being transferred.  As mentioned in the screen shot, you can pause each job from this screen to speed up the data transfer of one particular job.

If the rest of the improvements to Windows 8 are as impressive as these improvements to Windows Explorer, this should be a very interesting new operating system indeed.

Flash Vulnerability in IE10 on Windows 8

Today, Microsoft is announcing the availability of an update for Adobe Flash Player in Internet Explorer 10 on all supported editions of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. The update addresses the vulnerability in Adobe
Flash Player by updating the affected Adobe Flash libraries contained within Internet Explorer 10.  Technology mitigation is listed as:

• In a web-based attack scenario where the user is using Internet Explorer 10 for the desktop, an attacker could host a website that contains a web page that is used to exploit any of these vulnerabilities.
• Internet Explorer 10 in the Windows 8-style UI will only play Flash content from sites listed on the Compatibility View (CV) list. This restriction requires an attacker to first compromise a website already listed in the CV list. An attacker could then host specially crafted Flash content designed to exploit any of these vulnerabilities through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website.
• By default, all supported versions of Microsoft Outlook and Windows Live Mail open HTML email messages in the Restricted sites zone.
• By default, Internet Explorer on Windows Server 2012 runs in a restricted mode that is known as Enhanced Security Configuration.  This mode can help reduce the likelihood of exploitation by these vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player in Internet Explorer 10

More info at:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/advisory/2755801

Win8 App in 30 days

Windows 8 seeks to re-imagine the Microsoft OS experience with a focus on connectivity, users, mobile PCs, and the cloud. "Fast and fluid" is the soul of Windows 8. No more prompts or questions, simply tap a tile - the Windows UI showcases only what you need.

For developers, Windows 8 brings new opportunities... and new techniques to learn and use in your apps, from Windows-style design to coding apps with web technologies to the marketplace.

I came across an interesting site, which helps the developer to build a Windows 8 App in 30 days.  The developement portal contains:

• Insider tips and tricks on Windows 8 application development.
• Personal on-the-phone access to a Windows 8 architect.
• An exclusive one-on-one Windows Store design consultation.
• An opportunity to get expert help from a Microsoft Services Engineer at an App Excellence Lab.

You can visit at http://www.generationapp.com/W8appsin30.aspx

Microsoft New Logo

It’s been 25 years since Microsoft updated its logo and now is the perfect time for a change. This is an incredibly exciting year for Microsoft as we prepare to release new versions of nearly all of our products. From Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8 to Xbox services to the next version of Office, you will see a common look and feel across these products providing a familiar and seamless experience on PCs, phones, tablets and TVs. 

The logo has two components: the logotype and the symbol. For the logotype, Microsoft uses the Segoe font which is the same font for their marketing communications. The symbol’s squares of color are intended to express the company’s diverse portfolio of products. The symbol is important in a world of digital motion.  In that dimension, the symbol represents Windows8 new Tile based User Interface (UI).

It reflects Microsoft's branding milestone towards Windows8 product suit releases.

Windows8 Updates

It's happened to all of us at one time or another; you're halfway through some work when Windows Update informs you that it's about to restart your computer to install an update. Sure, you can delay it for fifteen minutes, but at the back of your mind you know you're going to have to stop what you're doing, close down your programs and restart. It's a pain.

But now Microsoft has made it easier to update without interrupting your work. In Windows 8 Windows Update or WU will happen once a month.

If you haven't restarted your machine within these three days, your computer will give you a standard 15 minute warning that it is about to restart. 

When it comes to restarting, you will notice that you now have new options: 'Update and restart' is shown 'immediately after the update occurs.  Isn't it cool?  I'm sure we can all cope with that.

No Flash in Windows8 Tablet

Microsoft has confirmed that tablets using Windows 8 OS will not use Flash but instead use a HTML 5, plug-in free Metro browser. At the moment, as far as we are aware, Adobe Flash will still be supported on the Windows 8 OS for both laptops and PCs.  Microsoft noted on the MSDN blog, "The reality today is that sites are already rapidly engineering for a plug-in free experience. Google, for example, recently launched their HTML5 YouTube site for phones."

In fact, research by Microsoft has discovered that plug-in free sites are becoming more popular than plug-in sites. Microsoft "examined the use of plug-ins across the top 97,000 sites world-wide, a corpus which includes local sites outside the US in significant depth. Many of the 62% of these sites that currently use Adobe Flash already fall back to HTML5 video in the absence of plug-in support. When serving ads in the absence of plug-ins, most sites already perform the equivalent of this fallback, showing that this approach is practical and scalable. There’s a steep drop-off in plug-in usage after Flash, with one control used on 2% of sites and a small collection of controls used on between 0.5% and 0.75% of sites."

Microsoft envisages most of these sites moving to HTML 5 in the near future.

Windows8 Power Efficiency

Microsoft knows that many of us use laptops rather than desktops these days and we also want to use a lot of apps at the same time. They also know that more memory equals more RAM, which means more battery usage, which in turn means lower run times for our laptops. So, what Microsoft has done is to identify ways to free up memory requirements and still have an efficient and effective operating system.

Microsoft has developed a way of combining memory so that memory takes up less space. What normally happens is that when you install an application, it will allocate some extra memory to that app in case you need it in future. Install lots of apps and you have lots of sets of allocated memory just sitting there, doing nothing, but taking up valuable memory space. By using memory combining, Windows 8 assesses the actual memory needs of an app and then deletes all duplicate memory entries across the system memory. In this way Microsoft has managed to free up to 100MBs of memory.

By looking at Task Manager they saw that using Windows 8 dramatically reduced the amount of memory needed by the OS. CPU usage was reduced by 4% and physical memory by 12% as attached.

Windows8 TouchPad

On June 1, 2011 Microsoft launched the next generation of Windows, currently known as Windows 8, at the D9 Conference.

Windows 8 is a complete re-working of the windows operating system and one that will work on all devices from tiny touch screen phones to desktops. Windows 8 will work with traditional keyboards and mouse but also on touch screens too.

This is a huge project and they are re-examining and re-designing every aspect of the windows operating system architecture.

The key improvements to look out for in Windows 8 include:

• A start screen to replace the Windows Start menu. This will be made up from tiles that will enable you to launch apps faster.
• Each tile app will be 'live', that is, it will provide you with constantly updated information about your apps.
• Easier switching between running apps.
• The ability to snap and resize apps to have several open on your desktop at once.
• Touch optimized browsing using Internet Explorer 10.

To give users an idea of what to expect, they launched a video too, which you can find here:http://media.ch9.ms/ch9/cda16b03-c463-47e7-b604-9ef5011c5b25/Demo.mp4

Windows8 Release

If you've been waiting to get your hands on Microsoft's new, tablet-friendly Windows 8 operating system, your wait is nearing its end. This week, at Microsoft's annual Worldwide Partner Conference, it was confirmed that Windows 8 "will reach general availability by the end of October 2012".

Samsung and HP have already revealed their plans for manufacturing Windows 8 devices and Samsung will be launching devices based on the Windows RT operating system in October

Simply put, the news means you'll be able to buy your upgrade or new computer pre-loaded with Windows 8 in October. The operating system will be released to manufacturing in August, which is when certain enterprise business customers will be able to upgrade. Attached image shows the major milestones drafted on 2009 by Microsoft.  They are on mark.

According to the company, this release brings forth a number of enhancements to the platform. It proffers better personalization options and multi-monitor support. The updated list of preloaded applications that come along with the OS include Bing Travel, News and Sports. There are even gaming and music Xbox apps which are said to integrate with Zune pass.

Windows8

It is an interesting Sunday.  Yep. My home desktop is migrated to Windows8 OS. Cool stuff. As the end user, Top 3 remarkable points are:

1. Metro UI style
The Metro environment will feature a new tile-based Start screen similar to that of the Windows Phone operating system. Each tile will represent an application, and will be able to display relevant information such as the number of unread messages on the tile for an e-mail app or the current temperature on a weather application. Metro-style applications run in full-screen, and are able to share information between each other using "contracts" 

2. Jet speed startup and shutdown
Felt like a sub second response during Windows 8 start up and shut down process.  It is kind of thrilling experience for earlier Windows version users.  Isn't it cool?

3. App Store model
Windows Store is an upcoming digital distribution platform developed by Microsoft Corporation as part of Windows 8 for Metro style applications. The Windows Store will also allow developers to advertise their desktop applications. It will support both free and paid applications, with the paid applications ranging from $1.49 to $999.99. Developers will also be able to offer free trials. The Windows Store was made available concurrently with the release of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview which was released on February 29, 201.

Yet to explore as the developer; Just downloaded its SDK and installed VS2012 Express RC for Windows8.. Letz see!!!