Windows 8 News & Articles

After the big Spring launches comes the bragging and the competitive advertising. Samsung is seeing rocketing sales, and Microsoft is using Siri to have a dig at Apple's iPad with its own Windows 8 tablets. 

What is Xbox One? Is it a games machines, a media center, or an app player? Microsoft wants it to be all three, with near instant-on, voice activation, Skype and many other features, but to do this, it runs a version of Windows 8, a gaming hyper-OS and a media system, highlighting the company's struggles with Windows.

Windows and Windows Phone 8 customers are hearing some details about Microsoft's plan for updating each system in the coming months, and it starts with a public preview of Windows Blue by the end of June.

After the announcement that SharePoint Online is coming out of Preview, Microsoft has also announced a number of upgrades to Microsoft Office Web Apps, which, when all the upgrades become available, will come with support for Chrome on Android tablets and co-editing in real-time.

The first product in any line is often more for show, to help raise interest and awareness. So, Microsoft might consider the first Surface a complete success in that respect. But, it likely won't outstay its welcome as newer, faster machines prepare to make an entrance, driven by new hardware and services to create a more compelling offering. 

If IBM’s figures were disappointing for investors, then those of Google and Microsoft will reassure them and offer some optimism around the IT industry. Google, which was concerned over lower mobile ad prices, appears to have shaken it off and has posted profits of US$ 3.35 billion, up 16% on the last time.

After a barrage of negative press due to weak PC sales, and Intel's latest flat quarterly figures, the PC landscape is looking pretty barren. Both parts of the Wintel alliance are making their own moves to try and improve the situation. 

It's spring cleaning time, and Microsoft has been busy with Bing. In October it launched six new apps for Windows 8, which it extended to Office 365 at the beginning of February. This week, it announced on the Bing blog that it is now upgrading those apps.

Windows 8 support has been included in a couple of updates for the Novell ZENworks Mobile Management (BYOD) and application virtualization suites.

Windows 8 was a bold move for Microsoft. And whether you are a regular Microsoft or iOS user, businesses looking to build a line of business mobile applications should consider Windows 8 a front runner, specifically if its touch application would augment what you want to do.

 An early build of Windows Blue, the first upgrade for Windows 8, somewhere between a service pack and Windows 9, has leaked online allowing users a peek at what Microsoft plans for its evolved user interface. Will it make any difference to the depressed PC market in a mobile-obsessed world?

Twitter has joined companies who have adapted their products for the Windows 8 operating system with the launch of Twitter for Windows 8 app.

Box is going to very busy over the next year or so as it prepares for its IPO. In the meantime it needs to keep users happy -- after all, happy users generally means happy investors. Last October Box launched Box for Windows 8. This week it is tweaking that and adding some more.

Maybe Yahoo doesn't want its people working from home, but plenty of other companies do. It saves employees commute time, keeps them out of ridiculously long meetings and allows them to focus on their work versus office politics.

  Having led the way as a smart new browser for Windows 8 users, Microsoft's faster, neater, more secure IE10 is finally available for the hundreds of millions of Windows 7 users. Windows XP folk, however, are still out of luck.