Microsoft Talk

"Windows 8 Metro-style apps and Desktop apps are going to offer two different experiences. But both kinds of apps are going to be available on both x86/x64 and ARM PCs and tablets." - LANjackal

"The data in your beautiful spreadsheet doesn't necessarily start out that way, especially if you've copied or imported it in from some other place. By using some Excel functions and formatting techniques, you can make your names, dates and numbers look just the way you want." - LANjackal

"File History is a new file backup and restore feature of Windows 8, which will become the reason to ditch all third-party file backup applications that comes with complex settings in order to seamlessly save and maintain different versions of files. It works just like Windows Restore Point, allowing you to save the User Profile folders to any external storage devices, so they can be easily restored at any time. Unlike many 3rd-party file backup utilities, it keeps track of file versions to easily identify and restore the file version you want to its original location. The File History backup replaces the old Previous Versions feature which didn’t have any extra file backup support. Windows 8 backup feature not only lets you better control the way of performing backup jobs but also allows managing file versions from an overly simplified interface. In this post, we will explore different aspects of Windows 8 File History feature, look at how it works, and let you know how to use local drive to backup file versions." - LANjackal

"win" - LANjackal

"Remember those analysts who said Windows Phone will surpass Android by 2015, and everyone said they were crazy? They may be right. This may have been the smartest move made by Microsoft since putting Office on a Mac. It may have been designed this way, or not, but Microsoft just threw a big wrench in Apple and Google's product roadmap. It may even cause delays for the giants." - LANjackal

The photocopiers haven't even cooled off yet, and already the propaganda blitz is well underway from all of Microsoft's web "partners". - Zato Gibson

"Security vendors will have an increasingly hard time making a case for expensive subscriptions as Microsoft keeps pushing Windows to be "secure enough" out of the box. Windows 8 adds a number of impressive features that really should make a difference in the "ecosystem"." - LANjackal

"Windows 8 includes some new keyboard shortcuts for the new Metro UI. These can be very useful while you’re evaluating the new Operating system." - LANjackal

"some Windows 8 slates will actually have the capability to make and receive phone calls through the cellular network" - LANjackal

"When businesses buy a Windows 8 tablet, they will probably buy Wintel (Windows-Intel): that's because they'll get assured compatibility and security. Most businesses will not take a chance on an ARM-based tablet, however inexpensive and power efficient." - LANjackal

"PCs are not going away. They will continue to be the primary means of computing for business and consumers alike. Tablets are not going away, either. They will continue to provide a much more intuitive way to interact with a consumer electronics device. Microsoft’s vision, however, unifies these devices." - LANjackal

Any thoughts? It's hard to tell from the video... - Todd Hoff

"Microsoft has announced that Windows 7, its flagship OS, has sold 450 million copies worldwide. Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky, the president of Microsoft’s Windows division, also announced that Windows 7 is now (finally) being used by more people than Windows XP." - LANjackal

"Microsoft has created a six-step approval process for app submissions: Step 1: Pre-processing (1 hour) Step 2: Security test (3 hours) Step 3: Technical Compliance (6 hours) Step 4: Content Compliance (6 hours) Step 5: Signing and Publishing (2 hours) Step 6: Release" - LANjackal

"Here’s the real feather in Windows 8’s cap: Write once, run (mostly) everywhere software. Developers coding Metro applications will be able to access Windows’ innate features from a number of languages, including C++, C#, HTML, and JavaScript. Once developed, these apps will work wherever Windows 8 does." - LANjackal

"Windows 8 Breaks Down the OS Walls That Divide Our Devices " ...so that the Microsoft desktop monopoly continues for another 20 years. So that the vast anti-malware and security industry continues for another 20 years. So that very little effort is needed to load up the windows app market. - Zato Gibson

"With Windows 8, Microsoft wants an Everywhere Operating System, offering access to all information and services across all your Windows 8 devices." - LANjackal

"As the author of several books about Microsoft platforms--Windows Phone 7 Secrets most recently, and of course the coming Windows 8 Secrets--I'm very concerned about documenting both the features of these platforms--applications, services, and so on--but also the terminology that Microsoft uses to describe them. These things have names, and need to be referenced properly." - LANjackal

"NVIDIA just opened its Windows 8 developer program, and says it'll embrace not just x86-based PCs, but Tegra-powered tablets as well. Specifically, that means support for its forthcoming quad-core Tegra platform, codenamed Kal-El, along with PCs packing GeForce, Quadro and Tesla cards." - LANjackal

"There will be an apps store platform built into Windows 8, and there will be a self-service mechanism for developers to publish their wares and make money from them" - LANjackal

What part of "optional" and "the developer does NOT have to use the app store" don't you understand? - LANjackal

"All the swiping and pinching aside, the BUILD conference gave us a peek at some advantages the upcoming operating system might have for laptop users." - LANjackal

"Near the end of the keynote, the presentation included a slide with hundreds of features that Microsoft claim they “didn’t get to show”. At normal scale, it was a little difficult to comprehend, but with the magic of magnification it reveals a few nuggets." - LANjackal

code that actually utilizes the I series processor? - Mike Nencetti

"Windows 8 will launch with a self-assessment console for users to test all aspects of their machines performance from basic drivers to high end gaming hardware. The Windows Assessment Console will break aspects of your system into sections like start up and shut down experience, hardware performance, windows 7 performance for direct comparisons on how the previous operating system would perform on your machine, a better rundown, and more." - LANjackal

"When you use the Text Import Wizard, you don't open your data source in its native program. You point Excel's Text Import Wizard to a file, and the wizard leads you through a few steps where it looks at the rows of data in the source file and makes suggestions based on the layout of the file. Of course, you're allowed to fine tune or override these suggestions so that the data comes into Excel just the way you want." - LANjackal

"Intel has a technology, due by the holiday season, called Rapid Start Technology. Think of it as instant-on from hibernation." - LANjackal

"The issues encountered over the past week or so--and the sporadic-but-too-frequent-to-ignore outages before that--raise serious questions about just how dependable cloud-based services really are." - LANjackal

"Considering that Windows tablets are in the minority, it is skinned similar to Metro, and only appeared recently, we could be looking at one of the first full screen Windows 8 apps." - LANjackal

Microsoft's vast army of basement-dwelling unemployed gamer creeps will be pleased. - Zato Gibson

"we’re effectively saving the system state and memory contents to a file on disk (hiberfil.sys) and then reading that back in on resume and restoring contents back to memory. Using this technique with boot gives us a significant advantage for boot times, since reading the hiberfile in and reinitializing drivers is much faster on most systems (30-70% faster on most systems we’ve tested)." - LANjackal

"Twitter and Microsoft have renewed their search partnership, the companies announced in a cute if cryptic series of Twitter posts Tuesday." - LANjackal

"for some independent developers, Windows Phone 7 is a perfect fit." - LANjackal

"Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang claims that Windows Phone apps will run on Windows 8. This gives hope to Windows Phone app developers who were not too sure about developing for a dieing platform. If true, these developers are also developing for Microsoft's next generation operating system, Windows 8." - LANjackal

"Based on its history, you probably wouldn’t expect to see Windows Phone take off like a rocket. But apparently that’s what it’s going to do. Research out of Gartner and IDC says that Mango may grab a whopping 20 percent of the market by 2015, with the help of hardware partners like HTC and a little extra effort in the marketing department." - LANjackal