Tag Archives: microsoft

Microsoft won’t release study that challenged success of Munich’s Linux migration

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By switching from Windows to its own Linux distribution, LiMux, Munich has saved over ¬11 million (US$14.3 million) so far, the city announced in November. But a Microsoft-commissioned Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) study conducted by HP suggests that the city’s numbers are wrong, and claims that Munich would have saved ¬43.7 million if it had stuck with Microsoft, German weekly Focus reported earlier this week.

via Microsoft won’t release study that challenged success of Munich’s Linux migration | ITworld.

I find it funny watching numbers being fudged.

Why Touch Screens Will Not Take Over

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There are three big differences between these handy touch screens and a PC’s screen: angle, distance and time interval.

The screen of a phone or tablet is generally more or less horizontal. The screen of a desktop (or a laptop on a desk), however, is more or less vertical.

via Why Touch Screens Will Not Take Over: Scientific American.

My belief is that touch screens make sense on mobile computers but not on stationary ones. Microsoft is making a gigantic bet that I’m wrong.

From: Windows 8 — Disappointing Usability for Both Novice and Power Users

With the recent launch of Windows 8 and the Surface tablets, Microsoft has reversed its user interface strategy. From a traditional Gates-driven GUI style that emphasized powerful commands to the point of featuritis, Microsoft has gone soft and now smothers usability with big colorful tiles while hiding needed features.

Microsoft says Google trying to undermine Windows Phone

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According to Heiner, Google has denied Microsoft’s YouTube app access to metadata that would allow it to deliver all of YouTube’s functionality, including such features as user ratings and the ability to search for videos by categories.

Because of this limitation, he says, Microsoft has been forced to deliver an app that’s really nothing more than a repackaged version of the YouTube website running in a browser – unlike the apps for other platforms, which offer richer experiences.

via Microsoft says Google trying to undermine Windows Phone • The Register.

Microsoft investigating new IE vulnerability used in targeted attacks, IE9 and IE10 users are safe

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The malicious JavaScript in question only served the exploit code to browsers whose language was either English (U.S.), Chinese (China), Chinese (Taiwan), Japanese, Korean, or Russian. Once the initial checks passed, the JavaScript proceeded to load an Adobe Flash file named “today.swf.” This file ultimately triggered a heap spray in IE and downloaded a file named “xsainfo.jpg.”

More details of the vulnerability are available at the CERT Knowledgebase ( VU#154201). Here’s the full technical description:

via Microsoft investigating new IE vulnerability used in targeted attacks, IE9 and IE10 users are safe – The Next Web.

Google Apps Moving Onto Microsoft’s Business Turf

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One big reason is price. Google charges $50 a year for each person using its product, a price that has not changed since it made its commercial debut, even though Google has added features. In 2012, for example, Google added the ability to work on a computer not connected to the Internet, as well as security and data management that comply with more stringent European standards. That made it much easier to sell the product to multinationals and companies in Europe.

via Google Apps Moving Onto Microsoft’s Business Turf – NYTimes.com.

A Microsoft Research Project Offloads GPS Data and Calculations to the Cloud to Save Battery Life.

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The biggest power hog inside a smartphone is the GPS chip. This component can take 30 seconds just to acquire the satellite data necessary to get the information it needs for an initial location fix; it then has to churn through the downloaded codes to calculate its location precisely.

Microsoft researchers reduced that power consumption dramatically by offloading some of the work to the cloud.

via A Microsoft Research Project Offloads GPS Data and Calculations to the Cloud to Save Battery Life. | MIT Technology Review.

Microsoft Kills Expression Suite

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Visual Studio is Microsoft’s only flagship development system and this raised the question of why Expression Blend, the XAML user interface designer, was a standalone product. Not all Visual Studio programmers were even aware of what Expression Blend could do for them. For example, books on programming Silverlight or Windows 8 would often concentrate on using Visual Studio and mention Expression Blend as an afterthought.

via Microsoft Kills Expression Suite.

Microsoft Surface sales Q4 2012- Less than 1 million tablets sold: Est

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In a note to clients picked up by Forbes, the firm states that Surface sales in the December quarter are shaping up to fall into the 500,000 to 600,000-unit range, well below its earlier estimates of between 1 million and 2 million units. According to Detwiler, Microsoft’s tablet strategy appears to be “in disarray.”

via Microsoft Surface sales Q4 2012- Less than 1 million tablets sold: Est | BGR.

Windows XP Drops Below 40% Market Share, Windows 8 Passes 1%

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While the 1 percent share for Windows 8 is completely expected, it’s interesting to note that less than half of users have chosen to stick with the default IE10 browser: just 0.51 percent. Everyone else appears to be using Chrome, Firefox, or yet another browser.

via Windows XP Drops Below 40% Market Share, Windows 8 Passes 1%.

Xbox team’s ‘consumer detector’ would dis-Kinect freeloading TV viewers

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The patent application, filed under the heading “Content Distribution Regulation by Viewing User,” proposes to use cameras and sensors like those in the Xbox 360 Kinect controller to monitor, count and in some cases identify the people in a room watching television, movies and other content. The filing refers to the technology as a “consumer detector.”

via Xbox team’s ‘consumer detector’ would dis-Kinect freeloading TV viewers – GeekWire.