microsoft – TechVirtuoso

My five predictions for the iPhone 5

February 17th, 2011 at 8:14 PM 6 Comments Michael Stanclift

Late winter, early spring… it’s that time of year where the entire technology world begins to wonder about what Apple has planned for the next version of the iPhone, which, come late June will be the device that sets the trend for mobile technology into the next year. Like it or hate it, the iPhone is the standard that all Android, WebOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phones must either match or surpass to be taken seriously.

So what will this phone feature? It’s impossible to tell until Steve Jobs takes the stage to tell us, and even then there will still be many unanswered questions until it gets into the hands of the consumer. Even though the release of the next generation iPhone happens like clock work, I’m still constantly asked questions like “when will the next iPhone be out” or “should I wait to buy it?” — This article serves to help anwser those questions right now.

By the way, if you thought I mistaken when I said Steve Jobs will take the stage, let me clarify: (more…)

Windows Phone, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Kinect – playing together

February 14th, 2011 at 10:53 AM 10 Comments Michael Stanclift

This little demo from Microsoft has made me evaluate my position on Windows Phone. While the demo itself isn’t perfect (there is a lot of jitter, and the phone display is just a stick figure outline) it looks like it’s at least beta code they’re playing and not just CGI. If this is what Microsoft has in mind for the future, sign me up!

‘MeeGo Home’ – Nokia employees stage walkout in protest of Microsoft quasi-takeover

February 11th, 2011 at 1:08 PM 8 Comments Michael Stanclift

Not everyone was happy with the news that Windows Phone 7 would soon become the platform of choice for Nokia. Among those upset were the thousands of Nokia employees who staged a walkout in protest of their new Redmond-based masters.

According to HS.fi, the employees didn’t actually quit, but took the rest of the day off, en mass.

“Quite a few people used the flexible working time,” said Kalle wedge , Nokia’s senior staff in the shop steward in Tampere.

But they might as well. Nokia is expected to begin slashing jobs for programmers who no longer will be needed to maintain the Symbian platform, or the reduced focus on their MeeGo code.

Only those who used their flex time to go out and find the nearest copy of Silverlight for Dummies may be spared, as Nokia will now refocus towards application programming and development for that platform.

Protip: Nokia employees who walked out today, should being updating their resumes.

Internet Explorer 9 RC available for download

February 10th, 2011 at 8:54 AM 127 Comments Michael Stanclift

Microsoft has posted the bits for the Windows Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate, and thanks to our pal Tom Warren at WinRumors, we have the web installer downloads for you.

We’re downloading and installing this now, to let you know what has changed from the last beta and from Internet Explorer 8. Just a note, there are links posted for Windows 7 and Windows Vista, but not XP. Why? Because there will be no Internet Explorer 9 for Windows XP. All good things must end.

Download and consume at your own risk.

Official OneNote app comes to the iPhone

January 20th, 2011 at 10:06 PM 6 Comments Frank Owen

Microsoft has finally brought an official Office application (at least one of them) to the iPhone platform. The OneNote app allows users on an Apple mobile device to modify and create OneNote files from their iOS device and sync them through SkyDrive. Is this a sign of new applications to come out of Redmond to try and help combat users leaving Bill Gates’ cash cow called Office? If so, I believe it is a smart move. Choice and flexibility may help the fight against competitors from juggernauts Sun and Google. Currently Microsoft is giving the way the app but leaves the door open for a future profit stream by stating the application is “free for a limited time.”

Android users are currently left in the dark forced to use third party apps like MobileNoter to get their OneNote on.

Windows 7 SP1 coming Tuesday

January 14th, 2011 at 9:44 AM 8 Comments Michael Stanclift

Get ready to start patching systems, according to Tom Warren at Winrumors, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 will be released on Tuesday and is being pushed out for last minute testing to OEMs today. Tom explains:

In a blog posting on Thursday, Microsoft’s Russian Windows Virtualization team confirmed that the final build of Windows 7 SP1 is 7601.17514.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850. The Russian site also explains that the Service Pack will be available publicly today. Microsoft generally releases Service Packs on a Tuesday so it’s not clear whether the Russian technet post is referring to a public release to select partners or a full web release. WinRumors understand the software giant will ship the release to its OEM partners today but that a web release is expected at a later date.

Along with Windows 7, Microsoft will likely release Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 at the same time, as the code base is the same and testing for that update has been inline with the client version.

Google stripping support for H.264 video out of Chrome

January 11th, 2011 at 6:31 PM 12 Comments Michael Stanclift

In a surprise announcement on the Chromium Blog today, Google announced that they would be phasing out H.264 support from the Google Chrome web browser, in favor of the open sourced WebM standard. The announcement further muddies the waters of HTML5 video support.

To that end, we are changing Chrome’s HTML5 <video> support to make it consistent with the codecs already supported by the open Chromium project. Specifically, we are supporting the WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs, and will consider adding support for other high-quality open codecs in the future. Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies.

What is unclear is how Google can on one hand say that their goal is to enable open innovation, and yet still justify bundling the proprietary Adobe Flash plugin with Chrome.

The biggest supporter of H.264 in HTML5 video comes from Apple, which uses it in Safari, specifically on the iPhone, iPad and other iOS platform devices. Because Steve Jobs doesn’t like to run Flash unless he’s had a few drinks first, and even then only with protection, there is no Flash support on any iOS device. If WebM were to take off, Apple would need to act to incorporate support or leave millions of iOS users unable to load most web video sites.

However, the chances of a clear winner emerging from all of this is unlikely.

Prior to this announcement, Chrome had the unique distinction of being the only major browser to support both technologies. Firefox has never supported H.264 and will not in the next version, but Internet Explorer 9 which will be released sometime in 2011, does. Currently the only other mainstream browser that supports WebM is Opera, but Firefox 4 will enable support for that technology after it is released. Safari provides no support for WebM, nor does any current or future version of Internet Explorer.

Factor in Ogg Theora, and you have a codec that is almost universally supported by Firefox, Chrome and Opera… just not Internet Explorer or Safari.

Confused? Yeah, us too.

The reasoning for all of this comes down to licensing, something most end users don’t care about. We’re generally just happy when technology works as advertised. But Google doesn’t want to pay anyone for anything they don’t have to, and supporting WebM means not paying as much money or being bound to a restrictive license agreement.

Chrome used to be the browser that would play any of the three major HTML 5 video formats. Going forward from today, it has voluntarily neutered itself.

Word 1776, how things might have happened in the colonies with a PC

December 8th, 2010 at 6:02 PM 6 Comments Michael Stanclift

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw_1I1oYApw&

A little Microsoft humor for your hump day. Enjoy.

via Winrumors

Ballmer plans to cash out 75 million Microsoft shares by year end

November 6th, 2010 at 12:45 PM 4 Comments Michael Stanclift

While he will remain Microsoft’s second biggest shareholder, Steve Ballmer has begun selling off a good chunk of his shares and intends to do more before the end of the year. This week alone he’s shed over 49 million shares of common stock, netting him around $1.3 billion dollars. The remaining 26 million could go soon and net him just another half billion.

It’s the first time since 2003 Ballmer has cashed out his shares. That sell off brought Ballmer around $1.6 billion.

Bill Gates remains the biggest shareholder at Microsoft, owning around 7% of the company. Ballmer still owns around 4% of the giant. Gates himself cashed out around 3 million shares recently, probably to finance the purchase of more mosquitoes.

via CNET

Companies react to offering up Security Essentials through Microsoft Update

November 6th, 2010 at 12:12 PM 4 Comments Michael Stanclift

You know you’re probably doing something right when three of your biggest competitors start acting like the world has come to an end. In this case, it’s Microsoft versus the anti-virus world.

While we like to stress the importance of anti-virus products on all platforms, they’re sort of like insurance companies. Their products are usually expensive and bloated, and when you really need them most of the time they’re not that effective. Microsoft’s Security Essentials product is arguably one of the best anti-virus products on the market, and it’s free, and it’s got traditional vendors like Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro scared. Even more so now that Microsoft has begun distributing the software to users directly through it’s Microsoft Update service.

(more…)

Older Posts »

Featured Articles

Our Regular Topics