Windows 8: Microsoft confirms the App Store

The second note posted on the blog of Windows 8 is very informative. Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows division at Microsoft, including counting the 35 teams from 25 to 40 developers working on Windows 8, each developing a new feature of the OS. Recessed this list makes it possible to confirm some rumors.

It notes in particular the presence of an App Store team: Windows 8 will have a truly integrated application store, such as IOS, Android, Windows Phone, or Mac OS X. There are also a Hyper-V team, giving credit to rumors of an integration of a client in Windows Hyper-V 8. The presence of a team XAML confirms the compatibility of Windows with Windows applications 8 7/Silverlight Phone.

Microsoft opens Windows Building 8 Blog

Picking the right recipe inaugurated for Windows 7, Microsoft this morning opened a blog dedicated to the development of Windows 8, Windows Building 8. According to the note of introduction written by Steven Sinofsky, this blog is intended to open a dialogue between developers and users of Windows "that will test the pre-release of Windows over the next eight months." Windows 8 will introduce a new interface optimized for the tablets, which Microsoft unveiled in early June.

Is Google abusing its dominant position by Android?

The U.S. authority to regulate international trade (FTC) will examine the business practices of Google on partnerships with manufacturers of Android smartphones. The Wall Street Journal says that the ongoing investigation, on the advertising and search engine, should extend to the operating system. The commissioners are looking into whether Google has influenced its partners to do not include software or services from its competitors on their Android devices.

Chrome on Windows OS

Citrix just released Citrix Receiver Chrome for OS that can take advantage of Windows at the same time as the operating system from Google. This makes it possible to transform an Chromebook in a thin client that can access the virtual office of his company. This is not a solution for individuals, but for large companies that use massive cloud and VDI solutions.

The Citrix Receiver Tech Preview is available on the Chrome Web Store. This is the first virtualization solution available on Chrome OS. Receiver does rely heavily on HTML 5 for its interface. Google says that VMware is also expected to propose solutions for the operating system, but no date has yet been announced.

Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 is scheduled for October

The makers of smartphones would try to move the output terminals of the first Ice Cream Sandwich for the month of October to enjoy the holiday season to boost their sales and to overshadow the iPhone 5. The BGR site would have this information to a source close to the development of the operating system.

This date seems logical then that Android needs to strike hard at the end of the year. Ice Cream Sandwich is an important step for Google, while the firm is at a pivotal time in the history of their favorite operating system. Gingerbread (Android 2.3) is officially available since December 2010 and the source code was published shortly after his inauguration.

Nokia drops Symbian and N9 in North America

The head of the American arm of Nokia, Chris Weber, admitted in an interview that Nokia was going to abandon the sale of Symbian smartphones in the New World after the release of its first Windows phone and the company betting heavily on the operating system from Microsoft.

The phrase that we will retain this interview is the admission that "if we fail with Windows Phone, no matter what we do." Nokia admits that the American and Canadian market and it escapes him is all about Windows Phone. This means not only abandoning Symbian, but its feature phone (a cross between traditional phone and smartphone, Ed) and MeeGo.

Apple releases Lion Recovery Disk Wizard

Apple has released the Lion Recovery Disk wizard to clone the partition backup on an external Lion, such as an external hard drive or USB key. This is a solution to the problems that some users might experience after a hard drive failure or SSD, but this does not solve everything. To take advantage of this utility, it is imperative to have a machine running on Leo.

For the record, the new operating system creates a backup partition on which it is possible to start to reinstall the operating system or restore a Time Machine backup and carry out certain repairs of storage media. The problem is that in case of severe damage, it is impossible to boot from this partition that resides on the primary disk.

Microsoft is a leading contributor to Linux

The virtualization market is increasingly competitive and to fight against offers from VMware or Citrix, for example, Microsoft needs to make its products compatible with Linux distributions. This explains why Microsoft and Novell have worked together for many years. By adding the drivers Hyper-V, Redmond ensures that the new kernel can be virtualized on Windows Server 2008 R2 and have good performance.

The Android 3.2 SDK speaks tablets 7 '

Google released the Android SDK 3.2 last week pending the update of the operating system that is expected in early August. The SDK tells us that the next version of Honeycomb will cover the 7-inch tablets that have a resolution of 1024 x 600, as is the case on the Flyer or the HTC Galaxy Tab 7, "but not the Dell Streak 7 "which only supports the 800 x 480.

Google also provides the management of SD memory cards for synchronization of multimedia content and the ability to zoom in on applications that do not work in principle at a fixed resolution, in order to be able to use larger resolutions. This update therefore provides a relatively large lot of fixes and features before the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, the version of Android that will unify the system for tablet and smartphone into a single build.

The end of Windows XP in 1000 days

In about 1000 days (995 today), Windows XP will no longer be supported by Microsoft. The venerable OS, released in October 2001, should have had its day in 2011, but it is nevertheless still used on 45% of Internet-connected computers. And it's April 8, 2014 which is the date (announced) of his death.

There are many reasons, among a Vista arrived very late as his successor and has not convinced and maintenance by Microsoft on netbooks until 2010, yet the system showing its age. Indeed, the system causes problems with many current technologies. On the graphics, Windows XP only supports DirectX 9 (it is at version 11) and does not support video decompression engines that require DXVA 2.0 (and Vista at least).

The minimum configuration of Windows 8 is identical to that of Windows 7

Tami Reller, vice president of the Windows division said, according to ZDnet about taken over by that "in two previews of Windows 8, we affirmed the continuing important trend that we (Microsoft, NLDR) started with Windows 7, keeping the same minimum configurations or reducing them over time. Windows 8 will run on a wide range of machines because it will have the same minimum system configurations or less powerful.

Windows Vista SP1 is dead

Microsoft officially ended yesterday in support of Windows Vista SP1. The very few individuals to voluntarily use this version are advised to upgrade to Vista SP2 or Windows 7. Microsoft will stop issuing updates for the operating system. We remember that Windows Vista was a very disappointing output for Redmond who was forced to extend support for Windows XP several times to satisfy the discontented.

400 million licenses of Windows 7 in the wild

Steve Ballmer announced at the presentation he gave at the Worldwide Partner Conference that Microsoft had sold 400 million licenses of Windows 7 and Office 2010 licenses 100 million. These are impressive results that reflect strong sales. While society is often criticized for his absence on the market shelves and remains in the shadow of Apple media since its market capitalization peaked, Redmond bombarded the press of numbers and said that Windows 7 is the operating system that has sold best in the history of computing.

Windows 8 Beta at CES 2012?

Steve Ballmer is going to kick off CES with a press conference should be accompanied by the publication of a public beta, as Microsoft did with Windows 7. The appearance of the leader was confirmed by the PD G Gary Shapiro of CEA which organizes the show. Information on the beta are reported by WinRumors.

Microsoft is accustomed to lead the first conference of CES and present its flagship products. The firm has used this platform to introduce Kinect and the first public beta of Windows 7. He also showed 8 of Windows for the first ARM processor in the last opening ceremony in January.

Windows 8: a CTP next week?

While it is expected that Microsoft has a beta version of Windows 8 in September, when BUILD Conference, some lucky should be able to get their hands on a stable release next week. A recent rumor has it that Microsoft distributes a Community Technology Preview at its Worldwide Partner Conference (Los Angeles between March 10 and July 14).

This rumor is in doubt, Microsoft has absolutely left no indication of this distribution. Work on the beta then begin. Among the new features that Microsoft keeps up his sleeve would be a free antivirus, integrated system as Windows Defender.

• Microsoft to release a Windows 8 preview build at WPC 2011 next week? (05/07/2011)
• Microsoft unveils Windows 8 (video) (03/07/2011)
• Exceptional Features of Windows 8 (16/06/2011)
• Windows 8 Release To Manufacturing in April 2012 (28/06/2011)
• HP will likely offer a Windows 8 tablet despite WebOS (29/06/2011)

History of Microsoft Windows (wikipedia)  

After Mango Microsoft thinks to Tango

The code name of the next Windows 7 Phone is Tango. He will succeed Mango and would be the last major update of the operating system before Apollo would be the code name for Windows Phone 8. The information comes from DigiTimes in a new detailing the new relationship between Nokia and Compal, an assembler, which also makes smart phones from HP, Motorola and Acer.

Tango is expected early next year and Apollo should be marketed in late 2012. In addition to unveiling plans for Microsoft, DigiTimes says that the transition from Windows Phone Nokia should strengthen its relationship with Compal will manufacture more than for the Finnish smartphones in 2012.

Windows 8 RTM it would come out in April 2012?

Microsoft could publish all versions of Windows 8 RTM in April 2012 according to ZDnet, citing a "trusted source". The publisher has the intention to publish a beta in mid-September, a release candidate around January 2012 and the final four months later. If this rumor up out of the RTM earlier than expected, it is not impossible.

It also means that Windows 8 will be ready for the new school year, a boom that is synonymous with renewal machine. We recall that Microsoft had released Windows 7 RTM in July 2009 and that he had sold the boxed version in October 2009. An RTM in April for an August or September marketing remains in the tradition.

Nokia abandons MeeGo

In an interview with Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, the PD G Nokia said it was abandoning MeeGo smartphone, even if it appears that the operating system is a success in the N9 week presented last. Stephen Elop thus proclaims his loyalty to Windows Phone that will clearly become the preferred operating system of the firm.

This position is not a surprise. The presentation of the N9 to the press was a success and the first impressions were very positive. However, the PD G suddenly decided to divert attention from its smartphone MeeGo presenting a phone near the N9 shipping a Windows version 7 Phone Mango and meet code-named Sea Ray.

Tom's Guide: New in Mac OS X Leo

Our colleagues and neighbors at Tom's Hardware recently put online a feature on Mac OS X Leo, and more particularly to novelty brought by this new version of Apple OS. Here is an overview of some of the most notable new features of the 250 announced ...

• Mac OS X Lion Has a Browser-Only Mode (13/06/2011)
• MAC OS X LION: You'll Be Dying To Upgrade After Seeing These Screenshots (AAPL) (15/06/2011)
• Mac OS X Lion beta reveals "Restart to Safari" browser-only mode (12/06/2011)
• How Apple Can Destroy Chromebooks With Mac OS X Lion (13/06/2011)
• Mac IT Guy: OS X Lion Server (13/06/2011)

Mac OS X Lion (homepage)  Mac OS X Lion (wikipedia)  

Xbox Live built into Windows 8

Mike Delman, a Microsoft executive, has confirmed in an interview with the Seattle Times that Windows Live is built into Windows 8 and serve as a center of entertainment to users. He says Xbox Live to Windows 7 Phone was so successful that the firm has decided to extend the platform to the PC. It is not known if Redmond has also released a version for Windows 7, but we imagine that the publisher will seek to make its platform available to as many people as possible.