Currently browsing posts in the category: Microsoft.

Some more info on Microsoft’s Courier [Pics & Video]

Written by: StevenHodson on March 5, 2010

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Ever since word first leaked last September of a new hardware product going by the name of Courier interest in Microsoft’s interpretation of a tablet slash e-book reader has been growing.

Well it appears that Gizmodo has a bunch new information as well as images of the illusive Courier as well as word of it coming to market somewhere around Q3 or Q4 of this year (amazingly close to the delivery date for the Windows Phone 7 Series).

Contrary to popular thought though is that OS that will be powering won’t be Windows 7 but rather the same operating system that is powering the Zune HD, Windows Phone 7 Series and the upcoming Pink phone. Additionally word is that it will be pen-based and centered around drawing and writing.

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Category: Microsoft

Project Natal to hit Xbox in October?

Written by: StevenHodson on March 1, 2010

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There is  a lot of excitement starting to build around the arrival ofMicrosoft’s Project Natal to the Xbox. This is the new natural user interface using gestures to interact with your games without having to use a controller.

First announced by Microsoft back on June 1, 2009 at E3 2009 it was originally planned to be released to the public during the Christmas shopping season in 2010. However if the rumors that Jacob Friedman over at The Next Web is hearing are any indication we may end up seeing it even sooner – like around October.

According to Jacob’s post British talk show host Jonathan Ross has had a chance to play around with a current iteration of the system where Jonathan let’s it slip that Microsoft is shooting for the October timeframe - “Not quite there yet i think but tye (sic) have til october and if they get it right…skys the limit.”

As well Russ Frustick, and MTV blogger, had this to say

“I had a pretty large sample size, sitting through 5 demos, capturing about 40 different movements from a variety of journalists” he said. “Across those 40 movements, the fastest life-to-screen transition was .08 seconds, while the slowest was .12 seconds. A tenth of a second was the consistent average, though.”

As Jacob points out though

Given that even Hollywood motion capture studios (with nearly 30 cameras) aren’t able to render in perfect real-time, this is pretty impressive. However, a tenth of a second is going to be noticeable for even the casual gamer.

Microsoft does have eight months to improve the response times of the system. That’s a long, long time in the software world. And that’s what it will come down to; it is a software issue. If Microsoft can halve that lag in the next eight months, it will be scarcely noticeable; perhaps even in Wii Sports Resort territory without using a controller. That would be a truly remarkable accomplishment.

What I am wonder though is if we might see Project Natal bleed over to the standard desktop experience?

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Category: Microsoft

[Updated] Preview of the browser choice screen in Windows 7 for Europe

Written by: Pierre on February 20, 2010

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zdnet-windows-7-browser-selection-screenMicrosoft has published a preview of the browser choice they have included in Windows 7 as a result of the European anti-trust decision. The screen offers 5 browsers in a “random order” (that’s the claim, anyway): Internet Explorer (obviously), Mozilla FireFox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Apple Safari. For the already installed systems, the browser choice will be offered – in Europe only – through Windows Update.

Update (February 24): the specific update was offered today for my wife’s Vista computer. I haven’t seen it yet for my Windows 7 one.

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Category: Microsoft and Software and Windows

The uncertainty of a post-Microsoft world

Written by: StevenHodson on January 25, 2010

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microsoft-evil Sure we all like to talk smack about Microsoft and how evil it is. Even though that crown is looking more at home on the heads of companies like Google and Facebook the freetard and OSS divisions of the great OS war dream of a day without Microsoft.

The thing is, what would this world really be like?

Would it really be as idyllic as many would have you believe?

Randall Kennedy over at Infoworld asks this question and while his thoughts will produce nothing but snickers of contempt from some he makes some interesting points. This is one such point

Such thinking is naïve, at best. Rather than freeing IT, the demise of Microsoft would plunge the industry into an apocalyptic tailspin of biblical proportions — no visions of hippie utopia here. The withdrawal of the Redmond giant’s steady hand would cause today’s computing landscape to tear itself apart at the seams, with application and device compatibility and interoperability devolving into the kind of Wild West chaos unseen since the days of the DOS big three: Lotus, WordPerfect, and Ashton-Tate.

For all its so-called evilness Microsoft has definitely provided a consistency – that is required within the corporate world – that has benefited our computing lives.

Let the slings and arrows commence on the count of 3..2…1…..

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Category: Microsoft

One of the things I would really like to see Microsoft do

Written by: StevenHodson on January 23, 2010

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onenote Microsoft gets a lot of flack for big bloated software and in many cases I’ll be the first one to agree. What they don’t get a lot of praise for is the software that they get right.

In that camp most definitely has to be Windows Live Writer. While this isn’t a program that would appeal to a large base of users for bloggers it is one of the best blog editors out there. The other really nice thing about it is that it is a part of the large free Windows Live Essentials pack.

Now the one thing that I would love even better is if Microsoft took their OneNote application out of the bloated expensive Office suite and made it available for free as part of the Essentials pack. For those of you not familiar with the program it is one of the best note taking applications around.

I would even be happy if they made it a slimmed down version – say with out the sharing feature. Granted you can buy the full blown version separately from Office for $99; but seriously if they want to even come close to being a competitor to something like Evernote that kind of sticker price is going to be a holdback.

So how about it Microsoft. How about a slimmed down version and including it with the Essentials pack. I can almost promise you that if you did you would have another big hit of a program on your hands.

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Category: Microsoft and Windows Live

Google’s Chrome tries to conquer Europe

Written by: Pierre on January 6, 2010

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pub-google-chrome-metro For the past few days (since new year day, as far as I can ascertain), the Paris Métro (that’s our subway, in case you didn’t know) station walls have been plastered with huge ads for the Google Chrome web browser.

It seems Google is trying to take advantage of the recent settlement between Microsoft and the EU about the choice of browser in Windows 7 to try and influence users into selecting Chrome as their default browser.

Personally, I don’t think the average user is savvy enough to know the difference between one browser or another, and most of them will go with the built-in browser simply because it’s made by the same people who wrote the OS. But of course I could be wrong…wink

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Category: Microsoft and Software

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