Windows Phone 8, or 'Apollo,' Debuts Next Month at San Francisco Conference

Microsoft will finally lay out the details on the next version of its smartphone OS, which could be a precursor to Windows 8.

June is turning into Developer's Month. Along with Microsoft's TechEd, there's Apple's WWDC, Google I/O, and a two-day Windows Phone developer conference in San Francisco that will be the coming out party for Windows Phone 8, otherwise known as "Apollo."

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RELATED: Skype May be Windows Phone's Worst Enemy

MORE: Will Windows Phone feel any pain after getting dumped by LG?

Little has been disclosed on Apollo, but thanks to leaks, we have a pretty good idea of what Microsoft has in store. Last February, a leak gave some insight into what Microsoft was planning.

Most significant is that Windows Phone 8 will share components with Windows 8, allowing developers to reuse most of their code when porting an app from desktop to phone. It's believed the kernel, networking stacks, security, and multimedia support will all have heavy overlap between desktop, tablet and phone.

Apollo will also support Near Field Communication (NFC) radios for contactless payments, full Skydrive integration and full integration with Skype and support for multicore processors.

Microsoft has said, and reiterated in an April 5 blog post, that current Windows Phone applications and games will run on the next major version of Windows Phone. How much recoding you'll have to do to accomplish this will probably be discussed at the San Francisco show.

Another question that hopefully will be answered next month is what will change under the hood. Other Microsoft watchers with better connections than me have said they believe Microsoft will change the kernel from Windows CE to Windows 8 RT.

The potential is tremendous. If Microsoft does pull this off, you will have portability between desktop PCs, tablets and phones with relatively minor modification.

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Speed Up Windows XP With System Mechanic 10.8

System Mechanic 10.8 Put Through The Test

We've all seen those annoying television commercials that promise to speed up a slow computer, but do such solutions really work? The CRN Test Center put Iolo's System Mechanic 10.8 through its paces and was impressed with the results.

Our test subject was an old Pentium III-era PC running Windows XP so slowly that the machine was completely unusable. Just opening the Start menu easily took 20 seconds, opening an app required about a minute, and we could fix a steak-and-egg breakfast in the time it took to reboot this dinosaur.

But it was perfect for our purposes. We installed System Mechanic 10.8 and, after running a scan, the tool reported that the overall system status was poor and health and security were at alarming levels.

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Performance Problems
After many years of use (and neglect), Windows machines develop all sorts of issues that can sap performance and open the door to more problems. Listed first are the security flaws, which include absence of a firewall, dangerous start-up items and other security vulnerabilities.

System Mechanic also identified hundreds of registry problems, which happen normally over the course of time but nevertheless can slow down a system and make it prone to crashes. The tool also found more than 1 GB of junk. While this might not seem like much by today's standards, it represented more than 1 percent of this system's total hard drive capacity of 80 GB.

Results Of First Pass
System Mechanic was able to clean out all the clutter and remove the unwanted start-up items. Of the 611 registry errors found in the first scan, 591 were repaired, leaving 20 unfixed. Performance results after the first pass were moderate. After restarting, system responsiveness was slightly faster but still far too slow.

When we relaunched the tool, it reported that while our system's health was now firmly in the green, its security was still at warning levels and our system status had only been upgraded from poor to fair. So we ran another scan.

Third Time's The Charm
During a second pass at diagnosing the system, System Mechanic found 44 new registry errors in addition to the 20 problems left unrepaired from the first scan for a total of 64. It also found a new security vulnerability. But during the second repair pass, the tool fixed only 62 of the registry errors and did not repair the security problem.

A third pass found those issues, a third registry problem, and reported that available memory was running low. System Mechanic offered us the option of optimizing memory to fix the problem, which we did.

Getting Rid of CRUDD
We call them something else, but In Iolo's parlance, "commonly redundant or unnecessary decelerators and destabilizers" are known as CRUDD. Whatever they've called, System Mechanic gets rid of them with its CRUDD remover. On our system there were four: an AOL Toolbar, an Ask Toolbar, a Google Toolbar for IE and a Yahoo Toolbar.

The screen here identifies each along with a judgment as to its favorability and presents options to keep, kill or decide later. We killed them all.

Good Enough
During the last repair pass, System Mechanic reported it had done some repairs on the system drive, realigning more than 30,000 files and defragmenting another 6,518. This led on the next pass to even more misalignments and fragmentations, a problem so pervasive that it affected more than the total size of the 80-GB volume. System Mechanic was able to repair all the problems but was never able to achieve more than a "fair" system status. However, the test system was transformed from "a hammer and chisel would be faster" to one that performs well enough to be used as a jukebox, backup PC for Internet access or for doing school papers.

With more than half of all Windows computers still using Windows XP, there are millions of systems out there in need of similar repairs. For such systems, the CRN Test Center recommends System Mechanic, which provides 50 tools in all, including those for acceleration, repair, cleanup and security, for $40 list. System Mechanic 10.8, released in April, is compatible with the current Windows 8 beta. A free version of System Mechanic 10.8 includes.

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Aged Windows XP costs 5x more to manage than Windows 7

As XP's life wanes, Microsoft talks dollars to get businesses to ditch 11-year-old OS

Computerworld - Microsoft yesterday added ammunition to its increasingly aggressive battle to get users off the nearly-11-year-old Windows XP by citing a company-sponsored report that claims annual support costs for the older OS are more than five times that of Windows 7.

Microsoft has been banging the Windows XP upgrade drum for years, but stepped up the campaign in 2012, including starting a "two-year countdown" to the demise of security support. Last month, Microsoft was blunt, saying "If your organization has not started the migration to a modern PC, you are late."

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Windows XP exits all support, including monthly security patches, in April 2014.

In a blog post Thursday, Erwin Visser, a senior director for Windows, used data collected by IDC to make Microsoft's upgrade case.

"The bottom line...[is that] businesses that migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 will see significant return on investment," said Visser.

Microsoft sponsored the survey (download PDF) conducted by IDC, which in turn interviewed nine enterprises or large organizations to drill into the support costs of XP and Windows 7.

According to IDC, an amazing 42% of the Windows "commercial" installed base, or anything other than consumers' home machines, was Window XP, making Microsoft's job of moving everyone off the old OS by its April 2014 retirement nearly impossible.

In fact, IDC projected that if current trends continue, 11% of the enterprise and educational Windows installed base will still be running XP when Microsoft stops patch delivery in 23 months.

And those XP machines costs organizations considerably more to support than comparable PCs running Windows 7.

One reason for the increased costs for supporting Windows XP is that it's typically running on older hardware that, independent of the OS, is more expensive to simply keep running.

The magic milestone is after the three-year mark, when "costs begin to accelerate" because of additional IT and help desk time, and increased user downtime due to more security woes and time spent rebooting, said IDC.

IT labor costs jump 25% during year four of a PC's lifespan, and another 29% in year five, IDC noted, while user productivity costs climb 23% in year four and jump 40% during year five. Total year five costs are a whopping 73% higher than support costs of a two-year-old client.

However, the operating system also plays a major role in the cost differences, said IDC, with XP more expensive to support in every category the research company surveyed.

Organizations reported that they spent 82% less time managing patches on Windows 7 systems than they did on Windows XP, 90% less time mitigating malware, and 84% less help desk time.

Benefits were also striking for Windows 7 users' productivity compared to XP. Windows 7 users wasted 94% less time rebooting their computers and lost 90% less time due to malware attacks.

On the IT side, the savings of Windows 7 mount dramatically, IDC said.

"IT activities account for 11.3 hours of time spent per PC per year when using Windows XP," the research group said. "Shops that have moved to Windows 7...spend 2.3 hours per PC per year on maintaining those systems."

IDC did the math, and concluded that for every 230 PCs running Windows 7 rather than XP, an organization could shift one full-time IT person to other work. Or conceivably do without him or her entirely.

The Microsoft-commissioned report also painted a rosy return-on-investment (ROI) picture for companies who do ditch XP for Windows 7. By IDC's calculations, the acquisition of a new PC -- one where Windows 7 is retained as the OS rather than being downgraded to XP -- pays for itself in one year and generates almost $1,000 more in savings from reduced IT costs and worker downtime over a three-year span.

"The migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 yields a 137% return on investment over a three-year period," claimed IDC.

Windows XP have a shortening upgrade window -- no pun intended -- and not only because of the April 2014 end to all support. Microsoft is expected to launch Windows 8 this fall, a time when most new PCs will then also be pre-loaded with the OS by computer makers, or OEMs.

That will not immediately strike Windows 7 from the rolls, but it does start a couple of clocks ticking: OEMs can continue to sell Windows 7-powered PCs as long as two years after Windows 8's launch, but the older operating system will disappear from most retail outlets one year earlier, or in the fall of 2013.

Organizations that have Software Assurance (SA) agreements -- the Microsoft-sold software insurance policy that lets firms upgrade to every new version of a specific product released during the life of the deal -- can downgrade any Windows 8 PC to Windows 7. But SA is almost exclusively an enterprise program.

Smaller firms that buy Windows licenses at retail, likely in the form of a new PC, can also downgrade from Windows 8 to 7, but only if the new system is pre-installed with Windows 8 Pro, the higher-end edition. They will also need media -- a DVD or flash drive -- containing Windows 7 Professional to complete the downgrade. If smaller shops wait too long, they may find it difficult to locate a seller for the latter after late 2013.

Likewise, while Windows XP Professional can be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional, companies sans SA also require a copy of the newer OS. The same end-of-retail caveat for Windows 7 applies to them as well.

Microsoft has been dissing Windows XP for some time, but the ROI report was its first argument that stressed dollars and cents.

In June 2011, a Microsoft manager said it was "time to move on" from Windows XP; earlier that year an executive on the Internet Explorer team belittled XP as "lowest common denominator" when he explained why the OS wouldn't run the then-new IE9.

The company has not yet turned on Windows XP like it has on the 11-year-old Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). For more than two and a half years, Microsoft has urged users to give up IE6, going so far in March 2011 to launch a deathwatch website that tracks IE6's shrinking share.

It wouldn't be a surprise if Microsoft followed suit with Windows XP once the OS drops to a more manageable share mark: According to Web metrics company Net Applications, XP accounted for 46.1% of all operating systems used to go online in April.

If XP continues to shed share at its last-12-months' pace, it will still own a 17.6% share in April 2014, when it drops off support.

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Windows Vista infection rates climb, says Microsoft

End of support last year for SP1 responsible for spike in successful attacks

Computerworld - Microsoft said last week that a skew toward more exploits on Windows Vista can be attributed to the demise of support for the operating system's first service pack.

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Data from the company's newest security intelligence report showed that in the second half of 2011, Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was 17% more likely to be infected by malware than Windows XP SP3, the final upgrade to the nearly-11-year-old operating system.

That's counter to the usual trend, which holds that newer editions of Windows are more secure, and thus exploited at a lower rate, than older versions like XP. Some editions of Windows 7, for example, boast an infection rate half that of XP.

Tim Rains, the director of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group, attributed the rise of successful attacks on Vista SP1 to the edition's retirement from security support.

"This means that Windows Vista SP1-based systems no longer automatically receive security updates and helps explain why there [was] a sudden and sharp increase in the malware infection rate on that specific platform," said Rains in a blog post last week.

Microsoft stopped delivering patches for Vista SP1 in July 2011. For the bulk of the reporting period, then, Vista SP1 users did not receive fixes to flaws, including some that were later exploited by criminals.

Vista SP2 will continue to be patched until mid-April 2017.

Rains also noted that the infection rates of both Windows XP SP3 and Vista dropped dramatically last year after Microsoft automatically pushed a "backport" update which disabled AutoRun, a Windows feature that major worms, including Conficker and Stuxnet, abused to infect millions of machines.

Rains seemed to intimate that the AutoRun disabling had more impact on XP than on Vista, and by Microsoft's data, he may have been on to something: While XP's infection rate continued to drop throughout the year, Vista SP2's climbed from the second quarter to the third, and again from the third to the fourth.

Windows 7's infection rate also increased each quarter of 2011.

Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security, had a different theory for XP's infection rate decline and the rise of Vista's and Windows 7's.

"As Microsoft's intelligence gets better in [the Malicious Software Removal Tool] and fewer attackers focus on the older OS, then fewer infections should be found on the older OS," said Storms, talking about Windows XP.

Most of Microsoft's infection rate data is derived from the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), a free utility it distributes to all Windows users each month that detects, then deletes selected malware families.

And the rise of infection rates in Vista and Windows 7?

"It would be expected that all the SKUs should go up slightly over time simply because new vulnerabilities are found, more attacks always happening, and so on," Storms added.

Rains urged XP and Vista users to upgrade to the supported service packs -- SP3 for XP, SP2 for Vista -- to continue to receive patches.

The 126-page Security Intelligence Report that Rains referenced can be found on Microsoft's website (download PDF)

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Preparation and Advantages of MCTS SQL Server 2008 Certification

This qualification helps you use growing technological innovation, fine-tune your trouble shooting abilities, and amplify your job fulfillment. Microsoft provides three MCTS qualifications on SQL Server 2008. These experts have in-depth understanding of using T-SQL statements, and holding day-to-day servicing and trouble shooting of directories using the SQL Server 2008. You may take any one examination from the three different examinations according to your understanding.

· If you have familiarity in dealing with SQL Server 2008 and performing database manager tasks: setting up, configuring, and maintaining, you may take 70-432 examination.

· You have to complete 70-433 examination to achieve this qualification, if you have the understanding in dealing with SQL Server 2008 and composing application value against systems that run SQL Server 2008, composing T-SQL or Microsoft .NET CLR code that operates inside SQL Server 2008, or creating solutions in SQL Server 2008.

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· You have to complete 70-448 examination, if you are expert in dealing with SQL Server 2008 and dealing with the business intellect technological innovation, such as Reporting Solutions, Research Solutions, and Incorporation Solutions.

After qualifying any one examination from the above described three examinations, you will be able to get MCTS SQL Server 2008 qualification.

Related CoverageMCTS Server Certification
MCTS and MCITP technicians try to keep Microsoft Exchange Servers operating efficiently. The MCTS can effectively design and implement Windows Server 2008, Sql Server 2008 and Exchange Server 2010. Those get yourself ready for a MCITP Certification should have 24 months of prior experience as an IT professional. The MCITP Certification for the Data Administrator 2008 or the Enterprise Support Technician further improves the skills required to master Microsoft products.

Prove Your Database Skill With MCTS SQL Server 2005 Certification
This article tells highlights of importance of MCTS SQL Server 2005 certification, eligibility, preparation for the certification and benefits of the certificate.

Preparing For The Mcts Certification
An article giving information on becoming Microsoft certified.

Mcts Braindumps
Certkingdom, as a leading IT certification examination guide, nuggets, and study guide provider, assures you passing your MCTS exam in your first try with high scores so as to get Microsoft 70-640 Certification. All Certkingdom exam nuggets are backed with 100% money back guarantee if you fail to take the exams in the first attempt. From Sybex, you would get the latest MCTS braindump, MCTS PDF exam. If you want to know more about these qualifications, please check out the Microsoft’s MCTS SQL Server 2008 qualification web page.

Career & Job Options
Getting this qualification after you pass the 70-432 or 70-433 or 70-448 examination provide you the profession possibilities as a Database Administrator in medium to large companies. This qualification validates that you have the ability to ensure that database security, accessibility, and efficiency please company specifications. The job tasks for MCTS qualified professionals typically include:

· Data storage manager
· Database analyst
· Database developer
· Database developers
· Business intelligence developers

Training for MCTS SQL Server 2008 Certification
There is no speedy method for accomplishment. A number of researches have told that the perfect way to discover your abilities is to take an exam. Taking training exams before the real examination come out to be the trendiest method of learning; even better than other famous ways like reiteration and concept mapping.

Premium exam training software will not only facilitate you to understand the 70-432 or 70-433 or 70-448 examination stuff and qualify the certification examination in your very first try.

Advantages of MCTS: SQL Server Certification
· Microsoft database techniques are the most commonly used techniques today and the MCTS: SQL Server 2008 qualification shows skills on the MS products and technological innovation.
· Professionals positioning the MCTS: SQL Server 2008 qualification is recommended by the business employers and they also get personal preference in special offers.
· MCTS: SQL Host 2008 qualification is beneficial for database experts who have initial-level qualifications in related technological innovation to update their experience and get acknowledgement from the market.
· MCTS: SQL Server 2008 qualified professional can find appropriate job easily and get compensated more.
· And most of all, on regular, an MCTS: SQL Server 2008 certified person gets more wage than individuals having the same job information.

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Career PC Multimedia Training Courses In MCTS Network Support

Because you’re doing your research on MCTS courses, the chances are you’re in 1 of 2 situations: You might be wondering about completely changing your working life to the field of computers, and research demonstrates there’s a growing demand for people with the right qualifications. In contrast you could already be in IT – and you want to enhance your CV with the MCTS accreditation.

When looking into training providers, ensure that you steer clear of those that short-change you by failing to provide the latest Microsoft version. This will only hamper the student due to the fact that they’ll have learned an old version of MCTS which doesn’t fall in with the present exams, so they’ll probably fail. A training provider’s focus must be centred on the most for their students, and everyone involved should have a passion for getting things right. Studying isn’t simply about qualifications – the process should be all about helping you to decide on the best course of action for you.

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It’s essential to have an accredited exam preparation programme included in your course. Because many examining boards for IT are from the USA, it’s essential to understand how exam questions will be phrased and formatted. It’s no use just answering any old technical questions – they must be in an exam format that exactly replicates the real thing. A way to build self-confidence is if you test your depth of understanding by doing tests and mock ups of exams prior to taking the actual exam.

There are colossal changes washing over technology over the next generation – and this means greater innovations all the time. We’ve barely started to see just how technology will affect our lives in the future. Computers and the web will profoundly revolutionise how we see and interrelate with the entire world over the next few years.

Let’s not ignore salaries moreover – the typical remuneration in the UK for a typical person working in IT is considerably better than remuneration packages in other sectors. Odds are you’ll make a whole lot more than you could reasonably hope to get in other industries. With the IT marketplace developing year on year, it’s predictable that the requirement for well trained and qualified IT technicians will continue actively for decades to come.

Make sure you don’t get caught-up, like so many people do, on the training course itself. Your training isn’t about getting a plaque on your wall; this is about employment. Focus on the end-goal. It’s a sad fact, but a great many students begin programs that seem amazing from the syllabus guide, but which provides the end-result of a job that is of no interest. Try talking to typical university leavers for examples.

It’s a good idea to understand what expectations industry may have of you. Which precise qualifications they will want you to have and how you’ll go about getting some commercial experience. Spend some time assessing how far you think you’ll want to go as often it can control your selection of accreditations. Talk to a skilled advisor that has a commercial understanding of the realities faced in the industry, and could provide an in-depth explanation of what tasks are going to make up a typical day for you. Getting to the bottom of all this before commencement of any study program will save you both time and money.

Many trainers will provide an useful Job Placement Assistance program, to assist your search for your first position. Don’t get caught up in this feature – it’s easy for eager sales people to make too much of it. In reality, the massive skills shortage in the United Kingdom is why employers will be interested in you.

Nevertheless, don’t leave it until you have finished your training before bringing your CV up to date. As soon as your training commences, mark down what you’re doing and tell people about it! Quite frequently, you will get your first job whilst you’re still studying (occasionally right at the beginning). If your CV doesn’t say what you’re learning (and it isn’t in the hands of someone with jobs to offer) then you won’t even be considered! Actually, an independent and specialised local recruitment consultancy – who make their money when they’ve found you a job – is going to give you a better service than a recruitment division from a training organisation. They should, of course, also know local industry and the area better.

A slight frustration of many training companies is how hard people are prepared to work to get qualified, but how little effort that student will then put into getting the job they have trained for. Don’t falter at the last fence..

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Lenovo working with Intel on ThinkPad Windows 8 tablet

Lenovo's first Windows 8 tablet will be based on Intel chips

IDG News Service - Lenovo is working with chip maker Intel on a future ThinkPad tablet based on Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, a Lenovo executive said.

The release of an Intel-based ThinkPad tablet depends on when Microsoft releases Windows 8, said Dilip Bhatia, vice president and general manager of the ThinkPad business unit, in an interview. He declined to provide a specific date, though Windows 8 is expected to come out later this year.

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Chips based on the x86 architecture such as processors from Intel provide many advantages to business customers, who are Lenovo's targets with ThinkPad tablets, Bhatia said.

"On the x86 architecture you get backward compatibility," Bhatia said. Windows 8 tablets with Intel chips support existing and legacy applications already running on Windows, which is the dominant OS in the PC market.

Intel later this year plans to release a tablet chip code-named Clover Trail, which will be released at the time Windows 8 becomes available. Intel's only potential competitor on Windows 8 is ARM, whose processors ship in most tablets today. The touch-based Windows OS will come in three versions -- Windows RT for ARM, and Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro for x86 chips.

Windows has grown up on x86 chips, raising questions about ARM compatibility for existing Windows applications. Intel's CEO Paul Otellini last week said legacy x86 applications would not work on Windows on ARM, and Microsoft has said legacy x86 could not be used or emulated on Windows RT.

Bhatia did not comment on whether Windows RT devices would be offered by Lenovo, but said all options are being considered when developing products. Lenovo already offers tablets based on ARM processors, including the ThinkPad Tablet, which runs Google's Android OS.

Lenovo was the world's fourth largest tablet vendor in the first quarter of this year, according to IDC, behind Apple, Samsung and Amazon. Lenovo is the world's second-largest PC vendor thanks to growing shipments in home country China and an expansion of the worldwide distribution channel.

The ThinkPad Windows 8 tablet could easily slip into the existing base of ThinkPad PCs used in businesses, said David Daoud, research director of personal computing at IDC. Lenovo maintains a 16% to 18% market share in worldwide business PC sales depending on the quarter, he said.

The ThinkPads are already popular in businesses, so users may opt for the Windows 8 tablet as a companion device in the enterprise IT environment, Daoud said. IT environments are coping with new usage models that involve app stores and input modes such as touch and voice, and a Windows 8 tablet could be successful if users feel comfortable with the OS and device.

"If consumers are likely to move to a tablet-like environment as they've done strongly on the iPad front, it's important for PC makers with corporate clients to have a suite of products that fit into the bring-your-own-device model," Daoud said.

Lenovo is also building a cloud service so the company's PCs and mobile devices can access or exchange data through private or public clouds. Much like Apple's mobile device strategy, Lenovo hopes to combine content, infrastructure, access devices and middleware as part of its cloud strategy. The cloud service will be launched later this year.

ThinkPad laptops and tablets will be part of the cloud strategy, Lenovo's Bhatia said.

"We've got a whole theme focused on the cloud," Bhatia said.

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Microsoft tunes up Windows 8 multi-screen

Better task-bar control, window mobility coming next month

When Microsoft launches Windows 8 Release Preview next month the operating system will have improved navigation features for users who like more than one monitor to display all their applications.

The upgrade - the last major tune-up expected before the final version launches sometime this fall - addresses task bars, desktop backgrounds and that no man's land, the common edge shared by adjacent screens, according to the Building Windows 8 blog.

The current problem with that common edge is that when users mouse over to them - for example to hit the minimize button - they sometimes overshoot and wind up on the next screen instead of the screen they started off on. They either have to slow down or adjust the window size so there's a buffer between the edge of the window and the edge of the screen.

TEST YOURSELF: The Windows 8 Quiz

MORE WINDOWS 8: Why aren't Apple and Amazon dumping on Windows RT?

With Windows 8 Release Preview, Microsoft has created interface corners that are larger than 6 pixels tall so users can pull up a little short of the edge but still hit the active interface. The active area extends a little beyond the corner itself to present a larger target.

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These corners have new uses with Windows 8 that they didn't have with Windows 7. Corners contain access to applications, charm bars and the Start screen.

The active corners have also been revised so they only work for the monitor the cursor is active on. So when the cursor moves from one screen to another, the corners won't initially work on the second screen until the user establishes that that is the screen being worked on. So if users do overshoot the active screen, they won't accidentally click on an active corner on the other screen.

To improve the ability to organize the location of active applications, the Release Preview will add a new keyboard shortcut just for moving Metro applications from screen to screen - Windows key+page up/page down. The shortcut for moving traditional desktop apps remains Windows key+shift+arrow. All apps can be moved from screen to screen via drag and drop as well.

In the upcoming version Microsoft gives more options for the functionality of taskbars on each screen, giving users new options.

The default setting is to make the taskbar fully functional on all screens. Rather than having to manipulate the cursor back to the primary screen and perhaps turn their heads, users can access all taskbar icons from every screen.

Alternatively, they can have the taskbar show icons only for those windows that appear on each screen. The downside is that users have to remember which windows are open on which screens in order to find their icons.

Or users can set up a main monitor with a taskbar that always displays all icons, and other monitors' taskbars show only icons for the windows open on them. So when users are looking for a particular window but aren't sure on which screen it is open, they know they can find it on the master monitor.

The Start button, charms bar and calling up recently used application will be accessible from all monitors. In the Consumer Preview they were available only on one screen.

Microsoft has spent a lot of effort on desktop backgrounds in the release preview, making it possible to put a different one on each screen or to spread a single image so it is displayed just once over all the screens. When different pictures are used, they can be displayed on horizontally oriented monitors in landscape mode or rotated 90 degrees with in portrait mode.

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Microsoft issues release candidate of System Center 2012

The company says the software can help businesses more efficiently manage their use of cloud services

IDG News Service - Microsoft on Tuesday said the release candidate of System Center 2011, software that companies use to manage their cloud services, is now available.

Customers are already managing more than 100,000 virtual machines using the software as part of an early access program, Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft's Server and Tools Business, said during a video conference about the news.

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Using System Center, an organization can manage its internal private cloud as well as applications and services it is running in public clouds. This hybrid approach -- where a company may run an application in a public cloud but retain the corresponding database on a private cloud, for example -- is increasingly common.

System Center 2012 combines eight former products into one and addresses one common complaint customers have, said Brad Anderson, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Management and Security Division. "We hear a lot that licensing is complex," he said. System Center 2012 aims to simplify licensing by combining several former products into one and by offering just two different versions.

In addition, Microsoft bases its license on a slightly different model than its competitors, he said. Customers pay for System Center 2012 on a per-server basis, rather than a per-virtual machine basis. That can keep costs down for people who are running many virtual machines per server.

During the video conference about the release, Microsoft showcased a few companies that have already been using System Center. They include Luftansa, T. Rowe Price and Unilver. Those companies said that System Center 2012 has let them quickly expand their infrastructure and automate the management of their systems.

Microsoft says that using a tool like System Center can help organizations more efficiently manage their cloud environments. The company typically hears from customers who have full time IT administrators managing 30 to 40 servers. But Microsoft itself, which operates huge data centers to run services like Bing, Azure and Hotmail, finds that each of its IT workers, using System Center 2012, manages as many as 5,000 servers.

System Center 2012 has also expanded to allow IT administrators to manage non-Microsoft devices, including mobile phones. Rather than thinking of devices as being at the center of the management process, System Center 2012 puts the user in the middle, said Anderson. That means a manager can set policies for an employee that applies no matter what device the employee is using, including Android phones, iPhones or a variety of tablets.

The release candidate of System Center 2012 is available immediately. Provided users don't find any major bugs, the next step should be general availability of the software.

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Is Apple's OS X Mountain Lion on early-release track?

Reports from blogs and OS X 10.8's preview release schedule offer clues

Computerworld - Apple may release OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion earlier than expected, according to a report by a popular blog and clues found within the release dates of the three developer previews of the new operating system.

On Tuesday, AppleInsider, citing an unnamed source, said that Apple's European arm was training new staff to answer queries about Mountain Lion. In the past, Apple has limited the training window, possibly to avoid leaks from the new staff about undisclosed features.

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AppleInsider speculated that the staff hiring and training may mean Apple will debut Mountain Lion at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which opens June 11 in San Francisco.

The release dates for Mountain Lion's developer previews also may hint at early availability.
Mac OS X Mountain Lion

Apple has shipped three OS X 10.8 developer-only previews so far, on Feb. 16, March 16 and most recently, April 18.

Those dates are ahead of the schedule Apple set last year when it fed developers a stream of previews for OS X 10.7, aka Lion, which went on sale July 20, 2011.

Mountain Lion's trio of previews were 8, 15 and 25 days earlier than the first three Lion previews: The former is now more than three weeks ahead of the latter's 2011 timetable.

If Apple keeps to the established pace and seeds one more preview to developers -- Lion offered four last year, then a so-called "gold master" build before hitting the Mac App Store -- Mountain Lion would go on sale June 25, with the gold master ready June 6.

That last date may be a tad early, as Apple opens WWDC the following week. It seems improbable that the company would preempt a ready-for-sale announcement at WWDC by releasing a gold master of OS X 10.8 several days earlier, entailing a risk that the news would leak.

Also in play are expected refreshes of Apple's computers.

Most experts assume Apple will unveil new iMac desktops and MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops this quarter and next with Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture. Ivy Bridge is Intel's third-generation design of the Core clan, and the first to use a 22-nanometer manufacturing process.

Quad-core Ivy Bridge processors are now available to computer makers (Insider, registration required), and dual-core siblings will be ready to ship in the next few months, Intel has said.

The iMac would seem the logical line to get Ivy Bridge first: All models of the desktop now rely on Intel second-generation quad-core chips -- unlike the MacBook families, where some models use dual-core processors -- and the iMac is the longest in the tooth.

Apple last refreshed the iMac May 3, 2011.

If Apple uses WWDC to reveal new iMacs -- or any other systems -- it would be to its advantage if they were preloaded with Mountain Lion, not Lion.

Using the newest operating system would appease customers, some who will complain if Mountain Lion launches just after they purchase a new machine. It would also reduce the company's fulfillment costs if, as expected, Apple announces Mountain Lion's release date at WWDC, then includes any Macs sold subsequently in a free upgrade program.

Apple has used the WWDC keynote -- the one part of the conference that's open to non-developers -- to pull the sheet off new Macs, although the last time it did was 2009.

Mountain Lion's release date is still an Apple secret; the company has only said it will ship the upgrade "late summer."

A June roll-out contradicts that timeline by at least a couple of months, but Apple has been known to beat its release estimates. In 2009, Apple shipped OS X 10.5, or Snow Leopard, on August 28, at a minimum days, at a maximum weeks, before the September target it had set earlier.

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LinkedIn to buy SlideShare for $119M

LinkedIn also reported 101% revenue growth for the first quarter

IDG News Service - LinkedIn is acquiring SlideShare, which allows its users to share presentations online, for $118.75 million as it tries to find new ways to make its site more useful, the company said on Thursday.

SlideShare allows users to upload presentations publicly or privately, which can be embedded on blogs, websites, company intranets and shared across Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, so the two companies aren't new acquaintances.

Exactly how LinkedIn will integrate SlideShare beyond what is possible today remains to be seen. The company is "excited to figure out the best ways our offerings will work together," according to a LinkedIn blog post. In the meantime, SlideShare will continue to work as it usually does, the post said.

SlideShare users have uploaded more than 9 million presentations. In March, SlideShare had nearly 29 million unique visitors, according to data from market research company ComScore, LinkedIn said.

Besides presentations, SlideShare also hosts documents, PDFs, videos and webinars.

The purchase price is a combination of approximately 45% in cash and 55% in stock, according to LinkedIn. If everything goes according to plan, the acquisition will close during the second quarter.

On Thursday, LinkedIn also released its financial result for the first quarter. Revenue was $188.5 million, an increase of 101% compared to the first quarter last year. Net income grew from $2.1 million to $5 million during the same period.

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Microsoft to retire Windows Live brand ahead of Windows 8 launch

Windows 8 will allow Microsoft to offer a more tightly integrated set of online services and desktop apps for consumers

IDG News Service - Microsoft will retire the Windows Live brand as it gets ready to release what it describes as a more connected set of online consumer services with the launch of its Windows 8 operating system.

Its vision for a set of tightly woven services and desktop applications that Microsoft outlined when it unveiled Windows Live in 2005 hasn't been fully realized, the company said on Wednesday.

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Right now, services like its Hotmail webmail service, SkyDrive storage service and Messenger IM service aren't as closely meshed as they should be with Windows Live desktop software like Photo Gallery and Movie Maker, nor with the Windows Live ID account service, Microsoft said in a blog post.

The problem lies with Windows desktop operating systems, which so far haven't been designed to fully interact with cloud services. Microsoft expects that situation to change with Windows 8, which is being designed to work not just with desktop and laptop PCs but also tablets and other devices. For example, Windows 8 features a new user interface called Metro, which uses a tile design and is optimized for touch interfaces.

"Windows 8 provides us with an opportunity to reimagine our approach to services and software and to design them to be a seamless part of the Windows experience, accessible in Windows desktop apps, Windows Metro style apps, standard web browsers, and on mobile devices. Today the expectation is that a modern device comes with services as well as apps for communication and sharing. There is no 'separate brand' to think about or a separate service to install -- it is all included when you turn on your PC for the first time," reads the blog post, authored by Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division.

Some of the changes in the pipeline for the coming months include a rebranding of Windows Live ID as Microsoft Account, along with back-end changes intended to make the account service the main door into a broad set of online services that can be accessed via Web browsers but also synchronized and replicated through Windows Phone devices and Windows 8 PCs and tablets.

In Windows 8 machines, pre-installed applications that will have both local and cloud components include Microsoft Account, SkyDrive, Mail, Calendar, People (contacts), Messaging and Photos/Videos.

Along the way, Microsoft will shed their existing names, including Windows Live ID, Windows Live Mail, Windows Calendar, Windows Contacts, MSN Messenger, Windows Live Photo Gallery and Movie Maker.

It will also be possible to link the Microsoft Account with third-party online services, like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, in a way that a single list of contacts is maintained not only across Microsoft products but is also augmented by contacts from these other sites.

Microsoft plans to provide more information about this initiative in the coming weeks, including more details about how Skype will fit in with this plan.

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Microsoft a decade ahead of Apple on security, We’re not so sure

In a recent interview, Kaspersky Lab founder and CEO Eugene Kaspersky claimed that Apple is “10 years” behind Microsoft on security, as evidenced by the recent malware attacks affecting Mac OS X

There’s been a lot of chatter lately that the recent Flashback and Flashfake malware infestations plaguing Apple’s Max OS X are a sign that the Mac is not nearly as secure as Apple and its devout fans would like you to believe.

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Eugene Kaspersky, however, founder and CEO of Kaspersky Lab—a leading producer of security software—claims things are much worse. He says that Apple is in a potentially dire position and must change its approach to patches and updates, much in the same way Microsoft did year ago to more quickly and efficiently address vulnerabilities in Windows.

In a recent interview with CBR Online, Kaspersky said,

“I think they are ten years behind Microsoft in terms of security. For many years I've been saying that from a security point of view there is no big difference between Mac and Windows. It's always been possible to develop Mac malware, but this one was a bit different. For example it was asking questions about being installed on the system and, using vulnerabilities, it was able to get to the user mode without any alarms."

Of course it’s possible to develop malware for OSX. Malware could be developed for any OS. As far as malware exploiting vulnerabilities, is that what’s been happening on Windows systems for ages?

Before we go on, we should point out what we believe to be a serious flaw in that statement. When Kaspersky says “there is no big difference between Mac and Windows,” that may be true on some level because they are both consumer operating systems, but the underlying technologies in OS X and Windows are fundamentally different. OS X is based on UNIX, which is decades more mature than Windows. And with that maturity also comes strong security.

Kaspersky goes on to say, "They will understand very soon that they have the same problems Microsoft had ten or 12 years ago. They will have to make changes in terms of the cycle of updates and so on and will be forced to invest more into their security audits for the software."

This may or may not be the case. Kaspersky asserts that the success of Flashback / Flashfake will result in more malware being released for OS X. We’re not so sure. Most malware producers are in it to make a quick buck, not for notoriety. And the success of one piece of malware, doesn’t guarantee more will follow. Flashback / Flashfake may be getting some attention now, but targeting the Mac just doesn’t make as much financial sense as targeting Windows.

The fact of the matter is, even with relatively strong Mac sales, Windows-based systems far outsell the Mac and malware producers are always going to more aggressively target the largest install base. At least that’s our opinion. What say you?

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