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Ballmer: 500 Million Windows 8 Users by End of 2013

Appearing at the Seoul Digital Forum in South Korea this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Windows 8 represented a “rebirth” of his company’s core operating system that would trigger sales of 500 million units between its release later this year and the end of 2013. more

Google Finalizes Purchase of Motorola Mobility

Google wasted no time in finalizing its $12.5 billion purchase of handset maker Motorola Mobility in the wake of Chinese regulatory approval. Just one day after China OK’d the deal, the online advertising giant announced it has purchased Motorola Mobility. more

Microsoft: 350 Million Windows 7 PCs to be Sold This Year

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the company expects its hardware partners to ship 350 million copies of Windows 7 this year, even higher than sales of the OS in previous years. But this year’s sales estimate is particularly impressive because Microsoft is planning to ship Windows 7’s successor, Windows 8, sometime in the fourth quarter. more

Rethinking the PC

Windows 8 will usher in a new era of tablet devices that will make today’s traditional laptops look like the dinosaurs they are. more

China Okays Google Purchase of Motorola Mobility

China antitrust authorities have approved Google’s proposed $12.5 billion purchase of handset maker Motorola Mobility, clearing the way for the online advertising giant to finalize the transaction. more

Windows 8 Secrets: News App

With tech enthusiast web sites from around the world starting to leak Windows 8 Release Preview screenshots, your intrepid “Windows 8 Secrets” co-authors offer a bit of color commentary about what you’re seeing and how these features will really work. In the second co-post analyzing these leaks, we look briefly at the new Metro-style News app. more

Windows 8 Secrets: Add Features to Windows 8

With tech enthusiast web sites from around the world starting to leak Windows 8 Release Preview screenshots, your intrepid “Windows 8 Secrets” co-authors offer a bit of color commentary about what you’re seeing and how these features will really work. This is the first in a series of co-posts analyzing these leaks. more

Microsoft Offers Official Wallpapers for Windows Phone

Microsoft today is touting a collection of “official” wallpaper images for Windows Phone that users can apply to their handset’s lock screen. As you might expect, the images are reminiscent of the wallpaper Microsoft has previously offered for desktop versions of Windows, but are designed for the screen resolution and portrait orientation used by Windows Phone. more

Microsoft Experiments with Social

This week, Microsoft introduced a social network of its own, the awkwardly named So.cl (and, yes, it’s pronounced as “social”). But rather than being a full-fledged competitor to Facebook or Twitter, Microsoft says So.cl is simply an experiment, and aimed mostly at students. more

Microsoft Provides More Details About the Visual Studio 11 Product Lineup

In a new post to the Visual Studio Blog, Microsoft has detailed more information about the Visual Studio 11 product editions and which platforms the new developer suite will support. The news comes on the heels of an announcement about coming major changes to the Visual Studio 11 user interface. more

Yes, There are Three New Apps in the Windows 8 Release Preview

Today, the existence of three new Metro-style apps in the Windows 8 Release Preview was leaked by the usual web sources. more

EU to Google: Settle or Be Charged with Antitrust Violations

A lot has changed with antitrust regulators in the EC since they took Microsoft to court again and again to answer for its predatory practices in the desktop OS market. Now, facing online advertising giant Google, the EU is trying a different, more expedient tactic. more

Facebook Stumbles Out of the Gate with Weak IPO

Anyone hoping that last week’s Facebook IPO was going to trigger a new wave of Internet bubble hysteria came away disappointed after the social networking giant stumbled badly and only artificially reached its stock offering price of $38. more

Windows Weekly 261: Don't Nudge Me

In the latest episode of the Windows Weekly podcast, Iyaz Akhtar and I discuss the cost of Microsoft's coming Windows 8 update offer, a Windows 8 Release Preview ... preview, Windows 8 and DVD playback, dueling search engines, and Microsoft Signature. more

Windows 8 Feature Focus: Contracts

Unless you’re a serious old timer, you probably don’t remember when copy and paste functionality, now a common and expected feature, was added to Windows. Well, this time you have no excuse: Microsoft is adding a new capability to Windows 8 called contracts. And as with copy and paste, you’re going to have a hard time remembering using Windows before this happened. more

Windows 8 Secrets: News App

Windows 8 Secrets: Add Features to Windows 8

Windows Weekly 261: Don't Nudge Me

Windows 8 Feature Focus: Contracts

Windows 8 Release Preview: RIP, Aero (2003-2012)


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