The notion of Microsoft bringing its Office productivity suite to iOS has been long-standing, and while the Redmond-based company has, typically, revealed little with regards to its plans (if any), the release of OneNote for iPad earlier this year certainly seemed indicative of things to come. The Verge then waded into the argument in November by showing off some leaked images indicated Office could release for iOS early next year under a freemium model. Today, references to a slew of potential Office for iOS apps have surfaced on the software maker's support site, and although the product tags depicted look to have been applied somewhat hurriedly, the spot is as strong an indicator as we've seen that Microsoft is plotting to release Office for iOS.
An operating system upgrade is always worth having, in my opinion. Newer changes are almost always valuable, and the ability to utilize the latest technology on your smartphone, tablet, computer or laptop is a much-needed benefit. Similar holds true for Windows – the world’s most used PC operating system – where Windows 8 is the latest and greatest in the choices that you have. A lot of people have their issues with the operating system, but that isn’t stopping Microsoft from making constant updates to the OS, making it even better than before. I leave the debate of how useful Windows 8 is at that, and come to something that’s actually limited in the operating system: backward compatibility. Up until Windows 7, Microsoft allowed users to run applications that were compatible with, say, Windows XP, but that has been taken out in the latest iteration of Windows.
Of all the new year's resolutions people make to themselves, the one that's promised most commonly to oneself is that of improving health and fitness. Whether it's improved diet, more exercise, or a combination of the two, most of us will have pledged to make a beneficial change to our lives. New year, new start, and all that jazz. Well, for the 2012-13 changeover, you'll have added incentive thanks to the Xbox 360 Nike+ Kinect Training Bundle, which will officially become available to download on Xbox Live on December 25th.
According to MS_nerd, a guy renowned for leaking information about Microsoft, the Redmond company is planning the release of up three versions of the Surface tablet at some point next year. With most tablet vendors offering two or three different variants to consumers, Microsoft believes three models is the right number to curtail this most competitive of markets.
If you've only been following the movements of the smartphone industry during the last couple of years, you may not have heard of HTC's HD2, but the old relic of a device - which first launched running another antiquated product in Windows Mobile 6.5 - has been modded to run the brand-new Windows Phone 8 ecosystem. That's right, while Microsoft has given Windows Phone 7.x users the sad news that their beloved device won't be upgradeable, the three year old handset designed by the Taiwanese maker has been pictured running Windows Phone 8.
There's a growing concern that Redmond-based Microsoft is not achieving the kind of orders it had initially hoped or expected of its Surface RT, and it's now looking like the company's orders are petering out - as opposed to increasing - in the run-up to Christmas. CEO Steve Ballmer's note of "modest" sales at launch has done very little to instill confidence recently, and to compound the situation, upstream supply chain sources have revealed the software maker has reduced orders of the Surface RT by half.
Microsoft today announced some information surrounding a new release of its Windows Phone software that will go some way to answering some of the most oft-asked questions - when will Windows Phone 7.8 be released, and who will be able to take advantage of it?
Having met its long-awaited released date on 26th October, Windows 8 is truly here, and as a testament to just how consumers have responded to the new operating system, the 40 million mark has already been passed in terms of licenses sold.
In light of the recently-released fourth-gen iPad, which succeeded the iPad 3 after just seven months as Apple's flagship slate, it's certainly refreshing to hear that the Surface tablet - created, of course, by rival Microsoft - will be getting an incredible four-and-a-half year shelf life, with support and updates for the product eventually scheduled to end on April 11th, 2017.
The Black Friday shopping extravaganza has been and gone, and while a number of high profile retailers were offering significant price savings across a wide range of products it was ultimately the consumer electronics industry that consumers were looking to for those Thanksgiving bargains. Microsoft and Apple are two companies that find themselves sitting at the top of that particular food chain, and while we have already seen reports showing that certain Apple Stores saw a lot more customers than their Microsoft counterparts in the same area, we are now seeing some statistics to back up that claim.
