Microsoft's Surface RT tablet has not been on the market long, and reviews of the machine have been somewhat hit and miss to say the least, but the current product is only part of the overall equation. There's the Surface Pro, for example, and that's arguably the one most will want to pick up.
With Windows 8 now out and selling in volume, Microsoft has somewhat turned its attentions to other important software implementations. As well as beginning to sell prepaid Skype credit in outlets across Mexico and the United Kingdom, it looks as though Skype will become the Redmond outfit's primary instant messaging service, retiring the long-standing Windows Live Messenger.
The packaging of any new tech product is not nearly as important as its contents, but in the spirit of the launch, there's usually a fleeting interest in the design of the box. With Office 2013 not too far away, leaks earlier this week purported to depict the box art for those purchasing a physical copy from stores, and now, said designs have been confirmed.
The software development kit for Windows Phone 8 has been a fairly closely-guarded secret up until this point, but in an announcement at BUILD 2012, Steve Ballmer has confirmed it is now ready to download.
Today has been, on the mobile front, one of the most significant occasions in recent times, with both Google and Microsoft grappling for the attentions of the on-looking tech world by releasing some pretty significant products.
Google may have gatecrashed Microsoft's party by announcing a flurry of Nexus devices along with Android 4.2, but today has always been about Microsoft and Windows Phone 8. Many of the features of Windows Phone 8 have already been revealed over the past couple of months, but the Redmond company has still saved plenty for the long-awaited announcement today.
After the success of software distribution platforms like Software Center and App Store, Microsoft has followed suit by introducing Windows Store on Windows 8. Like the App Store, it has its fair share of limitations over which apps go in and which don’t and, like the Software Center, it charges a fee per download of a paid app, but what’s different about it is that, by design, apps on the Windows Store (generally) run both on desktops running Windows 8 and tablets running Windows RT.
Whenever you make the switch - from iOS to Android, or Windows to Mac, for example, things can seem a little daunting at first, and although elements may look rather similar in places, they don't always function in the manner in which you are used to. While the changes in Windows 8 aren't necessarily as different from previous versions of Windows than they are to, say, OS X, current Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7 users still might feel as though they've been dropped into unchartered territory, and might find Windows 8 a little tricky to get to grips with.
The iPad mini, which was announced earlier this week by Apple at a special event in San Jose, has received decidedly negative reviews from consumers and bloggers alike. Microsoft exec has, perhaps unsurprisingly given today's release of the Surface tablet, waded into the iPad mini debate, and even less shockingly, he's not a big fan of Apple's slightly smaller slate.
Windows 8, along with Surface RT, is the biggest, most riskiest product Microsoft has worked on since the original Xbox over ten years ago. On the face of it, the company has significantly changed the way users use Windows , with a user-interface that is targeted more towards touch input on tablets rather than your traditional mouse and touchpad, but I’m here to tell you, in a good amount of detail, that that would be insult to folks who have been working on Windows 8 for the past 3-4 years.
