To pile on to today's barrage of news and beta software releases - in case you've been living under a rock, I'm referring to the release of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Windows Server 8 beta - Microsoft has also released the Visual Studio 11 Beta with .NET 4.5 Beta for download.
Right on the heels of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview launch, Microsoft has also released the bits of Windows Server 8 on MSDN and TechNet. Available in both 64-bit ISO and VHD flavors, it is only available in all languages - Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, and Japanese - through the former; the VHD is available in English only.
Today is the big day for those of you who have been anticipating some fresh new Windows 8 bits to toy with: Following an official debut right next door to the Mobile World Congress - not specifically at it, it's a little side event at the Hotel Miramar in Barcelona - Microsoft has just officially released the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.
3D technology is currently all the rage amongst most of the tech companies pushing to find a new and innovative feature that will help them stand out from the crowd. With so many players in the smartphone, TV and computer industry all vying for our dollars, they all need to find a way to differentiate themselves from the competition. 3D, it seems, is one of those ways.
As I noted in my editorial about what Microsoft should do next with SkyDrive, something that the Windows Live set of services are in dire need of is a redesign. I never was a fan of the current design that they have adopted: With design, it's often the details that make a world of difference - padding, margins, text - and all of these things are off, resulting in a set of products that lack finesse. So, what can Microsoft do to solve this problem?
As a generation of people, we should consider ourselves extremely lucky to live in a age which represents the cutting edge of technological breakthroughs and advancements. Rarely a day seems to go by without some new technology-based product being released to the public, whether this is a new smartphone or tablet, a new flat screen high definition television set or hopefully something more out there and unique in the not too distant future like the proposed Google’s virtual reality goggles.
Unsatisfied with the lack of Metro on the Windows 8 "legacy" desktop, one Verge forum user took it upon himself to create mockups that depict what the OS would look like if Microsoft were to ditch Aero in favor of an entirely Metro user interface design.
It has been just over twelve months since Finnish communications company, Nokia, joined forces with the might of Microsoft in an attempt to boost their falling worldwide mobile phone sales by manufacturing devices featuring the Windows Phone 7 operating system. The move represented a somewhat bumpy journey into the unknown for Nokia but was seen as an attempt to try and break the stranglehold that Android and iOS powered devices have over the industry.
Remember those leaked SkyDrive features I touched on in yesterday's editorial? Well, much of them remain in rumor territory. However, Microsoft has confirmed two things: One, a major SkyDrive update is in the pipeline, and two, the rumor that we're getting a SkyDrive desktop client is spot-on. In a Building Windows 8 post written by two SkyDrive program managers, Microsoft detailed the SkyDrive Metro app, the service's tight integration with Windows 8, SkyDrive on the desktop, and fetching files through SkyDrive.com.
Over the weekend, there were two leaks revealing that a major SkyDrive update is in the works. The first one revealed that SkyDrive will be offering three tiers of additional storage -- 20GB, 50GB, and 100GB upgrades to the existing 25GB for $10, $25, and $50, respectively, along with a desktop client for Windows and OS X -- and the second revealed that SkyDrive will be getting URL shortening, direct sharing to Twitter, an increase of the individual file limit to 300MB (on par with Dropbox), support for OpenDocument formats, and the ability to manage BitLocker recovery keys. All in all, a pretty major upgrade showing that Microsoft is taking its cloud file storage service seriously.
