Microsoft

Bill Gates' and Paul Allen's friendship repaired?

When Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen published his book "Idea Man" last year, he surprised many people by tearing into his longtime friend and business partner Bill Gates.

In a new epilogue published for the paperback version of this book, which comes out this week, Allen writes that after a yearlong rift, the two men have repaired their friendship, according to GeekWire.

"Not everyone loved everything I wrote," Allen writes. "Some of my Microsoft friends were piqued that I'd cast the company's recent history in 'not the most favorable light,' as one of them … Read more

Installing Windows 8: the pain, the poetry, the pleasure

Let me get the bad news out of the way up front: installing personal computer operating systems isn't easy, and Windows 8 is no exception.

I've installed more versions of DOS, Linux, Windows, Mac OS, OS X, Android, and iOS than I can remember over more than two decades, and the fact of the matter is that there's a basic level of technical difficulty. How many average people actually know the name of their hard drives?

It is getting better, particularly with iOS and Android updates or with PC upgrades. But PCs are complex beasts with complex … Read more

Win8 StartButton gets your Start menu back in Windows 8

Windows 8 users who miss the old, reliable Start menu now have another application that can fill the gap quite nicely.

Available for free, Win8 StartButton recreates the look, feel, and functionality of the traditional Windows Start menu. But it then ups the action through a host of customizable features.

After you install the program, the familiar Windows Start orb appears in the lower left corner of the desktop. Clicking on the orb displays the typical two-pane Start menu with easy access to all your programs and favorite Windows locations, such as your documents and music. The menu sports commands … Read more

Microsoft sued over Windows Live Tiles

Microsoft is already facing lawsuits related to the just-launched Windows, with an operating system technology designer accusing Microsoft of ripping of its patent for "tiles."

SurfCast, in a complaint filed yesterday in a U.S. District Court in Maine, said Microsoft infringes one of its four patents -- No. 6,724,403 -- by "making, using, selling, and offering to sell devices and software products" covered by SurfCast's patent. That includes mobile devices using the Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems as well as PCs using Windows 8/RT.

The company also … Read more

Metro apps renamed Windows Store apps

"Windows Store apps" doesn't exactly roll off your tongue. But that seems to be the new name for what were previously known as Metro apps.

At Microsoft's Build developers conference yesterday, Will Tschumy, one of the company's so-called user experience evangelists, led a session called "The Principles of Microsoft Design."

During Q&A, Tschumy was asked a question by the Verge's Tom Warren, namely: what do people call Windows 8 apps since Metro is persona non grata? Tschumy declined to comment on the whole Metro naming debacle but said that Microsoft … Read more

Microsoft is right about touch-screen laptops

Microsoft was touting touch today at its Build conference. And that means for plain old laptops too.

CEO Steve Ballmer addressed this topic during his keynote, which was streamed live.

"You say, do people really want to use touch laptops?" he asked.

Well, if you ask Apple, the answer is no. But for Microsoft it's an important differentiator.

Ballmer continued. "I had a group of leaders of companies over for dinner the other night, and they were saying, 'really, I can just flip [this] through like I would on a tablet?'" he said, as he … Read more

Acer pushes back release of Windows RT devices

Acer is pushing back the release of a Windows RT tablet, according to a report, as it monitors Microsoft's Surface efforts closely.

"Originally we had a very aggressive plan to come out very early next year but because of Surface...we are much more cautious," Acer President Jim Wong told Reuters today.

Wong said plans originally called for a Q1 launch but "now I don't think it will be earlier than Q2."

The world's fourth largest PC supplier has been sour on the Surface tablet ever since Microsoft first announced it back in … Read more

PayPal delivers for Windows 8 developers

Hot on the heels of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's revelation that Microsoft has sold more than 4 million copies of Windows 8, PayPal has unveiled today a Windows 8 developer API

The PayPal API lets developers tie in-app purchases to PayPal, which claims more than 100 million active accounts. Microsoft pointed to the free Crowdstar game Fish With Attitude as an example of a Windows Store app that uses PayPal for in-app purchases of game characters.

The API lets people pay from a more familiar, better-established system than Microsoft's neophyte in-house one. This isn't Microsoft's first … Read more

Microsoft to developers: We have a gift for you. It's an SDK!

After a couple of delays, Microsoft finally has made available to the public the Windows Phone 8 software development kit (SDK) -- a day after launching its next-generation smartphone platform.

Microsoft made the SDK, along with a free version of Visual Studio Express 2012 and Blend 5, available to MSDN subscribers and to the public for download on October 30.

The public Windows Phone 8 SDK is available for download from Microsoft's Web site. The MSDN version of Windows Phone 8 SDK is here.

Microsoft made the announcement at its Build 2012 developer conference, which kicked off in Redmond … Read more

Microsoft has sold 4 million copies of Windows 8 since launch

REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the company has sold 4 million copies of Windows 8 to consumers since the operating system debuted on Friday.

Ballmer made the announcement today at the start of the Build conference, a show Microsoft is hosting on its campus for more than 2,000 developers. Microsoft is hoping to convince developers to create applications for its new operating system and the Windows Phone 8 operating system that debuted yesterday.

"In a sense, what these launches really do is the kick off the golden age of opportunity for you as developers," … Read more