I’ve had a few people ask me why I started counting the number of apps. Why should I care? Do I have some sort of vendetta against Microsoft or something? No. I don’t. The Windows Store count is what it is. I’m not here to say it’ll trounce iOS. I’m not here to say it’ll be a failure. That doesn’t matter, and little I can or do say will change how Windows 8 does with consumers and corporate customers. My goal…
This morning I awoke to the news that Marissa Mayer, the new CEO of Yahoo, was awarding Yahoo employees with a free smartphone, and, from what I can derive, some coverage for service plans as well. On the heels of Microsoft’s news last week leaked during their company meeting of free personal/work Windows Phone 8 devices, Windows RT devices, and accelerated replacement of work systems with Windows 8-capable PCs, this is interesting news to consider. Perhaps some may call this…
No. This isn’t going to be one of those posts. It’s not going to be derisive about Apple at all. So if you came here for a good old fashioned “Steve Jobs wouldn’t have done that” beating, you might want to just click back or close this tab. Even at the age of 39, I still enjoy visiting Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Why? Because, if you let your mind go, and your imagination wander, they’re amazing places. For a…
When you get a piece of spam, there are a couple of key components to it. There’s a subject line – intended to make the reader excited to “make money fast” or “make cheap international phone calls”. There’s an assortment of flattering text, sometimes pictures, and other components to the message, designed to both delude and confuse the reader into thinking this is a legitimate offer. Finally, there’s a call to action. A hook. In most spam, this is a…
Recently, I’ve seen a lot of excitement around Windows to Go, a new feature available in Windows 8. Windows to Go (WTG) enables Windows 8 (Enterprise) to boot from a USB Flash Drive (UFD). Fundamentally, WTG includes three technical features: Windows support for USB boot (including USB 3.0) Support for installing and running Windows from a removable USB hard drive (yes, this is a different line item than 1) Support for handling “surprise removal” of Windows without hanging or crashing….
The other day, a friend on Twitter noted the difficulty he was having in sharing a mobile URL. You know the type – http://mobile.foo.com/. For many years, people have ranted about the lack of utility of the “www” prefix on Websites – yet here we are, with a generation of sites getting obnoxious “mobile” prefixes instead. Hit a mobile site from your iPad – even when you’re not mobile, share it with a friend, and they’re not guaranteed to see…
If you have been following the development of Windows 8 – in particular as Windows RT – the variant of Windows destined for ARM-based processors, there’s a good chance you heard the collective weeping earlier this year about Windows RT, and what it meant to the manageability (or unmanageability, as the case may be) of Windows RT devices. The fact that Windows RT devices cannot be joined to a Windows Active Directory domain may at first glance seem like a…
Just over two weeks ago, my ThinkPad did the unthinkable. It died. Technically, the hard drive died. All that really matters is that 1)I lost a ton of data I hadn’t backed up (BAD GEEK!), and 2)I didn’t have a computer for almost 3 days. What I did have was a Samsung Series 7 slate. A colleague had gone to the Office 2013 launch and was given a loaner device that he had lent to me for a while. Equipped…
I’m tired of talking about vapor. I’m tired of beating back rumors and gossip. The rules that follow are for both my followers as well as myself. I’ve recently been realizing how much time I waste in what I am calling “vapor debates”. These are conversations where time is forever lost because I make the mistake of commenting on vapor news, or I stupidly respond after a follower on Twitter nicely asks me my thoughts on (INSERT VAPOR). I’m done. If…
Before I begin, I will disclaim two things. First, I am not a developer. Second, I was not at Microsoft during the formative years of Windows, nor was I there for the creation of Windows 95 or NT 3.1 – I was there during the development of Windows XP and the first 2/3rds of Longhorn’s gestation into Vista. Depending on who you ask, the Windows Registry is either a necessary evil, or just plain evil. The registry was never intended…