Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM Released To TechNet and MSDN

Alongside today’s release of Windows 8.1 RTM to TechNet and MSDN, the Redmond company has also dropped Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM to those subbed to one of the big two development networks.

Like Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM wasn’t going to be released to either MSDN or TechNet until October 18th, the due date for the public release. However, due to a lot of pressure from developers, Microsoft has changed its mind, instead allowing users to get at the RTM before it gets its general, end-user release.

Having listened to the complaints on the Windows blogs, Microsoft’s Steven Guggenheimer noted of the software maker’s decision to go back on the initial plan:

We heard from you that our decision to not initially release Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM bits was a big challenge for our developer partners. . . As we refine our delivery schedules for a more rapid release cadence, we are working on the best way to support early releases to the various audiences within our ecosystem.

The RTM was only announced in late August, and it was thought that Microsoft did not want to release to developers early. To be honest, while I can see why the developers have complained, Microsoft has to try its level best to keep the balance and streamline the release as much as possible.

TechNet and MSDN subscribers can download RTM versions of Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage Server and Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation.

Getting these RTMs out early enables devs to test apps and ensure ecosystem stability, so while the impromptu release may present Guggenheimer and Microsoft with a bit of a headache right now, it should be beneficial in the long term.

The general release date for all of these products will be October 18th, just as with Windows 8.1, and we’ll keep you updated on any changes or noteworthy revelations between now and then, so stay tuned to our coverage here at Redmond Pie!

Windows 8.1 RTM Download Now Officially Available From MSDN And TechNet

MSDN and TechNet users can now officially download Windows 8.1 RTM bits. It’s fair to say that, as far as new Windows releases go, Windows 8 wasn’t the most well-received. With plenty of criticism from users bemused as to the extent of the changes, Microsoft has somewhat gone back to the drawing board, keeping some of the new implementations while also offering a little more familiarity to proceedings.

The dramatic return of the traditional Start button is perhaps the most talked-about feature of the lot, and although it’s something relatively small in the grand scheme of Microsoft’s operating system, many users felt as though the proverbial rug had been pulled from beneath them when the long-time feature was rather unceremoniously removed.

We heard not so long ago that Windows 8.1 had officially gotten RTM, but now, it’s actually been released to those tethered to the big two developer networks. Initially, the Redmond insisted TechNet and MSDN subscribers would not be seeing the release prior to the official October 18th launch – a decision that caused a major outcry.

Caving in to pressure, and not for the first time, Microsoft has back-tracked to keep the developers happy. To be fair, that initial plan to hold the RTM back until later would probably be to the detriment of the OS in general – a point repeated continually by upset developers.

On top of releasing the RTM, Microsoft has also said that changes will still be made to Windows 8.1 at this stage, and although the time constraints mean there won’t be anything too severe happening, the late push to apply the finishing touches was attributable to the initial decision to skip the early release to MSDN and TechNet.

The official Windows 8.1 release date for general public is set for October 18th, boasting a bunch of new and exciting features. It will be a completely free upgrade for those already rocking a Windows 8-enabled machine or device, and is the second installment in a continued switch to the annual release cycle.

PS Vita (2013) Announced: Slimmer Design, Bigger Battery, Six Color Options [VIDEO]

With its PlayStation 4 due for release in a couple of months, Sony could be forgiven for being a little preoccupied. In fact, we’d even forgive the Japanese firm from almost forgetting all about its portable games console, at least in the short term. At a press conference today though, Sony showed that it’s not just well aware of its portable machine, but is also working to make it as popular as possible.

Officially announced just now, Sony’s new update to its existing PlayStation Vita is pretty much more of the same, but with some aesthetic changes. The first thing people will notice is that the new, improved Vita is 15% lighter and 20% thinner than the original model. We wouldn’t have called the old Vita big and heavy, but any slimming down is always welcome in a mobile device of this ilk.

This iteration of Sony’s portable console also now features a micro-USB port for charging, which means that the cable you got with your smartphone will likely charge the Vita just fine, assuming you didn’t get an iPhone of course! The change to micro-USB is a welcome one, seeing as we’ve got so many of the cables knocking around our homes already. It also means that we don’t need to get one of Sony’s proprietary charging cables just to get juice into our Vitas. Yay!

And for those who like color options, the new PS Vita comes in a variety of different color options, six to be exact. The colors include black, white, yellow, olive green, blue and pink.

Perhaps the most controversial change is the decision to dump the original OLED screen in favor of an LCD solution. The OLED screen was one of the selling points for the Vita when it was first announced, so the decision to move to the cheaper LCD is an interesting one indeed. We’ll have to see the new Vita in action before we decide whether the change makes too much of a difference or not.

The new Vita goes on sale in Japan on October 10th with a price equating to around $190 and is WiFi-only but does pack 1GB of internal memory

No word yet on when this refreshed Vita will be on sale outside Japan, but we’ll keep our ears to the ground for an update.

Xbox Music App For iPhone And Android Released, Free Streaming Now Available On Web Version

Microsoft has finally launched iPhone and Android apps for Xbox Music, a service that lets users stream unlimited music for a monthly subscription.

Today’s release also adds free streaming option to the web version of Xbox Music which was first launched in July this year.

Now available on Xbox, Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS (iPhone only, native iPad version not available as yet), Android and web (for OS X and other platforms), Xbox Music is now shaping up into a compelling offering with 30 million music tracks on offer for streaming, cross platform compatibility, and free access to anyone with a desktop web browser.

Some of the basic features of the iPhone and Android app includes: streaming ad-free music, adding songs, music, albums and playlists to Collection and access them on other devices, create and sync music playlists across multiple platforms, radio stations and more.

While the Xbox, Windows Phone and Windows 8 version offers the ability to download tracks for offline playing, the just released iOS and Android versions doesn’t. But Microsoft is promising the support for offline playing coming soon in a future update to the said apps.

The subscription to Xbox Music Pass costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year and is required to use the apps. Free 30 days trial is available for first timers. You can navigate tomusic.xbox.com to subscribe to the service. Those of you who already have the subscription to Xbox Music Pass can download the iPhone and Android apps from the links given below to start streaming music.

(Download: Xbox Music for iPhone, Xbox Music for Android)

Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and also our Android Apps gallery to explore more apps for your Android device.

Leaked Photos Of iPhone 5C Logic Board Shows Only Minor Changes [IMAGES]

It may be unadulterated chaos at times, but there’s little doubt that iPhone announcement weeks are some of the most exciting and interesting that we face. A culmination of weeks and often months of guessing, calculating and wishing always comes down to one glorious moment when we get to see a new iPhone for the first time.

This year is unique in that we will see two new iPhones be announced on the same day. With Apple set to unveil the flagship iPhone 5S at the September 10th event, it’s perhaps the lower end iPhone 5C that will be of most interest to us. It may technically be last year’s sheep in this year’s wolf’s clothing, but it’s going to be quite the striking package when it’s assembled. Assuming the rumors and leaks are accurate, of course.

Speaking of leaks, new photos have appeared online showing what appears to be a logic board from the unannounced iPhone 5C. Looking rather similar to the iPhone 5S parts that have leaked before, the new shots show a board with shielding that prevents prying eyes from seeing just what markings the chips are adorned with underneath. All the mounting holes seem to be in the same place as those iPhone 5S leaks, too, so fitting in with leaked cases and shells that have suggested the same thing already.

Apple is set to announce both the flagship iPhone 5S and the cheaper iPhone 5C on this coming Tuesday. With the iPhone 5C coming in a range of striking colors and essentially being an iPhone 5 in a new body, buyers of the budget-conscious device will not only get a very good smartphone on the inside, but also one that will grab attention on the outside.

We’ll find out in a couple of days just what the folks in Cupertino have been working on for the last twelve months, and we’ve got a sneaky suspicion that whatever it is, it’ll sell in the millions.

(via Nowhereelse.fr)

iOS 6.1.4 Jailbreak With Cydia Running Successfully On iPhone 5 [IMAGE]

Evasi0n jailbreak which brought forward the first ever untethered jailbreak solution on devices running iOS 6.x was patched by Apple in iOS 6.1.3/6.1.4 firmware releases. Last week we reported that an untethered 6.1.3 jailbreak was indeed possible, but was not publicly available since it needed some work. Today, we have even more good news, this time for those running iOS 6.1.4 on the iPhone 5.

iOS 6.1.4 was released back in May for iPhone 5 users only and it brought forward a minor bug fix. The small update, which weighs in at 11.5MB, was unjailbreakable, until now.

Developer Winocm, who achieved the untethered jailbreak on iOS 6.1.3 last week, tweeted out an image today of iOS 6.1.4 running Cydia on an iPhone 5. Details as usual are scarce at this very moment. We can only assume that progress is being made and Winocm’s exploit is indeed capable of jailbreaking iPhone 5 on the aforementioned firmware.

Cydia on iOS 6.1.4 (GSM iPhone 5)

For those who are eagerly waiting for an untethered jailbreak, and are completely uninterested in Apple’s new flat icons in iOS 7, it is highly recommended that you ignore any software update at this point for your iOS device and wait for further confirmation on the progress being made on the untethered iOS 6.1.3 / 6.1.4 jailbreak.

Cydia on iOS 6.1.4 (CDMA iPhone 5)

If you’re already running iOS 6, all the way up to iOS 6.1.2, you’re on the greener side of the fence. You can jailbreak iOS 6 using Evasi0n on all iOS devices capable of running the said firmware.

We will keep you updated as soon as we hear more regarding this, so stay tuned.

Update x1: Published to a Ghostbin share, Winocm has now offered up some of the code required to make the jailbreak work for iOS 6.1.4, and we’ve heard reports of people managing to do just that. The downside here is a rather large one though – it’s not like most public jailbreaks.

Cydia on iPhone 4S, iOS 6.1.3

Anyone wanting to download an executable and have their iPhone jailbroken in seconds is out of luck we’re afraid. Instead, Winocm’s code is just part of the magic required to get Cydia installed on an iPhone, and users will have to use their own kernel exploits in order to get the ball rolling. That’s obviously no mean feat, so we don’t think that this is going to be the start of a jailbreaking phase where everyone rushes out to get their iOS 6.1.4 devices jailbroken. Still, it’s a start.

Even with iOS 7 just around the corner, many people would be happy to stick with the last 6.x release if it meant that they could keep their beloved jailbreak, and Winocm seemed to have all the answers. Today, he shared those answers, but they’re not quite all you’ll need.

First Xbox One TV Ad Released By Microsoft, Showcases NFL And Skype [VIDEO]

Xbox One is one device that isn’t just for gaming, and the company is out to prove that in full force. The newest gaming console from the Redmond company has been touted several times as a multi-purpose home entertainment system – something that you would frequently use for more than just gaming – and the company’s latest ad for Xbox One takes that fact even further. This time, Microsoft is targeting National Football League (NFL) fans directly, showing off Microsoft’s Fantasy Football system for the Xbox One and more.

The new ad focuses on football fans by showing off Xbox One’s exclusive Fantasy Football system, as well as the interactive broadcasts of NFL that will be available only on the (gaming) device. Not only that, since Microsoft is so pushing for Skype’s growth past its acquisition of the VoIP service, the ad also showcases how Skype can be utilized in real-world scenarios using the Xbox One – amidst screaming hordes of football fans, of course – and still be of value to consumers.

The ad brings the next in the series of promotion that are a direct result of Microsoft’s partnership with the National Football League. The initiative, dubbed NFL on Xbox, aims to make Xbox One a must-have experience for football fans, through delivering content that is proprietary to Microsoft and engaging for the consumers. This particular ad, which precedes the actual release of the console, doesn’t depict the console in the light of what it’s primarily intended for – gaming – but instead, exhibits it as a full-time entertainment device. NFL on Xbox basically allows you to watch games live, enjoy the Fantasy Football league, and also enjoy personalized and tailored to your taste highlights of actual games. It’s pretty refreshing, actually, and shows that you can, indeed, 

use the Xbox One as more than just a gaming console when it becomes available.

With the evident shift in the Redmond giant’s marketing strategy, not just towards its Xbox console but also Windows Phone and Windows RT devices, it’s more than clear that Microsoft’s is aiming big towards capturing the entertainment and productivity market beyond desktop operating systems. If anything, the recent acquisition of Nokia also appears to be a connecting 

dot, and we can expect to see a lot of similar ventures in the future.

Xbox One Will Support Eight Controllers Simultaneously, PlayStation 4 Only Four

Although the Xbox One has been revealed and, more recently, finally been given a release date, we’re still learning new and exciting things about Microsoft’s console every day. The official Microsoft support channels on the various social networks have been inundated with questions from eager gaming fans, and, slowly but surely, the Redmond company is getting around to divulging some of this important information. In the latest, it looks as though the Xbox One will be able to connect up to eight controllers at any one time, meaning those looking to enjoy extended family / friend multiplayer match-ups probably won’t need to keep rotating. By the same token, the PlayStation 4 will only support a maximum of four, but given the limited support for more than four competitors, as well as the practical issues, this shouldn’t be a deal-breaker.

Like the PS4, the Xbox 360 can only process four controllers at any one time, but with the next-gen being superior to its predecessor in almost every way possible, Microsoft has felt it necessary to double the quota.

With online multiplayer being such a staple part of the console experience nowadays, there’s certainly less emphasis on local multiplayer as gamers take to the Web for an almost endless supply of fresh challengers of varying ability levels. With that said, those looking to entertain or with large families can technically have up to eight people playing supported titles at once if they go with the Xbox One.

Of course, the real challenge will be finding enough space to seat the eight people, as well as requiring a television large enough to comfortably support an eight-way split-screen battle. Suffice to say, it’s likely few will utilize the controller support to its maximum capacity, however it’s nice that it is there.

The Xbox One is launching on November 22nd, and while this is later than the PlayStation 4′s November 15th drop in North America, it will still arrive before its big rival in several key markets, including the UK.

Microsoft: Xbox 360 Has Three Years Of Life Left

With the Xbox One almost upon us, it’s easy to forget that its predecessor, the Xbox 360, still has a fairly important role to play in the gaming world. With several key releases upcoming, including Grand Theft Auto 5, consumers will continue to purchase the console in their thousands. With that said, support for the older machine will eventually begin to dwindle as the Xbox One takes a stronghold, and Microsoft has just suggested that Xbox 360 support could cease in 2016.

After a long wait, we’ve finally gotten our November 22nd release date for the Xbox One, but while excitement levels are increasing for the next-gen console, many have wondered just how long the Xbox 360 will continue to play a part.

Speaking at this week’s Citi Global Technology Conference, Yusuf Mehdi, the Redmond company’s Xbox chief marketing and strategy officer seemed to imply that the current console will see another three years of support before being deemed obsolete:

If you look at 360, that platform lasted for seven to eight years and it’s going to go for another three years.

The statement is by no means a clarification, and can be interpreted as the console’s support being completely cut off, or simply games no longer being released.

If Mehdi does indeed mean that support for the console will end, the company will likely still offer Xbox LIVE to consumers sticking with the older hardware, as well as the general hardware support.

Either way, by then, the Xbox One will have become by far the more popular choice, and it makes sense for purpose of evolution that Microsoft would focus its attentions almost squarely on its more recent, advanced export.

The good news for those planning on keeping their Xbox 360 for the time being, is that Mehdi reiterated the point of the Xbox 360′s continued support:

We’re going to continue to invest in Xbox 360, and the two devices can work in concert. So it’s not like the day we ship Xbox One your 360 won’t work. We’ll continue to support it.

Not everybody’s a keen early adopter, and with the bundled Kinect sensor driving up the cost of a new Xbox One over its rivaling PlayStation 4, it’s good to see that money doesn’t necessarily need to be spent to get the most out of the Xbox product range.

Xbox One Release Date Finally Announced

We knew roughly when it would arrive, but until a few minutes ago we didn’t know for sure. Now all the guessing is over with though, and we know exactly when we will be able to get our hands on the new Xbox One: November 22nd.

Launching a week after Sony’s PlayStation 4 release date in the United States, the new console will launch simultaneously across a raft of territories, and will actually land before Sony’s offering in some of them, such as the UK.

The full list as detailed by Microsoft’s Xbox mouthpiece Major Nelson reads:

Today we are announcing that Xbox One will be available on Friday November 22, 2013 in all 13 of our initial launch markets – Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and USA. Many more markets will follow in 2014.

Keep in mind that these are the same Xbox One launch countries which we covered a while back, except that they are being re-confirmed along with the release date today.

The Xbox One is Microsoft’s successor to the hugely popular Xbox 360, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the Redmond outfit this time around. A furore surrounding digital rights management and the handling of used games still blots the Xbox One’s copybook, and while most of the confusion has been cleared up at this point, the new console’s reputation may be damaged beyond repair in the eyes of some gamers.

With the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launching so close to each other in so many countries, we could be in for a straight fight between two gaming powerhouses. The current generation saw Microsoft get to the party much earlier than Sony, leaving the Japanese firm to play catch-up for the rest of the cycle. Arguably, it never really managed it, but that’s an argument for the fanboys to have in the comments section below.

Which console you’re looking forward to the most will possibly depend on past allegiances, but if you happen to live in the United States, the One’s integration with TV content and sports may just push you towards the big black box with a Microsoft logo on it.

It’ll play games pretty well, too.

So, what are you planning on buying? The Xbox One, or the PS4?

Microsoft Explains Why It Bought Nokia

Hot on the heels of the news that Microsoft has spent $7.1 billion on Nokia, the company behind Windows Phone has had a go at explaining the acquisition by releasing a typically Microsoft PDF. With Nokia not exactly setting the world on fire with its handsets, and coming fully loaded with its own problems, the once proud phone manufacturer was already working extremely closely with Microsoft and with all its eggs in the Redmond firm’s Windows Phone basket, talk of a buyout has been doing the rounds for a long time. The fact that it actually happened has still come as a surprise to many, however.

Almost sensing that fact, Microsoft has set about explaining its decision to splash the cash, and it’s not just because they wanted Stephen Elop back at Microsoft!

While Microsoft is pleased that Windows Phone is now sitting in the number 3 slot when it comes to mobile operating systems, the company says that it will continue to provide solutions for both iOS and Android. That said, it believes that it cannot afford to rely on either platform too heavily in case either Apple or Google make changes to their solutions that lock Microsoft out in the future. With that in mind, having its own hardware and software could potentially be an important situation for Microsoft to be in.

Microsoft also says that, owing to the strength of the competition, it needs to offer a top class alternative to iOS or Android, and controlling the hardware is one of the ways that it can achieve just that. It’s an approach that Apple has famously taken since Steve Jobs returned to the company way back when, and it’s one that Google also seems to understand – the Nexus line and Motorola’s acquisition is the company’s way of trying to keep control of Android in some small way. Whether it succeeds is open to debate, though.

The way we see it is quite simple. Nokia needed Microsoft long term, and Microsoft wanted not just the hardware chops that Nokia possesses but also its huge war-chest full of patents. Nokia is believed to hold some of the most important patents in the industry, and now they’re Microsoft’s. In a game where patents can make or break a product release, having a stash of your own can come in very useful indeed.

Of course, Microsoft having tighter control over Nokia hardware is all well and good, and it arguably already had as much control as it could want via the existing deal in place between the two companies, but the real issue isn’t the hardware but the software. You could put Windows Phone on an iPhone 5 or Galaxy S4, but it would still have the same problems that it has on any current Windows Phone device – the ecosystem.

If Microsoft can get that sorted out quickly though, things could get really interesting pretty quickly. Whether Nokia can help it do that though, we’re not really sure.

(Source: Microsoft)

1080p Windows Phone 8 User Interface Screenshot Leaks From Nokia ‘Bandit’

The folks over at the Evleaks Twitter account are nothing if not prolific. Often the first to leak screenshots, spy shots and specification lists, Evleaks is one of the go-to places for finding out about unannounced smartphones, and they proved once more that they should be on everyone’s follow list today.

Whilst everyone else is still pondering the acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft, the Evleaks guys have released a new screenshot that will be of interest to fans of both the Redmond company and the latest company to be assimilated into it.

Nokia is believed to be working on a new Windows Phone-powered handset that will be announced this month, codenamed Bandit, or the Lumia 1520 as some people are calling it. Packing a 1080p screen, the new device will be the first to Windows Phone device to feature a 1080p screen, and that means that Windows Phone itself will need an update – something Microsoft is working towards with Windows Phone 8. We hadn’t seen anything to show how the Windows Phone home screen would perform on new, higher resolution devices with larger screens – until now.

The latest leak by Evleaks shows what they claim to be a screenshot from the new Bandit handset that Nokia is currently getting ready to announce, and it gives us our first insight into how Modern will use those extra pixels. In short, it’ll offer more icons, which is no great surprise to anyone.

Looking at the screenshot, Windows Phone 8 will follow the same icon layout options as its predecessor, with small, medium and large icons available for users. By contrast, Windows 8.1 on the desktop will be getting a new wider icon option, but at this point it doesn’t look like that will be making the jump to Microsoft’s smartphone platform.

Also new in the screenshot is an app called Storyteller. There is absolutely no information on this currently, but we have a sneaky suspicion that it will involve photos and location data in order to build a timeline of sorts. Useful, if you like that kind of thing.

Nokia is expected to announce the new phone alongside a Windows RT tablet device at an event on September 26th. We will keep you updated as soon as we get our hands on new details.

(Source: Evleaks [Twitter])

The Next Lumia Smartphone Will Be Microsoft Branded, Not Nokia

Nokia, the one-time king of the smartphone world, has finally come to a point where the Finnish giant is taking the back seat and leaving the smartphone world for good. That’s correct – no more smartphones will ever carry the brand name ‘Nokia’ ever again, even if the manufacturer was once viewed as the symbol for quality and reliability.

The decision comes as a part of the $7.1 billion acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft, which has surprisingly decided to venture into the smartphone hardware manufacturing as well. Judging by Microsoft’s past experience with Xbox and Surface tablets, we don’t see a reason why it shouldn’t, but the news still took the world by storm when it broke across the blogosphere.

As per the terms of the deal between Microsoft and Nokia, the Asha and Lumia trademarks will now belong to Microsoft, and hence, any phones made for the Windows Phone platform and the Symbian Belle platform will carry Microsoft as the maker instead of Nokia. The Nokia sign, however, will remain a property of the Finnish company, under part of a 10-year licensing agreement. This means that feature phones manufactured by Nokia will still carry its name, but as far as the smartphone race goes, this spells the end of the line for the company.

In all fairness, this was a really quiet exit for the innovation giant that actually helped start the smartphone trend in the world. No one can argue that Symbians were the first ever phones that brought to the general consumer market the concept of a phone that’s more than just a communication device, and they continued to build on that success until the iPhone came in 2007 and pretty much blew away the competition. While Symbian Belle may be outdated and redundant by today’s iOS and Android standards, the fact that it was a part of the smartphone legacy, still holds true, and we feel Nokia deserved more as its final wave.

The acquisition of the Finnish company by Microsoft raises many questions, especially with respect to Stephen Elop’s future with the Redmond giant. While he’ll now be heading the devices division, and overseeing, at least for the time being, these wonderful technological marvels that Lumias have been so far, some see him as a potential successor to Ballmer’s position as CEO of Microsoft who has already announced his retirement from Microsoft. The question is, would this acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft really help push Windows Phone platform to a level where it could compete against the current smartphone kings? Or would this decision turn out to be something similar to Google’s acquisition of Motorola? Only time will tell.

(Source: Nokia)

Microsoft Just Bought Nokia’s Devices And Services Business For $7.1 Billion

We’ve heard countless rumors in the past leading up to this day, suggesting that Microsoft might make the big move and acquire Nokia, along with its device and services division. And now, Microsoft has officially confirmed that the acquisition will indeed take place in an open letter from current Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer and Stephen Elop, the current CEO of Nokia.

It was back in February of 2011 when Nokia and Microsoft joined forces and announced their partnership to bring Windows Phone devices to the masses. The news came as a surprise to many since Android and iOS were the most dominating platform at that time. A move to hop onto the Windows Phone bandwagon, and not Android, startled many.

The news of the partnership came at a time when Symbian, which was Nokia’s primary smartphone OS at that time, was seeing a dramatic decline in usage. Meego also took an arrow to the knee and the whole division was scrapped for good. Fast forward today, Nokia is the biggest supplier of Windows Phone 7.x / 8 devices worldwide, all thanks to its new direction and appeal.

The open letter by Ballmer, who by the way announced recently that he will be stepping down from CEO position within 12 months, and Elop states that today is a big day and is “a huge leap forward on our journey of creating a family of devices and services that delight people and empower businesses of all sizes.” This clearly means that Microsoft and Nokia are indeed willing to take their partnership further, and is not just a mere acquisition, and Nokia shouldn’t be written off from the smartphone thriving world, just yet, despite its faltering sales.

The letter also states that the acquisition will take the Windows ecosystem even further; offering its users more choices, further speeding up the process of innovation and offer better devices to the end user. A big emphasis on the word Windows here: could we be seeing a Windows RT / 8 tablet from Nokia as well?

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has jumped the gun and purchased a big name company. Back in October of 2011, exactly two years ago, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Skype for a whopping $8.5 billion, which aided in bringing VoIP and video calling services to Windows Phone and other devices.

Considering the performance of Nokia in general, when compared to the likes of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS ecosystem, the just-announced acquisition is only a good thing for Nokia at this point. With Nokia facing severe losses in their quarterly results one after the other, Microsoft should be considered a savior at this point.

Microsoft will be paying $4.99 billion for the devices and services division of Nokia, and a further $2.18 billion for all the patents Nokia owns.

Since the news is now confirmed; who wants to see a Surface phone from the Redmond and Finnish giants? I do!

(Source: Nokia)

Windows 8 Gathering Steam As Consumers Begin To Drop XP, Now Has More Market Share Than OS X

Net Applications has just released its monthly NetMarketShare statistics, and with Windows 8.1 on the horizon, it throws up some rather interesting findings regarding adoption rates of currently available versions of the Redmond company’s platform. Notably, Windows 8 usage seems to have seen a significant upturn, with a leap from 5.42 percent to 7.65 percent worldwide during the month of August alone. Meanwhile, Windows XP, which still enjoys a healthy market share despite its age, dipped from 37.19 percent to 33.66 percent.

This is quite a significant change, and may be partly due to the fact that users are finally coming to terms with the changing face of Windows. However, it may also be largely attributable to the fact that NetMarketShare has altered the way it collects its numbers, which involves “deducting hidden pages from our usage share statistics.” Simply put, hidden pages are rendered, but because they’re never seen by the user, NetMarketShare feels that they shouldn’t be accounted for in usage share data.

By the same token, Google’s Chrome browser also saw a drop in usage, dropping from 17.76 percent to 16 percent, while its rivals, including Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer, all gained.

The methodology changes may have something to do with these apparent changes in trend, but only a look at future stats from NetMarketShare will actually confirm whether these numbers represent a minor anomaly, or actually indicate a change in trend.

If one considers that XP users are going to struggle with compatibility as time goes on – the latest version of IE, for example – you can see why users are now considering opting for the likes of Firefox, or simply dropping Windows XP altogether and going for Windows 8. This doesn’t, however, explain Chrome’s drop, and considering how quickly the browser has evolved over the past few years, are we seeing signs that the search giant’s popular Web client is faltering?

Now here comes a fun tidbit in case you didn’t notice in the graph above: the total market share of Windows 8 is now more than every version of Mac OS X ever released. This is another revelation that proves Windows 8 is doing surprisingly well, despite some lackluster reviews and views from the general user.

We’ll only know for sure once the next set of numbers are in, so we’ll keep a close eye on how things are shaping up as far as market share goes. Windows 8.1 will certainly skew the figures once more, and with a more favorable outlay when compared with the too-much, too-soon perception of Windows 8, we could see the true beginning of Windows XP’s demise – particularly in the consumer market.

Windows 8.1 release date has been officially confirmed by the Redmond giant for October 17th, with general availability to every current Windows 8 user on October 18th as a free download.

How To Change And Control The Behavior Of Windows 8 And 7 Taskbar [VIDEO]

Hate Windows Vista as much as you like, but the fact remains that Microsoft’s failed intermittent operating system between the incredibly famous Windows XP and Windows 7 set the grounds for the major leap that the Redmond company took from the former to the latter, both in terms of feature set and graphical uplift, and not to exclude user experience. Windows 7 itself was a huge success, and from the looks of it, Windows 8 is following in its footsteps, despite the controversy surrounding the removal of Start Orb (and menu) from the operating system.

The thing about any OS is, no matter how strong, polished and convenient it would be, users will still find areas for improvement. The availability of the hundreds of Windows enhancement and tweaking tools is a testament to that. Windows 8, too, has received its fair share of such applications. One area of the OS that’s usually ignored, however, is the Taskbar – the omnipresent toolbar at the bottom of your screen housing all the tabs that you pin to it, alongside the notification tray. 7+ Taskbar Tweaker is one utility that targets this particular area, and brings certain improvements to the usefulness of a feature that you access most frequently. The recent update of the tool pushed it to version 4.1, and caught our attention as well.

7+ Taskbar Tweaker comes in both installable and portable flavors, and offers three main areas to play around with; Taskbar items, grouping and combining, and other miscellaneous options, complete with a Taskbar Inspector tool. Within the tool itself, you may change the behavior for right click actions, middle click, dropping an icon or hovering your mouse over them, decide how thumbnails would appear, and choose how pinned items would work. Then, you can control tab grouping, combining and collapsing, decide whether to show jump lists on right-click or a proper context menu, and various other items.

The application works on Windows 8 as well (hence the name “7+”), and is available in a multitude of languages. Since it’s available as a portable utility as well, you may use it on any system you like without disrupting the system registry (mighty useful for those who operate in a closely-administered work environment).  The screenshot below exhibits an example of ungrouped instances of Google Chrome.

You may grab 7+ Taskbar Tweaker from here.

You may also like to check out:

• New Start8 Beta Brings The Start Menu Back In Windows 8 [VIDEO]
• Decor8 Lets You Personalize Windows 8 Start And Lock Screen To Your Liking

Internet Explorer 10 For Windows 7 Now Available To Download

Microsoft today made Internet Explorer available to Windows 7 users, which means Microsoft’s 2nd newest operating system now has browser parity with the newest, Windows 8.

Internet Explorer 10 was already available for download if you happened to be up for using the developer preview release. All Windows 7 users will have the update pushed to their machines over the coming weeks, putting everyone on an even keel as time progresses.

Apart from once again returning Internet Explorer to an even release version number, IE10 features supposedly improved JavaScript performance as well as better battery performance for those using mobile machines – something that’s always welcomed by road warriors who live in their browser when out and about.

Windows 7 users who upgrade to Internet Explorer 10 will now be able to take advantage of built-in spell checking and autocorrection as well as improved support for all the latest web standards. This will hopefully stop Internet Explorer from grinding to a halt on certain web pages that rely heavily on some of the new whizz-bang web.

Unfortunately, users of IE10 on Windows 7 will not receive the same full screen view as their Windows 8 toting counterparts, with this version of Microsoft’s web browser looking rather like the previous version from the outside.

Internet Explorer was once the browser of choice for Windows users, but with the likes of Firefox and more recently, Google’s Chrome on the scene, IE has found itself at the bottom of jokes rather than the icon  given pride of place on the Windows desktop. Poor releases, speed and security were the reasons for that change initially, but improved releases of late have seen the once proud browser return to favor for many. It’s certainly not bad to use at all, but we’re still big fans of Google Chrome here at Redmond Pie. We know you all are, too.

Internet Explorer 10 is now available to download for Windows 7, with 95 languages to choose from. You can download it from here.