Free Republic

Compatibility hold slapped on affected kit with fixes in 'upcoming release' It's only the second week of Windows 10's May 2020 Update and things are going... about as well as one might expect. Which, sadly for Microsoft hardware owners, is not ideal.The release popped up last week and we noted that it had its issues. Ten, to be precise. The bork count currently stands at 11 and, worryingly for owners of Microsoft's pricey Surface devices, now includes features the company's fancy fondleslabs.Microsoft is keen to brag about the "Always Connected" nature of its devices but it appears that some have...

Thunderbolt vulnerabilities can let attacker with physical access steal data from memory and encrypted drives. A Dutch researcher has detailed nine attack scenarios that work against all computers with Thunderbolt shipped since 2011 and which allow an attacker with physical access to quickly steal data from encrypted drives and memory. Researcher Björn Ruytenberg detailed the so-called Thunderspy attacks in a report published on Sunday, warning that the attacks work even when users follow security best practice, such as locking an unattended computer, setting up Secure Boot, using strong BIOS and operating system account passwords, and enabling full disk encryption. Microsoft...

Just a few days ago, Microsoft revealed details of the Surface Book 2 which is due to launch in November. But before the device is even available, it has been dealt a blow by Consumer Reports.Earlier in the year, the review group said that problems with reliability meant that it was impossible for it to recommend any Microsoft laptop or tablet. Now Consumer Reports says that this extends to the Surface Book 2, meaning that the device will not be recommended. While hardly the end of the world for Microsoft, this will still come as bad news. The company expressed...

Or so say a bunch of PC execs and Canalys CEO Canalys Channels Forum Microsoft will quit its loss-making Surface hardware business by 2019, according to execs from PC manufacturers and a channel watcher.Talking at the tenth Canalys Channels Forum in Venice, Canalys CEO Steve Brazier said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella would exit the product line because he is a “software guy, a cloud guy” and pointed to the demise of the smartphone line.He added: “The Surface performance is choppy; there are good quarters and bad quarters, overall they are not making money. It doesn’t make sense for them to...

When Microsoft unveiled the first Surface tablet five years ago, it was a spectacular failure. At the time, the Apple iPhone was well on its way to conquering the technology industry, and the iPad appeared set to lead an even more devastating invasion of Microsoft’s office-worker kingdom. Microsoft conceived of Surface, an innovative laptop-tablet hybrid, as a way to show off the versatility of its software. Windows machines, it argued, could work as phones, personal computers and tablets. And didn’t everyone love Windows? Nope. Microsoft soon took a $900 million write-off for unsold Surfaces. Another effort to break into the...

Note from dayglored: This thread ties to a thread on Slashdot which links to an article from motherboard.vice.com. The vice.com article refers to a "Teardown" column on iFixit.com. Pictures of the teardown are found here: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Laptop+Teardown/92915. It's also important to note that iFixit is ONLY comlpainining about the Surface Laptop's upgradeability/repairability -- they otherwise describe the product in very well-deserved, glowing terms. Repair specialists iFixit have dubbed the new laptop a ‘Russian nesting doll from hell.’ Microsoft's latest Surface Laptop may have earned glowing reviews from certain sections of the tech press, but don't tell that to iFixit. The company,...

Disclaimer from dayglored: This is a shameless sales/marketing page from the Microsoft Windows blog. I'm posting it as an FR thread for the many Windows Ping List members who have expressed interest in knowing about new offerings in the Surface Pro line.There are numerous tech reviews of these products, which I'll link in later comments. Today, Surface is celebrating the largest launch in its history with Surface Laptop and the new Surface Pro now available in 25 markets around the world, as well as expanded global availability for Surface Studio. Today, we are excited to launch the new Surface Pro...

Microsoft's Surface Laptop is aimed at supplanting the MacBook Air as a college-student favorite. The svelte, stylish clamshell also fills a middle ground between its cousins, the Surface Pro 4 tablet and Surface Book powerhouse 2-in-1, providing a third option that could appeal to many regular consumers. We went hands-on with the Surface Laptop last week and plan to test it in advance of its June launch. Until then, if you're trying to decide between the Surface Pro 4's promise of a tablet that can be a full-fledged computer, and the Surface Laptop's full-fledged computer that's nearly as light (and...

Commentary: A new J.D. Power study finds Surface buyers are happier than their iPad counterparts. They're younger and prefer Microsoft's design. Have you noticed a certain giddiness in some of your friends lately? I'm thinking about the ones who use a Microsoft Surface.I only ask because J.D Power has just emitted its US Tablet Satisfaction Study and it declared that Surface owners experience deeper sensations of satisfaction than iPad buyers.Apple fanpersons might turn pale when they learn the main reasons for this greater Surface joy are, according to the Power people, "its top rankings in the features and styling &...

I want to buy a new laptop and would like to stay around 11-12" and under $500. I don't have a tablet, so I'm thinking of getting one that either docks to a keyboard and is detachable, or the type that flips & isn't detachable. I'm leery of the detachable, because I've read reviews of people having trouble with them after a while. I want it to have Windows 10 and a touchscreen would be nice also, but not imperative. I'm not a gamer but I do want speed ...I'd be using it for FReeping, surfing the web, email, etc,...

Microsoft Surface Studio is a new category of device, designed to put you at the center of the creative process. Turn your desk into a Studio. Learn more: http://surfac.ms/1026YSO

If you're in the market for a Surface 3, now is the time to buy one. Microsoft says that production of the Surface 3 will come to an end in December this year, and warns that stocks are already starting to run low. It's not yet clear whether the end of production for the cheapest Surface device signals the end of Microsoft's Atom-based devices. But it certainly seems as though the company is keen to focus its attention on the Pro range as well as the Surface Book. Microsoft confirmed the end of Surface 3 production to ZDNet. Mary Jo...

Typoslab gains pay-by-the-month option, with bundled support and training First Microsoft turned Office into software-as-a-service. It's currently transforming Windows into Windows-as-a-service. And now it's decided that its Surface Pro typoslab should become Surface-as-a-service, to help businesses buy more of the hybrid machines. Surface-as-a-Service, or "Surface Membership" to use its proper name, lets you choose from Surface Book, Surface Pro 4 and Surface 4 hardware. An online configurator lets you design the machines you want (complete with keyboards and pens) and choose a 18, 24 or 30 month membership plan. Joining the club also gets you Microsoft's Complete for Business Extended...

Announced in October 2015, and released a month later, Microsoft's Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL smartphones have not set the world alight. The first 'out of the box' Windows 10 powered smartphones occupy a curious pivot point in Microsoft's plans. What do they tell us about the direction of Microsoft and how it will approach mobile in 2016? Between them they represent the end of a line of smartphones that stretches back to Nokia's 2011 decision to go with Windows Phone rather than Android, They also represent Microsoft's future attitudes to smartphones as a single element of a wide...

Flickering lights, sleeplessness leave Redmond's typoslabs feeling drained Microsoft has apologised for the "less-than-perfect experience" reported by many buyers of its new Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book computers, but has nonetheless beaten Apple in the tablet sales stakes. The Surface Book has suffered from flickering screens. Both machines have generated complaints of poor battery life, especially when machines are placed into sleep mode but still manage to deplete the power source. Users have also complained that machines are slow to wake from sleep mode, that they run hot and/or slowly. Microsoft's offered some updated drivers to address the issues...

Apple today announced two new accessories which are blatant rip-offs from Microsoft. In addition to announcing iPad Pro to take on Surface Pro, Apple also announced Smart Cover (Touch Cover clone) and Apple Pencil (Surface Pen). Apple Smart Cover will attach to iPad Pro using Magnets. And Apple Pencil will support pressure sensitivity just like Surface Pen.

The long reigning king of the desktop OS is in trouble. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, is rapidly steering the company into the back office and service spaces, while their nascent mobile and desktop platforms are crumbling around them. Microsoft is putting on a brave face continuing to heavily advertise the 2-in-1 Surface debacle, but Nadella is only buying time, as he must surely know that Apple and Google is the two-headed beast that Microsoft can not stop. In less than a decade, Microsoft will be associated with IBM or Oracle, not Apple or Google. Apple’s iOS is poised for...

It turns out that support page name-checking the Surface Pro 3 wasn't a typo after all. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced the all-new Surface Pro 3, but this version is more than a mere spec boost over the Surface Pro 2: It's a whole new entry in the Surface lineup, and one designed "to replace your laptop." The Surface Pro 3 blends full Core i7 power—Surface head Panos Panay calls it "the thinnest Core product ever created," designed in close conjunction with Intel—with true tablet sleekness, sheer screen size aside. The Surface Pro 3 measures in at a mere 0.35-inch thick...

Microsoft Corp. reported revenue and earnings for its fiscal second quarter that topped Wall Street expectations, as the company sold 3.9 million Xbox One consoles to retailers and doubled revenue from its line of Surface tablets from a quarter earlier. Net income in the quarter through December climbed to $6.56 billion US, or 78 cents per share, from $6.38 billion, or 76 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 14 per cent to $24.52 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $23.67 billion. Departing CEO Steve Ballmer, who announced he’d step...

Despite receiving support from nearly all of its hardware partners, Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) Windows 8 has yet to catch on as a tablet operating system. Last July, Microsoft took a $900 million writedown on its Surface tablet. Though sales have improved, Windows tablets remain largely in the minority -- IDC's most recent data shows Microsoft's operating system with just 3.4% of the global tablet market.But even that modest success could soon unravel. Both Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) and Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF  ) appear poised to aggressively target the enterprise tablet market in 2014, perhaps the only market where Windows tablets have an...