Free Republic

English: The free logo of Microsoft Windows of simple shapes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Free may be good when it comes to some things but until recently, I always thought free and OS were not synonymous with quality, unless you were talking about the poor variety. I gave Apple some grief awhile back when it made its operating system, OS X Mavericks free to download and use. Most of my criticism was directed at how we, the consumers, became Apple’s primary software testers. I also spoke harshly with respect to the degrading quality of the system software releases that could be...

With Microsoft Edge, we want to fundamentally improve security over existing browsers and enable users to confidently experience the web from Windows. We have designed Microsoft Edge to defend users from increasingly sophisticated and prevalent attacks. This post covers some of the advanced technologies used to protect Microsoft Edge, including industry leading sandboxing, compiler, and memory management techniques developed in close partnership with Windows. Web Security Threats While the web is predominantly a safe environment, some sites are designed to steal money and personal information. Thieves by nature don’t care about rules, and will use any means to take advantage...

Talk of Windows 10 being the 'last version' of Windows has been circulating for a year. What does this really mean? The answer: Not much. As Microsoft made clear last year by skipping "Windows 9" when going from Windows 8 to Windows 10, Windows version numbers are an arbitrary thing. That's why all this talk about Windows 10 being the "last version of Windows" is a nothing to see here moment. Many of us Microsoft watchers had been saying that Threshold (Windows 10) would be the last major version of Windows for months, if not a year. Microsoft Developer Evangelist...

Original full title/subtitle:Microsoft's secret weapon in browser wars: Mozilla's supercharged Asm.js Native-speed JavaScript available now in Windows 10's Edge browser Microsoft has included a surprise feature in its new Edge web browser for Windows 10, in the form of support for the ultra-optimizable Asm.js JavaScript dialect. First developed by Mozilla and championed by the nonprofit's former CTO Brendon Eich, Asm.js is a strict subset of JavaScript that aims to be the "assembly language of the web." By eliminating many of the vagaries of the JavaScript language syntax, Asm.js forces client-side web code into a form that is easy for Just-In-Time...

The Internet woke up to a shock this morning. Microsoft MSFT +2.18% has used its Ignite 2015 conference to declare Windows 10 will be “the last version of Windows” . The reaction has been predictably alarmist, but what exactly does it mean and is this really the end for Windows as we know it? First some context. The statement came from Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon, a self proclaimed ‘developer evangelist’ who stated: “Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10.” If this sounds strange, Microsoft...

You won't have to worry about dodgy toolbars, rogue ActiveX controls, or buggy plugins when you use Microsoft Edge (née Project Spartan), Redmond's new web browser for Windows 10. But you can also forget about extending the browser in any way, at least at first. Microsoft gave a sneak peek at its new, HTML/JavaScript-based extensibility engine for Edge at its Build developer conference in San Francisco last week. But on Wednesday we learned that this engine won't be available when the first general-availability build of Edge ships with the Windows 10 launch. "We will enable this new model after our...

M icrosoft unveiled Windows 10, its forthcoming operating system for the desktop, mobile, Xbox, and IoT late last year. The Windows 10 moniker was interesting, as ideally, Microsoft was expected to call the successor to Windows 8 (and 8.1) as Windows 9. The Redmond-based company explained why it didn’t go with ‘Windows 9’: it would have created conflict with older versions of Windows. Alright, so what will the next version of Windows be called? Windows 10, apparently. At Ignite conference earlier this week, Jerry Nixon, a Microsoft Developer Evangelist, said that Windows 10 “is the last version of Windows (so...

As sales of tablets and phones continue to outstrip demand for PCs, the technology industry is preparing for a shift in how people use computers. In this transition, phones and tablets are expected to begin to be used as desktop PCs, a change that will force a fundamental redesign of software. Instead of operating systems and applications having a single interface, apps will alter their look and controls to reflect how they are being used. For example, a UI that favours large, easily-tappable buttons on a touchscreen tablet might switch to tightly-packed icons when the tablet is used with a...

(This is about using Windows 10 on tiny embedded hardware for Internet-connected devices.) Windows 10 IoT Insider Preview was released yesterday (Apr 29) for various low cost hardware types - Raspberry Pi 2, MinnowBoard MAX, Intel Galileo and Arduino. It's available from here https://ms-iot.github.io/content/GetStarted.htm In this blog post I'll be getting the IoT release up and running on one of those devices, the Raspberry Pi 2. (Article goes into detailed steps of how to load Windows 10 onto a Raspberry Pi 2.)

To meet its goal of putting Windows 10 on a billion devices within three years, Microsoft will have to turn every personal computer now running Windows 7 onto the new OS, then find even more to migrate, calculations from recent statistics show. Microsoft staked out the ambitious plan last week at its Build developers conference. "Our goal is that within two to three years of Windows 10's release there will be one billion devices running Windows 10," said Terry Myerson, the chief of the firm's operating system group. One billion. A big, big number. For an idea how big, Computerworld...

New policy verges on apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgradeIgnite 2015 Microsoft has shown off some of the new security mechanisms embedded in Windows 10, and revealed a change to its software updates. Windows supremo Terry Myerson reckons the revised security patch rollout – effectively ditching the monthly Patch Tuesday – will shame Google. "Google takes no responsibility to update customer devices, and refuses to take responsibility to update their devices, leaving end users and businesses increasingly exposed every day they use an Android device," Myerson said during his Ignite keynote in Chicago today. He was referring to the sometimes tardy...

Windows Media Center has come to the end of the road with Windows 10. Microsoft’s next client operating system won’t include Redmond’s media software, for recording and playing TV, music and video. General manager for OSG data and fundamentals Gabriel Aul Tweeted: We can confirm that due to decreased usage, Windows Media Center will not be part of Windows 10. — Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) May 4, 2015 For those who are using Windows Media Center, Aul said Microsoft would deliver a “DVD option” in an update later this year. Windows Media Center debuted as Windows XP Media Center Edition in...

We've learned some amazing things about Microsoft's Windows Holographic platform since it was announced back in January. We know that NASA is using it to virtually explore Mars, and you can play Minecraft on your coffee table, and today we learned that the company will integrate all universal apps running on Windows 10 into the experience. But a short demo near the end of today's Microsoft Build 2015 keynote showed us a little bit more about how HoloLens can help blend virtual reality with the real world to create what the company calls "mixed reality." A small metal robot drove...

Build 2015 Microsoft has released preview Build 10074 of Windows 10 at its Build developer event in San Francisco. It is only a week since the previous preview build (10061) arrived, but this one is a milestone available even to users who prefer to stick with the more stable releases – the “slow” update cycle in Windows Insider terms. This also means you can get an ISO image for a clean install. Windows 10 is set for release this summer, according to Microsoft, with AMD CEO Lisa Su letting slip that it may be done by the end of July....

Microsoft expects its newest operating system, Windows 10, to be running on 1 billion computers within two to three years. The figure, which includes desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones, was repeatedly touted Wednesday at Microsoft’s annual conference for application developers. Microsoft has struggled to get companies to make apps for Windows mobile devices, part of a self-perpetuating cycle that makes Windows smartphones less attractive to consumers.

(Liveblogging as it happens)

At their long, developer-focused Build conference this morning, Microsoft announced a plethora of new things regarding Windows 10 and its new identity as a service-based company. Windows 10 is the company’s new attempt at recapturing the interest of longtime Windows 7 users, after a fairly limited turnout for Windows 8.In case you haven’t heard, yes—Microsoft skipped “Windows 9” and went straight to Windows 10. The good news is that the OS looks to be a pretty balanced and powerful system that takes the best of Windows 7 and Windows 8 and finds a happy medium in between the two....

Microsoft is making big efforts to increase the security of Windows 10 and turn the new operating system into a fully secure working environment, so several new features will be available in this regard when it comes out. In addition to Microsoft Passport and Windows Hello, both of which were announced a few months ago, Redmond will also introduce a feature called Device Guard that would give organizations full control over the apps that are allowed to be launched on a device running Windows 10. According to Microsoft, the new feature should provide advanced malware protection against new and even...

Microsoft released Build 10052 of Windows 10 for phones on Tuesday, along with a revised rollback tool that should help solve the bricking problems that Lumia 520 users and other unlucky souls experienced. The major problem that the new build solves is an issue where some users—including owners of the most popular Windows phone, the Lumia 520—suffered catastrophic failures that “bricked” the phones when they tried to roll them back to Windows 8.1. Microsoft said it has solved the bug on Lumia 520 phones, with an update to the Windows Phone Reset Tool.

Buried in the question-and-answer section of AMD’s earnings call this past Friday was an interesting note on the release timing of Windows 10. According to AMD CEO Lisa Su, Windows 10 should be released in late July.In response to a question regarding its channel inventory, Su said the following: What we also are factoring in is, you know, with the Windows 10 launch at the end of July, we are watching sort of the impact of that on the back-to-school season, and expect that it might have a bit of a delay to the normal back-to-school season inventory build-up. TechCrunch...