Microsoft Support & Discussions

By Thurrott, Paul An XKCD cartoon this week nicely encapsulates the problem Microsoft faces with its traditional desktop versions of Windows: With the world moving to mobile apps and web apps, what’s the future like for native desktop apps? Probable answer: There is no future for native desktop apps. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul An often irreverent look at some of this week’s other news, including Microsoft revelations about Google hypocrisy, a former Microsoftie becomes CIO of the USA, Office 365 trials heading to new PCs, Microsoft’s supposed Android bonanza, Android’s continued mobile dominance in 2012, whether Windows Phone "Tango" is real, Chrome OS gets a security comeuppance, a rumored merger of Mac OS X and iOS, and whether HP’s Palm webOS gambit has already failed. Source: Win Super Site

Skype, which still is not officially part of Microsoft, is continuing to make its own policy and strategy decisions which may or may not mesh with Microsoft’s own directions. Source: All About Microsoft

Steven VanRoekel’s first job at Microsoft was as a premier support and presales technical advisor. On August 4, he became the new U.S. technology officer. Source: All About Microsoft

By Thurrott, Paul Google is upset that Apple and Microsoft are using the legal system to prevent other companies from infringing on their patented technologies. But what’s the argument here, exactly? Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Microsoft Press makes various titles available for free in PDF format, but this week it revealed that it is now making some of these titles available for free via the Amazon Kindle and other eBook platforms as well, thanks to their release in DRM-free EPUB and MOBI formats. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Microsoft this year will ship three touch-capable mice. But if you’re looking for a pure, multi-touch mouse, only Microsoft’s latest creation, the Touch Mouse, will do. And while it’s a beautiful device, the question remains: Is it any good? Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Research In Motion (RIM) announced its first new smart phones based on the BlackBerry 7 OS release, and not the upcoming OS overhaul featuring the QNX system that powers its PlayBook tablet. Still, RIM claims the new product represent its biggest product launch ever, and the new devices are quite attractive and appear to have some interesting new functionality. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Here are some initial photos of the new Microsoft Touch Mouse, which brings multi-touch functionality to Windows 7, including one finger scrolling and navigation, two finger window arrangement, and a three-finger Instant Viewer feature that will have Mac OS X users seeing red. But I’ll have a full write-up to explain that one soon. Source: Win Super Site

Microsoft is guiding developers toward HTML5 and JavaScript for Windows 8 app development. It turns out he company also is pushing these Web technologies as key to extending Office 15 and Office 365. Source: All About Microsoft

Google is accusing the coalition that recently purchased 6,000 Nortel patents as engaging in an anticompetitive strategy. Source: All About Microsoft

According to a new report, there are as many as 6,000 references to MinWin in an internal Windows 8 client build. This may provide more clues and validation of Microsoft’s virtualization plans for the coming operating system release. Source: All About Microsoft

By Thurrott, Paul A bizarre and widely reported study claiming that users of Internet Explorer were dumber than users of other web browsers was just a hoax, the BBC reports. Source: Win Super Site

Microsoft changed its volume licenses, as of June 1 this year, to be more cloud-friendly. Here’s how one licensing expert sees the new terms affecting customers and partners. Source: All About Microsoft

By Thurrott, Paul According to the market researchers at Canalys, Android smart phones accounted for 48 percent of all smart phones sold in the second quarter of 2011, an all-time high for the still quickly-growing system. Android commanded just 33 percent of the market 6 months earlier. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul Ultrabook will combine the best of tablet computing with the best of traditional notebook PC computing. That is, Ultrabooks will be used "as a tablet when you want it, a PC when you need it," suggesting that these devices will feature removable screens which house the computing "guts" of the system, a la an iPad. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul With the first Palm-based webOS devices now in the market and underwhelming from a sales perspective, HP is modifying its strategy. And that includes a new round of webOS upgrades and price cuts for its poorly-selling TouchPad tablet. Source: Win Super Site

By Thurrott, Paul The latest version of Apple’s Boot Camp solution, which lets you dual boot a Mac between Mac OS X and Windows, now only works with Windows 7. Previous versions also supported Windows XP and Vista. Source: Win Super Site