Microsoft will chop Windows 8 into nine SKUsMore boxes to shiftBy Lawrence LatifFri Mar 02 2012, 14:44SOFTWARE REDEVELOPER Microsoft is expecting to release nine Windows 8 SKUs according to a registry entry in the consumer preview released on Wednesday.Microsoft launched its Windows 8 consumer preview with much fanfare at MWC in Barcelona on Wednesday and later claimed that it was downloaded a million times in just 24 hours. With people poking around the operating system, it wasn't long before the chaps at Windows 8 Beta found references to nine Windows 8 SKUs.According to Microsoft's registry entry there will be two Enterprise editions - one is purely for evaluation - plus Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional and Professional Plus editions, with Starter and Ultimate editions to top off the x86 offerings. There are no prizes for guessing that there will be an ARM version too, rounding off the set.Microsoft's recent releases of Windows have seen an explosion of SKUs. While few would have complaints about an ARM SKU, Microsoft's decision to have an "Enterprise" and two "Professional" SKUs suggests a new found eagerness for needless product segmentation.With Microsoft looking to flog so many Windows 8 SKUs, retailers will have a job on their hands to try to steer customers onto the right version of the operating system. It seems that while other operating system vendors can get away with one or two versions, Microsoft prefers to chop up its products in order to make them seem more impressive and try to rake in more cash.Microsoft is expected to release Windows 8 towards the tail end of 2012, with the consumer preview being used to generate interest for the operating system and let users find bugs for free. µ
The circle squaredMicrosoft has achieved what it set out to achieve. There are some issues to be taken care of, and I hope that Microsoft addresses them before finalizing the product. But Windows 8 is a true tablet operating system and a true PC operating system all in one. It's an interface that is comfortable and fluent on touch-based tablets, and effective and capable with the mouse and keyboard.This isn't enough to take on Android tablets or the iPad, because an operating system alone cannot do that. Microsoft needs high quality hardware from its OEMs, and it needs strong support from its ISVs. Microsoft has done its part. The rest is up to its partners.
Janne Kytömäki, a Finnish software developer, was cruising Google’s (GOOG) Android Market for smartphone apps last year when he noticed something strange. Dozens of best-selling applications suddenly listed the same wrong publisher. It was as if Stephen King’s name had vanished from the covers of his books, replaced by an unknown author. Kytömäki realized the culprit was a piece of malware that was spreading quickly, and he posted his findings online.Google responded swiftly. It flipped a little-known kill switch, reaching into more than 250,000 infected Android smartphones and forcibly removing the malicious code. “It was sort of unreal, watching something like that unfold,” says Kytömäki, who makes dice simulator apps. Kill switches are a standard part of most smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. Google, Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN) all have the ability to reach into devices to delete illicit content or edit code without users’ permission. It’s a powerful way to stop threats that spread quickly, but it’s also a privacy and security land mine.With the rollout of the Windows 8 operating system expected later this year, millions of desktop and laptop PCs will get kill switches for the first time. Microsoft (MSFT) hasn’t spoken publicly about its reasons for including this capability in Windows 8 beyond a cryptic warning that it might be compelled to use it for legal or security reasons. The feature was publicized in a widely cited Computerworld article in December when Microsoft posted the terms of use for its new application store, a feature in Windows 8 that will allow users to download software from a Microsoft-controlled portal. Windows smartphones, like those of its competitors, have included kill switches for several years, though software deletion “is a last resort, and it’s uncommon,” says Todd Biggs, director of product management for Windows Phone Marketplace.Microsoft declined to answer questions about the kill switch in Windows 8 other than to say it will only be able to remove or change applications downloaded through the new app store. Any software loaded from a flash drive, DVD, or directly from the Web will remain outside Microsoft’s control. Still, the kill switch is a tool that could help Microsoft prevent mass malware infections. “For most users, the ability to remotely remove apps is a good thing,” says Charlie Miller, a researcher with the security company Accuvant.The history of kill switches on smartphones and e-readers suggests they’re double-edged swords for the companies that wield them. In 2009, Amazon reached into users’ Kindles to delete e-book copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm that had been sold by a publisher without the necessary rights. The ensuing backlash caused Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos to call the move “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles.”The reluctance of tech companies to set explicit policies for when they will and will not use kill switches contributes to the fear they’ll be abused. Civil rights and free speech advocates worry that tech companies could be pressured by governments to delete software or data for political reasons. “You have someone who has absolute control over my hard drive in ways I may have never anticipated or consented to,” says Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University’s law school in California. “If they use that power wisely, they actually make my life better. We don’t know if they use the power wisely. In fact, we may never know when they use their power at all.”Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s vice president of Android engineering, says the search company reserves the use of the kill switch for “really egregious, really obvious cases” of harmful content. Microsoft’s Biggs says the company has used the functionality in its smartphones only for “technical issues and content issues.” Apple declined to comment. Amazon did not respond to several messages.Like many in his profession, Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder of the San Francisco startup Lookout, which makes security software for smartphones, expresses mixed emotions about the emergence of kill switches. “The remote removal tools are very much a response to the mistakes of the PC era,” he says. “Whether or not it’s an overcorrection, I think history will tell us. It can be done right, but we as an industry need to tread carefully. It’s easy to imagine several dystopian futures that can arise from this.”One supporter is Janne Kytömäki, the Finn who discovered the Android malware outbreak. He says Google did the right thing by deleting the malware without users’ permission. “What was the alternative?” he says. “Leave those apps installed on 200,000 people’s mobiles? This is something that had to be done.”The bottom line: Kill switches can improve computer security, but they worry privacy and free speech advocates.Robertson is a reporter for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.
I'm seeing various ppl complaining about the start menu,Why you guys want startbutton back so badly, what can the start button do that windows 8 start cant? Only thing i use that start button for in windows 7 is this: 1)Press Start, 2) Type what i looking for, 3) Press enter.I do exactly the same in windows 8...(only with the added advantage of the search being across files/settings/apps/store/etc)Can someone explain why the windows 7 styled startmenu is so important seeing that windows 8 does the same thing but better?Are people using the Windows 7 startmenu for something other than what i use it for?Please explain... Thanks.
I've been using the release preview for a while now and I must say I love the experience, half the time I have all my monitors on desktop view and yet when time calls for it I run some of the "metro apps"
