Microsoft Sending a Message with IE 10 Preview!

IE 10 Microsoft has almost always tied up the development of Internet Explorer browser with Windows. Whenever a new version of Windows is shipped out, the IE browser’s version also gets an upgrade.
Windows XP came with IE6, Windows Vista had IE7 and Windows 7 had IE8 pre-installed. The reception to the browser versions also reflected how the OS was received. Just like people are not ready to upgrade from XP to Vista, IE6 users seemed to not bother upgrading to IE7 or even IE8.

Microsoft’s message with IE 10

With IE 9 being released, many felt it was the last chance for Microsoft to save IE browser. With the release being only a month ago, the preview build of IE 10 was a surprise. IE 9 was expected to be shipped as default with the next version (Windows 8?) of Windows.
With IE 10 Microsoft is telling the internet community that they will probably upgrade browser versions without waiting for newer OS to be introduced.

IE 10 Features

• It is really good at making most use of screen space like IE 9 does.
• The graphics support along with CSS rendering is pretty good, as shown by a tests like Fish bowl and Paint Ball.
• IE 9 has a good record when it comes to handling power efficiency. For Laptop users like me, that is a good incentive. I found IE 10 preview not being as light-weight but that might change when IE 10 goes into Beta from Preview version.

What Microsoft needs to do to give IE 10 a boost?

Firstly, IE 10 preview only works with Windows 7. I am not sure if that will happen with IE 10 browser going ahead but if it does, then it would be disappointing. Internet Explorer needs to offer support to Mac OS and Linux-based OS.
This will truly separate IE from Windows as a product and maybe then we might see IE browser building its own independent identity as a browser which does not only revolve around Windows.
I doubt that all this will happen considering how IE finds itself shooting in the foot, what are your view? Do drop in your comments.
Link: IE 10 Preview

Microsoft codename 'Redhawk' lives... in Windows 8

I couldn’t hold back from mentioning one of the recently discovered tidbits, as it hearkens back to a Microsoft codename about which I wrote years ago.
Way back in 2008 — a year before Windows 7 was released to manufacturing —My tipsters at the time said Redhawk was focused on the creation of a new managed-code execution environment that would be more lightweight and more appealing to developers who have been put off by the perceived overhead of the current Common Language Runtime (CLR) at the heart of the .Net Framework.
Back then, I heard that some of the Redhawk deliverables (specifically around the driver model) potentially could be incorporated into Windows 8. My tipsters said that Microsoft Tech Fellow Patrick Dussud was leading the Redhawk charge — something about which Dussud declined to comment. (Dussud’s bio lists him as the Chief Architect of the .Net Framework team and a member of the Windows Core Architecture team.) Dussud told me when I interviewed him that he was very focused on scalability and multicore support as part of his next big project.
It seems from folks who have unlocked the Milestone 1 (M1) of Windows 8 that leaked to the Web earlier this month that Redhawk somehow plays into Windows 8. There are comments on MyDigitalLife and Microsoft’s Channel 9 site (thanks to Charon at Ma-Config.com for the pointer to Channel 9) discussing Redhawk and speculating as to what it might bring to the next version of Windows. The commentors note that “Rh” and “Rhp” (Redhawk Project?) that refer back to a System Language Runtime (SLR) in the build.
It’s interesting to me that we have heard nothing (so far) about a .Net 5. The M1 leaks don’t include mention of it; instead they mention a .Net 4.0.30215 build. Maybe we’ll hear more about the next .Net Framework later this summer — or maybe even in May at TechEd — when Microsoft might start talking publicly about Visual Studio 2012.
I’m also wondering what the inclusion of Redhawk in Windows 8/.Net Next means, if anything, in terms of “Midori.” When I initially received tips on Redhawk, my sources said Redhawk deliverables might also include a new back-end compiler that somehow paved the way for Midori, an incubation project inside Microsoft headed by Senior Vice President of Technical Strategy Eric Rudder, that is/was slated to be a distributed, concurrent operating system. There’s been no word on Midori and its current status for a while now….

Rumor: iPhone 5 will have A5 processor, Qualcomm baseband

Even though Apple is not expected to reveal the next generation of the iPhone until this fall, the rumor mill is already churning away.
According to Apple Insider, Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a note that the iPhone 5 will sport the following “slight modifications”:

• New iOS 5 mobile operating system (set to be unveiled at WWDC 2011)
• A5 processor (as seen in the iPad 2)
• 8-megapixel rear camera
• Qualcomm baseband for both GSM and CDMA models
• Improved antenna design

The last one is unintentionally comedic as its obviously necessary given the catastrophe that was “Antennagate” in summer 2010. However, we shouldn’t expect to see any major exterior design changes until at least the sixth iPhone. (Let’s not even start thinking about that one just yet.) The processor and the camera seem like reasonable upgrades, and given that Kuo has apparently been correct on past Apple rumors, the Qualcomm switch could pan out.
Of course, Apple hasn’t even confirmed an iPhone 5 model (after all, we’re still waiting for the iPhone 4 in white), but we all know its coming. It’s just a matter of when at this point.
[Note: The device in the image above is the iPhone 4 - not a new version of the iPhone that is discussed in this post.]

Samsung expected to debut 2GHz dual-core smartphone by 2012

Smartphone processors are evolving from 1GHz to 1.2GHz dual-core power lately, but Samsung plans to step things up considerably by next year.
It is being reported that Samsung is planning to release a smartphone powered by a 2GHz dual-core processor by the end of 2012. Samsung is expected to both produce and sell these soon-to-be ground-breaking CPUs, which will “narrow the gap between a smartphone and a full-fledged desktop PC.”
Thus, if the CPUs are sold separately, we could be seeing this technology in a number of other devices next year - not just in whatever might be the next installment of the Galaxy S series. While this is certainly exciting and deserves support, such advancements could lead to higher prices and less battery life initially. It might be awhile before a smartphone with this processing power seems like a great deal overall.

Microsoft delivers public beta of its Office 365 cloud bundle

As rumored last week, Microsoft made available on April 18 a public beta of its Office 365 bundle of Microsoft-hosted applications.
Office 365 will include updated versions of SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Lync Online, Office Web Apps and an optional Office 2010 Professional Plus software package, all available as via subscription. It will bring many, though not all, of the capabilities in the on-premises versions of SharePoint 2010, Exchange 2010 and Lync 2010 to cloud users. (Office 365 is Microsoft-hosted, but not yet hosted on Windows Azure, for the record.)
In October 2010, Microsoft introduced an invitation-only, limited beta of Office 365 — the successor to Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), Live@Edu offering and its Office Live Small Business service. Microsoft officials said that more than 100,000 organizations signed up for the beta.
Those interested in kicking the tires of the new public beta, available in 38 markets and 17 languages, can sign up at http://www.Office365.com.
Update: Those who are signing up for new/first-time Office 365 accounts are being told they won’t actually be added to the beta for two weeks, according to  @Karucifer. He’s right. Here’s the official response from a spokesperson: “If the tremendous interest we saw in the private beta is any indication, we expect a tremendous response to the public beta, and we want to ensure our customers have a great experience getting into the beta.” Those already testing Office 365 are being upgraded to the new beta automatically, Microsoft execs said.

Microsoft also announced plans on April 18 to take the wraps off the Office 365 Marketplace. The marketplace will highlight partner apps and services for Office 365. There will be 100 apps and 400 professional services in the marketplace to start. The Office 365 marketplace can be found here.
Microsoft execs are continuing to promise Office 365 will drop its beta tag later this year. I continue to hear that will happen in early June.
Microsoft seems to be leaning away from offering a “dedicated” version of Office 365, instead focusing on the shared/multitenant crowd with the new version of its cloud-hosted business bundle. The BPOS-D offering is aimed at enterprise customers with 5,000 seats and above. Microsoft is planning to sell Office 365 in a variety of flavors and price points, ranging from the entry-level “K” (kiosk worker) plans, to its its small-business-focused “P” plans, to enterprise-targeted “E” plans. There also will be a separate Office 365 for Education offering.
Microsoft officials said last year that the company is planning to add the Dynamics CRM Online offering to Office 365 at some point in 2011, but have offered no additional details.
Update 2: UK VAR software manager RIchard Gibbons has a good summary of some of the “license mobility” changes Microsoft is making to accommodate users who want to run Microsoft applications in a mix-and-match way across the cloud and on-premises servers.

Windows 8: Beta collectors waiting with bated breath for a leak

While there have been various minor Windows 8 leaks claimed and reported by various sites, Microsoft has kept a tight lid on its next version of Windows to date.
But in the past few days, rumors of a possible leak of one of the newer Windows 8 internal builds have been gaining steam. Some known beta-leaking sites have been posting new screen shots of what they are claiming to be leaked Windows 8 builds. These builds may be from one or more select OEMs, who supposedly are finally starting to get private test builds of Windows 8 from Microsoft.
There have been all kinds of claims as to how and why Microsoft has managed to keep Windows 8 leaks to a minimum. There’s a forbidding warning (beyond the milder “sssh. let’s not leak our hard work”) on the alleged Windows 8 screen shots. It reads:

“Unauthorized use or disclosure in any manner may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment (in the case of employees), termination of an assignment or contract (in the case of contingent staff), and potential civil and criminal liability.”

There also have been claims that Microsoft has coded identifying information into Windows 8 downloads to help the company track leakers. (One of my sources said that there are some builds of Windows 8 that are “Red Pill,” which means they only can be downloaded by certain individuals when they are on the Microsoft campus.)
The latest alleged Windows 8 screen shots don’t sport the new Windows 8 user interface(s), as the interface typically is one of the last pieces that Microsoft adds to Windows test builds. (I am using interface in the plural here because we Microsoft watchers have heard there will likely be at least two different interfaces for Windows 8 client when it ships, with one being a tile-based touch-centric one, known as MoSH, for Modern Shell.)
On March 30, a bunch of new alleged Windows 8 screen shots, posted by CNBeta.com, make mention of a possible new Windows 8 feature known as “History Vault.” The WinRumors.com site described History Vault as Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Time Machine. History Vault, from what little can be gleaned from the new screen shots, looks to be an update to Microsoft’s Shadow Copy feature that has been in Windows since Vista.
Other recent alleged Windows 8 screen shots have shown the “System Reset” capability that Microsoft told OEMs in April 2010 that it planned to add to the coming version of Windows. Some sites also claim that there are mentions of Internet Explorer 10 in some recent Windows 8 builds. In April 2010, Microsoft was telling OEMs that IE 9 would be the version of IE that would be included in Windows 8. My deduction: The IE team has decided to get the lead out, and is on a faster turn-around schedule than expected just a year ago.
Microsoft developers are working on M3, or Milestone 3, of Windows 8 at this point in time. Once M3 is done, which should/could be this summer, Microsoft is expected to make test builds of Windows 8 somewhat more widely available. I’ve heard from a couple of my contacts that Microsoft could show off Windows 8 to its partners at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in July in Los Angeles, if not before. And last I heard, the Softies are still planning to hold a Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in September (most likely in Redmond), and plan to make available around that time either a Community Test Preview or possibly a beta of Windows 8.
Apologies for all the “allegeds” and “supposeds” in this post. Microsoft officials still are not talking about Windows 8, and — believe it or not — still not confirming officially that the next version of Windows will be “Windows 8.”