Items tagged with Operating System
Microsoft has done a good job of embracing the cloud as it pertains to its lucrative consumer products--look no further than Office 365 and the free online Office suite at Office.com as proof--but the Redmond company may be taking things even further by rolling out a cloud-based operating system, too. The information...
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Linux, and Ubuntu in particular, missed a golden opportunity to truly break into the mainstream market during the early days of Vista. The buggy operating system (prior to SP1) left consumers angry and willing to consider alternatives, but at the time, even Ubuntu was still a little rough around the edges to draw...
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Riddle us this - what do Windows XP and Windows 8.1 have in common? They're both in Microsoft's rear view mirror, and come May 13, 2014, the latter will also no longer receive security updates. Scratching your head? Here's the thing -- Microsoft isn't abandoning its newest operating system, but it is forcing users to...
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We don't want to get all pre-Y2Kish and surmise how the world is going to come to an end once Microsoft drops support for Windows XP -- the world will keep spinning, we assure you -- but if you're still hanging tight to the legacy operating system, you should prepare yourself for life after support. After April 8, 2014, Microsoft will no longer...
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If you're in your thirties or older, then perhaps you cut your teeth on an Amiga, and specifically the Amiga 500, the best selling model in the series. It was put out by Commodore, and compared to the popular Commodore 64 released in 1982, the Amiga 500 was a big step up. At the heart of the system was AmigaDOS, later renamed AmigaOS, which...
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A person could make a strong argument that Windows XP is the most loved version of Windows ever, lest there's another reason so many users are clinging to the legacy operating system until it's pried from their cold, dead hands. Even as Microsoft gets ready to stop supporting the OS in another two months, Windows XP not only commands a significant...
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It may not make headlines very often, but rest assured, Mozilla is hard at work developing its Firefox OS, which it will undoubtedly show off at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next month. Mozilla's hope is that more Firefox OS devices will penetrate the market, and getting the OS onto tablets is a big step...
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At long last, Valve's SteamOS is now available to download, albeit in beta form. This is a major step in what Valve hopes will be an evolutionary step in PC gaming, as it tries to displace (or at least co-exist) with traditional consoles in the living room. The other major goal with SteamOS is to break the dependency...
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If you're still rocking Windows XP, we admire your dedication and ability to squeeze over a decade of use out of an operating system you presumably purchased long ago (nobody pirates XP, right?), but the end is nigh if you care at all about security. Come April 2014, Microsoft will cease supporting the legacy OS, thereby leaving your system...
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Given the success Samsung has had with Android, it's not really surprising that it isn't pushing its own Tizen operating system (co-developed with Intel) as aggressively as it could be. This might even be the first you've heard of Tizen, which is a Linux-based OS designed for a range of devices, including smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, in-vehicle...
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One of the things that helped Mozilla's Firefox browser gain a following is that it's constantly updated. While Internet Explorer (IE) remained stagnant for years on end, here came Firefox with a bunch of new features, and these days Mozilla rolls out new releases at a breakneck pace as part of its rapid release...
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At the beginning the year, it was easy to complain about Jelly Bean's slow roll into the Android market, which at the time was still being dominated by Gingerbread (Android 2.3.x), an aging version of Google's open source operating system found on 47.6 percent of all Android devices. Now here we are at the halfway...
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The world isn't flat (no matter what The Flat Earth Society says), but the next major version of Apple's iOS platform might be. Those who have glimpsed iOS 7 say it features a redesigned user interface (UI) that new users will probably like, but note it could also be a little off putting to long-time users who are used to the way iOS currently...
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Windows XP is a dead operating system (OS) walking. In exactly one year from today, Microsoft will cease supporting the legacy OS, which translates into no more security updates. Naturally the suits in Redmond would love it if every XP user -- legitimate or otherwise -- would make the switch to Windows 8, and if they...
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Surface RT tablet sales haven't exactly been through the roof. Out of the 1.5 million Surface tablet sales to date, a million of them belong to Surface RT, falling well short of Microsoft's expectations, assuming it's true that the Redmond outfit ordered 3 million Surface RT slates. Is Windows RT to blame? It's a bit...
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Another month is in the books, and that means another opportunity to examine market share data for Windows 8. Microsoft's touch-friendly operating system (OS) grew its market share to 2.7 percent in February, up slightly from 2.26 percent in January. Going back even further, Windows 8's share of the market was 1.72...
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It's not often you hear an Apple user bash his platform, especially a relatively high profile one like Lloyd Chambers, a photography enthusiast and author of the Macintosh Performance Guide. Chambers, who worked as a professional software engineer for 25 years and has been using Macs since they first appeared in the 1980s, wrote an interesting...
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After several setbacks and delays, the folks at Fedora have just released their newest Linux distro, Fedora 18, otherwise known by its code-name "Spherical Cow." One of the big new features in Fedora 18 is that it now supports UEFI Secure Boot by using bootloaders that have been signed with Microsoft certificates. In short, you should have...
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Procrastination doesn't ever pay off, and if you're sitting pretty with a free preview of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system (OS), be advised that the free ride is almost over. The Developer Preview (from September 2011), the Consumer Preview (from February 2012), and the Release Preview all expire next month on January 15, 2013. "Starting...
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With so many conflicting reports on the state of Windows 8, it's difficult to get a grip on exactly where it stands in the grand scheme of things at this early stage. For example, Microsoft just the other day proudly proclaimed that it's sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses during its first month of availability. Not too shabby, but now StatCounter...
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The slumping PC market was badly in need of a shot of adrenaline, and unfortunately, Microsoft's Windows 8 may not have provided that boost. According to data compiled by The NPD Group, Windows device sales have actually fallen 21 percent year-over-year since Windows 8 launched on October 26. Notebook sales have struggled the most, dropping...
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Microsoft's vision for the future was, and remains, one in which we all embrace Windows 8's touch-friendly user interface (UI) across a variety of devices, and in time, that may still happen. As for right now, however, sales of Windows 8 PCs are falling below Microsoft's expectations, which has led the Redmond...
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