Who's upgrading to Windows 10?

In the three weeks since the new OS's debut, Windows 8.1 users have been the most willing to migrate

Windows 8.1 users have been half again as likely to upgrade to Windows 10 as their compatriots running Windows 7, data from a Web metrics vendor showed today, confirming expectations about who would upgrade first to Microsoft's new operating system.

The ascension of Windows 10's usage share has largely come at the expense of Windows 8.1, according to measurements by Irish analytics company StatCounter. Of the combined usage share losses posted by Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 since the last full week before Windows 10's July 29 launch, 57% has been attributed to Windows 8.1 deserters.

Windows 7, meanwhile, contributed 37% of the losses by the last three editions, and Windows 8, 6%.

The disparity was not unexpected: Most pundits and analysts figured that users of Windows 8.1 -- like Windows 7, eligible for a free upgrade -- would be first in line to dump their existing OS and migrate to the new. The changes in Windows 10, including the restoration of the Start menu and windowed apps, were most attractive to Windows 8 and 8.1 users, experts believed, because their removal had been widely panned.

Simply put, Windows 7 users, who were more satisfied with the OS Microsoft gave them, would be less motivated to upgrade. That's been proven out by StatCounter's early numbers.

But there were recent signs that Windows 7 users have begun jumping to Windows 10 in numbers nearly equal to Windows 8.1.

During the week of August 10-16, the difference between the declines in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 was the smallest it's been since Windows 10's debut. In that week, Windows 7 lost 0.55 percentage points of usage share, only slightly less than the 0.64 percentage points given up by Windows 8.1. The week before -- August 3-9 -- the gap between the two was much larger: Windows 7 lost 0.95 percentage points, while 8.1 declined by 1.42 points.

StatCounter's data also illustrated just how important Windows 7 conversions will be to Windows 10's ultimate success -- as Microsoft has defined it, that would mean 1 billion devices running the operating system by mid-2018. Even if it coaxed every Windows 8 and 8.1 user into upgrading, Microsoft would be looking at a usage share of less than 21% for Windows 10. It must convince large segments of Windows 7's base to migrate as well.

That may require modification of the Windows 10 pitch, perhaps with less talk about the return of the Start menu, say, and more about enhanced security. Working against Microsoft are a plethora of Windows 10 behaviors, particularly its mandated updates and the concurrent loss of control over what reaches customers' devices and when. That has raised hackles among the traditionalists who stuck with Windows 7.

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Microsoft explains timing of Windows 10 updates

Windows 10's staggered timetable will kick off by early December

If Microsoft follows through on its announced plans for updating and upgrading Windows 10 after the new OS launches in two weeks, it will issue the first update no later than the end of November or early December, then follow with three more in 2016, repeating with a trio each year following.

Lather, rinse, repeat.
The update churn will result in a near-constant patter about upcoming updates and upgrades -- Microsoft itself isn't sure which of those terms apply, using both interchangeably -- for customers to digest.

Microsoft has left those customers guessing on answers to a slew of questions about Windows 10 refreshes, ranging from how long the updates and upgrades will appear free of charge to how substantial those changes will be. But it's talked about the schedule, pulling back the curtain in small jerks.

Here's what's known about the timetable and what's still unknown -- or in the infamous words of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the "known unknowns" -- as the July 29 release date looms.
Updates will come every four months

According to a Microsoft-hosted webinar in late April, Windows 10 will receive updates about every four months, or three times a year.

It's likely that Microsoft won't hew to a set schedule, as does Mozilla, which rolls out a new edition of Firefox at almost-sacrosanct six-week intervals. Microsoft could trim the time between updates or extend the timeline, depending on whether it's satisfied with the quality and composition of the new build, or even on external factors, like the calendar.

If Microsoft wanted to present a newer Windows 10 for the end-of-year holiday sales season, for example, it would like to have that on new devices no later than mid-November, meaning a release -- or, at least, finished code -- in October.

Such flexibility is not guaranteed: We simply don't know because Microsoft won't say, or doesn't know itself.

But on average, expect to see updates/upgrades spaced out every four months.

The first update will appear before year's end

Four months from the July 29 launch date would be November 29, close to the start of winter in the northern hemisphere.

Although that date may not be set in stone, it's clear that to make good on its promises Microsoft must roll out a finished first update/upgrade before year's end.

That alone will be a record for the company: The previous shortest lag has been the six months between Windows 8.1 (launched Oct. 17, 2013) and Windows 8.1 Update (April 8, 2014).

Consumers as guinea pigs get the first update
The first update/upgrade will be primarily, perhaps exclusively, for consumers, delivered to devices running Windows 10 Home by default via the Windows Update service. Microsoft is calling that update cadence or track "Current Branch" (CB), part of the new release lexicon the Redmond, Wash. company's invented.

Those running the more advanced Windows 10 Pro can also adopt the consumer-speed CB track. People most likely to do so are the power users, enthusiasts and work-at-homers with a Pro edition, as companies -- which also widely deploy the various Windows' Professional or Pro SKUs (stock-keeping units) -- will probably play it conservative and instead take updates from the Current Branch for Business (CBB) after they have moved to Windows 10 Pro.

Not everyone on CB will get the first update at the same time
Microsoft has provided some update flexibility (its take) or complicated matters (the cynic's view) by segmenting each "branch" into "rings." The latter is a second release timing mechanism that lets customers receive a branch's update as soon as the build is approved via a "fast" ring, or delay the update's arrival using a "slow" ring.

Rings on the CB were confirmed only this week by Terry Myerson, chief of the company's OS and devices division, and may number more than the two: Again, Microsoft's not elaborated.

The Windows Insider preview program, which will continue to run after July 29, has put devices into the slow ring by default; Microsoft may or may not do the same with the CB.

The one certainty is that not everyone on the CB will get the update immediately. "Some consumers just want to go first. And we have consumers that say, 'I'm okay not being first,'" Myerson said on Monday.

Most business PCs won't get the first update until the Spring of 2016
Because Microsoft will be using its Insider participants, and more importantly the millions of consumers running Windows 10, as testers, it will not release builds to businesses at the same time as those on the Current Branch.

With the four-month stretch between updates/upgrades and the automatic delay built into the Current Branch for Business (CBB), customers on the latter will not receive the first build until next year: On a strict schedule, that will be at the end of March or beginning of April 2016.

Microsoft's doing it this way, it's said, to produce more bug-free code to its most important users, businesses. Microsoft figures that the four months will shake out more bugs so that those running Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise will get a more stable update with a correspondingly lower risk of something breaking.

Users of Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise can stick with the old way of managing updates -- using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or another patch-management product -- or go with the new Windows Update for Business (WUB), an analog to the consumer-ish Windows Update service.

Those on WUB must deploy a given build within four months of its release or Microsoft will shut off the patch spigot: That means CBB users applying updates/upgrades with WUB must have the first build on their devices by approximately Aug. 1, 2016.

Businesses can delay the first update only so long

Microsoft's not giving anyone a choice: Either take the updates and upgrades or face a security patch drought. (The one exception: Windows 10 Enterprise.)

The longest delay allowed for CBB will be eight months from a specific build's release to the branch, or 12 months after the same build has hit the consumers via the CB.

Customers using WSUS or another Microsoft (or third-party) patch management solution must have the first build deployed no later than late November, early December 2016.

Microsoft has talked about rings on the CBB since the May announcement of Windows Update for Business, but as with rings on the CB, details remain muddled. How long the slow ring follows the fast, for instance, is unclear.
Only Windows 10 Enterprise can ignore the updates and upgrades

The only Windows 10 edition that can pass on the constant updates and upgrades is Enterprise, the SKU available solely to organizations that have a volume licensing agreement tied to the annuity-like Software Assurance (SA) program.

The branch available only to Windows 10 Enterprise, dubbed Long-term Servicing Branch, or LSTB, mimics the traditional way Microsoft has handled its OS: Only security patches and critical bug-fixes will reach systems on the LTSB.

Every two to three years, Microsoft will create another LTSB build, integrating some or all of the feature changes released to CB and CBB in the intervening time, then offer that to customers. They will have the option to move to that build -- it won't be mandatory -- and can skip at least one build, passing on LTSB 2 (or whatever Microsoft names it), then years later adopting LSTB 3 with an in-place upgrade.

The code released on July 29 will be considered LTSB 1, Microsoft has said, so a second, optional LTSB won't appear until 2017 at the earliest.
By December 2016, there will be multiple update/upgrade builds being used

The staggered releases Microsoft plans will create a situation where multiple builds are in use at any one time, each by a segment of the Windows 10 device population.

Come December 2016, Microsoft will have issued its fourth build to the CB, and the third to the CBB. But there will be some still using the second build (those on the CBB managing updates with WSUS).

Analysts, however, have largely discounted fragmentation as a factor, arguing that while the delays offered to businesses on the CBB may be disruptive, Windows 10 will ultimately be a more uniform ecosystem than the current mix of vastly different editions of Windows.
What Microsoft gets out of this stretched, staggered release schedule

Microsoft may pitch the Windows 10 update and upgrade schedule as all about customers, but there's something in it for the company, too.

"Rings will be more about controlling the rate at which the updates flood out into market," said Steve Kleynhans, an analyst at Gartner, in a recent interview. "With potentially a billion devices ... eventually ... getting an update, you need some level of flow control or else you could crush your servers and a large part of the Internet. By using rings, Microsoft can stagger the release over the period of days or weeks."

In fact, the entire cadence, not just the rings, can be envisioned as Microsoft's way of reducing stress on its update servers. Although the second build for the CB -- slated for late March-early April 2016 -- will coincide with the launch of the first build for the CBB on Computerworld's timeline, it will not be a surprise if Microsoft staggers the two by launching first one, then the other.

Microsoft is clearly concerned about server load and the possibility that something could go awry: It's not releasing the free Windows 10 upgrade to all eligible customers on July 29. Instead, it plans to give the several million Insiders the code first, then gradually trigger upgrades on others' devices in an unknown number of "waves" that could run weeks or months.

The company will also control demand for the upgrade another way by silently downloading the bits in the background to eligible PCs and tablets, then notifying them on its own schedule that the upgrade is ready to process locally.

It may do the same with later updates and upgrades, Kleynhans speculated.

"I wouldn't be surprised if under the covers Microsoft uses a separate ring for each week after an OS is released, or maybe even one for each day immediately after it is out," said Kleynhans. "But these will be mostly invisible to users and really isn't all the different from the way some updates roll-out today."
The naming problem

Computerworld has used generic place holders to identify the various update/upgrade releases Microsoft will distribute to Windows 10 -- "first build" and "LTSB 2," for instance -- because Microsoft hasn't talked about how it's going to name each build.

That will have to change.

"Another factor that Microsoft has yet to discuss is how it will identify each update," Kleynhans said. "We know that the OS will be called Windows 10 regardless of what updates have been delivered and installed.... But as for identifying the state after each update, we don't know if Microsoft will stick with the build number, as it has during the preview program, opt for a simplified numbering scheme -- something similar to the build number but without the holes in the numbering scheme -- go back to point identifiers [like] Window 10 v 10.1 and Windows 10 v 10.2, [as] Apple does with OS X, or maybe use something more date oriented [such as] 'Windows 10, July 2016.' There will have to be something to help developers understand what they are facing in the field."

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Microsoft tries to rain on Amazon’s cloud parade

As Amazon.com CTO Werner Vogels was on stage at the AWS Summit in New York, Microsoft released a new tool for migrating workloads from AWS's cloud into Azure. Credit: Brandon Butler

On the day of AWS's New York Summit, Microsoft launches tool for migrating AWS workloads into Azure

This week all eyes in the cloud market were on Amazon Web Services as the company held a Summit in New York City that attracted thousands to the Javits Center in Manhattan.

And as Amazoners were partying in New York, Microsoft tried to rain on Amazon’s cloud parade.

In what amounts to a “hey don’t forget about us!” news announcement, Microsoft announced new functionality for its Azure cloud on Thursday that makes it easier to migrate workloads into its cloud. It gets better though: The tool is specifically targeted at stealing workloads away from AWS. It works well for VMware workloads too, just for good measure.

Microsoft’s news this week came from its Azure Site Recovery team, which is a service that makes migrating workloads into Azure easier, and helps manage workloads that run in multiple different clouds. The company specifically outlined its AWS-to-Azure migration capabilities in a blog post launched on the day of AWS’s Summit (yesterday). It also announced new support for backing up virtual machines that run in VMware environments and even physical (non-virtualized) servers too. The service is based on technology Microsoft bought through the acquisition of InMage last year.

The news continues to build out Microsoft’s fast-growing set of services it offers on Azure. Microsoft has been adding new features to Azure at a rapid pace over the past year. Analysts and customers I spoke with at the AWS Summit still estimate Azure is a distant second behind AWS, however. On the bright side, there’s another big gap between AWS, Azure and pretty much everyone else in the market too, when it comes to IaaS cloud features and functionality. The IaaS cloud is basically a two-horse race.

But the symbolism of announcing the news on the day of Amazon’s big cloud Summit on Thursday, and the fact that the new features make it easier for customers to port workloads from AWS to Azure, basically shows that the gloves are off in the IaaS cloud market.

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Microsoft's device share growth to outpace Apple's through 2016

Gartner's forecast downgrades Apple's OS expected share to 11.3% this year, 11.6% in '16

Microsoft's share of shipped devices will climb slightly this year and pick up some steam in 2016, but Apple's share will grow at a more sluggish pace because of slow-downs in iPhone and iPad, Gartner forecast Monday.

For 2015, Windows' share of the operating systems on all devices -- smartphones, tablets, PCs, ultra-lights and hybrids -- will climb to 14.4%, up from 14% last year, Gartner said in new estimates. It claimed that shipments would increase by less than 7%, to 355 million.

As it did several times last year, Gartner downgraded Windows' numbers for 2015 Monday: Its October 2014 forecast pegged Windows at 14.6% by the end of this year.

Gartner projected Windows' share in 2016 would climb to 15.3% on the back of 396.3 million devices shipped, a year-over-year increase of almost 11%, the largest boost since 2013, when PC sales began a prolonged contraction.

Microsoft wasn't the only OS maker whose forecast worsened in Gartner's latest estimate. Apple will also grow its share at a slower tempo than anticipated by several predictions of 2014.

Apple finished 2014 with an operating system share of 11% by virtue of about 262.6 million devices shipped, said Gartner, and should see its slice of the OS pie grow to 11.3% in 2015. That's less than the 11.6% pegged in the October forecast.

The Cupertino, Calif. company's share will reach that 11.6% -- but now not until the end of 2016, Gartner said today.

Those numbers were significantly under the aggressive estimate Gartner touted a year ago; in January 2014, it predicted Apple's share would reach 13.9% in 2014 and a whopping 15.9% in 2016, hot on the heels of Windows.

They also represented year-over-year increases in devices shipped of 6% for this year and 7% for the next, the numbers in marked contrast to the double-digit growth Apple experienced in 2013 and 2014.

What happened to make Gartner change its prognostication tune?
Its analysts cited Apple's two largest-volume lines, the iPad and iPhone, for their change of heart, pointing -- like many other analysts have in 2014 -- to a longer-than-anticipated refresh cycle for Apple's tablet and the belief that Apple will find it tougher showing iPhone growth in the future as it runs low of new markets and has a difficult time topping the iPhone 6 line.

"The challenge for the next iPhone to find significant growth becomes greater [in 2015 and 2016]," Ranjit Atwal, a Gartner analyst, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Gartner's forecast for Android got more bullish than ever on Monday. By the end of 2015, Android will have captured 58.9% of the device share -- up from an October 2014 forecast of 57.4% and a January 2014 bet of just 47.8% -- and will grow even larger in 2016, accounting for 62.9% of all smartphones and tablets in two years.

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Patch Tuesday: Internet Explorer needs critical patches, again

Microsoft browser needs the most urgent patching on an otherwise light Patch Tuesday

In a very light set of monthly security bulletins, Microsoft will issue just one that it’s ranking critical and it involves Internet Explorer.

If left unpatched, the browser is subject to attacks that execute malicious code on victim machines, so getting the updates to patch it is important, says Ross Barrett, a security engineer at Rapid7. “This will be the top patching priority for this month,” he says.

In addition to the threat posed by the vulnerabilities that the patches correct, these critical browser updates will be challenging for IT organizations, says Eric Cowperthwaite, vice president of advanced security & strategy, Core Security. Installing the updates requires system restarts and the browser in all its versions is widely distributed among organizations. “We don’t yet know if there are active exploits in the wild, but there may well be. And, even if not, this appears to be something that is likely to have exploits developed in the near future,” Cowperthwaite says.

Vulnerable versions include IE 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 running on desktop Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 as well as Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2012.

The bulletin about the Internet Explorer problems is likely to include a roll-up of fixes for any number of vulnerabilities found over the past month, says Ross Barrett, a security engineer at Rapid7.

The rest of this month’s bulletins are rated important, which means that attacks against these vulnerabilities require some action on the user’s part in order to succeed. Still, one bulleting warns against vulnerabilities that could lead to escalation of privilege on compromised Windows 8 and 8.1 machines and Server 2012 and 2012 RT, says Jon Rudolph, a senior software engineer at Core Security.

A third bulletin addresses flaws in Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2012 and Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1 that could lead to DDoS attacks against the machines. The final bulletin involves Lync Server 2010 and 2013 and also addresses problems that could lead to DDoS attacks.

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Windows 8's uptake falls again, now slower than dud Vista

Windows 8's uptake was stuck in reverse for the second straight quarter as the reputation-challenged operating system fell behind the pace set by Windows Vista six years ago, according to data released Friday.

Web metrics firm Net Applications' figures for July put the combined user share of Windows 8 and 8.1 at 12.5% of the world's desktop and notebook systems, a small drop of six-hundredths of a percentage point from June. That decline was atop a one-tenth-point fall the month before, the first time the OS had lost user share since its October 2012 debut.
MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 10 (FREE!) Microsoft tools to make admins happier

Windows 8 accounted for 13.6% of the personal computers running Microsoft's Windows. The difference between the numbers for all personal computers and only those running Windows was due to Windows powering 91.7% of all personal computers, not 100%.

While in June Windows 8's user share came dangerously close to the sluggish uptake tempo of Windows Vista, in July Windows 8's pace fell below Vista's for the first time. (Computerworld erred in calling Windows 8's uptake slower than Vista's in the early stages of the former's lifespan based on incorrect comparisons.)

At the point in Vista's post-release timeline that corresponded to July, the 2007 operating system ran on 13.6% of all personal computers -- a larger percentage than Windows 8's last month -- and on 14.3% of all Windows PCs. The latter is the most credible, as it accounts for the slightly-greater dominance of Windows at the time. (When Vista was in its 21st month after launch, Windows powered 94.9% of all personal computers.)

That Windows 8's uptake performance has not matched Vista's is important because the latter, widely panned at the time, has earned a reputation as one of Microsoft's biggest OS failures. By association, then, Windows 8 looks to be the same.

While Windows 8 again lost user share in July, Windows 7 gained another seven-tenths of a percentage point to close the month with 51.2%. It was the fifth straight month that the 2009 operating system has grown its share. The surge has not been surprising, since most industry analysts have said that the recent uptick in computer sales has been due to businesses replacing the now-retired Windows XP with Windows 7.

Windows 7 has grown by nearly twice the amount of Windows 8 in the past six months.

Windows XP's user share fell half a percentage point in July, accounting for 24.8% of all personal computers, and 27.1% of only those running Windows. The decline came after a month where the aged OS remained flat. In the last six months, XP has contracted by 4.4 points.

Computerworld now projects that Windows XP will still be running between 20% and 22% of the world's personal computers at the end of 2014.

Another analytics company, Ireland's StatCounter, had different numbers for Windows. StatCounter's figures are typically at odds with those from Net Applications because they measure with dissimilar methodologies: StatCounter tallies "usage share" by counting page views to show how active users of each OS are on the Web, while Net Applications estimates "user share" by collating unique visitors, which more closely resembles user base than does StatCounter's data.

StatCounter pegged July's Windows 8 and 8.1 usage share at 15%, Windows 7's at 55.3%, XP's at 15.2% and Vista's at 3.5%.

A second straight month of user share decline in Windows 8 put the newest OS behind the post-launch trajectory of the company's Vista flop. (Data: Net Applications.)

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Microsoft sets Oct. 31 as stop date for Windows 7 consumer PC sales

But extends end-of-sales date for business PCs running Windows 7 Professional

Microsoft has set Oct. 31 as the end of sales of new consumer-grade Windows 7 PCs, but for now has left open the do-not-sell-after-this-date for business machines.

On the site where it posts such policies, Microsoft now notes that Oct. 31, 2014, is the end-of-sales date for new PCs equipped with Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium or Ultimate. All three are consumer-oriented versions of Windows 7; Home Premium has been the overwhelming choice of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) for consumer systems.

Microsoft's practice, first defined in 2010, is to stop selling an older operating system in retail one year after the launch of its successor, and halt delivery of the previous Windows edition to OEMs two years after a new version launches. The company shipped Windows 8, Windows 7's replacement, in October 2012.

The setting of a deadline for consumer Windows 7 PCs followed a glitch last year when Microsoft named the same Oct. 31 date for all Windows 7 PCs, but then quickly retracted the posting, claiming that the notification had been posted "in error."

Some OEMs, notably Hewlett-Packard, have made headlines for marketing consumer-grade Windows 7 PCs, a sign of the fragmentation of the once-dominant Windows oligarchy, which always pushed the newest at the expense of older editions.

But while it has established an end-of-sales date for consumer PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed, Microsoft has yet to do the same for business PCs.

Microsoft will give a one-year warning before it demands that OEMs stop selling PCs with Windows 7 Professional, the commercial-quality version. Under that rule, Microsoft will allow computer makers such as Lenovo, HP and Dell to continue selling PCs with Windows 7 Professional until at least February 2015.

It's likely that the extension will be much longer.
Windows 7 has become the standard version for businesses, which have spurned Windows 8, largely because of its two-user interface (UI) model, which they consider disruptive to productivity and a needless cost that would require employee retraining.

Most analysts believe that Windows 7 will remain the most popular Microsoft operating system deployed by companies for years to come.

"There's a good chance that enterprises will stay on Windows 7 as long as possible," said Gartner analyst Michael Silver in an October 2013 interview. If his prediction turns out to be accurate, Windows 7 may reprise the stubborn persistence of Windows XP, the nearly-13-year-old OS that Microsoft will retire in April.

Even after Windows 8's launch, Windows 7's user share, a rough measurement of the prevalence of the OS on operational machines, has continued to grow. From October 2012 to January 2014, Windows 7's user share increased nearly 3 percentage points, representing a 6% gain during that period, according to data from analytics company Net Applications.

Some of Windows 7's gains certainly came at the expense of Windows XP, which has fallen more than 11 percentage points, a 28% decline, since October 2012 as users abandoned the old OS.

By making Windows 7 available, Microsoft and its OEMs not only continue to serve customers who want the OS, but make sure that new PC sales do not slump even more dramatically than they have already.

Consumer PC sales have plummeted -- last month Microsoft said sales of consumer-grade Windows licenses fell 20% in the December quarter compared to the same period the year before -- while the Redmond, Wash. company's business line of operating systems grew 12% year-over-year. In effect, enterprise spending kept PC shipments from tanking even more than the 10% contraction the industry experienced in 2013.

Extending Windows 7 Professional's availability on new hardware will also give Microsoft breathing room to continue its retreat from Windows 8's radical shift to a touch-first, tile-based UI, and to roll out a successor that caters even more to customers who rely on keyboard and mouse.

Microsoft is expected to unveil an update to Windows 8.1 this spring, perhaps in April, that will restore several desktop-oriented features and tools. Some reports based on leaked builds of this Windows 8.1 Update 1 have noted that on non-touch devices, the boot-to-desktop option will be enabled by default; if accurate, most users of traditional PCs will skip the colorful, tile-style Start screen. Windows 9 may appear as early as April 2015.

Retail sales of Windows 7 by Microsoft to distributors and customers were officially halted as of Oct. 31, 2013, but that deadline has been meaningless, as online retailers have continued to sell packaged copies, sometimes for years, by restocking through distributors who squirreled away older editions.

As of Saturday, for example, Amazon.com had a plentiful supply of various versions of Windows 7 available, as did technology specialist Newegg.com. The former also listed copies of Windows Vista and even Windows XP for sale through partners.

Even after Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows 7, there will be ways to circumvent the shut-down. Windows 8.1 Pro, the more expensive of the two public editions, includes "downgrade" rights that allow PC owners to legally install an older OS. OEMs and system builders can also use downgrade rights to sell a Windows 8.1 Pro-licensed system, but factory-downgrade it to

Windows 7 Professional before it ships.
And enterprises with volume license agreements will never be at risk of losing access to Windows 7, as they are granted downgrade rights as part of those agreements, and so will be able to purchase, say, Windows 8.1 or Windows 9 PCs in 2015 or 2016, then re-image the machines with Windows 7.

The end-of-sales dates for Windows 7 are not linked in any way to the support schedule for the 2009 operating system. Microsoft will provide free non-security bug fixes and vulnerability patches for Windows 7 until Jan. 13, 2015 -- called "mainstream support" -- and follow that with a five-year stretch of "extended support" during which it will ship free security updates until Jan. 14, 2020.

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Microsoft sets Oct. 31 as stop date for Windows 7 consumer PC sales

But extends end-of-sales date for business PCs running Windows 7 Professional

Microsoft has set Oct. 31 as the end of sales of new consumer-grade Windows 7 PCs, but for now has left open the do-not-sell-after-this-date for business machines.

On the site where it posts such policies, Microsoft now notes that Oct. 31, 2014, is the end-of-sales date for new PCs equipped with Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium or Ultimate. All three are consumer-oriented versions of Windows 7; Home Premium has been the overwhelming choice of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) for consumer systems.

Microsoft's practice, first defined in 2010, is to stop selling an older operating system in retail one year after the launch of its successor, and halt delivery of the previous Windows edition to OEMs two years after a new version launches. The company shipped Windows 8, Windows 7's replacement, in October 2012.

The setting of a deadline for consumer Windows 7 PCs followed a glitch last year when Microsoft named the same Oct. 31 date for all Windows 7 PCs, but then quickly retracted the posting, claiming that the notification had been posted "in error."

Some OEMs, notably Hewlett-Packard, have made headlines for marketing consumer-grade Windows 7 PCs, a sign of the fragmentation of the once-dominant Windows oligarchy, which always pushed the newest at the expense of older editions.

But while it has established an end-of-sales date for consumer PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed, Microsoft has yet to do the same for business PCs.

Microsoft will give a one-year warning before it demands that OEMs stop selling PCs with Windows 7 Professional, the commercial-quality version. Under that rule, Microsoft will allow computer makers such as Lenovo, HP and Dell to continue selling PCs with Windows 7 Professional until at least February 2015.

It's likely that the extension will be much longer.
Windows 7 has become the standard version for businesses, which have spurned Windows 8, largely because of its two-user interface (UI) model, which they consider disruptive to productivity and a needless cost that would require employee retraining.

Most analysts believe that Windows 7 will remain the most popular Microsoft operating system deployed by companies for years to come.

"There's a good chance that enterprises will stay on Windows 7 as long as possible," said Gartner analyst Michael Silver in an October 2013 interview. If his prediction turns out to be accurate, Windows 7 may reprise the stubborn persistence of Windows XP, the nearly-13-year-old OS that Microsoft will retire in April.

Even after Windows 8's launch, Windows 7's user share, a rough measurement of the prevalence of the OS on operational machines, has continued to grow. From October 2012 to January 2014, Windows 7's user share increased nearly 3 percentage points, representing a 6% gain during that period, according to data from analytics company Net Applications.

Some of Windows 7's gains certainly came at the expense of Windows XP, which has fallen more than 11 percentage points, a 28% decline, since October 2012 as users abandoned the old OS.

By making Windows 7 available, Microsoft and its OEMs not only continue to serve customers who want the OS, but make sure that new PC sales do not slump even more dramatically than they have already.

Consumer PC sales have plummeted -- last month Microsoft said sales of consumer-grade Windows licenses fell 20% in the December quarter compared to the same period the year before -- while the Redmond, Wash. company's business line of operating systems grew 12% year-over-year. In effect, enterprise spending kept PC shipments from tanking even more than the 10% contraction the industry experienced in 2013.

Extending Windows 7 Professional's availability on new hardware will also give Microsoft breathing room to continue its retreat from Windows 8's radical shift to a touch-first, tile-based UI, and to roll out a successor that caters even more to customers who rely on keyboard and mouse.

Microsoft is expected to unveil an update to Windows 8.1 this spring, perhaps in April, that will restore several desktop-oriented features and tools. Some reports based on leaked builds of this Windows 8.1 Update 1 have noted that on non-touch devices, the boot-to-desktop option will be enabled by default; if accurate, most users of traditional PCs will skip the colorful, tile-style Start screen. Windows 9 may appear as early as April 2015.

Retail sales of Windows 7 by Microsoft to distributors and customers were officially halted as of Oct. 31, 2013, but that deadline has been meaningless, as online retailers have continued to sell packaged copies, sometimes for years, by restocking through distributors who squirreled away older editions.

As of Saturday, for example, Amazon.com had a plentiful supply of various versions of Windows 7 available, as did technology specialist Newegg.com. The former also listed copies of Windows Vista and even Windows XP for sale through partners.

Even after Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows 7, there will be ways to circumvent the shut-down. Windows 8.1 Pro, the more expensive of the two public editions, includes "downgrade" rights that allow PC owners to legally install an older OS. OEMs and system builders can also use downgrade rights to sell a Windows 8.1 Pro-licensed system, but factory-downgrade it to

Windows 7 Professional before it ships.
And enterprises with volume license agreements will never be at risk of losing access to Windows 7, as they are granted downgrade rights as part of those agreements, and so will be able to purchase, say, Windows 8.1 or Windows 9 PCs in 2015 or 2016, then re-image the machines with Windows 7.

The end-of-sales dates for Windows 7 are not linked in any way to the support schedule for the 2009 operating system. Microsoft will provide free non-security bug fixes and vulnerability patches for Windows 7 until Jan. 13, 2015 -- called "mainstream support" -- and follow that with a five-year stretch of "extended support" during which it will ship free security updates until Jan. 14, 2020.

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Microsoft will furnish malware assassin to XP users until mid-2015

Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) to scrub infected XP PCs for more than a year after Microsoft ends patches

Microsoft confirmed on Friday that it will continue to offer its malware scrubbing program to Windows XP users for more than a year after it stops patching the operating system.

"Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool is aligned with the company's anti-malware engines and signatures, and as such the removal tool will continue to be provided for Windows XP through July 14, 2015," a company spokesperson wrote in an email reply to questions.

The Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) is updated monthly as Microsoft targets specific major malware families it believes are the biggest threats at the time. It's distributed through Microsoft's Windows Update service and the business-grade Windows Server Update Service (WSUS) on "Patch Tuesday," the date each month when the company ships security patches and other fixes to customers. The MSRT automatically installs and then runs in a seek-and-destroy mission.

Users can also manually download the MSRT from Microsoft's website.

MSRT is not an antivirus program, but rather a cleanup utility designed to eradicate malware that has already wormed onto a Windows PC. The tool was first released in 2005.

The extension of MSRT's availability for Windows XP was part of Microsoft's decision last Wednesday to offer new anti-malware signatures to XP customers who run the company's free Security Essentials antivirus (AV) software.

Originally, Microsoft had said it would stop shipping Security Essentials' signature updates to XP PCs after April 8. But in a tacit nod to XP's widespread use, Microsoft postponed the cut-off until July 14, 2015.

Microsoft will ship its final public security patches for Windows XP in less than three months, ending nearly 13 years of support for the ultra-successful OS.

Microsoft did not reply Saturday to follow-up questions asking what channels it will use to distribute the malware eraser between April 8, 2014, and July 14, 2015.

If Microsoft continued to deliver the MSRT via Windows Update, the tool would be a valuable weapon in containing infections on Windows XP PCs.

Say a new malware family popped up, or an older one began infecting large numbers of Windows PCs, including those still running XP. Microsoft would be able to revise MSRT so it targets the new or suddenly aggressive malware for detection and deletion, and automatically put it on XP systems. Not only would that keep the remaining XP owners safer, but it would also reduce the number of compromised computers that could in turn be used by hackers to infect machines running the still-supported Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems.

The impact of the MSRT extension would be more muted if Microsoft required users to download the tool themselves. Even so, MSRT is a very popular download -- currently No. 2 on the company's Download Center -- indicating that large numbers of customers seek it out.

Although Microsoft has been urging customers to drop XP before the April 8 deadline for a new OS or PC, millions of machines worldwide will continue to run the aged OS for months and maybe even years to come.

According to metrics company Net Applications, Windows XP's user share -- the percentage of all personal computer owners who went online with that OS -- stood at 29% at the end of December 2014. Computerworld has forecast that at least 25% of all personal computers will be running the operating system at the end of April, and about 20% at the end of this year.

Those numbers were at the root of Microsoft's recent moves to help out XP users: While the company has remained adamant that bug patches will be discontinued after April 8, some cracks in its "Death to XP" policy have appeared, including the continued availability of Security Essentials' signatures and the lifespan extension for the MSRT.

The explanation: Microsoft has decided it best for all concerned -- including itself and its reputation -- that it throw some security bones, if only small ones, to those who can't or won't upgrade from XP.

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Microsoft joins group seeking to replace passwords

The FIDO Alliance envisions a system where users can interact with an online service without surrendering personal details

Microsoft has joined the FIDO Alliance, an industry group attempting to craft industry standards that reduce reliance on passwords, long regarded as a weak point in Web security.

Launched in July 2012, FIDO, which stands for Fast IDentity Online, is hoping its specifications for security devices and browser plugins will be widely adopted across the technology industry.

+ Also on Network World: Bitcoin -- 8 Funny Money videos +

Such efforts depend on voluntary adoption by many companies and organizations. So far, those participating in FIDO include heavyweights Google, MasterCard, Lenovo, Infineon, LG Electronics and a variety of smaller companies.

Authentication hardware and software widely varies, with many proprietary clients and protocols. FIDO hopes that standardizing authentication technologies will lead to better interoperability and innovations in biometrics, PINs (personal identification numbers) and secondary authentication technologies, according to its website.

Usernames and passwords underpin most online services but are easy to intercept. Computer security experts have long warned of password weaknesses, such as easy-to-guess ones and people who reuse them across multiple services.

Password replacement technology has a high bar: it needs to be both effective and simple for users.

FIDO envisions a software client that's installed on computers that employ public key cryptography to authenticate users. All major Web browsers will be supported. The initial focus will be on securing access through Web browsers to Web applications. The group also plans authentication options for Android phones soon and eventually for Windows tablets and Apple products.

When FIDO authentication is used, a user will not need to submit their biometric or personal information to an online service.

The FIDO Alliance will eventually submit its protocol to groups dedicated to Web standards, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force or the World Wide Web Consortium.

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Juniper EVP Muglia abruptly quits

Leaves networking company shortly after new CEO is named

Bob Muglia, executive vice president of Juniper Networks' software solutions division, has abruptly resigned from the company following the appointment of a new CEO.

Juniper confirmed Muglia’s departure via this e-mailed statement: “We can confirm that Bob Muglia is leaving Juniper Networks effective Tuesday, December 10. We thank Bob for his contributions to Juniper and wish him well in his future endeavors.

“(CEO) Kevin Johnson will step in as Acting GM of the software division through the end of the month. He will then transition the organization over to Shaygan Kheradpir when he starts as our new CEO in January. We will be relentlessly focused on our customers through this transition.”

The move was first reported on Tuesday by the San Francisco Business Times, which did not give a reason for Muglia’s departure, but did outline the compensation package he will receive.

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Juniper named Kheradpir, a former Barclays and Verizon information technology executive, as its new CEO a month ago. Kheradpir replaces Johnson, who last summer announced plans to retire once a new CEO was found.

Muglia, who also worked with Johnson while the two were at Microsoft, was mentioned as a possible replacement for Johnson. But after Johnson’s unremarkable five-year tenure at Juniper, many thought it unlikely Juniper would turn to another former Microsoft software executive to assume leadership of the company.

"Muglia, in my opinion, was always a long shot to get the role," said financial analyst, consultant and blogger Nikos Theodosopoulos, a long time Juniper watcher.

Other observers suggested Muglia was comfortable working with Johnson and perhaps did not relish establishing a new relationship with Kheradpir.

Juniper did not say who would assume Muglia’s role heading up the company’s software business. Muglia developed Juniper’s software-defined networking strategy, which relies on a new software licensing model for more of the company’s revenue.

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Ballmer hammers home Microsoft's 'high-value' strategy in final letter to shareholders

Ballmer hammers home Microsoft's 'high-value' strategy in final letter to shareholders
Unlike last year, no surprises in CEO's last letter to investors

In his last letter to shareholders before retiring, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hammered on the same themes he and other executives struck three weeks ago in front of Wall Street analysts.

Among the strategies Ballmer outlined in his shareholder letter were the ongoing transformation of Microsoft to a "devices-and-services" company -- a massive turn from its history as a purveyor of packaged software -- and its continued reliance on enterprise sales to drive the firm's revenue.

This year's missive was not as revolutionary as 2012's, when Ballmer first publicly floated the idea of devices and services, saying, "It truly is a new era at Microsoft."

On Monday, Ballmer spelled out the corporation's mission statement with as much loquaciousness as when he spent 2,700 words this summer trumpeting the "One Microsoft" strategy and the resulting reorganization.

"We declared that Microsoft's focus going forward will be to create a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most," wrote Baller [emphasis in original].

Microsoft has used that phrasing before, as has Ballmer, including in his July letter to employees and on Sept. 19 when the company hosted a half-day event where executives spoke to Wall Street analysts.

The company has said that it plans to stick with the strategy swivel no matter who is appointed Ballmer's successor, a stance that has irritated some analysts but that was likely cemented when Microsoft announced last month that it would acquire parts of Finnish phone maker Nokia for $7.2 billion. "[The Nokia acquisition] will accelerate our growth with Windows Phone while strengthening our overall device ecosystem and our opportunity," Ballmer promised shareholders Monday.

Ballmer also said that Microsoft would rely on its strength -- its dominance in the enterprise -- to generate revenue, putting consumer services as a step-child for, and step toward, commercial wins.

"We will primarily monetize our high-value activities by leading with devices and enterprise services," Ballmer said. "In this model, our consumer services such as Bing and Skype will differentiate our devices and serve as an on-ramp to our enterprise services while generating some revenue from subscriptions and advertising."

"High-value" was a buzzword Ballmer used repeatedly in his letter -- seven times altogether -- and more often than he wrote "employees" (1), "strategy" (6), "customers" (3), or "family of devices" (3), the watchword of his July memo.

Ballmer's message about enterprise was virtually the same as the one he gave to financial analysts last month. Then, he said that Microsoft knew how to monetize services to businesses.

"How do we get our services to be popular on non-Windows devices?" Ballmer asked rhetorically during the Q&A with analysts on Sept. 19. "With the enterprise we kind of know how to do that. You walk into the enterprise, you say sign up for Office 365, you say we're going to embrace your iPads and your iPhones, and blah-de, blah-de, blah. We know how to do that. We know how to get paid. Life feels pretty straightforward."

But when it came to consumers, Ballmer tacitly admitted last month, Microsoft faces an iffier sales pitch.

"How do you monetize high-value activities? Amy [Hood, Microsoft's CFO] talked about the three bubbles: devices, consumer services and enterprise services," noted Ballmer. "The two that are most easily monetized, in fact, are devices and enterprise services. Consumer services, as we say, are tough."

Industry analysts saw the prioritization of enterprise in the Sept. 23 introduction of the revamped Surface line, especially the it's-a-tablet-no-it's-a-notebook Surface Pro 2. Ross Rubin of Reticle Research read Microsoft's emphasis on the Surface Pro 2's ultralight notebook-like characteristics as consistent with the strategy to focus on the enterprise over consumers, for example.

While Ballmer gave a quick summary of the restructuring he launched three months ago -- "We are well underway," he said, of the shuffling of executives, personnel and responsibilities -- he said nothing of the search for his replacement.

That search, which conceivably could take until late August 2014, has been the subject of much rumor and discussion by pundits and analysts, but no clear leading candidate has emerged. Among those most often mentioned as possible successors have been Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor; Paul Maritz, a former Microsoft executive and most recently the CEO of VMware; Tony Bates, who joined Microsoft after it bought Skype, and who now leads business development and evangelism; and Stephen Elop, the former CEO of Nokia who will return to Microsoft once the acquisition closes early next year.

Ballmer also reminded everyone that although he will soon step down as CEO, he will remain a major stockholder. "I'm optimistic not only as the CEO but as an investor who treasures his Microsoft stock," Ballmer wrote Monday.

That was muted in comparison to his comments last month before Wall Street analysts.

"I am very long on Microsoft. I believe in the company as an investment," Ballmer said. "I believe in what the company can do. I believe in the people and talent that are here. And at least this one shareholder will absolutely be cheering every day, from the day I'm not working here on. I'm Microsoft, if you will, all over."

As of Sept. 13, Ballmer controlled about 4% of the company's shares for a paper value of approximately $11.1 billion at Monday's closing price. Co-founder and current chairman Bill Gates owns about 4.5% of Microsoft's shares, but because he sells about 80 million shares annually under a pre-set plan, by this time next year -- assuming Ballmer retains his shares -- Ballmer will be the largest individual stockholder.

Ballmer is up for reelection to the Microsoft board of directors when shareholders meet Nov. 19.

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Windows 8.1 deep-dive review: Well, it's a start

Windows 8.1 deep-dive review: Well, it's a start
The preview of Windows 8.1 brings more cohesion, less frustration and a direct login to the desktop. But is it enough to save the OS?

With the just-released preview of Windows 8.1, Microsoft has gone a long way towards fixing many of the interface goofs and anomalies of Windows 8; it's also cleaned up the OS's rough edges and introduced some nice new features and apps.

Windows 8 remains a dual-interface operating system -- the touch-oriented "Modern" interface (previously called Metro) and the desktop -- but one that is less frustrating to use and a bit better integrated than previously. The changes don't solve all of Window 8's problems, but they make it more palatable to use.

The Start screen and the desktop have been at the core of most complaints about Windows 8. In Windows 8, you're forced to boot into the touch-oriented Start screen, and because it is primarily designed to launch Modern-style apps, many people would prefer to bypass it and head straight to the desktop when they log in. Microsoft made that impossible in Windows 8. Like many people, I was not pleased.

Finally, in Windows 8.1, you can bypass the Start screen and go to the desktop when you log in. Oddly enough, to do that, you don't change a setting on the Start screen. Instead, you have to do a bit of tweaking over at the desktop.

Go to the desktop, then right-click the taskbar. Select Properties and from the screen that appears, click or tap the Navigation tab -- a new tab added in Windows 8.1. Divided into two sections, Core navigation and Start screen, it lets you customize many of the frustrating things about the way the Start screen works.

Look for the setting "Go to the desktop instead of Start when I sign in" then check the box next to it. After that, each time you sign into Windows, you hop straight to the desktop. It's simple and straightforward, and desktop fans will be extremely pleased -- me among them.

There's more on that little tab that can go towards making the Start screen a more useful tool. If you have no need for the Start screen's tiled interface, and mainly use it as an app launcher, there are several settings that do that for you. Check the box next to "Show the Apps view automatically when I go to Start," and every time you head to the Start screen, you'll instead see the Apps view -- a listing of every Modern and desktop app on your system. Click an app to launch it. I find this far more useful than the Start screen's normal multi-sized tiles.

If you mainly use desktop apps rather than Modern ones, make sure to check the box next to "List desktop apps first in the Apps view when it's sorted by category." That way, your desktop apps show first on the screen, so it's easier to find them. I have found this small tweak quite helpful, because I frequently head here to launch Office. Now it appears high on the list.

Note that even if you leave the normal tiled Start screen intact and don't change the settings on the Navigation tab, there's now an easier way to get to the Apps view. On the Start screen down towards the bottom, there's a new arrow that was introduced in Windows 8.1. When you click it or tap it, you're sent to the Apps view.

Microsoft has also taken a very minor stab at trying to make the desktop and Start screen look as if they are a single, unified operating system, rather than two separate ones. A setting on the Navigation pane allows you to use the same wallpaper on the Start screen that you have on the desktop.

That's a nice piece of eye candy, but that's all it is. The two interfaces still look and work differently from one another. It's not quite like putting a lipstick on a pig; it's more like outfitting a pig and a giraffe in the same dress and hoping people will mistake them for twins.

The Core navigation section of the Navigation tab has a few settings that I find a bit less useful, but you might want to give them a try. You can turn off the Windows navigation feature that displays the Charms bar when you point your cursor at the upper-right corner of the screen. You can also turn off the navigation feature that switches between your recent apps when you click the upper-left corner.

There's one more setting there, and it slightly alters the Power User menu that pops up when you press the Windows key + X or right-click the lower-left corner of the screen. It replaces the Command prompt on the menu with the Windows Power Shell command-line automation tool. That setting is turned on by default in Windows 8.1.
The Start button and shutdown

The next big question you likely have about Windows 8.1 is whether there's a Start button. Well, there is and there isn't.

If you hover your mouse over the lower-left-hand portion of the Start screen or while you're in a Modern app, the button appears. It also appears on the desktop's taskbar (without your having to hover your mouse).

But calling it a Start button is a stretch, because that implies that it does what the Start button did in previous versions of Windows -- that is, launched a menu that lets you browse and launch your apps, search, find links to various Windows locations and services, and so on. Instead, it's just a task switcher that switches you between the Start screen and whatever else you were just doing. I rarely find myself clicking the Start button for the simple reason that it doesn't really start anything -- except my blood boiling about how useless it is.

However, Microsoft has taken one Start button feature from earlier Windows versions and made it more accessible in Windows 8.1: the ability to shut down, restart or put your device to sleep. Pull up the Power User menu and click Shut down to find those options.

In Windows 8.1, Microsoft has addressed a serious Windows 8 shortcoming: the close-to-useless Modern version of Internet Explorer 10. How seriously can you take a browser without the ability to create and use bookmarks, or that won't allow you to have more than 10 tabs open at a time?

Not very. And so I simply didn't use the Modern version of IE10.

In Windows 8.1, that's changed. Like every other browser out there, IE11 lets you have as many sites as you want open in separate tabs. And -- be still my beating heart! -- you can actually bookmark pages as Favorites. The bookmarking feature includes the ability to organize Favorites into folders.

However, the Favorites feature still isn't perfect. The Favorites in the Modern version of IE don't show up in the desktop version of IE, although the desktop IE Favorites do show up in the Modern version. That's something that should be fixed.

You can now also open tabs side by side, so that you can view more than one tab at a time, each in its own window onscreen. Normally you'll be only able to view two tabs this way, but on high-resolution displays, you can view up to four.

The new Internet Explorer also has improvements under the hood: notably, its addition of WebGL, a JavaScript API that renders interactive 3D graphics and 2D graphics. WebGL allows websites to essentially deliver the same interactive experiences as game and multimedia apps, but from inside a browser. Competing browsers such as Chrome already have this. In a world in which HTML5 and associated technologies will become standard, the lack of WebGL in Internet Explorer was a serious shortcoming. It's a shortcoming no longer.

Search has been considerably improved, which wasn't that difficult, given how poor Windows 8's original search feature was. Previously, when you did a search, you didn't see all the results on a single screen. Instead, you had to highlight the category you wanted to search through (such as Settings or Apps) and you'd see just those results.

In Windows 8.1, search has become more universal and far more powerful. You now get results from the Web (including graphics and videos) as well as local files, apps and settings, all presented in one interface.

If you like, you can filter to search only settings, only files, only Web images or only Web videos.

A great addition is the so-called Search Hero, which takes results from your device and the Web, and aggregates graphics, videos and information onto a simple-to-browse page. Here you can not only click to get more information, but if you search for a musician, you'll be able to play music right on the page, via a widget from the Xbox Music app. I find this feature especially useful, because it lets me search for and play music without having to launch the Xbox Music app.

How does Windows search do all this? The page you click to is essentially a Bing results page.

Keep in mind, though, that many searches you do won't display results this way, because many searches don't have a rich set of results including Wikipedia entries, photographs and videos.

This isn't to say that search is perfect. It still has its quirks. For example, if you're in the Windows Store, you can't simply start typing in a search term as you can on the Start screen. Instead, you need to display the Search charm, and then do a search.

Internet Explorer isn't the only Modern app that Microsoft has done work on. It's upgraded others, and included new ones as well. And in doing so, it's addressed a major Windows 8 shortcoming: the general awfulness of its Modern apps. Those apps have been extremely underpowered and feature-poor, anemic and touch-focused.

In Windows 8.1, that's changed. The Photos app, for example, now does more than just allow you to view photos, as it did in past versions. Now it includes some very good editing tools. Is it as powerful as Photoshop? Of course not. But it has plenty of features, including color editing, brightness and contrast changing, special effects, cropping, rotating, red-eye removal and more. I've used it several times for simple editing chores such as removing red eye and cropping, and found it simple and straightforward.

Microsoft has also introduced some very nifty new apps as well. The Food and Drink app is a particularly good one. When you find recipes, you'll be able to integrate them into a shopping list, meal planner or collections. It lets you plan out meals for the week. It's all very clear, clean and well done. And it also shows off a new trick Microsoft has taught Windows 8: hands-free mode. Rather than use the keyboard and mouse or touch, it lets you move from screen to screen by waving your hand (it uses your device's built-in camera).

Or at least, it's supposed to. I was never able to get hands-free mode to work, although at least one other reviewer has reported he got it working. Still, if it ever works properly in this app, it will be great for those times when you're in the kitchen, up to your elbows in flour and don't want to foul the screen.

There's also a semi-useful new Reading List app, which lets you clip content from the Web or other location, save it and then read it when you want.

To clip something, you open the Charms bar, select Share, choose Reading list and save the page. Later on, you can open the Reading List app to see everything you've saved. You can search through the list and delete from the list.

While it's nice to have this feature, the app pales compared to similar, more powerful apps already out there, such as Evernote. Reading List clips entire Web pages rather than highlighted content like Evernote does. And Reading List has one single list; it doesn't allow you to organize your data into folders or notebooks. I'm certainly not about to give up Evernote for it.

One of the frustrating things about the Modern interface has always been that you could change a few system settings via its Settings screen (accessible by going to the Charms bar and selecting Settings --> Change PC settings), but if you wanted to dig deep and change many of your settings, you had to head to the Control Panel on the desktop. That's still true to some extent in Windows 8.1, but more settings can now be changed from the Settings screen.

To make it easy to use those settings, the Settings screen has been redone. One of the most useful changes is that when you head there, you'll come to a Top settings screen, which makes it easy to change those settings you most frequently use. The screen alters according to which changes you make most often. So if you often change your Bing settings, they'll show up there.

If you're a dedicated tweaker like I am, you'll still need to head to the Control Panel to change things such as whether to show hidden files in File Explorer. But otherwise, you may be able to make most or all of your changes from the new Settings screen.

There have been plenty of other changes. SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service, is now more deeply ingrained into Windows. You can set it up so that by default all your files are saved to SkyDrive. You can also configure it to have all the photos you take with your mobile device automatically saved to SkyDrive.

The Windows Store has also been given a revamp, with a more pleasing graphical look and features that make it easier to browse and find apps. For example, when you've viewing an app and you scroll or swipe over to the right, you'll see a list of related apps, a feature that is old hat by now in other places, but is now finally making its way to the Windows Store.

Also, if you drag or swipe from the top of the screen you'll see a listing of all the categories in the store. Again, pretty much every other app store already has this, so the feature isn't new. More than anything, when it comes to the Windows Store, Microsoft is playing catch-up.

There is also more comprehensive support for portrait mode, such as in the News app. Unfortunately, not all apps are capable of portrait mode yet. Why should you care about this? Today, you likely don't. But a generation of Windows 8 and Windows RT mini tablets is on the way, and portrait mode is well suited for those devices.

File Explorer (called Windows Explorer in previous Windows versions) has been given some minor tweaks as well. The Computer view is now called This PC. And if you're looking for your file libraries, you won't find them. Instead, you'll see folders for Documents, Music, Pictures and so on, as well as a SkyDrive folder. This is just the latest iteration of Microsoft's long, winding, and confusing road of default organization for your files, which seems to change every several years.

Some reviewers tell you that this version of Windows 8 is the one that Microsoft should have shipped in the first place. They're only partially right.

It's true that the new features -- such as the ability to log in straight to the desktop and easier access to desktop apps -- should have been baked into Windows 8 right from the beginning. And overall, the new features have improved Windows 8.1 considerably, especially for die-hard desktop users and those who don't have touch screens.

But this still isn't the Windows 8 that should have been shipped. The ideal Windows 8 would have been a coherent operating system, with a single, unified interface and way of working, rather than a touch-oriented tablet operating system bolted uncomfortably onto a desktop operating system, and forced to do double-duty for two very different categories of hardware.

With Windows 8.1, you don't see the bolts quite so much. But they're still there, and so are two separate operating systems, coexisting a bit less uneasily than before. Still, this is a good enough upgrade that once it ships, all Windows 8 users should use it. They'll find that it makes Windows much better.

You can get the Windows 8.1 preview right now. But keep in mind that if you install it, you won't be able to upgrade directly to the final version of Windows 8.1 when it ships. Instead, you'll have to go through a reinstallation procedure, and when you do that, you'll have to reinstall all of your desktop apps.

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Retracing Microsoft's missteps that sunk the Xbox One

The next-generation console wars are over and Microsoft has blown it. Even before PRISM blew up and people began to wonder about their electronics invading their privacy, the design of Xbox One is leaving such a bad taste in people's mouths that the PlayStation 4 has the lead before the two are even in the blocks.

Never mind that the PS4 will be $100 cheaper. That's the easy part. It doesn't take a lot of surfing to see that the incredible intrusiveness of the Xbox One will keep it out of a lot homes, including mine. And Sony is drawing thick lines of separation between itself and Microsoft, making as much noise about the subject as possible.

First off, you cannot play any games if your Xbox One does not connect to the Internet, at least once every 24 hours. Not even single player games. Until the Xbox One phones home, your game console is a DVD player. Sony has no such restriction.

If you disconnect the Kinect player, which is now mandatory and part of the Xbox One bundle, your games won't work. This caused all kinds of fears, with increasing irrationality and amusement, of what people feared it would do. They thought Kinect would record them walking around the house naked or engaging in various…acts.

Microsoft said no, "you are in control of when Kinect sensing is On, Off or Paused." When the system is off, the Kinect will only listen for a single phrase—"Xbox On"— before it comes on, and you will be able to disable that, too.

At first, people feared the Xbox One would not allow for playing used games. Microsoft punted on this one and said it will allow the sale of used games at "participating retailers," but only if the publisher allows it. Well, the publishers are the most vehement opponents of the used game business. Microsoft said it will not charge a fee for a hand-me-down disc, but the publishers certainly can.

The question then becomes which retailers will participate? We all know about Game Stop, but there are many independent shops that do this as well, mom-and-pop videogame and even record stores, the few that remain. Will Microsoft, EA, Activision, etc., want to go through the headache of certifying all these indie stories, or just go with a few big chains?

And if you want to loan a game to a friend? Get this: That person has to be on your Xbox Live friends list for at least 30 days and you can only lend them the game once. That pretty much kills not only lending to friends, but also rentals, like the few remaining video stores offer and mail order services like Game Fly.

The topper to all of this? Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive division at Microsoft, was asked about this issue. One example brought up was how popular the Xbox 360 was among soldiers stationed abroad in remote areas like Iraq and Afghanistan or on a submarine. His response? "We have a product for people who don't have some form of connectivity, it's called Xbox 360…if you have zero access to the Internet, it's an offline device."

See it for yourself:

Seriously, Microsoft, did you hire the old Divx development team from Circuit City?

Sony, of course, is making hay of this. They are loving it. Fans begged them not to engage in this kind of control prior to the release of the PS4, and they listened, for the most part.

Ars Technica reported that when Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, slammed Microsoft at its E3 press conference with statements like "You can trade in the game, lend it to a friend, or keep it forever," the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

It should come as no surprise that EA President Frank Gibeau told VentureBeat "Sony's having a great show." I didn't attend the show; to be honest, E3 is such an unpleasant experience I don't like to go and didn't ask for any assignments. But I can see the momentum shifting. There isn't a vendor-neutral site out there where the reader reaction is entirely behind Sony and entirely against Microsoft. Mattrick's 'let them eat cake' comment was the final straw.

The head of Australia's top civil liberties group, called Civil Liberties Australia, called Xbox One "the definition of a surveillance device under some Australian laws," and that Aussies "should vote with their wallets and skip the next Xbox" if Microsoft is not up front with its privacy rules. He's not alone. Germany's federal data protection commissioner, Peter Schaar, told Spiegel Online that Xbox One is nothing more than a monitoring device under the guise of a gaming console.

Rumors about the Xbox One license agreement and Kinect behavior had been floating around for a while, and just as Microsoft didn't listen to the bad reactions to Windows 8 during its beta cycle, it didn't listen to the massive opposition here, either. I guess they need to suffer another overwhelming consumer rejection again. And I suspect the only person who will lose his job will be Mattrick, because he told the truth.

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