Items tagged with Operating System
In an effort to lessen its dependence on established operating systems, including Android and iOS, Facebook is developing its own from the ground up. One reason why this is important to Facebook is because it is so involved with hardware in the virtual reality space, with its acquisition of Oculus and future plans. The situation sort of reminds me of how Valve viewed Microsoft with the release of Windows 8. There was fear that Microsoft would build a walled garden, and Valve reacted by developing SteamOS based on Linux. It was part of a broader strategy that also included Steam Machines, which never really became the massive success Valve had hoped. Facebook finds itself in a different spot,...
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Huawei finds itself stuck between a rock and a hard place, as it pertains to its goal of building a mainstream presence in the United States and the blow back the company has faced from major wireless carriers that, at the behest of US intelligence agencies, have avoided partnering with the Chinese telecom. With the pressure mounting to avoid certain Chinese brands, Huawei may say, 'Screw it!' and build its own operating system to use in place of Android. Citing "people familiar with the matter," the South China Morning Post says Huawei is doing exactly that as it puts into motion a plan that was initiated by company founder Ren Zhengfei as a sort of 'worst case scenario' strategy. As the thinking...
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Windows 10 might be the last monolithic release of Windows ever, but that doesn't mean the engineers in Redmond are suddenly out of work. Just the opposite, they're busy building new features in to Windows 10 that will be doled in updates, some big like the recent Anniversary Update and some small. One of the things they're working on is a tweak to its Delivery Optimization feature that allows users to grab updates from other PCs on the same local network. That's now being expanded to include other PCs on the Internet. It's part of the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build (14915), and if you're subscribed to the Fast ring, you can download and install it right away. "Starting today, Windows...
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If you're a Linux fan, then you should know that this week is a very special one. On August 25, 1991 - 25 years ago - Linus Torvalds shot out a simple message to a Minix usergroup which stated that he was working on a Minix replacement. Within, he famously said that his creation wouldn't "be big and professional like GNU". Not even Linus Torvalds could have predicted what his OS - eventually called Linux - would become. While it might have taken a little while to get off the ground in a big way, Linux was a pet project that had no goals of world domination, but over time, that eventually happened anyway. To say that Linux is "everywhere" would be accurate. Android users are using a variant of...
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Earlier this month, the Linux Mint developer team released the Xfce edition of Linux Mint 18 'Sarah', which followed the main release at the end of June. But now it's time for some Plasma action, with a beta release of the upcoming Linux Mint 18 KDE edition. It's worth noting that all three Linux Mint 18 editions are LTS releases (long-term support), with a promise to be supported until 2021. For that reason, these releases don't include bleeding-edge software, but instead software that can be assured to be stable right-out-of-the-box. Tying into that, the recently released KDE 5.7 isn't bundled here; instead, KDE 5.6 is. Unless you're looking for richer Wayland (X window system replacement)...
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Time is quickly running out if you're planning to take Microsoft up on its offer to upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10 for free. Yes, it's been a full year already since Windows 10 released to the public. But don't fret if procrastination's gotten the better of you, there's still several hours left to upgrade at no cost. Microsoft says you have until midnight tonight UTC-10 before the deal is off the table. If you live in the U.S., that means the expiration on Microsoft's offer is technically July 30, albeit you'll have to upgrade by 5:59 am ET (2:59 am PT). For those of you living in other parts of the world and time zones, you can find your specific deadline by going to The...
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Windows 10 continues to gain ground on Windows 7 in the race for market share dominance. Though the gap between the two is still rather large, Windows 10 has managed to find its way onto more than 19 percent of the world's PCs, according to the latest data from Net Market Share. That's up from 11.85 percent at the beginning of the year. It's been a steady climb for Windows 10, which released to the public a year ago this month. The OS got off to a fast start, hitching a ride on 5.21 percent of PCs in its first month of availability and nearly doubling its position by the end of the year with a 9.96 percent share of the desktop market. That momentum continued into 2016 with Windows 10 gaining...
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Microsoft is heavily invested in Windows 10. It was designed with the intention of providing a unified platform for different device categories, which in turn would make it easier for Microsoft to promote and monetize supplementary services like OneDrive, Skype, and Office 365. With so much riding on the success of Windows 10, you can bet that Microsoft is paying attention to market share data, which currently shows a slowed growth rate. After launching to the general public at the end of July, Windows 10 sprinted out to a 5.21 percent share of the desktop OS market during its first month of availability, according to data by Net Applications. But after that first month, the momentum slowed way...
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Nearly two months after launching to the general public, it's estimated that Windows 10 is now installed on more than 100 million machines. If that's even close to accurate, Microsoft can breath a sigh of relief knowing that its latest version of Windows -- and its last monolithic release -- won't follow in the same footsteps as Windows 8/8.1.To be clear, the 100 million claim isn't one made by Microsoft, not yet anyway. It's based on information that Petri's Brad Sams obtained from his "insider sources." However, it's not difficult to imagine Windows 10 surpassing the 100 million milestone, as the last official word from Microsoft has the OS boasting 75 million installs less than a month after...
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Apple announced a handful of products yesterday, including a new iPhone, a 12.9-inch iPad Pro that's better suited for productivity than its other iPad tablets, and a refreshed Apple TV set-top box. However, there's one thing that kind of flew under the radar, and that's the impending release of Mac OS X 10.11, otherwise known as El Capitan.The successor to OS X Yosemite was officially unveiled earlier this summer with a developer preview made available to Mac Developer Program members. At the time, Apple said the OS would release sometime "this fall," but didn't offer up a specific date. Now we have one.Apple slyly tipped September 30, 2015 as El Capitan's release date while previewing an email...
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It's been just over 10 months since Android 5.0 Lollipop was first made available to the general public, and in that time, it's found its way onto one out of every five Android devices. If you'd prefer to take the glass half empty approach, you can point out that four out of five Android devices are still waiting for Lollipop, Marshmallow be damned.According to the data by Android Developers, Android 5.0 is installed on 15.9 percent of Android devices, while Android 5.1 (also Lollipop) adds another 5.1 percent. That comes out to an even 21 percent.The majority of Android devices these days are rocking Android 4.4, otherwise known as KitKat. It holds a 39.2 percent share of the Android device...
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Do you remember what you were doing two decades ago? Depending on your age, you might have been waiting in a long line for Windows 95. Yes, there were lines to purchase Windows 95, the revolutionary operating system that launched at midnight on August 24, 1995, 20 years ago to the day. Codenamed Chicago, Windows 95 was a big upgrade over Windows 3.1. It was a 32-bit OS with a customized version of MS-DOS baked in to serve as a boot loader and a compatibility layer for legacy 16-bit device drivers. Enhanced multimedia features accompanied the dressed up graphical user interface, and so did built-in Internet support, a critical component as the Internet was just beginning to bloom.To run Windows...
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Amid all the praise Windows 10 is receiving around the web, there is one thing that's at the center of most complaints -- automatic updates. Windows 10 Home users generally don't have a choice in the matter, the updates are mandatory and sent out automatically. For some people with limited bandwidth, that policy is causing a problem.According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Windows 10 users in remote locations are getting hit with big bills resulting from forced updates pushing them beyond their data caps. One example is a woman who lives in the Cook Islands, an autonomous region associated with New Zealand. She said her bill was $NZ600, or around $395 in U.S. currency."In this context, where Internet...
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Anyone who possesses a valid Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 license is eligible to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. That includes owners of Sony VAIO machines, though if you're rocking a VAIO, you're strongly urged to put off upgrading. Sony says it hasn't worked out proper drivers for Windows 10 just yet and is asking owners to be patient for at least a couple of months."Although Microsoft is offering the Windows 10 upgrade, it is strongly recommended that you wait to install it until the drivers and installation instructions are available for your VAIO PC," Sony warns on its support page for VAIO systems.Sony's support page also contains a roadmap for when drivers and applications will be updated...
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Somewhere out there Jimmy Hoffa's body is buried. Right next to him is a classified document detailing what really goes on at Area 51, and on top of that is a piece of paper with an official count of Windows 10 installs to date. That's to say, we simply don't know how many devices are running Windows 10, though there are a few figures floating around the web, the latest of which pegs the number 25 million.Or it could be as high as 27 million, "sources" tell Neowin. So if going by those un-named sources, Windows 10 is installed on somewhere between 25 million and 27 million machines -- let's split the difference and call it 26 million, shall we?That's a far more conservative estimate than the...
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Microsoft's strategy to offer Windows 10 as a no-cost upgrade option to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users is paying off. Just one day after launch, the Redmond outfit announced that Windows 10 had found its way onto more than 14 million devices. By Friday morning, that number unofficially ballooned to 67 million devices.An anonymous Microsoft employee revealed the updated statistic to Windows Central. According to the employee, the 67 million figure was accurate as of 8 AM on Friday, meaning that 53 million more Windows 10 installs took place since Microsoft's announcement on Thursday.This is a sign that the phased upgraded plan is going smoothly. In addition to revealing 67 million Windows 10...
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One of the reasons Windows 8 never resonated with the public is because there were too many jarring changes, both in appearance and functionality. To make matters worse, Microsoft dismissed the criticisms by taking a 'father knows best' approach -- you'll use it and you'll like it! But users didn't like it, and even one of Windows 8's designers eventually admitted that the Metro UI "is the antithesis of a power user." Well, that's all water under the bridge, old news, yesterday's events. Windows 10 is here, finally. And unlike Windows 8, early impressions are mostly positive. Make no mistake, Windows 10 isn't Windows 8/8.1 with a Start menu, it's much more, and perhaps Microsoft was spot on to...
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After all the hype, hoopla, and anticipation, tomorrow is the big day. We're of course talking about the initial roll out of Windows 10, which will be delivered to users in waves to ensure everything runs smoothly, and the beginning of a new era for Microsoft. In preparation for the big day, some users have reported around 3GB of downloaded Windows 10 installation files sitting dormant on their PCs.There are multiple reports of users seeing a folder named $windows.~BT on their operating system partition, which for most people is going to be the C:\ drive (C:\$windows.~BT). While the contents haven't been confirmed, the size of the folder and timing of its appearance strongly suggests that Microsoft...
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We're in the homestretch now, folks! In just nine days, Microsoft will launch Windows 10 and begin doling out free upgrades to registered Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users in waves. Make no mistake, this is a big launch for Microsoft, as it can ill afford to release another OS that lands to heavy criticism the way Windows 8 did. To help avoid that, Microsoft's message in a new ad campaign is that you should upgrade to Windows 10 because "it's familiar." It's a simple message that provides the foundation for the 46-second clip titled "10 Reasons to Upgrade to Windows 10: IT'S FAMILIAR," and it's one that should resonate well with Windows users who found the changes in Windows 8 to be too jarring....
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Here's the deal folks, if you own a valid copy of Windows 7 with SP1 installed or Windows 8.1, you can upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge for the first year. You may have even registered for your upgrade via a taskbar icon. If not, go ahead and get in line -- Microsoft will begin doling out Windows 10 updates on July 29, which will roll out in waves.What if you don't own a copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and plan on building a new system? Well, you'll have to pony up for Windows 10. If you're feeling anxious, you can place your pre-order right now at Amazon. The online seller is offering Windows 10 Home for $120 and Windows 10 Pro for $200, both of which will arrive on a USB flash drive.Which...
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Microsoft has been busy kicking out Windows 10 Technical Preview builds at a furious pace as of late (three releases in a week, including two that came on subsequent days), but what we haven't seen is a Release To Manufacturing (RTM) candidate. Until now, that is. It appears that Build 10176 is the first RTM of Windows 10, though it may not represent the final product that ships July 29.Traditionally speaking, RTM releases are those with finished code in need of a bit of last minute testing before going gold. However, there are still two weeks left before Windows 10 is set to ship to the public, so we're likely to see at least one more RTM build in the interim, especially with how rapidly Microsoft...
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Windows XP enjoyed a nice, long run, but after over a decade of faithful service, Microsoft finally pulled the plug on the legacy operating system and discontinued support in April of last year. All but the most diehard fans have since moved on, though it's still installed on more desktops than Windows 8.1, and on almost as many as Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 combined. You can count the U.S. Navy's system among them. According to a contract page at the U.S. Department of Defense, the Navy opted to pay Microsoft over $9.1 million dollars to continue offering custom support services for Windows XP. The contract also covers Office 2003, Exchange 2003, and Server 2003. As part of the...
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