Category Archives: Windows

Microsoft Paint to be killed off

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First released with the very first version of Windows 1.0 in 1985, Paint in its various guises would be one of the first graphics editors used by many and became a core part of Windows. Starting life as a 1-bit monochrome licensed version of ZSoft’s PC Paintbrush, it wasn’t until Windows 98 that Paint could save in JPEG.

With the Windows 10 Creators Update, released in April, Microsoft introduced the new Paint 3D, which is installed alongside traditional Paint and features 3D image making tools as well as some basic 2D image editing. But it is not an update to original Paint and doesn’t behave like it… More at The Guardian.

Typical. The only thing in Windows I like gets killed off.

Microsoft raises prices of some PCs by up to £400 due to Brexit

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Microsoft has increased the price of its Surface and Surface Book computers in the UK by more than 15%, or £400 for some models, due to sterling’s drop in the value post-EU referendum.

The price increase comes in the wake of similar moves by Sonos and twice by Apple, which saw the cost of computers, speakers and apps rise by as much as 25% adjusting for the falling value of sterling against the dollar, in which Microsoft and other US technology firms do their accounting.

A Microsoft spokesperson said: “In response to a recent review we are adjusting the British pound prices of some of our hardware and consumer software in order to align to market dynamics. For indirect sales where our products and services are sold through partners, final prices will continue to be determined by them.” More at The Guardian.

I’m not sure that the price increase can be down entirely to Brexit, but like The Guardian, I am more than happy to blame it as often as I can…

The GPD Pocket: too small and hard to believe?

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Most successful businessman own a Macbook or Surface.Because they have fashionable appearance and also light and thin, but the drawback is not easily moved.We believe that the future notebook will thin,but also small.
GDP Pocket is such a product, it’s not only has luxuriant appearance like Macbook, but also super light and very small, It can take away at any time like a mobile phone in your pocket… More at Indiegogo.

The GPD Pocket has done well on Indiegogo so far, but I’m far from convinced. I fail to see how Windows can work on such a small device, there is no actual video of the device working which is unusual for a product being release within 4 months and it just doesn’t feel right.

I admit to be sceptical anyway with this method of funding, but I can’t see the benefits or the reality in this product at all.

Download Windows 10 for Free

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Did you know you can download a Windows 10 disc image free from Microsoft? This is seemingly little known, but yes you can download a complete legitimate Windows 10 ISO without registering or even having a product key, and you can install and run the entirety of Windows 10 using the image too… More at OSX Daily.

Now that is good to know.

From macOS to Windows

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What it mostly is, though, is ambitious, especially on Microsoft’s own hardware. Microsoft’s laptop, the Surface Book, can do all sorts of things, including unlatching little metal cables that hold the screen to the keyboard, which is genuinely incredible the 90 percent of the time it works and guaranteed to impress exactly no one, no matter how many times you interrupt their conversation to show them.

Apple mentors its users. It provides a path through a gloomy forest, a route that has historically led through a series of confidence-building challenges every few months, grooming customers into proficient users of Apple products. A Mac owner puts one hand in Apple’s, and is guided. Here is a web browser. It is simple, but powerful. Here is how you listen to music, or make your own. But what about? No, you can’t do it that way. Not yet. But if you wait a while, and prove that you can do it the way we think is best, we may let you try it another way. We might even take that idea you thought you wanted, and give you something even better… More at NYMAG.

A long article, but there are some interesting comments included.

Why I’m Leaving Apple for Microsoft: Switching as a Photographer

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Apple, we had a good run… Through the many iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, Mac Pros, heck, even the Apple Watch, it was a good run indeed. However, times have changed, and that beauty that was once your innovation has now been covered up with the makeup that is nice marketing.

Don’t get me wrong, I am writing this on iMac number three, but like all other Apple products, it will soon be slower and barely usable due to some OS update that, while not mandatory, will show me an “update” banner ruthlessly until I succumb. But as I look back on the good times, I start to see what our relationship really was… More at PetaPixel.

There is some merit in some of the points made in the article above, but that bit in bold above is silly talk. How can anyone suggest that Apple products get slower and slower and then move to a Windows PC? There is no doubt in my mind that this is a much bigger problem on the Windows side.

Microsoft Surface Studio Review

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The real party trick of the Surface Studio is its drawing board mode, and it’s also its biggest selling point. You can push the display all the way down to get really up close to it and start drawing. It won’t sit flat on a desk, though, as the minimum angle is the drawing board mode’s 20 degrees. Microsoft explained to me that it didn’t want people placing their coffee cups on the display and spilling them on a $3,000 PC while they’re drawing… More at The Verge.

It’s obviously expensive, but it is also obviously lovely.

A new Microsoft phone in 2017?

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What if an ARM64-based device could run x86 apps via emulation, the same way that the WOW (Windows on Windows) emulator allowed 32-bit apps to run on 64-bit Windows? That would make Windows 10 Mobile, which as of now, continues to support ARM only, and Continuum a lot more interesting, especially to business users who need certain Win32/line-of-business apps… More at ZDNet.

I think Microsoft should have another crack at mobile hardware. Previous devices, and the OS, have been pretty good and it’s not as if the situation could get any worse.

Microsoft times the Surface Studio and Surface Book i7 perfectly

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Surface Studio: “Featuring a 28″ PixelSense display with an aspect ratio of 3:2, built into the thinnest LCD ever on an all-in-one. The Surface Studio is also rocking 32GB of DDR4 RAM, an Intel i7 CPU and a 2TB hybrid storage drive…” More at Windows Central.

Surface Book i7: “Microsoft announced the newest version of its Surface Book, the Surface Book i7. This new laptop takes some of the most crucial features of the original Surface Book and improves upon them. Most notable is the new battery life: Microsoft is promising up to 16 hours of battery life with the new Surface Book i7…” More at ars technica.

So, how much are the guys in Cupertino looking forward to the Apple event tomorrow?