Here’s a copy of the e-mail:

From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 5:16 PM
To: Microsoft – All Employees (QBDG)
Subject: Windows Leadership Changes

Over the past few months we have delivered the foundation for a new era for Microsoft. From Office to Bing to Windows Phone and Windows Azure, to Xbox and of course Windows and Surface and everything in between, we’ve unleashed a huge wave of devices and services that people and businesses love. I simply couldn’t be more proud of the effort you have all put in to get us here and to set the foundation for our future. At the Windows launch in New York, at the Windows Phone event in San Francisco, and again at the Build event on Redmond campus, I was struck that while externally many people look at these events as the finish line, they really represent the starting line of a new era.

As we enter this new era, and with the successful launch of Windows 8 and Surface behind us, Steven Sinofsky has decided to leave the company. Steven joined Microsoft in 1989 as a software development engineer and has contributed to the company in many ways from his work as a technical advisor to Bill Gates, to leading the evolution of the Microsoft Office business, to his direction and successful leadership of Windows and Windows Live as well as Surface. I am grateful for the work that Steven has delivered in his time at our company.

Effective immediately, Julie Larson-Green will lead Windows engineering. She will be responsible for all product development for Windows and Windows Live, in addition to Surface. Julie has been a stalwart leader of building compelling “experiences” from her time on Internet Explorer, through the evolution of Office and most recently to the re-imagination of Windows. Her unique product and innovation perspective and proven ability to effectively collaborate and drive a cross company agenda will serve us well as she takes on this new leadership role. All of the current Windows engineering teams will report into Julie, and Julie will report to me.

Tami Reller will lead business and marketing strategy for Windows including Surface and partner devices. She will provide broad stewardship to our PC marketing efforts while managing the line business functions for Windows. Her work on Windows since 2007 has been exemplary and her strong talents in working with internal groups and partners will also serve us well. Tami also will report to me.

We are facing a time of great opportunity. What we have accomplished over the past few years is nothing short of amazing, and I know we have more amazing in us. I am excited about our people, I am energized by our ability to change and grow, and I look forward to the success which lies ahead. Thank you for all you do, and please join me in congratulating our new leadership and celebrating all that we have accomplished so far.

Steve

The move comes less than a month after Sinofsky presided over the launch of Windows 8 and Microsoft’s Surface tablet — products seen as key to the future if the PC software pioneer is to retain its position in a market increasingly dominated by phones and tablets.

Sources have said the move came amid growing tension between Sinofsky and other top executives. Sinofsky, though seen as highly talented, was viewed at the top levels as not the kind of team player that the company was looking for. The move is likened by some to the recent ouster at Apple of iOS head Scott Forstall.

Officially, Microsoft is saying that the move was a mutual decision by Sinofsky and the company.

Microsoft is dividing Windows oversight among two top Sinofsky deputies. Julie Larson-Green will head up the engineering side of Windows, while Tami Reller, who has headed marketing and served as the unit’s CFO, will have responsibility for the business side of things. Both will report to CEO Steve Ballmer.

Sinfosky, who took the reins of Windows in 2006 after a long career in the Office unit, helped restore order and discipline to the operating system following the boondoggle of Windows Vista. In the wake of that widely-panned release, Sinofsky spearheaded the development of the largely praised Windows 7 release before turning his attention to Windows 8 — a far more radical overhaul of the software.

However, he was a divisive figure both inside and outside of the Windows group.

Update: In a press release, Ballmer praised Steven’s work, but also talked about a need for “more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings.”

“I am grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company,” CEO Steve Ballmer said. “The products and services we have delivered to the market in the past few months mark the launch of a new era at Microsoft. We’ve built an incredible foundation with new releases of Microsoft Office, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows Server 2012 and ‘Halo 4,’ and great integration of services such as Bing, Skype and Xbox across all our products. To continue this success it is imperative that we continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings.”

Sinofsky, praised the company in the statement.

“It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft,” Sinofsky said. “I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company.”

He notes that there are full-featured Windows 8 laptops that sell for $279.

“These are fantastic machines,” Sinofsky said Thursday, shortly after presiding over the Windows 8 launch. They’re not netbooks or bargain-basement machines. At that price, he said, you can get a computer good enough to last a student through college.

“It’s $279,” he said, “Here we are, talking about seven-inch recreational tablets for $329.”

Windows 8, which officially went on sale Friday, is a huge bet for Microsoft, which aims to offer an operating system flexible enough to compete with both Macs and iPads, as well as satisfy the hundreds of millions of existing Windows PC owners at homes and businesses around the world.

The software features a new built-in store to buy apps, is optimized for touchscreens and runs on chips designed for PC processors as well as chips traditionally used in phones and tablets.

Sinofsky said he is very pleased with the range of computers produced by the likes of Acer, Lenovo and Dell. He notes there are tons of thin, light, touchscreen Ultrabooks that sell for hundreds less than a MacBook Air.

“It’s not just discounting,” Sinofsky said. “It’s engineering work that drives the cost down.”

As for the Windows RT variant, which uses more power-conscious ARM-based processors, but can’t run older programs, Sinofsky said it will hold a lot of appeal.

“It really is a PC for everyone,” he said, joking that the market is limited to those who are either right-handed or left-handed. “Is it for everyone all the time? No.”

Some people, he said, want or need to run older Windows apps, and Windows 8 machines will be fine. But, he said, while an iPad might be good for a short trip, a device like Microsoft’s Surface can suffice even on a long business trip.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took his own shots at Microsoft on Thursday, suggesting that Surface makes too many compromises in trying to serve as both PC and tablet.

“You could design a car that flies and floats,” Cook said on Apple’s earnings conference call, “but I don’t think it would do either of those things very well.”

Windows 8 moves Windows into new directions. It can run on traditional PC processors as well as those traditionally used in phones and tablets. It is designed to be equally at home on a touchscreen slate as on a desktop PC with keyboard and mouse.

The move is also Microsoft’s effort to regain ground lost to the iPad in the tablet arena.

One of the key concerns, though, is that Windows 8 introduces a new kind of apps, and many programs for both PCs and mobile devices have yet to make their way to the new Windows Store.

AllThingsD will have live coverage from the New York launch event, which is due to kick off in about 20 minutes. The software itself, along with new PCs running the operating system, is set to go on sale Friday.

In the meantime, here’s Walt Mossberg’s review of the operating system, and of the Surface RT tablet.

8:11 am: We’re probably about five minutes away from the start. To set the scene, we’re at Pier 57, near the edge of the Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

8:18 am: Lights dim. “The World is Ready” in white type on a black screen. Cue video.

There’s a spinning globe, then a brief clip of Windows boss Steven Sinofsky at the China launch of Windows 8, from earlier this week.

Lots of people from around the world, interspersed with clips from Microsoft’s developer events, and shots of Windows 8 in action.

Onstage now is Sinofsky. Mostly recapping. Windows 7 has sold 670 million licenses so far.

The world is really different now than it was a while ago, etc.

“In creating Windows 8, we shunned the incremental,” Sinofsky said. We boldly reimagined Windows.

8:24 am: Sinofsky now talking about the 650 pages worth of blogs written about the development of Windows 8 (the longest of which he penned personally).

If you are familiar with Windows 8, most of this is old hat. But, while we are going through it, I’ll summarize the basics.

Windows 8 has two modes: The desktop, which looks a lot like Windows 7, and a new-look Start menu that links to both classic Windows apps as well as a new breed of touch-centric apps designed specifically for the new OS.

8:28 am: Starting at 12:01 am, the software is available as a $39 downloadable upgrade for Windows 7 users, as well as on new computers.

Sinofsky notes that Windows 8 has been through 1.24 billion hours of public testing

“No product anywhere receives this level of external usage and testing prior to release,” Sinofsky said.

There are more than 1,000 PCs certified to run the new operating system.

Full-featured Windows 8 PCs will start at under $300, Sinofsky said — less than most tablets.

8:31 am: Sinofsky is talking about apps — perhaps the biggest question mark when it comes to Windows 8.

“We’re just getting started today,” Sinofsky said. The company isn’t giving out an official number, but it is estimated that by the end of the week there will be somewhere around 10,000 apps globally.

8:32 am: Peeking at the logos behind Sinofsky … Vimeo, Kindle, FX, Kobo, Rakuten, Box, PopSci, CW, USA Today are some of the logos I see — we’ll have a photo soon of the slide.

Netflix and Hulu are there, too.

8:34 am: Now Sinofsky is talking about Windows RT, which runs on ARM-based processors from companies such as Nvidia and Qualcomm.

So far, Windows RT machines are being made by Asus, Lenovo, Dell, Samsung and Microsoft itself — with Surface RT.

Sinofsky is clarifying that, unlike Windows 8 PCs, RT machines only run built-in apps — Office, as well as those designed for the new Windows Store.

8:36 am: Windows RT can use existing peripherals, though, Sinofsky notes, including all the best-selling printers. In total, there are 420 million existing devices that will connect to Windows RT devices.

Microsoft had a tighter-than-normal partnership with chip and hardware makers when it came to Windows RT — limiting the number of hardware makers that any one chipmaker could work with.

8:37 am: Now onstage are Windows executives Mike Angiulo and Julie Larson-Green to show off some of the Windows 8 PCs.

But first, another video.

8:38 am: First up, the duo are showing off Windows 8 running on existing Windows 7 PCs.

Larson-Green logs in by touching specific places on a picture of her kids — a new option with Windows 8.

“Windows 8 is really easy,” Larson-Green said. “Everything you need is right under your thumbs.”

Built-in Xbox Music service offers free streaming of 30 million songs.

“It’s a really great update for all Windows 7 PCs,” Larson-Green said.

Angiulo shows Windows 8 running on a Lenovo X1 Ultrabook, which he said boosts start-up time by 33 percent on that device.

Importantly, desktop apps and new-style apps can be run side by side.

They demo Excel 2013 running alongside a weather app. Colleague Lauren Goode says she can’t remember ever seeing two people so excited about Excel.

Angiulo talks up Windows Phone 8, and the experience. (Of course, plug in an iPhone to a Windows RT machine, and all it can do is charge the device.)

8:46 am: It’s PC show and tell time. First up, an Intel-powered device from Acer and Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet 2. Lots of adjectives.

8:49 am: There are PCs in all shapes and sizes, laptops, tablets, convertibles, all-in-ones.

8:50 am: More app logos: Lots of magazines and newspapers and TV stations.

On to Windows RT — PCs that will offer better battery life, improved security. Microsoft is showing off five machines, starting with Lenovo’s flexible Yoga device (a version of which was first shown at CES back in January).

There’s also Dell’s XPS 10 and Samsung’s Ativ Tab, which Larson-Green says has 12 hours of battery life. Asus has its Vivo Tab RT and, last, there’s Microsoft Surface.

(Microsoft is being smart by touting its partners’ machines first, though we’ll be hearing a lot more about Surface later today.)

8:56 am: PC show and tell is done, and it’s time for another video.

8:57 am: CEO Steve Ballmer takes the stage

“It really is an exciting, exciting day,” Ballmer booms.

“Windows 8 shatters perceptions on what a PC really is,” Ballmer said.

Ballmer notes that the home screen is personal, with the apps, Web sites and people that matter most to whoever is using it.

By logging into a new Windows PC with a Microsoft account, lots of your information just flows down to the machine.

“It will all be there — everything and everybody that you care about,” Ballmer said.

Lots of great PCs, Ballmer said. “For the first time, though, Windows also has first-rate tablets in addition to desktops and notebooks.”

9:03 am: Ballmer gushing more, noting how many different parts of the company went into Windows 8, including Bing, MSN, SkyDrive, Skype and Xbox.

Oh, and Office.

9:06 am: Ballmer: “Are these new designs PCs? Yes. Are these new designs tablets? Yes.”

9:08 am: Now Ballmer is talking up Windows 8’s entertainment chops, including a SmartGlass feature that links a Windows 8 machine with Xbox and the Xbox video, music and movie services.

Enterprises will also like it, Ballmer promised.

Ballmer also promises more to come from Microsoft on the business front, relative to Windows 8.

Windows Phone, meanwhile, works in a similar way to the new desktop OS, Ballmer said, highlighting the similarities from that. (Microsoft is having a separate Windows Phone 8 event on Monday.)

Ballmer talking up the opportunity for software makers, noting that there are 670 million PCs just waiting to be upgraded to Windows 8.

Analysts forecast sales of another 400 million new PCs, most of which will run Windows 8. Those are big numbers, Ballmer said, even in a market known for big numbers.

We’ve grown very fond of this term “Windows reimagined,” Ballmer said. “You’ve heard it today, and you are going to see it in our ads.”

“Windows 8 does bring together the best of the worlds — PCs, tablets, work and play,” Ballmer said.

But, he said, people won’t take his word, and they shouldn’t. Go out and see the new PCs and touch them, he said, heading offstage.

I think this is it for this part of the event. There will be more from here, but not for a bit, so I will stop the liveblog and update you later with any other news.

After all, Microsoft had spent three decades sticking to PC software, letting others make the machines. Even Microsoft’s longtime hardware partners had just a brief heads-up.

But Microsoft had spent the past couple of years laying the groundwork for the device, which hits shelves on Friday, alongside Windows 8 PCs from Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo. At $499, Microsoft is taking direct aim at the iPad with its Surface, but it will also put pressure on all of those longtime PC partners.

So, just how did Surface come to be? Much of Microsoft’s hardware knowledge came from products that were either obscure or of little notice. The company had been building mice and keyboards for decades, but has been expanding its expertise in recent years.

Though no PCs have ever been sold under Microsoft’s brand until now, the company actually has had its hand in the manufacturing and design of several computers handed out at its more recent developer conferences.

Its first venture was a convertible touchscreen laptop built with Acer. That machine, handed out at the Professional Developer Conference in 2009, featured all kinds of connectivity options, and was the first that could run Microsoft’s operating system out of the box without any custom drivers.

A second machine, an Asus tablet, was the first computer of its size to have its screen optically bonded in the way that Surface does.

At last year’s Build conference, Microsoft handed out a custom version of Samsung’s Slate PC. On the outside, it resembled the already-shipping product, but Angiulo notes that Microsoft had made a ton of changes on the inside, cramming in all kinds of additional sensors and connectivity options.

Microsoft also learned from a different Surface. While the tablet bears little resemblance to the first tabletop computer that had that name, Microsoft learned a lot about screen technology when it worked with Samsung on a second-generation table introduced in January 2011. Unlike the first projection system-based table, the second Surface table was a flat touchscreen, optically bonded to its cover.

But despite Microsoft’s long love affair with tablets, the plan for Surface is a relatively new one, dating back only to when Microsoft started planning for Windows 8.

Windows chief Steven Sinofsky believed that the company needed its own hardware to show off the new-look operating system. To head the project, he tapped Panos Panay, a veteran of the company’s hardware unit.

“We started with a blank sheet of paper,” Panay said. Actually, the first real prototype was a bunch of sheets of paper — a notebook that had a cardboard kickstand attached with a screen.

From there, the team fashioned all kinds of prototypes, fabricating hundreds of 3-D-printed plastic models before settling on the final design. Even after showing off the machine on June 18, the team made at least one significant change to the device’s outer casing.

While the design evolved over time, many of its key specifications were dictated by decisions early on. One such move, for example, was the decision to keep a full-size USB port on the device.

Including the port meant that the device could only be so thin, but Panay said that Microsoft wanted to keep its heritage, as well as compatibility with millions of USB devices.

“A USB port is part of our brand,” Panay said. And, beyond that, it’s a pretty darn useful means of connecting to cameras, printers, mice, and all other manner of devices.

“It seems silly to walk away from what we’ve been committed to,” Panay said. Of course, the software it runs — Windows RT — is a break from the past. Surface can run Office in a standard Windows desktop, but that’s the only legacy application it will run. All other programs must be the new-style Windows 8 applications — many of which have yet to be developed.

From a culture standpoint, Panay said the key was not just assembling a bunch of smart people, but getting ones that bought into a common vision. Just having a bunch of brilliant people often guarantees lots of conflicting opinions.

“If we didn’t get all our oars in the water and row in one direction, we wouldn’t be here,” Panay said.

Keeping the tablet a secret was somewhat easier for Microsoft than it might have been for other technology companies. Since no one expected a tablet from Microsoft, folks weren’t looking out for it.

The company took basic precautions — not using a Microsoft logo until recently, and not providing more than a couple pieces of the device to any one partner. But the company also decided it didn’t need to hide prototypes inside fake cases, or take other advanced measures.

“There was nobody looking,” Panay said, keenly aware that this was a one-time phenomenon. The team has already increased security in Studio B — the Surface team’s home inside Microsoft’s sprawling Redmond campus.

The company has one more announced product — an Intel-based Surface Pro model running Windows 8, due out in about three months’ time. There are lots of other things in the works, including a rumored phone, but Panay and Sinofsky aren’t talking about those projects.

The duo gush when talking about the initial Surface, though, frequently using words like “perfect” and “beautiful” as they go on about the 200 custom parts, the magnesium case and other features.

It’s the little things, Panay said, pointing out how the Surface can take a video of a meeting, thanks to its rear camera and kickstand. The camera is pointed at a 22-degree upward angle, to offset the device’s tilt. It’s the perfect spy camera, though the company did opt to have a little light indicate when the camera is on.

While Panay hopes the product will inspire others inside Microsoft, as well as the Windows PC ecosystem, his Surface team is playing for the long-term rather than just to light a fire under the computer makers.

“This is not just we are here and then gone,” Panay said.

Microsoft said it will sell a 32GB version of the tablet for $499, though adding in the much-touted touch keyboard cover will cost a further $100. A 64GB model with keyboard cover included will cost $699. The company has started taking pre-orders on its Web site.

“We’re pretty darn excited about the price, the value,” Windows boss Steven Sinofsky told a gathering of two dozen reporters on Monday. “When you think about everything you are getting, this is a terrific deal.”

Apple charges $499 for its 16GB new iPad, with 32GB and 64GB models selling for an additional $100 and $200 respectively. Both Apple and others sell various add-on keyboards and keyboard cases that tend to sell for around $60 to $100.

At least initially, Surface will be sold only via Microsoft’s Web site and its chain of about 65 temporary and permanent retail stores. Surface will hit store shelves Oct. 26, the same day that Windows 8 goes on sale.

Surface will get prominent positioning at those Microsoft retail stores, with the company planning a big marketing push that began Monday with a television ad campaign.

Sinofsky presided over a behind-the-scenes look at the tablet on Monday, with reporters shown around the building where Surface was created, given a look at the design and testing process as well as tours of top-security labs that few Microsoft employees have even seen.

Microsoft went to great pains to highlight the perfectionism applied to the device, showing many of the hundreds of models the company went through before ultimately settling on the final design, with its 10.6-inch screen.

The company spent hours talking about everything from its “VaporMg” magnesium casing to the way the screen was crafted to the use of magnets when closing the built-in kickstand in order to create a sound reminiscent of the door shutting on a luxury car.

Though perhaps overkill at times, the event aimed to emphasize the huge investment Microsoft is making in Surface. To drive home the point, Sinofsky began Monday’s event by giving each of the assembled reporters a Wonka chocolate bar complete with a golden ticket emblazoned with the Surface logo.

Microsoft is aiming to show with the tablet that it understands how hardware and software can work together and create a product that consumers not only find functional but actually want to touch and own.

In addition to a huge ad budget, Microsoft has invested a small fortune developing the personnel and machinery needed to make its own hardware as well as taking the risk of alienating companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo that have long been responsible for creating the hardware that runs Microsoft’s software.

While Windows 8 is designed to go on a range of devices, Surface is aimed clearly at the iPad. It runs the Windows RT variant of the operating system which produces better battery life and often lower prices, but sacrifices compatibility with all Windows programs except new ones written to go in the Windows 8 storefront.

The lone exception is Office, which comes bundled with Surface and all Windows RT devices.

Microsoft also plans a version of Surface running on an Intel processor, though that product is not expected until early next year; Microsoft has revealed few details beyond confirming its existence at the event back in June.

One key question is just how well consumers will be able to make the distinction between Windows 8 PCs and those using Windows RT. The two operating systems look nearly identical, but different chips mean that only the Windows 8 models (using processors from Intel and AMD) will be able to run the thousands of familiar Windows programs — titles like QuickBooks, Photoshop and iTunes, to name but a few.

Sinfosky downplayed the potential for confusion, insisting that store workers will be able to clearly explain the distinctions and consumers will know which type of machine they are buying.

As to whether Surface is more tablet or laptop, Sinofsky said it is hard to say.

“I’ve used a lot of tablets and this is not a tablet but it is the best tablet I’ve ever used,” Sinofsky said. “And I’ve used a lot of notebooks and laptops and this is not a notebook or a laptop but it is also the very best laptop I’ve ever used. It is a new kind of device.”

RT is the version built to run on microprocessors from Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, using the technology of ARM Holdings, as opposed to models using Intel‘s and Advanced Micro Devices’ processors.

“Along with Asus, we are excited to share that there will be ARM-based PC designs from Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung running Windows RT,” writes Sinofsky.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

“We set out to reimagine the tablet,” Sinofsky said in a brief interview following Monday’s introduction of the Surface tablet. “We want a vision for a tablet that is a great PC; a PC that is a great tablet.”

Clearly, the relationship between Microsoft and the PC industry will be an interesting one to watch in the coming days, weeks and months. As for how the computer makers feel about Microsoft making its own tablets, Sinofsky deferred to comments made by his boss, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Ballmer didn’t say much, but when asked by AllThingsD, he noted that the computer makers did have some idea that Microsoft was doing its own Windows 8 hardware.

“If you look at the bulk of the 375 million machines that get sold (next year), they probably aren’t going to be Surfaces,” Ballmer told AllThingsD. “On the other hand, we could have a sizeable business.”

Beyond showing off the design of the Surface and offering reporters a very brief opportunity to get up close to the device, Microsoft gave out some specifics on Monday. It talked about the device’s magnesium case, its weight and dimensions, as well as the types of ports it features and the chips that power it.

In other areas, such as pricing and availability, the company spoke only in generalities. The ARM-based models — the ones based on Nvidia chips — are due this fall with Windows 8, and should cost about the same. The Intel-based models, which are thicker and heavier, should follow about three months later and should cost around the same as today’s Ultrabook laptops.

One area Microsoft didn’t really talk about at all was battery life. The company isn’t talking specifics, but I did ask Sinofsky if he thinks Surface will deliver the type of battery life and performance that customers would expect.

“I definitely think so,” Sinofsky said.

A near-final “release preview” version of Windows 8 is due in the first week of June, Microsoft confirmed late Monday.

Windows unit President Steven Sinofsky made the announcement at a Windows Developer Days event in Japan.

The release preview follows two earlier test releases, including a “consumer preview” version issued in February.

Although Microsoft hasn’t confirmed a release date for the final version of Windows 8, it is widely expected to be released in time to arrive on PCs this fall.

Windows 8 is a huge bet for Microsoft, as the company is counting on it not only to power mainstream PCs but also to help battle the threat posed by the iPad and other tablets. It features a radically overhauled interface, first shown at last year’s D9 conference, as well as a built-in Windows Store for selling apps.

In addition to computers running traditional processors from Intel and AMD, Windows 8 will also power new tablets and laptops running low-power ARM processors.

The company said last week that Windows 8 will come in a few different flavors, including consumer and pro versions, as well as Windows RT — the name for the version that runs on ARM-based computers.

In a blog post late Monday, Microsoft said it will offer only two main options for Windows 8 on traditional PC processors — Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. Microsoft will also have an enterprise version for large businesses with volume-licensing deals.

The big change with Windows 8 is an all-new version for computers running the ARM-based chips more commonly found on smartphones and tablets than in full-fledged computers. That flavor, known as Windows RT, includes a version of Office, but won’t be able to run other traditional Windows apps.

All flavors of Windows 8 will be able to run new-style Metro apps designed for the new operating system, but only Intel- and AMD-powered machines will be able to run older programs.

Microsoft didn’t disclose how much it will charge for the new Windows, nor would it confirm when the operating system will arrive, though it is widely expected later this year.

While still presenting consumers with several options, the move is a notable slimming down for Microsoft, which has in the past also had options like Home Basic, Home Premium, Starter, Ultimate, Media Center and Tablet PC Editions.

Redmond has come under fire in the past for offering so many different pricing options with Windows. Windows 7 had nearly as many versions as Windows Vista, though most customers were steered toward the Home Premium or Pro versions of the operating system.

And while it won’t have a “Starter” version of the operating system as such, Microsoft is doing much the same thing with Windows 8, adding it would have a “local-language-only edition of Windows 8” for China and “a small set of select emerging markets.”

That option gives Microsoft a way to offer cheaper prices in high-piracy areas while maintaining its profit margins in its more mature markets.

Microsoft also reiterated in the blog post that Windows RT will have many of the features consumers tend to expect from Windows, but won’t have some key business-oriented features, such as the ability to join a corporate domain.

That version also won’t contain Windows Media Player, the music- and video-playing app that has been a staple of Windows.

Windows 8, in all its versions, will come standard with Metro applications for managing email, calendar, photos, instant messaging, music and videos. In general, developers will have to distribute their Metro apps using a new Windows Store that is built into the new operating system.

A consumer preview version of Windows 8 was made available at Mobile World Congress in February and a near-final release candidate will follow at an unspecified date. Developers were given an earlier test version last fall.

The “consumer preview” version will feature a number of advancements over the early developer version released last fall. Perhaps most notably, this version will include the built-in app store that will be part of the next Windows. (Only free apps will be available, Microsoft has said.)

Windows 8 is one of the biggest bets in the company’s history. Aiming to respond to competition from both Macs and iPads, among other factors, Microsoft is making some big changes to its flagship operating system.

In particular, Windows 8 will be available (albeit with some different capabilities and compatibilities) on both ARM and traditional PC processors.

Microsoft has brought over the tiled Metro interface first introduced on Windows Phone (a look first shown at our D9 conference last year) and is introducing an entirely different type of application. In most cases, new-style apps will be distributed only through the Windows app store.

Earlier this month, Microsoft confirmed that Windows on ARM — complete with the next version of Office — should show up on new PCs around the same time as the operating system comes for PCs with chips from Intel and AMD.

However, Office and Windows 8 itself will be the only traditional desktop apps that run in Windows on ARM.

We’ll have live coverage of Microsoft’s Windows 8 event starting around 6 am PT. If you can’t wait to get some Windows 8 news, Microsoft has posted a guide for businesses on some of the corporate-oriented features contained in the new test build.

Earlier:

3:12 pm: Things haven’t kicked off. You haven’t missed anything. Just got situated.

3:12 pm: The event is at a swank venue overlooking Barcelona. Microsoft covered over a swimming pool to build this temporary facility.

Here’s the view from outside the event:

3:18 pm: “Please take your seats,” booms the invisible voice. “The show will begin shortly.”

The show?

3:20 pm: If you haven’t already, check out this story, which reviews some new business details about Windows 8, including a “Windows to Go” feature that lets Windows run on a thumb drive.

3:21 pm: Windows exec Tami Reller kicking things off, noting to half the crowd that they are on top of the pool.

It’s not my half, so we should be safe.

3:22 pm: Cue Windows President Steven Sinofsky. “We are really excited to be here,” Sinofsky said, before correcting himself to use Microsoft-preferred parlance of “super-excited.”

3:23 pm: Hits key points for Microsoft about Windows 8: Bold reimagining, from chipset to interface and application model.

Today, there are too many trade-offs, Sinofsky said.

We’re choosing between performance or battery life, consumption or content creation, touch or keyboard-and-mouse.

Win 8, I’m sure he’s about to say, is no-compromises.

Yep. Just said it.

3:26 pm: Okay. Here we go, changes in Windows 8 since the developer preview.

“Lots of the product” wasn’t done with developer release, Sinofsky said.

3:28 pm: Since developer preview, 100,000 code changes to Windows 8.

“It’s much more polished, much more refined,” he said.

“Windows 8 is a generational change in the operating system,” Sinofsky said. “Things are different than the last time we made a generational change with Windows 95.”

3:31 pm: Uh-oh. Sinofsky says one plus one, when it comes to apps in Windows 8, equals three.

I’ll tell you this, if that’s the case, I don’t want to use the calculator app.

3:32 pm: Demo time. It’s Julie Larson-Green, who heads design and vision for Windows 8, and Antoine Leblond, the VP who has headed up the Windows Store that is built into Windows 8.

3:34 pm: Larson-Green demoing, starting with login screen, including photo-based password that they have shown. Boots to start screen with a bunch of apps, including Kobo, some Xbox live games, as well as tiles for friends and Web sites.

“I can have as many as I want,” she said.

3:37 pm: The goal, she said, is that everything should be “fast and fluid,” and she said all features and tweaks were judged to make sure they lived up to that.

3:38 pm: Among the preinstalled apps in preview is Xbox Live Games, although that demo generated two error messages (but fast and fluid ones).

3:39 pm: Now demoing Cut the Rope, which its developer has taken from an HTML5 app to Windows 8.

3:40 pm: Windows 8 has a video and music store built-in, with rent and purchase options.

3:41 pm: Switching apps is easier than hitting alt-tab, as in traditional Windows. That was fast, but not so fluid. Now, choosing among open apps is a swipe away.

3:42 pm: There’s a people app that connects to Facebook, Windows Live, Twitter, Google and Exchange. This seems to work very similarly to the way they work on Windows Phone, which is to say nicely.

3:45 pm: Systemwide sharing allows apps to share with one another and share to services.

“That is a quick peek at Windows 8 running on this tablet PC,” she said, handing off to Leblond to show it on a laptop.

“Windows 8 isn’t just about tablets and touch devices,” Leblond said.

He’s showing things on a Lenovo Ultrabook.

Logs in with a four-digit PIN code, another of Windows 8’s login options.

3:49 pm: If you are taking a drink every time you hear “fast and fluid,” you are already too drunk to read this.

3:55 pm: Now he’s demoing the familiar desktop in Windows 8. He shows Office. (For you Windows nerds out there, it’s labeled “Build 8250.”)

3:57 pm: Desktop is just another app, Leblond says, showing how a Metro-style app can run next to the desktop.

All of the things you know and love in Windows 7 are still there, Leblond said.

Larson-Green is back to show an Acer all-in-one with touch and keyboard.

And she logs in with a password this time.

Cool thing is all the stuff from her other machine is there on this machine, just by signing in to that machine with the same Windows Live account. (Not instantly, I don’t think, but still.)

SkyDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage, is integrated too.

Here’s the desktop app, by the way:

The consumer preview is now available, Microsoft says on its Web site.

4:04 pm: We’re getting a tour of the store from Leblond. I’m multitasking and reading the just-issued press release, too.

4:05 pm: Not much in the press release that looks new to me. New preview version of Internet Explorer 10; test ARM hardware being made available only to select partners, as they said earlier this month.

There’s also a mention of sharing across Windows 8 and Windows Phone, but they haven’t talked about that onstage yet.

Okay, back to the event. Leblond reminds audience that during beta — err — consumer preview, only free apps will be in the store.

4:07 pm: Leblond notes that the company had an apps contest to allow a few small app developers to join the big names in the Windows Store. There are eight winners, but they flipped by too fast for me.

SigFig and Air Soccer are a couple of them.

4:10 pm: Not surprisingly, some folks are telling me on Twitter that Microsoft’s servers are getting hammered, and downloads are going slow.

Patience, people, patience. (I know, I’m not patient, either.)

By the way, everything Microsoft has shown today could have been done on ARM, I believe. The only desktop app shown was Office 2010. (Slight difference: Office 15 will be built into Windows on ARM.)

4:11 pm: While OS is pretty ready, Sinofsky said, the add-on apps are at an earlier stage. Probably going to be updated, look may change and others may be added.

4:13 pm: Charms feature that allows for sharing among apps that don’t know about one another is kind of like a modern, cloud-connected clipboard.

One of the demos, for example, was a USA Today article being shared to WordPress.com.

4:14 pm: Talk shifts to hardware, with Sinofsky previewing some of the stuff partners have been working on.

Coming on stage is Mike Angiulo, who heads up some of the work with hardware makers.

Angiulo shows a Windows 8 ARM tablet.

4:19 pm: The “fast and fluid” thing has reached epidemic proportions.

4:21 pm: Angiulo showed a very brief glimpse of Office 15 on Windows on ARM.

I have a feeling people will be going back in the replay a lot to see that part.

I’ll spare you my blurrycam shot. I looked at it. Even I can’t tell which app it was.

Angiulo holds up a next-generation Intel Ultrabook, as well. It’s silver, and says “Ultrabook” on the hinge.

Inside, Angiulo said, is mobile broadband, touchscreen and Ivy Bridge chip.

4:25 pm: Demo of fast start-up, which Angiulo says can be done in as little as eight seconds from “cold boot.”

4:26 pm: Cool laptop with motorized door that flips down to reveal ports.

For road warriors, Sinofsky said, “ports aren’t an option. You really, really need them.”

4:27 pm: Second-generation Samsung Series 9 is the latest in the hardware wheel-of-Windows 8-fortune.

Next up, carbon fiber Dell XPS 13, a 13-inch laptop in a 12-inch design.

Not just fast boot and resume, Angiulo said. Network connectivity can happen in under a second.

Other wireless networking features — cost-aware network switching to auto-switch from mobile broadband to known Wi-Fi or your carrier’s Wi-Fi.

4:31 pm: In many cases, Sinofsky promises, your PC will be able to log back into a known network before a user types in their password (for those who need a password to resume).

4:32 pm: Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga, an interesting device from CES, makes an appearance. It can fold into a tablet, laptop, as well as a presentation-style mode.

Trivia time: Microsoft Mouse turns 30 this year, Sinofsky said.

Giant 82-inch Gorilla Glass screen in the back isn’t a monitor, but a Windows 8 PC from Jeff Han’s Perceptive Pixel. He’s the guy who builds that high-end CNN touchscreen.

They also demo NFC-pairing of a wireless speaker.

4:41 pm: Windows 8 can treat a bunch of hard drives like one big physical drive, as part of “Storage Spaces.”

4:43 pm: Last demo was actually done on a Windows 7 PC that was running Windows 8 off a flash drive using the “Windows to Go” feature that leaked out earlier today, thanks to a business guide posted to Microsoft’s Web site a wee bit early.

More Windows 8 enterprise talk at CeBit in a few days, Sinofsky promises.

4:46 pm: 4:46 pm: “Touch PCs are on the way, in all shapes and sizes,” Sinofsky promises.

Notes that it won’t have to be a trade-off of touch or mouse-and-keyboard. Can have both, or keyboard and mouse only, when you want it.

4:48 pm: Sinofsky starting to wrap up, it seems.

4:48 pm: Consumer preview in five languages — English, German, French, Japanese and simplifed Chinese.

Sinofsky is his trademark vague on timing, noting that the next milestone is the release candidate.

“We delivered the consumer preview just as we promised,” he said, noting that it was being downloaded almost immediately in more than 70 countries.

Coming up on the blog: System requirements and other details not offered up today.

And … that’s it.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120229/microsoft-says-hola-to-windows-8-beta-in-barcelona/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120209/more-on-windows-on-arm-highlights-from-sinofskys-8600-word-opus/ http://allthingsd.com/20120209/more-on-windows-on-arm-highlights-from-sinofskys-8600-word-opus/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:27:22 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=173174 We’ve already covered the highlights of Microsoft’s Windows-on-ARM news Thursday, namely that it will have a desktop mode, but only for Office, Internet Explorer and Windows itself.

However, there are some other interesting nuggets amid Steven Sinofsky’s epic blog post, which just posted.

There won’t be an “off” button for Windows-on-ARM (WOA), nor will there be various sleep modes.

One of the new aspects of WOA you will notice is that you don’t turn off a WOA PC. WOA PCs will not have the traditional hibernate and sleep options with which we are familiar. Instead, WOA PCs always operate in the newly designed Connected Standby power mode, similar to the way you use a mobile phone today. When the screen is on, you have access to the full power and capabilities of the WOA PC. When the screen goes dark (by pressing the power button or timer), the PC enters a new, very low-power mode that enables the battery to last for weeks.

Microsoft wants a say in how the Windows-on-ARM hardware works, much as it does with Windows Phone.

To those familiar with the Windows Phone 7 approach, the chassis specification, WOA shares some of those elements. The specifications being implemented for WOA allow for more diversity across many dimensions, combined with the same commitment to engineering and product excellence—all while running the same OS binaries across WOA PCs.

In order to test Windows-on-ARM, Microsoft first had to do so on phones, since no ARM tablets yet existed.

Early in the development of WOA, the only hardware we had were existing ARM devices such as phones (ARM tablets didn’t yet exist). We just thought you would enjoy a few fairly early photos I captured of debug WOA all loaded in RAM (unretouched). Note: This is not a product plan or even a hint at a product.

Sinofsky defends Microsoft’s decision not to let more existing Windows programs run in the Windows desktop.

If we enabled the broad porting of existing code we would fail to deliver on our commitment to longer battery life, predictable performance, and especially a reliable experience over time. The conventions used by today’s Windows apps do not necessarily provide this, whether it is background processes, polling loops, timers, system hooks, startup programs, registry changes, kernel mode code, admin rights, unsigned drivers, add-ins, or a host of other common techniques.

Microsoft is making some test Windows-on-ARM machines available to developers, but they don’t give much of an idea what real ARM-based Windows devices will look like.

To run this release, a low volume of test PCs specifically designed for WOA will be made available starting around the next Windows 8 milestone. These devices are for developers and hardware partners, and do not represent consumer form factors, by any stretch of the imagination. They have diagnostic tools and ports. They are designed to be opened and debugged. They do not have the final components or firmware (or power or thermal management) that a commercially available device will use. They are made of low-cost plastic. You might have seen devices similar to these on display at CES or demonstrated there, and all of our previous demonstrations have used some form of these test PCs. These PCs do represent WOA and the experience—but they no more represent the final experience than does the current state of x86/64 Windows 8. They will be running the same branch of Windows that will be made available to x86/64 testers at our forthcoming development milestone.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120209/more-on-windows-on-arm-highlights-from-sinofskys-8600-word-opus/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120209/windows-on-arm-complete-with-next-version-of-office-to-arrive-with-rest-of-windows-8/ http://allthingsd.com/20120209/windows-on-arm-complete-with-next-version-of-office-to-arrive-with-rest-of-windows-8/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:01:50 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=172871 After being somewhat less than clear about its Windows-on-ARM plans, Microsoft answered a number of lingering questions on Thursday.

In an interview, Windows unit President Steven Sinofsky said that the first ARM-based machines running Windows 8 should show up around the same time as the first Windows 8 machines running traditional PC processors from Intel and AMD. He didn’t give a time frame for when that would be, but PC manufacturers and chipmakers have said they expect it to arrive later this year.

Sinofsky also said that the Windows-on-ARM machines will come with several Office apps — Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote — that have been tuned to run in a very battery-efficient manner. But Sinofsky said that, although those applications will run in the traditional Windows desktop, they will be the only programs allowed to do so, other than components of Windows itself.

“There are no other compiled dekstop apps that are available,” Sinofsky told AllThingsD. All of the other apps for Windows on ARM will be the new-style “Metro” apps.

Windows 8 for Intel and AMD chips, by contrast, will be able to run all of the kinds of programs that have traditionally run on Windows, inside a Windows 7-like desktop environment.

Although Microsoft has said that its focus around Windows 8 would be around new-style “Metro” apps, there had been significant question as to whether, and under what circumstances, programs designed to run in a classic Windows desktop might be able to run.

Windows on ARM will have the desktop as an option for Internet Explorer, the Office apps and various system functions, such as the control panel, file management and other built-in features of Windows. Sinofsky also said that the version of Internet Explorer for Windows on ARM won’t support plugins such as Adobe Flash, noting the trend in the industry away from supporting Flash on mobile devices.

Sinofsky is also penning a several-thousand-word blog post on the subject — long even for someone known for his lengthy posts. In it, Sinofsky said, he goes into more detail on the company’s plans for Windows on ARM, as well as its rationale for some of the decisions it has made.

“There have been a lot of questions,” Sinofsky said. “I want to do my best to answer them.”

Sinofsky had already ruled out some sort of emulation mode for running older Windows apps on ARM chips, noting that the whole point of running Windows on the same kinds of ARM-based chips used for phones and tablets was to gain the kind of power efficiency those chips can deliver.

Microsoft has said it will deliver an updated “consumer preview” test version of Windows 8 on Feb. 29, with plans to tout the software at an event in Barcelona. However, that test version, like a developer preview released last fall, will be available only for machines running traditional Intel and AMD chips.

Sinofsky said the company is working with chipmakers Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments to provide a limited number of test machines to those that make software, hardware and peripherals. The machines are aimed at developers, though, with easy access to the internals, and the company has no plans to make those machines available to enthusiasts, corporate customers or other testers.

Microsoft first announced its plans to allow Windows 8 to run on ARM-based machines at CES 2011.

At the time, it showed a demo of some Office apps running on ARM chips, but showed little else of its plans for the operating system. Months before, it talked about other features of the operating system. Several months later, at our D9 conference, it showed the new Metro interface for Windows, as well as its plans to feature a whole new kind of application, and its plans for a built-in store to sell these new apps.

While the goal is to have Windows-on-ARM machines out at the same time Windows 8 lands on new traditional PCs, Sinofsky noted that there is a lot of work to be done to get the entire PC ecosystem ready.

“We’re building a whole new product, on a new platform, with new partners,” he said.

Update: Sinofsky’s blog post is up, all 8,610 words of it.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120209/windows-on-arm-complete-with-next-version-of-office-to-arrive-with-rest-of-windows-8/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111207/microsofts-steven-sinofsky-on-the-move-to-set-up-a-store-within-windows-8/ http://allthingsd.com/20111207/microsofts-steven-sinofsky-on-the-move-to-set-up-a-store-within-windows-8/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:00:39 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=150661 Although Windows 8’s built-in app store represents a big shift for how developers sell their wares, Microsoft’s top operating-system executive characterized it as a natural evolution.

Users had been accustomed to scouring retail store shelves, but Windows President Steven Sinofsky said expectations have shifted, and consumers are looking to download the programs they need.

“What has dramatically changed over the years is digital distribution of software,” Sinofsky told AllThingsD in an interview Tuesday, shortly after Microsoft announced its plans for the marketplace at an event in San Francisco.

The Windows Store is a key component of Microsoft’s biggest overhaul in years for its flagship operating system. In addition to changing the way apps are sold, Microsoft is also changing the way they are programmed, and expanding the types of chips on which programs will run.

Microsoft is looking to deliver the operating system in fairly short order — on Tuesday, the company said a beta would be available in late February. Windows 8 is widely expected to arrive late next year, though Sinofsky declined to say anything about when the final version would ship.

Well, I asked, is it fair to say that things are going well?

“I always feel great,” Sinofsky said. “I get to come to work every day and see the build from the night before, and every day we do more stuff.”

I also got clarifications on a few nerdy details.

First of all, Microsoft has not changed its plans to make the store mandatory for developers looking to sell new-style Windows 8 apps to individuals. Businesses and developers will have their own means for delivering programs to users, though Sinofsky said Microsoft is not yet ready to detail just how that will work.

“When we get to beta, we will detail the mechanism,” he said.

Sinofsky also clarified that the Windows Store won’t be ported backward to run on older Windows versions. Though understandable, given that the marketplace is designed for all-new apps, the move means that Microsoft will have to build from the ground up when it comes to recruiting developers and building a user base.

That leaves Microsoft vulnerable to a chicken-or-egg problem at launch, though it can count on the fact that hundreds of millions of machines are sold each year, with the vast majority running the latest version of Windows.

Sinofsky would not address a question that has been making the rounds on Windows sites in recent days — whether Windows 8 machines running ARM processors will be able to run classic desktop-style applications.

Microsoft has demonstrated a classic desktop running on an ARM chip, though the company stressed that was merely a technology demonstration; Sinofsky declined to comment on Microsoft’s plans in that area.

And while Microsoft detailed the cut it expects to take from the Windows store (30 percent on apps or 20 percent once they generate $25,000 in sales), the company isn’t offering any guesses on just how big that business could be.

At last January’s CES, Microsoft confirmed its plans to have Windows 8 run on the ARM-based chips that power smartphones and tablets, along with the Intel and AMD chips that have traditionally been used. At our D9 conference in June, Sinofsky showed off the new look of Windows 8; the company added further technical details and issued an early preview release at its Build developer conference in September.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111207/microsofts-steven-sinofsky-on-the-move-to-set-up-a-store-within-windows-8/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111206/microsoft-promises-windows-store-will-offer-a-bigger-bite-of-the-apple/ http://allthingsd.com/20111206/microsoft-promises-windows-store-will-offer-a-bigger-bite-of-the-apple/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:43:46 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=151035 Microsoft is set to offer more information later on Tuesday about the app marketplace that will be built into Windows 8.

Windows watchers might also get an update on just when to expect a full-fledged beta of the software. An early technical preview was released at the company’s Build developer conference in September.

AllThingsD will have live coverage of the event starting just before 4 pm PT.

In the meantime, check out our story from earlier this week, as well as from when Microsoft first debuted Windows 8 at our D9 event in June.

And now, the Windows 8 store event:

4:02 pm: Folks are still milling about. Guessing start time will be closer to 4:15.

4:08 pm: The event is at a swank Mission District art gallery, a perfect spot for those aspiring to hipness.

4:13 pm: Still waiting, though there are plenty of vegetarian crepes and chicken empanadas if anyone is hungry.

4:17 pm: Still no people on stage, though I do count five laptops.

Windows President Steven Sinofsky and Windows Web Services VP Antoine Leblond are on hand.

4:25 pm: We’ve been given the five-minute warning. (I threatened to call it the first Windows 8 delay if things don’t start soon.)

4:30 pm: Things are kicking off, with Leblond taking the stage.

4:31 pm: Leblond says he has five things to talk about: The store’s design, reach, business model, transparent terms for accepting apps and the economics.

“We’re going to give you a bigger bite of the apple,” Leblond said, promising the best economics of any app store.

4:33 pm: Leblond is recapping what Microsoft has said about Windows 8 — it works on ARM and x86 chips, small and big computers. “It’s the biggest and most significant developer opportunity ever,” he promises.

4:35 pm: Key difference will be that Windows Store will offer free trials. “The best advertisement for your app will be the app itself,” Leblond says.

4:38 pm: Demo time. So far, it’s the expected, with things like “top rated,” “top paid,” “top free,” “top new releases” and “rising stars.”

First partner mentioned is Disney, which is bringing its online books and magazines to Windows 8. I’ve also seen tiles for Evernote and Wordament, a Boggle-like game previously made for Windows Phone.

4:42 pm: A demo shows the game Cut the Rope being converted from trial to paid without out a second download and with the user’s place being saved.

4:43 pm: “We’re super excited to have this app on Windows,” Leblond says, adding that the Windows version, unlike Android and iOS versions, was all written in HTML5 and JavaScript. ‘You can build hardcore games using these technologies,” Leblond says.

4:46 pm: Windows Store apps will be able to be deep-linked to, and will show up in search engines, Leblond says. Also, the new version of Internet Explorer, IE10, which will be built into Windows 8, will add a button to the browser for apps that are in the Windows Store.

“Apps aren’t just locked inside the store,” Leblond says.

4:48 pm: Leblond is trying to make the case for the scale of Windows, noting there are 1.25 billion PCs on the planet.

“It’s a ridiculously huge number,” he says, noting it exceeds the count of cars on the planet.

He adds that there will be 400 million new x86 PCs in the next 12 months. Of course, for developers, the key will be the number of Windows 8 machines.

Leblond is now comparing Windows numbers to Apple and Android numbers, using sales over the last two years. “Apples to apples to apples,” he says.

Microsoft has shipped 500 million Windows PCs since Windows 7 shipped, compared with 247 million Android devices, 152 million iOS devices and 30 million Macs. “The reach of Windows is just so much bigger,” he says, noting that all of those rivals combined don’t add up to the number of Windows machines sold. “That’s what you get to participate in by developing Metro-style Windows apps.”

4:54 pm: Getting a demo now of the Chinese store, with an app from Renren that uses various touch gestures.

4:55 pm: Leblond: We will localize the store in all the languages Windows is localized in, (more than 100) payment mechanisms in 230 markets. In the top 40 markets, we will have local pricing and will pay developers in 20 different currencies.

4:57 pm: Next, Microsoft is showing how the store works with enterprise apps.

5:01 pm: Enterprise apps can apparently be used without going through the store. But, according to Microsoft’s past statements, all other Metro apps have to be sold through the app store. Not clear if that has changed or if there is only an exception for IT-deployed apps.

5:02 pm: On to business model talk. Rivals have too many constraints, Leblond says, pointing specifically to how Apple stands between publishers and their customers and takes 30 percent.

“We’re going to take a different approach,” Leblond says. There will be mechanisms for in-app purchases and trial apps built into the store, but you won’t have to use them if you don’t want to, Leblond says.

5:04 pm: Demo of Animoto, a video editing and production app with a mix of free tools and those that require upgrading to a paid version.

5:08 pm: Next demo shows a publisher, the Daily Telegraph, able to handle its own subscription back end using its authentication and purchasing mechanisms (something Apple doesn’t allow).

“It’s not an app you could have on the iPad,” Leblond says — at least not without giving Apple a cut and using their authentication and payment mechanisms.

Next example is eBay, which uses PayPal for payment.

5:12 pm: Next up is Wordament, an example of an ad-supported app. Developers are free to choose whichever ad platform they want, Microsoft says.

5:14 pm: Leblond is on to the process Microsoft will use for approving apps. Leblond says there are two extremes, the Android Market with virtually no checks ahead of launch; and Apple, with its stringent, sometimes opaque processes.

Methinks Microsoft is going to position itself in between. Yep, so says Leblond.

To do that, Microsoft will offer developers the tools Microsoft will use to check their code. “It is the same checks that we are going to use.” Microsoft showed some of this at its Build conference in September. Developers can see where they are in the process, including time estimates on how long each stage typically changes.

Microsoft will also offer developers some download and sales stats, and other usage information, including how often one’s app has crashed and where those crashes are occurring. “We’re going to show you all that stuff,” Leblond says.

5:18 pm: We’re still waiting for the big question — just what cut Microsoft plans to take.

Here we go.

Leblond said the goal was to return the most money to developers. Pricing can be from $1.49 to $999.99. “A thousand bucks is just too much for an app,” he says.

Microsoft will start out with taking a 30 percent cut, but Redmond’s cut will drop to 20 percent as soon as the app makes $25,000 from sales and in-app purchases .

Google’s Chrome Web Store, though, takes just 5 percent.

Apple, meanwhile, gets a 30 percent cut for its Mac and iOS app stores.

5:25 pm: Store will debut with a beta of Windows 8 in late February 2012. Free apps only at first. App submissions will be by invite only, it says.

“We want great apps, and we want great apps in our store,” Leblond said, wrapping up the event.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111206/microsoft-promises-windows-store-will-offer-a-bigger-bite-of-the-apple/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111011/as-skype-skips-through-approvals-whats-the-deal-with-the-deal/ http://allthingsd.com/20111011/as-skype-skips-through-approvals-whats-the-deal-with-the-deal/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:50:17 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=130151

As expected, the European Commission approved Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype late last week.

Next, the deal for the popular Internet communications company — which had previously been cleared by U.S. regulators — is likely to officially close later this week (paperwork!), said several sources close to the situation.

Now, of course, comes the hard part — which is whether Microsoft can successfully integrate the more nimble Skype into the belly of the software beast and allow it to thrive.

Some key questions:

How smoothly can Microsoft integrate Skype into its existing products, such as its unified communications platform, Outlook mail and Hotmail, Office, Messenger and Xbox Live? And, perhaps most of all, Windows Phone devices?

That said, will Skype also get to do what it needs for its own success beyond Microsoft? That includes working with mobile rivals Apple and Google, who now dominate the smartphone market, as well as many others. It has already managed to buy GroupMe group messaging start-up for $85 million, just months after its own acquisition in May.

And can the division — which will be led by Tony Bates, Skype’s CEO and now a Microsoft president — operate successfully located mostly away from the power center of Redmond, Wash.? Skype has a substantial office in Silicon Valley, as well as key engineering units in Estonia and Stockholm.

In that vein, will Microsoft be able to hold on to new talent like Bates and Skype’s geek squad, all of whom have substantial choices elsewhere? Like a lot of large tech companies, Microsoft is not known for being able to hold on to those who come in from the outside, in large part due to its insular culture of longtime execs.

In other words, how big a welcome will Microsoft’s other powerful presidents — such as Windows division head Steven Sinofsky — give Bates and company?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111011/as-skype-skips-through-approvals-whats-the-deal-with-the-deal/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111003/steve-ballmer-gets-a-b-grade-from-microsofts-board/ http://allthingsd.com/20111003/steve-ballmer-gets-a-b-grade-from-microsofts-board/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:45:36 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://allthingsd.com/?p=127860 Software giant Microsoft just filed its annual proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and it contains the assessment by the company’s board of directors of CEO Steve Ballmer.

Ballmer takes home a base salary of $682,000, and his bonus doubled it to just shy of $1.4 million. But it could have been higher. The board had the authority to award Ballmer a bonus worth up to 200 percent of his base salary and decided not to, opting instead to keep it at 100 percent.

But see, it’s not about the money. This is all the equivalent of change found under a couch cushion when compared to the worth of Ballmer’s holdings of Microsoft shares, which are worth about $14 billion or so. It’s about what Microsoft’s board thinks, especially at a time when some people have started to argue that it’s time for a change at Microsoft’s top.

There is, for instance, the issue of Windows Mobile, which Ballmer readily admits isn’t selling “as well as we would have liked.” And what about that 2 percent decline in Windows revenue?

The board’s verdict:

For fiscal year 2011, the Compensation Committee recommended and the independent members of our Board of Directors approved an Incentive Plan award of $682,500, which was 100% of his target award. The award was based on his performance appraisal and other relevant information considered by the independent members of the Board, including: Mr. Ballmer’s performance against his individual commitments; the operating income performance of the Company relative to 25 large technology companies (a group that includes most of our Technology Peers); successful product launches including Kinect for Xbox and Office 365, enhancements to Windows Azure and Bing; continued progress positioning the company as a leader in the cloud and cloud-based infrastructure; key partnerships with Facebook and Nokia; significant progress in development of the next generation of Windows; work toward the successful acquisition of Skype; lower than expected initial sales of Windows Phone 7; the 2% decline in revenue for the Windows and Windows Live Division; the need for further progress in new form factors; and an overall strong financial year in which Microsoft reported record revenue of $69.9 billion, record operating income of $27.1 billion, and record earnings per share of $2.69 representing 12%, 13%, and 28% growth, respectively.

Yay Ballmer. So how did the rest of the senior management team do? Here’s what the board says in the proxy filing.

CFO Peter Klein: He got $3.6 million, which was 120 percent of his target award, and credit for focusing on operating expenses and on the capital allocation plan, which resulted in $16.9 billion of cash returned to shareholders by way of share buybacks and dividends. He also did the due diligence on the Skype acquisition.

Kurt DelBene, president of the Microsoft Office Division: Annual revenue from the division increased 17 percent to $20 billion; Office 2010 was the fastest-selling version in the product’s history; and Office 365 got out the door. Plus Sharepoint, Exchange and Lync had “double digit growth.” Based on his fiscal year 2011 performance, DelBene received an incentive plan award of $7.25 million, 132 percent of his target award.

Steven Sinofsky, president Windows and Windows Live: Revenue is falling slightly in this group because of the decline in consumer PC sales, but Windows 8 is on the way. For all this Sinofsky, got $6.3 million or 90 percent of his target award.

Kevin Turner, COO: With Microsoft reporting annual revenue of $70 billion and operating income of $27 billion, up 13 percent, Turner earned an incentive plan award of $9.63 million, 110 percent of his target.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111003/steve-ballmer-gets-a-b-grade-from-microsofts-board/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110913/what-we-just-learned-about-windows-8/ http://allthingsd.com/20110913/what-we-just-learned-about-windows-8/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:05:52 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=119768 The new look of Windows 8 has been known for a few months — ever since Windows President Steven Sinofsky and VP Julie Larson-Green showed it at D9 in June. However, much of the operating system has remained top-secret until this week, when Microsoft is sharing the details at its Build developer conference in Anaheim.

AllThingsD is covering the event, including live coverage of Tuesday’s keynote speech.

In the meantime, here are a few new things that Microsoft is detailing about Windows 8 this week:

Picture logins
Windows 8 allows users to log in using either a PIN or password, but adds an option allowing users to look at a photo and make dots or lines on it as their login. (Hint: Using a face and dotting the eyes and drawing a line where the mouth is represents the equivalent of making your password 1-2-3-4.)

New way to connect apps
Microsoft calls these “contracts,” and they allow applications to talk to one another without either having to be aware of the other. Instead, one app agrees that it wants to be a search engine and another app decides it wants to build search into its application.

“Lucky” Charms
By swiping a finger in from the right edge of the screen, users have access to a consistent set of options, including search and a settings menu, as well as persistent options for sharing content via various tools.

Deep integration with Windows Live
Microsoft will use its suite of online services to allow users to access photos stored on SkyDrive, Facebook and Flickr just as if they were stored locally. Windows 8 will similarly blend instant messaging, contact information and calendars across multiple services via the cloud.

Connection to other Windows PCs
Users will be able to easily transfer all of their settings from one machine to another just by logging in to Windows Live. Furthermore, Windows 8 supports direct access to all of a user’s PCs. (I would assume the other PC has to be running in order to access it.)

The Windows Store
An app store icon was visible in the D9 demo, but Microsoft didn’t comment at all on it. Now we know how the store looks — it’s a Metro-style app — as well as how it will work for both consumers and developers. Also, it will stock both new-style programs as well as classic desktop applications. Microsoft wasn’t forthcoming on the business details — such as what percentage it plans to take — but some documents make reference to a revenue-sharing arrangement. The store will support free and paid apps, as well as in-app payments.

The Windows Store will be the exclusive way for consumers to get Metro-style apps and for developers to sell such programs, I’m told. (Businesses will be able to create and distribute internal Metro-style apps for employees.) Traditional-style desktop apps will continue to be sold in the same ways they have been, though developers can create a landing page in the Windows store for such programs.

Built-in antivirus software
Windows has had antimalware built in for some time, and has offered free downloadable antivirus software for a while now. However, with Windows 8, the antivirus component is built into the operating system as well. The company does promise that the security program, Windows Defender, will play nice and take a back seat if a user installs third-party antivirus software.

Related posts

• Exclusive: Making Sense of Our First Look at Windows 8
• Windows 8 Gets Ready for Its Big Debut
• Gearing Up for Microsoft’s Big Week
• Microsoft Details Windows 8 at Build Conference in Anaheim
• What We Just Learned About Windows 8
• Microsoft Releases First Test Version of Windows 8
• Windows 8 Forces Some Compromises After All
• Boys and Their Toys: Developers Rush to Get Windows 8 Tablets
• Windows 8 Shows Its Server Side
• Ballmer: 500,000 Downloads of Windows 8 Since Last Night

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