AllThingsD » Windows 7

Microsoft, PC Industry Will Need Windows Upgrade Offer More Than Ever

Ina Fried and Lauren Goode — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:20:54 +0000

As expected, Microsoft will offer those who buy a new PC in the coming months the ability to get a heavily discounted upgrade to Windows 8.

The news was reported by CNET earlier this month, with additional details, including the cost, trickling out in recent days. Our sources confirm that Microsoft will offer $15 Windows Pro 8 upgrades to those buying a new PC with Windows 7 Home Basic or higher.

Redmond has offered these kinds of coupons with the past several releases, so it is not a shocker.

But with Windows 8 coming this fall — possibly as late as November — and with current license sales slowing, and Microsoft losing share to both Macs and iPads, the upgrade program could be even more important this time around.

Redmond and the PC makers are hoping that the promise of a guaranteed and easy upgrade will convince back-to-school shoppers to stick with Windows, rather than head to the competition.

The upgrade program is important for another reason: Microsoft needs Windows 8 to get off to a fast start in order to convince developers to write new Metro-style apps that only run on Windows 8. Getting more Windows 7 users on the new operating system would help that cause.

A big change this time around is how the program will operate. In the past, Microsoft has been the driving force behind the cheap upgrades, but the company left it up to computer makers to handle the specific pricing, timing and fulfillment. With Windows 8, Microsoft will handle all of those items, sources say.

Microsoft declined to comment on its upgrade program plans.

The other piece of preparing for Windows 8 is what is taking place on the hardware side. Windows 8, with its Metro user interface, is tailor-made for touch devices, though it will also work with a keyboard and mouse.

So far, this summer’s laptop offerings are punched-up versions of the same PCs that have been on the market for months, with upgrades to Intel’s Ivy Bridge chip line, and PC makers all trying to put their stamp on the trend toward thinner, lighter laptops.

Lenovo has announced more consumer-friendly versions of its business-minded ThinkPad laptop. Hewlett-Packard, meanwhile, has expanded its Ultrabook line and has slapped the term “Sleekbooks” on another set of new laptops that fall into the ultra-thin-and-lightweight category but have innards that don’t meet Intel’s specifications for Ultrabooks. Sony’s new Ivy Bridge-equipped Vaio laptops will be made with lightweight materials, include larger displays, and offer optional accessories such as an extended battery.

But PC makers will clearly be gearing up for Windows 8 so that they can start pitching the new operating system as soon as it is ready.

This fall, some hardware makers will introduce convertible PCs that function as both tablets and laptops, as noted here, or will add things like touch sensors to existing displays, in order to bridge the two operating systems.

One company that has already announced a Windows 8 laptop is Lenovo. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January of this year, the China-based PC maker showed off the IdeaPad Yoga, a laptop with a 10-finger touchscreen and a full range of motion at the hinge so when fully folded it turns into a 13.3.-inch tablet.

Overall, one can expect a lot of Windows 8-ready machines to be part of the back-to-school lineups. But expect most PC makers to hold off on design overhauls for the Windows 8 launch.

Microsoft Gives Windows a Clean Sweep

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:01:54 +0000

For a long time, some Microsoft officials have privately griped that PC makers don’t present Windows in its best light. They clutter desktops with icons that are often little more than ads for third-party products; include confusing utilities that duplicate functions already in Windows; require lengthy setup; and configure PCs in ways that slow them down.

One consequence, in the eyes of these Microsoft executives, is to confer an advantage on the company’s main operating-system rival, Apple.

[ See post to watch video ]

Now, Microsoft is doing something about the situation. In a program unknown to most computer users, the company has been using its small chain of retail stores and its online computer store to sell customized versions of popular PC models that have been streamlined for a cleaner look and better performance. It calls these machines “Signature” PCs. They retain the maker’s brand, but sport a special Signature desktop and configuration. And they cost about the same as the identical stock version of the machine sold elsewhere.

Microsoft also offers a program that, for $99, will turn users’ Windows 7 PCs into Signature versions, if the owner brings the computer into one of its 16 stores, due to grow to 21 outlets in coming months. All Signature computers come with 90 days of free phone support, as well as help at the stores’ “Answer Desks,” which are like the Genius Bars at Apple stores.

I’ve been testing three Signature models and comparing them with the same machines as sold elsewhere without the Signature modifications. I found the Signature versions much cleaner and easier to navigate and faster in a variety of tests.

A Folio 13 model PC desktop, as shipped by Hewlett-Packard, shows a cluster of third-party software icons.

I’d recommend that prospective Windows PC buyers who live near a Microsoft store, which are mostly in the West, or are willing to shop at the company’s online store, consider a Signature machine. Information on store locations, as well as a link to online PC shopping from Microsoft, is at microsoftstore.com. Information on Signature is at signature.microsoft.com.

Some important caveats are in order. The hardware makers presumably believe, and some consumers may well agree, that the extra software, utilities and settings, which Microsoft removes or buries, are beneficial. Some of these, like offers to join game or music services, may be viewed as welcome bonuses. Others, like customized networking utilities, or launchers for the PC makers’ own media software, may be viewed as better matched to the hardware, or superior to Microsoft’s approach, even though they duplicate Windows functions. Many can be turned off, or removed, by a user with sufficient skill and time.

Also, Microsoft loads Signature machines with its own add-on software, such as its free email, photo and video programs, its Zune music and video program, and a stripped-down “Starter” version of Microsoft Office, that includes only Word and Excel, plus ads, and an offer to buy the full version.

However, the company says the stores will remove any of these a customer doesn’t want and even help the customer install competing software, such as Google’s Chrome browser, or Apple’s iTunes for Windows.

The same PC as sold by Microsoft in its Signature configuration.

At my request, Microsoft supplied me with before-and-after laptops from Hewlett-Packard, Sony and Samsung. Over the past few days, I’ve been comparing the stock and Signature versions, and testing how much time it takes to set them up, start them and restart them in daily use, resume them from sleep, and shut them down.

The Signature desktop, which is labeled “Microsoft Signature,” features a picture of a sunset over a lake as its wallpaper. It contains no icons other than the recycling bin. The Taskbar contains only icons for Internet Explorer, the Explorer file browser, and Microsoft’s free email, photo and moviemaking programs. The system tray, to the right of the Taskbar, contains only the bare minimum of items, such as the network and battery indicators.

Signature machines are also configured with battery, audio and touch-pad settings Microsoft considers optimal. The usual third-party security software—which is typically provided for only 30 to 90 days, makes you go through some setup, and nags you to subscribe—is replaced by Microsoft’s own Security Essentials program, which is free, required no registration or subscription and updates itself automatically.

By contrast, my test HP Folio 13 had eight icons besides the recycling bin, including several that were come-ons for music and game services. It also featured several HP utilities.

A Sony EH37FX included an app from Best Buy that launched every time the PC started (though you could turn this off). Both stock machines festooned the IE browser with two space-hogging toolbars, including one from Microsoft’s own Bing search service; the Signature machine had none.

The Samsung Series 7 I tested came with 10 extra icons and a bunch of special utilities.

Signature isn’t the same on every machine. In most cases, it strips out some of the added software and utilities, and retains others, but hides them in a folder buried in the Start Menu. In some cases, however, where a utility is deemed essential for a computer’s particular hardware, it retains these.

Such decisions, and indeed all of the Signature settings, are controlled by a team of engineers housed in Microsoft’s retail division.

In my speed tests, Signature beat all the stock machines on all my trials, but the margins weren’t dramatic, usually from a few seconds to 25 seconds. On the HP, the differences were especially minimal. Across all three machines, the biggest differences were the time it took to set the PC up out of the box and the time it took to shut down the PC.

One Microsoft official told me that Signature represents “Microsoft’s perspective on Windows,” rather than that of the hardware maker.

In my opinion, although it may generally benefit Microsoft at the expense of the hardware maker, it also makes for a better experience for the user.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

German Court Backs Motorola's Injunction Against Microsoft

Friedrich Geiger and Harriet Torry — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:30:02 +0000

A German court Wednesday upheld Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.’s request for an injunction to halt sales of Microsoft Corp. products, including Windows 7 and Xbox 360, over alleged patent violation, the latest twist in a case that has spanned courtrooms across the Atlantic.

A Microsoft spokesperson, however, said Motorola is prohibited from acting on the court’s decision because a U.S. court granted Microsoft a restraining order on April 11 to prevent Motorola Mobility from taking action based on the Mannheim court’s ruling.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Samsung Hits "Play" on Series 7 Gamer Laptop

Bonnie Cha — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:45:47 +0000

Samsung is dialing it up a notch or four with its new gaming laptop, the Series 7 Gamer.

First introduced in January at CES 2012 and available today, the Series 7 Gamer features a unique dial that allows you to switch into four different modes and optimizes the laptop’s performance, depending on whether you’re using the computer for gaming or less intense tasks, such as creating documents.

For example, in Gaming mode, the main gaming keys are highlighted in red, and the lights around the speakers pulsate to the sounds of the game. Meanwhile, General mode turns the Series 7 into more of an everyday laptop, on which you can surf the Web, work on documents or view photos.

There is also a Quiet mode that disables the fan and all sounds, as well as a Power Save mode designed to save battery life by turning off all non-critical components.

Gaming is at the core of this device, however, and the Samsung Series 7 Gamer has some of the latest technology to power the Windows 7 laptop. This includes Intel’s new Ivy Bridge i7 processor (2.3 GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM CPU), Nvidia’s latest Geforce GTX 675M graphics, 16 gigabytes of memory and a 1.5 terabyte 7200RPM hard drive.

Games should look spectacular on the Series 7’s 17.3-inch full-HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) display, which Samsung promises will offer 50 percent more brightness than traditional PCs. Samsung also packs in a Blu-ray player, Dolby Home Theater v4 speakers and a built-in two-megapixel camera.

A heavyweight in features, the Series 7 gamer is also just plain old heavy. At 13.34 pounds, this is definitely not a device for toting around town every day, especially with its rated battery life of 3.7 hours, but it could be an attractive option for gaming enthusiasts looking for a powerful, portable solution.

The Samsung Series 7 Gamer costs $1,900 and is available now through a number of retailers, including Amazon, Newegg and TigerDirect.

Permission to Procrastinate: Wait to Get a New Laptop

Walt Mossberg — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:13:10 +0000

If you’re thinking of buying a new laptop this spring, my advice is to think again. Unless your laptop is on its last legs and you have to move quickly, there are compelling reasons to wait until at least the summer, and probably the fall, to buy a new machine, especially if you are looking for a Windows PC, but even if you are in the market for a Mac.

[ See post to watch video ]

That makes this annual spring buyer’s guide a bit different. People always worry that buying tech products today carries a risk of obsolescence. Most of the time, that fear is overblown. But this spring really is a bad time to buy a new laptop, because genuinely big changes are due in the coming months.

On the PC side, Microsoft is set to introduce Windows 8, the most radical new version of Windows in years, probably in the fall. PC makers will be introducing new laptop designs to take advantage of it. While Windows 8 will work with a mouse or touch pad and a keyboard, it will be heavily oriented toward tablet-type touch-screen navigation. Many PC makers are planning convertible Windows 8 models for the holiday shopping season that can act as either tablets or regular clamshell laptops.

If you buy a traditional Windows 7 laptop now, Microsoft says it will very likely be upgradable to Windows 8, but you won’t find the new styles of laptops on store shelves now. Even if you buy one of the rare touch-screen laptops now, Microsoft says it will likely work with the touch features of Windows 8, but it may not be optimized to do a great job with the new software. Also, in my view, it is always better, especially with Windows computers, to buy a new machine if you want a new version of Windows.

On the Mac side, Apple also is bringing out a new operating system, this summer. Called Mountain Lion, it won’t be as big a change as Windows 8, partly because Apple already has integrated a lot of touch gestures and tablet-type features into the Mac using the touch pad, and has given no indication it plans touch screens.

While current Macs will most likely be upgradeable to Mountain Lion, you risk missing out on new hardware if you buy a machine now.

However, Apple is overdue for redesigned laptops, especially in its MacBook Pro line, and it is a good bet that new, possibly heavily redesigned, models will begin appearing later this year. Current Macs will likely be upgradable to Mountain Lion, but if you buy now, you’ll miss out on the likely new hardware.

There is another factor that calls for waiting. Intel, whose processors are used by most Windows PC makers and by Apple, is on the verge of introducing a new family of chips, called Ivy Bridge, which the chip maker claims will offer much faster graphics performance without sacrificing battery life. While some Ivy Bridge laptops will be available very soon, the new chips won’t show up in large numbers of consumer laptops until around June. So, even before Windows 8 appears, many consumer laptops you buy now will be outclassed by similar machines that will be introduced this summer.

There is a silver lining. If you watch prices carefully, you may find bargains on Windows 7 laptops running the current Intel processors — which are plenty capable — as the newer models get closer. And PC makers are likely, at some point, to offer free upgrades to Windows 8.

With all of that in mind, here is a cheat sheet to choosing a laptop now, if you must. As always, these tips are for average consumers doing common tasks — email, Web browsing, social networking, general office productivity, photos, music, videos and simple games. This guide isn’t meant for corporate buyers or for serious gamers and media producers.

Tablet or laptop

Tablets can reduce your reliance on a laptop and allow you to wait to buy a new one. Tablet users often find they use their laptops less often for daily tasks like email, Web browsing, or social networking.

Windows 8, the most radical new version in years, will likely be out this fall, accompanied by new PC designs.

Price

Windows PC makers are trying to nudge up the price of their laptops, since they feel they make too little profit on them. You can buy a stripped-down Windows laptop for under $300 and an adequate model for around $500. But a well-equipped model typically runs between $600 and $900. The cheapest Mac laptop, the 11-inch MacBook Air, costs $999, and prices quickly climb to $1,200.

Windows vs. Mac

Windows 7 laptops offer more variety in styles, and often more ports and larger hard disks, at less cost. But Apple laptops are sturdy, sleek and offer better built-in software. They have excellent customer support and can even run Windows, at an extra cost.

Also, Mac users have only the rare virus to contend with, while Windows users must worry about hundreds of thousands of potential attacks. Finally, Apple’s slim, light, speedy MacBook Air, which starts at $999, is a gem. It isn’t only a great traveling machine, but it can be used as your main machine.

Ultrabooks

Nearly every PC maker now has a MacBook Air-type model called an Ultrabook. I have yet to find one that is quite as good as the Air, especially on my battery tests. But I like the ultrabooks a lot, and think most consumers will, too. The main downsides to the ultrabooks are that they are relatively pricey — some top $1,000 — and have less storage. Like the Air, most use fast solid-state drives instead of hard disks, and these top out at just 256 gigabytes.

Memory

Get at least 4 gigabytes of memory, or RAM, on a new Windows computer. On a Mac, you can get away with 2 gigabytes, but 4 GB is better.

Processors

Intel’s chips — even the new ones coming soon — are called the i3, i5, and i7. An i5 is fine for most consumers, and even an i3 will do. But a laptop with chips from AMD is also fine.

Graphics

Usually cheaper machines have weak graphics hardware and costlier ones have better graphics. Better graphics can make a machine faster.

Hard disks

A 500 gigabyte hard disk should be the minimum on most PCs, except bargain and very light models. As always, be wary of sales pitches and don’t buy more laptop than you need.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

Microsoft Opts Against 31 Flavors for Windows 8, but Still Adds Unfamiliar Tastes

Ina Fried — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:30:07 +0000

Microsoft plans fewer different packages of Windows 8 than it has offered with past incarnations of its flagship operating system.

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.

Alternatives to the iPhone

Walt Mossberg — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:03:20 +0000

I’ve been using the iPhone since it came out in 2007. And while I’m satisfied with the way it works, I’m considering changing phones just to have something different—in particular a larger screen. What, in your opinion, are the best alternatives to the iPhone? I use mine primarily for email, along with checking stocks and weather.

I would go with an Android phone, which has plenty of apps that are similar to what you are used to, and which typically these days come with larger screens, some exceeding 4.5 inches. There are always new models coming out, and there are so many that it can be hard to recommend one. But, in my tests, I’ve been especially impressed with the Samsung Galaxy models.

I’m a Verizon user currently on 3G and we’ve been promised 4G in our area by end of 2013. Do you have any indication Verizon is actually going to continue with LTE service or is this just a smoke screen? Are they really going to roll out new 4G (LTE) service or is this just chosen markets?

I don’t know where you live, or when or whether Verizon Wireless plans to offer LTE, the fastest cellular data network, in your particular area. But I can say that, for Verizon, LTE is anything but a “smoke screen,” and I’d be stunned if the carrier didn’t continue rolling it out. Verizon has deployed it in over 200 markets and says it plans to cover 400 markets by the end of 2012. It’s a key part of the company’s competitive strategy.

Every carrier that deploys a new network starts with a few “chosen markets,” and there are always some areas left out, even years later, for various reasons. But from everything I know, Verizon is planning a broad national LTE network.

I run Windows 7 on a Mac using Parallels Desktop. Can I use the normal Windows update process to keep Windows 7 up to date or will it compromise the Windows setup through Parallels?

Your virtual copy of Windows inside the Parallels software is designed to work just like Windows on a physical PC. That includes the Windows update process, which I have used many times on Windows via Parallels. This is separate from any updates made by Apple to the Mac operating system, or updates to the Parallels program itself.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com

Dell Goes on Ultrabook Diet With Slimmed-Down Laptop

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:03:02 +0000

As 2012 rolls on, consumers shopping for a PC will be seeing more of the thin, light, quick-starting Windows laptops called ultrabooks.

Big names like Lenovo and Toshiba already have entered this new category, and on Tuesday, Dell will introduce its first ultrabook, the XPS 13, starting at $999.

[ See post to watch video ]

Dell has had difficulty lately attracting consumers. At one time, it was the go-to brand for many people looking to buy a computer. But, in recent years, its consumer business has faltered as individuals, especially in the U.S., have flocked to Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and even once obscure brands such as Acer and Asus.

Now, the Texas tech titan is making a renewed push for the affections of consumers and the XPS 13 is an important weapon in that push. Like other ultrabooks, it’s an attempt to emulate Apple’s popular MacBook Air by offering a thin, light laptop with good power that has a full-size screen and keyboard, starts up and resumes quickly, uses a solid-state drive and claims decent battery life.

The XPS 13 uses a thinner screen border and a full-size keyboard.

However, Dell’s entry offers an interesting twist: It packs a 13-inch screen into a footprint that is closer to that of models with just an 11- or 12-inch display. This makes it easier to fit in a briefcase or on an airplane tray table in coach. When placed atop a MacBook Air with the same-size screen, the Dell is noticeably smaller.

Dell uses edge-to-edge glass for its screen and leaves much less of a bezel, or border, around the screen, than the Apple does. The XPS 13 isn’t smaller than its competitors in every dimension. It’s thicker and a tad heavier than the comparable MacBook Air. And, like the Apple, it’s significantly heavier than Toshiba’s ultrabook. But the shorter width and height are a nice touch.

I’ve been testing the Dell XPS 13, and there is a lot to like about it, even beyond its compact dimensions. I found it to be solid and well built, speedy and with a good, backlit keyboard, a bright screen, and good looks. It emerged from standby mode quickly and reliably. But this machine has a major downside: subpar battery life. In my standard test, it fell about an hour short of the longest-lived competing ultrabook I’ve tested and two hours short of the 13-inch MacBook Air.

Like other ultrabooks, the XPS 13 isn’t a bargain computer. It’s costlier than the typical, bulkier Windows laptop, which can be had for $400 to $700. But, at $999 with 4 gigabytes of memory and a 128 gigabyte solid-state drive, the Dell is $300 less than the 13-inch MacBook Air with the same specs. Both machines use Intel’s midrange i5 processor. Dell offers an otherwise identical model with double the solid-state storage for $1,299, and a model with double the base storage and a more powerful processor for $1,499.

The model Dell sent me for testing was high end. But based on my tests of other ultrabooks—all designed to tight standards promulgated by Intel—I have no reason to doubt the base model with the midrange processor also is speedy, and no reason to recommend the costlier chip.

The XPS 13, which runs Windows 7 and is part of Dell’s premium consumer line, has a silvery aluminum top and a base made of carbon fiber. It rests on two long rubber runners. The battery is sealed and ports are minimal. There are two USB ports—one is the faster USB 3.0 type—and a video-out port called a Mini Display Port.

The spacious keyboard has nicely separated keys. The touch pad is large, with no physical buttons. But I found it required tweaking in its buried settings screen before it felt right for me.

I was annoyed that, out of the box, the top row of function keys that is commonly used to adjust things like brightness and volume also requires you to hold down a special key to get to these controls. But this can be changed in a settings panel and Dell says it’s considering changing the way this works.

The 13-inch screen fits nicely in a smaller footprint than the Mac’s, but has a lower resolution than the Apple screen of the same size. So, an identical Web page in the identical browser displays more on the MacBook Air than on the Dell XPS 13.

Dell says this is because it had to use the lower-resolution panel for a special manufacturing process it employed on the new ultrabook. It says it will increase the resolution later this year.

Dell’s ultrabook comes with a standard suite of Microsoft and Dell software, including the Windows Live Essentials consumer package, which includes email, and a photo and video program. A starter edition of Microsoft Office contains somewhat stripped-down versions of Word and Excel.

The computer easily handled other programs I installed, including the Google Chrome browser, and Apple’s iTunes.

But Dell still clings to the bad old habit of loading in software you may not want, for which it presumably gets paid. In particular, it has added a Dell-branded Bing toolbar to the Internet Explorer browser.

As noted above, battery life was disappointing. In my test, where I use full brightness, disable power-saving software, leave on the Wi-Fi, and play a loop of music, the battery on the XPS 13 lasted just under four hours, the worst I’ve seen on an ultrabook.

By contrast, in the same test, the longest-lived ultrabook I’ve tested, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, got nearly five hours, and the MacBook Air almost six hours. I estimate you could likely get five hours on the Dell in a more normal usage pattern.

Ultrabook shoppers looking for a well-built, unusually compact 13-inch model should consider the Dell, but the relatively poor battery life might be a deal breaker for some.

Write to Walt at walt.mossberg@wsj.com

Mountain Lion and Windows 8's Common Aim: Make Desktop More Like Mobile

Ina Fried — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:16:24 +0000

Although they are doing it in different ways, Apple and Microsoft are aiming for a similar goal with their next desktop operating systems: To make the computer more like the phone.

Apple on Thursday announced its plans for Mountain Lion, Mac OS X 10.8. Due this summer, it brings over a number of popular iOS features, including notifications, reminders, Twitter integration and iMessage, plus synchronization with iCloud.

With Windows 8, Microsoft is adding the tile-centric Metro interface from Windows Phone 7, an app store, improved mobile broadband support and better instant-on and instant-off abilities.

Perhaps most importantly, Windows 8 will support the power-savvy ARM chips found in phones and tablets, in addition to the Intel and AMD chips that have traditionally powered Windows PCs.

This isn’t a one-time move, either. The first Lion was also an attempt at the same thing, adding support for full-screen apps and other features first shown on the iPhone and iPad.

Such moves make sense. Not only are smartphones and their apps rapidly growing in adoption, but people expect their computers — especially laptops — to be just as mobile. And the next generation of computer users are growing up expecting everything to be like an iPad.

Apple and Microsoft are also once again close in timing for their new operating systems. Apple says Mountain Lion should be out this summer. Microsoft hasn’t given an exact timing for Windows 8, but chipmakers and PC manufacturers are counting on having Windows 8 machines ready later this year.

Apple released a developer preview version of Mountain Lion on Thursday, while Microsoft had its early version last fall. A “consumer preview” version of Windows 8 is slated to be released at the end of this month.

One area where Apple and Microsoft have differed is over touch capabilities. On the desktop, Apple has kept its gestures to the trackpad, rather than make its screens touch-sensitive.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has been early at bringing touch to the desktop and laptop. Windows 7 offered built-in multitouch support, and Windows 8 appears designed to be manipulated by hand, though it will work with keyboard and mouse.

Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said that Apple and Microsoft are taking very different approaches.

“Microsoft wants them to look the same,” Gartenberg said. “Apple wants them to feel the same.”

Gartenberg said that Microsoft has struggled with a similar approach in the past, noting that Windows Mobile initially aimed to replicate the Windows desktop down to the start menu — an approach that was not popular with consumers.

“It seems like Microsoft is again trying to say let’s make one size fit all,” he said. “That hasn’t worked out particularly well for them in the past. It feels like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.”

Apple, Gartenberg said, is trying to replicate some of the experiences popular on the iPhone and iPad, but is doing so in a more context-aware manner that reflects the different way computers are used as compared with phones and tablets.

“The market will decide which one fundamentally works better,” he said.

The Decline in Netbooks Put a Big Dent in the Windows Business

Ina Fried — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:30 +0000

While it is no secret that the netbook phenomenon has passed, Microsoft made it clear on Thursday just how big the impact of that is on its business.

As part of its earnings report, the company noted a 6 percent year-over-year revenue drop in the unit that includes Windows. There were several factors responsible for that, including the impact of a hard drive shortage brought on by flooding in Thailand. But the drop in Netbooks was a major factor, as well.

Consider these two stats:

A year ago, netbooks represented about 8 percent of the PC market, according to Microsoft. Now they account for just 2 percent of the business.

The consumer PC business was down 6 percent last quarter. However, excluding netbooks, the business actually grew 2 percent.

For those looking to see the impact of the iPad on Microsoft’s business, I’d point to those statistics. While they are clearly two totally separate products, they have filled a similar niche: A good second device for those who already have a PC and want an easy way to surf the Web and consume some content, on the couch or on the go.

Waiting for Windows 8

Walt Mossberg — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:24:14 +0000

I am in need of a new computer. I currently run Windows XP. When is Windows 8 due and should I wait for it? Should I just buy a new computer now with Windows 7 and upgrade to 8 when it arrives?

Windows 8 will likely be released in test, or beta, form, early in the year, and then in final form by the 2012 holiday shopping season. Whether you should wait depends on how badly you need a new PC. One thing to bear in mind if you do buy now is that while Windows 8 will work fine with a keyboard and mouse, its slick new user interface is designed for a touch screen.

What is the difference between the AMD and the Intel microprocessor chips?

They are different designs from different companies, though Intel is the dominant brand by far. In broad strokes, Advanced Micro Devices’ chips have often claimed better graphics performance and have generally been less expensive. But most computer makers choose Intel, which has lately focused intensely on better battery life without compromising performance.

For average consumers, the most important factor is that Windows runs fine on both, and a typical user doing typical, low-stress tasks might find it hard to distinguish between roughly comparable chips made by the two companies. So, if you are on a budget and an AMD-based machine you like costs less, you are safe to go with it.

I read your article about using Boot Camp to run Windows on a Mac and it was extremely informative. But I did not understand how to create the drivers needed to make Windows recognize the particular features of the Mac hardware.

Apple’s Boot Camp Assistant program, which is used to set up the Windows installation on a Mac, includes a step in which you download and store the drivers on either a CD or DVD, or an external USB drive. This is software Windows needs to properly operate the Mac’s keyboard, mouse, trackpad and camera.

If you just follow the steps in the Assistant software, you should be able to download and install these drivers, which Apple calls Windows Support Software. It’s a good idea to print the Boot Camp installation guide before you start, an option that appears on the first screen of the Assistant program.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

Larger Mac Font

Walt Mossberg — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:01:56 +0000

I bought a new MacBook Pro, and need larger font size in order to read what’s on my 13″ screen. I know I can increase font size within individual programs, but what can I do about increasing the diminutive Finder items and others within the operating system?

You can adjust the size of the text and icons in the Mac’s Finder—its desktop and file system viewer—by hitting Command-J, which calls up a menu that allows you to set the size of icons and text such as file names. In general on the Mac, you can zoom in on any screen that’s hard to see by pressing Command and Option and the equal sign key simultaneously. There’s also a way to Zoom in on just a small area of the screen. That feature, and other settings for people with low vision, can be found in the Universal Access section of System Preferences.

Windows 7 users can change the size of text and icons using the Display control panel and can zoom in on text using a magnifier tool that can be activated in the Ease of Access control panel, which contains other options for making items on the computer easier to see.

I am reading reports that the Epic 4G Touch lacks a dedicated microphone for noise cancellation. I was curious if this is true, and if it affected voice calls in your recent tests?

According to Samsung, neither the Epic, nor any of the other Galaxy S II models, has a second, noise-canceling microphone. However, as I said in my review, I found voice calls on the phone to be clear.

The Epic 4G Touch

Do you have any suggestions for new phones for those of us wedded to the old Palm interface? Now that Palm is a dinosaur, I know I must upgrade, but so far, I find that none of the software associated with other phones comes close to the Palm functionality for taking notes and categorizing contacts and tasks.

You’re not the only veteran Palm user in this quandary, and I wish I had a great answer for you. Neither of the two most popular smartphone operating systems, Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS, emphasizes elaborate functionality in these areas out of the box. However, both the iPhone and Android phones have access to numerous third-party apps that deal with tasks and notes and contacts. If the built-in functions for these things lack features you like or need, it’s likely that one or more of these apps can help.

Email Walt Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com.

A Tablet With Office

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:00:52 +0000

I am looking for a tablet that can run Outlook and all Microsoft Office programs, and connect to Microsoft server-based business programs. Is there anything now or in the near future with this functionality?

Yes. While Windows 7 wasn’t designed primarily as a tablet operating system, it does support touch, and thus a number of companies sell tablets that run Windows 7, and therefore, presumably, the Windows software you mention. These companies include Acer, Asus, and ViewSonic. I haven’t tested any of these, because Microsoft’s true tablet operating system will be Windows 8, which is expected to be out next year.

I use Gmail. When I type the name of a correspondent, the email address shows up. However, if the correspondent has given me a new email address, the old one still shows up, which is totally confusing. How can I get rid of the old address?

One way to do it is to either enter the person’s correct address in your Gmail contacts list, or edit the old one if that’s in the contact list.

You can get to the contacts list by clicking on “Contacts” in the left sidebar of Gmail. More information about Google contacts is here.

My wife and I love the simple photography-editing application on my Mac. Are there any apps that offer good basic photo-editing features for the iPad?

There are many iPad apps that let you make simple edits to photos, though none that I know of with the editing power of a PC or Mac photo-editing program. One iPad app in this category that I have used and like is Adobe Photoshop Express. This app is free, though a package of extra features costs $5.

Write to Walt at walt.mossberg@wsj.com

Microsoft Releases First Test Version of Windows 8

Ina Fried — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:05:03 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

After playing coy for several months, Microsoft is finally letting developers get their hot little hands on a test version of Windows 8.

At its developer conference in Anaheim, Calif., Microsoft is detailing the new software and offering a preview version of the forthcoming operating system. Although the company is giving the early code to developers, Microsoft isn’t saying when the operating system will ship.

What is clear is that Steve Ballmer wasn’t kidding when he called Windows 8 one of the company’s riskiest bets in some time. Microsoft has laid out an ambitious goal for Windows 8, stating that it wants the operating system to be as at home on a tiny touch-only tablet as it is on a large, powerful desktop hooked up to several large displays.

To reach this goal, Microsoft is pushing developers to write a whole new type of application, designed to occupy the full screen and be extremely touch-friendly.

“Windows 8 is a bold reimagination of what Windows can be,” Windows unit president Steven Sinofsky said in a briefing with journalists on Monday. Sinofsky showed a peek at Windows 8’s new interface at D9 in June, but the company has released few technical details until this week.

The changes to Windows are immediately obvious from the moment it boots up. In addition to hopefully starting up more quickly, the operating system launches to a lock screen that displays a photo and login information, as well as a glance at status information such as calendar appointments, incoming mail and other messages.

Once users log on — either through a password, PIN or by making certain gestures on a photograph — they are taken to a start screen that bears more resemblance to Windows Phone 7 than to the traditional Windows desktop. From there, users can run various programs, including many new-style Windows apps that are designed just for Windows 8.

The familiar Windows desktop is there to run traditional programs, such as Office and Photoshop, but what was the entire Windows experience is now just an app that runs alongside new-style Windows apps, which run full screen and have none of the familiar menus such as “file” and “edit.” Instead, controls for the new apps are hidden until a user swipes the top or bottom of a screen. Swiping the right side brings up a series of universal “charms” designed to allow common actions such as searching and sharing, which can work across applications. Swiping in from the left side allows users to flip between open applications.

The other big change coming to Windows 8 is on the chip side. Microsoft has already said that Windows 8 will run on the same kind of ARM-based chips that power smartphones and tablets. However, the key question here is how far Microsoft has gotten.

“The progress is phenomenal,” Sinofsky said on Monday. “Everything you are seeing works equally well on ARM today.”

That said, Microsoft is showing mainly new stuff, as opposed to the kinds of older applications that will need to be tweaked or rewritten entirely to run on ARM-based chips. Sinofsky said that, in general, Windows on ARM is designed to run the new-style applications, rather than classic Windows applications. Back in January, Microsoft did show a technology demonstration of Office running on an ARM-based machine, although Sinofsky declined to elaborate on whether an ARM version of Office will be released.

It is unclear when developers will be able to get their hands on an ARM-based version of Windows 8. As for the version that runs on Intel and AMD chips, Microsoft didn’t give dates, but Sinofsky said to expect this developer preview to be updated periodically and then followed by a single beta version, followed by a near-final release candidate and then the final release.

With Windows 7, a similar process took about a year to go from developer preview to final release.

A Parallels World Where Windows Zips on Macs

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:03:09 +0000

Apple’s Macintosh computers have long been able to run Windows, in addition to their native operating system, Mac OS X. But the process has sometimes been clumsy, slow or taxing to the machine and it hasn’t been tailored to the new Lion version of Apple’s OS.

Now, the most popular utility for running Windows programs simultaneously with Mac programs has been updated in a speedier version that takes advantage of some Lion features. It’s called Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac, and it goes on sale Sept. 1, as a $50 upgrade for current Parallels users and on Sept. 6 for new users at $80. The product comes from a Seattle company of the same name.

[ See post to watch video ]

I’ve been testing the new Parallels 7 on last year’s version of the MacBook Air laptop, running Lion with 4 gigabytes of memory. That’s the recommended amount of memory for running Windows 7, the version of Windows I tested.

In my tests, this latest Parallels edition ran Windows quickly and smoothly, and integrated well with some of Lion’s new features, even though my test Mac isn’t the fastest Apple laptop available today.

For instance, while I’m writing this in a Mac program on the Air, I’m simultaneously running the Windows-only Internet Explorer Web browser, and a couple of other Windows programs, with no discernible slowdown in any of them. I can easily recommend Parallels 7 to Mac users who need to use Windows programs some of the time.

Parallels Desktop 7 lets Windows programs, like Excel on the left, appear on the Mac as if they were Mac programs, without the Windows desktop.

I also tested a new companion Parallels Mobile iPad and iPhone app, which allows you to remotely control both your Mac and Windows running on your Mac. I am less sanguine about this product, which also goes on sale Thursday, for an introductory price of $5 (the regular price is $20). It did work, but like similar mobile programs for controlling PCs, I found it a bit awkward to use.

Parallels works by creating a so-called virtual machine inside your Mac. Within this virtual machine, you can install a copy of Windows you’ve purchased and it will behave like a faux Windows computer, compatible with the same programs as a physical Windows PC.

You can run Windows programs on your Mac either in one large window that displays the Windows desktop and taskbar, or in a mode that allows the Windows programs you run to simply appear on the Mac as if they were Mac programs, without the Windows desktop.

Going Back and Forth

Either way, you can switch back and forth between this virtual Windows computer and your regular Mac environment. You can copy and paste material between Mac programs and Windows programs, and drag files between the two operating systems. You can even open files from the Mac side of the machine in Windows programs, provided they are compatible.

This isn’t the same as another method for running Windows on a Mac, called Boot Camp—a built-in feature of the Mac designed by Apple. Boot Camp, which also requires you to purchase and install Windows, has two big advantages over Parallels: It’s free, and it dedicates the Mac’s hardware solely to Windows, so it runs Windows programs even faster.

But it has a big disadvantage. It doesn’t allow you to run both operating systems simultaneously, or copy and paste material between them. With Boot Camp, if you want to switch between the Mac OS and Windows, you have to reboot the Mac.

I found that the new Parallels started and resumed Windows much faster than its predecessor. When launching Windows, the Mac no longer slowed to a crawl, as it had in past versions.

All Windows 7 programs I tested launched and ran quickly and smoothly, and the fancy visual effects in Windows 7, such as mini-previews for icons in the taskbar, worked great.

Playing Solitaire

I was able to run the Windows versions of Microsoft Office (including Outlook), Quicken, and many other programs. I also easily ran such Windows-only programs as IE, Windows Media Player and even the venerable Windows Solitaire.

In addition, the new Parallels for the first time can take advantage of the Mac’s built-in webcam.

It has a new wizard for creating a virtual machine. And now, it will even allow you to buy, download and install Windows right from within Parallels. Previously, you had to obtain Windows separately. This is a big improvement, in my view.

Windows in Launchpad

Windows, and Windows programs, can be displayed in Lion’s new Launchpad feature, which mimics the main screen of an iPad. They also show up and behave like Mac programs in Lion’s new Mission Control feature, which shows all the programs running on the Mac in miniature. Windows programs can also run in Lion’s new full-screen mode.

The companion iPad app has been enhanced so it not only remotely controls the virtual machine, but the entire Mac. This has some advantages, such as allowing you to view Flash videos that the iPad normally can’t play, by playing them remotely on the computer.

But I found that, as on other iPad apps for remotely controlling computers, controlling PC and Mac screens is difficult using iPad gestures.

Many Virtual Machines

Parallels 7 can create and run multiple virtual machines, and also handle operating systems other than Windows. For instance, I was able to run Linux and an open-source version of Google’s Chrome OS on my Mac using Parallels. At one point in my tests, I had four operating systems running at once, and could control all four from an iPad.

Oddly, the new Parallels can even run a second, virtual copy of Lion, on a Lion-equipped Mac, though this would mainly be of interest to developers testing products.

(Apple says Lion won’t work in a virtual machine running on a PC.)

There are a couple of drawbacks to Parallels 7. As in prior versions, it can’t run the most graphics-intensive Windows games and other programs, so heavy-duty gamers will do better with Boot Camp or a physical Windows PC. And I found it wouldn’t share my Verizon 4G data modem with the Mac OS.

If you’re likely to be using Windows most of the time, it’s best to just use a regular Windows PC. But for Mac users who need to run a few Windows programs some of the time, Parallels 7 is a fine product.

Write to Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

Running an iPad App on Windows

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 01:01:58 +0000

Is it possible to run an iPad app on a Windows computer, or to run the iPad operating system?

No. Apps for the iPad and iPhone are specifically designed for Apple’s mobile operating system, called iOS, and that operating system is built to run only on Apple’s mobile devices. There are some apps called “Web apps,” which are really websites that behave like applications. For instance, Amazon just released a Web version of its Kindle e-reader app called the Kindle Cloud Reader. These are the exception to the rule: They do work on iPads and Windows PCs. But they aren’t, strictly speaking, iPad apps.

I am thinking of getting an original iPad (Apple reconditioned) instead of the iPad 2. It would save me about $170 and appears to have about all the same features including full warranty except the camera, which I have on my newer iPod. Any reason I shouldn’t do this?

No, not if you don’t need the cameras and trust Apple’s refurbishing service (I have no reason to distrust it, just have no experience with it). The original iPad runs the same software and apps and has most of the same capabilities. However, it is thicker and heavier than the current model, and while I always found it speedy, it isn’t as fast as the newer one.

Is there a link you can provide for a free download of Microsoft Word? I didn’t get it on my Windows 7 PC.

Microsoft Word, and the Office suite of which it is a part, aren’t available as free downloads, as far as I know. But you can download a free 60-day trial. If you want a free office suite, you might try Open Office.

Email mossberg@wsj.com.

Shedding Light on E-Reader Glare

Walt Mossberg — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:14:32 +0000

Can you help my light-sensitive eyes with e-reader advice? I thought Kindle sounded right for me, but I heard there might be an upgrade in the near future. True? Will it be an improvement I should wait for?

Though Amazon hasn’t made a formal announcement, I expect there will be new e-readers from that company in the coming months. I don’t have details, so I can’t say if any new models will be worth the wait. But it’s probable that Amazon will continue to improve on its line of gray-scale, E Ink readers while possibly adding a full-color tablet. If glare is a problem for you, I’d plan on going with an E Ink model, such as the current Kindle or the latest Nook from Barnes & Noble. Full-color tablets like the iPad tend to suffer from glare, especially in direct sunlight.

I have a child who would like to go to college to become an engineer. Most engineers I know use a PC. I would like to buy my son a Mac for college, but I don’t want to get him something he can’t use.

I know engineers who use Macs and others who use Windows PCs. However, my advice is to get your son whatever type of computer the college engineering department where he winds up suggests would be best. Your near-term goal isn’t to validate either your choice, or that of the engineers you or I know. It’s to get him the tool that is expected or preferred by the people who will be training him. If you want to buy him the computer before you know which school he’ll be attending, you may have to gamble, or research what likely colleges prefer.

I just started using OneNote on my Windows Notebook and love it. I am thinking of moving to a MacBook Air or Samsung Series 9. Both machines offer the balance of light weight and good performance I’m looking for. I was leaning toward the MacBook Air, until I learned that Office for the Mac does not include OneNote. I’ve read mixed reviews from MacBook Air users who run Windows and the Windows Office Suite. Do you have any experience in this area?

I occasionally run Windows 7 and the Windows version of Microsoft Office on a MacBook Air and find it works just fine. However, I haven’t used OneNote in that scenario, so I can’t say if it works as smoothly as the rest of Office. The Air is a terrific computer, but, as I have said for years, if you are heavily reliant on Windows software, it’s best to buy a Windows PC—in your case, the Samsung—even though Macs can run Windows.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

Lenovo Jumps Into Tablet Fray With Two Android Models and a Windows 7 Device for Good Measure

Ina Fried — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 04:00:44 +0000

After sitting on the sidelines for much of this year, Lenovo is just about ready to enter the Android tablet market.

The company is announcing both a consumer model, the IdeaPad Tablet K1, and a more business-oriented product, the ThinkPad Tablet. The former features support for Netflix and a range of included entertainment software, while the latter features pen support and an optional plug-in keyboard dock. Both products have 10-inch screens, start at $499 and will go on sale in August, with pre-orders being taken starting on Wednesday.

“Tablets are extremely personal technology devices,” Senior VP Liu Jun said in a statement. “That’s why we’ve created a family of tablets that has something for everyone, including entertainment-friendly features and content for consumers, or business-friendly features to enhance productivity for professionals as well as security and manageability for IT managers.”

The IdeaPad includes 32GB of memory, while the ThinkPad Tablet comes with 16GB of memory and includes a variety of features aimed at offering business-level security and reliability. The initial ThinkPad model is Wi-Fi only, but Lenovo said 3G models are also in the works and should come shortly after the first ThinkPad Tablets hit the market.

Lenovo is planning its own Lenovo App Shop to provide access to apps customized and tested for its hardware as well as to allow businesses to serve up programs privately to their users.

The company is just the latest big name announcing plans for an Android tablet. Sony is also hoping to prove that taking one’s time can pay off, with its first Android tablets — the slate-shaped S1 and clamshell S2 — not expected until this fall.

The question is just how big the market is for Android tablets, at least at this juncture, with few apps available and a number of hardware makers already selling products, including Motorola, Acer and Samsung, to name just a few.

Lenovo also has plans for a new Windows 7 tablet, the IdeaPad Tablet P1, due in the fourth quarter.

Now Appearing @ D9: Microsoft's Windows President Steven Sinofsky

Kara Swisher — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:41:05 +0000

With only a week to go before the ninth D: All Things Digital conference debuts in California, we’re announcing the addition of Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky to an already heavy-duty line-up of speakers.

One of the five Microsoft presidents–it’s kind of like the kingdoms in HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” but without big, clangy swords–he runs the flagship Windows and Windows Live division.

More importantly, Sinofsky is the guy who overhauled Office and then led the team that bailed Microsoft out of the Vista debacle.

The longtime company veteran–who joined Microsoft in 1989 as a software design engineer–will talk about the future of Windows in the era of all kinds of new devices and the cloud.

If you want to get some insight into his thinking, Sinofsky also wrote a book about the making of Windows 7–titled “One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision Making”–that’s a very compelling read well beyond management wonk types.

We expect Sinofsky to be just as interesting onstage at D9 too, along with other top tech and media speakers including Google’s Eric Schmidt, Bob Iger of Disney, Silicon Valley legend Marc Andreessen, Netflix’s Reed Hastings and more.

NPD: Don't Blame iPad for Slowing PC Sales

John Paczkowski — Thu, 12 May 2011 18:12:42 +0000

So those claims that Apple’s iPad is cannibalizing PC sales? Crazy talk, says NPD, which argues the device hasn’t materially affected consumer PC sales much at all.

According to the research outfit’s survey of iPad owners, just 14 percent purchased the device instead of a notebook or netbook during the first six months of its availability, a percentage that has since fallen to about 12 percent. And neither is great enough to have had much effect on PC sales. In fact, today cannibalization of netbooks is actually down 50 percent among recent iPad buyers, when compared to early adopters.

So if there’s a slowdown in consumer PC sales, who’s the real culprit?

Microsoft.

“The conventional wisdom that says tablet sales are eating into low-priced notebooks is most assuredly incorrect,” says Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. “The explosion of computer sales when Windows 7 launched, as well as the huge increase in netbook sales at that time, are much more to blame for weak consumer PC sales growth than the iPad.”

PREVIOUSLY:

Tablet Cannibalization on the Rise in 2011

Forecast: 19 Million Notebooks Lost to Tablet Cannibalization (Meaning iPad) in 2011

IPad: Tonight We Feast on Laptop Flesh!

Apple: The iPad Isn’t Cannibalizing the Mac, But We Sure Hope It’s Cannibalizing the PC

IPad No Cannibal, Says Analyst

Apple’s iPad: Angel or Cannibal?

New From Microsoft: Windows 7 Home Invasion

John Paczkowski — Mon, 09 May 2011 23:05:21 +0000

Foot traffic at Microsoft’s retail stores must be far lower than expected if the company has decided to start going door to door.

This evening Microsoft will kick off a new advertising campaign intended to persuade consumers to upgrade their old “good enough PCs” to new ones running Windows 7. In the first ad of the series, which will air during primetime tonight on ABC, CBS and NBC, “Julie” says there’s no reason to replace her current PC because there’s really nothing better on the market. To disabuse her of this notion, Microsoft sets up a PC store in her house and, well, you’ll never guess what happens….

Oh, my God. The sales pitch is coming from inside the house!

Sparkbuy Aspires to Be the Kayak for Consumer Electronics

Tricia Duryee — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:41:34 +0000

Sparkbuy is officially launching today, unveiling a Web site that will let consumers sift through thousands of laptops and tablets to more easily find the device that best suits their needs.

The Seattle-based company–which operates out of the city’s industrial and gritty Georgetown neighborhood, better known for artists and breweries–was founded by Dan Shapiro, who merged his last company, Ontela, with Photobucket.

Similar to the Kayak travel site, the Web site uses sliders to determine such features as price, speed and weight sensitivity. Other features that can be checked are “big screen,” “great for gaming”, “great for Photoshop,” and “3D.”

“This exists for travel, like Kayak and Hipmunk,” said Shapiro, who came up for the idea when he left Photobucket and was looking for a personal laptop that was cheap, lightweight and featured long battery life.

Because he was so baffled by the options, he actually hired a contractor in Pakistan for $50 to research his options and enter the information into a spreadsheet.

That’s the model the company now uses to get its data. Instead of searching the Internet or crawling retailers’ Web sites, Sparkbuy has hired a team of researchers to manually enter the information into a database.

Currently, it has 20,000 reports on roughly 2,000 laptops. There’s so many reports because each report is entered at least three times to ensure accuracy.

The company will make money on referral fees for sending consumers to a retailer’s Web site, similarly to how Kayak makes money when someone discovers a cheap hotel room.

The site launches today with links to Amazon.com and Newegg. Next month, it expects to add HP, MacMall, OnSale, PC Mall, and Toshiba Direct.

Sparkbuy, which has raised $1 million in capital and has four full-time employees, is also collecting data on the myriad of tablets launching over the next few months. Today, it has data on 70, ranging from the $99 Pyrus 7″ Android tablet to the Windows 7 Asus tablet with keyboard for $449 and to the fully loaded iPad 2 for $927.

Dell's Got a 10-inch Windows 7 Tablet in the Pipeline

John Paczkowski — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:10:10 +0000

Hewlett-Packard’s not the only company with an enterprise-ready Windows 7 tablet. Dell’s got one as well and plans to launch it later this year. “The upcoming tablet is designed for end-users who need greater mobility, as well as IT organizations that demand control, security, manageability and integration with existing infrastructure investments,” the company said. “Dell’s tablet will empower a more mobile workforce in a way that offers customers the business applications and corporate data they need, while meeting regulatory mandates and IT requirements.” Dell showed off the Windows tablet at a media event in San Francisco this morning, where it uncrated 24 new pieces of business-geared hardware.

Microsoft: Every Current Version of Windows Has a Gaping Hole in It

Arik Hesseldahl — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 22:40:36 +0000

Software giant Microsoft said today that it’s looking into a new vulnerability that affects every version of Windows currently supported. This is one of those zero-day vulnerabilities that come out of left field once in awhile and can be used by hackers to create troublemaking attacks.

According to a post on Microsoft’s corporate security blog, the vulnerability resides in something called MIME HTML or MHTML, which allows certain Web content to be rendered in a browser or other applications, such as an email program. As with so many other vulnerabilities that have come before it, an attacker sends you an HTML link to trigger a script in Internet Explorer that could do bad things, like collect user information.

The easiest fix? Use Firefox or Google’s Chrome browser, which are unaffected. But for those devoted to IE, Redmond is suggesting that people turn off the ability to handle MHTML until a fix is ready. How to do that? There’s a helpful FixIt button, in yet another blog post on the subject, that downloads the software needed to enable the temporary measure.

The vulnerability was first disclosed on a Chinese Web site last week. So far, there’s no evidence that anyone has gone to the trouble of carrying out an attack using this method, but hey, with zero-day vulnerabilities, you never know.

What's on the Table for Tablets This Year

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:09:57 +0000

Lots of consumers are planning to buy tablet computers this year, and lots of companies are hoping to sell them. Apple managed to sell around 15 million of its ground-breaking iPads last year in only nine months, and, for many users, the iPad has replaced the laptop, at least for some uses. So it’s no surprise that consumer appetites for tablets have been growing and tech companies are planning to roll out as many as 80 iPad competitors in 2011, by some estimates.

[ See post to watch video ]

But the tablet mania can be confusing. The coming devices will be heavily defined by a variety of operating systems they’ll use. They will be offered in different screen sizes, with attendant pluses and minuses. And they’ll come from very different kinds of companies—major computer makers like Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Acer, Lenovo and Dell; phone makers like Motorola and Research in Motion; multi-faceted electronics giants like Samsung; and even Vizio, which is largely a TV manufacturer.

And, of course, a second generation of the iPad is expected to be announced in the next few months.

So here’s a guide to what to expect in the tablet market in 2011, and some key factors that could affect your choices. As it’s early in the year, the road map is necessarily incomplete. For instance, prices aren’t generally known, though many rivals will be trying to undercut the iPad’s $499 base price. Some will be sold on a subsidized basis through phone carriers, others won’t. And there will surely be surprises as companies adjust their strategies.

Apple’s Next Move

Given the quality and success of the iPad, it makes sense for tablet buyers to hold off until they see what Apple has up its sleeve for the second version. One big reason: The iPad has a huge head start in third-party apps designed for tablets—more than 60,000 of them, plus the 350,000 or so iPhone apps that the iPad can run.

The Motorola Xoom

But Apple is more secretive than the CIA, so we know little about this product. I believe it will almost certainly have one or two cameras, and be able to make video calls. And there’s widespread speculation that it will be thinner and lighter, since even the original’s 1.5-pound weight was a bit too heavy for extended use for some people. There’s some evidence it will have at least one added port, perhaps for a camera memory card or connection to a bigger display.

The Android Army

Just as in the smart-phone market, the bulk of Apple’s tablet competitors will rely on Google’s Android operating system, which is provided free to hardware makers. Most of the hardware companies mentioned above are counting on Android to allow them to undercut the iPad on price, add different features, and attract third-party apps.

The big question mark here is the tablet-specific version of Android that’s code-named Honeycomb, which hasn’t been publicly unveiled. The first Honeycomb tablet is likely to be a 10″ model called the Motorola Xoom, which is expected to show up in the early spring. The others will mostly emerge in the summer. If Honeycomb succeeds, the Android tablets could be a very attractive alternative, though it will take awhile for large numbers of third-party tablet apps to become available. Honeycomb will support Flash video on the Web, while the iPad doesn’t.

One big issue will be how these Honeycomb-powered products will be differentiated from each other. Here, price and hardware features could be decisive. Speed, size, screen quality, connections to TVs, and support for fast, 4G wireless networks are all possibilities. For instance, the Xoom will work with “smart dock” accessories, and will eventually support 4G. The Vizio Via will have a big speaker and a built-in TV remote control.

BlackBerry PlayBook

RIM and H-P

BlackBerry maker RIM plans a light, thin, 7″ tablet called the PlayBook, likely in the next few months. In demos, it looks handsome and colorful—nothing like a BlackBerry phone. That’s because it runs on an entirely different operating system.

One unusual feature of the PlayBook is that, in key respects, it’s more of a companion to a BlackBerry phone than a standalone tablet. It draws its cellular connectivity from a BlackBerry, rather than having it built in. The first model will lack its own email, calendar and contact apps, and instead merely view and interact with those in a user’s BlackBerry. This reliance on a BlackBerry could be a plus for BlackBerry users. But it could be seen as a downside for users of other phones.

H-P plans to unveil a 10″ tablet on Feb. 9 based on Palm’s sleek webOS operating system, which H-P now owns. Based on trademark filings, it’s likely to be called the HP TouchPad. While the computer giant has said little or nothing about the device, it’s likely to ship this summer and feature, out of the box, integrated video calling and document editing. A big question is whether the software scales well to a tablet size and whether third-party developers, who mostly shunned webOS when Palm launched it, will write enough apps for the HP tablet.

Windows Tablets

Unlike the other players, Microsoft seems to be planning to cram a full PC operating system into a multi-touch tablet. The first Windows tablets, which will be out soon, will be based on Windows 7, use styluses, and be aimed mainly at corporations, not consumers. Even their makers privately express little enthusiasm for them. However, later in the year, Microsoft is expected to roll out a new Windows-based multi-touch tablet platform better designed to go head-to-head with the iPad and Android tablets.

Size Matters

One big decision for consumers will be whether they like the 10″ size of the iPad, and of many of the new Android tablets, or the smaller 7″ size of some other models. A 7″ screen actually has less than half the surface area of the iPad’s display. But 7″ tablets—like the existing Samsung Galaxy Tab—are lighter and easier to hold in one hand than 10″ models. They also can cost less. Some companies will be trying even smaller tablets, despite the poor sales of Dell’s 5″ Streak tablet in 2010. One big-name PC maker has been working on a 4.8″ tablet.

Keyboards and Ports

Since the iPad lacks a built-in physical keyboard, and common PC ports like USB connectors, many of the competitors will try to outdo it with these things. Lots of them will have some form of USB port, and a few will come with hidden keyboards that slide out or fold out somehow. Lenovo plans to ship an Android tablet that can optionally be used as a slide-in screen for a Windows laptop.

All this tablet competition is good news for consumers, but I urge you to study the landscape carefully and weigh your options before plunging into the new category.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

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