Like most Ultrabooks, it looks like a MacBook Air inside and out. Oh, and don’t miss this:
The UX31A’s big battery is easily removable, but the SSD is proprietary and the RAM is soldered to the motherboard.
Man, Apple’s hardware guys are real jerks.
Category: Microsoft
Windows 8 Packaging Revealed⇢
Great, now I have to clean vomit out of my MacBook Pro.
On Outlook.com⇢
Outlook.com is a new web email service from Microsoft. Built in the Metro style, the interface is clean — in fact, it makes Gmail look cluttered and iCloud look just silly.
I would love to see Microsoft grow this service. If it offered Exchange accounts to the public for free, it’d be a real game-changer, and would let the company take Gmail and iCloud on in a way that Microsoft can’t currently. Sadly, at this time all the service can offer is POP access, which is lamesauce.
Microsoft Posts First Ever Quarterly Loss⇢
The company blamed its under-performing online ad business for its first loss in 26 years of public trading.
On Office 2013⇢
Tom Warren at The Verge:
The touch experience isn’t great from my own testing on Windows 8 Release Preview, and it feels all too familiar to Windows 7 — a first stab at touch improvements on desktop software. Microsoft’s Office division has taken a similar approach, by increasing touch targets, but it seems that any truly touch-optimized versions of Office will come as Metro style apps, if anything at all. It’s clearly difficult to create a fully functional touch-based word processor or spreadsheet with legacy support, and Microsoft hasn’t cracked it yet.
WSJ: New Office Due Tomorrow⇢
The IT manager in me is cowering in the corner, weeping.
Microsoft Chasing Apple⇢
Tom Warren at The Verge:
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has promised the software maker will continue to compete against Apple. Sparking memories of the fierce battle between Mac and PC during the 1990’s, Ballmer has been touting the company’s advantages at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference this week. Speaking to CRN, Ballmer says “we are trying to make absolutely clear we are not going to leave any space uncovered to Apple.”
Microsoft Announces Windows 8 Upgrade Pricing⇢
Brandon LeBlanc:
We set out to make it as easy as possible for everyone to upgrade to Windows 8. Starting at general availability, if your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets. And if you want, you can add Windows Media Center for free through the “add features” option within Windows 8 Pro after your upgrade.
Windows Phone 8 Unveiled
Lots of goodies, unless you already have a WP7 phone, as none of them will be updated to the new OS.
That said, the company is prepping Windows Phone 7.8, which will bring some features to older handsets.
Confused yet?
More on Microsoft’s Shift
Joshua Topolsky on the shift at Microsoft:
In fact, the entire tablet was designed in-house by Microsoft’s teams, and if you believe what was said in the presentation yesterday, design and functionality in hardware has suddenly become a big deal in Redmond.
That’s a big shift, and it’s an important one. The announcement of the Surface shows that Microsoft is ready to make a break with its history — a history of hardware partnerships which relied on companies like Dell, HP, or Acer to actually bring its products to market.
Microsoft’s Shift
During last night’s keynote, Microsoft executives unveiled Surface, a set of new 10.6" tablets built by the company itself — not a hardware OEM.
Alan Kay famously said:
People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.
It seems like Microsoft may finally be getting the message.
Here are some quotes from Ballmer’s keynote:
We believe that any intersection between human and machine can be made better when hardware and software are considered together.
Speaking of Microsoft Ads...
The Internet Explorer TV spot I saw all season of Mad Men is cool, too.