Windows 8 upgrades priced at $39.99

Those consumers wishing to upgrade to Windows 8 need only put $39.99 aside in order to do so, which should up the early adoption rate by quite a margin.

Windows 8 is set to be released in a few months time. No one outside of Microsoft is quite sure when, but this side of 2013 is absolutely guaranteed. Until then us Windows users who haven’t yet turned to the dark side and bought a Mac will continue using XP, Vista, or Windows 7 quite merrily. And then possibly upgrade to the new radically-altered Windows 8 when it finally drops.


Doing so will only cost $39.99, as announced by Microsoft in a Windows Blog blog post by Brandon LeBlanc. From the day Windows 8 is available to the general public until Jan. 31, 2013, anyone currently running XP, Vista, or Windows 7 on their machine will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for that low price. As long as their machine is capable, of course.

The Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant will check whether your machine is indeed capable of running Windows 8. If it is then you can proceed. Windows 7 users will be able to move everything with them to Windows 8, while Vista and XP users will have to leave some things behind in the transition to the new operating system.

The $39.99 asking price will buy you a Windows 8 download which can then be installed straight away or stored on a bootable USB or DVD for back-up purposes. A packaged DVD version of this upgrade will also be available in stores for $69.99. This promotion will run in 131 markets, which means a lot of people will be able to take advantage of it. The only question left to ponder is whether you actually want to or not. This is much cheaper than the price Microsoft charged for upgrades to Windows 7 during a similar promotion after its launch. The reasoning is very simple: create an immediate Windows 8 userbase, grab a high number of early-adopters to tempt the media with, and get people populating the app-driven Windows Store

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Microsoft may save RIM from extinction June 30, 2012 by Dave Parrack

Could Microsoft be the white knight needed to ride in and save RIM from the financial black hole it’s facing?

RIM (Research In Motion) hasn’t had a good week. To be fair the company hasn’t had a good week in the last year or more. But this was a particularly bad week for the Canadian company best known for its range of BlackBerry mobile devices. It announced a quarterly loss of $518 million, worse than anyone expected. This compares to the same quarter last year when the company reported profits of $695 million.


The company also announced another delay to its long-gestating BlackBerry 10 line of products (to a vague early-2013), which, combined with the losses, hit the share price hard. Over the past 12 months RIM’s stock has fallen by a whopping 70 percent. At this point RIM needs either a white knight to ride in and rescue it, or a miracle. Let’s assume the former is more likely.

According to Reuters, Microsoft could be RIM’s saving grace. One of the options being mulled over by the higher-ups at RIM is abandoning BlacBerry 10 altogether in favor of Windows Phone. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has reportedly already approached the company seeking a similar deal to the one Redmond struck with Nokia.

For this to happen Microsoft would have to buy a sizable stake in RIM, which would effectively end the independence RIM currently enjoys. Which will make it a tough route to head down for those still committed to the future of RIM. But with BlackBerry 10 still months away the choices, and the time to decide on them, are running out.

It should be noted that a turnaround isn’t out of the question. After all both IBM and Apple have managed to climb out of the doldrums in their histories. Microsoft had a hand in both. Rim would be mad to not even consider a partnership.

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Has Microsoft just ruined Nokia and Windows Phone 7 sales?

Sometimes you have to wonder what a company is thinking. Granted Microsoft has never been known as altruistic when dealing with other companies. Some might even call it predatory but what is about to happen with Nokia is just cold. By announcing Windows Phone 8 and stating that it will not run on any current Windows Phone hardware, Microsoft has hurt its partners like HTC who were producing Microsoft devices and especially Nokia.

Nokia has been struggling for the past few years as people have moved from feature phones, Nokia’s bread and butter, to smartphones. The Huffington Post reported last November that Nokia would be laying off 17,000 workers worldwide by 2013. This from a company that was once the leading phone maker in the world.


Nokia then bet its future on Microsoft. In 2011 it decided to Microsoft Windows Phone as its main mobile operating system and basically banked its survival on its Lumia line of Windows Phone 7 smartphones. After Microsoft’s announcement that its new mobile operating system won’t work on older devices, Bloomberg announced that Nokia’s stock price dropped to a 16 year low. Ouch.

Who wants to buy a replacement phone that will outdated within a few months? Granted that is always an issue with Android phones but for most, a newer phone can be upgraded to the newest Android operating system. Not so with Windows Phones. So why waste money on purchasing a new Nokia Lumia 900 when you can wait a few months for a phone that will be exponentially better?

That means that Nokia’s woes will only get worse. It has a stockpile of phones whose sales will probably fall off dramatically further pushing the company into ruin. PC Magazine has questioned whether Microsoft’s latest announcement is part of a plan to purchase Nokia once it is in shambles.

At the very least, it should give HTC and Samsung pause. Both companies have Windows Phone 7 handsets on the market and have announced that they will produce Windows Phone 8 handsets. HTC and Samsung, unlike Nokia, do produce handsets with Android operating systems. Still while both aren’t dependent on their Windows Phone 7 sales, they should still be pretty ticked off that Microsoft has effectively ruined any further sales of their Windows Phone 7 handsets.

While the Android ecosystem might be fragmented, Google is not deliberately undercutting its partner manufacturers. Microsoft is and its, in effect, killing off its Windows Phone 7 business. Who wants to buy a phone based on an operating system that can’t seem to survive even 6 months without complete obsolescence?

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Microsoft’s real plans with Surface

Microsoft recently unveiled Surface, Windows 8-powered tablets that will be launching in the months after the new operating system itself goes on sale later this year. On the surface (excuse the pun) this is hardware designed to compete with the Apple iPad and the various Android tablets that currently make up the burgeoning tablet market.

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Stay tuned Monday for big announcements from Microsoft

Well Apple had its World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) earlier this
 month and unveiled its new line of MacBooks and iOS6. Monday it is Microsoft’s turn. We may get to find out more information about the upcoming Windows 8 tablets that are expected to launch later this year.

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New Jersey college students receive free Nokia Lumia 900 handsets

Cell phones, Mobile, Opinion, Windows Phone 7

Freshmen entering Seton Hall University in New Jersey this fall will each receive a Nokia Lumia 900 handset, which is powered by Windows Phone.



Every Class of 2016 freshman starting at Seton Hall later this year will receive a Nokia Lumia 900. According to PC World, this is part of the college’s Mobile Computing initiative. This effort has resulted in students from past years receiving Amazon Kindles, iPads, Android tablets, and other smartphones. But while those giveaways were limited to particular programs or select majors this one will target the entire class.


The whole point of the exercise is to ensure freshmen have access to the SHUmobile service and the free app which comes with it. SHUmobile is designed to make the transition easier for new students, allowed them to access the faculty and employee directory, browse the course catalog, and view the campus map, amongst other things.

The details of the deal between Nokia and Seton Hall haven’t been disclosed but has clearly come about via Seton Hall’s partnerships with both Nokia and Microsoft. Seton Hall Center for Mobile Research & Innovation academic director Michael Taylor said of the initiative, “Mobile technology has become ubiquitous and pervasive, but we are just beginning to understand the breadth of its impact across campus.”

This could of course backfire on Nokia and Microsoft. If these kids hate the Nokia Lumia 900 (and just because they got one free doesn’t guarantee they won’t) they could be put off Nokia handsets and Windows Phone as a platform for life. One class thinking that doesn’t matter but college kids talk, and if they all tell their friends it sucks then it could have an impact.

One of the big questions hanging over the Nokia Lumia range is whether they’ll work with Windows Phone 8 or not, as suggested by commenters on Gizmodo.

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Encyclopedia Britannica comes to Bing

Bing, Microsoft, Opinion

Microsoft has added the Encyclopedia Britannica to Bing, adding context to search results and edging Bing closer than ever to Google.

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