Microsoft has yet a new product on its way to release cycle to keep its dedicated fans cheerful.the new version of the windows 8 being called Windows Blue has the look and feel of windows 8 obviously ,along with certain tweaks.Windows 8.1 will be launched at the Microsoft Build developer conference in San Francisco on June 26 and the final version will be available as a free downloadable Windows 8 update.
Based on the industry sources the following features can be considered as a major change.
1. Lock screen slideshow- This can turn your PC or tablet into a picture frame by making your Lock screen a slide show of your pictures – either locally on the device or photos from Microsoft Sky-drive.
2. More backgrounds- more colors and backgrounds for the Start screen – including some with motion along with desktop background.
3. Enhanced apps-MS has tweaked certain features of the app segment by providing performance and GUI based upgrade.
4. More snap views- Re size the apps and multitask to the hearts content.
5. Save direct to Skydive, plus offline files
6. Different tile sizes
7. A new Internet Explorer
Having said that would have to wait and see if”Windows Blue ” leaves up to the expectations of the ever developing OS track line.With the recent market adaptation of the Windows 8 environment it should not be a hard nut to crack.
Nokia today unveiled its most affordable phone in the Lumia series which will be available in the country during the first week of November 2012.
Although the company did not disclose the exact price, but said it will be at priced around INR 11,000 (150$) . “With the Nokia Lumia 510 we continue to meet our commitment to bring Windows phone to new, lower price points,” said Vipul Mehrotra Nokia India Director and Head (Smartphone Devices) .
He described the phone being designed with Indian consumer in mind and hence the company is launching it first in India.
The phone features a four-inch display and has 5 megapixel camera.
With this latest addition to the Lumia series, the company is looking to strengthen its position in the smartphone segment.
The Tech Spec of Nokia Lumia 510:
Device type :Smart phone
OS :Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
Dimensions:4.75 x 2.56 x 0.45 (120.7 x 64.9 x 11.5 mm)
Weight :4.55 oz (129 g)
DISPLAY
Physical size:4 inches
Resolution:480 x 800 pixels
Pixel density:233 ppi
Technology:LCD
Colors:65 536
Touchscreen:Capacitive, Multi-touch
Features:Light sensor, Proximity sensor
Nokia-Lumia-510
BATTERY
Talk time:6.20 hours the average is 8 h (487 min)
Stand-by time:30.8 days (739 hours)the average is 19 days (467 h)
Talk time (3G):8.40 hoursthe average is 7 h (420 min)
Stand-by time (3G):27.2 days (653 hours)the average is 21 days (506 h)
Capacity:1300 mAh
HARDWARE
System chip:Qualcomm Snapdragon S1
Processor:Single core, 800 MHz
Graphics processor:Yes
System memory:256 MB RAM
Built-in storage:4 GB
lumia-510
CAMERA
Camera:5 mega pixels
Aperture size:F2.4
Features:Auto focus, Touch to focus, Exposure compensation, White balance presets, Geo tagging, Scenes
Camcorder:640×480 (VGA) (30 fps)
Features:Continuous autofocus in a video, Digital image stabilization
The interface formerly known as Metro (TIFKAM) makes the information applications present their UI, and developers need to realise that and stop polluting software with the kind of buttons and icons elements they’ve grown up with.
That’s the opinion voiced by Shane Morris of Automatic Studio, now a user interface consultant but once a Microsoft user interface evangelist, at Microsoft Australia’s TechEd conference today.
Morris’ talk was titled “How to be authentically digital”, a term used by Microsoft to describe its new ethic of letting pixels be pixels instead of imbuing UI elements with shading so they resemble real-world objects. Morris gleefully the term as “designer wank”. He also described the initial TIFKAM screen as the “Asian supermarket screen, because everything is yelling at you and you don’t know where to look.”
Which is not to say Morris dislikes TIFKAM, as he explained it uses proven design techniques and philosophies drawn from “Wayfinding” (signage in airports, train stations and other public places), typography (The Swiss School) and moving type (The opening titles to Hitchcock’s North by Northwest are apparently seminal so we’ve popped them in below).
Those influences mean TIFKAM doesn’t use the interactive vocabulary of the desktop GUI. Instead, Morris says, “We focus on content and the information people need to consume.”
Developers must therefore strive to “present the information well enough it can form the user interface.” Which is not to say that users are to be left without things to click on, but Microsoft has hidden them in TIFKAM’s Apps Bar and Charm bar, decoupling UI elements from apps.
“A consistent UI and place for people to look for search, share and settings means users don’t have to need to learn a new UI for each app,” Morris explained, adding that it’s not sensible to assume that users have discovered the Charm or Apps bars. Most users do so quickly, he said. Others take up to five minutes to do so.
Morris said Developers need to understand these new elements, and also assess whether they are right for their apps. Business apps, he said may not work in this context, with more familiar icon-driven UI elements still available for apps that just won’t fit into TIFKAM’s design paradigm.
That split, he said, is not new, arguing that Microsoft has been making content-centric interfaces since the days of Expedia CD-ROMs and has continue to do so with products like Media Centre and Zune.
Mainstream developers will therefore need to come to terms with content-centric interfaces and the elements they offer, one of which is animation. Moving images, he said, even offer the chance to tap into users’ primal instincts as we are attuned to interpreting fast-moving objects in peripheral vision as worthy of attention (if only to avoid being eaten by an approaching predator). Using animation to show users something is worthy of their attention is a new interface tactic he feels will be useful.
The bad news, Morris added, is that using animation “doesn’t come naturally to me”. He’s not sure it will come naturally to any developer, given that most are used to working in rather different ways.
But developers don’t need to get too hung up on their animation skills, he added, as good design for Windows 8 apps, or any other, starts with decisions about what an application is intended to achieve, rather than just how it will look and behave.
The first Windows Phone 8 handset was revealed today at IFA in Berlin. Dubbed the Samsung ATIV S, it has a 4.8 inch “HD” (presumably 1280×720) Super AMOLED screen, a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor, 8MP rear and 1.9MP front-facing cameras, 1GB RAM, 16 or 32 gigabytes of storage, a micro SD slot, NFC support, and a 2,300 mAh battery—all in a 8.7mm (0.34″) thick device.
The internals are similar, then, to the company’s Galaxy S III handset. The externals, however, are very different. The front is Gorilla Glass 2. The back eschews the plastic of the Android handset in favor of brushed aluminium.
With Windows Phone 8 rumored to launch on October 29th, this doesn’t leave much time for developers to develop apps for the new platform. One possible reason is speculation that the company would rather developers continue to produce Windows Phone 7 apps instead. These apps will run fine on the new platform, but will also run on current handsets. The delay with publishing the SDK could, therefore, be an attempt to postpone the abandonment of the currently shipping platform.
Have you ever lost office 2010 product key ? And you spent hour and hour to find that office 2010 cd key for office reinstalling. This article shows you how to find office 2010 product key from installed office 2010 application.
Simple steps to find office 2010 product key:
1. Download Product Key Finder software (Trial version) and install it to the windows where your office 2010 is installed in.
2. Launch Product Key finder software, and then click “Start Recovery” to find office 2010 product key. Many product keys will be listed. if the office 2010 has been installed, its product key will be displayed too.
3. Click “Save as” to save these product keys to a file.
Having access to the source code is probably the single most significant difference between Linux and Windows. The fact that Linux belongs to the GNU Public License ensures that users (of all sorts) can access (and alter) the code to the very kernel that serves as the foundation of the Linux operating system. You want to peer at the Windows code? Good luck. Unless you are a member of a very select (and elite, to many) group, you will never lay eyes on code making up the Windows operating system.
You can look at this from both sides of the fence. Some say giving the public access to the code opens the operating system (and the software that runs on top of it) to malicious developers who will take advantage of any weakness they find. Others say that having full access to the code helps bring about faster improvements and bug fixes to keep those malicious developers from being able to bring the system down. I have, on occasion, dipped into the code of one Linux application or another, and when all was said and done, was happy with the results. Could I have done that with a closed-source Windows application? No.
#2: Licensing freedom vs. licensing restrictions
Along with access comes the difference between the licenses. I’m sure that every IT professional could go on and on about licensing of PC software. But let’s just look at the key aspect of the licenses (without getting into legalese). With a Linux GPL-licensed operating system, you are free to modify that software and use and even republish or sell it (so long as you make the code available). Also, with the GPL, you can download a single copy of a Linux distribution (or application) and install it on as many machines as you like. With the Microsoft license, you can do none of the above. You are bound to the number of licenses you purchase, so if you purchase 10 licenses, you can legally install that operating system (or application) on only 10 machines.
#3: Online peer support vs. paid help-desk support
This is one issue where most companies turn their backs on Linux. But it’s really not necessary. With Linux, you have the support of a huge community via forums, online search, and plenty of dedicated Web sites. And of course, if you feel the need, you can purchase support contracts from some of the bigger Linux companies (Red Hat and Novell for instance).
However, when you use the peer support inherent in Linux, you do fall prey to time. You could have an issue with something, send out e-mail to a mailing list or post on a forum, and within 10 minutes be flooded with suggestions. Or these suggestions could take hours of days to come in. It seems all up to chance sometimes. Still, generally speaking, most problems with Linux have been encountered and documented. So chances are good you’ll find your solution fairly quickly.
On the other side of the coin is support for Windows. Yes, you can go the same route with Microsoft and depend upon your peers for solutions. There are just as many help sites/lists/forums for Windows as there are for Linux. And you can purchase support from Microsoft itself. Most corporate higher-ups easily fall victim to the safety net that having a support contract brings. But most higher-ups haven’t had to depend up on said support contract. Of the various people I know who have used either a Linux paid support contract or a Microsoft paid support contract, I can’t say one was more pleased than the other. This of course begs the question “Why do so many say that Microsoft support is superior to Linux paid support?”
#4: Full vs. partial hardware support
One issue that is slowly becoming nonexistent is hardware support. Years ago, if you wanted to install Linux on a machine you had to make sure you hand-picked each piece of hardware or your installation would not work 100 percent. I can remember, back in 1997-ish, trying to figure out why I couldn’t get Caldera Linux or Red Hat Linux to see my modem. After much looking around, I found I was the proud owner of a Winmodem. So I had to go out and purchase an US Robotics external modem because that was the one modem I knew would work. This is not so much the case now. You can grab a PC (or laptop) and most likely get one or more Linux distributions to install and work nearly 100 percent. But there are still some exceptions. For instance, hibernate/suspend remains a problem with many laptops, although it has come a long way.
With Windows, you know that almost every piece of hardware will work with the operating system. Of course, there are times (and I have experienced this over and over) when you will wind up spending much of the day searching for the correct drivers for that piece of hardware you no longer have the install disk for. But you can go out and buy that 10-cent Ethernet card and know it’ll work on your machine (so long as you have, or can find, the drivers). You also can rest assured that when you purchase that insanely powerful graphics card, you will probably be able to take full advantage of its power.
#5: Command line vs. no command line
No matter how far the Linux operating system has come and how amazing the desktop environment becomes, the command line will always be an invaluable tool for administration purposes. Nothing will ever replace my favorite text-based editor, ssh, and any given command-line tool. I can’t imagine administering a Linux machine without the command line. But for the end user — not so much. You could use a Linux machine for years and never touch the command line. Same with Windows. You can still use the command line with Windows, but not nearly to the extent as with Linux. And Microsoft tends to obfuscate the command prompt from users. Without going to Run and entering cmd (or command, or whichever it is these days), the user won’t even know the command-line tool exists. And if a user does get the Windows command line up and running, how useful is it really?
#6: Centralized vs. decentralized application installation
The heading for this point might have thrown you for a loop. But let’s think about this for a second. With Linux you have (with nearly every distribution) a centralized location where you can search for, add, or remove software. I’m talking about package management systems, such as Synaptic. With Synaptic, you can open up one tool, search for an application (or group of applications), and install that application without having to do any Web searching (or purchasing).
Windows has nothing like this. With Windows, you must know where to find the software you want to install, download the software (or put the CD into your machine), and run setup.exe or install.exe with a simple double-click. For many years, it was thought that installing applications on Windows was far easier than on Linux. And for many years, that thought was right on target. Not so much now. Installation under Linux is simple, painless, and centralized.
#7: Flexibility vs. rigidity
I always compare Linux (especially the desktop) and Windows to a room where the floor and ceiling are either movable or not. With Linux, you have a room where the floor and ceiling can be raised or lowered, at will, as high or low as you want to make them. With Windows, that floor and ceiling are immovable. You can’t go further than Microsoft has deemed it necessary to go.
Take, for instance, the desktop. Unless you are willing to pay for and install a third-party application that can alter the desktop appearance, with Windows you are stuck with what Microsoft has declared is the ideal desktop for you. With Linux, you can pretty much make your desktop look and feel exactly how you want/need. You can have as much or as little on your desktop as you want. From simple flat Fluxbox to a full-blown 3D Capiz experience, the Linux desktop is as flexible an environment as there is on a computer.
#8: Fanboys vs. corporate types
I wanted to add this because even though Linux has reached well beyond its school-project roots, Linux users tend to be soapbox-dwelling fanatics who are quick to spout off about why you should be choosing Linux over Windows. I am guilty of this on a daily basis (I try hard to recruit new fanboys/girls), and it’s a badge I wear proudly. Of course, this is seen as less than professional by some. After all, why would something worthy of a corporate environment have or need cheerleaders? Shouldn’t the software sell itself? Because of the open source nature of Linux, it has to make do without the help of the marketing budgets and deep pockets of Microsoft. With that comes the need for fans to help spread the word. And word of mouth is the best friend of Linux.
Some see the fanaticism as the same college-level hoorah that keeps Linux in the basements for LUG meetings and science projects. But I beg to differ. Another company, thanks to the phenomenon of a simple music player and phone, has fallen into the same fan-boy fanaticism, and yet that company’s image has not been besmirched because of that fanaticism. Windows does not have these same fans. Instead, Windows has a league of paper-certified administrators who believe the hype when they hear the misrepresented market share numbers reassuring them they will be employable until the end of time.
#9: Automated vs. nonautomated removable media
I remember the days of old when you had to mount your floppy to use it and unmount it to remove it. Well, those times are drawing to a close — but not completely. One issue that plagues new Linux users is how removable media is used. The idea of having to manually “mount” a CD drive to access the contents of a CD is completely foreign to new users. There is a reason this is the way it is. Because Linux has always been a multiuser platform, it was thought that forcing a user to mount a media to use it would keep the user’s files from being overwritten by another user. Think about it: On a multiuser system, if everyone had instant access to a disk that had been inserted, what would stop them from deleting or overwriting a file you had just added to the media? Things have now evolved to the point where Linux subsystems are set up so that you can use a removable device in the same way you use them in Windows. But it’s not the norm. And besides, who doesn’t want to manually edit the /etc/fstab fle?
#10: Multilayered run levels vs. a single-layered run level
I couldn’t figure out how best to title this point, so I went with a description. What I’m talking about is Linux’ inherent ability to stop at different run levels. With this, you can work from either the command line (run level 3) or the GUI (run level 5). This can really save your socks when X Windows is fubared and you need to figure out the problem. You can do this by booting into run level 3, logging in as root, and finding/fixing the problem.
With Windows, you’re lucky to get to a command line via safe mode — and then you may or may not have the tools you need to fix the problem. In Linux, even in run level 3, you can still get and install a tool to help you out (hello apt-get install APPLICATION via the command line). Having different run levels is helpful in another way. Say the machine in question is a Web or mail server. You want to give it all the memory you have, so you don’t want the machine to boot into run level 5. However, there are times when you do want the GUI for administrative purposes (even though you can fully administer a Linux server from the command line). Because you can run the startxcommand from the command line at run level 3, you can still start-up X Windows and have your GUI as well. With Windows, you are stuck at the Graphical run level unless you hit a serious problem.
penguin Tux, the Linux Mascot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What exactly is Linux…..,what is its background, hows its different from Windows OS,Whats the difference ,etc might be the question that pops up into a mind of a novice….computer programmer.
well keeping the things simple it”s classified as follows
1)Linux is said to be the derivative of UNIX.
2)It’s an Open source OS ….(loosely translated )FREE. (free as in a beer,FREE as a bird .)
its backed up by group of individuals/community who promotes the creation of software that is not proprietary, thus resulting in lower costs.
Many people still believe that learning Linux is difficult, or that only experts can understand how a Linux system works.
Though there is a lot of free documentation available, the documentation is widely scattered on the Web, and often confusing, since it is usually oriented toward experienced UNIX or Linux users.
Today, thanks to the advancements in development, Linux has grown in popularity both at home and at work. The goal of this guide is to show people of all ages that Linux can be simple and fun, and used for all kinds of purposes.
P.S the difference between a windows and Linux is described in another post
Silent Poison Hack 