Windows 9 is coming in 2015. Many think Windows 8 was a trainwreck. I think one thing all companies should realize is that as the market matures, the older people who have been using Windows (or any other program for a long period of time) not only want to know HOW to do things the new way but WHY they should. I know many who would be happy to pay for and keep a Windows XP interface for a long time. I understand why the surface style was needed for surface devices but many would be happy with an older system using a traditional Windows view.
Here comes Windows 8 with a lot of new settings. These are talking about the Windows phone updates but other updates are on the way.
"While Windows 8.1 adds a lot of features and improvements across the OS, the built-in apps include some of the biggest changes. Microsoft is detailing a few of the more creative ones ahead of the Windows 8.1 release tomorrow. The photos app in Windows 8 included Facebook and Flickr integration, but the Windows 8.1 version drops that in lieu of some improvements to editing. You can now select auto fix for a selection of different corrections, and there's also manual cropping, red-eye removal, retouch, and other basic contrast and brightness settings. One of the more interesting features is color enhance that lets you pick an area of a photo to brighten up or darken areas of photos."
The free movie program for Windows is Windows Movie Maker. This is a link to the version for Windows 7 and 8. It doesn't come loaded but you can install it for free.
VirtualBox is a powerful x86 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction.
Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris and OpenSolaris, and OpenBSD.
OK. I think this will be great news for many schools who are still clinging to Windows XP. Microsoft will keep supplying anti-malware updates to Windows XP until april 15, 2014. The March 2013 date caused an outcry among many and we've been working hard to update all the XP machines with extra RAM so they could go to Windows 7. But with the machines working so well on XP many of us wonder why we should dispose of machines that work so well especially in cash crunched times. Take your time - you've got a little longer although for us in the US if they'd go through June 2015 it means we can get 2 more school years out of XP machines. In a sign of the times, it can make all the difference between some kids using technology and some not.
Here's the Windows 8 consumer preview version if you just have to download and try it out. (Or, if, as Microsoft hopes, you want to start building apps.)
If you have a PC and want to write offline and then upload, Windows Live Writer is your option. It is actually a very powerful (free) tool for blogging. Here's a blog post about why Scott Hanselman uses this app for his blogging. I've used it off and on but am using it even more now that I have a Surface Pro. I used to draft on my ipad in Blogsy but the biggest issue I had was adding links and full compatibility with wordpress - I can do it all on my Surface Pro using Windows Live Writer. This post links to the app and the why-to from this blogger. It works with wordpress, blogger, and more.
The Google Search app on your start screen. I have Chrome but also want to have this search engine (in addition to Bing) on my Windows 8 computer start.
If you have Windows 8 in your lab. you'll want Music Maker Jam - a sort of Garage Band" for Windows 8. It doesn't seem to have the complexity but it is a great thing for creating and has a whole different feel. Install it in labs for students to mix their own music.
This is the only way I've found to access Google calendar on Windows 8. The two companies, Microsoft and Google, aren't working together. This is not smart for either of them, I think, but I'll work around it for now.
"Windows can be seriously annoying sometimes, but thankfully there's also usually a workaround or third-party utility that fixes the issue. We've rounded up the ten things that annoy us most, along with how to fix them."
If you have Windows 8 and touch screens like I have in my computer lab. Fresh Paint is one you'll want to have. It supports up to 5 fingers and you can mix colors. Yes, there's an in app purchase, but I'm going free for now. Sort of like an Art Rage.