boot13Microsoft is pulling the plug on Facebook and Flickr integration in Windows 8.1. Microsoft insists that its own apps should be sufficient. Anyone who is currently using the Facebook or Flickr integration in Windows 8 may be heading for major annoyance when they upgrade to 8.1.
Category Archives: Microsoft
A good reason to avoid Windows 8.1: advertising
When Microsoft first started talking about making the Windows user interface more like the XBox 360 UI, I wondered if that also meant we would be seeing advertising in Windows 8. I was both surprised and relieved to see that the Windows 8 Start screen was not filled with ads, which alas cannot be said of the XBox 360 UI.
Well, that relief was short-lived. It was recently announced by Microsoft that the search function built into Windows will display advertising, starting with the Windows 8.1 update. As you read the announcement, marvel at the way advertising will “mak[e] it easier for consumers to complete tasks.” Nice try.
Windows 8.1 Start button will be slightly less useless than expected
Preview versions of Windows 8.1 were recently made available to reviewers, and The Verge reports on some additional tweaks to the Start button. There’s still no Start menu, but right-clicking the Start button will show a power user menu of sorts. The menu includes options to disable hot corners and shut down the computer.
Patch Tuesday for June 2013
This month there are five bulletins, addressing 23 vulnerabilities in Windows, Office and Internet Explorer. Only one (MS13-047, affecting Internet Explorer) is marked as Critical.
The bulletin summary has all the technical details.
Related links:
– Improved cryptography infrastructure and the June 2013 bulletins
– SANS: Microsoft June 2013 Black Tuesday Overview
Advance notification for June 2013 Patch Tuesday
This month’s Patch Tuesday arrives on June 11. Updates should become available from about 10am PST on that date.
The bulletins: there are five this month, including one for Internet Explorer that’s marked Critical. More technical details are available on the official announcement page.
Another botnet disrupted
Microsoft and its partners have successfully disrupted another botnet. This time the target was Citadel, which was being used to harvest banking information.
Infoworld proposes a design for the next version of Windows
It seems clear that Microsoft isn’t going to fix Windows 8 with Windows 8.1. The changes in 8.1 are trivial and do not address the major concerns about Windows 8.
Infoworld has a solution: a new design for the next version of Windows, code-named Windows Red. This is a serious re-thinking of the design choices made by Microsoft and an attempt to rectify Windows 8’s problems.
All of Infoworld’s changes make sense to me. It would be wonderful if Microsoft paid attention to this design and actually used some or all of it. But knowing Microsoft, they’ll ignore it completely.
Infoworld also posted a useful followup with additional details on Windows Red.
Windows 8.1: Start button is back, but useless
Microsoft heard the complaints, and is bringing the Start button back in Windows 8.1. The problem? They heard, but they didn’t listen.
The Start button itself isn’t really all that useful. What’s useful about the Start button in previous versions of Windows is what happens when you click it: a menu appears. Of course, that menu has been criticized for years, but it’s still the only practical way to see a list of what’s possible on your computer.
With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has brought back the Start button, but pressing it just takes the user to the new Start screen (the one with the tiles). Useless. Apparently the Start screen has an “All apps” section that can be configured to look somewhat similar to a traditional menu, but this menu would be incomplete at best.
In public discussion on this subject, Microsoft spends a lot of time talking about branding, desktop wallpaper on the Start screen, and the ability to boot to the desktop. They also apparently realized that on a computer with no menu, searching is the only way to find anything, so search has been ‘improved’ to Windows 7 functionality.
On the positive side, it will once again be possible to have more than one program or window visible on the screen simultaneously, although that feature will also be limited.
Here’s a roundup of related articles from around the web:
- In Blue: Start Experience Changes
- Windows 8.1: Microsoft brings back the Start button with options to appease desktop users
- Windows 8.1 preview: many small tweaks make for a significant update
- Windows 8.1 given first official outing, and yes, the Start button is back
Update 2012Jun03: Peter Bright over at Ars Technica also noticed that the Start menu won’t be back in Windows 8.1, although I disagree with his conclusions.
Microsoft confirms name and price for next version of Windows
After much speculation, Microsoft has finally announced a name for the next version of Windows: Windows 8.1. Up until now, the working name for the new version was Windows Blue.
Anyone currently using Windows 8 will be able to install the new version as an update for free. This sounds a lot like what Microsoft used to call a Service Pack. Well, whatever they want to call it, as long as it’s free, I’m all for it.
The new version is expected to bring back some aspects of the Start button, the Start menu and the traditional desktop, but the details remain unclear.
Patch Tuesday for May 2013
The month’s updates include fixes for vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, .NET and Office. The main bulletin has all the technical details, and the Microsoft Security Response Center has a more reader-friendly summary, entitled “Microsoft Customer Protections for May 2013”.
The expected patch for recently-discovered vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 8 is included in this month’s patches as MS13-038. According to Microsoft, you can install this patch whether or not you previously installed the emergency “Fix-It” released by Microsoft.