Bluetooth remains one of the most convenient ways to quickly transfer files from one device to another, and while the protocol has gotten faster and more power efficient with Bluetooth 4.0, it’s still relatively slow. Try sending 1GB worth of video over Bluetooth, you’ll be waiting a while.

We’ve since fallen back to the ever so reliable USB thumbstick to handle the heavy lifting, but that’s a several step process of copying, switching devices, and pasting. Not that big of a deal particularly with “SuperSpeed” USB 3.0 and a relatively new (and immature) contender in the mobile consumer space; Wi-Fi Direct.

The real question is of course, how fast is Wi-Fi Direct in real-world applications? And how does it compare to existing means of file transfer in terms of not only speed, but ease of use/convenience? Today we put Wi-Fi Direct to the test.

Using the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 as the host PC, Wi-Fi Direct was used via the ‘Send my Files’ app available on the Windows Store. A 1.5GB file was then sent over Direct to another Windows 8.1-based PC that supports the protocol. The test was then repeated over Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0, and USB 2.0. See the results below.

Compared to its wireless counterpart, Wi-Fi Direct took just over 9 minutes to complete the transfer verses the 2 hours it took using Bluetooth 4.0. While it couldn’t match the speeds of USB 2.0, let alone USB 3.0, Wi-Fi Direct is a viable method of transferring large files wirelessly.

The protocol becomes especially convenient when transferring smaller files, this was tested by repeating the same process mentioned earlier, but with a 20MB file.

The results are much closer this time. Clocking in at 7.7 seconds, Wi-Fi Direct was just over a second slower than USB 2.0, and keep in mind, USB speeds did not include the time it takes to safely disconnect the drive, and plugging it into the second PC to initiate the copy process. So you could argue that Wi-Fi Direct is faster overall.

Microsoft’s next task is to make transferring files over Wi-Fi Direct as native and as easy as it is with Bluetooth. Give Direct a try, let us know what your experiences with it are. Note that you must have Wi-Fi Direct supported devices to use it.

A new patent filing, discovered by WinBeta today, details Microsoft’s plan to offer price differentiation for in-app purchases (IAP) depending on the market. 

In the patent filing, Microsoft provides an example with Apple, stating that they do not provide a way for developers to charge different prices for an item in different markets. Rather, developers are forced to select a single price tier that is used across each market. 

Microsoft wants to change that with the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store. In fact, Microsoft wants developers to be able to associate different prices for an IAP based on the market that is associated with the user. 

The idea here is simple. Let’s say you were playing Top Gear on your Windows 8.1 device in the United States. You will be charged a different price for an item within the game, compared to someone who is playing the same game in another country or market. 

Microsoft’s patent filing also details the IAP process in Apple’s app store. According to the filing, Apple developers must pick one of eighty-seven price tiers for their product, ranging from $0.99 to $999. Based on what is selected, Apple will automatically determine the relative pricing to adjust for various currencies within that price tier. Once that tier is selected by the developer, it is automatically used across different markets.

If Microsoft does follow through with this idea, it does seem that this ability to adjust the price for IAP based on market would be a feature that allows developers more control over their product. It also allows developers to adjust IAP pricing depending on the market. 

For those of you who are app developers, how do you feel about price differentiation for in-app purchases? Sound off in the comments below.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s foremost investigating police agency, has arrested a man for stealing product keys of various Microsoft products and selling them online. The convict has been identified as “D. Prabhu.”

A complaint was lodged by Microsoft, which lead the agency to investigate and find the person who was causing a loss to the software giant. Prabhu is suspected to have hacked into government websites which use Microsoft’s software, and possibly steal their licensed product keys.  The bureau is still quantifying the exact loss.

The agency has filed a case under different sections of the IT Act 2000 on the allegations that Microsoft Volume License Service Centre (VLSC) agreements in many respects were violated. The CBI has also recovered several hard drives, a router, and a number of Microsoft product kits and other documents from the convict’s home. The agency also froze his bank account in which he used to collect the sale amount.

Software piracy and online fraud have become sort of custom in the nation. While CBI’s success in tracking down Prabhu is appreciable, we are looking at a very big culprit business here. The ease with which one can purchase pirated copies of Windows software (or any other product) is rather shocking.

Yammer co-founder David Sacks is leaving Microsoft. On Wednesday, Sacks tweeted a thank you and goodbye to his former bosses. The software giant acquired Yammer — enterprise social networking and chat tool– for $1.2 billion in 2012.

As for the Yammer technologies, Microsoft has been further integrating it into Office 365, SharePoint and will eventually expand it to Outlook as well. As ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports, Kristian Andaker from Office team will be spearheading Yammer engineering.

“Thank you to my current and former YamFamily for 6 great years and to Microsoft for the last two. I look forward to new adventures,” Sacks tweeted. He had always been considered as a transformative figure, who even was reportedly considered as a potential candidate to replace Steve Ballmer last year.

Yammer is now used by more than 500,000 organizations. Microsoft thanked Sacks for his contribution, and wished him the best for his future endeavors. “We thank David for his commitment to Yammer and Microsoft and wish him the best in his future endeavors. Yammer has grown tremendously since the acquisition in 2012, and is now an integral part of Office 365 and used by more than 500,000 organizations. As part of our long-term plan, David has played an instrumental role over the past two years in building a strong leadership team to set a solid direction for Yammer as part of Microsoft Office 365 and our vision for enterprise social”, Microsoft said in a statement to ZDnet.

Let’s face it, working in an IT or software development environment can be stale and boring at times. We’ve all been there. Sometimes it helps to be creative. In Microsoft’s case, sometimes creativity leads to parody videos. In this case, Microsoft’s OneNote team has created a parody to LMFAO’s “I’m Sexy and I Know It.”

Now, before you say this is in poor taste or that this is a horrible marketing job, keep in mind that this is simply a parody video done in an attempt at humor. You have to admit, it’s pretty funny. 

Just recently, the OneNote team introduced us to Gary, a man who uses sticky notes to keep important notes. Unfortunately, this results in a mess and an overload of information. Thankfully, we have Microsoft’s OneNote product, which can help you stay organized without the mess. Clearly, the OneNote team is just trying to have some fun.

Don’t expect to see this parody video on TV, since it was simply intended to entertain us Internet folks. “This is a parody of “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO celebrating our new integration with Surface Pro 3. It was recorded and produced by the OneNote Engineering Team,” the video description reads.

We’ve embedded the video below for your entertainment pleasure. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the tips, guys!

Microsoft is set to expand its retail footprint with several new Microsoft Store locations, set to open over the next few months. These locations include United States and Canada, with no stores yet to be revealed in any other country.

A Microsoft Store offers an assortment of products and services, including Windows 8.1 PCs, tablets, Windows Phones, Xbox One, Office 365, and much more. Customers can also receive support and services from staff members who can make recommendations and more. A kiosk-style specialty store is a smaller store that features the best of what Microsoft has to offer in a smaller space.

Over the next few months, Microsoft will open up new stores in various locations (confirmed to us via a Microsoft Store spokesperson). The new locations in both US and Canada are:

• Chinook Centre in Calgary, AB Canada
• The Streets at Southpoint in Durham, NC
• Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park, CA (opens September 21st)
• Baybrook Mall in Friendswood, TX
• SouthPark in Charlotte, NC
• Destiny USA in Syracuse, NY
• NorthPark Center in Dallas, TX
• Chandler Fashion Center in Chandler, AZ
• Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie, LA
• Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD
• Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA
• Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, ON Canada
• Woodland Hills Mall, Tulsa, OK

No specific details have been revealed about these store locations, but as soon as we find out more information, we will let everyone know. Keep in mind that new store openings usually feature a wide assortment of festivities as well as giveaways and discounts on Microsoft products.

Do you live near any of these new locations? 

Today’s earnings call from Microsoft includes some interesting facts and figures. While financial results don’t tend to make for particularly fascinating reading, the FY2014 results are surprisingly revealing. We already know that revenue from the Surface range was $409 million, but the revelation hides another little snippet of information.

Microsoft says that–whilst managing to avoid naming the device directly–that the cost of revenue played a role in the decision not to release the Surface Mini earlier in the year:

“Current year cost of revenue included Surface inventory adjustments resulting from our transition to newer generation devices and a decision to not ship a new form factor.”

The Earnings Release for the year is not really the place to discuss in detail what the future holds, so there is no hint at when the Mini might be released. COO Kevin Turner, said: “Looking forward, we are excited by the amazing opportunities enabled by our technology roadmap and our strong engagement across partners, customers, and developers.”

When you think of a Microsoft product, do you think of “cool” or “attractive?” Do these Microsoft products seem desirable? For some of you, your answer might be no. Well, Microsoft hopes to change all that — by adding emphasis on design excellence, in an attempt to make devices seem attractive, cool, and desirable.

According to a new report from AP, Microsoft is looking to make its products more competitive than ever, especially against rivals Apple, Google, and Amazon. Microsoft is typing to stimulate hardware partners to dream up new and innovative devices to offer more competitive offerings.

Apple is known for offering devices that are sleek, comfortable, and easy to use. Microsoft wants to jump on board that bandwagon and produce products that have the same qualities.

In fact, Microsoft has placed a priority in designing devices that work around people’s lives, help reduce information overload, and become intimate and knowledgeable with users — all this over the past few years. But this is not enough. Microsoft wants to make devices that are attractive, cool, and desirable.

Microsoft has already doubled the number of designers it has to roughly 1,400 — each with a wide variety of experience in filmmaking, food, and footwear. The company’s 64,000 engineers make up over half the workforce, but designers are the ones who are shaping the company’s products, user interfaces, and concept devices. Designers play a key part in a product’s development. They are a central figure in the early stages of product development, all the way to the marketing aspect.

“Microsoft is empowering its designers”

“It used to be that engineers ruled the roost and engineers would bring in designers to make icons. It’s changed now,” says Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s corporate vice president overseeing personal computers, tablets and phones. Microsoft is “empowering” its designers to challenge the conventional notions of what Windows devices can do.

Microsoft is also promoting designers to more prominent leadership roles within the organization. For example, Albert Shum, who was a former designer for Nike, was part of the team that “revolutionized the Windows Phone software design to feature the boxy live tiles that are central to the Windows 8 touch-based interface.” Shum is now in charge of “interaction design” for Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox. 

The company is focusing on its modern design philosophy, which stresses content over chrome — all while adding clean typography and nice motions. This design philosophy is central to all products and services. In fact, Microsoft’s products and services for non-Windows platforms like Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android should retain the same look and feel of the Microsoft brand. 

Microsoft has a lot of work to do. We already know that Microsoft wants to make greater use of the tiles in an upcoming version of Windows (codename Threshold) by adding live tiles to the returning Start menu. Microsoft is also looking to expand Cortana with new features and even expand Cortana to more than just Windows Phone.

We’ve begun to see a unification in various stages in various products. We’ve begun to see unified Windows Store and Windows Phone Store apps, and soon Windows Phone and Windows RT will merge. We recently wrote about Windows OneCore, a modern UI framework that works across all devices — PC, smartphone, and Xbox.

Microsoft’s main goal of offering products that are attractive and desirable is slowly coming to fruition.

The news from camp Microsoft was not all good this week. Rumors had been flying around for a while that there were a number of job losses on the horizon, but the announcement that was made was worse than just about anyone had imagined. In total, some 18,000 ended up losing their jobs as Satya Nadella attempts to refocus Microsoft. Jobs weren’t the only things on the chopping block at Microsoft this week. Also getting the cut was Microsoft’s interest in Android and Xbox Entertainment Studios. The intriguing McLaren handset was also dropped.

Looking to the future, Microsoft Research is working on Project Adam a fascinating artificial intelligence project that can understand speech, text, and images. Potential applications for the AI project are plentiful, and the same is true of Smart Alice, a new wearable project that could help blind and partially sighted people. Of course, what most people are interested in is Windows 9, and this week we learned more about how the next version of Windows could look.

Talking about Windows 9, also known as Threshold at the moment, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said that this release is going to include game-changing features for enterprise — we can only assume that there will be similarly impressive features for home users as well. This was a fairly upbeat message delivered at this year’s Worldwide Partner Conference, but Microsoft also admitted it has a lot a work to do in terms of increasing its device share, which currently stands at just 14 percent. On a more positive note, we did learn that the Lumia 520 remains the most popular Windows Phone, having sold more than 12 million handsets. With Satya Nadella praising Google’s marketing, perhaps we’ll see Windows Phone taking a leaf out of Android’s book.

We always get excited about the latest handsets to roll off the production lines, but with so much choice out there it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you. We compared the Lumia 930, Lumia Icon, Lumia 630, and Lumia 635, and also learned that the much loved Lumia 1020 could be coming to the end of its life very soon. It’s a device famed for its incredible 41MP camera, and Microsoft highlighted this in a new Windows Phone video. Interestingly, unlocked versions of the handset went on sale through Microsoft, and while individual Windows Phone handsets are much-loved, we learned that the highest levels of brand loyalty are still enjoyed by Apple.

More pleasingly, Windows Phone is currently the fast growing mobile OS. Existing Windows Phone users awaiting the delivery of the Lumia Cyan update have a website they can use to keep track of the schedule after the rollout started. If you need a rundown of what to expect from the update, check out our guide.

Hopefully this coming week will be rather more position in tone, but we’ll be sure to bring you all the latest news whatever happens.

Microsoft had its biggest-ever layoff in company history by letting go 18,000 employees. Of the total 18,000, about 12,500 will be removed through synergies and strategic alignment of the Nokia Devices and Services business. But despite being the biggest layoff, it will only have “minimal” impact in India.

The company pledged to save $600 million within the next 18 months after the completion of Nokia’s acquisition. “The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year,” wrote Nadella.

India is one of the most important geographies for Microsoft. There are about 6,500 Microsoft employees working in the country. However, the impact of the job cut will be “very, very small”. “We have about 6,500 employees in India, which also includes employees from Nokia. The impact will be minimal. It will be very very small.” said a Microsoft spokesperson to Press Trust of India.

But again, not to forget the drama going on in the Chennai-based factory where thousands of employees recently lost their jobs.

Arguably at the worst timing ever, Microsoft is gearing up for the launch of Nokia X2 handset in India. The import manifest data available on Zauba states that the company has imported 25,000 units in the country, suggesting that the launch is imminent.

In the emails sent to the employees, CEO Satya Nadella, and Vice President of Microsoft Devices, Stephen Elop have officially stated that the company is ending further development of the Android-powered Nokia X, entry level smartphones Asha lineup, and feature phones Series 40 in favor of Windows Phone.

Nokia X2 is a step up from the company’s first Android smartphones — the Nokia X series. Originally introduced last month, Nokia X2 sports a 4.3-inch WVGA ClearBlack display with the same 480×800 screen resolution. Powered by 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor and coupled with a gig of RAM, the device runs on Nokia X software platform 2.0, which is based on AOSP Android JellyBean.

Although it will be tough for the company to rope many buyers for this handset, Nokia X2 still offers great value for money. There is a 5MP shooter with LED flash, and a 0.3MP camera upfront. On the connectivity front, the device supports WiFi and 3G and Bluetooth.

While the company is yet to reveal the pricing, we expect it to be around Rs 8,500 ($140). Would you consider getting one of these handsets? Or rather stick with other Android smartphones? Or maybe get yourself a Lumia 630 instead, or a Lumia 520? Let us know in the comments.

Passwords are something we all have to deal with on a daily basis, and the advice has long been to use complex passphrases, to use unique passwords for each site and service, and to change them on a regular basis. But Microsoft Research has different ideas. A paper published by researchers Dinei Florencio and Cormac Herley and Paul C. van Oorschot from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada suggests taking a rather different approach.

The paper recognizes that users now have a large portfolio of passwords to remember, and goes on to say that “mandating exclusively strong passwords with no re-use gives users an impossible task”. What does this mean? Essentially, the researchers are saying that by encouraging, or even forcing, users to select complex, lengthy, unique passwords, the likelihood of forgetting them is greatly increased.

The researchers admit that their findings “directly challenge accepted wisdom and conventional advice”, but continues to say that “portfolio strategy ruling out weak passwords or password re-use is sub-optimal”. The use and re-use of simple passwords for low-risk websites is not only not discouraged by the paper, but actively encouraged. Strong, difficult-to-remember password should be reserved for sites and services that pose a high risk.

The aim is to overcome the problem of poor memory. If you have super-strong, unique passwords for every site and services, sure you’ll probably keep out the bad guys, but there’s a high chance that you’ll also lock yourself out when you ultimately forget them. You could write them down, but this defeats the purpose of a password. Password managers are another solution, but they are not perfect and can be vulnerable to attack. There is also the problem of the “finite-effort user” to take into account — users can only be expected to be willing to do so much in the name of secure access.

While the advice of the paper comes across as slightly counter intuitive to start with, with a little consideration it is easy to understand the thinking behind the advice — which boils down to the question “why make life any harder than it needs to be?” It’s a trade-off between the level of security you want, and the amount of effort you want to put in.

Microsoft may be on the verge of loosening the purse strings and making a new security investment. According to sources close to Microsoft, the company is in talks to acquire Aorato, an Israeli security startup. Talks are believed to be at an early stage, and it is likely that Microsoft is not the only interested party.

A potential price tag of $200 million has been suggested, but the figure has not been confirmed. Neither Microsoft nor Aorato have released a statement yet, but it is possible that the deal could be concluded within a couple of months.

Aorato came into being back in 2011, and managed to raise $10 million earlier in the year, following investment from Accel Partners, Innovation Endeavors, and Glilot Capital Partners.

If the talks do conclude with Microsoft acquiring the company, it will represent yet another step into enterprise for Nadella’s company. Aorato is best known for producing software that monitor access to active directory components to check for unauthorized access.

Microsoft has scaled up the limits for Public Folders in Office 365. Now, the folder count limit is capped at 100,000 folders — a 10x increase over the previous limit. This is simply the first round in the public folder scale improvements that Microsoft is working to deliver with Exchange Server 2013 to receive it next.

“We have made investments to scale up the limits for Public Folders in Office 365. Today we are raising the folder count limit to 100,000 folders. This is a 10x increase over the prior limit as defined in the Exchange service description limits. This enables migration of larger existing public folder hierarchies and increased use of the feature in Office 365. Customers can immediately take advantage of this new scale for public folders,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.

With this increase, the number of public folder mailboxes and the total public folder quota remain unchanged. The folder count limit has been increased for all Exchange Online users with public folders. Exchange Server 2013 will receive this increase in cumulative update 6.

Cortana has been praised for her ability to keep you better connected to your family and friends with people-based reminders, she has made a name for herself with her predictive capabilities, and soon, she’ll present you with academic search results that will help you ace your essays. You are probably well aware of the fact that referencing Wikipedia is a big no-no in the academic community, so Microsoft is prepping Cortana to become a “researcher’s dream assistant.”

Powered by the Microsoft Academic Search engine, the virtual assistant/heroine will gain the ability to follow the works of specific researchers that interest you, in addition to tracking conferences that you may wish to attend. Users will be also able to take advantage of Cortana’s Notebook feature for finer control over how much academic content she should track for them, further enhancing her abilities as a research assistant.

“Since the academic audience is an important user segment and a source of innovative suggestions and feedback, we are announcing the new development during the Faculty Summit to broaden our engagements with this community.” Says Microsoft’s Kuansan Wang emphasizing the importance of the academic community to Microsoft Research.

It will be interesting to see how Cortana is received in the academic world and whether or not she’ll be the next big thing for students and researchers alike.

The mad-scientists over at Microsoft Research have been hard at work creating a computer system that they hope will evolve into “true artificial intelligence.” While a computer than can emulate the human brain as it is today is still a far way off, Microsoft believes that a computer than can recognize speech, interpret images, and read documents is a good foundation to build on.

Microsoft’s Project Adam is a deep-learning system that utilizes a massive data set of information to help it better recognize speech and classify images. For example, Project Adam can look at a picture of a dog and be able to identify its breed, and that breeds sub-breeds, in addition to warning you if that bug you just took a picture of is poisonous.

The system is designed with the help of technology from the University of Wisconsin. It mimics the human brain in a sense as it has it has a number of processors (think neurons) that can work independently of each other, but write to the same memory location. With nothing preventing them from overwriting each other’s data, it might sound like a giant mess but it works in certain situations.

Google on the other hand, are also using a similar artificial brain that is today used to perform some of the computational calculations required across Google services. Although Microsoft claims that Project Adam out-shines the competition in efficiency; requiring 30x fewer machines, and having 2x the accuracy of competing systems.

According to Microsoft Research head Peter Lee, there are no plans to release an app for Project Adam yet, but there is a lot of potential for the system in e-commerce, robotics, and sentiment analysis.

Microsoft can no longer be considered solely as a ‘software giant’, not with devices like the Xbox, Surface, and Nokia under their wings. In addition to PC accessories and the upcoming “smartwatch” of course. If we were to guess what the company’s next plunge in hardware would be, we’d say a Surface laptop perhaps, not a mood-actuated robotic butterfly.

The idea for the device came from Microsoft’s recognition that while there are a number of devices available to detect stress, very few are available for stress intervention. The butterfly is designed to react accordingly to the different emotional states of its user. For example, if the user is calm, the butterfly’s wings would move slowly, resulting in a “gentle hover”. On the other hand, if a user is stressed, or angry, the butterfly’s wings would move faster and further, resulting in a “large flap” of its wings. Speaking of the wings, the patents notes that they will be made of a flexible material that will be able to change shape and texture, becoming flat or crumpled, again as a response to mood changes.

To determine those mood changes, the butterfly will rely on external devices such as heart-rate monitors, and galvanic skin response monitors, in addition to direct user input from a smartphone app. This positions the robot butterfly as more of a medical device than a consumer electronics one, so its availability may be limited. You can read more about the robot via the source link below.

It’s been months since we have been hearing the rumors of the existence and launch date of a 7 to 8-inch size Surface Mini tablet. We hoped that Microsoft would unveil it at its Surface event in May, but for some reason that didn’t happen. However, according to a new leak, the Surface Mini tablet is back in production and could launch sometime this upcoming summer.

The company had earlier accidentally revealed the existence of Surface Mini in the manual guide of the Surface Pro 3 tablet. Over the last few weeks, several rumors have suggested that Microsoft wasn’t confident with its Surface Mini lineup. A report on DigiTimes suggested that the company closed the production after learning the rumors of 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhones. Though, the connection still doesn’t make sense to me — as with Surface Mini, Microsoft would be aiming at 7 to 8-inch tablets — possibly Nexus tablets and iPad Mini.

As of now that’s all the information we have, we will update the post as we hear more. 

Japan is not the best market for Windows Phone. According to Kantar’s figures for the month of May, the market share for Windows Phone on Japanese shores was almost 1.4 percent, with iOS being on top with 51.1 percent. In an effort to increase it presence in the country, the company has organized an event — Nokia Con — where they will showcase several Windows Phone handsets so that users could get some hand-on experience of the operating system.

It’s a great effort to let people know what Windows Phone can do, especially after the launch of the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. The devices powered by the new OS are widely available across the globe. There’s no word about the devices which will be on display, but there’s a likelihood that Nokia Lumia 930 as well as the budget-friendly Lumia 630/635 may hit the stage. 

To visit the event, you must register for it, as there are limited number of seats available. You can check out this link to try your luck if you’re in Japan, but at the time of writing this, the capacity was full. It strange the capacity was set to just 60 seats, but it could be due to the fact that Windows Phone is not very popular in the region.

With the recent increase of Windows Threshold information, we’ve decided that it would be a good idea to throw it all into one convenient place for users who might not have caught everything, and for users who do know everything to share their opinions on the upcoming release.

What is Windows Threshold?

Windows Threshold is the codename for the next update/release of Windows. Threshold is the codename for this particular release, meaning we’re not too sure what it will actually be called when it launches. It’s highly likely that this release will be called Windows 9 to further distance itself from the Windows 8 car-crash, but with recent rumors claiming Windows 9 is coming after Threshold, we’re not entirely sure.

Threshold is built upon Windows 8.1, and was originally intended to be an update for Windows 8.1 users. Since Windows 8 (as a brand) is tanking so hard, Microsoft is looking at different approaches for launching Threshold. It’s possible that Threshold could be a much broader release than originally planned, and that it could even be released for Windows 7 users at the low-low price of free.

What will it be like?

We had an entire slew of Threshold information leak all around the same time. I had reported on a number of changes coming to Threshold, which was then echoed by a number of other sources [1] [2].

From what we know, Microsoft has hit a happy-medium for user-experiences within Threshold. Desktop users will have the Start Menu, and tablet users will have the Start Screen. Much like in Windows 8.1 Update, the operating system will automatically detect your kind of device, and change settings accordingly.

The Start Menu in Threshold is different from what we’ve previously seen. It includes live tile support, and the ability to maximize the menu to get a Start Screen-esc Start. It’s also very customizable, with the ability to show only desktop apps, and have them come up as tiles or a list.

Threshold for tablet users is a different story. The Start Screen is front and center for tablets, so much so that Microsoft is actually toying with removing the desktop completely from RT devices. This can happen because Microsoft is set to replace stock Win32 apps for Modern UI alternatives, meaning the desktop will be useless when Threshold rolls around. Desktop users (and devices like the Surface Pro) will still have stock Win32 applications of course. Office Gemini will be ready for primetime when Threshold is released too.

The UI in Threshold has too been updated, being distinctively different from what Windows looks like today. It’s even more flat and cleaner, and that’s definitely a good thing.

When is it coming?

Threshold will be launching for all Windows 8.x and possibly Windows 7 users in April 2015, according to rumors that is. We haven’t heard any official word from Microsoft on a release date, so anything is possible at this time.

We could see a public preview of Threshold later this year, which will be useful for Microsoft to gather feedback for the final release. The public preview will obviously be pre-release software, and not a full release.

How will it be distributed?

Much like Windows 8.1, Threshold ‘could’ be delivered via Windows Update or the Windows Store. Considering Threshold is an update for Windows, it’s plausible.

Microsoft will also release Threshold as a standalone product, again much like Windows 8.1. Threshold will become the latest version of Windows, making Windows 8.1 obsolete.

Geeky details

Windows Threshold is currently being developed in the 9600.xxxxx build range. This could change, considering we know that 97xx builds exist. It’s possible that engineers decided to push past 9600, but at this time we’re not entirely sure. Could 97xx builds be something after Threshold? We don’t know.

Something else worth noting is that we recently learned about a new Windows NT kernel version. NT 6.4 is currently in development with the 97xx builds. Does this mean we’ll see Threshold get an NT kernel change too? Possibly.

Over to you

That’s your roundup of all the major Windows Threshold news. Of course, we’ll continue to update you on all the latest Threshold news. Until then however, we want to know what you think about Threshold. Do you like what’s coming in the pipeline? Let us know below!

Microsoft is currently developing the next major version of Windows, currently known as Windows Threshold or Windows 9. We’ve been tracking development via a user on Twitter, who constantly watches app logs to check for new build numbers. Today, Stealth2013 has spotted the first Windows NT 6.4 build, which means Windows Threshold is going to bring yet more improvements to the NT kernel.

Today’s build is 9788, and other than the NT version number we don’t know much else about the build. These are not full build strings sadly, which means we are unable to determine when the builds were compiled or what lab they were compiled in. What this does tell us though is that Microsoft are constantly compiling new builds, and that even more kernel changes are in the pipeline for Threshold.

Much like every major version of Windows, the NT kernel is usually bumped by x.1 or even a whole version. The jump from Windows XP to Vista saw the NT kernal rise from 5.1 to 6.0. Windows 7 was 6.1, Windows 8 was 6.2 and Windows 8.1 was 6.3, so Windows Threshold could have either been 6.4 or 7.0. It seems Microsoft went for the minor bump instead of the larger increase.

We recently heard about how Threshold was going to act for both desktop and tablet users, with a Start Menu taking center stage for users without touch, and an improved Start Screen for tablet users. We’ll update you accordingly when new Threshold information arrives, so stick around at WinBeta until then.

It’s been a few months since Microsoft completed the $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services division. Along with the division, over 25,000 employees were also added to the roster. As with every acquisition, the layoffs are inevitable as companies don’t want redundancies in their departments, and Microsoft is also reportedly planning to reduce its workforce, as high as 10 percent of the total employees.

Before the acquisition, the Redmond-based company had 100,000 employees across the globe, and with the addition of Nokia, there were 25,000 more people added to the payroll. One source told GigaOM, “Look, [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer buys Nokia and adds 25,000 people and a business that makes no money, so do the math.” In reality, this makes a lot of sense, Nokia was struggling to compete in the smartphone market dominated by Apple and Android. 

The cuts could come at the company’s annual sales meeting, which will kick off on July 22nd later this year, or it could come in August when the employee reviews are done by the company. Let’s wait as the annual sales meeting is just a few days away, and we’ll find out if this report is correct or not.

Microsoft has announced the acquisition of SyntaxTree, the creator of UnityVS plug-in for Visual Studio for the Unity game engine. The company did not disclose the details of the agreement.

Microsoft is planning to use this technology in Visual Studio, said Microsoft Developer Division chief Soma Somasegar in a blog post. The UnityVS plugin will allow developers to view and debug the codes from within Virtual Studio.

“In today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world, Visual Studio provides a great development environment for game developers targeting the breadth of mobile devices, and connecting to the rich services platforms in Azure,” Somasegar explained.

The company would utilize this plugin to grow the number of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps. Several other companies, including Ubisoft, Valve, Blizzard, EA, use the UnityVS plugin. The plug-in will soon be available to download from Microsoft.

“Over the last 10 years, the Unity cross-platform game engine has grown to become a widely used rendering engine and tool for game developers targeting desktop, consoles, mobile devices and the web, with over 2 million developers now using Unity for game development. Unity offers great support for targeting or porting to Windows, across Windows desktop, Windows Store and Windows Phone,” Somasegar added.

Have you ever wished that your smartphone could tell your air conditioner to power on as you approach home, which would then get your doors unlocked, shades closed, lights on, kettle brewing, and your bath running by the time you walk through the door? Regardless of the brand of your appliances or the operating system they run on? When things are too good to be true they usually aren’t, but not in this case.

That scenario is not far beyond the realm of possibilities, thanks to the AllSeen Alliance by Qualcomm that Microsoft has now become a part of. The Alliance aims to create open standards for Internet of Things (IoT) devices having publicly released the source code to developers.

Microsoft has joined a number of renowned appliance makers including LG, Sharp, and Panasonic, in addition to retailers, automakers, and cloud service providers to make fully connected homes a reality.

Let us know the ways in which you would like your home appliances to communicate with each other, or would you rather they remain manually activated?  

Want to be a part of Microsoft’s pre-release beta program for Office? Wish you could beta test early versions of Office productivity apps before they hit retail and have your feedback monitored by Microsoft? Now you can. Microsoft is allowing anyone to sign up for a chance to be a part of the program.

“The Office team at Microsoft is looking for participants to join us in pre-release beta programs!  Your feedback in these programs will be instrumental in building the best productivity software and services available. The programs will span across the full family of Microsoft Office client, server and cloud services.  The family of products include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Visio, Access, Publisher and Outlook applications, as well as the Exchange, SharePoint and Project server products and cloud services,” Microsoft stated.

Before you can dive into the pre-release code, you will first need to tell Microsoft about yourself or your company. It all depends on what kind of feedback you wish to provide. The survey you must fill out is your standard survey, asking you to reveal your full name, email, address, your company role, and what version of Office you currently use. You will also be asked if you use Office 365 and why you would like to partake in this pre-release beta program.

No word on what pre-release beta software you will be testing, but with touch-centric Office (codename Gemini) and Office 2015 on the horizons, you might get a chance to provide feedback on the company’s biggest release yet. Office for Android is also on the table. And let’s not forget that you can help be a part of any upcoming updates to Office 365 or Office 2013. 

Head over to the VIA link below to sign up. Happy Beta testing!