Microsoft Details Four Windows Server 2012 Editions, Pricing

Microsoft will offer the upcoming Windows Server 2012 in four editions that will provide dramatically simplified licensing. The software major also disclosed that it is retiring the Small Business Server Edition, a product that had been popular among small and midsize businesses and the solution providers that sell to them. The release candidate version of Windows Server 2012 has been available since May 31, but Microsoft has not revealed a target date for the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version that immediately precedes general availability. Like Windows 8, the next release of the desktop and tablet operating system, Windows Server 2012 is widely expected sometime this fall. Windows Server 2012 will be offered in Datacenter, Standard, Essentials and Foundation editions. Which editions customers choose will hinge on the size of their organizations and their requirements for virtualization and cloud computing, according to Microsoft. The Datacenter Edition is targeted at highly virtualized, private and hybrid cloud environments with unlimited virtual instances. It carries a $4,809 price tag under Microsoft's Open No Level licensing, excluding Windows Client Access Licenses (CALs). The Standard Edition is designed for lightly virtualized or non virtualized environments, offering the same Windows Server functionality as the Datacenter Edition but permitting only two virtual instances. That edition costs $882, not including CALs. Of most interest to the partners will be Windows Server 2012 Essentials Edition, which has a 25-user limit and no virtualization rights. Microsoft describes Essentials as an ideal cloud-connected first server with its simple interface and preconfigured connectivity to cloud-based services such as Office 365. The Essentials Edition, which has no virtualization rights, has a $425 price tag. Microsoft, in a FAQ accompanying the Windows Server 2012 editions and pricing lineup, said it is discontinuing Windows Small Business Server because more small businesses are turning to cloud computing for email, backup and other services, rather than running those applications on premise. The new lineup also eliminates the Enterprise, Home Windows Server, HPC and Web Server editions that round out the current Windows Server 2008 R2 product lineup. The new Foundation Edition, with a 15-user limit, is only available to OEMs.

Microsoft to fix Internet Explorer 9 in July 2012 Patch Tuesday

Microsoft will issue nine bulletins, three rated “critical,” addressing 16 flaws across its product line as part of its July 2012 Patch Tuesday.  As part of the update, Microsoft could roll out a patch addressing the XML Core Services zero-day flaw, which surfaced last month.  

In its advance notification issued today, the software giant said the “critical” bulletins affect Windows and Internet Explorer 9. In addition, it plans updates to repair coding errors in Office, SharePoint server and Visual Basic for Applications.

Active attacks targeting XML Core Services
The advance notification does not indicate whether XML Core Services would be affected by the July updates. Microsoft issued an advisory last month warning users of attacks targeting an XML Core Services zero-day flaw. 

Microsoft XML Core Services processes and converts XML to HTML for display.  Attacks can target the coding error through drive-by attacks or trick users through a phishing campaign. Once an attacker is successful they are granted the same user rights as the victim and can access systems while fully authenticated, Microsoft said.

The vulnerability affects all supported releases of Microsoft Windows, and all supported editions of Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007. The advisory includes aworkaround that can be used until the investigation is complete and a permanent patch is released.

Since the advisory, security experts say attacks targeting the flaw have increased. Graham Cluley outlined an attack using the flaw targeting the website of a European aeronautical parts supplier.

The bulletins are scheduled to be released July 10.

Sony to launch smartwatch in India

Sony India has announced the launch of Sony smartwatch in India by the end of this month. The watch will feature an OLED colour display, which will come with different colour straps. Through your smartwatch you can read SMS, email, social networking updates from Twitter and Facebook. Moreover, the watch also provides you the facility of calendar reminder. The features of the phone synchronises with your Androidphone too. In addition to that, you can accept, reject and mute calls through Bluetooth headset.

One of the best thing with this smartwatch will be you don?t have to own a Sony branded phone to use it as it syncs with other Android phones as well. Since, the watch is Android based, hence you can port other android applications other that provided by sony. The syncing is done over Bluetooth 3.0.

The Sony smartwatch will cost Rs 6,299.

Parallels update adds Windows 8 support

Microsoft's upcoming and controversial Windows 8 operating system is now supported in virtual machines using Parallels Desktop on your Mac.

If you have a Mac and are running Parallels Desktop to install and run various Windows installations within OS X, an update is available that will allow you to easily download and configure the new Windows 8 Release Preview on your system.

One of the highly anticipated software releases is Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system. The new OS is now in Release Preview mode and sports some radical changes to its interface, with the foremost being its radical departure from the classic desktop in favor of a new Metro interface to mirror its mobile offerings.

Unfortunately the changes Microsoft is implementing in its operating system are so radical that they have been described by many as a hurdle to the customer, with columnist John C. Dvorak writing a scathing review and describing the system as "an unmitigated disaster that could decidedly hurt the company and its future."

Windows 8 can be installed from within Parallels using the Parallels Wizard tool.

(Credit: Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)

If this sounds intriguing at all, then you might wish to give it a try to at least see what all the fuss is about and determine for yourself whether you agree with Dvorak; however, as with any preview it may be best to give it a try in a more secure environment rather than directly installing it on your system (such as in Boot Camp). Therefore, if you have Parallels Desktop installed on your system, update it and install the Windows 8 preview in a new virtual machine. The update is a 306MB download that can be downloaded through the Parallels Desktop update service, or from the Parallels 7 downloads page.

With the software update installed, all you need to do to get the Windows 8 preview running is to create a new virtual machine in the program and select the Download Windows 8 option in the virtual machine wizard. From there just continue through the wizard's options as you would for any other operating system. Parallels sets the default parameters for the virtual machine to have 1GB RAM and a single CPU, but I recommend you increase this to 2GB and dual CPUs by customizing the virtual machine configuration.

The Windows 8 preview is about 3.3GB in size, so it will take from 1 to 4 hours to download and install, depending on your Internet connection.

While Windows 8 can be installed in prior builds of Parallels Desktop, the installations were unsupported and also required downloading and installing from the Microsoft Web site as would be done on any PC system. Though still experimental at this state, the specific Windows 8 support in Parallels Desktop should now make running the Windows 8 preview far smoother, more stable, and give it access to many of the features that Parallels desktop supports.

Smart phone avalanche buries computer industry

A person demonstrates an app for shopping on the smart phone in San Francisco. File photo

The personal computer has dominated modern life for 25 years, but the often bulky devices are increasingly giving way to smaller, lighter smart phones and tablet computers.

The whole sector is scrambling to survive the avalanche set off by Apple under its late founder, Steve Jobs.

Technology giant Hewlett-Packard, whose business is still built on personal computers and printers, this week announced it would slash its payroll by 27,000 workers, or 8 per cent, by 2014 to eventually save at least 3 billion dollars a year. Managers were admitting to Wall Street that HP’s future was as a smaller company.

The world’s largest PC manufacturer has so far failed to connect with consumer demand for smart phones and tablets -- a new technology landscape of slender mobile devices dominated by Silicon Valley’s Apple and South Korea’s Samsung.

A world of mobile computing appears to have only a small space left for Hewlett-Packard, as well as PC competitor Dell, which has suffered shrinking sales recently. Both have failed to achieve the innovations to make a successful transition.

As early as 2010, when he launched the iPad, Jobs talked about the “post-PC world.” Other manufacturers did not take his vision seriously, and they continued to make their big desktop machines and laptops. One of their biggest innovations was to make PCs in colours other than the old “computer grey.” In time, Jobs was vindicated.

“Today, Apple is reinventing the phone,” he said in 2007, as he launched the iPhone.

At the time, it sounded like an exaggeration, but the cell phone with a touch-sensitive screen set new standards for performance and appearance. Above all, the iPhone redefined the industry, because for the first time it brought to the fore not the device but the software it holds: the apps.

At the start of 2010, Jobs dealt a definitive blow to the PC: he launched Apple’s tablet computer, the iPad. With it, the company again achieved a resounding success.

Over the past quarter alone, 35 million iPhones have been sold, along with close to 12 million iPads. By comparison, based on the data of market research firm Gartner, 89 million PCs were sold over the same period by all manufacturers put together.

PC firms tried to come up with their own tablets, well before Apple did. More than 10 years ago in Las Vegas, Microsoft founder Bill Gates presented his vision of the digital table computer. The smartphone, too, is hardly Jobs’ invention.

However, alternative devices were too expensive, inconvenient or just too ugly to become bestsellers.

Now, little is left for PC manufacturers to do but chase Apple and try not to miss the train altogether. Some of them continue to focus, successfully, on the traditional PC market, like the Chinese company Lenovo, whose boss Yang Yuanqing likes to talk of a “PC-plus era.” A big fish like Hewlett-Packard, however, can hardly change overnight. For years, the US giant worked on perfecting its business of selling computers, complementing them with extras like printers and offering services for such equipment. It was a perfect long-term relationship with customers, or so HP managers thought.

HP reached the top of the industry 10 years ago through the expensive purchase of rival PC maker Compaq.

Change within the sector, however, threw them off balance. Their hardware sales dropped, their software business failed to grow fast enough, payment for acquisitions like security service provider SonicWall was still pending.

Prospects are good once the payroll is reduced, and share prices rose more than 3 per cent Thursday.

While Apple is surfing the mobile wave with the iPhone and iPad and setting trends in the notebook computer market with the MacBook, Hewlett-Packard does not even have smartphones and tablets on offer.

HP bought the smart phone pioneer Palm in 2010, but the management opted to close the company soon afterward, because it was uncompetitive.

Keywords: personal computers, smart phones, iPhone, iPad

Google revamps Google+ app for Android

Google has released an updated version of its Google+ app for Android, days after its iOS app received a major facelift. The updated version of Google+ for Android is said to be more visually appealing to users, as the app features better layouts, new fonts and larger images.

Google in a blog post said that the latest update is all about “polish and performance”. With the change in overall layout and improved navigation, Google says it aims to create a “simpler and more beautiful Google”.

Other major highlights of the update are ability to start a hangout on the go, edit posts inline and new a stream that has trending content shared across the social networking site.

Users can now start 281Hangouts directly from their mobile device. To start, users need to tap “Hangout” in the navigation ribbon (newly added) and add friends and tap “Start”. The update also makes sharing content with Circles fellows easier. Users can use the new stream that comes with full-width media and easily accessible +1 buttons. Users can also edit posts inline, or download photos directly from Google+ to phone.

The update is available now from Google Play (version 2.6).

Meanwhile, check out the selected screenshots from the new Android app:

click to enlarge

Also read,

Google+ is better than Facebook
100 million Google+ users, but how many are active?
Social media growth in India is slowing down, says Gartner

Microsoft's new technology for speech,hearing impaired

 

Hyderabad: Microsoft India employees have developed a technology that would help for hearing and speech impaired people to communicate with others.

The employees have also developed a device for the blind that helps them navigate their way to destination safely through objects in an indoor space.

A team of employees of the company, led by Bangaru Venkatesh, said 'Kinect Bridge' technology, developed for hearing and speech impaired people, will recognise simple finger or spelling as input and convert the symbol into text or speech.

The technology was developed using Kinect device that detects objects without touching. It is used by Microsoft for gaming .

'Hand gestures will be recognised by the device and will be converted as text or voice. This is useful for visually impaired people also. They can just speak to the computer and it will be converted into text.

'This is the first step. Commercialising will be taken up by Microsoft. This is an application developed by them (employees). They can put it up for 'moonlighting'. Microsoft has no liability on these applications,

'Using a real-time scanning, the person is directed whether he should move further or not. A built-up voice will give suggestions to the person based on the distance between the blind person and object,' Rishabh Varma, an associate of Microsoft India who along with three of his colleagues developed Kinectacles application, said.

The intention is to help visually impaired to navigate on their own indoors without the help of other people. It has one normal VGA camera and one depth camera, he added…..

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