Windows 10 is undeniably impressive, but can it win you over?

I was sold on Windows 10 before I could even try the first Technical Preview. Now, after seeing the latest slew of changes unveiled at Build 2015, it is clearer than ever that Microsoft is on the right path and that Windows 10 will be the most impressive release yet. There is no doubt in my mind about it.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Microsoft expects Windows 10 to attract one billion users within the first two to three years of its release. The timer starts this summer. It may sound like an empty claim, but when you look at everything that has been done so far to make Windows 10 so exciting, and consider the huge unlocked potential, it certainly sounds plausible. While I am no fortune-teller, I can’t see Microsoft getting anything important wrong. And that’s something I haven’t felt in ages in regards to the software giant.

Microsoft got the first step towards the mass-adoption of Windows 10 right from the get-go. The new operating system will be available as a free upgrade to those rocking Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. Even though pirates will not be upgraded to a legitimate license, they will also be able to follow this upgrade path. Since pirates will always exist, Microsoft might as well allow them to move to a release that’s actually relevant to its future.

While the free upgrade may not translate to license revenue gains in the first year, it is best to have as many users as possible on the latest release and reap the rewards over time. Think about it: what is the first thing that developers are looking for before committing to Windows? The answer is simple: critical mass. Windows 10 is primed to offer them just that.

This is something that could have a major impact over whether top developers will treat Windows 10 as the third-major mobile platform, and whether Windows software developers will want to bother with Windows Store. Let’s take them one at a time.

Realistically speaking, Windows is not consistently a third choice now for most popular mobile app developers, even though Windows Phone and Windows 8.x take third place on the podium in the smartphone and tablet markets, respectively. A major developer’s release schedule has iOS and Android at the top of the list, and Windows in the maybe-but-hopefully-not category, that is put somewhere out of sight.

Given a considerable installed user base, those developers will have no good reason not to support Windows 10, even if it’s their third choice. I don’t think it could attract every top developer in Windows Store -- because that is not realistic -- but most will be tempted.

Benefiting both developers and users, Windows Store will open up to subscriptions and introduce the ability to pay with for things through the phone bill. Both of these things will contribute towards increasing revenues from the app store.

Also, Microsoft is facilitating the launch of major titles by making it easy for developers to port their existing Android and/or iOS apps to Windows 10. This adds to the appeal of releasing apps on Windows 10, as developers will not have to treat Windows 10 as a completely separate entity, but rather as an add-on to their existing Android and/or iOS apps. Resource requirements for such a move are thus minimized.

It is not all rainbows and unicorns though. I see a problem here, one that BlackBerry has been dealing with ever since it introduced an Android runtime to its mobile operating system. Put simple, Microsoft basically risks sending the wrong message to developers. The announcement can be interpreted as "don’t bother creating Windows apps, keep on prioritizing Android and iOS, it will be easy to port your titles to Windows 10".

Windows 10 is certainly primed to be the third mobile platform, in developers’ eyes, but it is also primed to remain that way for the foreseeable future. Put differently, what’s the benefit in prioritizing native Windows 10 development, unless revenue goes through the roof and users are demanding it? It’s a question that I’m sure many existing developers are already trying to answer. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some re-thinking their strategy.

To round up the Windows Store talk, let’s speak about how Windows Store is designed to attract Windows software developers. I am making a distinction between apps and software, discussing apps in relation to mobile and software in relation to desktop-grade software, like the Windows version of Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, VMware, etc. You get the gist.

Microsoft will be doing something that I proposed over a year ago, and that is getting desktop software (or, legacy apps, as Microsoft has referred to them) in Windows Store. Think about this for a minute: you will be able to get major software like Adobe Photoshop up and running in just a few clicks, from the same place where you will find Facebook or Twitter. There are lots of benefits to this approach, which I detailed in the article linked above.

Windows software developers should want to be part of the Windows Store crowd. The added convenience and security blankets offered here are the main reasons to consider such a move, not to even mention the increased exposure. The current software distribution model is fundamentally broken in today’s era, as, among other things, it exposes users to malware, security risks from running older releases and so on. Windows Store can fix that.

I am not entirely sure how Windows software available in Windows Store will work with Continuum mode, which lets Windows 10 users leverage their smartphones and the usual (compatible) peripherals to enable a PC-like experience. Will such software, designed for the x86 architecture, be available to those rocking ARM-based devices? I’m reaching out to Microsoft for clarification.

Speaking of Continuum mode, it is one of the most intriguing additions to Windows 10 for phones. It will require a mouse, keyboard and monitor, all compatible of course, to work, but can you imagine just how useful it can be at times?

It wouldn’t make sense to repurpose a Windows 10 smartphone as a PC replacement, but, when all the right tools are available, why bother editing something on that tiny screen when you can do it much faster and much more comfortably in Continuum mode?

I wish that Microsoft would copy the Continuity and Handoff page from Apple’s playbook, and introduce something similar in Windows 10, so there’s even more cohesion between all the form factors it supports, but even so Continuum can be mighty useful on its own.

I am somewhat skeptical of its immediate practical application though. You can’t escape the hardware compatibility requirement. Outside of friendly environments, where users are likely to have appropriate hardware, where can Continuum be of real use?

A subset of Windows 10 users will most certainly see it as an extremely cool feature to have right away. There is real potential here, but the smartphone hardware needs to be designed around it, so that it can be pitched as a tangible benefit. We’ll just have to wait for the first Windows 10 smartphones to see what it’s like, and, of course, grab compatible hardware.

Another big step forward in Windows 10 is Microsoft Edge. Previously known as Project Spartan, the new browser will offer a consistent user experience across all form factors, it looks modern, supports modern technologies, and, for power users, works with Chrome and Firefox extensions.

Developers will, of course, have to port their extensions to work on Microsoft Edge, but it is, nonetheless, a fantastic feature with great potential. Microsoft wants to get rid of Internet Explorer, and convince Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox users to switch, and the potential unlocked by such extensions will only help smoothen the transition. It’s not the only thing that matters when making such decisions, naturally, but it is a key factor for many of us power users.

Fundamentally, Windows 10 has changed for the better. But it is also changing on the outside, in ways that users will interact with frequently. The latest build introduces a new lockscreen option which enables users to view more information, Cortana gets a new user interface, the Start menu receives some tweaks of its own, and, for the nostalgic crowd, transparency -- Aero-like --makes a comeback. All the right Windows features are there, it’s just gaining a bit more polish.

There are some unbelievably cool things unveiled at Build, such as Windows Holographic, but for the bulk of Windows users, what is truly relevant are the new additions aimed at typical desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets introduced by Windows 10. And, more so than before, is it an appealing upgrade. For those getting a new device, choosing Windows 10 is a no-brainer. That is, if they want to invest in Windows going forward.

Photo Credit: Andresr/Shutterstock

You can now tweet playable MS-DOS games

Using Twitter used to just involve writing something under 140 characters in length, but over time the service has evolved, and you can now include photos, animated Gifs, short videos, files and more with your tweets. And if that’s not enough, how about embedding fully playable DOS games?

The Internet Archive lets visitors play classic console and arcade games directly on its site, and it recently added 2,600 playable DOS games too. It’s those games that can be embedded on Twitter.

Adding games to your tweets is just a matter of finding the one you want on Internet Archive, and including the URL in your message.

Games in the archive include Cannon Fodder 2, Boulder Dash, Duke Nukem 3D, Wolfenstein 3D, Street Fighter II, Prince of Persia, Championship Manager, The Incredible Machine, Hexen, Sim City, and Wing Commander Academy.

The full list of games is here, and you can sort it by views (popularity), title, date, and creator.

The games all run in DOSBox, but sadly not all of them will function as they should, so you might want to experiment with a game, before tweeting it to your followers.

Playing Street Fighter II in a tweet is pretty cool! http://t.co/zfLqEzSIin

— Wayne Williams (@Waynewill1) April 30, 2015

Generate gorgeous math-based art with Spirograph

Spirograph is a classic geometric drawing toy, developed 50 years ago and still popular today.

Normally it involves using multiple gears to draw intricate patterns on sheets of paper, but if that sounds like too much hassle then you could just download the open source (and entirely unofficial) Spirograph for your PC.

The program is implausibly tiny -- a 97.1KB download? really? -- and so it’s no surprise that the interface is, well, basic: a blank work area and a panel crammed with buttons, boxes, and seed values.

It’s not exactly clear how to get started, but opening an example offers some clues. Try "ThreeCurves" and three tabs appear, showing that the design is comprised of three separate elements. Each of these has its own separate starting values which you can view by clicking that tab.

These values can be freely tweaked to change the pattern. Increasing “Stator Radius” by just a point or two can have dramatic effects, so that’s a good place to begin.

Once you’ve played around with the examples, you’ll be ready to create something new of your own. Click File > New to clear any existing design, then the Add button and an initial pattern appears. Tweak this as before, then click Add to overlay another pattern. Set new color and opacity values, maybe experiment with Fill Modes, or use the Animate feature to show your design being drawn from scratch.

When you’re happy, patterns can be copied to the clipboard, or saved as images in various formats (PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP and JPG).

Spirograph could be easier to learn. And it’ll probably have to be renamed once the trademark holders notice its existence. But if you enjoy fractal explorers and similar math-based pattern generators then it should keep you entertained for an hour or two.

Unpatched PDF readers leave US private PCs open to attack

Adobe Reader 10 has 39 vulnerabilities and is unpatched on 65 percent of private PCs in the US, whilst Adobe Reader 11 with a 55 percent market share has 40 vulnerabilities and remains unpatched on 18 percent of machines.

This is one of the findings of the latest Secunia country report. Additional findings show that 14 percent of PC users in the US (up from 12.9 percent last quarter) have an unpatched operating system, and that Oracle Java once again tops the list of applications exposing PCs to security risks.

Other applications in the vulnerability top 10 include Apple QuickTime, Microsoft Internet Explorer and uTorrent for Windows. Also one in 20 programs on the average US PC have reached end-of-life, meaning they are no longer supported by the vendor and don't receive security updates. Adobe Flash Player, one of the end-of-life applications, is still installed on no less than 78 percent of the PCs surveyed.

"It is worrying that, with such a high market share, one in five US users fail to patch their Adobe PDF reader," says Kasper Lindgaard, Director of Research and Security at Secunia. "Considering the fact that PDF documents is a prominent attack vector used by hackers to gain entry into IT systems, users put themselves and any system they are connected to at risk, by neglecting the security risk the popular reader represents when not maintained. It is paramount that users remember to patch their PDF readers, and that corporate IT teams have procedures in place to update all PDF readers on devices that are in any way connected to the company infrastructure".

More interesting findings are that the average PC user in the US has 76 programs installed from 27 different vendors. 42 percent of these programs are from Microsoft while the rest come from other companies. Whilst there's a single update mechanism for the Microsoft programs this means that users may have to master up to 26 other, different update processes to keep their machine secure. Little wonder that a popular social engineering trick for malware is to pose as an update for a video player or similar.

Secunia's country reports for the US and elsewhere are available to download from the company's website.

Image Credit: alexskopje / Shutterstock

Outlook.com API brings add-ons from PayPal, Boomerang, Uber and more

Add-ons are a common feature of traditional, offline applications, but they're becoming increasingly popular in online services. Microsoft is the latest to get in on the action, announcing a batch of new add-ons for Outlook.com, including one from PayPal that makes it easy to make payments via email.

The add-ons were made possible when Microsoft launched the Outlook APIs at Build. They can be used by developers to create plugins with HTML, CSS3, and JavaScript. Microsoft is pushing the "write once, run anywhere" nature of the API that means the same plugin can run in Outlook.com, Outlook Web App and the desktop version of Outlook.

Also showcased was a plugin from Boomerang which can be used to schedule the sending of emails, use your inbox as a reminder tool, and share a calendar with others. An Uber add-on is a rather simpler affair, giving users the ability to set up an Uber ride reminder for calendar events. Microsoft says that the API can be used to create "contextual experiences for Outlook.com and Office 365 users that simplify everyday tasks, helping them get more done without the hassle of switching between multiple applications".

In order to get access to the Outlook API, would-be coders need to sign up for a developer account. With around 400 million active users, Outlook.com is something of an untapped market when it comes to monetization by third parties.

Get Windows 10 for Raspberry Pi 2 now

When the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched its new Raspberry Pi 2, we were impressed to hear it would be able to run Windows 10. Admittedly it isn't the full PC version of the operating system, but rather a special version created especially to run on such devices.

Yesterday, following the keynote at its Build developer conference, Microsoft released a new build of Windows 10 Insider Preview, but that’s not all. It also pushed out a Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview with support for Raspberry Pi 2 and Intel’s Minnowboard Max. So if you have either of those devices, you can download and try out the preview right now.

With it being a preview it’s a little limited and rough around the edges right now (the full version will be available when Windows 10 launches in the summer). Microsoft describe this release as a "conversation starter".

Steve Teixeira, Director of Program Management for the Internet of Things team in Microsoft's Operating Systems Group, says: "With this Insider Preview release of Windows 10 IoT Core, we’re bringing the power of Windows to Raspberry Pi 2 for the first time. We’re embracing the simple principle of helping Makers and device builders do more by bringing our world-class development tools, the power of the Universal Windows Platform, direct access to hardware capabilities, and the ability to remotely debug, update, and manage the software running on Raspberry Pi 2 devices".

You can find out more about the Windows 10 IoT Core preview here, and download it here (there are full instructions for getting started). You will need access to a PC running Windows 10 to set it up -- running Windows 10 on VirtualBox or another VM won’t work because you need access to the SD card reader. Also, you’ll need to connect your Microsoft account to the program and agree to the terms before you can download the preview.

The image above is what a Raspberry Pi 2 running Windows 10 will boot up to. You can also run the x86 version on your desktop.

Bing predicts where your team will finish in the Premier League

The Premier League is almost over, but the final positions of the 20 teams is still up for debate, with several middle of the pack teams currently tied. Microsoft’s Bing Predicts looks to answer where every team will be come the end of the season.

Using algorithms based on past matches against future opponents, current form, injuries and other factors, Bing Predicts has a good overview of the entire situation, although nothing is for certain.

Chelsea is the obvious favorite to win the Premier League, Bing has them first with 91 points, followed by Arsenal taking second with 84 points. Manchester City comes third with 79 points, and Manchester United holds on to fourth spot with 77 points.

Liverpool comes fifth with 72 points, meaning they will qualify for the UEFA Europa League, but instead of Tottenham, Southampton will claim sixth spot with 68 points and take the other spot in the UEFA Europa League, since Chelsea revokes its own spot for finishing in the top four.

Tottenham will come seventh with 63 points, meaning it may have a shot at the UEFA Europa League if Arsenal beats Aston Villa in the FA Cup Final.

At the bottom of the table, Sunderland will make it out of relegation with 32 points, moving from its current spot in 18th to 16th. Leicester, Burnley and QPR will be relegated from the Premier League, according to Bing.

Cortana has been right before, predicting the score of the Super Bowl last year. Microsoft’s use of complex algorithms capable of analyzing every small detail makes it hard to go against the judgment, even in a sport with unexpected results at the end of the season.

The full table of predictions can be found below:

Image Credit: Flickr (CFC Unofficial Debs)

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.