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Saturday, 29 December 2012

HTC 8S Windows Phone out now, far cheaper than Nokia 820 - Vietnam Investment Review

If you're looking for a cheaper way to hook up with Windows Phone 8 and its cheery live-tile lifestyle than Nokia's pricey Lumias, HTC is here to help.

The HTC 8S -- or Windows Phone 8S by HTC to give its full perfume-inspired name -- is out now for £180 (plus top-up) on pay as you go from Three, and on pre-order from Expansys at £240 SIM-free.

That's at least £150 less than the most comparable Nokia, the £360 Lumia 820. We haven't reviewed the 8S yet, so I can't say exactly how they stack up, but let's have a look at what you get on paper.

The 8S has a slightly smaller screen than the 820 -- 4 inches versus 4.3 inches -- but the resolution is exactly the same, 480x800 pixels. That's not fantastic (the 4.7-inch Nexus 4, only £20 more, has 768x1,280 pixels) but it does mean the 8S has a few more pixels per inch than the 820, so in theory it'll be slightly sharper. The 820 has 217 pixels per inch, whereas the 8S has 233 (the Nexus 4 has a staggering 317).

Leaving the Android-toting Nexus 4 to one side, the 8S lacks Nokia's exclusive apps and services. These are Nokia Drive, a turn-by-turn sat-nav app; Nokia CityLens, which overlays useful local information on your camera display; and Nokia Music, which streams tunes for free. All are well made and valuable, and make up somewhat for the lack of great apps on Windows Marketplace, but none are indispensable.

The real difference between the two phones is invisible: the components inside. The 820 has significantly more powerful chips, such as a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, compared to the 8S's slower 1GHz chip and pathetic 512MB of RAM.

Whether you'll notice any difference is hard to say without using the 8S extensively and running benchmarks. But Windows Phone's transitions -- the animations that move you from one screen to the next -- run at a fixed pace. In theory, you'll only notice performance on games and other testing apps, of which there are few in the Marketplace right now.

Elsewhere, both take microSD cards to expand your storage up to 64GB. The Nokia's 8-megapixel camera trounces the HTC's 5-megapixel effort on paper at least, and I wouldn't be surprised for the difference to be marked in their photos. We found the 820's camera very good for what you're paying.

Year in Review: Windows 8, roadmaps, Office Next top the reader charts - ZDNet

The year 2012 was one of the busiest for us Microsoft watchers in recent memory. Microsoft delivered Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows Phone 8, its Surface pablet/TCs, Visual Studio 2012, SQL Server 2012 and more. I think I logged more miles in October this year than any of the 29 years I've been a tech journalist.

Speaking of logs, the traffic logs for my posts this year largely, but not entirely, mirrored Microsoft's launch schedule. Predictably, you readers wanted Windows 8 information as early as you could get it. The Surface was a hot button. Roadmaps remained popular items, as did rumors about the expected Office on iPad release.

Here are the top 10 blog posts from my site for 2012 (ranked in order of page views):

Microsoft said to block ability to boot straight to desktop in Windows 8

Microsoft roadmap leaks for Office 15, IE10 and more key products

Microsoft goes public with plans for its new Windows 8 file system

Microsoft Surface tablets: Reading the fine print

The real winner in Samsung vs. Apple: Microsoft?

Windows 8: Why the coming beta is likely to be labeled the consumer preview

HTC's Windows Phone 8 devices: An initial pleasant surprise

Microsoft's Surface challenge: Proving it's a premium product worth a premium price

Microsoft Office for iPad: Separating fact from fiction

Is Metro now a banned word at Microsoft?

Bonus: Microsoft year in review on Windows Weekly

January's likely to start the coming Microsoft-watching year with a bang, with the Surface Pro launch expected toward the end of the month, along with the Office 2013 launch. The dance card of regularly scheduled Microsoft shows and anticipated confabs for 2013 is already filling in.

Thanks for reading, commenting and sending along tips, everyone! Hope to meet more of you, in person and virtually, in the coming year.

2012's 5 Most popular Linux stories - ZDNet

Summary: From Goobuntu to Mint to Windows 8, the un-Linux, here are the year's most popular Linux stories.

Tux-220 — 2012 was another great year for Linux.

Taken as a whole, 2012 was a great year for Linux. The most popular stories, however, were more about the day-to-day happenings of Linux then the big picture.

2012's top Linux story was The truth about Goobuntu: Google's in-house desktop Ubuntu Linux. The title said it all. We'd long known that Google uses its own house-blend of Ubuntu on its PCs, but it wasn't until this summer that Google finally revealed exactly how its workers use Ubuntu,

The next most popular tale was about the popular Linux Mint distribution. I declared that 2012's Best Linux desktop was Linux Mint 13. I've changed my mind since then. Now, I think the best desktop Linux is Linux Mint 14.1. I'll be telling you more about it in the next few days.

One story from 2011 remained popular throughout 2012 and that was my how to install Google Chrome OS feature. This Linux-based operating system with a Chrome Web browser interface powers Chromebooks. As I explained though you don't need a Chromebook to try Chrome OS out for yourself.

Another article that a lot of people liked was The 5 most popular Linux distributions. The most popular Linux in 2012 was, by the by, Linux Mint. See, it wasn't just me who liked it.

Finally, my Ubuntu 12.04 vs. Windows 8: Five points of comparison also had tens of thousands of readers. My point was, and still is, that Ubuntu is a better, more secure, and flexible desktop operating system than Windows 8. That said, if you want to move from Windows 7 or XP to a system that feels more familiar than Windows 8, Mint, with the Cinnamon desktop, is my personal recommendation.

In 2013, I expect these themes to continue to expand. Desktop Linux isn't going to knock Windows off the top of the desktop heap, but on all other platforms--servers, cloud, supercomputers, tablets, and smartphone--Linux and its mobile cousin Android, are going continue to dominate.

What will be interesting is to see how exactly it all plays out. I hope you'll join me for 2013's journey.

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Friday, 28 December 2012

Why Microsoft May Be a 'Classic Value Trap' - Businessweek

The early days of January are typically a time of unbridled optimism. This will be the year we lose 10 pounds and learn to speak French; Japan will turn itself around; Microsoft (MSFT) stock will pull itself out of a decade of doldrums.

Most analysts are betting that the Redmond computer company's time has come. The company's fiscal-year revenue has nearly tripled to $74 billion in the last 10 years. At $27, the shares trade right at their 10-year average and yield more than it costs the company to issue debt. Redmond has Skunk-Worked an exciting new tablet and operating system it's eager to showcase. It's all backed by ridiculous amounts of free cash and a fortress-like balance sheet. The 12-month price target on the stock forecasts a 25 percent gain.

Still, the company has attracted at least one major detractor with a big megaphone: Barry Ritholtz, an asset manager who runs a quantitative research firm and founder of the well-trafficked blog The Big Picture. He considers the company a "classic value trap," not unlike what its customers Dell (DELL) and Hewlett Packard (HPQ) were at the start of this annus horribilis. The problem, he says, is Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer. "As long as he is running the show—he has missed every major trend in tech over the past decade—I have no confidence in the company."

He has company. Activist investor David Einhorn has wanted Ballmer out for more than a year and was long the shares in hopes that such an ouster would boost Microsoft's returns. The stock is up 3 percent this year, compared with the S&P 500's 14 percent gain. The 13 years since Ballmer became CEO have included the Vista debacle, a thankfully thwarted bid to overpay for Yahoo! (YHOO), the ceding of search supremacy to Google (GOOG), and Apple's (AAPL) envisioning and dominating much of the smartphone and tablet markets. Meanwhile, where's that "Skype Phone" in every palm?

'Value trap' is a funny term, says Bill Koefoed, Microsoft's general manager of investor relations. Microsoft, he says, is trading in line with the big-cap technology sector, which has recently been out of favor with investors.

"Enterprise tech hasn't been as sexy to the press. But our relevance to the enterprise has grown in a huge way. Our database business is growing faster than Oracle's (ORCL) and IBM's (IBM)."

Koefoed says people focus on Windows, which provides a quarter of Microsoft's overall revenue, but not on the comparable 25 percent contribution from the company's servers and tools division, which he emphasizes that Ballmer has grown, from a $3 billion business, to a $19 billion enterprise over the past decade. "Over time, the stock price works itself out. We're doing a whole bunch of things to be shareholder-friendly. Over time, that will be reflected in our share price."

Meanwhile, Koefoed says, it was under Ballmer that the company initiated and consistently increased its dividend—with Microsoft shareholders overwhelmingly backing the CEO last month.

Ritholtz is unpersuaded "Think of the difference between what is revealed by a single snapshot of Microsoft today vs. an extended video. Yes, you can see the current situation of lots of cash, a low price-earnings multiple, name recognition, enterprise usage. But what about the trajectory and changes to the underlying market for their goods and services?"

He says that other than Kinnect for Xbox 360, "it's hard to see what Microsoft gets for its billions of [research and development] dollars."

"The competitive landscape has been moving against Microsoft," wrote N. Landell-Mills of Indigo Equity Research after Microsoft's "uninspiring" latest quarterly report, which involved the company raising its dividend 15 percent. The analyst called the organization "un-innovative and complex" and "a digital dinosaur."

The full rollout of Windows 8 could, of course, change that state of affairs. Not that early signs are promising.

With the PC replacement cycle stretched out and assailed by competition that Microsoft failed to oppose, Ritholtz has taken to comparing its fate to that of Maytag (WHR). "It was," he says, "once hugely successful and innovative and created lots of products and markets. Now you replace your dishwasher every 10 years; that's the only time you ever think of Maytag."

Nokia Windows RT tablet will include keyboard cover with built-in battery - ZDNet

Summary: The cell phone giant will offer a case that goes one better than Microsoft's own Type Cover for its Surface tablet.

There have been recent rumors about Nokia extending its Windows-based product line by jumping into tablets, and The Verge now claims to have more information about the Finnish phone giant's forthcoming Windows RT slate.

Like Microsoft's Surface model, the Nokia Windows RT tablet will feature a 10.1-inch screen and run on an ARM chip. One notable difference, though, is that the Nokia tablet will have a cellular networking option, with AT&T set to offer it in the U.S.

Nokia is also going to try to up the ante on the Surface with its cover. Its Windows RT tablet will also offer a cover with a keyboard included, but unlike the Surface's Type Cover, it will additionally include a built-in battery to extend your time away from a power outlet. It will have a kickstand, too, but the Surface already has one built into its hardware.

Of course, how Nokia plans to price its Windows RT tablet (and its cover) may be as important as any specs it has. We may find out as soon as February, when Nokia may announce its intentions at the Mobile World Congress event.

Topics: Tablets, Nokia, Windows

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Mr. Android, Meet Ms. Mac - Mashable

Those of you with long memories might recall an infographic we ran last December -- "Mr. Android." It was a composite picture of the average Android smartphone user, based on the Facebook fans of a startup called BlueStacks, which lets you run Android apps on PCs. Its average Android fan was a male American decked out in T-shirts, jeans and sneakers.

Mr. Android was mostly partnered up (well, 63% of him had a significant other). But if he were single, and heterosexual, he could do a lot worse than Ms. Mac -- a composite of BlueStacks' average Mac-using Facebook fan, based on about 10 times the amount of data as Mr. Android. (BlueStacks' Facebook fan base has grown from 145,000 to more than a million in the last year; the information was burnished with Nielsen numbers).

As you can see in the infographic below (click for full size), the average Mac user is female, wears glasses, with black hair (just beating blonde users by a few percent) and freckles. Like her Android counterpart, you're most likely to see her in T-shirts, sneakers and jeans. She's a few percent more likely to hail from outside the US, and a percentage point more likely to be single.

We're not sure how accurate or useful this data is (except for BlueStacks, which managed to generate a lot of coverage on a slow news day). Statistically speaking, it tells us little beyond the fact that people who like technology tend to dress casually -- and that Mac-owning women are more likely to opt for a blouse than Android-toting men are to reach for a dress shirt.

But it is a lot of fun to imagine Mr. Android and Ms. Mac pairing up, having feisty debates over the value of open source versus walled gardens, and deciding which operating system to bring the kids up in. Of course, the two images don't exactly compare like with like. Memo to BlueStacks: next year, let's see Mr. or Ms. iOS.

We've reproduced both composite persons below. Which do you like the look of? Let us know in the comments.

Infographics courtesy Bluestacks, used with permission

Is Windows 8 Adoption Rate Really Trailing Vista's? - PC Magazine

In the roughly two months since the release of Windows 8, the adoption rate of Microsoft's latest flagship operating system appears to be trailing Window Vista, until now the slowest OS rollout in the software giant's recent history.

Data compiled by Web analytics firm Net Applications put Windows 8's online usage share at just under 1.6 percent through Dec. 22 as measured in relation to all desktop and laptop PC operating systems. Microsoft made its next-gen PC and tablet platform available on Oct. 26. Computerworld's Gregg Keizer tabbed back through the data to find that Vista, after the same period of time following its 2007 release, had shown up on 2.2 percent of all Windows systems (you can access the same data by clicking back through the Net Application report.)

More bad news for Microsoft?the adoption of Windows 8 on PCs only grew by about 0.4 percent from Nov. 22 to Dec. 22. In the second month after Vista's release, adoption of the much maligned OS had doubled from the end of its first month, Keizer noted.

Net Applications also measures the online usage share of operating systems for all major computing system device types, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles in addition to PCs. When you account for all of those hardware platforms, Microsoft's flashy new OS currently has about a 1.4 percent share of the overall OS market.

Other researchers and even some Microsoft OEM partners have recently warned that the uptake of Windows 8 was proceeding slowly in the early going, though Redmond said in late November that it had already sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses.

An overall decline in new PC sales in 2012 relative to corresponding growth in the sales of mobile devices like tablets and smartphones may partially account for the seeming discrepancy between Microsoft's story and that of some key hardware partners. It's not clear how many of the tens of millions of Windows 8 license sales the software giant has reported were for brand-new PCs, tablets, and a new class of hybrid devices versus upgrades on previously owned systems.

If Windows 8's initial adoption rate appears to be moving at an almost glacial pace, it's almost unimaginable that the new OS will follow Vista's disastrous path for too long. Nearly six years after Vista's release?and more than three years after the release of Service Pack 2, the bridge between Windows XP and Windows 7 has a meager 5.49 percent share of the desktop OS market, according to Net Application.

The analytics firm currently has Windows 7 with a 45.6 percent share of the PC operating system market while the amazingly enduring Windows XP?easily Microsoft's most successful enterprise product ever?was holding on to just over 39 percent through Dec. 22.

With Microsoft planning to pull in release dates of future-generation Windows platforms ?Windows 9, code named Blue, could be coming as soon as mid-2013 ?it may be that Redmond never again owns the market so fully with a single OS as it did with XP or even Windows 7 for that matter.

Even so, Windows 8 surely can't fare as poorly as Vista has ... can it?

For more, see Windows 8 Sees 'Slow Start,' Analysts Say, Asus, Acer Express Doubts About Windows 8 Demand, and Is Windows 8 a Replay of the 1980s?, as well as our full review of Windows 8 plus the slide show above.

For more from Damon, follow him on Twitter @dpoeter.