Windows 10 will be a free upgrade

At its press event today, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users during its first year of availability. There was some confusion, however, when Microsoft’s Terry Myerson started talking about Windows 10 “as a service.” Did that mean that after that first year of free availability, Windows 10 would cost an annual fee? I asked Myerson for clarification after the presentation, and he confirmed that there will be no additional fees attached to Windows 10, whenever you buy it.

Myerson clarified that Windows 10 users will still get free updates and support for the lifetime of the OS, exactly like past versions of Windows (like XP and Windows 7’s Service Packs, for example). There’s no subscription model for updates or support or continuing to use the OS. Myerson’s reference to Windows “as a service” simply meant that Microsoft plans to update the OS with smaller, more regular updates rather than the big, chunky updates of past Service Packs.

A year after Windows 10 is first available, it will no longer be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 users. Microsoft will then sell Windows 10 the same way it has sold past versions of Windows. MS hasn’t set a specific price yet, but Myerson said the price will likely be comparable to past versions of Windows. Windows 8 costs $120 on Amazon, for instance.

Update: It seems there’s still confusion. It is very clear from this post that for the first year it’s available, you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free if you have Windows 7 or 8. You will not pay for it. After that year is up, nothing will happen to your Windows 10 license. If you do not upgrade within that year, however, you will have to pay for an upgrade. The offer expires after a year, not the upgrade.

Source: Microsoft: Windows 10 will not be sold as a subscription

Visual Studio 2013 Update 3

Today, Microsoft announce the availability of Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 (Visual Studio 2013.3) Release to Manufacturing (RTM).

What’s new in Visual Studio 2013 Update 3

CodeLens Code Map Debugger Performance and Diagnostics IntelliTrace Windows Store Apps Visual Studio IDE Testing Bug Fixes & Known Issues

Release Management Web Tools Azure Tools C++ Graphics Diagnostics Application Insights ClickOnce Deployment SharePoint Apps

In addition, several Visual Studio 2013 products are available for download with Update 3, including the following:

• Multi-Device Hybrid Apps CTP 2.0 release
• Azure SDK 2.4 Release RTM
• IntelliTrace Standalone Collector
• Windows Phone 8.1 Update Emulators

For a video overview of Visual Studio 2013.3, watch the Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 episode of Visual Studio Toolbox with Robert Green & Dmitry Lyalin.

NDepend v5 is here!

Today, the new version of NDepend came to light. Aside from the UI enhancements, the new version adds more new features along with support for the upcoming Visual Studio 2013.

But before we dig into the new features and enhancements, lets take a quick look at what is it and what will help us for.

What’s NDepend?

NDepend is a tool with tons of features that helps .NET developers to better manage complex code and achieve code quality. Is the Swiss Army Knife for .NET developers.

Android Device Emulator: Unfortunately, System UI has stopped

In my journey to develop Android apps I got a non pleasant surprise when starting a custom AVD (Android Virtual Device) from the Manager.

This however happened when using an AVD with Android 4.0.3 as the target, with my other (4.2.2) setup I didn’t have such problem.

This is the message I was having when starting the AVD:

Windows 8.1 Preview is also available for download

When Windows 8.1 is finished later this year, it’s going to be distributed as a free update for anyone running Windows 8. Windows 8 users will see the update published and promoted in the Windows Store. The preview will give a taste of how this will work—it too installs through the store.

To get it to show up, you will have to install an update from this page. After rebooting, the Store will show the preview. From there you can install the preview; a 2GB download and a couple of reboots later and it will be done.

As with any beta software, this is probably not something you want to do on a production machine. Microsoft says that while some people will be able to uninstall the preview (and then upgrade to the final 8.1 build when it’s available), under some circumstances this isn’t possible, so you’ll have to be prepared to blow the machine away to upgrade it.

If you’re not running Windows 8, you obviously won’t be able to install from the Windows Store. Microsoft will make ISOs available to download some time over the next day.

Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.5.1 Preview Available at Build Conference

Developers can now download preview versions of Visual Studio 2013 and the next release of the .NET Framework. Microsoft unveiled the new software today at its Build conference, along with the preview of Windows 8.1.

In addition, the third update to Visual Studio 2012 was released. This is mostly focused on bug fixes, but it’s an important update “if you need to be able to ’round-trip’ projects between Visual Studio 2012 and Visual Studio 2013, or if you want to run Visual Studio 2012 on the Windows 8.1 Preview,” Microsoft Developer Division VP S. Somasegar wrote in a blog post.

Visual Studio 2012 Update 3 RTM now available

After the release of Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 in April 2013, Microsoft just released the next RTM version of Visual Studio 2012 marked as Update 3 (26th June 2013). This includes the latest cumulative series of feature additions and bug fixes.

It also includes Team Foundation Server 2012 Update 3. If you are waiting for the final release of Update 3, it’s the time to update your IDE with latest set of features & fixes.

Apple’s WWDC 2013 Keynote Replay Video

You can also watch the video at Apple Events

Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 announced

Today at TechEd, Brian Harry announced Visual Studio 2013 and Team Foundation Server 2013 and many of the Application Lifecycle Management features that they include.

The next major release, Visual Studio 2013, will be available later this year, with a preview build publicly available at the Build conference in San Francisco at the end of the month. In his keynote demo and follow-on foundational session today, he highlighted some of the new ALM capabilities coming in this release and in the cloud, including new features focused on business agility, quality enablement, and DevOps.

First look at Microsoft Windows 8.1

Microsoft today provided what it calls a “first look” at the changes coming in Windows 8.1, the free service pack/feature pack-style update it plans to deliver later in the year. This includes improvements in key areas like personalization, search, the built-in apps, Windows Store experience, and cloud connectivity.