Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 reached RTM

Windows 8

Microsoft has finalized the Windows 8 operating system and made it available for equipment manufacturers to start imaging the OS onto new hardware, including PCs and tablets. The release to manufacturing (RTM) also means that developers soon will have the first complete build of the OS (known as “build 9200”) to finalize their applications.

Developers subscribing to MSDN membership services will be able to get their hands on the Windows 8 RTM version on August 15. Microsoft announced that Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5 will be available via MSDN on the same date. The Visual Studio tooling is finalized, according to Microsoft Corporate Vice President S. Somasegar, who made the announcement in his blog on Wednesday.

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Windows 8 Consumer Preview

With Windows 8 comes the introduction of a Metro-style interface, inspired by the lovely and intuitive presentation found in Windows Phone. In it, apps and functions are pinned to tiles and, to interact with those apps, you simply tap those tiles. The former Start Menu has been replaced by a full-screen view of tiles that you can scroll through horizontally. You can pin applications, shortcuts, documents, webpages and any number of other things, customizing the interface in any way you like.

To get a more detailed information, please visit: Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Previewing Microsoft Windows 8

Today, at the D9 Conference, Microsoft demonstrated the next generation of Windows, internally code-named “Windows 8,” for the first time. Windows 8 is a reimagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface. A Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.

The demo showed some of the ways they’ve reimagined the interface for a new generation of touch-centric hardware. Fast, fluid and dynamic, the experience has been transformed while keeping the power, flexibility and connectivity of Windows intact.

Window Switch – Move applications between networked computers

Window Switch is a tool which allows you to move applications between networked computers, the windows appear where you need them, as they were.
You no longer need to save and send documents to move them around, simply move the view of the application to the machine where you need it.

End of Support for Windows XP SP2

Microsoft’s announcement this week that it is preparing to end support for machines running Windows XP SP2 not only represents a challenge for the thousands of businesses still running SP2, but also is the end of an era for both Microsoft and its customers.

By the time Microsoft drops support for XP SP2 on July 13, Windows XP will be nearly nine years old. The OS was released in August 2001 as a replacement for Windows 2000 and was the last full release of Windows before Microsoft started its Trustworthy Computing effort. Very soon after the famous memo from Bill Gates appeared, attention both inside and outside the company focused on hardening Windows XP.