Archive
Why Windows RT will die – #Windows, #RT
I have to agree with this blog post a lot! I don’t see a future for RT, sorry Microsoft!
It should be no surprise that Microsoft’s Windows RT Surface tablet sold only a million units in the fourth quarter, about a half of what analysts expected. Windows RT is an operating system without a future. Here’s why it will die.
UBS analyst Brent Thil said that a million Surface tablets sold That’s about half of what he expected. Computerworld says that in a note to investors, he said that people were buying the iPad rather than the Surface.
Plenty of other reports have found that the Surface is selling poorly. Even Steve Ballmer admits that Surface sales have been modest.
You can attribute sluggish sales to plenty of factors, such as poor distribution. But there’s a deeper reason: Windows RT has no future. It’s an operating system so rife with problems, it’s hard to imagine it succeeding.
One big issue is confusion about exactly what it is. It looks like a Windows 8 tablet, but it isn’t. It can’t run Windows 8 apps unless they’ve been specifically modified to run on Windows RT. It won’t run the Desktop or Desktop apps.
Despite that, it sells for $500, as much as an iPad. Because of all this,Samsung has cancelled plans for selling an RT tablet in the U.S. Mike Abary, Samsung senior vice president in charge of the PC and tablet businesses in the United States, explained the decision this way to CNet:
“There wasn’t really a very clear positioning of what Windows RT meant in the marketplace, what it…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Good News: Office 365 ProPlus can be activated on RDS – #RDS, #XenApp, #Citrix
This is interesting and good news!
Thanks for sharing Jesper_Osgaard!!!
In case you missed it – the latest Product Use Rights (january 2013) now includes a note under Additional Terms #3, page 82
“3. Each user may also use one of the five activations on a network server with the Remote Desktop Services (RDS) role enabled”
Note: Office 365 ProPlus is the upcoming version of Office 365
Source: Good News: Office 365 ProPlus can be activated on network server with RDS role enabled
//Richard
MS to Release Emergency IE Patch on Monday – #Microsoft, #IE – via @appcompatguy
The patch will fix a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8
Sun, January 13, 2013
IDG News Service — Microsoft will release a patch on Monday for older versions of its Internet Explorer browser, deviating from its normal repair schedule due to the seriousness of the problem.
The vulnerability, which is present in IE 6, 7 and 8, is a memory corruption issue. It can be exploited by an attacker via a drive-by download, a term for loading a website with attack code that delivers malware to a victim’s computer if the person merely visits the website.
Microsoft released a quick fix for the issue earlier this month, but did not have a more permanent patch ready when it released its monthly batch of patches last Tuesday. The company will occasionally release an emergency patch if the software vulnerability is considered a high risk.
“While we have still seen only a limited number of customers affected by the issue, the potential exists that more customers could be affected in the future,” wrote Dustin Childs, group manager for the company’s Trustworthy Computing Group, on a company blog on Sunday.
The patch, which will be released at 10 AM PST, will be distributed through Windows Update. Childs wrote users…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Windows utilities and tools, accessible from the web. – #Windows, #SysInternals
Ok, yet another little “old school” tip of the day! I was troubleshooting a setup and really needed to troubleshoot a process and what it was doing. And nowadays you don’t have to install the tools etc on the box! Yes, you can run it straight from the web if needed and most of the tools you need daily from a windows perspective are either installable easily on the box without a hazzle or you can run them from here;
Sysinternals Live
Sysinternals Live is a service that enables you to execute Sysinternals tools directly from the Web without hunting for and manually downloading them. Simply enter a tool’s Sysinternals Live path into Windows Explorer or a command prompt as http://live.sysinternals.com/<toolname> or \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\<toolname>.
You can view the entire Sysinternals Live tools directory in a browser at http://live.sysinternals.com.
Correct – SCCM 2012 doesn’t support SQL Mirroring! via @agerlund – #SCCM
Beware before upgrading to SP1. SCCM does not support database mirroring and if you’ve configured it don’t just try to upgrade! Thx @agerlund!
As stated here SQL mirroring is not supported for the ConfigMgr database. However a technet article do not stop all database administrors’s from enabling the setting anyway believing that it will not cause any issues – but boy it does. SQL mirroring will break the SCCM SP1 upgrade process and leave the primary site server in a non-functional mode where a site restore is the only way back.
The issue can be found in the ConfigMgrSetup.log file.
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Win RT jailbroken to run 3rd party Desktop apps – #Windows, #RT, thx @brianmadden
It was only a matter of time: Windows RT has been hacked to allow non-Microsoft applications to run in Desktop. Prior to this hack, your Windows RT tablet (such as the Surface RT) could only run Metro apps, a special, touch-oriented version of Office… and that’s it. Now, in theory, you can run any Desktop app on Windows RT [See: What is Windows RT?]
The hack, performed by Clokr, exploits a vulnerability in the Windows kernel that has existed for a long time — since before Microsoft ported Windows from x86 to ARM, in fact. Basically, the Windows kernel on your computer is configured to only execute files that meet a certain level of authentication. There are four levels: Unsigned (0), Authenticode (4), Microsoft (8), and Windows (12). On your x86 Windows system, the default setting is Unsigned — you can run anything you like. With Windows RT, the default, hard-coded setting is Microsoft (8); i.e. only apps signed by Microsoft, or parts of Windows itself, can be executed.
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Great Microsoft System Center 2012 documentation – #SCCM, #SCOM
If you’re looking for something to read when not busy working or have a day of then I recommend to have a look at these great docs for System Center 2012!
- Technical Documentation for System Center 2012 – Configuration Manager;
- Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Operations Manager›
- Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager›
- Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Service Manager›
- Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Orchestrator›
- Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager›
- Technical Documentation Download for System Center 2012 – App Controller›
Happy reading! 😉
//Richard
Large collection of Free #Microsoft #eBooks via @anders_keis
This is a great contribution! Thx a lot Anders Keis Hansen for providing the info to me!
A lot of ebooks provided by Microsoft Press including: SharePoint, Visual Studio, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Office 365, Office 2010, SQL Server 2012, Azure, and more.
Many of these ebooks are offered in three formats – PDF, Mobi (Kindle) and epub. Hope you find them useful & Happy Learning!
These books were originally posted by Eric Ligman, you can read the original posts from here:
1- Large collection of Free Microsoft eBooks for you, including: SharePoint, Visual Studio, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Office 365, Office 2010, SQL Server 2012, Azure, and more.
2- Another large collection of Free Microsoft eBooks and Resource Kits for you, including: SharePoint 2013, Office 2013, Office 365, Duet 2.0, Azure, Cloud, Windows Phone, Lync, Dynamics CRM, and more.
Continue reading and downloading here!
//Richard
Windows 8 Business Intentions: Deployment Plans, Driving Factors, Roadblocks, and Strategies
This was an interesting report and I must say that I’m a bit skeptic that Windows 8 will get a large footprint within the Enterprise segment…
The Windows 8 Business Intentions: Deployment Plans, Driving Factors, Roadblocks, and Strategies report reveals key insights into who’s moving to Windows 8, who’s skipping it, and why. In this original research report from TechRepublic Pro and ZDNet, industry analysts break down the Windows 8 deployment plans of over 1,200 organizations from around the globe.
Some of the key takeaways include the following:
- 73.7 percent of respondents say their organizations have no plans to deploy Windows 8.
- Only 15.8 percent of respondents who run Windows XP or an earlier version as their organization’s primary OS say they plan to deploy Windows 8.
- Security and tablet/mobile integration top the list of factors rated important by respondents who plan to deploy Windows 8.
- The Windows 8 style UI and associated end-user training requirements are off-putting to many respondents.
- The number of respondents in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the US with plans to deploy Windows 8 was lower than in China, India, and Southeast Asia.
Download the report here!
//Richard
The IT Melting Pot! 