Technology Ramblings

A few weeks back I wrote about my initial impressions of Windows 10 Technical Preview. One of the areas of note was the absence of the Modern UI work space.  While the Modern Apps still exist, the UI itself has effectively gone away for desktop machines.   At the time I then asked the question - why have the modern apps at all ?  I like the live tile concept for things like news feeds, weather, etc., but be be honest the overall UI experience on a desktop of Modern apps is somewhat mixed.   In my opinion MS has a challenge on their hands.  When Windows 8 and the Modern UI was introduced, there was a lot of negative feedback and confusion on usability between Modern and Traditional desktop apps.  Especially when you couldn't close a Modern app in the traditional "X" method and had to press the Windows Key which sent you back to the Modern Start screen but then had a different experience when you closed a traditional app... Folks then also asked - where is th

So a couple of weeks back I posted my thoughts around the fate of Windows Phone. So there are a few updates to report.. Microsoft did address one of the areas I mentioned as a area to improve and that was branding.  MS announced that going forward the Windows Phones developed by MS will be called Microsoft Lumia.  So much like the Surface line - at least now there will be a true MS branded phone.   But then MS turns around and stumbles badly.  It was reported that the new 730/735 phones announced at IFA will be delayed in the US until early 2015. So that means that MS will only have 1 new phone the 830 at 1 carrier - AT&T for the holidays.   While the 635 is also "new" it was released in July - so while there will be some uptake it will mostly be from 520/521 owners looking to upgrade.   So I fully expect to hear how bad WP sales are in Q4 and a drop in US market share. This is really disappointing to hear.   While MS states they are being "patient" with

Back in January I posted that 2014 would be a make or break year for WP.  WP maintained about a 5% market share in the US... 90% of all WP sold were Nokia Entry level phones like the 520/521 dominated sales Since then not too much has changed... WP still maintains a 4.7% market share in the US according the Kantar WorldPanel.  Nokia still represents over 90% of WP sales.  In the US it's over 95%. Entry level phones still dominate the portfolio.  According the AdDuplex over 47% of WP sales in the US are at the 520/521 and 630/635 entry level devices and many of the higher end devices barely register on their pie chart or are barely in the top 10. This week Verizon announced the "retirement" of the Lumia Icon or 930 series device that was released in Jan.  So in less than a year Verizon retired it's flagship WP device.   Even prior to that - other blogs and WP sites have mentioned how Verizon didn't even carry the phone in many of their stores and th

So with surprisingly little fanfare, Microsoft announced Windows 10 on Sept 30 and released a Tech Preview on Oct 1. It was obvious from the announcement that MS is trying to put Windows 8/8.1 behind them as quickly as they can.   But did they ? What bothered me a bit about the announcement itself was watching Terry Myseron.  While the approach to the announcement seemed relaxed, Terry didn't appear that way.  Reading from his prompter and not looking that comfortable.   Additionally, while MS discussed their 1.5b Windows users and the great breath of customer experiences and platforms, the approach with Windows 10 to me seemed to be more like Windows 8.2.... So of course I downloaded and loaded the Tech Preview on a standard desktop I have.  Here are some of my initial impressions. The install process was traditional Windows 8-like.  The one challenge I have is that my particular desktop is a Core i7 with an ICH10R controller.  Windows discovered it as a traditional AHCI