Windows PCs - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Windows 10 forecast: On almost a quarter of all PCs within a year

  Microsoft's decision to make Windows 10 a free upgrade could put the new OS on more than 350 million PCs within its first year, an analysis of user share data shows.

• Free Windows, end-of-XP spree, drops Microsoft revenue by $US455m

  Microsoft last week said that revenue generated from sales of Windows licenses to computer and device makers dropped $455 million, or 13 per cent, when compared to the same period a year prior.

• Enterprises: Get ready to pay to go slow on Windows 10

  Microsoft's faster-paced release cadence for Windows 10 will, as expected, require enterprises to either adapt or pay for the privilege of going slow, according to several analysts.

• Microsoft abruptly dumps public Patch Tuesday alerts

  For the first time in a decade, Microsoft today did not give all customers advance warning of next week's upcoming Patch Tuesday slate. Instead, the company suddenly announced it is dropping the public service and limiting the alerts and information to customers who pay for premium support.

• Microsoft's device share growth to outpace Apple's through 2016

  Microsoft's share of shipped devices will climb slightly this year and pick up some steam in 2016, but Apple's share will grow at a more sluggish pace because of slow-downs in iPhone and iPad, Gartner forecast Monday.

• Microsoft expands anti-MacBook campaign with switching tips

  Microsoft recently expanded its campaign against Apple's MacBook Air with a website that offers practical advice to people who have switched or are thinking of switching to a Surface Pro 3.

• Free Windows? Not a chance

  Microsoft last week doused speculation that it would make Windows free across the board.

• Microsoft slates 7 security updates for next week, resurrects Exchange fix

  Microsoft today announced it will release seven security updates on Tuesday, three of them critical, to patch Internet Explorer (IE), Windows, various pieces of the Office suite, and the SharePoint and Exchange server software.

• PC stagnation means zero-sum game for OEMs, OS makers

  IDC this week said that while the PC industry would end the year better off than it had expected, the foreseeable future holds no hope for a return of growth.

• Drastic price cuts may damage PC industry, jeopardize Microsoft's hopes for Windows 10

  Windows PC makers slashed prices to historically low levels in the U.S. during the last three weeks of October, damaging the consumer business just as Microsoft tries to push Windows 10 as its salvation, a retail analyst said last week.

• Windows XP's user share plunge not real, just a data adjustment

  The Internet metrics company that claimed Windows XP's user share plummeted by a record amount last month said Tuesday that it had struck several Chinese websites from its tallies, causing the dramatic decline.

• Dell takes one last shot at selling Windows 7 Home Premium PCs

  Just days before Microsoft orders OEMs to stop building new PCs with Windows 7 Home Premium, Dell tried one last time to spur sales using the lure of the five-year-old consumer OS.

• Microsoft's 'big opportunity' to goose device share stalls before it gets started

  Microsoft's job of moving its device needle from 14%, which its COO said this summer represents "a much bigger opportunity than we've ever had in the past," just got harder. Gartner today forecast that the company's share will be flat this year and climb only slightly in 2015.

• Microsoft heads back to the desktop

  Microsoft has flopped on smartphones and tablets. At the same time, its Windows 8.x has continued to be such an abject failure, with a mere <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2600775/windows-pcs-windows-8s-uptake-climbs-but-still-trails-vistas.html">13.4% share of the PC market</a>, that it's trailing even legendary fiasco Vista in market acceptance.

• Mac, Chromebook gains soften PC industry decline

  Although forecasts for PC shipments have brightened, much of the improvement stems from bets that Chromebooks and Macs will make up a larger part of this year's market.