More in Windows RT

Within the next 24 hours, Microsoft will finally issue a major set of updates for the core “Metro” apps in Windows 8 and RT, in this case the communications apps. Here’s what’s changing in the Mail app....More

Tipped off by a reader, I checked my System log in Event Viewer today and what did I find but a stack of pending updates for all of the core apps in Windows 8. I’m not 100 percent sure this is what I think it is. But if we’re right, it looks like 18 of the core apps in Windows 8 are about to get updated. Or, almost all of them....More

Windows 8 is following down yet another path first blazed by Windows Phone: With developers ignoring the platform in favor of well-entrenched competitors, Microsoft is forced to pay for apps. And this artificial platform growth may be the most telling sign yet that the OS is in trouble....More

In the long months since Microsoft opened up the Windows Store, we’ve waited for a handful of apps that are so obvious, so necessary, that’s its unclear why they weren’t immediately available. Twitter is such an app. And while I’ll probably always wonder about the timing on this one, it’s time to stop complaining and just enjoy the fact that the app is finally available....More

I don’t normally report on each month’s set of “Patch Tuesday” updates since it’s mostly just security updates that everyone should be installing automatically. But this month includes three surprises, including firmware updates for both the Surface Pro and Surface RT tablets, and a major update to Internet Explorer 10 that completely reverses the way this browser handles Adobe Flash....More

Lots of changes since November, including a new PC-based home server running Windows 8, several new smart phones, new PCs and tablets, new cloud backup, Office 365 Home Premium and a nice doubling of my Internet speeds courtesy of Verizon FIOS....More

If you use Windows Phone 8 with Windows 8, you know that Microsoft offers two PC sync solutions, the Windows Phone (Metro) app and the Windows Phone (desktop) application. Furthermore, you know that these two sync solutions offer different features sets, making the decision about which to use confusing. This week, Microsoft updated the Metro version of app, adding a few new features, some of which were previously available in the desktop application....More

In what can only be described as a high-tech version of Stockholm syndrome, Windows fans now have all their hopes wrapped up in “Blue,” a set of “year one” updates to Windows 8 and related platforms that will supposedly right all the wrongs of the original releases. I don’t want to rain on this well-intentioned parade, but I think it’s time for a little common sense. Blue will surely be an improvement. But don’t expect a panacea that fixes all of the problems with Microsoft latest platforms....More

This past week, Microsoft CFO and CMO Tami Reller provided another Windows 8 progress report, this one focusing on the new system’s first 90 days in the market....More

I’ve spent a lot of time this past week reassessing Microsoft’s decision to launch Surface with Windows RT months ahead of Surface with Windows 8 Pro. And I’ve come up with two curiously contradictory conclusions: Surface RT isn’t as bad as I originally believed it to be. But Microsoft never should have shipped this thing before Windows 8 Pro....More

Microsoft’s latest Office suite is listed in Windows Store, the online storefront for Windows 8 and Windows RT. But because it’s a desktop application, you can’t actually buy it from Windows Store. And that’s exactly as it should be … until or unless Microsoft changes the rules....More