Would Your Personal Computer be ready for Windows 8?

Is Windows8 Microsoft’s answer to Apple? Is it really what you want for your computer instead of MAC? . The company has taken its existing Windows operating system, with all its strengths and all its problems, and parked it in a box it now calls Desktop adding a new touch-friendly, mobile, secure, operating system complete with its own app store.

It is now closer than ever to launching. The operating system is being shown off in release previews, users are able to test it and Microsoft Windows 8 is promising better and better experiences with each new launch. It’s clear that Microsoft believes Windows 8 is one of its most significant launches in an awfully long time. Furthermore, it’s apparent that the company’s loyal followers are just as excited to get their hands on the software giant’s latest creation.

A key component in Microsoft’s strategy is tablets. Windows has so far been left out of the tablet market, causing an immense amount of concern among Microsoft’s investors. What’s worse, the company’s vendor partners have continued to warm to Google’s Android platform, making some wonder if Windows’ chances of actually succeeding in the tablet market are far slimmer than one might expect.Microsoft has carefully avoided giving this a name, preferring that we should just think of it a Windows, but the new platform is called the Windows Runtime and the design style Metro. Metro is not, on the whole, something which Microsoft’s existing customers want. Windows 7 succeeded because it was unequivocally better than Windows Vista: faster, more reliable, and with useful innovations like its improved taskbar from which you can launch applications.

Everyone wants to try Windows 8 Consumer Preview. You have downloaded the software and installed it leaving just one task left: actually using the thing.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview drops you in at the deep end. Unlike Windows of old, which has taught users how to handle the user interface with mouse tutorials and bouncing arrows, Windows 8 just dumps you at the lock screen. Swipe or drag that out the way, and you are faced with the brand new Start screen. This will be a bit of a shock to existing Windows users (which is to say, virtually every person on earth who has ever owned a computer), and getting to grips with the Windows 8 interface is going to require some effort.

Ever since we stepped into 2012, there have been predictions about how this year will be all about Windows 8. Almost half the year has passed, and we have seen Microsoft dish out the testing versions of Windows 8 in the form of the Windows Application Developer preview and Consumer preview. Today, the software giant put forth the Windows 8 Release preview, the final public rollout before the highly anticipated Windows edition hits store shelves.

So, the question arises - Is your PC ready to upgrade to Windows 8?

Facebook Apps at the bottom of the pyramid

Time has passed when people used to say: Facebook is for family and friends. Today, every business (regardless of its size) is using this massive social platform to engage the audience. While using Facebook to achieve your business goals, you can’t ever ignore the benefits of applications.

Facebook has recovered from the genre of being a mere social networking site. It is now a better platform for you to move on with the best internet marketing experience. This is really an effective online marketing tool and you can really finish up things in time. The developers of Facebook are trying hard to serve the business community in the best possible way. Through Facebook you can come to learn about all new companies and some of the most innovative products in line. Online the users can best talk about the items and in this way you can have a real time handling the products in style.

Nowadays, Facebook application is turning to be boon for business owners. Till now, Facebook application has been a huge success for Facebook. You will find numerous applications on Facebook, which includes games, photo editor, fun and many others. These applications not only create brand image of the business, but also increase the revenue.

Branding is very essential for any product or service. It becomes possible, when huge number of people know about your product or service. You can find million of active users on Facebook. With Facebook Application Development, you can get hold of these users and create a brand image. When you create brand image, it attract prospective clients, towards your business. This automatically increase you revenue. There more than 600 active users on Facebook and it is increasing the exponential rate. So it gives the opportunity to interact with more and more potential customer.

The marketing and promotion through Facebook, brings potential customers to you doorsteps, which can turns into good client. This would not only upgrade your monetary benefits but also build your brand reputation.

Facebook Application also has the capability, to increase traffic on your website. With Facebook application development, it becomes very increase visitor to your website. When you get feedback from users, it is indexed in the search engines like Google, Yahoo, which increases traffic on your website.

Communication is very essential for business. If become very for a business owner to communicate with clients over the Facebook, as it provides chatting feature also. Overall, it has all types of features, which if required for perfect marketplace.

Facebook now features over 550,000 applications. Many of these Facebook applications are aimed towards growing a business. Most of the applications are available to users at no cost. In addition, you can maximize the impact even more by developing your own apps depending on your specific business requirements.

The concept of a Facebook Application developer is an all-encompassing term; it can apply to a single person working in a cramped room or it can refer to a full equipped team of specialists working within a massive set-up. What really counts when it comes to setting apart the best from the rest is obviously the quality of work that a particular source of development can deliver. And this is where such things as coding standards, programming practices, and product life cycle management start mattering as much as front and User Interface functionality.

The nature of Facebook is that people socialize, and look at what other people are doing, which means that if your friends post that they are using certain applications or visiting certain sites, you know about it, and for most of us, that’s a good enough reason to check it out. Thats what’s called Grass roots marketing, and it works.

The average Internet User spends more time on Facebook than on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon combined. That should tell you something. There is a big market to tap into, and should answer the question—why Facebook. Even if you think Facebook isn’t a useful tool for you, you can’t argue with the numbers when it comes to reaching potential customers.

Facebook as we all know is the most popular social networking site in the world, and with over 500 million members it a lucrative marketing ground for most marketers. Facebook provides a unique platform for application developers to create and promote their products online.

We can take the example of application developer Zynga who has gained a lot of popularity following the popularity of their gaming applications, FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Similarly there is a lot of budding developers who have either made their mark felt through Facebook or are in the process of doing so.

The unique and cost effective nature of marketing through a social media site makes Facebook a powerful instrument for small and medium sized businesses to take on large enterprises. With Facebook, application developers get more exposure than any other traditional medium. Moreover, tools provided by Facebook makes a unique platform for developers to effectively develop and promote their products.

However, there are certain things that should be kept in mind while developing and promoting application through Facebook, which includes: Analyzing Competition, Always go for a Unique Design, and Innovate and Engage Users.

Facebook is rather unique in how it is structured, and understanding this structure is critical to being able to build applications properly. You will save yourself a lot of frustration by reviewing the applications before you begin writing code.

In most websites or web applications, people type in a web address, and they connect directly to your web server, where your application handles the business logic, database interaction and any other work, and then gives web content back to the requesting user.

This is not the case with Facebook. With Facebook applications, users open up their web browsers to a Facebook web address (the “Canvas URL”), Facebook’s servers make a “behind the scenes” request to your web server (the “Callback URL”), your application then responds to Facebook’s request, and then, Facebook does the final markup and sends the web page content back to the user’s browser.

Facebook's service is designed to be simple and intuitive enough for everyone to use. However, some power users want more flexibility to customise their experience in ways that might be too complex for the general public. At TOPS Technologies Pvt. Ltd. we can create applications which will help individuals/organizations monitor and measure their social marketing efforts.

Would Your Personal Computer be ready for Windows 8?

Is Windows8 Microsoft’s answer to Apple? Is it really what you want for your computer instead of MAC? . The company has taken its existing Windows operating system, with all its strengths and all its problems, and parked it in a box it now calls Desktop adding a new touch-friendly, mobile, secure, operating system complete with its own app store.

It is now closer than ever to launching. The operating system is being shown off in release previews, users are able to test it and Microsoft is promising better and better experiences with each new launch. It’s clear that Microsoft believes Windows 8 is one of its most significant launches in an awfully long time. Furthermore, it’s apparent that the company’s loyal followers are just as excited to get their hands on the software giant’s latest creation.

A key component in Microsoft’s strategy is tablets. Windows has so far been left out of the tablet market, causing an immense amount of concern among Microsoft’s investors. What’s worse, the company’s vendor partners have continued to warm to Google’s Android platform, making some wonder if Windows’ chances of actually succeeding in the tablet market are far slimmer than one might expect.Microsoft has carefully avoided giving this a name, preferring that we should just think of it a Windows, but the new platform is called the Windows Runtime and the design style Metro. Metro is not, on the whole, something which Microsoft’s existing customers want. Windows 7 succeeded because it was unequivocally better than Windows Vista: faster, more reliable, and with useful innovations like its improved taskbar from which you can launch applications.

Everyone wants to try Windows 8 Consumer Preview. You have downloaded the software and installed it leaving just one task left: actually using the thing.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview drops you in at the deep end. Unlike Windows of old, which has taught users how to handle the user interface with mouse tutorials and bouncing arrows, Windows 8 just dumps you at the lock screen. Swipe or drag that out the way, and you are faced with the brand new Start screen. This will be a bit of a shock to existing Windows users (which is to say, virtually every person on earth who has ever owned a computer), and getting to grips with the Windows 8 interface is going to require some effort.

Ever since we stepped into 2012, there have been predictions about how this year will be all about Windows 8. Almost half the year has passed, and we have seen Microsoft dish out the testing versions of Windows 8 in the form of the Developer preview and Consumer preview. Today, the software giant put forth the Windows 8 Release preview, the final public rollout before the highly anticipated Windows edition hits store shelves.

So, the question arises - Is your PC ready to upgrade to Windows 8?

The rollout of Windows 8 has very important implications for not just Microsoft but everyone in the tech industry.  In normal times, most people are unwilling to reconsider the basic decisions they have made about operating system and applications.  They have spent a huge amount of time learning how to use the system, and the last thing they want to do is start learning all over again.  That’s why the market share of a standard like Windows is so stable over time.  But when a platform makes a major transition, people are forced to stop and reconsider their purchase.  They are going to have to learn something new anyway, so for a brief moment they are open to possibly switching to something else.  The more relearning people have to do, the more willing they are to switch.

Windows 8 is a revolutionary transition in Windows, easily the biggest change since the move from DOS to Windows in the early 1990s.  Consider the wreckage that was created by that transition: Apple’s effort to retake the lead in personal computing was stopped dead, the leading app companies of the time were destroyed (Lotus, WordPerfect, Ashton Tate, etc), IBM was eventually forced out of the PC business, Microsoft, formerly an also-ran in apps, became the leading applications company, and a power in server software as well.

Will the Windows 8 transition be as disruptive?  It is impossible to say at this point.  But huge changes are possible.  If the transition is successful, Microsoft could emerge as a much stronger, more dynamic company, leveraging its sales leadership in PCs to get a powerful position in tablets, mobile devices, and online services.  On the other hand, if Windows 8 fails, Microsoft could break the loyalty of its customer base and turn its genteel decline into a catastrophic collapse.  The most likely outcome, of course, is a muddled middle.

Whatever the outcome for Microsoft, what is certain is that because so many people use Windows as the foundation of their computing, the transition to Windows 8 will produce threats and opportunities for everyone else in the tech industry. Play your cards right and your company could grow rapidly. Mess up and you could be the next Lotus. You may love Windows 8 or you may it, but if you work in tech, you would be a fool to ignore it.

Although Microsoft calls it Windows, and a lot of Windows code may still be present under the hood, Windows 8 is a completely new operating system in every way that matters to users.  It looks different, it works differently, and it forces you to re-learn much of what you know today about computers.  From a user perspective, Microsoft Windows is being killed this fall and replaced by an entirely new Operating System that has a Windows 7 emulator tacked onto it.

The main Windows 8 interface is based on Microsoft’s Metro design language, which was supposedly inspired in part by the directional signs used in public transportation. Metro emphasizes typography (big words in clean fonts) and simple monochrome images, like the signs you would see on a subway platform.

Metro looks incredibly nice.  The graphics are clean and bold, the animations are smooth, and overall it is one of the most visually literate things you would have ever seen from Microsoft.  You will still be amazed that Metro is a Microsoft product. The simplicity of Metro is very appealing in many ways, especially when viewed against Apple’s interface, which is becoming more and more encrusted with strange textures and bits of faux 3D gewgaw.

Speaking of miscommunication, Microsoft didn’t clearly tell users that the Windows 8 preview is a one-way installation.  The word “preview” implies to many people an advanced sample that you can play with for a while and then toss aside.  But unless you have the original installation disks that came with your computer, the Windows 8 preview replaces your current Operating System and can’t be removed.  Even if you do have those disks, on many PCs (including mine) the factory install disks wipe the hard drive and do a new install from scratch, deleting all your files and applications.

Microsoft did disclose this information on the Windows 8 preview site, but the disclosure was written in bureaucratic language that didn’t make clear the risk, and what’s worse, that text was below the “Install” button, meaning a user could easily miss it.

If you want a measure of how many people missed the warning, do a web search for “uninstall Windows 8”.  Be prepared to read some angry commentary.

I think the next round in this cycle of frustration is going to come early next year, when the Windows 8 preview expires and preview users are required to purchase Windows 8 to keep their computers working.  The fact that there’s an expiration date on the preview is something else that Microsoft didn’t prominently disclose.

If Windows 8 is a problem, what is it going to do to a typical Windows user who just wants to get work done and does not have time to learn something new?  And what sort of support burden is it going to put on the IT managers of the world? At TOPS Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (www.tops-int.com) we believe that unlike the last few years Microsoft might just have something to put them back into the driving seat of this space.