Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac gets Windows 8-minded update

Tablet gestures, USB 3.0 and Retina display support 

 

Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac, the desktop virtualization software, welcomed a bunch of new updates Thursday, answering consumer calls for Retina display support plus adding features tailored just for Windows 8
The hallmark of Microsoft's new OS is that it's touch capable, meaning everyone from hardware makers to software manufacturers is scrambling to embrace the new possibilities.
Parallels is among the firms adapting to the W8 landscape, bringing tablet-touch gestures to the desktop mold with Thursday's update.
The company has also integrated a single tile to the Windows 8 interface for swift access to shared Mac apps.

Windows 8 upside

According to Parallels, its Desktop 8 for Mac software already has deep built-in integration between the Mac OS X and Windows 8 operating systems.
Match that with the new updates and users can use Mountain Lion's Dictation feature in Windows applications, plus add Windows apps to Launchpad and Mac Dock.
Retina display settings, as mentioned, nabbed an update that should make for easier screen optimization.
Parallels has thrown in full USB 3.0 support as well as increased virtual machine limits, letting users run larger apps.
Lastly, Desktop 8 for Mac users will find smoother transitions when entering and exiting Coherence mode thanks to the added USB 3.0 support.

Microsoft showcases PayPal, Dropbox and other apps for Windows 8

Call it the week of Windows 8: Microsoft wasted no time luring developers to the new OS during its Build 2012 conference in Seattle Tuesday.
Among the showcasing going on, the Softies focused on W8 apps for the Windows Store, including ones for PayPal, ESPN and Dropbox.
Microsoft also revealed that 4 million people have made the switch to Windows 8 since the OS was made available Oct. 26, a number that's sure to peak developers' interest.
The company did not, however, make mention of Surface tablet sales.

What the W8 apps are all about

Dropbox's new app "offers cloud based storage and synchronization service for photos, documents and videos on Windows 8," Microsoft wrote in an official blog post.
Look for it in the Windows Store soon.
With the ESPN app, news, scores and videos are all aggregated, plus ESPN The Magazine, podcasts and photo galleries all make the cut.
For sports-specific fans, W8 lets users pin whatever sport they choose and their favorite teams to their Start screens, too.
With PayPal, the Windows 8 API lets devs use the service within any Windows Store app to actually get paid.
Microsoft also announced in its blog post that Twitter is also working on a Windows 8 app, a tidbit the social network later confirmed with a tweet. However, that app won't see the light of day for a few months.

New Windows Defender Offline Tool

Recently I covered a post about Austrian-based Security Analyst Peter Kleissner and his new exploit for Windows 8. The exploit was designed to work around Microsoft’s new boot improvements in order to hack into Windows 8, essentially. It would load up from the master boot record and reside all the way through startup allowing root access to the entire machine.
Windows 8′s boot loader has added a number of new security features to prevent malware and security breaches, this includes requiring valid digital signatures. Microsoft had previously hoped that such a move would stop malware by blcoking unsigned software from loading into memory software.
Despite Microsoft’s hopes and intentions, Peter proved that it really wasn’t exactly rocket science to find a way to crack Windows 8.
Is this a flaw in Windows 8 exactly, then? Honestly, as long as computers exist there will be people who find ways to do things that companies didn’t intend, these are known as hackers to most of us. Microsoft can not and will not find a way to create a product that will completely prevent Windows from being hack proof.
Even throwing away Windows completely and starting from scratch would offer no guarantee. As an example, Linux is fairly virus free but Android (which is based on Linux) has started to have a growing virus problem of late.
So if you can beat malware and virus makers, what is the next best step? Staying ahead of the game and creating easy tools to help fight the good fight, so to speak.
Microsoft has now provided such a tool with its “Windows Defender Offline BETA”. This brand new tool likely has Windows 8 in mind, though it does work with older versions too.
With the free tool, you download it and burn it to a disc or a flash device. The purpose of the new tool is to run it as your ‘boot device’ occasionally to check for malware that might be hiding in your boot-up experience.
The release of this tool so closely to the release of Peter’s malware proof-of-concept is no coincidence but I’m glad to see Microsoft being proactive about the entire situation.
Windows 8 will likely have a virus and malware problem for the remainder of its life, and only Microsoft knows how long that is for sure I suppose. Even a future OS by Microsoft (or anyone else) makes no promises about security, but I can confidently see that Microsoft is really working hard to make sure that Windows 8 is a more secure experience than past versions.
This starts with the new Defender (which includes malware, spyware, and antivirus) and ends with the addition of other tools such as this new offline boot checking tool.
What do you think about the new security measures in Windows 8? Is Microsoft going fair enough or is there something better they could be doing to protect their users?
I feel that Microsoft has made many interesting moves with its Metro interface, but its really its new attitude towards speed and security that truly has me excited for the future of Windows.

Windows 8 App Contest

Just days ago Microsoft held an official event showing off the BETA version of upcoming Marketplace. At this event there was a focus on pricing, scheduled launch of the beta for Windows App Market, and most notably the announcement of an official “First App Contest”.
Essentially the program is designed in order to lure developers into developing top notch apps in order for their app to be one of the first apps featured on the store. So what is Microsoft looking for out of these apps? The eight finalists will be chosen based on the app that has the best use of the METRO UI and provides an overall excellent Windows 8 experience.
We also know that these developers are using “Windows Developer Preview” for their hard work developing these early apps. I’ve commented on more than one occasion that WDP is really rather stable for a pre-BETA, but this actually makes a lot of sense now that I think about it.
It is stable because Microsoft planned to not have the store out until the BETA arrived, but by the time the Beta did arrive they wanted a selection of apps to properly show off the store. This may seem as a bit of a “duh” factor, but honestly I never really thought about it a whole lot.
So we know that for x86 development users will be using Windows Developer Preview, but what about ARM?
Part of the rules behind submitting apps has to do with either making one app that works on both x86/ARM or creating two apps for each version of the processor. In other words, you can’t just develop an app for x86 or ARM, Microsoft wants every app to work with x86 and ARM. I’m really glad to hear this, as it will keep the market from being further fragmented.
While I’m glad for the requirement for ARM and x86, this makes you wonder how developers participating in this program can know for sure that their x86-designed apps will also work with ARM since there is no ARM version unless you are lucky enough to have a developer slate already?
The idea from what I gather is that if you are chosen as a finalist you will be given a ‘special build’ of Windows to finalize your app for the market. This is likely a special slate running the ARM version of Windows BETA (not Windows Developer Preview).
Those who chose to participate in the contest has the chance to win the following:

• A Samsung Windows Developer Tablet.
• One year of Windows Azure for free.
• A two-year subscription to the store to continue improving your apps.

Finalists will be notified on January 15^th , and those the final round will begin which runs from January 16^th to February 3^rd.
Overall, for those who like tinkering with App development, this program is a pretty cool incentive, especially the Samsung Slate. The slate in question runs about $1200-$1400 on eBay just for the hardware alone. The special slate you receive will also include a keyboard and dock, too.

ARM Tablets Running Windows 8 to Drop the Desktop App?

Do you remember how back in September there was a big debate over whether Windows 8 ARM tablets would have the link (otherwise known as an app) to the desktop in the Metro user interface?
And as a matter of fact, on the demos of the ARM tablets running Windows 8, there was a Desktop app. So naturally we expected that would be how it is.
But now, according to Paul Thurrott, a co-host of a Windows 8 podcast, it seems that Microsoft is dropping the link to the desktop which means that ARM tablets that run Windows 8 will only be able to support Metro apps (which was kind of how it was before except for a few selection of desktop apps that could run on both x86 and ARM.)

If Microsoft follows through on this idea, it essentially means that there will be different versions of Windows for each architecture: x86-64 and ARM.
This would be a good choice for Microsoft if they are trying to market ARM based tablet as the better one of the two, and as of now, ARM based tablets are better than Intel ones.
They have better battery life, they are lighter, faster, etc. They are also cheaper. And as I said before, there are barely any x86-64 apps that can work on ARM.
Steven Sinofsky, head of the Windows 8 division of Micrsoft, even said, “”We’ve been very clear since the very first CES demos and forward that the ARM product won’t run any x86 applications.”
Microsoft did show Microsoft Office running on an ARM based laptop back in January at CES, but I don’t know where they’re going with that.
There doesn’t seem to be a reason to make a whole desktop user interface for ARM based tablets, especially since not many developers see a market for point-and-click ARM apps and therefore aren’t recompiling their apps for ARM.
I can’t see a market either. ARM is all about mobile, no one really wants to use traditional desktop apps while on the go, it’s just too complicated.
Though I’ll admit, I was hoping for a a version of Mac OS X on the iPad before it came out and not just iOS (or iPhone OS as it was called back then.) That would have differentiated the iPad from let’s say and iPod Touch.
It’s what Microsoft is doing now. Microsoft isn’t just taking their phone operating system (Windows Phone 7.5) and making it bigger, they are taking what works well in their phone operating system, making it more tablet oriented, and combining it with their desktop operating system.
Now that’s a good operating system, and that’s why I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to take the desktop app away. Not to mention how confusing it would be adding on another option to Microsoft’s usual options that they have for Windows (Starter, Basic, Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate.) Of course in this case it makes sense, there’s no market for desktop ARM apps.