Microsoft sued over Live Tiles in Windows 8

Surface brings out the patent trolls 

 

A US company is suing Microsoft is over its use of Live Tiles in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

A company called SurfCast has filed the suit over its patent #6,724,403 which is all to do with how content is organised and displayed.
"The present invention comprises a graphical user interface which organizes content from a variety of information sources into a grid of tiles, each of which can refresh its content independently of the others.
"The grid functionality manages the refresh rates of the multiple information sources," the patent reads.

Familiar

It sure sounds a lot like Live Tiles – and Surfcast is after recompense for any Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 and Windows RT device using them.
But Microsoft's been showing off bits and pieces on device homescreens using its dynamic tiles since Windows Phone 7 launched in October 2010; why is Surfcast suddenly all up in Microsoft's grill over it now?
It's all to do with the Microsoft Surface and the potential payout that Windows 8 will afford, given that Windows Phone hasn't exactly made anyone a bundle.
Surfcast also says Microsoft is encouraging other companies to infringe its patent by urging devs to build app tiles for the Windows Store and allowing manufacturers to sell Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices.
We don't expect to see this result in multiple years' worth of litigation between the two companies a la Samsung vs Apple – as The Verge suggests, Microsoft will likely settle with Surfcast out of court and we can all move on.

Microsoft in 2012: what to expect

Microsoft has had plenty of successes in 2011, from record-breaking sales for Kinect and Xbox to the positive reaction to Nokia's Windows Phone.
Windows 7 and Office are still selling well, Bing has managed some moderate increases in market share, especially in the US, and the departures of big names like Ray Ozzie and Robbie Bach haven't caused any ripples.
For the second year in a row, everyone is taking Microsoft seriously.
But when you do well, you have to do even better next time and 2012 could be a challenging year. Microsoft has to ship - and sell - Windows 8 (especially on tablets), Windows Phone has to compete with whatever Apple and Google can come up with next, IE10 has to keep up with Chrome and whatever ridiculous number Firefox gets up to and Microsoft still needs to impress users with its cloud services.
Xbox is still going strong and Kinect could revitalise the market for PCs that aren't all about being as thin and light as a MacBook Air but can Microsoft pull it all together?

Windows Phone 8

There are plenty of Windows Phone 7.5 launches still to come next year, especially for the US market, building on Nokia's momentum with the Lumia 800 – and bringing Skype to the phone. Back at the MIX conference in April corporate vice president Joe Belfiore said Skype would be on the platform "this fall" along with the Mango update.
Unless it squeezes out before Christmas like Lync for Windows Phone, SkyDrive for Windows Phone and iOS, and OneNote for iPad, we're expecting to see Skype for Windows Phone at CES 2012.

SKYPE EVENTUALLY:Promised for Windows Phone this autumn, maybe we'll see it at CES
The bigger news is the two new versions of Windows Phone expected next year; the Tango update that brings Windows Phone to cheaper handsets for developing countries (and anyone who won't switch away from their feature phone until smartphones are just as cheap) and the more interesting Apollo, which will have improvements in the grahics APIs, in Bluetooth and is when we'll probably see NFC.
Apollo, or Windows Phone 8, is what Microsoft mysteriously calls 'common core'; we think that means key programming frameworks from Windows 8 coming to the phone rather than the Windows 8 kernel and we certainly don't think it means throwing away all the Windows Phone 7 apps.
We should get more details on both at Mobile World Congress in February and we expect to see Tango in the spring and Apollo, with IE10 included, by next November.

Windows 8 – and IE 10

The beta of Windows 8 is due a little later than we'd expected; we expect Microsoft to tell us more about what's getting updated during CES but the beta (which will have new features in) will be available in late February, along with the beta of the Windows 8 Store.
That still leaves time for a release candidate and the final release for the autumn; Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs has suggested the launch will be soon after September (so we might see the second service pack for Windows 7 first).
That's when we'll see the final version of IE 10 as well for Windows 7 as well as Windows 8 (and yes, it will have spell checking on Windows 7); "We will release an IE 10 Beta and Release Candidate on Windows 7 prior to IE10's general availability," the IE team said on the official blog. That's a lot longer than the 12 months it took to create and release IE 9.

WINDOWS 8 BETA: Don't worry, the beta won't be this green
The autumn is also late for Windows tablets; by then they'll be competing with iPad 3 and BlackBerry 10 tabs and it's possible Google will have Android Jelly Bean out by the end of next year too. Microsoft obviouslydoesn'tthink it's too late to bring out a tablet but there's certainly a sense of urgency.
Windows Phone president Andy Lees has just taken a sideways step to handle what Steve Ballmer calls "a time-critical opportunity focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8". We think that means making sure Windows 8 ARM tablets come out on time, work well and don't cause confusion for Windows Phone handsets – especially with Apollo's Windows 8 connection.
Microsoft isn't thinking about Windows 8 as an update that makes the way you use a PC today a little better; this is the operating system the Windows team hope you'll be using for a decade, the way you did Windows XP. Tablets matter but we're expecting to see Microsoft push some exciting new PC ideas too.

Kinect comes to PC

The rumours about the next Xbox are wilder than ever, including a faster connector for a new Kinect that could be sensitive enough to detect the expression on your face – or read your lips.
What we do know is that the PC version of Kinect (launching in "early 2012") is optimised for recognising things that are closer to the screen – like your hands rather than your whole body. That means you can gesture at the screen with your fingers.
So while the idea of TVs from Vizio and Sony with Kinect built in as a remote control is attractive, it's much more plausible that those rumours are actually about monitors for your PC that have Kinect in. The TV market is all about low prices and we don't see TV makers lining up to add a pricey sensor. But a Kinect screen could be the same price as a touch screen monitor – and the perfect match for Windows 8.
Think about it; waving at the Metro Start screen deals with all those complaints about fingerprints and gives you a natural interface that is perfectly suited to a screen you want further away than a tablet or laptop.
It also builds in a microphone for voice control – something Windows already has but hardly anyone uses; expect a Windows version of TellMe to compete with the rumoured Siri-controlled Apple TV.
But when you add Kinect to a screen, you get more than gestures; you get a PC that knows when you're sitting in front of it and which way you're looking. That could lock the screen when you walk away; it can also make video calls look more realistic by adjusting the image to the right perspective.
Steven Bathiche who runs the Applied Sciences group at Microsoft wants to use a Kinect-enabled screen with a Wedge lens (made by a company Microsoft has recently bought) to give you 3D images without glasses, by detecting where your eyes are and steering the beam of light towards them. That could be a 3D TV – or a 3D Xbox screen…

Silverlight 6

Even if we never see Silverlight 6, rumours of Silverlight's demise are almost certainly exaggerated. The newly announced support policy for Silverlightpromises updates for the browsers Silverlight 5 works with today (including Safari, Firefox and Chrome) and hints at support "as browsers evolve".
More importantly, the technology behind Silverlight will continue to be key for building Windows Phone apps, Silverlight is making its way to Xbox - and it's a key part of Windows 8 as one of the ways to build Metro-style apps using WinRT (which is an almost exact superset of current Silverlight features).
Using the XAML markup language, developing in C# and VB.NET on a subset of the .NET runtime, running in a secure sandbox and distributing apps using HTTP rather than an installer; the key principles of Silverlight will all still be there, whatever the technology is called.
The question is really whether there will be another browser plugin called Silverlight. In the long term, Microsoft is moving away from plugins; Andy Lees hinted at this last year when he explained to TechRadar that one reason the Windows Phone browser doesn't have Flash or Silverlight plugins is that "browsers are going to a different extensibility model" and it's even clearer in the plugin-free Metro version of IE10.
As HTML gets more capable, there will be fewer things you need a plugin for - but as long as those things include playing DRM video served by major broadcasters using Microsoft's streaming media server technology, Microsoft will be doing the engineering work to make that happen and delivering a plugin to build on that makes sense.

Office, Live and SkyDrive

A new version of Windows means a new version of Officeand while there are rumours that the beta of Office 2012 will be ready at the end of January it's more likely that we'll see it around the same time as the Windows 8 beta.
The leaked build from Microsoft Russia we saw in August had a cleaner look that matches the Metro-influenced look of desktop apps like the Windows 8 Task Manager, but there will also be Metro versions of key Office apps. The Moorea app for creating HTML pages on a tiled grid that's in the leaked build might be a hint at the type of Metro interface we'll see.
Certainly the Office Metro apps will have to stand out from the Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging Windows Live Metro appsthat were previewed at the Build conference (they'd be the ideal apps to try out from the beta of the Windows Store and we expect to see them with the Windows 8 beta).

SKYDRIVE: It'll be everywhere - out for Windows Phone and iPhone first
Live is going to get more social network features, although it's more about being what the Microsoft job adverts call a "one-stop-shop for users to connect with friends and all their social network" than competing with Google+ and Facebook; this may be where odd social network projects from the research lab in Boston (like Spindex and socl.com) fit in.
And SkyDrive ("your cloud store for anywhere access to your data") is coming to Xbox according to this job advertwhich talks about IEB as well as Windows and Phone.

METRO OFFICE: Could Moorea be the new Office look?
Microsoft is betting on Windows 8 – Steve Ballmer famously called it the company's biggest bet – but it's backing that bet up with cloud services that will be available on more and more platforms. It's going to be another busy year.

Microsoft offers correction – Windows Phone devices do NOT offer NFC

So in a previous post, we had reported that a Microsoft official had said the current series of Windows Phones currently had NFC enabled.
Will Coleman, a developer evangelist and product manager at Microsoft UK had claimed that ““As far as I’m aware, NFC is supported by [Windows Phone], but needs to be enabled by the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer).”

Microsoft clarified the situation a little bit later to the website WinRumors by saying “While NFC is not currently supported on Windows Phone 7.5, it is coming. We expect NFC-enabled Windows Phone devices to ship within the next year.”
This has not been a good week for the Windows Phone division and it’s just Monday!
NFC in the current batch of phones would have been a HUGE coup for the software maker.
It seems we’ll have to wait till 2012.

Can Windows 8 Fare Better On Mobile Phones Than Phone 7?

Microsoft has taken a very different stance with its products recently. When Microsoft’s Xbox first debuted back in 2001, part of the strategy was to keep the Xbox separate from Windows.
Back in 2001 there was certainly a mix of emotions when regarding Windows in general (though it really didn’t get bad until Vista).
Now, Microsoft has flipped this strategy around and is actually trying to bring its products together. The Xbox 360 dashboard has recently received an upgrade that makes it feel a lot more like the upcoming Windows 8 Metro interface for one thing.
Windows 8′s Metro is actually very similar to the existing Windows Phone 7 interface.
Windows new approach has received many different mixed emotions and there are many who doubt that Windows 8 will be able to ‘do it all’, appealing to both PC and desktop users.
On the tablet side, many draw comparisons to Windows Phone 7 and how it hasn’t done well in the market so far.
According to many of these naysayers, part of the reason is that people still don’t like the strong connection to Windows.
Windows Phone 7 is a solid product and has many features that make it a good choice, but it is no secret that sales haven’t been exactly hot.
If ARM tablets only run METRO and don’t have the desktop, they will seem very similar to Phone 7. So can Metro do better on tablets than almost the exact same interface has on the Phone?

This is something I wonder about myself. The biggest difference will be marketing strategy.
With Windows 8, Microsoft is focusing on the selling-point that tablets will use a Microsoft OS based on the popular PC OS.
If people associate Windows on tablets with the same OS they have at home it could possibly help.
In contrast many people associate Windows Phone 7 with the older Windows Mobile 6 platform. Unfortunately, the WM6 OS never exactly took off and was largely disliked because its interface was old and too much like the desktop version.
Of course that brings us back to the original point, people don’t like Windows on mobile platforms because it makes them think of traditional desktop PC interfaces. These old PC Interfaces just don’t work great on mobile phones and tablets.
So what is Microsoft doing to change this perception? They will market Windows 8 as a tablet-style touch-friendly operating system, focusing on Metro.
By changing PC users perception of Windows’ PC OS into a more touch-friendly platform it will actually help re-envision what Windows is all about.
Right now when people think of Windows on mobiles, they think of Windows 7 most likely being poorly translated to a phone or tablet.
When Windows 8 arrives, Microsoft is somewhat gambling that people will instead think of Metro when they think about Windows. When thinking about Metro on a phone or tablet, it will seem more natural and acceptable.

Windows 8 on an Amazon Phone?

he same rumor mill that brought you the whole Amazon phone story has now chocked up a new rumor, about amazon using Windows 8 on their phones. Some people may be surprised because Amazon just doesn’t seem like one to use someone else’s operating system, and I agree with that for the most part.I don’t think Amazon would normally be one to use a common operating system, but when I thought about it, I realized Amazon did use Android for the Kindle Fire, it’s just heavily skinned to look more like Android is Amazon’s proprietary operating system. Maybe that’s what they’ll do to Windows 8.

The only other option that I see for Amazon is to get someone from Microsoft to legally skin Windows 8 for Amazon, and that option doesn’t seem all that likely either.
I’ve also been wondering why Amazon doesn’t just use a version of Windows Phone 7. It would incorporate the phone part a lot better than Windows 8 and it would probably be a lot easier to play with and customize than Windows 8. Well that’s just my opinion.
Anyway, here are the reasons that have been stated by certain people for Amazon to be making a phone. An analyst from Citigroup named Mark Mahaney wrote a report on Amazon’s Asian supply sources and confirmed that Amazon will release a “Kindle Phone” sometime in 2012.
In the report Mahaney wrote, “With the clear success of the Kindle e-Reader over the past 3 years, and Kindle Fire possibly succeeding in the low-priced Tablet market, we view this as the next logical step for Amazon.”
Kevin Chang Citigroup’s hardware research analyst said “channel checks have led him to believe that the Amazon phone might run on a ‘Microsoft operating system.’”
Mahaney didn’t actually confirm the prediction, but “suggests the likelihood by noting that if Amazon was using Google Android as its OS, it will probably need to pay Microsoft an ‘OS royalty’ as several leading manufacturers like Samsung and HTC are doing.” This basically backs up my reason from before.
So do I really think that Amazon will release an Amazon phone that runs Windows 8? No, not really. Do I even think that Amazon will release a Kindle Phone? I don’t think that it’s that likely, but it’s more likely that they will release a phone than they will put Windows 8 on it.