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Windows Phone 8 Tip: Use Xbox Cloud Collection

Windows Phone 8 Tip: Use Xbox Cloud Collection

Windows Phone 8 Tip: Use Xbox Cloud Collection One of the more useful but confusing new features in Windows Phone 8 is ...

Windows 8 Tips: The Ultimate Compendium

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Windows 8 Tips: The Ultimate Compendium</h1>
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You want Windows 8 tips? Oh we have Windows 8 tips!</div>
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Millions of people will be trying <span class="keyword_link"><a href="http://www.windowsitpro.com/windows-8" style="color: #0e5f8b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="">Windows 8</a></span> for the first time this year and many will be confused by the new user experiences, which meld the classic Windows desktop with a new touch-centric mobile platform. No worries: I’ve collected several months of Windows 8 tips—over 50 in all—into a single place where can go to find what you need and master Microsoft’s latest operating system.</div>
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<strong>Note: </strong>With only a few exceptions, these tips also apply to Windows RT.</div>
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<strong>Note:</strong> I’ll be updating this article as new tips are added to the series.</div>
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Installing and upgrading</h2>
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Windows 8 Tip: Upgrade to Windows 8 Now</div>
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This one is a bit timelier than most of my previous Windows 8 tips, and it’s likewise very straightforward. If you’re planning to upgrade an existing PC to Windows 8, you need to do so soon in order to save a ton of money. And that’s true whether you wish to buy a retail upgrade or do so electronically.</div>
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Upgrade from a Previous Windows Version</div>
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With Windows 8, Microsoft is allowing owners of previous Windows versions to upgrade from a previous version of Windows in a variety of ways. In the old days, we thought of this process as a clean install, in-place upgrade, or migration, depending on the method used. But with Windows 8, things are a bit more nuanced. Here’s what’s changing.</div>
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Use the Web-Based Installer</div>
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Microsoft has always offered a variety of ways to buy and install new versions of Windows, with retail and electronic options, clean installs, upgrades, and migrations, and in-box ways of upgrading to higher-end Windows editions. In Windows 8, the ways in which we can acquire and install this OS have expanded yet again. And this time around, Microsoft offers the simplest way yet to do both.</div>
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Create Setup Media After Using the Web Installer</div>
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I’ve advocated using the Windows 8 web installer because it’s the simplest and safest way to upgrade an existing PC to Windows 8. But if you didn’t create Setup media using the web installer, you may be concerned about what happens if you need to start over again from scratch in the future. No worries: You will be able to install Windows 8 later if need be.</div>
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Dual-Boot with Windows 7</div>
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When it comes to dual-booting between Windows 8 and Windows 7, the advice is the same as always: Install the older OS first, make room for the second OS, and then install the newer OS.</div>
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Upgrade from the Release Preview</div>
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With Windows 8 arriving in public form on October 26, millions of users are still running the Release Preview version of the operating system are wondering what their options are: Can they upgrade? Or will they need to start over again from scratch?</div>
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Upgrade from Windows Vista</div>
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Continuing a series of tips that examines upgrading from previous versions of Windows to Windows 8, I take a look at Windows Vista: Which upgrade types are supported, and what can you bring forward from this version of Windows to Windows 8?</div>
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Upgrade from Windows XP</div>
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In this tip, I examine upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 8: Which upgrade types are supported, and what can you bring forward from this version of Windows to Windows 8?</div>
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Upgrade from Windows 7</div>
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In my final article in this series of tips about upgrading from previous versions of Windows to Windows 8, I take a look at Windows 7, which offers the best-possible and most fully-supported upgrade experience.</div>
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Reclaim Disk Space After an Upgrade</div>
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When you upgrade from a previous Windows version to Windows 8, Setup automatically stores much of your previous Windows install in a special folder so you can recover information later if need be. But this folder takes up a ton of disk space, and if you don’t need its contents, you can safely remove it to recover that space. There’s just one trick you need to know about first.</div>
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Metro and the built-in Metro-styled apps</h2>
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Understand Metro’s Mobile Roots</div>
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In writing about Windows 8, I’ve tried to stress that this new system is a mobile OS and not an evolution of Windows 7. That’s because the new Metro-style apps in Windows 8 are mobile apps, not traditional desktop applications. The difference may seem subtle, but it isn’t. And bridging this conceptual divide is key to your understanding and using Windows 8 effectively.</div>
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Understand the Differences Between the SkyDrive App and the SkyDrive Application</div>
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While it’s clear that the new Metro environment in Windows 8 and RT is a new mobile platform, many users still don’t understand the implications of this distinction. Key among the confusions is SkyDrive, which is available in both Metro app and desktop application forms on Windows 8. These two programs offer completely different but complementary capabilities.</div>
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Adding Accounts in Mail App</div>
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Microsoft’s new Mail app is a Metro-style replacement for the email capabilities in Windows Live Mail, and while it’s an attractive enough experience, it’s also a bit strange for those of us used to more complex and feature-packed desktop applications. The most common question I’ve received about the new Mail involves adding new accounts, and while the app is usually pre-configured for your Microsoft account, it’s not clear how (or even whether) you can add other accounts. But you can. Here’s how.</div>
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Integrated Facebook and Twitter</div>
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With Windows 8, Microsoft is bringing its integrated, Metro-style experiences from Windows Phone to traditional PCs and new computing devices. Integration means many things, but one of the big benefits is that you no longer need special apps to perform individual tasks. So rather than interact with Facebook using a Facebook app, and access Twitter from a Twitter app, you can do both—and more—using a single, integrated Windows 8 experience.</div>
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Find Anything with Search</div>
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While previous versions of Windows offered an incredibly useful Start Menu Search feature, Windows 8 takes it to 11 with a new full-screen Start Search experience and integrated searching of virtually every useful new Metro-style app. It’s one of Windows 8’s best features.</div>
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Pin Favorite Apps in Start Search</div>
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While the Windows 8 Start Search experience has some pluses and minuses compared to the similar Windows 7 feature, one of the nicer changes is the integration of search into Metro-style apps. And if you have favorite Metro apps, you can pin them to the top of Start Search so that those apps are easier to search.</div>
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Manage Notifications</div>
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Like the mobile platforms that inspired it, Windows 8 and RT offer integrated and centralized support for notifications, ways in which apps and the OS itself can alert the user to important events without interrupting what they’re doing. And while Windows 8 falls short of offering a true notification hub, like many mobile systems, it does offer a variety of features that help you manage these notifications.</div>
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Pin the Facebook Web App</div>
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In some ways, this tip is kind of a bonbon, a lightweight trifle in the sense that it’s fairly obvious. But if you’re bemoaning the lack of a native Metro-style app for Facebook, your best alternative may be to skip the Facebook support in the People app and just use Facebook’s web experience.</div>
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Shut Down Metro-Style Apps</div>
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While many complain that the design of the new Metro user experience in Windows 8/RT is too touch-centric, we should give Microsoft some credit for fully support traditional PC interfaces like keyboard and mouse as well. So it is with shutting down Metro-style apps: Yes, there are new ways to do this, but Windows 8 supports traditional methods as well.</div>
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Desktop environment and applications</h2>
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Complete Windows 8 with Windows Essentials 2012</div>
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Critics of Windows 8 have a point when they argue that Microsoft’s new OS is shipping in a semi-incomplete state. But this isn’t unprecedented: Even Windows 7 lacked core applications for email, photo editing, and the like, and the advice then was that you could complete the Windows 7 experience by adding Windows Live Essentials. For Windows 8, the advice still rings true, especially for desktop users: You will want to install the new Essentials to fill some gaps in Windows 8’s core functionality.</div>
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Use SkyDrive to Sync Your Documents and Pictures</div>
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In a previous tip, I discussed how you can complete the Windows 8 user experience by installing Windows Essentials 2012, a suite of useful desktop applications that provides far more functionality than the built-in Metro apps and desktop applications that come standard with the OS. One of those applications, SkyDrive, is particularly useful. And if configured correctly, you can use this application to sync all of your important documents and photos—and other files—between all of your PCs and the cloud.</div>
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System-level tasks</h2>
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Shut Down, Restart, and Sleep</div>
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In this tip, I look at a common source of confusion in Windows 8: How you shut down, restart, or sleep the PC.</div>
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Adjusting the Volume</div>
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Previous to Windows 8, most users knew to use the Volume icon in the system tray to control the system volume and access more advance controls such as the mixer, which could be used to individually control the volume of individual applications and playback devices. These interfaces still exist in Windows 8, of course, but with the addition of the Metro environment, a more consistent method for controlling system volume is provided.</div>
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Master Keyboard Shortcuts</div>
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Windows 8 was clearly designed for multi-touch interfaces first, but it also has full featured keyboard and mouse interfaces. So while users of traditional PCs are understandably miffed that their favorite device type is being deemphasized going forward, Windows 8 will not leave you in the lurch. And one of the best ways to get efficient in this new system on traditional PC hardware is to learn the new keyboard shortcuts that Microsoft added to Windows 8.</div>
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User accounts</h2>
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Sync Settings and Files with Multiple PCs</div>
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With Windows 8, Microsoft is finally adding what’s now called “user experience virtualization” features to its desktop operating system, providing ways to sync various things between different PCs, providing a consistent and familiar environment on each. The core OS provides a wide range of settings synchronization capabilities, and with a simple and free add-on application, you can sync files between all of your PCs as well.</div>
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Convert a Local Account to a Microsoft Account</div>
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With Windows 8, its preferable to sign into your PC with a Microsoft account—or what we still call a Windows Live ID—to take advantage of SkyDrive-based settings sync and deep integration with several new Metro-style apps and other capabilities. But if you signed in with a local account for whatever reason, you can still take advantage of Windows 8’s Microsoft account integration. You just need to convert the local account.</div>
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Sign In to a Domain and Still Use Live Services</div>
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With Windows 8, its preferable to sign into your PC with a Microsoft account—or what we still call a Windows Live ID—to take advantage of SkyDrive-based settings sync and deep integration with several new Metro-style apps and other capabilities. But what about those people who sign in to their PC with a corporate domain account? In this tip, I’ll explain how can still utilize this integration.</div>
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Share Apps Between Multiple Accounts</div>
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Windows 8 works like other mobile app platforms, where an online account, in this case your Microsoft account, is used to make app and game purchases. But what if you have a shared PC or device and would like to use the same paid apps and games between multiple accounts? Can you do this, or do you need to buy the app multiple times, one for each account?</div>
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Personalizing Windows 8</h2>
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Embrace Change</div>
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While most of the Windows 8 tips I’ve written have focused on specific new features and functionality, this one is a bit more general. If you do upgrade to Windows 8, my advice is to embrace the changes that Microsoft has made to this new OS and not try to circumvent them with utilities that emulate the old-fashioned user interfaces of previous Windows versions.</div>
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Disable the Lock Screen</div>
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With Windows 8, Microsoft is bringing a number of technologies and user experiences from the mobile world into its desktop OS for the first time, a blending of the old and then new that will confuse some users. But while some of the new mobile-based experiences in Windows 8 will make sense on traditional desktop and portable computers, some will not. And the Windows Phone-like Lock screen can rightfully be seen as an unnecessary extra step at boot time. Let’s get rid of it.</div>
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Customize the Start Screen</div>
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Microsoft has replaced the program launching capabilities of the Start menu and taskbar with a new Start screen in Windows 8, and while this new interface is controversial in certain circles, it offers new ways for you to customize your daily computing experience.</div>
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Customize Live Tiles</div>
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In the previous tip, I discussed a number of ways in which you can customize the Windows 8 Start screen. But the final piece to this puzzle is a related set of customizations you can make to individual live tiles on the Start screen.</div>
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Customize the Desktop</div>
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Anyone who has used Windows over the past decade or so understands how to customize the desktop, and most of the same tools and techniques carry over, often unchanged, to Windows 8. But there are a few interesting new customization capabilities in the Windows 8 desktop.</div>
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Boot Directly to the Desktop</div>
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Those trying to replace the new Metro-style experiences in Windows 8 are missing the point: These interfaces are the future of the PC, and I feel it’s better to dive right in, learn and master them, and stop pining for obsolete UIs like the Start button and the Start menu. That said, most Windows 8 users today are still using traditional PCs and are working almost exclusively with desktop applications. So it does make sense to jump directly to the desktop when you sign-in on such machines. And a free new utility is arguably the best way to make that happen.</div>
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Change File Associations</div>
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The methods you use to change file associations—that, which apps or applications are used to open specific file types—in Windows 8 are similar to how things work in Windows 7. But there a few major changes: Some of the interfaces you use now are Metro experiences. And in Windows 8, you get to choose between Metro style apps and desktop applications.</div>
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Run Metro Apps in Windows on the Desktop</div>
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Windows utility maker Stardock has released an amazing application that lets you run Windows 8 “Metro” apps in a window alongside traditional Windows applications. It’s not free, but if you use Windows 8 on a desktop PC as I do, this might be the best $5 you ever spend.</div>
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Interacting with hardware</h2>
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Syncing a Windows Phone 7.x or Zune Device</div>
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With both Windows and Windows Phone changing fairly dramatically with this year’s major updates, some users are concerned or confused about how they’ll accomplish common tasks. Key among these is PC-to-device sync: Microsoft has delivered new sync clients and new PC-free functionality with <span class="keyword_link">Windows Phone 8</span>, but many are wondering how they can sync their existing Windows Phone 7.x and Zune devices.</div>
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Printing in Metro-Style Apps</div>
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In Metro, printers are managed, as you’d expect, through PC Settings, the new Metro-style partial replacement for Control Panel. You can view and remove connected printers and other devices, and add new printers and other devices, through PC Settings, Devices. And if a printer is already configured through the desktop environment, it will appear here as well.</div>
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Use Trackpad Multi-touch Gestures</div>
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Most people understand that Windows 8 includes integrated support for mouse, keyboard, and touch screen interfaces. But few realize that Windows 8 also supports multi-touch gestures in the trackpads that are commonly found on laptops and Ultrabooks.</div>
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Digital Music and Video</h2>
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Play DVD Movies</div>
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When Microsoft revealed that it would remove DVD movie playback functionality from Windows 8, enthusiasts howled in protest.  Truth be told, DVD playback is a legacy feature in an age of pervasive connectivity and new Windows device types like Ultrabooks, tablets, and hybrid PCs that lack optical drives in the first place. But it’s easy to add DVD playback to Windows 8 if you really need it. In fact, it can be free.</div>
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Get Media Center for Free</div>
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When Microsoft announced that it was removing Windows Media Center from Windows 8 and making it available as a paid add-on, enthusiasts howled. But in a rare if temporary mea culpa, Microsoft is now making Media Center available for free to anyone with Windows 8 Pro. But you need to act fast: This special offer is available only for a limited time.</div>
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Overcoming Library Limitations</div>
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When I started this collection of Windows 8 tips some months ago, I began by focusing on answering the most common questions I received about Microsoft’s new OS. But today’s tip, oddly, was one I had planned to write from the very beginning, one that I actually held off on because I didn’t think it would impact that many people. That was a mistake.</div>
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Photos App + Library</div>
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The Metro-style digital media apps in Windows 8—Photos, Xbox Music, and Xbox Video—work differently when it comes to how or whether they can access content from different locations. So this time around, I’d like to step back and examine just the Photos app explicitly, and perhaps a clearer picture will emerge.</div>
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Music App 101</div>
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I’ve received a lot of questions about the Xbox Music app in Windows 8, especially around some of the more advanced functionality that users currently expect from solutions like Windows Media Player, Zune, or iTunes. And while this app, like other Metro apps, can only improve over time, it’s important to remember that for now at least it offers only very basic functionality.</div>
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View Your Own Content by Default in Xbox Music and Video Apps</div>
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The Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps both offer gorgeous, full-screen interfaces for displaying music, TV shows, and movies. But both apps default to an online store view that some people may not like. Fortunately, you can configure both apps to display your own content, rather than Microsoft’s, by default.</div>
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Use Xbox Cloud Collection</div>
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One of the more useful but confusing new features in Windows Phone 8 is its integration with Xbox Cloud Collection, Microsoft’s music storage locker service. But this service works with related services such as Xbox Music Pass and Xbox Music Store to make Windows Phone 8 the most complete and integrated portable music player available.</div>
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Match Your Music</div>
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In a previous tip, I discussed how you could access Xbox Music’s cloud-based music locker service, Cloud Collection, to stream or download the music you previously purchased from Microsoft. But Cloud Collection also includes a music match component, by which you can make your other music available through the service to all of your PCs and devices. And while it’s a bit hard to use, it is available now.</div>
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Repurpose an Old PC as a Home Server</div>
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While I’m currently using <span class="keyword_link">Windows Server 2012</span> Essentials as the foundation of my home office network, a lot of readers are curious about how they might use the simpler and less expensive Windows 8 in a similar way. As it turns out, this is both easy and effective, whether you want a general purpose server or a media server through which you share music, photos, and videos between PCs and devices.</div>
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Backup and restore</h2>
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Reset or Refresh Your PC</div>
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Before Windows 8, resetting a PC was a complex and time-consuming affair. But thanks to Push Button Reset, you can now “nuke it from space,” as I think of it, and return the PC to its factory-fresh state in just minutes. Too good to be true? Not at all. In fact, this is one of Windows 8’s best new features.</div>
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Picking a Backup Strategy</div>
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With Windows 8, users have a much wider range of choices when it comes to file and system backups than they did with Windows 7. Which solution you choose depends on your needs, but understanding why Microsoft so dramatically changed backup in Windows 8 also requires an understanding of how this version of the OS has evolved.</div>
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Enable File History</div>
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Windows 8 includes a feature called File History that caches, or backs up, different versions of your documents and other data files, so you can “go back in time” and recover previous or deleted versions of those files. It’s a great feature that builds on technology that’s been in Windows since 2003—long before Apple copied it with Time Machine—and it works very well. The trouble is, File History is disabled by default in new installs of Windows 8. So you’ll need to enable first.</div>
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Use Windows 7 System Image Backup</div>
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As the foundation for your mobile computing future, Windows 8 provides next generation recovery tools, Push Button Reset for OS reinstalls, and File History for document versioning. But these utilities make many PC users and enthusiasts nervous. If only there was a way to use the system image backup capabilities from Windows 7 in Windows 8.</div>
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Create Recovery Media</div>
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When you install or upgrade to Windows 8, or receive a new Windows 8-based PC, one of the first things you should do is create recovery media, providing you with an alternate way to boot the PC and run recovery tools should something go wrong. This process has changed a bit since Windows 7, and now works with both USB-based recovery media as well as disc-based media.</div>
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Easily Access Recovery Options</div>
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In a previous tip, I described how you can (and should) create Windows 8 recovery media so that you can use Push Button Reset and other tools to help troubleshoot and fix your PC or device when things go wrong. But a bootable disk or USB device is only one way to access these tools, which Microsoft also includes right in your Windows 8 install. There is a faster way.</div>
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Power user features</h2>
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Virtualize with Hyper-V</div>
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In Windows 8, Microsoft has replaced its previous virtualization solution, Windows Virtual PC, with a more powerful, scalable, and capable solution called Hyper-V. Based on its server-based virtualization technologies, Hyper-V is a better solution for developers, IT pros, and the help desk. But it does lack one crucial capability that made Virtual PC special.</div>
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Protect Portable Storage with BitLocker To Go</div>
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Microsoft has been evolving its BitLocker-based full disk encryption technologies since its debut in Windows Vista. In Windows 8, Microsoft offers it’s best ever version of BitLocker to both consumers and businesses, and you can use a related feature, called BitLocker To Go, to protect portable storage devices like USB flash drives and hard drives.</div>
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Use Airplane Mode</div>
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While Windows networking has certainly got more sophisticated about offline conditions over time, Windows 8 introduces a handy switch called Airplane Mode that works like the same feature on various smart phone platforms. It allows you to turn off all of the PC’s radios in one fell swoop when you know you’re going to be offline for a while—as on airplane ride—and then re-enable them when you arrive at your destination.</div>
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Use Remote Desktop</div>
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With Microsoft announcing plans to shutter its Live Mesh service in February, some users are freaking out because its replacement, the SkyDrive desktop application, lacks some useful features, including remote desktop. But remote desktop functionality is already built into Windows 8. Here’s how to make it work.</div>
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Do you have a tip you’d like to see added? Please  add a comment below. Thanks! --Oliver</div>
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Windows 8 Tips: The Ultimate Compendium

Windows 8 Tips: The Ultimate Compendium You want Windows 8 tips? Oh we have Windows 8 tips! Millions of people will...

Windows 8 Tip: Use Windows 7 System Image Backup

Windows 8 Tip: Use Windows 7 System Image Backup

Windows 8 Tip: Use Windows 7 System Image Backup If Windows 8's recovery tools are too New Age for you, you can still use the Wi...

Windows Weekly 242: Refreshing and Resetting

Windows Weekly 242: Refreshing and Resetting

Windows Weekly 242: Refreshing and Resetting In the latest episode of the Windows Weekly , Leo, Mary Jo and I discuss tech r...

Windows 8 Tip: Create Recovery Media

Windows 8 Tip: Create Recovery Media

Windows 8 Tip: Create Recovery Media When you install or upgrade to Windows 8 , or receive a new Windows 8-based PC, one...

Windows 8 Tip: Easily Access Recovery Options

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Windows 8 Tip: Easily Access Recovery Options</h1>
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There is always a better way</div>
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In a previous tip, I described how you can (and should) create <span class="keyword_link">Windows 8</span> recovery media so that you can use Push Button Reset and other tools to help troubleshoot and fix your PC or device when things go wrong. But a bootable disk or USB device is only one way to access these tools, which Microsoft also includes right in your Windows 8 install. There is a faster way.</div>
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Please read Windows 8 Tip: Create Recovery Media for more information about creating a USB- or disc-based recovery disk.</div>
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In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118204131/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1118204131&linkCode=as2&tag=internetnexus-20" style="color: #0e5f8b; text-decoration: none;">Windows 8 Secrets</a>, Rafael Rivera and I documented a number of ways in which you can access Windows 8’s powerful new recovery tools: The aforementioned recovery media (USB or optical disk), from the Windows 8 Setup disc (or USB-based Setup disk), by interrupting the normal boot process (press F8 right after the BIOS/firmware screen, increasingly difficult), or from the Windows 8 boot menu (on dual-boot PCs).</div>
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But there is another way. And it’s possibly the easiest and fastest one of all.</div>
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Using the Power menu that’s available from the Settings pane (WINKEY + I) or the sign-in screen (after the lock screen), simply hold down the LEFT SHIFT key and then select Restart.</div>
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The PC will now restart, fairly immediately, into the recovery environment instead of restarting normally.</div>
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According to reader Allan R., who tipped me off to this method of accessing the recovery environment, this is one of the secrets Microsoft Support uses when helping customers. And, yes, it also works on Windows RT devices including the Microsoft <span class="keyword_link">Surface</span>, like most of these Windows 8 tips.</div>
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Thanks Oliver!</div>
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Windows 8 Tip: Easily Access Recovery Options

Windows 8 Tip: Easily Access Recovery Options There is always a better way In a previous tip, I described how you...

Windows 8 Tip: Reset or Refresh Your PC

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Windows 8 Tip: Reset or Refresh Your PC</h1>
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Windows 8 makes it easier--and faster--than ever to start over from scratch</div>
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Before <span class="keyword_link">Windows 8</span>, resetting a PC was a complex and time-consuming affair. But thanks to Push Button Reset, you can now “nuke it from space,” as I think of it, and return the PC to its factory-fresh state in just minutes. Too good to be true? Not at all. In fact, this is one of Windows 8’s best new features.</div>
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Because of what I do for a living, I test a lot of software, and generally beat up my PCs enough that I end up resetting them pretty regularly. Coming into this month, I felt like both of my main-use PCs, an HP tower desktop and a Samsung Ultrabook, were in need of a little spring cleaning. And during a recent trip to Microsoft’s Redmond campus, I resolved to nuke the Ultrabook when I got home.</div>
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Doing so is now a lot easier—and less time-consuming—than it used to be.</div>
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With previous versions of Windows, you had two choices for nuking the PC: You could use the PC maker’s restore routine, either via a built-in partition on the disk or separate optical disc, or you could boot the PC with a Windows Setup disk and install a clean version of the OS, albeit one that would probably require some additional driver installation after the fact.</div>
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Though there are exceptions—Lenovo’s ThinkPad PCs are notably clean of crapware, for example, and of course Microsoft Signature PCs are pristine—I’ve generally preferred the latter option in order to ensure that the Windows version I’m starting with is the one Microsoft released, and not one over-burdened by unnecessary utilities and applications. But with Windows 8, new options are available under the umbrella of Push Button Reset.</div>
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You won’t see the term Push Button Reset anywhere in Windows 8: That’s what this set of functionality is called internally. Instead, this technology is exposed as two features in the OS, PC Reset (“Remove everything and reinstall Windows”) and PC Refresh (“Refresh your PC without affecting your files”). Which you will choose is based on your needs.</div>
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Both offer the same basic functionality: They will remove and then clean install Windows 8 in a very fast manner, returning the OS to its default configuration. (More on that in a moment.) But PC Refresh adds a twist by copying your Metro apps, personalizations, and personal files to a temporary location during the process and then returning them to the new Windows install when done.</div>
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“Default configuration” varies from PC to PC. If you installed Windows 8 using Microsoft’s installer yourself, you’ll get a base install of Windows 8 as God intended. If you bought a Windows 8-based PC from a PC maker, that default configuration will include PC-specific drivers. It can also unfortunately include crapware.</div>
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In a future tip, I’ll explore how you can modify this system image to your needs, but in the meantime remember that the old way of doing things still works. That is, you can reset your PC, remove any crapware, and then backup the newly-clean configuration using the old-school backup routine from Windows 7. Windows 8 Tip: Use Windows 7 System Image Backup explains how.</div>
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For whatever reason, I tend to use PC Reset, not PC Refresh. Mulling this over, there’s actually no good reason for this, as I end up repopulating my documents via SkyDrive each time anyway. But either way, the process is the same: You can trigger PC Reset or Refresh from the Metro-based PC Settings or via Control Panel. Or if your PC isn’t working, you can use the Recovery environment. (Check out Windows 8 Tip: Create Recovery Media for information about creating a bootable disc for this purpose, though your Windows 8 Setup media will work too, if you have that.) Since the Metro version is the most obvious, let’s look at that.</div>
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You can find the Push Button Reset options in PC Settings under General, near the bottom of the list of options.</div>
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If you choose the refresh option, you’ll be prompted with an explanation of what’s about to happen. Click through this full-screen notification and Windows will be reinstalled, with your personal data, personalizations, and Metro apps all backed up and reapplied to the new install automatically.</div>
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The entire process takes just several minutes, though anything added by your PC maker will stretch things out a bit. In a test of my Ultrabook, which was first reset as described below, it took about 10 minutes for the refresh process, including moving about 8 GB of data back and forth.</div>
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If you choose to reset, you’ll be prompted with a much shorter explanation as you’re essentially performing a clean install of the OS, or that “nuke from space” scenario I described earlier.</div>
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But once you get past that first stage of the wizard, you’re presented with a second option: Do you want to fully clean your drive?</div>
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If you’re just resetting the PC for your own use, choose “Just remove my files,” as the process is much faster. The second option, “Fully clean the drive,” is there for when you are giving or selling the PC to someone else and you want to ensure that they can’t use a PC forensics utility to mine data off the supposedly erased hard drive. It’s much more time consuming than the first option, but also makes your PC safe for transfer to a new owner.</div>
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The reset process is even quicker than refresh, unless of course you choose the full-clean option. On my Ultrabook, I was able to nuke from space in 7 minutes.</div>
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One thing to realize about Push Button Reset is that it won’t retain your PC’s drivers; the process literally installs Windows 8 from scratch whether you choose PC Reset or PC Refresh. So unless your PC maker has included those drivers as part of the process, you’ll likely need to install missing drivers after the fact. This works as it always has: Use Windows Update first and then, if necessary, check your PC maker’s support web site for individual drivers or, hopefully, a driver install front-end application (as is provided for my Samsung Ultrabook).</div>
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Windows 8 Tip: Reset or Refresh Your PC

Windows 8 Tip: Reset or Refresh Your PC Windows 8 makes it easier--and faster--than ever to start over from scratch Before ...

Windows 8 App Development: A Burden or a Breeze?

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Windows 8 App Development: A Burden or a Breeze?   </h1>
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Brad Chacos spends the days jamming to Spotify, digging through desktop PCs and covering everything from BYOD tablets to DIY tesla coils.</div>
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<span itemprop="articleBody description text"><section class="page">Redmond, we have a problem. <br />
With PC sales stalling and tablet sales booming, Microsoft decided to shed the shackles of its desktop-focused past in favor of a touch-friendly, mobile-first future. It's goodbye Start button, hello Start screen. Icons are out, tiles are in. <br />
The new look-and-feel in Windows 8 (Microsoft wonkily calls it the "Modern U.I. Style") also beckons a whole new software ecosystem—apps created specifically for the new tile-based interface. And therein lies the rub. The apps just aren't there yet, either in quantity or quality. <br />
A Microsoft vice-president just publicly stated that his company will “aggressively pursue 100,000-plus apps over the first three months," but nothing about the current Windows Store app inventory (it's hovering just below 4,000 for all storefronts worldwide) suggests such lofty goals will be realized. <br />
Our previous examination of the state of the Windows Store detailed some of the reasons why developers might not be flocking to Microsoft's baby. One widespread sentiment posits that developing apps for an unproven Windows 8 ecosystem doesn't make as much fiscal sense as putting the finishing touches on apps for the already established (and thriving) Android and Apple marketplaces. Meanwhile, some developers echo Valve honcho Gabe Newell, finding only craven motivations in Microsoft's move to the "walled garden" model. <br />
Still, we pondered, could part of the scarcity of apps be placed at the feet of plain old technical difficulties rather than high-minded moral ideals? Just how easy is it to create a Windows 8 app? <br />
The question holds implications for more than just Windows 8 launch day. If Windows 8 takes off in a stratospheric way—and it very well could, considering the OS will be installed on the vast majority of PCs sold after October 26th—an easy development process would smooth the transition for currently hesitant developers who decide to hop on the gravy train at a later date. On the flipside, however, a coding nightmare could help to cement the dominant positions of the entrenched iOS and Android platforms. <br />
So what's it really like developing a Windows 8 app? We spoke to a handful of top developers who are already working with the platform to get a clear view of the situation. <br />
<h2>
Using the Windows 8 Software Development Kit</h2>
Microsoft supports several programming languages with its Windows 8 SDK. The developers we spoke to said that versatility makes developing Windows 8 apps a breeze, particularly if you have a background in developing for Windows or Web apps, or if you're familiar with C++ or C#. <br />
"It's been a pretty straightforward transition with the Windows 8 SDK, in translating our app to that platform," says Jonathan Sasse, senior vice president of Product and Programming at <a href="http://www.slacker.com/">Slacker Radio</a>. "Certainly, from our perspective, it's on par with implementing other operating system SDKs that we've done before. In fact, in some cases, it might've even been a little bit easier." <br />
<figure class=" large"><img alt="Slacker" border="0" height="349" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/windows20slacker20ap-100007924-large.png" width="580" /><figcaption>The developer of The Slacker Radio app says there's nothing particularly difficult about creating software for Windows 8.</figcaption></figure>Others developers sang the same song. Richard McKinney, the chief technical officer for Halfbrick—best known for Fruit Ninja—calls the platform's WinRT API backbone "great for C++ developers, and good for other developers." <br />
Michael Barr, the CTO of Ireland's JamPot, says that the SDK's flexibility should entice developers from different skill sets. "You can develop your app natively in C#, or you can develop it using HTML5 and CSS, so people who come from a web design background will actually be able to apply themselves to Windows 8 quite quickly rather than having to learn a whole new framework from the ground up." Web developers can also whip together Windows 8 apps using JavaScript. <br />
Developers who use cross-platform C++ and C# development tools to create apps for other platforms will find the transition just as easy. "Once you've set up your core framework, (the new Windows APIs) really just get out of your way and let you use cross platform C++ code to do what you need," McKinney says. <br />
Hitcents, whose Draw a Stickman Epic will be available when the Windows Store officially launches on October 26th, developed its apps using Xamarin's cross-platform Monotouch and Mono for Android. "This allows us to use the same language, C#, and share code between all platforms," senior application developer Jon Peppers says. "I was able to port our game to Windows 8 in less than four hours, not counting the time to resize things to fit the new screen resolution." (Peppers and his Hitcents cohorts have posted a brief YouTube video describing the benefits of using Xamarin tools to create cross-platform apps.) <br />
Business apps wouldn't port quite as quickly, and the process wouldn't have been so swift, without the cross-platform Xamarin tools, Peppers notes, but JamPot CEO James Scott says that the easy transition to the Windows 8 SDK enabled his company to get its Windows 8 app support up and running in half the time it took to get its Android or iOS service off the ground. <br />
<h2>
Where Are The Native iOS and Android Ports?</h2>
So developing Windows 8 apps shouldn't be difficult for developers with a Windows, web or cross-platform background. But is the transition just as seamless for developers who cut their teeth diving into the native languages of competing platforms, such as iOS's Objective-C or Android's Java? <br />
That's a bit more difficult to answer. <br />
Tracking down a dedicated Android or iOS developer that's making the jump to Windows 8 is like trying to find a diehard fan of EA's Origin gaming service: They just aren't out there, and the hesitance has little to do with technical hurdles. If you spend any amount of time in Android and iOS developer forums, it quickly becomes obvious that the majority of developers who are dedicated to competing mobile platforms plan to <em>stay</em> dedicated to competing mobile platforms until Microsoft proves that there's money to be found in creating Windows 8 apps. Fortunately, a few of the Windows 8 developers we spoke to offered some insights about the hurdles faced by developers only steeped in iOS and Android work. <br />
<figure class=" large"><img alt="" border="0" height="363" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/windows20store20game-100007932-large.png" width="580" /><figcaption>With only 357 games in the Windows Store, the ecosystem isn't necessarily attractive to iOS and Android developers who are looking for critical mass.</figcaption></figure>"If you're starting from scratch or coming from another environment like iOS or Android, you should find everything very straightforward," says Halfbrick CTO Richard McKinney, though he admits that porting native iOS and Android apps to Windows 8 would take a while. "If your gameplay code is written directly in Objective-C or Java, you'll need to port all of that over in addition to the platform code." Hitcent's Peppers agrees that porting non-cross-platform iOS and Android apps to Windows 8 could "take some time." <br />
Even still, the small bumps presented by the Windows 8 SDK pale compared to the hoops developers originally had to jump through to work on mobile applications. "You hear some people complaining about [development] hurdles, but it's nothing compared to the original hurdles face when Apple's Xcode [integrated development environment software] came out," says JamPot CTO James Barr. "That was a big challenge to get people started on iOS." <br />
The Windows 8 developers we spoke to don't agree with the wait-and-see approach of the hesitant Android and iOS developers. "Windows 8 isn't a new device that we're unsure is going to succeed. It's the next generation of the most popular operating system in the world," says McKinney. "There is a guaranteed huge audience there." <br />
<h2>
Lean On Me</h2>
Having a flexible SDK is nice, but developers spent just as much time praising Microsoft's support infrastructure, starting with the Visual Studios 2012 software used to create Windows 8 apps. <br />
"Visual Studio 2012 is the best IDE in the world for developing games," McKinney says. "No other IDE even comes close to the speed and power of Visual Studio." JamPot's Michael Barr agrees, saying that Visual Studio has "really nice debugging tools built-in and really nice test kit tools out of the box." <br />
<figure class=" large"><img alt="" border="0" height="341" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/windows20dev20cente-100007923-large.png" width="580" /><figcaption>Developers generally seem pleased with Visual Studio 2012, a key tool for Windows 8 app development.</figcaption></figure>Microsoft's software evangelists earned a heap of praise from the Microsoft faithful as well. Every single developer we talked to worked closely with an evangelism team, and all say the mutual benefit is nothing short of heavenly. <br />
"We have a good working relationship with the evangelism unit within Microsoft," says JamPot's Scott. "We work with those guys and they support their developers through things like providing devices and heads-ups when new things are coming out. If there are any problems, they feed it back into the organization. They're very easygoing guys to work with, and they're very open as well." <br />
Microsoft's developer assistance doesn't end there. The company helps would-be Windows developers get a handle on Microsoft software through initiatives like BizSpark and DreamSpark, programs that dole out free subscriptions to premium-priced development tools for technology startups and students, respectively. Once you've got your hands on some development tools, the Windows Apps Dev Center provides an abundance of helpful documentation and a packed developer forum. <br />
The company also holds free Windows developer camps all over the world on a near-daily basis, where developers can learn from experts in an interactive environment and then try their hands at what they've learned. <br />
Want to learn how to create an app that's flawlessly, well, "Modern"? Microsoft has teamed with top design agencies around the globe to teach them the principles of the Modern U.I. Style interface, and it points inquiring developers in those agencies' direction when necessary. Sometimes, Microsoft even foots the bill for developers to receive up to 40 hours of design education from its agency partners. <br />
Finally, a Microsoft rep told us that the company also plans on reintroducing its App Excellence Labs program—which has been on hiatus since the Windows 8 Consumer Preview hit—in the form of retooled Windows Store App Labs. At the registration-only events, developers will receive access to both x86- and ARM-based Windows 8 devices in various form factors, along with hands-on development assistance from Microsoft engineers and design tips from the aforementioned interface experts. The Windows Store App Labs will kick off in 30 locations around the world on October 15th, though the design help won't be available until after the official launch of the operating system on October 26th. <br />
<figure class=" large"><img alt="" border="0" height="387" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/windows20820asia20cam-100007931-large.jpg" width="580" /><figcaption>A scene from a Windows 8 development camp in Asia.</figcaption></figure>But there's still one carrot that Microsoft isn't waving in front of Windows 8 developers: paid subsidies to create apps. Microsoft doesn't offer cash payments as an incentive in any way, contrary to what RIM is doing to stimulate BB10 interest. The developers we spoke to confirmed that they hadn't received any monetary assistance to create their Windows 8 apps. What remains to be seen is whether the no-subsidy policy will stay in effect if the Windows Store fails to fire on all cylinders at launch. <br />
<h2>
Developers! Developers! Developers!</h2>
Between the flexible yet straightforward SDK, the powerful Visual Studio development software, and a robust support infrastructure, Microsoft has squashed the major concerns usually associated with jumping ship to a new platform. Meanwhile, tools like JamPot's TheAppBuilder help even non-developers hop on the Windows 8 bandwagon with DIY app creation services that require no coding experience whatsoever. <br />
Steve Ballmer's focus on developers! developers! developers! could pay long-term dividends for Windows 8 adoption, but it looks like the strategy may just pay off in the short run as well. According to Microsoft analyst Wes Miller's WinAppUpdate.com, the Windows Store currently offers nearly 4,000 apps worldwide, a number that's almost doubled in just over two weeks. The Windows Store's growth rate still isn't exponential enough to challenge the hundreds of thousands of apps available for Android and iOS, but it's looking like Microsoft could very well hit the magic 5,000 app number analysts say is crucial for early Windows Store (and Windows RT) success. <br />
Of course, keeping the bar low acts as a two-edged sword. The Windows Store might be growing rapidly, but most of the apps available now are, well, uninspired at best and flat-out bad at worst. The shoddy state of the current app selection prompted WinAppUpdate's Miller to go on a quality-related rant at the beginning of October. <br />
"You’ve got almost one month before the Windows Store goes live," he pleaded in a recent post. "Take the time to build a few great apps. Don’t build a mass of mediocrity. There’s already app stores that do that." <br />
Will developers step up their game? Can Microsoft's excellent app framework entice the masses to Windows 8? Those questions won't be answered for a while, but one thing is already certain: Microsoft is doing everything it can to give developers everything they need to make Windows 8 apps a success</section></span></article>

Windows 8 App Development: A Burden or a Breeze?

Windows 8 App Development: A Burden or a Breeze? Brad Chacos spends the days jamming to Spotify, digging through desktop PCs and cover...

The Windows 8 ecosystem: 5 best and 5 worst features

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The Windows 8 ecosystem: 5 best and 5 worst features</h1>
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<section class="page">Windows 8 hasn’t just arrived—it has arrived in full force, with an armada of ancillary products. Microsoft’s deployment of the new Windows platform across desktops, laptops, tablets, hybrids, and smartphones constitutes a major push to make Windows 8 your defining computing experience regardless of your hardware persuasion. Depending on your point of view, this can be a good thing or a very, very bad thing. <br />
Or maybe it’s both. <br />
Let’s take a walk through some of the triumphs and failings of Microsoft’s sprawling Windows 8 ecosystem. Like it or not, this is the environment that all new-PC users (and many PC upgraders) will be working with for the next few years. <br />
<h2>
The good</h2>
<strong>The great unification</strong> <br />
Although Windows 8 stumbles in its attempts to push a touch-centric operating system onto desktops and laptops lacking finger-friendly screens, I’m nonetheless impressed by Microsoft’s execution in delivering a unified experience across all of its major consumer platforms. Windows 8 on x86-based tablets is the same Windows 8 that you can find on laptops and desktops, and this provides a tight degree of unification that’s missing from Apple’s product lineup, which is split between Mac OS and iOS. <br />
<figure class="left medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="169" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/screenshot202-100010951-medium.png" width="300" /><figcaption>You can access SkyDrive across pretty much all your new Windows devices. </figcaption></figure>The linchpin is the new Microsoft Account sign-in (formerly Live ID). Through a single username and password, your Microsoft Account taps into the cloud and establishes common preferences among all the Windows-based hardware and services you may use (though regional barriers are still a problem; more about that below). So kudos to Microsoft for acknowledging that our computers, tablets, smartphones, and game consoles should be connected, sharing a common, user-specific experience. <br />
From SkyDrive to SmartGlass to the ability to synchronize settings across environments quickly and easily, the new Windows 8 platform provides the essential core connections for all your software and gear. <br />
<strong>Forcing a touchy issue </strong> <br />
Since touch is the cornerstone of Windows 8—regardless of whether you actually have a touch-responsive display on your chosen device—Microsoft is pushing third-party developers to take the next big step in app creation. Simply put: Touch cannot be ignored. This mandate is an issue for people without touch-enabled hardware. And it’s bad news for people who have tried touch control but hate it. Yet Microsoft's new “the touch way or the highway” philosophy shows vision and innovation, and affirms the public’s overwhelming support for touch gestures on computing hardware. <br />
<figure class="right medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="201" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/gesture_primarry_116-100010091-ori-100010927-medium.png" width="300" /><figcaption>Adopting a touch-centric approach will help move Microsoft forward into the modern computing era.</figcaption></figure>Sure, some developers will never jump on the touch bandwagon, either because they don’t have an interest in advancing their users' experience, or because their software can’t benefit from touch in any way (after all, some utilities are so simple, one-dimensional, or keyboard-dependent that an investment in touch development wouldn’t make sense). Nonetheless, you can expect to see many more apps that tightly and creatively leverage touch support. These are the apps that will carry Microsoft forward. <br />
And these are the apps that will ensure a consistent, high-quality user experience, regardless of which hardware you use to tap into the new Windows regime. <br />
<strong>Leading by (hardware) example</strong> <br />
Microsoft isn’t just reinventing its Windows platform. It’s also doubling down on a hardware strategy designed to lead by example, showing tablet manufacturers that tablet-laptop <span>hybrids</span> are the future of PC computing. <br />
<figure class="left medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="201" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/surface_galler-100009708-galler-100010115-medium.jpg" width="300" /><figcaption>Surface RT forces hardware partners to innovate and advance the basic computing form factor.</figcaption></figure>Yes, I know: Pairing touch-based tablets with keyboards isn’t a new idea. Other parties have done it before, with Asus being the most effective. But Microsoft’s elegant execution of Surface RT, with its keyboard-cover accessories, sets a high bar for what a Windows 8 tablet-laptop hybrid should be. What’s more, because Surface RT is Microsoft’s first foray into computer manufacturing, the company will now compete with its hardware partners, and this might lower prices and encourage the creation of better, more interesting, more innovative computers across the entire Windows 8 ecosystem. <br />
In essence: Consumers get more choice, and better products to pick from. Microsoft, meanwhile, achieves faster market-share gains for Windows 8. The new Surface tablet isn’t just the premier hardware component in the new Windows ecosystem—it’s actually a catalyst for greater ecosystem success. <br />
<strong>Fearing giants promotes innovation</strong> <br />
Now that Microsoft has committed to the brave new world of touch—and smartphones and tablets—it has to deliver the goods. It’s now competing directly with the iPad and iPhone. It’s now competing with scads of Android devices. This isn’t necessarily an enviable position given Microsoft’s uphill climb, but it will definitely drive innovation, and that bodes well for the Windows ecosystem as a whole. <br />
<figure class="right medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="231" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/08/skydrive-android_35-100001369-medium.jpg" width="350" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure>In short, Microsoft has to get very creative, very quickly. Ultimately this challenge will benefit consumers the most. Microsoft will have to drive new features throughout its platform, especially new ways for all of the hardware components to interact with one another. And this is an opportunity that neither Apple nor Google really gets to explore, since Apple splits its ecosystem between Mac OS and iOS, and Google doesn’t even have a computer OS. <br />
Apps such as Xbox SmartGlass, and services such as the SkyDrive cloud platform and Xbox Music streaming, are great starts. But what else can Microsoft do to persuade users to abandon their existing devices and ecosystems, and leap head-first into Windows 8? More important, how fast can Microsoft pull that off? These are scary questions for Microsoft, but I think standing in place doing nothing is an even scarier option. <br />
<strong>Joining the app-store masses</strong> <br />
Apple had one first. Then Google got one. Now, finally, Microsoft has one too: a software store. It’s not for your Windows Phone 8 device, but for Windows itself. And the new Windows Store is the only place you can download “Windows 8 apps,” the Start screen-centric programs previously known as Metro apps. <br />
<figure class="left medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="201" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/windows20store20spotligh-100007920-galler-100010934-medium.png" width="300" /><figcaption>The new Windows Store ensures a reliable user experience for PC neophytes.</figcaption></figure>Although the move has frustrated developers who create software that Microsoft doesn’t want—either a result of a particular app falling short of Microsoft’s guidelines, or the fact that Microsoft isn’t opening the Windows Store to the full purchase of desktop applications—it’s nonetheless a powerful driver in making Microsoft’s ecosystem more accessible, more convenient, and more secure for users. <br />
The Windows Store is a great step forward; but in order to recognize its benefits, you can’t look at it through the eyes of a power user. Envision, instead, the typical technological neophyte who wants access to online shopping, streaming movies, financial information, games, rudimentary media editing, and all the other simple services that computers make possible. Throughout their computing lives, these novices have been tempted numerous times: A Web ad has asked them to install something they shouldn’t. Or they’ve installed software upon the recommendation of a friend, but that software isn’t compatible with their system. Or, even sadder, these newbies might not even know how to find and download new programs for their PCs. <br />
The Windows Store gives such users a simple and secure entry point for downloading apps that have passed stringent certification from Microsoft itself. Sure, an app might ultimately stink, but at least users now have strong assurance that the software won’t muck up their systems. To wit: Apple’s App Store went more than five years before succumbing to its first piece of malware, and the company quickly expunged the app so that no new user could download it ever again. </section><section class="page"><h2>
The Bad</h2>
<strong>Friendly compromises that were never made</strong> <br />
To construct a user experience that works fairly seamlessly across desktops, tablets, and smartphones, Microsoft had to make some compromises, and these trade-offs are affecting desktop users the most. Although it’s relatively easy to operate a touchscreen-oriented interface on a device with an actual touchscreen, it’s not so easy to translate touch gestures to the world of mice and keyboards. Power users aren’t happy with Microsoft’s new Windows 8 mouse gestures, so you can only imagine how well they’ll be received by the enterprise market, and by all of our grandparents. <br />
<figure class="right medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="201" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/windows20820essentials_primar-100010634-larg-100010935-medium.png" width="300" /><figcaption></figcaption></figure>In some cases Microsoft didn’t even have to make compromises, but still opted to restrict the user’s ability to navigate Windows in a familiar, friendly way. The company had ample opportunity to give users choice and freedom in its construction of Windows 8, but decided not to. <br />
Want a Start menu? We won’t show it by default, but you can enable it if you really need to. Don’t like the Start screen? That’s totally cool. We’ll make it so that you can still access it, but we won’t force you to deal with it up front each time you start the OS. Don’t need a lock screen since you’re on a desktop computer instead of a tablet? Great. We won’t force you to “reveal” your password prompt. Or at least, we won’t bury the option that lets you eliminate this. <br />
That’s how Microsoft’s internal dialogue could have sounded. But in the real world, Microsoft chose differently. In creating a common ecosystem for Windows 8, Microsoft has shifted portions of its new user interface into places where they don’t need to be. <br />
<strong>Common interface, uncommon apps</strong> <br />
The scariest part of the Windows 8 ecosystem is the fact that Microsoft has put a good chunk of the potential success of its OS—across PCs, tablets, and smartphones—in the hands of third-party developers. Even though it’s premature to declare Windows 8 a complete dud in terms of available apps, we have to be concerned about the critical dearth of apps that one would otherwise expect to find on a major new platform. Windows 8 has no official Facebook app, no official Twitter app, and no Instagram. And those are just three of the most obvious omissions. <br />
<figure class="left medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="387" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/windowsphone8x_front_bac-100010185-ori-100010947-medium.jpg" width="300" /><figcaption>Windows Phone 8 devices bear a similar interface to Windows 8, but they can't run Windows 8 apps.</figcaption></figure>The app situation could very well change in a few months, so I won’t quibble about specifics. After all, Microsoft execs have stated that they hope to have 100,000 apps in the Windows Store within 90 days of the Windows 8 launch. <br />
What’s worse for Microsoft is the way that it has decided to treat the Windows Stores on smartphones, tablets, and desktops, walling them off in separate silos instead of unifying all of the environments. How cool would it be to buy a copy of Microsoft Office, and receive a version geared for your Windows 8 smartphone <em>and</em> for your Windows 8 desktop or tablet? Or, for that matter, wouldn’t it be nice to purchase rights to run your favorite Windows 8 smartphone game on your tablet? <br />
But, no, that’s not happening. <br />
A Windows 8 tablet or hybrid is the functional equivalent of a laptop, which shares the same Windows Store as your desktop PC (unless you’re running a Windows RT-based tablet; I'll get into that below). In contrast, a Windows Phone device—whose interface inspired Windows 8 and exhibits many of the same behaviors and features of Windows 8—taps into a completely different software store. Phone apps share a common code with tablet and PC apps, but they can’t directly transfer over to your tablets and PCs. <br />
<strong>The sins of Windows RT</strong> <br />
If you thought the Windows 8 ecosystem was confusing enough in terms of app support, you ain’t seen nothing yet. <br />
Windows 8 RT has entered the fray, too. If the Windows 8 ecosystem of desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones were a great land mass, then Windows 8 RT would be an island off the coast. It’s under the mother country's protection, and it likely enjoys much of the same climate and vegetation, but it’s still separated enough to be its own little, self-contained world. <br />
<figure class="right medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="169" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/screenshot201-100009739-large20-100010948-medium.png" width="300" /><figcaption>The desktop in Windows RT is little more than a home base for Microsoft Word and file management.</figcaption></figure>Microsoft representatives have had trouble explaining the differences between Windows 8 and Windows RT in the months leading up to Windows 8’s big launch. And if they can’t get it right, how is an average consumer supposed to understand that Windows RT is a stripped-down OS version that won’t run desktop applications, save the ones that come preinstalled? In a nutshell, the Windows RT desktop runs a junior edition of Microsoft Office and a motley crew of legacy utilities. That’s it, along with providing the basic file-management functions of any Windows desktop OS. <br />
Microsoft might gain some depth-of-ecosystem advantages by opening Windows 8 to inexpensive (and energy-efficient) ARM processors; in fact, the move to support ARM extends the reach of the new Windows platform. But Windows RT also has the potential to create serious confusion for people expecting to jump between all Windows 8 devices without issues. <br />
<strong>It’s commercial time</strong> <br />
Never before has Microsoft been so unapologetic about tying its commercial interests so closely with the raw mechanics of its OS ecosystem. Although you’re free to set up your own default applications in Windows 8, or to install other apps to manage the multimedia as you see fit, there’s no question that Microsoft would prefer that you use its branded, tiled apps to watch or listen to content. And, oh, while you’re there, perhaps you might like to rent or purchase a movie or two from one of the tiles advertised on your screen. <br />
<figure class="left medium"><img alt="" border="0" height="169" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2012/10/screenshot202-100010952-medium.png" width="300" /><figcaption>The Games app mostly feels like a storefront for, well, games, including those designed for the Xbox 360.</figcaption></figure>It’s bad, folks. The Music app isn’t so much a media player as a storefront for Xbox Music. The Games app isn’t so much a portal for installed games as a platform for buying Windows 8 games—and even Xbox 360 games. And the same conceit holds true for the Video app. These are sales tools, not user-focused programs, and the sales pitch persists throughout the Windows ecosystem. <br />
Android—and even iTunes, to a lesser extent—separates commercialization from content to such a degree that it’s there if you want it, and you know how to reach it, but it isn't in your face, atop a lackluster multimedia player (or games browser). But in the new Windows ecosystem, no matter what you’ve paid for your device or for your subscription content, advertising is now a part of the norm. That’s not fun. <br />
<strong>Region migration?</strong> <br />
Although this issue won’t affect the mainstay of Microsoft’s Windows 8 user base, one of the problems Microsoft has now created in unifying its ecosystem under a common account—the Microsoft Account—is that transferring your account between regions is about two degrees short of impossible. In other words, if you’ve done a lot with your old Live ID in Europe, for instance, and are about to move to the States, you’re in for a bit of a shock: Your new Microsoft Account will remain tied to the country where you created it. <br />
Unfortunately, at the moment you can't just open a drop-down menu in some options panel and change over from, say, England to the United States. Without the ability to make such a switch, users lose the capability to pay for the very services Microsoft offers—apps, Xbox Live points, and the like—in addition to losing access to any region-locked apps, games, services, or subscriptions they’ve already ponied up for. <br />
What would have been an annoying issue in previous years is even worse now that Microsoft is tying a number of Windows 8’s more compelling features to a user’s online account. Microsoft’s standard solution—create a new Microsoft Account—just doesn’t cut it anymore, not when the goal is to have a single sign-on for the entirety of the Windows 8 ecosystem. <br />
The real solution is twofold. First, Microsoft should give its users the opportunity to switch their billing country without hassle. And second, those people who already took Microsoft up on its advice to create multiple accounts need the ability to merge multiple accounts into one. <br />
Microsoft, however, would just prefer that you “hold tight” for now. </section></div>
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The Windows 8 ecosystem: 5 best and 5 worst features

The Windows 8 ecosystem: 5 best and 5 worst features Windows 8 hasn’t just arrived—it has arrived in full force, with an armada of ancill...