John Lister

It's official: Microsoft says that Windows 10 will be free of charge -- but the offer comes with limitations and caveats. The free upgrade offer is part of what could be the biggest change to the Windows business model, ever. Microsoft's comments at ... a launch event this week have been interpreted by some analysts as meaning Windows 10 may also be the last major release of the operating system. Instead, Windows may receive more frequent, but less substantial updates in the future. The Windows 10 free upgrade deal will only apply to consumer versions of Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) and Windows ... (view more)

Facebook is to implement a new feature to help cut down on the number of fake news stories that appear on the site, but says 'genuine parodies' will be unaffected. The report system won't lead to stories being removed from Facebook altogether; ... instead, it will make them less likely to appear on user newsfeeds. Links to news stories are becoming increasingly important on Facebook. A 2014 study by the Pew Research Center found that 30 percent of Americans say they get some of their daily news from Facebook, which is more than three times the figure for any other site. (Source: pewresearch. ... (view more)

Early last year, Microsoft released a free version of Windows for manufacturers that produced tablet computers with screen sizes smaller than nine inches. Known as "Windows 8.1 with Bing," the forecast was to make a big difference to the economics ... for manufacturers weighing up which operating system to use on its devices. Analysts are now speculating whether Microsoft will do the same with Windows 10 and, if so, whether the offer will apply on traditional PCs. It also raises the possibility that Microsoft could face accusations of unfair behavior in promoting its search engine . ... (view more)

As expected and according to Microsoft's Windows lifecycle page, Windows 7 mainstream support officially ended on January 13, 2015. It means there will be no more significant updates to the Windows 7 operating system, other than security updates. ... The end of mainstream support is in line with Microsoft's general policy of offering support for its operating systems five years after being released, followed by extended support for a further five years. The only exception to this policy was Windows XP, where the total support period lasted for 13 years. That was largely because the system ... (view more)

Facebook is to issue missing child alerts in user news feeds to US citizens. The alerts will be based on the user's location and will tie in with existing alert systems. The updates will be based on the AMBER Alert program that has been run for 20 ... years in the United States. AMBER Alert updates already go out via a range of media including: radio and television, highway electronic billboards, electronic signs outside participating retailers, and text alerts to users who have chosen to receive such messages. Whether and when to send an alert is the decision of local police, using their own ... (view more)

Microsoft has publicly lashed out at Google for revealing a severe security flaw in Windows 8.1 before it was able to release a fix. The public disclosure has reawakened a longstanding dispute about how to go about reporting security flaws. Comments ... on Google's website suggest that the same bug also affects Windows 7 Professional 64bit, with Service Pack 1; if true, it's equally likely the bug also affects other earlier versions of the Windows operating system, including Windows XP, which is no longer supported by Microsoft and will therefore remain unpatched. The bug involves the way ... (view more)

The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is in full swing, with Hewlett Packard (HP) unveiling its $180 Windows 8.1 PC that's less than six inches square. Now, it appears that Intel is upping the ante with its Windows 8.1 computer that's just slightly ... larger than a USB thumb drive. Dubbed 'The Compute Stick,' the computer-on-HDMI is just four inches long. While the exact size is not yet confirmed, pictures suggest it's about an inch wide and around half an inch thick. Despite its tiny form factor, the device is as powerful as some entry level PCs seen in the market today. The ... (view more)

HP has unveiled a Windows 8.1 mini desktop computer that's only two inches tall and costs under $200. It's part of an ongoing campaign to battle Google by producing cheap Windows computers. The Stream Mini Desktop is just under six inches square and ... weighs only 1.6 pounds. It's a small, self-contained box with two USB ports, video outputs for HDMI and DisplayPort, an audio socket, an SD card reader, and an Ethernet port for connecting to a network. At the time of writing, it does not appear to have a wireless (Wi-Fi) connection, though one could easily add a USB Wi-Fi dongle to ... (view more)

Unconfirmed rumors suggest Windows 10 may be free of charge for people already on Windows 8.1. An announcement may be coming later this month to clarify the pricing structure. Meanwhile, Microsoft has confirmed that only people on Windows 7 or later ... will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 directly, while those users running Windows XP or Vista will need to carry out a fresh install. The pricing rumors stem from a report by the Softpedia website. It's generally considered credible, but is only citing its source on the pricing structure as "some people close to the matter." ... (view more)

Reports suggest Microsoft is working on a new web browser as an alternative to Internet Explorer. Both the scope and timescale of any changes have not yet been confirmed, but it's suggested the launch will coincide with the release of Windows 10. ... Most rumors reference two codenames for the project: Trident and Spartan. The two names refer to the same strategy: to make Microsoft's web browser better and easier to use on modern websites, while still being able to run web pages designed for legacy systems. Trident is the web browser engine which already exists and is part of Internet ... (view more)