Microsoft Making File Copying Better in Windows 8

One of the great things about GUI operating systems is dealing with file management. While some of us from the old days became pretty good at shuffling files around via the command line, seeing graphical representations of files and dragging and dropping them made things much faster and easier.

Microsoft has changes planned for the way Windows 8 handles the copying and moving of files. Microsoft cites add-ons TeraCopy, FastCopy, and Copy Handler as software it has looked at for file copying. The company found that less than 0.45 percent of Windows 7 PCs are running such software, but still sees it as

"We aren’t aiming to match the feature sets of these add-ons. We expect that there will be a vibrant market for third-party add-ons for a long time," wrote Alex Simons, Microsoft's director of program management, in the Windows 8 Blog. "Our focus is on improving the experience of the person who is doing high-volume copying with Explorer today, who would like more control, more insight into what’s going on while copying, and a cleaner, more streamlined experience."

Ever get stuck copying more than one file, or a set of files, thus collectively dividing up the available transfer speed available? That's no problem if you're not in a hurry to have a certain job finish before the other ones, but for when it's a problem, you'll be thankful that Microsoft has added a pause feature.

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Will Jobs' departure shake up the mobile industry?

With succession plan, rivals will be 'foolish' to try to take advantage of leadership change at Apple, analysts say

Computerworld - The iPhone. The iPad. Both iconic Apple products have soared in global popularity. Both have led to a mobile computing movement started, arguably, when the iPhone first appeared in 2007.

Perhaps it is more properly called a minor revolution that has forced the public to question its reliance on desktop and laptop computers. However you describe the way the mobile market and IT in general have been affected by the iPhone and the iPad, both products had Steve Jobs as the motivating spark behind their development.

Now that he has resigned as CEO, probably due to lingering health concerns, can his fire still burn inside Apple's engineers, designers and marketers? Jobs is staying on as Apple's board chairman, with former Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook installed as CEO. But is that enough to keep Apple on top with alluring new product designs and technology marvels, much less the business savvy to work with carriers and manufacturers globally?

"His departure will affect parts of the [mobile computing] industry dramatically," independent analyst Jeffrey Kagan said in an email. "Remember, it was Apple that was the leader in changing the music business [with iTunes], the smartphone business, and Apple invented the [touchscreen] tablet computer business. Much of that came from Steve Jobs' vision."

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Adobe Announces WYSIWYG HTML5 Design Tool

Adobe is serious about moving much more into the HTML5 direction.

The company today announced a new WYSIWYG HTML5 authoring tool code-named Muse, which is reminiscent of the first Dreamweaver beta released in 1997. It is not what I would call an extremely comprehensive authoring tool, but it shows the way how basic and mainstream HTML5 authoring software could look like (or how Dreamweaver could be extended). Much like the early version of Dreamweaver, Muse appears to be much more a proof of concept than a finished product.

Targeted at designers, Muse has the look and feel of Adobe's graphic design products and does not scare those without HTML5 programming language away. Each Muse project begins with a new site (there is support for sub pages) and leads the designer through planning, designing, previewing and publishing phases. There are several automated interactive functions such as tabbed boxes, slideshows, or menus. A finished product can be saved as a muse file, published via a Business catalyst account or exported to HTML, which will include all stylesheets and scripts.

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Tech Icons Reflect on PC's 30th Anniversary

The IBM PC turns 30 today. Over those three decades the notion of personal computer has evolved greatly, spawning entire industries. From smartphones to tablets to "the cloud," the PC was the idea that created them all. Thirty years ago, the idea that we'd all be walking around with wallet-size computers was something out of science fiction. Now it's simply Tuesday.

Although we're celebrating the birthday of a machine today, it's important to remember that machines don't think, innovate, or create new paradigms (at least not yet). People still do that stuff, and we have a lot of them to thank for the many forms of personal computing that have emerged over the last 30 years. PCMag spoke to several technology icons, innovators, and thought leaders on this special anniversary to ask them their thoughts on the PC and what it's meant to the world.
30th Anniversary of the PC

From industry-defining software to highly specialized hardware, the contributions from the people represented here are as impressive as they are varied. For every person, we asked the same three questions: What was the biggest innovation for personal computing in the last 30 years? How has personal computing changed people's lives for the better? What do you see happening in personal computing over the next 30 years?

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Windows 7 Poised To Take PC Pole Position

After the debacle that was Windows Vista, Microsoft needed a hit, and it got one in the form of Windows 7, which debuted to solid reviews and sales in and out of the enterprise back in the fall of 2009. With Windows XP finally falling to the wayside after ten years and Windows Vista a bad dream many organizations skipped altogether, Windows 7 appears to be poised to take its place as the preeminent PC platform.

According to analyst firm Gartner, Windows 7 will hit that major milestone by the end of 2011. At that time, the platform will be running on 42% of all business and consumer PCs worldwide, making it the leading desktop and laptop operating system for the first time.

Greatly contributing to the explosion of Windows 7 PCs is an escalation in information technology spending and the follow through by enterprises with planned Windows 7 deployments. Late last year, Gartner predicted IT spending globally would rise by 3.1% to $2.5 trillion in 2011 from $2.4 trillion in 2010.

"Steady improvements in IT budgets in 2010 and 2011 are helping to accelerate the deployment of Windows 7 in enterprise markets in the U.S. and Asia/Pacific, where Windows 7 migrations started in large volume from 4Q10," said Gartner research director Annette Jump. "Many enterprises have been planning their deployment of Windows 7 for the last 12 to 18 months, and are now moving rapidly to Windows 7."

The researcher estimates 94% of all new computers shipped this year will run on Windows 7. That's 635 million Windows 7 PCs in 2011 alone.

Gartner cautions that Windows 7 may be the last Microsoft operating system deployed to all employees through large-scale, corporate-wide migrations, however. Instead, you'll find many organizations using alternative client architectures and delivery methods, including for Windows, as they increasingly turn to virtualization and Cloud Computing over the next few years.

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Windows XP Finally Falls Below 50% Market Share

It was going to happen and some point.

Net Applications now lists Windows XP with a market share of 49.84 percent, down from 51.13 percent in June.

Windows XP was launched almost 10 years ago, on August 24, 2001 and is still the world's most popular operating system. Windows Vista failed to become a replacement for XP, but Windows 7 is apparently eating away share from XP at an accelerating pace. However, Windows 7 cannot collect all those users that XP and Windows Vista are losing every month: XP and Vista lost a combined 1.57 points of OS market share in July, while Windows 7 gained just 0.74 points and now stands at 27.87 percent. Windows overall dropped to from 88.29 percent to 87.66 percent market share, while Mac OS X climbed from 5.37 percent to 5.59 percent and iOS is now estimated to hold 2.98 percent.

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