Showing posts with label Windows 10. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows 10. Show all posts

Saturday 27 December 2014

Windows 10 Will Bring Native Support For .Mkv And Flac Files


Windows_10
Microsoft is planning to add the .MKV and FLAC support on Windows 10 for next year, to expand its support for other popular media file formats. Microsoft is also adding the native support for audio codecs and advanced video in Windows 10 Developer Preview. 

Windows 10 build 9860 was recently released by Microsoft, wherein they have also given the native support for .MKV and FLAC media formats. As far as these media formats are concerned, these were not supported by Microsoft in any of their builds and as recent as Windows 8.1. This lead to the user getting the pop-up displaying that, “File is not supported by the player”, when they tried opening these formats in windows media player. Gabriel Aul from the Windows Insider Program posted some of the screenshots on Twitter depicting the FLAC support in Windows media player. Going by the lossless nature of the file format, the FLAC support by the media player for Windows 10 has taken the high-end audio fanatic community by a large storm.

Further, the company is also looking to offer platform-level support for MKV and FLAC media formats, this means that now a 3rd party application also will be able to play these files. One of the best features is the fact that a user does not need to search and install plug-ins in their media player to play these files. This news is even more exciting as Microsoft is currently working on unveiling their new consumer-centric features of Windows 10 in late of January 2015. From this, it is very clear that the company is trying to reach out to the fans of the AV and making the right changes, which will mainly helping in boosting the multimedia competency of Windows 10.

Need of FLAC and .MKV format: 

High-end audio fans love to use FLAC files as it promises everything, which required for crystal clear sounds. But unfortunately, this format is not widely-supported; however it is going to get the space in Windows 10. Last month Microsoft officials stated that now Windows 10 will support .MKV format also.

As now Microsoft is providing the platform-level support for FLAC and .MKV format, so it clear that now third party applications will be able to play their specific files on Windows 10. It will be helpful for users as; now they don’t need to face any hassle such as; installing plug-ins and other software’s in order to play the files of these formats.

Although FLAC is not a very widely supported format, but it is loved by the high end audio fans as it preserves the quality of the music as it would be in any music studio. It has the capability of reducing the original audio file to 60 % of its original size. This is possible through the fancy algorithm of FLAC. With the passing, we are getting new information about the yet to be launched Windows 10 operating system

The other positive aspect of FLAC is that it is an open and non-proprietary format with royalty-free licensing. Currently, there is no patent or any kind of issues that anyone has to worry about regarding FLAC. FLAC is known for boasting about their support for metadata tagging, cover art, album and fast seeking. Microsoft is ready to unveil these consumer-centric features in January 2015, for Windows 10. It is making the clear statement that now in January is targeting the AV geeks and enthusiasts.

Monday 6 October 2014

Ten Things to Know About Windows 10


Windows 10
At last we have the official look of the new windows version from Microsoft. Many speculations and unofficial leaks have raised the curiosity among the people. The biggest surprise came in the form of the name as Windows 10. After drawing lots of criticism for their Windows 8 version. The company has gone back to provide some predictable features and some surprises. The new version is being considered to have the best combination of both strategy as well as redesign.

1. New version to be designed to be appealing to office workers: 

Microsoft has been dealing with many complaints about the Windows 8 version for being too complicated to be implemented in larger corporation as well as the retraining requirement for the users needing huge resources. Microsoft has now taken action to appeal to the office workers by using familiar features and removing the features which might not be required. The prime example of this is the Start Menu

2. Appealing to Corporate and IT managers: 

With the increasing security issues, Microsoft has promised an increased level of security, easy manageability and enhanced capabilities on the management side. Upgrade process also has been made easier with improvement in installing and dealing process. Customer app stores will enable the organizations to deal with software deployment as well as permissions.

3. The New version is expected to scale from small smartphones to huge data centers: 

The new version is expected to be available on the latest version of windows phone and tablets, desktop PCs, and even portable devices as well. The same is feature is expected in Xbox one too.

4. The new start menu will be combination of Windows 8's tiles with Windows 7's usability: 

While changes can be expected in the final version after release, but the current preview has indicated a 2 column start menu with old styled icon.

5. Modern apps will be running on desktop through windows: 

Desktop users will now be able to download modern apps and use it like any other apps from the windows store. These will be resizable and can be pinned to the taskbar.

6. Virtual desktops reaching the windows: 

A new task view will let the windows users to have an overview of all the running apps and the user will be able to arrange them between the desktops.

7. Snaps improved: 

This feature will be rejoicing for users with large monitors. They will be able to tile four apps just by dragging on the corner of the screen.

8. Search and power feature expected to be improved: 

The new feature is organized to combine the web and local results. The user can just start by typing in the start menu similar to that of Windows 8. Power users will be able to use Ctrl+V feature to copy-paste into the command prompt.

9. Charms bar to still exist: 

This feature will still be present and visible to users with touch-first devices. This feature is expected to be improved.

10. More expectation: 

With Microsoft indicating many reasons for completely skipping the Windows 9 version, users should be expecting many improvement and refinements in the concept as well as the features.

Microsoft Announces Windows 10 to Emphasize On Improvements


Windows 10
On September 30, Microsoft announced their latest operating system “Windows 10”, after they received negative feedbacks from their previous version Windows 8. They have completely skipped in the next version after 8 to unite the thinking of people on phone, tablets and traditional desktop PCs. This new version aims at capturing the profitable business market, which was basically missed by the previous version.

According to Microsoft's head of operating systems, Terry Myerson, this new version will be their greatest enterprise platform. As much as the traditional PC users dislike the previous version, only 20% of the organization migrated to the windows 8 for operation and management. Most of the dislike was attributed to the loss of the traditional start menu.

According to Terry, the new operating system was secretly named as “Threshold” based on the leap the company was taking. This is a new system aimed at uniting the computer with mobile devices. He stated that the new operating system will be able to adapt to the customer’s device they are using, like tablet, Xbox, tablets to even more small gadgets.

With the increase in the number of options in the market in the form of Android devices from Google, iPhone and iPads from Apple, the company has a huge struggle if they want to reignite the excitement in people of their new OS. People are no longer depending on windows operating system anymore.

As per the reports published by Gartner, a research firm, currently windows is running on only 14% of the devices. This is a huge change when compared to the monopoly they used to enjoy 10 years ago. The news of the new version, created a mixed response in the market and the company saw a 8 cents decrease in the share value on Nasdaq.

During the demonstration, the windows version indicated usage in two modes. One mode is for touch-controlled tablets and the other one for PCs still using a mouse and keyboard. The users of the new OS will be able to switch between these two.

Although an accurate release data has not been mentioned during the initial announcement and demonstration, insiders are indicating that the company is aiming for a release during spring 2015. Microsoft has provided a downloadable technical preview of the new operating system, which a user will be able to download and give feedback to the company as well.

According to Gartner analyst Steve Kleynhans, the company wanted to relay the message that they don’t need to abandon their learning over the past 15 years as they can present what is about the future without much confusion.

According to Terry, the company and their team were playing around with different names for this version, they initially thought of calling it as “Windows One”, which will indicate the merger of all their operating systems and products but since the name was already used, they had to agree on Windows 10. This new version will be focusing on advances and improvements hence skip Windows 9 operating system completely.

Wednesday 1 October 2014

Windows 10 – Launching Window Insider Program


Windows 10
The latest report is that Microsoft has officially announced the next version of its computer operating system called `Windows 10’ and will be launching a Window Insider Program enabling users to comfortably run the early beta software access to Window 10.

Its first preview would be made available for desktops and laptops and a build for server would be following later on. The company provided details stating that its new operating system will have a tailored user experience with various screen sizes, for instance if the user has a smaller device, then you will see different form of user interface and the code would run across all device categories - `One product family, One platform, One store’.

The amazing news is that Windows 10 has been designed to run across all the devices including, tablets, phablets and smartphones besides, laptops and desktops.Microsoft has stated that they are opening this beta process in order to get feedback from users early on and that this would also be a learning experience for the company as well as user would get some experiments in new builds thoughprobably would not make it to the final version.

Enterprise Value/Device Management/Customize….

Microsoft is presently focusing on Enterprise value, device management, the ability to customize the store to the device the user is on and an option to protect data, to be more precise, the ability of the enterprise to manage their devise and customize their application store, etc.

According to Terry Myerson, Microsoft Executive VP of Operating Systems, he states that `Windows 10 will be running on the broadest amount of devices with a tailored experience for each device. There would also be one way to write a universal application, one store, and one way for apps to be discovered, purchased and updated across all of these devices’.

The company, as expected is striving to bring back some of the features of Windows 7 which includes a redesigned start menu combining the basic Windows 7 menu with the resizable tiles of the Windows 8 start screen. Windows 8 Metro app also can be opened in a windowed mode on the desktop to save from being taken into the full screen mode through default and can use `modern’ Windows 8 alongside with a standard Windows desktop app.

Swiping from Left – Task View

With its focus mainly on the keyboard and regular mouse combo for functions with the operating system, the company has emphasized that it is not doing away with `touch’ and Windows 10 will continue to have a similar Windows 8 Start Screen for touch enabled machines.

Some changes in the gestures will alter a bit in Windows 10 where swiping in from the left now tends to give a task view, though the overall features will be same to Windows 8 and the Windows 8 Charms bar would be still available.

The release of Microsoft’s OS is expected to be sometime in 2015 after the company’s Build Developer Conference to be held in April. If users intend to get their hand on an early version of Windows 10, they could sign up for the Windows Insider Program on October 1 to get the early preview build on laptops and desktops.