Month: February 2014

Sounds interesting? And, it will make it easier to switch to Chrome for businesses. VMware is providing DaaS sessions so that businesses can ease off Windows.

VMWare teams with Google to offer Windows for Chrome OS

Geekwire – By: Blair Hanley Frank – “Google wants to help businesses replace their old Windows XP machines with shiny new Chromebooks … that run Windows.

The company announced today that it’s partnering with VMWare to bring Windows to Chrome OS with VMWare’s Horizon Desktop as a Service program. The partnership will allow businesses to set users up with a virtual Windows desktop that they can access from a Chromebook to use Windows-only apps without having to buy a Windows PC. Google is hoping that will cause businesses to start heavily considering its cheaper portables.

‘Google Chromebooks can save businesses about $5,000 per computer when compared to traditional PCs,’ Amit Singh, the President of Google Enterprise, said in a press release. ‘Chromebooks are designed for the way people use computers today and are a secure, easy and cost-effective solution to help organizations embrace a new way of doing business. Through our partnership with VMware, businesses can now capitalize on these advantages with access to legacy applications, data and desktops they need to keep employees productive.’

The news is a potential problem for Microsoft, which is counting on its enterprise business to keep the company moving. Windows 8 hasn’t been the major hit with customers that the company has been hoping for, while Google’s platform has seen a surge in popularity, making up 21 percent of commercial channel notebook sales last year, according to NPD.

While Microsoft has taken aim at Chrome OS with a number of critical advertisements, Google is forging ahead. Computer manufacturers have turned to making Chromebooks as a way to try and bolster flagging PC sales, while consumers made them some of Amazon’s best-selling products during the holidays.

One of the major drawbacks to Chrome OS in a business setting has been an inability to run Windows-only programs. While setting up a virtual desktop system has its own challenges, it means that Chrome has cleared a hurdle to enterprise adoption.”

Windows 8 has not been that popular. In fact, a lot of folks buy new PCs with Windows 8 on them, and downgrade them to Windows 7.

Microsoft: More than 200 million Windows 8 licenses sold

ZDNet – Mary Jo Foley – “It’s been a while since Microsoft execs shared an official count of licenses of Windows 8 sold. Last time we got a tally was in May 2013, when the Softies said the company had sold more than 100 million licenses.

On February 13, however, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Marketing Tami Reller, casually dropped an updated figure of 200 million Windows 8 licenses sold. Reller made that remark during an appearance at the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference. (I listened to a live Webcast.)

Microsoft’s silence since last May about Windows 8’s sales rate has been taken by many as proof that the company isn’t selling Windows 8 as quickly as it had hoped and expected.

Windows 8 and Windows RT went on sale on October 26, 2012. Microsoft officials said they sold more than 40 million copies of Windows 8 the first month it was commercially available. On January 8, 2013, Microsoft officials said the company had sold 60 million licenses of Windows 8 to date.

On May 6, 2013, Microsoft officials said the company surpassed the 100 million Windows 8 licenses sold milestone. At that time, the Softies said that 100 million figure was on par with the number of Windows 7 licenses the company sold in its first six months on the market.

Windows 7 hit the 240 million licenses sold in its first 12 months. Windows 8 is now just past 200 million after about 15-plus months on the market.

Microsoft’s ‘licenses sold’ numbers are ‘sell in’ numbers. That means these figures include sales of licenses to OEMs, as well as Windows 8 upgrades. They don’t include copies of Windows 8 sold via volume-licensing agreements. The ‘licenses sold’ numbers may or may not also include Windows RT license numbers. (Microsoft officials have declined to say.)

During her 30 minutes of remarks and answers to questions at the conference, Reller didn’t mention the imminent arrival of Windows 8.1 Update 1 by name. She did remark on the ‘more rapid cadence’ on which the Windows team has been delivering, while adding there are ‘more things coming just around the corner.’

Reller said that the Windows team is making advances on making the footprint of Windows smaller for smaller-sized devices. A smaller footprint is one of the features expected in Windows 8.1 Update 1. Last I’ve heard from my sources, Microsoft is expecting to push out Windows 8.1 Update 1 to Windows 8 users on both ARM- and Intel-based systems via Windows Update in early April 2014.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed Reller’s 200 million Windows 8 licenses sold figure with the following statement:

‘Windows 8 has surpassed 200 million licenses sold, and we continue to see momentum. This number includes Windows licenses that ship on a new tablet or PC, as well as upgrades to Windows 8. The figure does not include volume license sales to enterprise. Windows is a central part of life for more than 1.5 billion people around the world, and we are looking forward to the future.'”

Google has a need for speed.

You go, Google! I LOVE fast Internet!

Google working on 10 gigabit Internet speeds

USA Today – Alistair Barr – SAN FRANCISCO – “Google is working on technology that will provide data transfer speeds over the Internet that are many times faster than its current Google Fiber service in Kansas City, an executive at the online search giant said on Wednesday.

Google Fiber offers data transfer speeds of 1 gigabit per second currently. But the company is already working on speeds of 10 gigabits per second, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said during the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference.

Pichette called this the next generation of the Internet and said it was part of Google’s broader, long-term obsession with speed.

Faster speeds will increase the use of software as a service because users will be able to trust that critical applications that are data intensive will run smoothly over the Internet, he explained.

‘That’s where the world is going. It’s going to happen,’ Pichette said. It may happen over a decade, but ‘why wouldn’t we make it available in three years? That’s what we’re working on. There’s no need to wait,’ he added.

Google is not the only one working on this. Last year, researchers in the U.K. announced that they achieved data transmission speeds of 10 gigabits per second using ‘li-fi’ a wireless Internet connectivity technology that uses light.

Pichette has experience in this area. From early 2001 until July 2008, he was an executive at Bell Canada, which offers a fast, fiber optic Internet service to homes in that country.

Google Fiber is currently available in Kansas City, but Google has said it is bringing the service to Austin, Texas and Pichette told analysts last year that the project is not a hobby for the company.

On Wednesday he was asked whether Google Fiber will be coming to more cities. ‘Stay tuned,’ Pichette answered.”

It will be tomorrow evening, guys, for the show. I ran into video camera problems. Working through them.

Flappy Bird, we barely knew ye!

Goodbye, Flappy Bird?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – “Some surprising news from ‘Flappy Bird’ creator Dong Nguyen.

Nguyen says he plans to pull the game from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. (Via YouTube / iAndyC83)

And soon. On Saturday, Dong Nguyen tweeted ‘I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.’ That tweet has already racked up over 50,000 retweets.

So what’s the ‘this’ Nguyen is referring to? Owen Good of Kotaku says it’s likely the popularity of the game. ‘Earlier this week, Nguyen pleaded over Twitter for everyone to ‘please give me peace,’ saying the notoriety over creating the game is ‘something I never want.”

To give you an idea of that notoriety, a report by The Verge on Wednesday said the app, which displays mobile advertisements during gameplay, brings in a whopping $50,000 a day.

And the Los Angeles Times reports the game has been downloaded more than 10 million times – and that’s just on Android devices.

Hours before his announcement, Nguyen seemed to be a little bothered by the popularity. He tweeted: ‘I can call ‘Flappy Bird’ is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.’

If you’ve yet to download Flappy Bird, now’s the time to grab it. Though it won’t receive updates after being pulled, the game will still function.

Nguyen sent out a few more tweets following his original announcement – he says he will still create games, and doesn’t plan to sell Flappy Bird.”

Google dooms all other video conferencing systems!

Lord of the Meetings: With Chromebox for Meetings, Google has just shot dead video conferencing hardware rivals

Tech Times – “Video conferencing hardware has always been expensive but now Google looks to disrupt the industry by launching Chromebox for Meetings officially in the United States, Thursday, for only $999. It will soon be rolled out in the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia, France, New Zealand, and Spain, as well. The move doesn’t augur well for Google’s rivals in the video conferencing hardware business.

Chromebox for Meetings aims to disrupt the video conferencing scene for enterprise clients. Essentially, it is a complete video conferencing kit that can be set up within minutes out of the box. It includes an ASUS Chromebox that has an Intel i7 under the hood, a Logitech high-definition camera, a remote control that doubles as a QWERTY keyboard, and a microphone-speaker combo unit with adjustable volume.

The new device is the marriage of Google+ Hangouts and Google Apps that will allow companies to have HD video conferences. Businesses can host video meetings with as many as 15 attendees. Participants can essentially join using any gadget – smartphones, tablets, or laptops. For people without a Chromebox, a Gmail account is what they will only need. The system also makes use of Google Calendar to show meeting schedules on the display.

‘The best meetings are face-to-face-we can brainstorm openly, collaborate closely and make faster decisions. But these days, we often connect with each other from far-flung locations, coordinating time zones and dialing into conference calls from our phones. Meetings need to catch up with the way we work-they need to be face-to-face, easier to join, and available from anywhere and any device,’ wrote vice president for product management at Google Caesar Sengupta.

Businesses using other kinds of conferencing systems can still connect to Chromebox meetings by using a tool from Vidyo, which has been collaborating with Google to help Hangouts connect with IP PBX systems and H.323/SIP from companies such as Polycom, Tandberg, and Cisco. Those who prefer to join over the phone can use UberConference.

In order to avoid awkward scenarios that happen during voice conferences, the cloud service mutes people joining the meeting to avoid disruption of ongoing discussion. The video also intuitively switch to whoever is talking, mimicking how people focus on the speaker during face-to-face meetings. The streams will also be ecnrypted.

‘Any company can upgrade their meeting rooms with a new Chromebox, built on the Chrome principles of speed, simplicity and security,’ Sengupta added.

The $999 initial cash out includes the Chromebox and peripherals, plus support for the first year. Customers who might require technical support after the first year need to shell out $250 per year. Before the end of the month, Google will also release HP and Dell versions of the Chromebox for Meetings.

Google said that companies such as Yelp, Premier Foods, Gilt, Costco, and Eventbrite have been doing test run of Chromebox for Meetings in the past few months.

Businesses interested in purchasing Chromebox for Meetings can get it through CDW while resellers can contact Synnex.

With Google entering the business video conferencing scene and stamping its name on Chromebox, it might have just earned the title ‘Lord of the Meetings,’ squashing other brands in its path.”