For those that remember the old days with monochrome displays and low resolution programs, there is a Windows 1.01 simulator available that runs in a web page. I didn’t care much for Windows 1.01 back then, but I started to get the Windows bug with version 2. I wasn’t able to buy Windows until Windows 3.0, though. This is great to see how things were nearly 30 years ago. We’ve come a long way.

For those that have been using Windows for a long time, the awesome game Hover is back. Of course, now it’s done in HTML5 to help promote the HTML5 standard within Internet Explorer, but it works just fine. Another great time waster.

Three of the top 20 investors in Microsoft are pushing for Bill Gates to step down from the company. After a lot of pressure on Ballmer to resign, and after his retirement announcement, this comes as a shock.

I can see why they are interested in having him step down, with this quote from the article –

They are also worried that Gates – who spends most of his time on his philanthropic foundation – wields power out of proportion to his declining shareholding.

Gates, who owned 49 percent of Microsoft before it went public in 1986, sells about 80 million Microsoft shares a year under a pre-set plan, which if continued would leave him with no financial stake in the company by 2018.

Gates has done an excellent job at the helm of Microsoft, and as a board member and as head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is one guy I’ve gone from hating to loving throughout the years. Great guy that I hope to one day meet. But, with a declining role in the day to day operations, as well as a smaller and smaller financial stake in the company, is he the right person to have on board? More power than those that do have more of a financial stake and with more input on the operations? The ups and downs of having an investor owned corporation.

I hope this has a good outcome for Mr. Gates and the investors can come up with a solution to keep him around in some capacity.

Outlook.com now supports IMAP, as reported by the Outlook.com team in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). Just a heads up if you do visit Reddit –

In a recent AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit, and grabbing some nice karma in the process, the Outlook.com team has made the announcement that they now support IMAPand OAuth. While it already supported EAS (Exchange Activesync), it now allows more devices and applications to access the service, giving you more options to use your email

Richard Hay has asked the big question on Windows Activation to Microsoft – will they decommission the XP activation servers after official support? I’ve never been a fan of Windows activation – from the initial activation issues, reactivation at odd times, or after official support will you still be able to reinstall and actually be able to USE the software? Some people are still very content using XP (some are with Windows 98!). Hopefully, they stay online for quite a while longer.

Keep in mind that Windows XP was the first version of Windows that required activation within 30 days of installation in order to be able to continue using the OS. That means this is the first time an OS requiring activation will hit the end of official support. It is understandable that it would be a concern for those who simply do not want to move off Windows XP for whatever reason.

The Windows Blog has a new post discussing the packaging and pricing for the upcoming retail release for Windows 8.1 on October 18th (a month away!). Pricing is $119.99 for standard and $199.99 for Pro editions. An add-on to upgrade to Pro (Pro-Pack) is $99.99, which allows you to go from 8.1 Standard to 8.1 Pro and includes Media Center. If you are a Pro user, a $9.99 upgrade is available to enable Media Center. Packaging is similar to Windows 8.

One thing to note – Microsoft is now releasing a ‘Full Version’ edition rather than just an upgrade edition this time around, due to consumer suggestions.

One shift to note in Windows 8.1 is that we will be offering “full version software” at retail and online for download that does not require a previous version of Windows in order to be installed. The copy of Windows 8 that is currently available for sale at retail and online is an “upgrade version.” This shift allows more flexibility for customers in specific technical scenarios and is in response to feedback we’ve received. It will be easier for those consumers who want to build PCs from scratch, run Windows 8.1 in Virtual Machine (VM) environments, or run Windows 8.1 on a second hard drive partition.

This guy claims that the purchase of Nokia by Microsoft signals the end of Windows. He says that Microsoft will go more for the Apple model and supply their own hardware and OS on it’s machines, and not make it available for end users to install on any machine. Sure, Apple succeeded in that realm, but Microsoft became #1 for allowing Windows to be put on any compatible machine. For the phone business? Sure, I can understand a single Windows Phone 8 device from Microsoft (although, I’d really like some options in hardware), but never on the desktop or tablet. If I cannot build my own PC and throw Windows on it, I won’t. I just can’t see it happening at all on the desktop.

He does focus on the phone market in his article, and I can see that as a possibility. Not the best idea that Microsoft has had lately, though. I’d use a Microsoft branded phone, though (of course, it’d be Nokia inside).

But software, Gates saw, was a different story. Software had a face. Software imprinted itself on users—once you learned one Windows PC, you understood every Windows PC. Unlike hardware, software enabled network effects: The more people who used Windows, the more attractive it became to developers, which meant more apps to make Windows computers more useful, which led to more users, and on and on. Finally, software was wildly, almost unimaginably profitable. After writing code once, you could copy it endlessly, at no marginal cost, for years to come—and make money on every single copy you sold.

The recent price cuts for the Surface devices have been made permanent. Prices are dropping, but are they worth it even at the lower price? My iPad is limited, similar to the Surface RT. It won’t run full desktop applications (for the most part). The Windows Store has a much more limited selection of usable applications than the Apple Store, as well. For many, they want the full PC functionality in a tablet form – the Surface Pro. That is what I am looking for right now. The price is getting better, and it’s an excellent product. I am waiting to hear about the Surface 2 before I make a decision (close out prices on Surface Pro as well as comparing specs and battery life).

What are these adjustments?

• $100 (U.S.) off Surface Pro (including the 256 GB SKU). This means the entry-level Surface Pro will now start at $799 (U.S.)
• $40 (U.S.) off Touch Covers. Touch Covers will now start at $79 (U.S.), and Limited Edition Touch Covers will now start at $89 (U.S.)
• $50 (U.S.) off Surface RT bundles. Surface RT bundles will now start at $399 (U.S.)

The talented Heroes actress Ali Larter gives a pitch for Office 365, Microsoft’s subscription based Office suite. Microsoft is starting to put more effort into the promotion of the Office 365 platform. Many people have no idea what it is. I’m glad Microsoft is putting more push into promoting it.