Time to kill (most) Windows Gadgets

People have been asking me if it’s OK to keep some Gadgets around. Ends up, it isn’t a cut-and-dried question.

InfoWorld Tech Watch. 

Microsoft hits Java where it hurts

Really, it’s time to get rid of JRE/JVM. No excuses.

InfoWorld Tech Watch.

SteamService.exe identified as malware

This just in from reader WP…

Hey Woody, been a reader of your site for a long time.

I just wanted to send this tip in that many gamers have recently had with avast! and Valve’s Steam platform. Recently, the makers of avast! botched a definition update within the past few days which caused SteamService.exe to be detected as malware, when it isn’t. With the executable not being able to open, Steam itself will not open.

The fix is to reinstall Steam or force a definition update with avast! instead (or move it out of the chest).

Keep up the good work!

Can Microsoft get SaaS right with Office 2013?

For rent: Office 2013.

Any interest?

InfoWorld Tech Watch.

Did a Swedish company just spill the Microsoft Surface beans?

More tantalizing hints about Microsoft’s Surface tablets…

At this moment, Swedish consumer electronics site Webhallen lists four Microsoft Surface machines: Windows RT 32 GB; Windows RT 64 GB; Windows 8 Pro 64 GB; and Windows 8 Pro 128 GB.

Although it’s entirely possible the listings only exist as placeholders, as a publicity stunt, or to stir up controversy, I found a number of remarkable details.

If you choose to believe the posted price, the picture’s not pretty. The Windows RT 32GB lists at Kr 6,990, which is about US $ 1,001. The 64GB version comes in at Kr 9,990, or about US $1,431. Compare to the new iPad 64GB, shown on the same site at Kr 5,889 or US $ 844. That makes the not-quite-comparable Surface for Windows RT machine 70 percent more expensive than the new iPad.

The Surface for Windows 8 Pro 64GB lists at Kr 12,990 (US $1,861) and the 128GB runs Kr 14,990 (US $ 2,149).

There’s more. The specs include a few details I haven’t seen before.

Screen resolution for both of the Windows RT machines is listed as “HD” — precisely the same non-spec we’ve seen from Microsoft. But the screen resolution for the Windows 8 Pro machines appears as a respectable 1920 x 1080. Recall that the minimum screen resolution for full Metro support is 1366 x 768.

The processors come as no surprise. The Windows RT machines are said to come with the Nvidia Tegra, and the Windows 8 Pro machines with an Intel i5. No additional information — that’s what we’ve known for months.

All four machines are said to support 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, but there’s no mention of 3G/HSPA/WiMax/LTE. The other details — ports, card readers, video, battery, thickness and weight — all match previously published numbers (Windows RT, 1 x USB 2.0, SD, MicroHDMI, 31.5 Wh, 9.3 mm, 1.5 pounds; Windows 8 Pro, 1 x USB 3.0, SDXC, Mini DisplayPort, 42 Wh, 13.5 mm, 2.0 pounds).

There’s no mention of integrated keyboards, or even optional keyboards.

Last week, German language site NetzwerkTotal reported that the German Amazon site, Amazon.de, had posted ordering pages for five Microsoft Surface machines: the four outlined above, plus a Surface for Windows 8 Pro 32GB machine, which I’ve never seen mentioned anywhere. The Amazon.de pages didn’t have prices, don’t appear to have had many details, and they were pulled down in short order.

The vanishing web pages are par for the course: We saw similar jumped guns for Windows 7, for example. What surprises me, though, is that these pages showed up on retail sites. At the Mysterious Monday Surface press conference a month ago, Steve Ballmer made it clear that the Microsoft Surface machines would only be available from Microsoft online, and from select Microsoft stores.

Has something changed?

UPDATE: Aw, this one was too fun to be true. Webhallen has just fessed up. “”Just to clarify, we have not recieved any pricing from Microsoft regarding MRSP or purchasing net cost, and any people who have booked the Surface at this high price will of course have their order adjusted before any product is shipped.”

But that still leaves open the question about Amazon.de. Why does Amazon have a placeholder for the Surface tablets, when Microsoft has said it will only distribute them through their stores?

Spammers getting better

Filters getting worse.

InfoWorld Tech Watch.

Floodgates to open for Windows RT tablets in January

Microsoft really needs to hit a home run with Windows RT…

It’s not just the consumer market. It’s the whole “Consumerization of IT” thing.

InfoWorld Tech Watch. (Thanks, Jacquie!)

The real story behind Microsoft’s latest earnings report

The numbers just blew me away.

InfoWorld Tech Watch.