Posted: 05 Oct 2010 08:10 AM PDT

When the iPad finally came in April it was greeted with the expected fanfare, but opinions were rather divided about whether the thing would be a long-term success. Six months on there can be no doubt, with the tablet selling 4.5 million units in its first quarter of availability according to CNBC. The truly magical iPhone? That managed a (relatively) paltry one million units in the same timeframe after launch, while the now ubiquitous DVD player pushed just 350,000 in its first four months of availability. You know what that means: it’s time for analysts to start breaking out the hyperboles — again. Colin McGranahan from Bernstein Research says “the iPad is a runaway success of unprecedented proportion,” meanwhile Pete Najarian from TradeMonster.com calls it a “total media device” and concludes “there’s not much a PC can do that you can’t do on an iPad.” That last bit is certainly debatable, and you can go on and on about it so whatever it is keep it respectable !

Apple iPad official 300x170 iPad becomes most quickly adopted non phone electronic product

Windows 8 to have a new Storage reduction feature – “Dedup”

Posted: 05 Oct 2010 07:53 AM PDT

We still have got time until Windows 8 comes into picture, but here is some fresh info on Windows 8.According to the new article published on TechNet, the IntelliMirror service management team is now working with the Windows File Server product group to establish the viability of adopting a storage reduction feature, known as “Dedup,” in Windows 8. Here is the extract from the TechNet page which reads about the future developments.

Windows 8 logo 300x174 Windows 8 to have a new Storage reduction feature Dedup

Following on from the successful implementation of this service improvement plan, the IntelliMirror service management team is now evaluating a range of new technologies to further improve the service. These include evaluating features planned for Windows 8, assessing the viability of failover clusters for key sites, and exploring whether some of the IntelliMirror features can be moved to the cloud through the Windows Azure™ technology platform.

The IntelliMirror service management team is now working with the Windows File Server product group to establish the viability of adopting a storage reduction feature, known as “Dedup,” planned for Windows 8. After MSIT identifies the features that can add the most value to the IntelliMirror service, it will set up a test environment in the Microsoft infrastructure to validate the scenarios and establish a new service improvement plan.

Also, in partnership with the branch-office services team, the IntelliMirror service management team is introducing failover clusters to large branch offices (those that have more than 3,000 users) to provide high availability in these locations. Part of Windows Server 2008 R2, failover clusters can scale to include 16 servers (nodes) in a single cluster by using a shared storage back end with support for Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), Internet SCSI (iSCSI), or Fiber Channel interconnects. Initially, MSIT plans to use two-node clusters in its large branch offices.

Not only that in one of the posts on the Microsoft official facebook page for students,Microsoft is asking the students about their opinions and suggestions for the next generation OS codenamed Windows 8. The post reads as

You've all seen the ads, “Windows 7 was my idea”. On that premise, what is your opinion on what should be included in the next release of Windows?

The link added their redirects to the Microsoft Student lounge page which reads as follow:

What's your opinion? What features do you think need to be in Windows 8?

You've all seen the ads, “Windows 7 was my idea”.

On that premise, what is your opininon on what should be included in the next release of Windows?

Sky is the limit … thinking about the development platform, the usability, the visual aspects. What do you think Microsoft needs to include in Windows 8? Let us know in comments.

Via Windows8Beta

By Blogsdna

Windows Phone 7 Firstly Headed For New Zealand ?

Posted: 05 Oct 2010 05:13 AM PDT

Well all of us know that Microsoft will be launching the Windows Phone 7 on October 11.And now we are hearing about some availability dates from a New Zealand blogger.

windows phone 7 Windows Phone 7 Firstly Headed For New Zealand ?

According to Paul Spain of Geekzone NZ the handsets for the worldwide availability might be in the following order.

Australia/New Zealand – 21 October 2010
Asia - from 21 October 2010 (availability varies by country)
Europe – 21 October 2010
USA – 8 November 2010

If we look in to the launch history of Microsoft products these dates might just come out to be true,if we have a look at the Windows 7 launch pattern which had a similar release worldwide .Though we haven’t yet got any official word from Microsoft about the actual availability dates, i guess its only a matter of few days and hopefully we’ll get to know about the availability dates on October 11.

Via neowin

Update:

Neowin also cites insider sources in reporting that Microsoft intends to use its Windows Phone 7 launch as a platform for revealing its plans for the tablet realm as well. Specifically, Steve Ballmer and crew are expected to “announce Slate devices which will be available for the crucial holiday season.”

windows tablet 300x185 Windows Phone 7 Firstly Headed For New Zealand ?