Windows 8 Debuts 2012

Microsoft wants Windows 8 and Windows Phone developers to create apps for its platforms, and it's tempting them by offering up hard cash. In a new US marketing effort, Microsoft is offering developers $100 per app for newly published applications submitted to the Windows Phone Store or the Windows Store by June 30th. Developers can net $2,000 in total by submitting up to 10 apps to each store.

Forget touchscreen and multi-touch. That stuff is old school. One day, touching your computer will only be something your parents did.

News and perspectives covering the top stories, events and activities from Microsoft. The content for this blog includes the official information and stories from all of Microsoft's primary businesses.

Smaller and cheaper Windows 8 devices are on the way. Meanwhile, Microsoft will try to spur sales of Windows 8 by offering PC makers better pricing. Read this article by Brooke Crothers on CNET News.

There's the consumer tablet gold rush, and then there's the elusive "business tablet," the mother lode every manufacturer is hoping is still out there.

Windows 8 can run like real, honest-to-goodness Windows. Plain, simple, slightly upgraded, but what you'd expect with Windows, old-school Start menu and all.

Taking to the stage at LeWeb 2012 in Paris, Dropbox today announced it will soon launch a new Windows 8 app featuring support for Microsoft's Modern UI, submitting it to to Microsoft ...

Today’s the day! November 20 marks the day when Windows 1.0 found its way to the streets. Microsoft rolled out the first version of Windows in 1985.

Microsoft's Windows 8 app for the HealthVault personal health record platform features a streamlined interface for displaying vital medical data.

Arguing that support for Adobe's browser plug-in is an advantage, Microsoft now permits Flash by default on Windows 8 and Windows RT. Tablets that can't run Flash are merely 'a companion to a PC.' Read this article by Stephen Shankland on CNET News.

Greg Shultz explains how to use the default mode of the Windows 8 Refresh your PC tool from the Recovery Drive.

Microsoft held an event inside a home of the future on its campus. One technology Microsoft is betting on is jumbo-size touch-screen displays that can be used for presentations and meetings.

Microsoft may have refreshes of its Mail, Calendar, Music and Games apps for Windows 8 and Windows RT in its app store as soon as this month.

The company is offering device makers a discount in a bid to convince them to develop small touch-enabled laptops, the Wall Street Journal reports. Read this article by Lance Whitney on CNET News.

Microsoft imagines a future with giant touchscreen computers, Surface tablets and voice-activated gadgets.

I’ve been using Windows 8 daily for a few months now, and I don’t have very many good things to say about it. So, when the opportunity presents itself to point out something that’s actually better about Windows 8, I naturally jump at it. And while many parts of Windows 8 are debatable (maybe Modern is the future; maybe it’s not), one element of Windows 8 that has undergone a massive overhaul and made it unequivocally more awesome is the humble Windows Task Manager – that modest window that helps you bail out of trouble whenever you hit Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

Considering that Windows 8 is still relatively new, and that a lot of people are still trying to adapt to the new operating system with its unorthodox design and layout changes, problems are nothing surprising.

Buried deep inside Windows 8, you'll find great tools for tweaking and improving the OS. And they're all free of charge.

The first crop of Windows 8 laptops are here, and they're much more interesting than, say, the first laptops to run Windows 7, or Windows Vista, or really