PCWorld Feb-13

I CAN’T REMEMBER the last time I saw an email or article comment in which a PCWorld reader professed love—or any measure of affection—for Microsoft. In fact, I’ve been covering PCs as a journalist since 1995, and I can’t recall any reader ever sharing even the smallest bit of warmth for the company that has been most instrumental to the health and welfare of the PC platform. Sure, many Windows users are emotionally attached to their computers. And some even have a good word to say about Windows itself. But I have yet to meet a PC user who cops to even the slightest bit of fondness for Microsoft. This contrasts dramatically with the deification of Apple by so many Mac users. Have you ever met a Microsoft fanboy? They just do…

Doubts Still Dog Windows 8 In his premier Editor’s Letter [November], new editor Jon Phillips states, “Like it or not, the new OS is our computing future, and we all have a vested interest in making sure it succeeds.” I find that statement offensive in its ignorance. The most important advances in computing over the past several years have come from Apple and Google. In his most recent Editor’s Letter [December], he describes “5 Ways Windows 8 Beats iOS”—which read as if they came straight from Microsoft. As a developer myself, I’m a fan of the maturity and standardization that Microsoft brought to the table. But Windows 8 is a product that no one asked for, that no one wants, and that no one will buy (in numbers that will make it successful). Tim Markoski,…

THE SURFACE PRO is doomed—or so it would seem, given Microsoft’s prices of $899 (64GB) and $999 (128GB). But if you dig into the specs, it doesn’t sound like a tablet. With a Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a USB 3.0 port, a memory card slot, and a mini-DisplayPort connector, the Surface Pro (slated for January 2013, though rumors hint it could arrive even before then) sounds more like an Ultrabook with touch and pen, but without a built-in keyboard. How will buyers react to the Pro, considering that Microsoft’s own Surface RT has been out for a while? No one questions whether the Surface RT is a tablet. It’s priced like a high-end tablet, it’s thin and light, and it has competitive battery life. But since that Windows RT…

IN LATE 2013, consumers will be able to buy smartphones that either come with native hypervisor software or use an app allowing them to run two interfaces: one for personal use, and the other for work. The technology could help to address a growing issue as employees bring their personal mobile devices to work and use them to communicate with clients and access corporate data. Two software companies, Red Bend and VMware, have signed agreements with phone makers to create dual-identity devices from some of today’s most popular models. Smartphone virtualization, however, involves two different approaches, using either a Type 1 or a Type 2 hypervisor. Type 1 is hardware-based technology that creates a second copy of the OS and runs both instances in two distinct regions of a processor. Type 2 runs as…

Satellite Carrier May Open New Wi-Fi Channel Globalstar has submitted a proposal to the FCC that could allow Wi-Fi users in the United States access to a fourth channel, Channel 14, in the most commonly used Wi-Fi band. The company proposes to offer the channel in conjunction with what it calls a TLPS (terrestrial low-power service). Part of its plan for the TLPS is to set up about 20,000 access points in hospitals and in public and nonprofit schools. Gmail Integrates Google Drive Link Sharing Gmail users can now share Google Drive documents without leaving the Gmail interface. To use the new feature, you have to opt in to Gmail’s new compose window, where you’ll see a Drive icon. Clicking the icon lets you insert a link to any file you have on…

GOOGLE’S ANDROID 4.2 debuted in mid-November with the Nexus 4 smartphone and Nexus 10 tablet, and is rolling out to other Nexus devices. (As of this writing, no word from non-Nexus phone and tablet manufacturers on a possible update.) The second “Jelly Bean” release, Android 4.2 is a relatively minor update to version 4.1, but it packs significant new features and plenty of subtle polish. Here are a few of the biggest changes. Multiuser support: Perhaps the most important addition is support for multiple users on tablets. Each user has a home screen, apps, wallpaper, and general settings that remain inaccessible to other users. Security: The new multilayered security system scans apps from third-party sources. If you opt in, it looks for malicious or potentially harmful code and alerts you to any concerns.…