Hasta La Gadget!

In case you didn’t hear, Microsoft‘s BUILD developer conference kicked off today in Seattle, and the folks from Redmond took the opportunity to show off some new apps. We got a first hand look at the new ESPN for Windows 8, and then they nicely shared a few details regarding what to expect in the coming months. Obviously apps are coming soon, but today they specifically mentioned DropBox, Paypal, Sports Illustrated and more.

A dedicated Netflix app for Windows 8 is already available, and earlier we shared details on the beautiful ESPN app too. While on stage Microsoft took a minute to shout out multiple brands we’ll be seeing apps from in the coming weeks and months. As shown above some of those include the popular Dropbox, PayPal, OWN, Sports Illustrated, Wikipedia, TBS and many others. These will be more than just apps, they’ll be useful apps built to work great with everything Windows 8 has to offer.

Paypal will not only have their own app, but they’ll offer an API to developers on Windows 8 to use PayPal payments in their own apps right in the Windows Store, as well as any Windows Store app. Dropbox has an app coming soon, but they didn’t give many details on that — obviously wanting users to choose SkyDrive instead.

The link above showing off the all new ESPN app is just one of many, and a fine example of what all the API’s and options Windows 8 brings to app developers. Being able to have an impressive and beautiful score-center and more all working seamlessly in Windows 8 as an app should be exciting. I’m sure we’ll be hearing plenty more all week at build, as well as from these specific app developers themselves.

Microsoft confirms Dropbox, PayPal apps and more coming soon to Windows 8 is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week Microsoft’s own CEO Steve Ballmer stepped on stage at Build 2012 and let it be known that they’d sold 4 million Windows 8 upgrades in the three days it’d been on the market. Compared to what Apple has asserted with their install base for their own desktop operating system OS X Mountain Lion, this number might not seem quite so impressive – by percentage of installed base, that is. If you consider how many installs of Mac there were compared to how many people upgraded to Mountain Lion against the number of installs of Windows there were compared to how many upgrades there were to Windows 8, the difference is staggering.

According to Microsoft back in December of 2011, they had an install base of 1.25 billion Windows PCs – that includes all versions of Windows. It was also asserted back then, according to business insider, that 500 million Windows 7 licenses had been sold in the last two years (again, this was reported in December of 2011). Interestingly enough, Ballmer also let it be known that 670 million machines are now running Windows 7, that falling relatively in-line with the idea that Windows 7 adoption has been slowing down since Windows 8 was announced.

Apple on the other hand has slightly different numbers as far as OS X installs and upgrades to Mountain Lion, their newest system. Back at WWDC 2012, Apple let it be known that there were 66 million installations of Mac on the market.

Ballmer announced that 4 million Windows 8 upgrades had been sold in the three days since it’d been launched. In the same amount of time, Apple announced more than 3 million OS X Mountain Lion upgrades. If you take the total amount of machines with Windows installed on them and compare it to the upgrade numbers for Windows 8, you get about 1/3 of one percent of the total. If you take the total amount of machines with a Mac OS on them and compare it to the Mountain Lion upgrade numbers, you get 4.5% of the total.

The rate of adoption between these two ecosystems is drastically different – which do you consider more successful? A better question might be: do you consider the adoption rate to be more important, or the total number of machines that now work with one system or the other?

Windows 8 adoption percentage clobbered by OS X Mountain Lion is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Does 4 million Windows 8 upgrades in under a week sound impressive to you? This is quite a strong start by any standards, as Microsoft continued with their aggressive overhaul of its Windows operating system, now arriving at Windows 8. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shared some statistics at the annual Build developer conference, citing that 4 million Windows users have already upgraded their operating systems since it was launched late last week.

Not only that, Microsoft has also made good on their corporate promise, delivering Windows 8 to “tens of millions of OEMs” (original equipment manufacturers) – and you can be sure that players such as Dell, HP, Asus, and Acer amongst many others have their fair share of Start-button-free powered computers in the pipeline for the masses. Have you made the upgrade to Windows 8 already, and have you enjoyed the ride so far? When you compare Windows 8′s performance with the latest Mac OS X release, there are some parallels to be drawn, as Apple’s flagship operating system saw 3 million upgrades in a somewhat similar time frame as well. One could argue that in terms of percentage, Apple “wins” since registers a higher percentage in this sense.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Steve Balmer rally developers around Windows 8 at BUILD, Microsoft launches Windows Phone 8 companion app for Windows 8 and Windows RT,

There’s plenty of excitement surrounding the release of Windows 8 here at Build. The general consensus around the operating system, however, holds that the key to the OS’s success is all about the apps, and CEO Steve Ballmer had no shortage of news on that front. The green-polo-shirted exec made mention of an official tweet from Twitter, noting the service’s development plans for a Windows 8 app coming “in the months ahead.” Also on the slate is Dropbox — the popular storage service has an app “coming soon,” according to Microsoft’s own official blog. ESPN got a little face time at the event, showing off an app that’ll deliver news, scores and video to Windows 8 users. Paypal, meanwhile, took the opportunity to talk up an API that’ll bring its commerce services to Windows Store apps. More info on the new apps can be found in the source link below.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

Microsoft talks up Dropbox, Twitter, ESPN and PayPal for Window 8 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Ballmer announced first of all today at Build 2012 that they’d sold 4 million Windows 8 upgrades in the three days since it’s been launched. It’s no small number, of course, and for the developers seeing this system for the first time here in its final form at the developer conference we’re experiencing here this week, it’s nothing but great! Laptop sales are up 20% over forecasts, said Ballmer, and by the words of Ballmer, it would appear that Microsoft is doing better than they expected they would – imagine that!

The enthusiasm was addictive at Build 2012 right at the dawn of Windows Phone 8, Ballmer making it clear that his journey from his arrival in the USA in 1988 spanned the gamut: Windows 95, 98, the PC going big, and more. The message was clear: Windows 8 is the next generation, and with Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT the wave is coming in strong. Ballmer makes it clear that it’s not just about one screen, not just about one version of the operating system – it’s about everything, all of the displays, all of the form factors.

This kind of experience is “alive with activity”, said Ballmer, and every screen is “alive and active with information” from the cloud, through Microsoft. With the launch of Windows Phone 8, said Ballmer, “the phone launches in full fruition into the Windows 8 family.” Ballmer’s talk was more than just a primer for the event, it was a sell-point for investors as well.

“If you want the best experience with your Windows Computer, you will own a Windows phone.” – Ballmer

It was time to build not just a single standard phone for everyone, Ballmer said of the original launch of Windows Phone, it was time to build something personal for each user. That’s one of the big points being driven home with Windows Phone 8 as well – as evidenced earlier this week with the big Windows Phone 8 launch event as well with Jessica Alba and friends.

Stick around our Microsoft hub as well as the Windows Phone 8 tag for more information on Windows Phone 8 than you’ll be able to handle all week!

Steve Ballmer hypes massive Windows 8 launch numbers at Build 2012 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.