Microsoft issues tools to block IE10 upgrades on Windows 7

Move signals that the new browser won't ship for several weeks

Microsoft has released tools to block Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) from automatically reaching corporate PCs running Windows 7, a sign that the new browser will not release for at least several weeks.

Related Articles

• Microsoft to push IE9 via Windows Update next week
• German cybersecurity agency prods users to ditch IE
• Users find IE9 upgrade in Windows Update
• Microsoft offers Windows 7 SP1 blocking tool
• Microsoft gets silent upgrade religion, will push IE auto-updates

The IE10 Automatic Update Blocker Toolkit is designed for enterprises that want to keep workers on an older edition of IE. Its tools include a script that can be run locally, as well as an administrative template IT administrators can use to widely block IE10 through Group Policy settings.
The tools block automatic upgrading of older editions of Internet Explorer to IE10 on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 via the operating systems' built-in Automatic Update service. Companies that rely on WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) or SMS (Systems Management Server) do not need the toolkit; they can manage the deployment of IE10 using those programs.
Individuals can also use the toolkit to keep IE10 off their Windows machines.
Microsoft has issued similar toolkits for IE7, IE8 and IE9 prior to those browsers' public releases. For the last two iterations, Microsoft offered a toolkit approximately one to two months before the release of the browser.
If Microsoft hews to the same timetable -- probable, since the idea is to give companies time to deploy the block -- IE10 will launch as soon as the first week of March, but perhaps as late as early April.
March is the more likely of the two; Microsoft shipped IE8 and IE9 that month in 2009 and 2011, respectively.
The IE10 blocking toolkit is even more important than its predecessors because of a change in how Microsoft upgrades customers' PCs to the latest version of the browser.
In late 2011, Microsoft announced it would silently upgrade IE to the newest version suitable for a user's version of Windows. Windows XP users still on IE6 or IE7, for example, would be updated to IE8, while Windows Vista or Windows 7 users running IE7 or IE8 would be pushed to IE9.
Before that change, Microsoft had asked for user permission before upgrading IE from one version to the next, even if Windows' Automatic Updates was enabled.
Because only Windows 7 and Windows 8 support IE10, Automatic Updates will upgrade the former to IE10 in the background, shortly after the browser is released. Windows 8 comes with IE10.
IE10 on Windows 7 is currently available as a preview, but Microsoft has repeatedly declined comment when asked when it would debut in final form. Last year, Computerworld predicted that the final release would appear in late 2012, basing that estimate on the development timetable for IE9. Instead, the browser will launch this year.
The 2013 release of IE10 puts to rest earlier speculation that Microsoft would accelerate its browser release cycle, and issue a new version annually. Analysts came to that conclusion after Microsoft announced IE10 just weeks after the March 2011 release of IE9.
IE10's most controversial feature is the "Do Not Track" (DNT) privacy setting, which Microsoft switches on by default. Online advertising representatives have blasted Microsoft's unilateral decision to enable DNT on IE10, warning that it could mean the end of many free services supported by advertising. Microsoft, in turn, has refused to back down.
The blocking toolkit, which will not bar upgrades on systems where the IE10 Release Preview has been installed, and which cannot prevent users from manually installing the new browser, is available from Microsoft's website.
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed. His email address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.
See more by Gregg Keizer on Computerworld.com.
Read more about applications in Computerworld's Applications Topic Center.

Read More

Hewlett-Packard joins Chromebook fray with 14-inch browser-based laptop

Hewlett-Packard is getting into the Chromebook game after rumors about the company's first browser-in-a-box surfaced in late January.

Hewlett-Packard on Monday said it's officially jumping into the Chromebook fray after persistent rumors about the company launching one surfaced in late January. HP joins Samsung, Acer, and Lenovo selling PCs loaded with Google's browser-as-OS.

Related Articles

• Acer launches £199 C7 Chromebook
• Google's first ever store hits London
• Why Google Chromebooks are doomed to fail
• Samsung Refreshes
  • HP will jump on the Chromebook bandwagon: Report
  Series 5 Chromebook, Announces Chromebox Desktop PC

The HP Chromebook features a 14-inch display with 1366-by-768 resolution, step up from most Chromebooks that feature 11.6-inch displays. You also get a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron processor, 16GB solid-state drive, 2GB RAM, and 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. For ports, the device offers 3 x USB 2.0, HDMI, Ethernet, headphone/microphone combo jack, and a media card reader.
HP is promising a paltry 4 hours and 15 minutes for battery life, and the laptop is also a little heavy at just under four pounds, and measures 0.83 inches thick. The Chromebook 14 is available now from HP and sells for $330, but you also get 100GB of free Google Drive storage for two years--usually an extra $120.
It's not clear how well Chromebooks are selling overall, but there are indications that the concept is catching on with American PC users as more people move their digital lives online. Acer recently told Bloomberg that Chromebooks have, since November, accounted for 5 to 10 percent of Acer's U.S. shipments . Samsung's 11.6-inch Chromebook is currently the top-selling laptop on Amazon , and Lenovo believes its $429 ThinkPad-branded Chromebook will appeal to schools looking to make bulk purchases.
Even though most of us use our computers primarily to get online these days, I still find it surprising that Chromebooks are gaining in popularity. Samsung and HP sell their Chromebooks for around $300-$400, which is the starting price for lower-tier Windows notebooks. The advantage of a desktop notebook is that you have the best of both worlds. You can get online with the browser of your choice, including Chrome, and if you need desktop functionality for applications such as Skype or Spotify, you have the option.
But the counter to that line of thinking can be best summed up by my PCWorld peer Jared Newman who recently used a Chromebook as his workhorse PC during CES in January. "It always booted up quickly, was light on my shoulder and was a pleasure to type on," Newman said. He also noted that many sub-$500 Windows machines don't hold up in terms of quality and performance compared to Samsung's Series 5 550 Chromebook.
If Chromebooks are the next big trend in PCs, that has to be concerning for Microsoft even if Windows devices still account for the majority of PC sales. There's little doubt that many people spend a big chunk of their daily PC time in a browser. And Web applications such as Google Docs and Adobe Photoshop Express make it easier than ever to "live in the cloud" and turn away from desktop apps.
Microsoft is trying to make the jump to the Web too, but the software giant is taking a different approach by merging desktop applications with the cloud, most notably with Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365 Home & Student. The new version of Office still includes desktop applications, but Microsoft encourages Office 365 subscribers to save their work to SkyDrive, the company's online storage service. That way, your documents are immediately available to you on other PCs running Office installations. Office 365 users can even download "throwaway" versions of Office, dubbed Office on Demand, that can be quickly downloaded and used from any public PC running Windows 7 or later.
Even the ability to quickly download a desktop app, however, isn't quite as seamless and instantaneous as logging onto a Website, such as Google Docs or Microsoft's own Office Web apps.
Perhaps if Chromebooks gain even further popularity, which is still far from certain at this point, Microsoft will have to move more aggressively into the cloud and let go of its desktop-bound focus. For now, Chromebooks are an interesting trend to watch, but until I can get Samsung Series 5 quality for under $200, I'm sticking with Windows (and Linux).

Read More

Samsung Galaxy S3 v/s BlackBerry z10 Comparision review

Samsung Galaxy S3 v/s BlackBerry z10Comparision reviewBlackBerry has finally launched its new operating system on its BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, but how does it compare to one of the most popular Android devices around? Read our Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10 comparison review to find out. 

BlackBerry has finally launched its new operating system on its BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, but how does it compare to one of the most popular Android devices around? Read our Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10 comparison review to find out.
It's been a long time coming but BlackBerry 10 has finally arrived and with it has come the BlackBerry Z10. It's the first full touchscreen BlackBerry which puts it directly up against the best smartphones on offer.





o ne of the most popular smartphones of 2012 was the Samsung Galaxy S3 so we've taken these two flagship devices and compared them section by section.
Take a look at the following two articles for more details on each handset.

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10: Design and build

These two phones are quite different in the looks department. With a larger screen, it's not a surprise that the Galaxy S3 is the bigger handset overall at 71x137mm compares to 66x130mm of the BlackBerry Z10. However, at 8.6mm, the Samsung is thinner than the Z10 which we measured at 9.2mm.
The Galaxy S3 and BlackBerry Z10 are effectively the same weight at 133g and 135g respectively.
We don't like the fact that both these phones have flimsy plastic rear covers but the Galaxy S3 has an overall better build quality and much more premium feel to it.

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10: Screen

As we mentioned, the Galaxy S3 has a larger screen than the Z10 at 4.8in. In today's standards the BlackBerry's 4.2in display is quite small.

Samsung and BlackBerry have opted for similar resolutions - 720x1280 and 768x1280 respectively. The Z10 wins on pixel density here wit a whopping 355ppi against 306ppi. It's the highest pixel density of a smartphone we've reviewed to date

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10: Processor and performance

Despite being much older, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has a more powerful processor in the form of its Exynos 4 Quad, a quad-core chip clocked at 1.4GHz which is based on the ARM Cortex-A9 architecture.
The BlackBerry Z10 has a distinctly mid-range sounding 1.5GHz dual-core processor but the handset has twice as much RAM as the Samsung at 2GB so this evens things up a bit.
The core benchmark apps we use aren't available for the BlackBerry Z10 so we can't compare hard numbers. We found performance to be good on both handsets but the Galaxy S3 feels that bit speedier.

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10: Storage

It's another win for Samsung when it comes to storage since the Galaxy S3 comes in a few different was storage options -16GB, 32GB and 64GB. BlackBerry has decided to only launch the Z10 in a 16GB model.
Both have the same potential for adding more storage with each smartphone providing a microSD card slot capable of accepting up to 64GB memory cards.

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10: Cameras

Things are much tighter on the photograpy side of things. The Galaxy S3's 8Mp camera is a common resolution for a smartphone and the BlackBerry Z10 only matches it. Both record video in up to Full HD 1080p and have various and similar software features.
The front cameras are effectively the same, too, at 1.9Mp for the Galaxy S3 and 2Mp for the Z10. Each can shoot video at up to 720p.

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10: Software

The Galaxy S3 is running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, almost the latest edition of Google's operating system. Samsung uses its own TouchWiz user interface which comes with a number of exclusive features you won't find on other Android handsets. BlackBerry's Z10 is pre-loaded with the firm's brand new mobile operating system, BlackBerry 10.
We like BlackBerry 10 which has turned out to be a smooth and easy to use piece of software. However, it doesn't present any unique and outstanding new features. BlackBerry has created an OS similar to that of Android and iOS but laid out differently with features presented an an alternative way.
The other issue is that the Google Play Store is leagues ahead as an app store and a platform which developers prioritise over Blackberry 10.

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Z10: Battery

The Galaxy S3's 7.8Wh (2100mAh) battery typically lasted us two days with a power saving mode helping keep the phone going as long as possible. We were disappointed to find the 6.7Wh (1800mAh) battery of the BlackBerry Z10 only lasted us a day, and only just at that.

 

Read More

Vodafone to sell Windows Phone 8 smartphones on 6 February

Vodafone to sell Windows Phone 8 smartphones on 6 February

Vodafone has announced it will sell Windows Phone 8 smartphones on 6 February.

The mobile operator has decided to stock Windows Phone 8smartphones starting with devices from Nokia and HTC. Vodafone's first five Windows Phone 8 handsets will be on sale this week on 6 February. See also: HTC Windows Phone 8S vs Nokia Lumia 820

Vodafone said: "Windows Phone 8 is nearly here. Since announcing that we’d be stocking the phones in a post late last year, we’ve been working day and night to get the new breed of Windows Phone devices through our network tests unscathed."

"Now that work’s come to an end, and we’re almost ready to get all five of our Windows Phone 8 handsets into stores and into your hands."s Phone 8 smartphones shortly after Microsoft's launch in October and said they would arrive in the 'new year'.

See also: Group test: what's the best Windows phone?
No pricing has been announced but the five device which will go on sale this week are the Nokia Lumia 920, Lumia 820, Lumia 620 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8S.
There's no word on whether Windows Phone 8 devices from other manufacturers, such as Samsung and Huawei, will be added. Vodafone suggested there would be more on the way by saying the first five would go towards making up a ' Windows Phone 8 army'.

"The Live Tiles were what really struck us when we started to look at Windows Phone 8," said Tanya Thorne from the Vodafone devices team. "You can personalise them far more than you could in the previous operating system. We think they can offer the kind of connection between activities, and different parts of your life, that people are looking for."

Read More

No premium fee upgrade to 4G for Three customers

No premium fee upgrade to 4G for Three customers

Three to offer free 4G LTE broadband

Three has announced that customers will be able to upgrade to 4G LTE for free when it launches.
Mobile operator Three has said its customers won't be faced with a premium fee to upgrade to 4G LTE mobile broadband when it becomes available on its network. In fact, the firm is making a statement by saying it will be a standard feature on all its price plans. See: What is 4G? A complete guide to 4G.
Dave Dyson, CEO of Three said: "Our customers choose Three because they love the internet and know they can get great speeds and great value on our award-winning network,"
"As we add the next wave of technology to our Ultrafast network, we’ve listened to our customers and thought long and hard about the right way to do it. We don’t want to limit Ultrafast services to a select few based on a premium price and we’ve decided our customers will get this service as standard."
The firm said its network will reach 80 percent of the population by the end of March and 4G will arrive in the second half of this year. Three will use the 1800MHz spectrum already acquired as part of a deal with EE.
Customers will need a 4G capable smartphone or tablet to take advantage of the faster speeds, roughly four to five times faster than 3G. Many are on the market already such as the iPhone 5,  Nokia Lumia 920 and iPad. See also: 4G vs 3G network hands-on speed test.
Three said 4G LTE versions of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 will launch on its network within the next month and the BlackBerry Z10 will launch mid-February.

Read More