Xbox Live Friend Limit Will Be Raised in the Future

Online services are some of the most important pieces of software for any console in this generation of platforms. From Xbox Live to the PlayStation Network or WiiWare, every such service is vital for gamers to stay in touch with their friends and family and entertain themselves.

But even though Xbox Live is the most popular of the three services, it doesn't mean that it is without its flaws, and one thing that has been hampering the experience of many gamers is the limit of friends that one account can have, which is currently set at 100.
This means that if you lead an active online life and play a lot of multiplayer games, those places might be taken rather quickly. Don't think that Microsoft doesn't know your pain, as the company has revealed, through the voice of Steve Willet, that the company will raise the limit in the near future. He didn't give a concrete time frame, but it's nice to see that at least the development team is thinking about it.
“It is absolutely a continued focus and I am not a technical architect that you could tell you why it's capped there,” he says, “but I will say it continues to come up, it is something that will not be forever, but I can't give you a real time horizon on when it's going to change.”
Sadly this statement doesn't really indicate that the issue is on top of Microsoft's to-do list, but considering the fact that services like Games on Demand and support for Facebook, Twitter or Last.fm will soon make their appearance for Xbox Live, the company has a lot of work to do.
Has the 100-friend limit ever caused you serious problems or do you think that currently it is enough for almost any type of gamer? Leave us a comment to this article with your opinion about Xbox Live and its restrictions.

Xbox 360 Boasts 'Exclusive Partnership' with Netflix

Netflix is one of the biggest new features that have appeared on Microsoft's Xbox Live service, virtually transforming the Xbox 360 into a full-fledged media hub that can provide entertainment not only in terms of games but also as regards movies and TV shows.

Now, with the most recent dashboard update, the console will be getting even more functionalities, the likes of Movie Parties and enhanced playback features but also the ability to manage your Netflix queue. Here are all of the features that are now available for Xbox Live and Netflix subscribers:
Movie Parties – Xbox LIVE Gold members can sit together in a virtual theater with up to seven friends no matter where they are while your Avatars watch a movie, flirt or even throw popcorn at each other.
Manage Your Queue – Browse the Netflix Instant Watch video catalogue, choose from the most popular movies and genres and add to your queue all from the comfort of your couch – no computer required.
Enhanced Playback Experience – Enjoy a smooth viewing experience when your internet bandwidth fluctuates.
Friends Info – Richer information is now displayed in the Friends channel and in the Guide showing what you and your friends are doing.
But more interestingly, the Xbox.com website tells about an exclusive partnership between the service and the Xbox 360 console. “This exclusive partnership offers you the ability to instantly stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix to the television via Xbox 360. Xbox 360 will be the only game console to offer this movie-watching experience, available to Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix unlimited plan subscribers, at no additional cost.”
Don't forget that rumors about Netflix partnering up with other consoles, specifically the Wii, have existed for quite some time, meaning that Xbox 360 users would certainly feel betrayed. It seems that this statement is there to assure everyone that, for the time being, Netflix will be making its home on the Xbox 360 console.
Hopefully we will hear more about this partnership from Microsoft or Netflix.

Apple vs. Microsoft - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

If you are a computer user, you must have been caught, at least once, in a battle of opinions between two different sides: Apple fans vs. Microsoft fans. The fact that the latter’s user base is much larger than the former’s means that it has a huge army of potential fans to fight for it in this battle.
But what Apple users lack in numbers, they definitely make up in determination, and the “fanboy” stamp almost always associated with them seems to suggest that they are doing a very good job in fighting the Apple vs. Microsoft battle for the Cupertino-based company.
I do know this article touches a very controversial subject, but somebody has to do it. The thing that you should remember while reading this piece is that it contains my own opinions on this matter and everyone is entitled to their own version of the story.
Along the years, I have observed and thought about lots of facts related to this brand war and, now, Microsoft is still winning the battle. Although it might not do so because it offers its users the best products (anyone remember the Vista fiasco?), it certainly does it with its sheer market presence.

 

The Good Guy

Why is Apple usually seen as a representative of good? Why does it always seem to get out of any ugly situation, with everybody thinking happy thoughts about it? Someone said that “Being smart means you are going to have a successful carrier, but good looks are a sign that you will also get to the top a lot faster.” Could this also hold true for companies?
Whatever anyone tells you, Apple is a hardware company, and it is quite good at what it does (and some of you may argue that it is actually the best). As Bill Gates said in an interview, the thing that he mostly missed during the process of building a successful company was Steve Jobs’ good taste. And that, as you might have figured out, means a lot coming from someone that not long ago was the man behind Apple’s direct competitor on the OS market.

Another point scored by Apple is its quality as a hardware company. Even more, because its OSes do not have a very big chunk of the market and its building and selling iPods for a very long time, many people tend to forget that it also deals with software.
This means that the same people will only think of it as just another hardware company with no direct and/or significant involvement in the software market. And all this despite the fact that Jobs says any time he gets the chance that Apple prides with its ability to create highly functional software products (as an example given by Steve himself, the iPods would have never been what they are now without the software that runs on them).
The large portion of the portable multimedia player market that the iPods are enjoying right now and Apple seen as a hardware-only company have definitely shifted the positive mark made on people by the device itself onto the whole company.
If you do not agree with me, just think of the huge gap between how much of the OS market Apple currently has and the market share its iPods have conquered. Now that you have thought about it, where are the bigger numbers: the Mac users or the iPod users? I will always put my money on the latter.
The last thing I consider to be of utmost importance when people decided that Apple was a “good” company is the dedicated hardware it sells together with its OS. Pairing the hardware with the OS seems to have brought Apple’s product one of the qualities other OSes lack: a user experience to talk about to your friends.
Although many have tried to see why OS X users are some of the highest satisfied customers on Earth, no one has come up with a formula, yet. One thing is certain though, Apple’s catchphrase describes it best, “It just works.”
If you think about it for a while, you will reach the same conclusion as I have. How many things could go wrong if you have one OS and just a couple of platforms to make it work perfectly on? I will tell you: the number is very close to zero.
And, in case it happens, how quick can a problem be solved? Considering the limited hardware configurations Apple has to think about when dealing with a bug in the OS and its quick Software Update system, you will discover that the reaction time cannot be anything but fast.
Now, you do the math: very good user experience, close to zero OS bugs, and fast reaction times for fixing whatever comes up. Wouldn’t you be a happy customer?

The Bad Guy

Why do most people have only bad things to say about Microsoft? Does it deserve to always be the bad guy? I think not, and I will tell you why.
First, remember the dedicated hardware Apple enjoys when having to develop OS X for their customers? This is not the case here. Microsoft has been “blessed” with an enormous number of hardware combinations to think of when developing even the tiniest and least important piece of its OS. If you think about it, the hardware combination possibilities are almost endless and Microsoft is the one that has to make sure that its OS runs on each of them.
Do countless bugs and problems emerge from this huge diversity of machines that Windows runs on? Of course, and this is one thing that will make Windows users cringe and look to their OS X-using friends where everything is so easy going. Bad user experience has and will always be a thing Microsoft has to consider; despite this fact, it still appears to have the biggest part of the market.
I guess bad experience is not such a big problem after all for users that still want to build their machines from ground up and not being limited by a hardware configuration imposed by the company behind the OS they want to run.
Another reason why Microsoft is seen in such a bad light is, according to the company itself, the fact that many Windows users do not have original copies of the OS. Regarding these pirated copies, the Redmond-based giant says that bug incidents are in greater numbers when compared with official copies. I do not know whether that is entirely true but, considering the fact that pirated OS copies have parts of code written by other people to make the OS work in “no annoyance mode,” it might be right.
In counterpart of the Apple hardware-only company discussion, let us now analyze the Microsoft software-only company subject. In spite of the fact that the latter is also involved in the hardware market, the fact that its OS has the biggest chunk of the respective market automatically makes people think of it as a software-only company.
Why is this bad for Microsoft and why has it ruined its reputation in the eyes of so many people? Because, whilst Apple profits from the status of “hardware-only company” and gets the love from all iPod users all around the world, the former will, most of the time, be criticized for the problems its users encounter while using its OS.
In the middle of Windows blue screens, software infecting the operating system with bugs because of incompatible drivers and whatnot, people tend to forget that Microsoft also makes great hardware and its Office suite is the industry standard in the world.

The Ugly

The ugly side of this story is the misconception most people have about the Redmond-based company: it represents the evil and that will not change. Why do they think that way? Mainly because Microsoft decided that proprietary software was the way to go. While Apple’s customers think they are paying money only for the hardware, and the OS comes free, Microsoft’s customers know what they are paying for.
When an Apple user finds a bug, he/she lets Apple know about it and waits for a fix to come via the Software Update system. After all, its OS is “kind of” free and worked like a charm from day one and the company will issue a fix in no time.
The Microsoft user, on the other hand, will feel cheated on and not working with an OS worthy of its money - an operating system in which bugs show their ugly heads from where he/she least expects it, driver incompatibilities and other small annoyances that make things even worse. And this is where the ugly originates from: the maker getting its customers’ money and not always being able to deliver on its promise.
As Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, said in an interview for Linux Magazine, “the Microsoft hatred is a disease.” Let us analyze why he stated that. Linus gave that interview in response to Microsoft’s move to submit about 20,000 lines of code to the Linux kernel for enhancing “the performance of the Linux operating system when virtualized on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.”
According to Torvalds, the Redmond-based company is only pursuing the same objective anyone developing software, open source or not: coming up with something to help you in achieving your goal. Open source developers want to obtain tools to help them (and others) in the development process. Microsoft just wants the Linux OS to work better on its virtualization products, and thus have more satisfied customers that will be willing to pay the money for tools that work as they should.
This being said, why should anyone hate a company that is in it for the money? Don’t all companies do that?
I for one think that Microsoft should be admired for what it has built throughout the years, using a business theory its direct competitor on the OS market also employs: make a product as good as possible and sell it to get money. Unfortunately for the Redmond-based company and its reputation, it did not think all the angles before going in: it forgot about the hardware part.

The Truth

This is my proposal: Microsoft fans should try using a Mac before bashing Apple, the latter’s fanboys/fangirls should wait until OS X has enough market share to face serious security risks and/or Apple decides to license its operating system and make it portable to a lot more hardware platforms (and also leave the door open to bugs and incompatibilities). After taking that step, you may see the entire picture.
Think about this: Microsoft brought to the table diversity and Apple good looks, ease of use and stability. They both cover areas that suit their customers’ interests and I believe people should just get over misconceptions and acknowledge the fact that using their products at their full capacity should be the end goal.
Having a dual boot machine is not such a bad thing if you consider the fact that it incorporates the best of what both companies have. And, if Apple decided to make its OS compatible with other non-Apple branded machines (and probably also go the way of the Dodo as some people think in such a case), you might also be able to choose the best of what the hardware market has to offer.
Think about that before starting to bash Apple and/or Microsoft. As always, you are all invited to continue the discussion in the comments if you feel you have to leave your own mark on this subject.

Microsoft Brings Office to Nokia Symbian Smartphones

Owners of Nokia Eseries will be the first to benefit from a global alliance signed between Microsoft and Nokia designed to bring the Redmond company's mobile productivity solutions to the mobile phone giant's Symbian devices. Marking a first in terms of the scope and nature of their joint endeavor, the two companies revealed that the partnership was set up to kick up a notch the enterprise-grade solutions for mobile productivity. In the video embedded at the bottom of this article you will be able to see Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop and Nokia Executive Vice President for Devices Kai Öistämö discuss the new alliance.

“With more than 200 million smartphone customers globally, Nokia is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer and a natural partner for us,” Elop noted. “Today’s announcement will enable us to expand Microsoft Office Mobile to Nokia smartphone owners worldwide and allow them to collaborate on Office documents from anywhere, as part of our strategy to provide the best productivity experience across the PC, phone and browser.”
Nokia smartphone users will be able to leverage not only Microsoft Office Mobile products, but also Microsoft business communications, as well as collaboration and device management software. More specifically, the partnership will focus on bringing Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile to Nokia smartphones as soon as 2010, allowing users to enjoy instant messaging, presence, conferencing and collaboration capabilities. In addition, the Redmond company will also work to ensure that Nokia devices will permit users to view, edit, create and share documents via Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote products optimized for mobile phones.
The collaboration work between Nokia and Microsoft will ensure that corporate portals developed with SharePoint Server at the basis, both intranets and extranets will be accessible from mobile phones. And to top it all off, enterprise grade device management will be available with Microsoft System Center.
“The scope of the alliance between Microsoft and Nokia, and potential value for the enterprise and individual is significant,” added Stephen Drake, VP of Mobility & Telecom at IDC. “By bringing Microsoft’s productivity solutions to Nokia’s large customer base, the two companies should be better able to serve the needs of the growing mobile worker population, which IDC estimates to reach 1 billion worldwide in 2011.”

Download Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.1

Microsoft has released an update for Mac users of its Office 2008 suite of applications, fixing an issue that prevented them from opening some Office documents. The update is aimed at Office 2008, Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 Special Media Edition, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, Entourage 2008, and is available for free download on Softpedia.

According to Mactopia, Microsoft’s dedicated web page for Mac software, improvements that are included in the Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.1 Update span all Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac applications. Besides compatibility enhancements, the update fixes an issue that caused Office 2008 for Mac to display an error message saying “Microsoft Excel cannot open the file. You may have to download the latest updates for Office for Mac. Do you want to visit the Microsoft Web site for more information?” This issue occurs when users try to open .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .ppsx, .dotx, .docm, .ppsm documents and other formats, Microsoft says (more details are available here).
Supporting operating system versions including Mac OS X 10.4.9 (Tiger) and higher, the latest Office 2008 for Mac update requires Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 2 (12.2.0). Users can download this update for free from Microsoft’s web site. To verify that you have installed this update, you can check the version number by opening any Microsoft Office 2008 application.
To install the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.1, it is advised that you quit any running programs, including all Office applications, Microsoft Messenger, and Office Notifications, because, Microsoft says, “they might interfere with the installation.” Additionally, users must ensure that their computer meets the minimum system requirements. At this point, simply download the software, double click the downloaded “Office2008-1221UpdateEN.dmg” file and then the resulted application installer (pictured above). Follow the instructions on the screen to save the file to your hard disk.

Microsoft Sells Razorfish for $530 Million

Microsoft will receive no less than $530 million in both cash and stock for the sale of its digital marketing agency Razorfish. At the end of the past week, the Publicis Groupe confirmed the acquisition of Razorfish for a little over half a billion dollars. The software giant welcomed the unloading of the online advertising agency, which is running Internet campaigns through a wide range of companies, including Microsoft competitors such as Google. Razorfish found a home with Microsoft back in 2007, when the Redmond company acquired aQuantive for $6 billion in response to Google's move to buy DoubleClick for $3 billion.
"We are grateful for the contributions Razorfish has made to our online advertising business since joining the company as a part of the aQuantive acquisition in 2007, and are pleased that they have found a new long-term home with Publicis Groupe. We look forward to continuing to work with Razorfish as one of our agencies, and we're confident that as a part of Publicis Groupe, Razorfish will build on its success to date in the digital advertising industry," stated Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive officer.

In addition to taking Razorfish off of Microsoft's hands, the Publicis Groupe also announced that the two companies had inked a Strategic Alliance Agreement. The duo revealed that the agreement was scheduled to go live after the acquisition of the online ad agency was complete. Maurice Levy, chairman and chief executive officer of Publicis Groupe, noted that he regarded Razorfish as a key element of the evolution of its digital communications business.
"More than anything, this acquisition should demonstrate that Publicis Groupe now presents a wider pool of resources, talent, and expertise that will help our clients market their products or services in a way that takes maximum advantage of the new digital world. Our capabilities will be further enhanced by the great talent throughout Razorfish, and we are happy to welcome this new addition to our family," Levy stated.
Publicis Groupe indicated that the Razorfish brand would survive the acquisition, and that the ad agency would become an integral part of VivaKi, a new group created in mid-2008, joining the likes of Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group, Denuo, and ZenithOptimedia. Chief Executive Officer Bob Lord will continue to lead Razorfish.
"Razorfish is known for extraordinary digital customer experiences and brings with it a robust suite of tools that will enhance the current portfolio of capabilities we are building to keep our clients connected to people in an increasingly digital world," Levy added. "The combination of Razorfish's assets with the complementary expertise we already possess will be highly valuable to our clients and shareholders."
The new Strategic Alliance Agreement signed by Microsoft and Publicis Groupe represents an expansion of a previous partnership announced by the two companies. In June, the duo entered a broad strategic cooperation agreement and, with the latest move, Publicis Groupe media clients will be able to buy display and search advertising from Microsoft on what was referred to as favorable terms. This will be valid for the five-year term of the agreement, and clients will have to guarantee specific minimum aggregate purchase levels.
"Publicis Groupe offers an ideal technological and cultural match for Razorfish and the opportunity to share a wealth of new resources with our clients. Our capabilities in technology are highly compatible with Publicis Groupe's online advertising operations and will accelerate Razorfish's mission to expand its global reach and broaden its services. Working closely with the other great companies in the Publicis Groupe/VivaKi portfolio, we will be able to grow our talent and provide additional opportunities for professional development and extend our capabilities for clients," Lord added.

Windows Live Photos Reaches 1 Billion Uploaded Pictures Mark

Microsoft's online storage and sharing service for digital images under the Windows Live brand has reached the 1 billion uploaded pictures mark. The past week, the Redmond company announced that, in just seven months since the introduction of Windows Live Photos, the service contributed a great deal to the total of seven billion images that were uploaded on Windows Live. Launched in December 2008, Windows Live Photos is designed to offer customers an online repository for their digital images.

“A few weeks ago we hit a milestone for Windows Live Photos: one billion photos uploaded! This is a significant part of the more than seven billion photos posted on Windows Live today (most of which were uploaded before we launched "Windows Live Photos" as a separate service),” a member of the Windows Live Photos team revealed.
The service, in addition to letting users upload and store their content in the Microsoft Cloud, is also set up to streamline social networking. Stored images can in this regard, be shared with other users, who have the possibility to comment on the content made available via Windows Live Photos.
“Just how significant is a billion photos? Well, if you signed up for a new account and started uploading one photo per second, you would upload your billionth photo some time in 2040! According to a report by Forrester Research last year, the average owner of a digital camera only takes 28 digital photos per month. At that rate, it would take the entire population of Seattle nearly five years to take a billion photos,” the Windows Live Photos team representative added.
Each Windows Live photos account gives the user a total of 25GB of online storage space for digital images. Microsoft failed to offer any statistics related to the actual storage space necessary to accommodate 1 billion photos, or the number of users with active Windows Live Photos accounts. However, the company did reveal that photo albums created with the service had been shared in excess of 250 million times since December 2008.

Google Brand, More Valuable than Microsoft

When your company's name becomes a verb you know you've made it. There's hardly a brand more popular than Google's and now we have the numbers to prove it. According to Millward Brown Optimor, who releases the well-known BrandZ Top 100, Google is now the most valuable brand name in the world by a comfortable margin, at $100 billion. The Mountain View company overtakes rival Microsoft, who goes on to take the second place, but also mainstream brands like Coca-Cola or MacDonalds.

“Five of the top 10 in the BrandZ Top 100 are technology brands. The rapid ascent of these brands and their high values reflect the strength and velocity of the technology category, which grew by 2 percent last year,” the report reads [PDF]. “The rising popularity of online search advertising, which is cheaper than display, is benefiting Google which owns 73 percent market share in this area.”
With a brand value of $100 billion, the search company is the clear winner but the second place goes to another tech giant, as the authors value the Microsoft brand at $76 billion. Coca-Cola, one of the most recognizable brands in the world for decades, comes in third, with a value of $67 billion, followed by enterprise giant IBM with $66 billion, MacDonalds also with $66 billion and Apple with an estimated value of $63 billion.
One interesting aspect of this is the difference between the two companies at the top when it comes to marketing and advertising. While Google does have big ad campaigns online and sometimes in traditional media as well, like the recent billboards the company set up to advertise Google Apps, it's impressive to see a company that still relies mostly on word of mouth become the most valuable brand in the world.
This, while Microsoft spends tens of millions of dollars advertising its new rebranded search engine alone. Also interesting is the difference in the value of the companies themselves, with Google having a market capitalization of $142 billion, hardly a small company, while Microsoft has a market cap of $212 billion.
Still, the Redmond giant does market a lot more brands – Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox, Zune etc. – and for the most part keeps them separate. Google on the other hand has very few standalone brands – Gmail, Picasa, Blogger or YouTube – and many of those were actually acquired by the company. YouTube, for example, got its name way before Google bought it and the company's first venture in video sharing was called, what else, Google Video. This is true for many of its products as most of the time it just sticks its name to a common word and is done with it; i.e. Google Maps, Google Docs, Google News, Google Reader and so on.

Microsoft Unveils New Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000

Aside from getting ready to launch its much anticipated Windows 7 operating system, the Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has now announced the debut of a new Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000, a keyboard and mouse combo designed to provide users with a comfortable typing experience. According to the company, the new keyboard utilizes the Comfort Curve layout that allows the end-user to take advantage of a natural write posture with a slight six-degree curve. In addition, coming to support the launch of the company’s Windows 7 OS, the new keyboard has been designed with special one-touch features for the aforementioned operating system.

“Our goal is to have a strong ecosystem of compatible and innovative products,” said Gary Schare, director of Hardware Ecosystem Product Management at Microsoft. “We're excited about the work Microsoft Hardware has done to light up the key features of Windows 7. For example, the Taskbar Favorites keys on the Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 complement our improved taskbar - helping to deliver a full end-to-end experience to make life on a Windows 7-based PC easier and more enjoyable.”
Among some of the Windows 7-related features that have been implemented in the new Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 the company has highlighted the support for Device Stage and Windows Flip, which will be available for Windows 7 users. Device Stage will enable them to get access to common tasks, including product information, registration, settings and more for device categories such as cell phones, cameras, printers, portable media players and input devices.
Included in the new package is the company's Wireless Mouse 5000, which features rubbed side grips, an ambidextrous design and Microsoft's BlueTrack technology. Both the mouse and the keyboard are connected to the computer system via a 2.4GHz mini-transceiver that can work at distances of up to 30 feet away.
As far as pricing and availability goes, the new Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 from Microsoft is expected to become available later this month for an estimated retail price of US$79.95.

Windows Mobile Is Dead, Long Live Windows Phone

Redmond-based software giant Microsoft decided it was high time to put an end to the Windows Mobile nomenclature for its operating system for mobile phones, and will have the platform under the name of Windows Phone. It seems that the company plans to clear up any confusion that might arise connected to the current naming, thus introducing the new brand that has been rumored/expected to be announced for quite a while now.

According to the news, the change will not affect only the Windows Mobile 6.5 flavor of the platform, but the Windows Mobile 7 iteration too, as well as the older versions of the OS, at least all that come in the 6.x scheme. The Redmond company also says that the brand “reflects the upcoming desktop operating system release where people away from their PC can have the same experience everywhere.”
On the other hand, there are also those who suggest that Microsoft might be trying to detach the upcoming operating system flavors from the negative publicity that the Windows Mobile brand has seen over the years. According to The Inquirer, the move towards the new name will get somewhat official tomorrow, when a video that will deliver a preview of the final version of Windows Phone will also become available.
Microsoft's operating system for mobile phones will most probably represent the same thing for users out there, regardless of the name under which it will come towards them. For what it's worth, the Windows Mobile name is reportedly worn out, so a major change was needed. In case the user experience that the upcoming Windows Phone OS will deliver will rise high above what the older flavor was able to offer, then Microsoft has made the move at the right moment. Hopefully, all the goodies it has been rumored to include will be there, and the rose will smell sweeter.