Under The Hood of Windows Eight

Windows eight brings the biggest change to the Windows ecosystem yet, and sets the stage for the future of the Windows operating system. Unlike previously, these changes aren't just on the level of a few new APIs here and there. The very way applications are developed for Windows has now changed, and will likely never be the same again.

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Windows 8 brings the biggest change to the Windows ecosystem yet, and sets the stage for the future of the Windows operating system. Unlike previously, these changes aren't just on the level of a few new APIs here and there. The very way applications are developed for Windows has now changed, and will likely never be the same again. Some of the biggest changes to come with Windows 8 would have to be: • An entirely new application runtime (WinRT)

mization:

• A new interface 

• A new Microsoft app store

• Support for ARM-based tablet devices

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We will take a look at each of these in turn, starting, of course, with the most divisive of them all, the new UI. The Modern UI This is undoubtedly the most controversial addition to Window8, and one of the major reasons that the Windows ecosystem will never be the same again. Originally called Metro, it has now been renamed to Modern UI (or Windows 8-style UI) due to a legal battle. With this approach to its interface, Microsoft now supports a whole new range of applications under Windows. These applications are designed to run in one of three states, full screen, snapped, or fill. 

The first state is obvious; in the second case, the application is snapped to the left or the right of the screen at a width of 320 pixels, and in the last state is of an application filling the remaining area after an application is snapped next to it. Additionally applications can be running in portrait or landscape view. Applications can also feed data to the users even when they are inactive via live tiles. Essentially, an application can be programmed to give some information about its state even when it is not running.

 This information can be presented on the applications "icon" on the start screen. So an email application can show the unread message count on the start screen and can even give pop-up notifications in case there is a new message. For this purpose, a small part of the application will always be running. The new style for applications is expected to follow Microsoft's UI guidelines, which put a focus on content over chrome. What this means is that applications should avoid skeuomorphic design patterns such as bevelled buttons and frames and instead use the content itself to distinguish different parts of the UI. 

For example, instead of unnecessary borders and bevels, the placement and typography of content should be used to express it purpose. 

This is the new direction of Windows, and though it is unlikely that traditional applications with menus and title bars is going to go away soon, Microsoft seems to have a lot of confidence in this new vision. To support it, they have an entirely new API for Windows applications, which we come to next. Windows runtime WinRT, or Windows Runtime is an API developed for, and available to the new style of applications discussed above. These new APIs allow a much simplified path for those developing Windows applications. However, they are also mostly only available to the new style of applications. RT-based applications can be written in the usual C#, Visual Basic, and C++, but now there is also the option of web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Microsoft also provides the Windows Library for JavaScript, which provide JavaScript API for building applications.

However, this new API does not provide all the features that Win32 did before it, and as a result certain kinds of applications are just not possible with the new API. All such applications actually run in a sandbox and have very limited system access. In fact, because browsers need more system-level access than is available to Windows 8 style applications, browser on Windows 8 are given a special exception from the sandbox and can.The many layers of Windows 8 mix normal Windows API and WinRT APIs. 

 As we mentioned above applications can have live tiles on the start screen that display changing data, and for this there is a new API for creating background tasks. There is also a new API for notifications, which are now natively supported by Windows—even by desktop applications. Another interesting feature in Windows 8, is contracts. If you application manages some kind of data, you can provide a search contract, so that users can search for data handled by application with ease. For example a photo management application might allow users to search for images by tags, file names and other data directly through Windows Search.

 A share contract will allow other applications to share data with your app. A twitter client for example, if it supports a search contract for sharing it will show up when a user tries to share data from another application—which also requires a search contract. Windows also has the concept of extensions, which add features to Windows, for example by registering as handlers for AutoPlay, or as a provider of contact data, or as a handler of a particular file type. Also there is support for the plethora of sensors out there. There are a number of other options available to developers. For example, they can take advantage of the fact that all Windows users running their WinRT-based application will have a Microsoft account. So if you don’t have your own account system you can use that.

 You can also take advantage of features such as synchronization across computers using SkyDrive. You may wonder, why would every Windows users running a WinRT application have a Microsoft account; well it’s because of Microsoft’s new Store, which is what we come to next. Windows Store The store is an integral part of Windows 8, as it the only way to discover, install, update or remove the new class of Windows applications that we have described before. This also means that it cannot itself be removed, at most it can be hidden. The new Windows 8 applications running on WinRT cannot be installed without the store.

 The store in turn needs a Microsoft account in order to work, even if you only wish to install free applications. So essentially, you need a Microsoft account for even something as basic as installing a free app from the internet. This is actually quite common on mobile and tablet platforms, but now desktop users get a taste as well. Standard desktop applications are not available in the store. While the store can list such applications—for this privilege the application needs Microsoft’s certification—they cannot be installed from there. Actually, there is a way to side-load applications without the store, but it is mostly only applicable to enterprises running Windows 8.

 For the new Windows tablets that run Windows RT, the only applications that can be run are WinRT-based applications. In fact the exception browsers enjoy on Windows 8 is not available to such apps and as such the only proper browser for Windows RT tablets is Internet Explorer. Which brings us neatly to Windows on ARM and tablets. Windows on ARM The availability of Windows on an entirely new architecture could have been a cause of celebration. Firstly Windows for ARM is not something you can buy in a store, it is only available to manufacturers to be delivered preinstalled on tablets. Even then what is available on ARM isn’t really the traditional Windows. 

Windows for ARM, or RT, includes only the new APIs and the new style of applications that are introduced with Windows 8, and cannot run traditional desktop applications even if they are compiled for ARM. So porting an existing application to Windows for ARM requires severe adaption of the UI to make it fit with the new style of applications.

 Microsoft of course is exempt from this rule, and as such its own Office 2013 will be available for Windows RT, and will in fact come preinstalled. Also, its Internet Explorer for Windows RT has system access that enables it to perform much better than a traditional Metro application ever can. This is important because if you were thinking of making a nice document editing app or an alternate browser for Windows tablets, Microsoft has you beat and they have more access than you will ever have. However, Windows Phone 8 now uses the same Windows NT kernel as standard Windows 8. In fact it shares a lot of the WinRT APIs, making it easier to share and port code between Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT / 8. 

Wrapping Up Windows 8 is a significant release for developers, and offers new opportunities to developers in the form of a fresh, simple and new API for Windows, support for the increasingly popular web apps platform (HTML, CS, JS) and a new store for selling applications. However, there are many thorny issues, and only time will tell how popular Windows 8 will be.

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7 useful QBasic programs and graphics,programming language software.

QBasic is a programming language developed by Microsoft in 1985.It is the successor of earlier forms of BASIC (Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code).QBasic is an ideal programming language for beginners because of its simple commands, improved programming structures,better graphics and flexibility.It is an integrated development environment (IDE) to write, edit, debug and execute basic programs.

Now lets review some Qbasic programs.

1. This program is used for draw an isosceles triangle with horizontal base.

           SCREEN 7

           COLOR4,14

           CLS

           PRINT "This is a Triangle"

           LINE(160,30)-(250,180),4

           LINE(250,180)-(70,180),2

           LINE(70,180)-(160,30),1

           END

    2.This program is used for draw boxes with Line segment.

           SCREEN 7

           COLOR5,15

           CLS

           LINE(60,60)-(130,100),6,B

           The letter B indicates the box option.In this statement,the coordinates (60,60) and                         (130,100) are the opposite corners of the rectangle.

           To fill the box with the desired colour shade,add BF(box fill) option.
           
            SCREEN 7
            COLOR5,15
            CLS
            PRINT "This is a Rectangle"
            LINE(60,60)-(130,100),6,BF
     
     3.This program is used to generate musical notes.The codes used to produce different                 musical notes are as follows:
   
        PLAY "ABCDEFGA"]
        END

      4.This program is used to draw a circle,eclipse or an arc of a circle.

         SCREEN 7
         COLOR4,14,5
         CLS
         PRINT "This is a Circle"
         CIRCLE(160,100),70,15
         END 

      5.This Program is to print table of 12(upto 5 times only.)

          CLS
          FORA=1 TO 5
          PRINT"12*";A;"=";12*A
          NEXTA
          END

      6.Program to display your name nine times on the screen.
   
         CLS
         REM PRINT YOUR NAME
         INPUT "NAME PLEASE";N$
         FOR  X=1 TO 9
         PRINT N$
         NEXT X
         END

     7.Program to print first five odd numbers.

        CLS
        FOR L=1 TO 10 STEP 2
        PRINT L
        NEXT L
        END

   

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What are the important contributions of Bill Gates-co-founder of Microsoft Corporation.

Bill Gates is co-founder of Microsoft Corporation,the world's leading provider of software for personal computers.In 1973,Gates entered Harvard University as as freshman.In his junior year,Gates dropped out of Harvard to devote his energies full-time to Microsoft,a company he had started in 1975 with his boyhood friend Paul Allen.Guided by a belief that the personal computer would be a valuable tool on every office office desktop and in every home,they began developing software for personal computers.
    Gates foresight and vision regarding personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.Until recently, Gates played an important role in the technical development of new products.Much of his time is devoted to meeting with customers and staying in contact with Microsoft employees around the world through e-mail.
     In 1995,Gates wrote 'The Road Ahead' his vision of where information technology will take society.In addition to his passion for computers,Gates is interested in biotechnology.Bill Gates bid goodbye to Microsoft on 27 June 2008.He will now focus attention on charity at the helm of Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.  

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Microsoft has decided to drop the price of its Surface Pro tablet by $100.

Microsoft has decided to drop the price of its Surface Pro tablet by $100.
After slashing the price of the Surface RT, Microsoft has now followed on with a similar discount on the Pro model. The firm's second Windows 8 tablet price has been cut to $799 for the 64GB model – a drop of $100.
The 128GB Surface Pro has also been cut by $100 to $899. See also: Microsoft Surface RT price drops in the UK, by 30 percent.
Furthermore, opting for the Surface Pro Bundle (Office Home and Student 2013, a two-year warranty, a Type Cover, Incipio sleeve and a screen protector), costs $309 instead of $478.
These discounts apply in the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan but not the UK. The tablet still starts at £719 for the 64GB model and £799 for 128GB.
It's unclear whether Microsoft will introduce the discount to the Surface Pro or not. It recently dropped the Surface RT price to £279, a discount of £120.
Microsoft also reported woeful amounts of revenue from the two Surface tablets, just $853 million when a loss of $900 million has already been announced for its Surface RT, put down to 'inventory adjustments'.
The price cuts add to the rumour and speculation that Microsoft will launch new versions of the Surface tablets later this year with Windows 8.1. It's likely that the firm is trying to shift remaining stock of its home-grown device before unveiling their replacements.
Microsoft will be hoping the Surface 2 tablets will be more of a success. Little is known about the gadgets but they will come with a larger range of accessories, according to a leaked roadmap.

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Microsoft announced or previews visual studio 2013.

Microsoft announced the availability of Visual Studio 2013 preview among
other major updates relevant to mobile app developers at its BUILD
conference.
Microsoft made several new announcements at the Build conference yesterday, the most important one among them being the preview of the newer versions of Visual Studio 2013 and .NET framework. An update for Visual Studio 2012 was also released, which includes bug fixes and enables Visual Studio 2012 to run on Windows . While the VS 2013 preview included a slew of new features related to Azure and cloud based testing. There is also a lot of focus on testing how the battery life of a device will be affected, power consumption for which can be measured down to the milliwatt. Other cloud related integration's come in the form of connectivity to Windows Azure Mobile Services and synchronization for developers to multiple devices. S. Somasegar, the VP for Microsoft Developer division said, “As just one example, .NET developers have been asking for a feature that’s been available to C++ developers for a while: viewing method return values in the debugger, even if those values are never stored into any declared variable. With .NET 4.5.1 and Visual Studio 2013, this capability is now built-in.”

The company also announced that it is opening up a lot of functionality of Bing as a platform for developers, wherein they will be able to access Bing data in a variety of different forms. They will also be able to access the knowledge base, entities, Optical Character Recognition, mapping etc.

The third major announcement that Microsoft made was related to the Internet Explorer browser, wherein it confirmed that for the first time ever, it will support WebGL. As of now, IE is the only major browser that does not yet support this features and it seems the functionality is finally coming, for everyone’s delight. There might be a lot of small announcements which were made, however these are some of those which took the stage away.

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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.
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