Microsoft has revealed that the company managed to sell 200 million licenses of its latest Windows 8 operating system. The number consists only of licenses that Microsoft sells to OEMs to install on their system and not fresh copies that customers can buy off the shelf or online.

While the number might seem large, the truth is it is actually lower than that of Windows 7. Microsoft revealed in May last year that they sold 100 million licenses and now 16 months from the launch of the OS, they hit the 200 million mark. In comparison, Microsoft sold 240 million licenses of Windows 7 in the first year alone. Read more »

We reported recently on the Universal Store that will allow users to download the same applications for their Windows desktop and Windows Phone handsets.

Well Twitter user, @AngelWZR has a leak that all but confirms Microsoft’s plan to implement their “Universal Applications.” Read more »

According to a report in The Verge, Microsoft is considering bringing support for Android applications to Windows and Windows Phone. Planning for the radical move is said to be ongoing and in early stages.

If materialized, the shift in strategy will aim to counter the lack of popular apps available on Microsoft’s OS platforms. Despite featuring mainstream titles such as Flipboard and Instagram, Windows Phone still lacks many of the popular iOS and Android apps and games. Read more »

First announced in early 2012, the Modern UI based Firefox web browser is ready for download (if only in beta form). The browser is optimized for touchscreen interaction and makes use of Windows 8 features like swipe gestures, the Share charm and, of course, tiles.

Traditional Firefox features like the Awesome bar and Firefox Sync are available too. Read more »

Are you eagerly awaiting an update for Windows 8.1? Well you won’t have to be twiddling your thumbs for much longer, because rumor has it that the first major update for Microsoft’s latest Operating System will launch in early April.

Initial reports indicated that Update 1 would be available in March, but now it seems that it’s been pushed to April 8th. What changes will the new update bring? Join us after the jump to find out. Read more »

Recently, Microsoft announced it will cease support for Microsoft Windows XP, leaving the 13-year-old OS without future updates or optimizations after the April 8 deadline.

The latest data from Net Applications shows that adoption of Windows XP is actually rising in light of this news, with the percentage of Windows XP users going up to 29.23% in January. Read more »

We recently talked about the upcoming Update 1 for Windows 8.1 that was expected to arrive in March and bring with it several UI changes that would make Windows 8.1 more usable for keyboard and mouse users by avoiding the new Metro style start screen at launch and making the Metro-style apps behave a bit more like traditional desktop apps.

Now, that update has leaked on file sharing sites well ahead of official release. Read more »

Now that we have the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 available the original is seeing its price cut down and Best Buy is leading the charge with a $400 drop leaving the retail price at $500 which is a really good deal.

According to TheVerge the deal is good from Friday to Sunday but a Best Buy sales representative has told CNET it could go all week. Read more »

Continuing its crusade of making a U-turn on pretty much every decision it made recently, Microsoft will now let boot directly to the desktop mode in Windows 8.1 bypassing the generally disliked Metro-style Start screen altogether. Although this feature was added in Windows 8.1, the next update to it will make it the default option.

Microsoft has apparently been taking user feedback into consideration that suggested majority of Windows 8.1 users are still on keyboard and mouse setup and prefer to go to the desktop mode directly instead of the Metro-style interface that is more optimized for touchscreen devices. Read more »

In an effort to boost sales and use of their Windows 8.1 tablets, Microsoft has slashed prices on a bunch of devices in the Microsoft store.

The Toshiba Encore, Lenovo Miix 2, went from $299 to $249, and the Dell Venue Pro from $299 to $229. It should also be noted that all of these tabs carry 32GB of storage space. Read more »

Microsoft seems to have really bad luck with its SkyDrive cloud service. First a UK court ruled out Microsoft is infringing British Sky Broadcasting Group trademark last summer and Microsoft has agreed to change the name.

Just two days ago Microsoft announced the new name of the service – SkyDrive was re-branded to OneDrive. And as of today Microsoft is in trouble once again for the same reason. Read more »

Microsoft has renamed its cloud storage service from SkyDrive to OneDrive. This was expected after a UK court found Microsoft infringing British Sky Broadcasting Group trademark last summer.

Microsoft says it chose the OneDrive name because the cloud storage should be the one place where you store all of your pictures, videos, documents and files. Read more »

Microsoft will be releasing an update to the current Windows 8.1 OS, tentatively called Windows 8.1 Update 1, on March 11, according to ZDNet. The update will brings several under the hood changes, as well as a bunch of user facing ones that will help bridge the gap between the desktop and ‘Metro’ modes.

One of the new changes said to be present in Update 1 is the ability to pin Metro-style apps to the taskbar in the desktop mode. This will allow you to launch those app quickly just as you would a standard desktop app. You can also hover over the icons of minimized apps to see a thumbnail preview. Lastly, Metro-style apps are also said to get a close button that will make it easier and more obvious on how to quit an app. Read more »

Microsoft has announced its earnings report for the fourth quarter and the company has managed to better its performance from the previous year. The company has racked up a record $24.52 billion in revenue in 2013 as compared to the $21.5 billion in 2012.

The gross margin read $16.24 billion, while the operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share read $7.97 billion, $6.56 billion and $0.78 per share, respectively. Read more »

With all of the hubbub surrounding the NSA and its many scandals, Microsoft preempted a lot of their foreign customers’ fears and have announced that they’re allowing their users’ data to be housed outside of the US.

The Financial Times reported on the unprecedented move. Most US-based tech companies, like Google, are refusing to comply with other countries requests to allow their citizens’ data to be stored domestically. This is why Microsoft’s move is kind of a big deal. Read more »