Not that bothered about Windows 8? You’re not alone. To even the most disinterested observer, it’s clear Microsoft has a lot work to do to get people enthused about its touch-centric efforts, and the forthcoming Windows 8.1 (Windows Blue) update is a big part of that.
Global PC sales are in huge decline, and although Windows 8 isn’t totally to blame and some retailers have a better story, it’s palpable that Microsoft faces a massive challenge to keep Windows relevant and encourage us to upgrade our PCs – especially in the face of some depressing views from partners and rumoured price cuts.
We met Microsoft’s Windows Product Manager Ian Moulster away from the show floor at the recent UK Gadget Show to get an update on how things are going with the OS. The change in tone from previous Windows 8 briefings we’ve experienced was marked. Gone were the big messages about the Windows 8 Start screen and Windows 8-style apps. The atmosphere was more introspective – has the Start screen been over-emphasised?
“I’ve changed my pitch – I hate saying it’s my pitch – from starting with the Start screen to starting with the Windows desktop when I talk to people about Windows 8,” considered Moulster. “When you show them the desktop it looks like Windows 7 and in fact it is pretty much like Windows 7 except that it’s faster, it’s more secure, uses less power, starts up quicker and has interface tweaks across the board.
“Essentially if you like Windows 7 you should like Windows 8 because it’s much the same only improved. And then on top of that there’s all the Windows 8 stuff which you can use when you’re ready to use it.”
Too much, too soon?
Moulster talked about how this “desktop first” approach may speak more to those migrating from Windows 7, with Microsoft possibly shifting the focus away from the new world of the Start screen at first.
“To me that resonates more with certain people who are coming from a Windows 7 background so I’m just wondering whether emphasising the Start screen to everyone might not be the right way to do it for us and others too.
“[The Start screen] is the new bit and it’s the exciting bit so we want to talk about it but actually for a lot of people it’s about doing their Windows 7 stuff and slowly get into ‘OK I can do other things as well’. And suddenly it’s ‘well, I’ve got all these free apps I didn’t know I had and I can play Angry Birds and gradually get into it’.”
Moulster was also keen to find out what we thought about the new OS. When we brought up about the negative feedback from users we’ve received in comments on TechRadar, Moulster mused over whether there was a skew between early adopters and “people who are less techy”. He also suggested that coming to Windows 8 without stigma does have positive results on touch-based devices.
“I bought my mother, who’s 76, a Surface and – obviously while I helped her somewhat – she loves it and just gets on with it. She does her email, online banking, she does everything. What she doesn’t use is the desktop. She doesn’t really know it’s there – she’s got fairly simple needs.
“She had a laptop before and a netbook where the screen res was so low… It’s easy to use, so there’s that class of user that’s not at all tech savvy and as long as they’re starting from scratch with the Start screen, it’s actually more easy to use.”
The app problem
Although there are some great apps in the Windows Store – and numbers are in excess of 50,000 – we made the point to Moulster that we’d been surprised at the lack of big-name apps materialising at the Windows 8 launch. Skype and Twitter launched later, while Facebook (which Microsoft has a stake in, let’s not forget) still hasn’t appeared.
“We of course still have the desktop and have all the apps there. I get asked ‘is there an iTunes app’ – well there kind of is, because iTunes works just as it always has done on the desktop. Use that, or Spotify or whatever.
“The other key thing is that Internet Explorer 10 enables you to pin sites to the Start screen, so you can use that to access many web apps. Because it’s full screen, you kind of don’t know it’s not a [separate] app – the BBC iPlayer is a case in point, just pin the site to your Start screen.
“What I don’t think we should be doing is starting [people] off saying the Windows 8 Start screen is where you should spend your entire life and forget about the desktop because most people don’t want to do that. In some ways it’s the other way around.
“Start with what they know, install all the applications that they know they like and that work, and gradually start saying ‘yes, I can see how these apps can be useful to me’.”
Windows 8.1 on the way
We ask about Windows Blue and whether it points the way towards eventually getting rid of the desktop. Moulster tells us: “To be honest I don’t have an answer because I don’t know. I’m loathe to speculate. It seems highly unlikely to me. I haven’t seen anything either way. I’d be surprised, but that’s my personal view.”
“I think it’s a continuation of us always building on what’s there. Windows 8 is built on Windows 7 and starts from where Windows 7 stops, and I don’t think there will be a change to that approach. We’d be crazy to throw anything away.
“But what form that takes we’ll have to wait and see I suppose. I think we have said that we’ll be releasing updates more frequently, but precisely what that means I don’t know. There’s the apps as well, we’ve released plenty of updates to our apps.”
We make the point to Moulster that much of the problem with the reaction to Windows 8 is actually around expectations rather than actual issues with the OS. “You’re correct,” he says. “It’s more of a perception than an actual issue. Yeah, sure, we want to have more apps in the store and I’m sure we will, but there are a lot of things you can do that people don’t realise you can do and it’s our job [to tell people].
“So a lot of it will be, the more people are using Windows 8 the more people will talk about it, so people will say ‘I’m using this tool, I didn’t know you can do that’ – it will catch on, that peer thing. But it will take time.
“The comments you make aren’t surprising to an extent, it’s just that we need to work out how best to address it. I think the product does a lot, if not all, the things people want it to do. It’s about us being clear about how to achieve that without spending one-on-one time with everybody! These [public] shows are good because people come and most of them don’t have an axe to grind at all; they just want to know how to use it. Spend five minutes with them and they say it makes sense to them and they understand it.
Helping people to choose a Windows 8 PC
Is there an issue with having too much choice with Windows 8 laptops and Windows 8 tablets? “I think we’ve got a job to do on the choice part as well. Choice is a good thing but then people get confused by it, so you’ve got to help them figure out what they’re looking for and what they need. The line we’ve taken with it is that you can pick the ideal PC for you, which might not be the right PC for somebody else.
“We need to get people thinking that way – does it need to be thin and light, do I need a long battery life, does it need a big screen. When you figure those things out, you’ll probably find there’s a device that’s right for them. We need to help them find that device.
“With Surface, because it’s our device, some people think this is it! Actually, there could be a much better device that’s a much better fit for what you want. We tend to forget that people don’t know [what to look for] because we’re so close to it. There’s an education job for us to do.”
“So when we talk about Surface being seen as the key Windows 8 device, is it about making sure partners’ devices are on even keel? “I think it’s a decision path – if that’s not too bad a term to use – that includes our devices and all the rest too. It’s crazy to suggest that Surface is the perfect device for everybody because clearly some people don’t like it, they want a proper keyboard or whatever it is.”
Does RT have a future?
Has Windows RT made things more complicated, with the lack of support for desktop apps? “Yeah, I think again it’s about being clear about what people want. So if they’ve got Windows 7 programs they depend on, Photoshop for example, we need to be clear that they won’t work on RT and it’s not the right device for them. Simple as that.
“Although there is the case that there might be an equivalent [Windows 8] app for them and so the other advantages such as long battery life means it’s a good choice. It is part of the decision-making process that we need to be clear about. I still maintain that having choice is a good thing, but it does complicate things somewhat.
“It’s about getting people to use these devices and trying them out. It’s a tough one, as it usually means going into a retail store. It’s tough to get the value across on a poster. And it’s tough to get the message across – ‘this is Atom, this is ARM’. People don’t think about that, they think about what they want to do, if they need something for email or for 3D gaming. I guess that’s always been the case.”
Finally, we also asked Moulster if he knew of any plans for RT, as other manufacturers seem to be pulling back from the OS. “We’ve specified support [duration, until November 2017 for Surface RT] … what the longer term plans are I’m not really privy to, but RT is a fully-fledged player. I can’t really say any more than that.”
Moulster finishes on a positive note. “We’re encouraged by the solid initial sales of Windows 8, and as we announced recently there have been over 60 million licenses sold [market share is also on the rise]. This is an exciting time in Windows and there’s a lot of energy around the work we’re doing.”
Posted in Computing, How To, Internet, Mobile Phones, SoftwareComments Off Do Siri job postings point to expansion of the personal assistant?Posted on 01 April 2013.
It looks as if Apple is preparing to expand the virtual personal assistant Siri, as the iPhone maker posted a dozen Siri-related job ads over the weekend. Apple began advertising on its jobs portal over the weekend for new positions related to Siri that range from “Siri Software Engineers” to a “Siri Interaction Designer” and a “Siri Monitoring Architect.” Apple has not announced anything regarding Siri, but given the new talent that the company is looking to bring on board it seems the old girl is about to get better. The listings themselves also provide a glimpse, if an unreliable one, at Siri’s possible future. Sounds like a major Siri overhaulSiri had a lot of promise when she hit the iPhone scene, but her crow’s feet and split ends quickly began to show through her shiny, commercial facade. But Apple began posting job listings in January that pointed to some improvements for her virtual personality. The latest job listings hint at even further improvements and expansions. One asks for Hadoop engineers to “to implement, support, and maintain large-scale infrastructures” for Siri. A Siri speech operations engineer would “take part in building and managing some of the worlds largest server deployments” that “will have the potential of directly and immediately benefiting millions of Apple of customers.” Siri software engineers will “contribute to the next big revolution in human-computer interaction” by, among other things, “[improving] Siri’s accuracy.” Siri interaction designers, meanwhile, “will contribute to extending Siri’s capabilities, knowledge, and intelligence, helping invent new techniques for conversational interaction.” And so on. What’s really in Siri’s future?Based on the job listings it seems Apple will soon begin working to improve Siri’s accuracy (a much-needed effort) and add new functionality, though we can’t currently guess what that might include. Previous rumors have claimed that Siri could wind up expanding beyond the mobile realm to Mac OS X, but nothing in these Siri job ads seems to hint directly at that direction. One thing is for sure: Siri is here to stay.
In Depth: The next-gen speech tech that’s available todayPosted on 31 March 2013.
Did the world of speech technology begin and end with Apple Siri? Not if you have kept an eye on recent advancements. While the iPhone virtual assistant can read you the weather, she is not perfect. Ask her for flight info and you’ll get a blank stare. For anything vague complex (say, “What is that local exhibit with Egyptian mummies?”) and she will show you a Web page, not provide the answer. Fortunately, speech is advancing quickly. Here are several new speech technology innovations worth investigating. 1. PixelToneOne of the most obvious improvements in speech tech has to do with natural language control. In this upcoming iPad app, which is a combined effort between Adobe Research and University of Michigan, you can speak commands like “make the image heavenly” to produce a photographic effect, or say “make John lighter” to lighten a person in the photo. The main benefit is in reducing the steps for editing and making them easier to use.
2. Interactions Virtual AssistantMost automated customer support lines are not that automated. If you call FedEx, for example, you have to say very specific commands like “track a shipment” to get the computer to respond. Interactions has developed a natural language speech system. So, when a customer calls, they can say a more complex phrase like “change my e-mail in my last shipment order” and the computer will respond correctly, verifying the instructions and sending a summary of the call.
3. Artificial Solutions IndigoRecently released for Android, with a Windows Phone 8 smartphone version in the works, this personal assistant responds to questions about the weather ala Siri. But the app ties into the Google Calendar on your Android phone so you create a new meeting by speaking, then get an audible reminder before the meeting. You can also search for nearby landmarks and eateries, speak a status message, compose an e-mail and control your music.
4. Panasonic Viera WT60 HDTVMost voice-controlled televisions offer a limited feature set. Namely, you can only say words that appear on the screen. The recently released Panasonic Viera WT60 goes much further. With speech tech provided by Nuance, the TV responds to commands for searching the Web (you can say any search string you want) and also lets you speak the name of any show to search across multiple TV guides to see when that show is airing.
5. Dragon Dictate for Mac 3Many of the speech advancements of late have taken place on mobile devices. This new app, which allows you to dictate a longer document or e-mail, is now 15% more accurate than previous releases. The app now lets you load a pre-recorded dictation from a voice recorder and, by adjusting rules for your profile, have the speech recognizer automatically make corrections (e.g., spelling out all abbreviations you make).
6. 2013 BMW 750 LXI with Dragon Drive and Siri Eyes FreeUsing your mobile device for speech is helpful in most instances, except when you’re driving. It’s often difficult (or illegal) to look down at the screen to see results. This high-tech BMW uses speech in new ways. The Dragon Drive feature lets you speak any new text message or e-mail and listen to incoming messages. The Siri Eyes Free service means you can connect your iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 and use Siri. When you ask about the weather or search the Web, your phone screen automatically dims.
7. Google Voice SearchOne of the most important improvements in speech tech has to do with the algorithms in Google Search. For the past few years, Google has steadily added new natural language search tech to their Web search on mobile device and the Web. For example, when you ask a question like “how tall is George Clooney” and then ask “what is his most recent movie” the search engine will know you are still talking about the famous actor. Google also understands context better. If you ask about a museum exhibit, Google knows you mean in your area and will return the name of the museum even though you never asked for it.
Posted in Computing, How To, Mobile Phones, Software, Technology, WirelessComments Off 5 Free Tools for Creating Custom Twitter BackgroundsPosted on 07 February 2013. Customizing your Twitter profile is a great way to show off your personal style. If you’re managing a Twitter account for your business, customizing your background is almost mandatory so you can… Posted in How To, Internet, Social MediaComments Off Siri was meant for Android phones before Apple stepped inPosted on 23 January 2013.
Ask Siri where she was born and she’ll say that she was “designed by Apple in California,” but that’s only the half truth. She almost belonged on Android phones. The brains behind this voice-activated personal assistant had signed a deal with American carrier Verizon in the fall of 2009, according to a lengthy Huffington Post feature. The objective was to make Siri a default application for all of the carrier’s Android smartphones, which are of course powered by Apple’s chief rival, Google. Apple, seeing the potential in Siri, didn’t just make a counteroffer, it bought Siri, Inc. This ensured exclusivity and killed any hope of Siri for Android phones in the future. The most interesting part is just how far Verizon’s deal for Siri is said to have gone. “Somewhere in the vaults of the wireless giant, there are unreleased commercials touting Siri as an Android add-on,” reported The Huffington Post. Before Siri for Android, iOS phonesTruthfully, Siri should credit the United States Department of Defense and its $150 million budget for its origin. Apple’s artificial friend was spun out of a five-year, 500-person project by the Pentagon and Menlo Park, California’s non-profit research institute, SRI International, according to the expose. The undertaking was “by any measure, the largest AI program in history,” said lead researcher David Israel. As a start-up, Siri, Inc., initially launched its application as an independently developed iOS application before it was pulled from the App Store. Apple then bought the 24-person company for a reported $150 million to $250 million. Siri updates in the futureSiri was updated with the launch of iPad 4 and rollout of of iOS 6 last year, adding new languages and the ability to open third-party apps, look up personalized sports stats, and send tweets. In addition to expanding the way this personal assistant app is a “do engine,” Apple is looking to tweak the responses that Siri gives to commands. The company is searching for a new writer to invoke a little more personality into its voice-activated application. One thing that Siri will never properly respond to are questions about her almost-in-the-bag deal with Verizon that would have brought her to Android handsets. She’ll just play coy and direct users to the nearest Verizon stores in the area. Sly.
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