We all know the de facto internet filesharing and cloud storage tool until now has been Dropbox, but Microsoft has always had their own offering, SkyDrive. SkyDrive gave you 25GB of storage for free, which is a good deal more than Dropbox’s measly 3GB. Problem was, SkyDrive was not really available on anything else other than Windows (and Mac), and there was no mobile integration except with Windows Phone 7. Now Microsoft is starting to put SkyDrive into the devices people use every day, instead of only giving it to the Windows faithful.

From today SkyDrive is also available on iPhone, which is a major shift for Microsoft. “We realize that not everyone who relies on SkyDrive for sharing photos or accessing Office documents uses Windows Phone… yet. We have a long history of supporting iPhone customers with built-in support for Hotmail and with apps like Bing, Messenger, OneNote (with SkyDrive sync), and now Skype.”

“More generally, we believe you should have access to your personal content no matter which device you use. This is why we are excited to invest in HTML5—both on the web and on mobile—on http://skydrive.com.” iPhone users can access all of their cloud stored files, create folders, delete files and share links to folders, which fires off a invite using Mail.”

If you have not yet heard of SkyDrive, here are some of the features:

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Microsoft is slowly but surely starting to cater for people who use Apple’s devices – and the latest app from their stable is the My Xbox Live app. If you are a big online game player, and you hate tearing yourself away from your Xbox, the Xbox Live app will keep you posted on all the activity in your Xbox community. The app is beautifully made, and gives you a very special preview to how apps look on Windows Phone – it feels a little strange having a Metro interface on your iDevice.

Here is the feature rundown: (more…)

We have seen a few great enhancements arriving in Windows 8, including a brilliant new touch interface, and much more efficient use of system resources – but most of the marketing seems to be focussed on tablet form factors and touch screens. The other major development is that Windows 8 will have the ability to run on ARM processors (the same type of processor you might find in your phone or tablet), but it has been recently rumoured that this is only relevant to the Metro style apps, and the existing “desktop” will not be made available on the ARM devices.

So what happens to the existing bog-standard mouse and keyboard users? If you have spent some time with Windows 8 Developer Preview, you will know the interface is not particularly intuitive if you do not have a touch screen. Yes, it is by no means complete, but it makes one wonder how relevant the Windows 8 update will be to users who use standard desktop and notebook PCs.

“Windows 8 will be largely irrelevant to the users of traditional PCs, and we expect effectively no upgrade activity from Windows 7 to Windows 8 in that form factor.” – IDC

Now it looks like IDC has been asking this same question – stating that Windows 8 will be “largely irrelevant”, as one of their Top 10 predictions in 2012. Their reasons are simple –

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The Daily is reporting that Microsoft is readying a version of Office for Apple’s very popular tablet computer. Microsoft has for a long time made Office for Mac, which is very popular with the Mac faithful. Even with the iPad’s limited functionality compared to the PC, the demand for the tablet is incredible. If iPad was considered a laptop computer, Apple would be the number one seller in the US. The iPad has also made significant inroads into enterprise, perhaps more so than any Apple product before it. Now Microsoft cannot stand by and watch this happen.

The iPad already has a few productivity solutions available to it from a variety of developers, the most popular being Apple’s own iWork apps which are going for $10 each. Despite their popularity, people have been clamouring for better file compatibility with an official Office software bundle for the iPad. When Microsoft does roll out Office for iPad, the bigger question would rather be what at price point it will go for. Office is traditionally quite a high priced item, but almost a necessity to many people. If Microsoft can match the $10 per app price, the demand will likely be massive.

Microsoft is no stranger to the Apple iOS platform, they already make a version of OneNote for the iPhone, and they have a few other apps as well. There is one problem though – Apple takes 30% of every app sold in the AppStore. Now will Microsoft be willing to part with this cash? Only time will tell.

Microsoft is not willing to confirm anything, but we reckon it will be a smart move by Microsoft.

Microsoft has stepped up its new aggressive drive into the South African consumer and cloud space with the imminent local release in the next few months of two key products: its “Azure” cloud platform and its cloud subscription version of Office, Office 365 as well as with the recently released Windows Phone Mango platform.

That was the big news from the opening day of the software maker’s Tech-Ed and Partner Summit 2011 in Durban, which has attracted more than 3 500 technology vendors, developers and executives from across Africa.

Microsoft‘s corporate vice-president Jason Zander said that Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure, is planned for release between March and May 2012. Office 365, which brings cloud productivity to businesses of all sizes, will be commercially available in the first half of 2012, with a trial towards the end of 2011.

“Microsoft has repeatedly made its commitment to the cloud very clear and has made repeated updates to its cloud offerings,” said Zander. “We recently announced several new updates to the Windows Azure platform – which we see as the most comprehensive operating system for Platform-as-a-service – that will help customers create rich applications that enable new business scenarios in the cloud.”

Microsoft SA MD Mteto Nyati said the event would focus on the two broad trends that are shaping the industry and are shaping Microsoft’s strategy: the cloud, both public and private cloud computing, as well as devices.

“You’re going to see a whole bunch of devices of different shapes, sizes, form factors, speeds, usage types. We need a world of devices, and they need to be smart. They need to create data, they need to connect to the cloud,” said Nyati. Nyati also noted all the Apple products in the crowd – and welcomed the competition from the “iThings”.

“The cloud for us is the extension of rich experiences that once began on the desktop or on the server, and it’s making them richer and more interesting to users and more compelling every single day.”

Microsoft has high hopes for Office 365, which it says will bring cloud productivity to businesses of all sizes, particularly smaller businesses without an IT department. The service will be hosted from the Microsoft datacentres in Europe, leveraging the economies of scale present in these large datacentres. Office 365 will have a lot of advantages for small businesses through better license management and cloud based distribution.

“Office 365 is the best of everything we know about productivity, all in a single cloud service,” said Zander. “The power of cloud solutions allows companies to rent computing power, rather than acquire it outright. Microsoft Office 365 is software-as-a-service, a form of cloud computing where business services are presented to the end user in a subscription model.” Customers and partners can visit www.office365.co.za to pre-register for the trial.

If you think about it, Windows’s file explorer view has not changed much in the last decade – sure, the File, Edit, View menu has been done away with in Windows 7, but the user is still overly reliant on the right click mouse command. But with all the focus on touch based interfaces, the right click command needs to start taking a backseat in future Windows releases. Microsoft is focussing a lot on making Windows 8 a lot more touch friendly, and it is not all about their Metro based interface.

Going forward, all Windows Explorer windows will carry a Ribbon bar with the most popular file handling commands placed in the tabs we have gotten used to in Microsoft Office. Microsoft quite obviously states that drop down menus do not work well in touch environments, yet there is still quite a few commands in the Ribbon bar that relies on drop-downs. What gives Microsoft? But if you are not going to use Windows 8 on a touch device (we first have to wait to see a Beta which shows off the touch aspects more), you can hide the Ribbon bar.

Microsoft also shows off a few new ways in which traditionally difficult tasks are made a lot easier on Windows 8. (more…)

Recently Bandwidth Blog spent some time with Windows Phone 7 (with the Samsung Omnia 7), and despite a great operating system and user experience, we were critical of the lack South African support – both for customers and developers.

Microsoft has announced a series of brand-new enhancements to its App Hub developer portal as part of the highly anticipated ‘Mango’ release. Windows Phone 7 developers can now publish their apps to consumers in 19 new countries, including South Africa. In addition to the 16 countries where Marketplace is already supported, developers can now broaden their opportunity for global distribution and competitive app prices.

Clifford de Wit, developer platform lead at Microsoft South Africa, is calling on all Windows Phone developers to submit Mango apps in August, ahead of the Mango release to market. The new App Hub developer portal allows developers to manage their account, change settings, submit applications and stay up-to-date on Windows Phone.

“The updated App Hub features enhancements such as greater geographic markets for developers, consumers and advertising coverage; new private distribution options; and enhanced application and account management capabilities. We’re making great strides in expanding overall demand for Windows Phone applications.”

Microsoft is offering developers two new private distribution options: beta and targeted distribution. Apps distributed through these private distribution methods can only be downloaded by users using a deep-link and the apps cannot be discovered via browsing or searching in Windows Phone Marketplace. Beta distribution enables developers to distribute pre-certified apps to a group of up to 100 access-controlled beta testers for up to 90 days. The targeted distribution enables developers to distribute applications through Marketplace in a hidden state, where they are not discoverable via browsing or searching Marketplace.

De Wit says he has no doubt that local developers are in a position to create compelling mobile content for the Windows Phone platform. “We want to attract a new wave of Windows Phone developers ahead of the ‘Mango’ release.”

Other enhancements to the Mango App Hub include better application management, an enhanced developer dashboard, more detailed reporting, a new “Crash Count” report, a streamlined application submission process and new application categories – education, kids & family, and government and politics.

For more information, visit the official Windows Phone Blog and the App Hub.

Mark your calendars for a bullet-slinging, fruit-slashing party this September because Twisted Pixel’s Kinect-enabled action shooter “The Gunstringer and the highly anticipated “Fruit Ninja Kinect” will be bundled together at retail for R399.00. (See our review of the Kinect here)

Whether you shoot-em-up or slice-em-up, YOU are the controller in these two fun, action-packed titles. The retail bundle will be available in South Africa from 16 September 2011.

In “The Gunstringer”, you control a fiery gun-toting marionette through his adventures, combining solo platforming and shooting mechanics into fun, competitive action with a full suite of collectables, unlockables, abilities, rewards and more. Plus, as a special bonus to celebrate the release of “The Gunstringer,” players can also download a free add-on pack for the game at launch called “The Wavy Tube Man Chronicles” which pits players against the time-traveling son of Wavy Tube Man, the first boss players battle in the game. In this add-on, Wavy Tube Man Jr. steals a time machine to prevent his father’s death at the hands of “The Gunstringer,” and it’s up to players to battle classic western cowboys and futuristic warriors to save the world from destruction.

Along with the disc for “The Gunstringer,”the retail package will include a token code for the full downloadable version of “Fruit Ninja Kinect” via Xbox LIVE.

“Fruit Ninja Kinect” is an amazing evolution of the slice-em-up genre created by Halfbrick, which brings the worldwide mobile gaming phenomenon to Kinect so you can use your arms as blades in an epic battle against the world’s most delicious produce is just beginning.