Preston Gralla's Most Recent Posts

Windows Phone is falling further behind Android and iOS, with market share dropping from a year ago, says the latest report from IDC. And the report also warns that there will likely be only "slow growth" for the smartphone operating system.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) caused quite a stir when it reported Steve Ballmer saying that Windows 8 would have up to 500 million users by the end of 2013. But Microsoft says that Ballmer never made that prediction, and the AFP article was based on a misunderstanding.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says that he expected 500 million people to have Windows 8 by the end of 2013. But a look at Windows' sales history and PC growth shows that number is way off base.

Those who believe Apple doesn't take security as seriously as Microsoft have new fuel: the Kaspersky security company claims that because Apple won't allow companies to develop "true endpoint security" for iOS, iOS will become a malware target, leading to plunging iOS market share.

Windows Aero lovers, say good-bye to your bad taste in user interfaces. Microsoft says that it's killing Aero in the Windows desktop, which it now calls "dated" and "cheesy." Is the move a mistake?

Windows Phone 7 may be struggling worlwide, but it's overtaken the iPhone in China after only two months, according to a Microsoft official. Do the Chinese know something that the rest of the world doesn't?

When you buy that shiny, brand-new Windows 8 PC, expect that it may well be riddled with bloatware, the extraneous junk, trialware, and assorted crud that seems to bedevil any PC you purchase. There's a chance that there may be less of it than in previous version of Windows, but as with earlier Windows versions, if you want it cleaned of junk, you can pay $99 for a bloatware-cleaning service from Microsoft.

More bad news for Microsoft: Gartner research shows that its smartphone sales have tumbled by 27% compared to a year ago, and Microsoft now only has 1.9% market share. At this rate, it's not clear if Windows Phone will ever gain traction.

Facebook gets all the publicity, but when it comes down to what company people really like, Microsoft leads Facebook by a wide margin, as do Apple and Google. That's according to a just-released AP-CNBC poll.

Steve Ballmer has probably faced more long-time criticism than any CEO in America. And now there's this: A Forbes writer rates him as the CEO who most deserves to be fired.

Politicans are prone to hypocrisy, but now they're carrying it to new heights -- a Senate committee may look in Microsoft's blocking browsers from accessing certain features of Windows RT, but not investigate Apple for even greater browser restrictions.

How's this for hypocrisy: Mozilla says that Apple banning Firefox from iPads and iPhones is no problem, but Microsoft restricting the browser from using some features on some Windows 8 tablets may be illegal.

When ARM tablets running Windows 8 ship, Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers will be at a disadvantage, because Internet Explorer will be the only browser allowed to take advantage of certain features of the operating system. Mozilla and Google are crying "foul." Do the restrictions really matter?

There's been plenty of talk that Microsoft's purchase of Skype is hurting Windows Phone's acceptance with carriers because they view Skype as a threat to their business. Recently, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop was quoted as saying that. But that's only part of the story -- Elop went on to say that Microsoft's ownership of Skype will help Windows Phone, not hurt it.

A security researcher has found a potentially massive security hole in Windows 8 that would expose someone's contacts and other information from social networking services and email including Gmail, Facebook, Hotmail, LinkedIn, and Twitter, among others. It sounds serious, but there may be less to the security hole than meets the eye.