Why did Microsoft give up on PCs before the market did?

How's this for a killer corporate strategy? -- You have 90%+ market share of the desktop and notebook (PCs) market, but because Apple is having some success with touch screen tablets (iPads), you dumbdown your desktop OS (Windows) to basically a touchscreen tablet with keyboard OS, forcing OEMs and users to adopt more expensive touchscreens (which most people don't want or need on their PCs), incorporating confusing/dueling OS environments (Modern a/k/a Metro vs Desktop) in ALL Windows 8.x PCs, and then wonder why sales fall off the cliff, and people start abandoning not only Windows, but Microsoft altogether? Top selling notebook computer at Amazon? A Chromebook! Goodbye Microsoft -- soon, all you will have left is your Scroogled campaigns and a pile of #FAILS.

How to remove Microsoft account from Windows 8 PC, laptop or tablet - PC Advisor: "Add a Microsoft account to your Windows 8 PC, laptop or tablet. You'll need to be an administrator. Go to the Charms Bar, Settings, Change PC Settings. Then select Users, Add a User. Now you need only enter the appropriate information and follow the on-screen directions."

Charms Bar? Microsoft truly gave up on PCs before everyone else did.

Microsoft's Chromebook headache
FORTUNE ... the first- and third-bestselling laptops at Amazon over the holidays were not Windows PCs. They were Chromebooks ...

Replacement Surface Pro 2 devices being sent out with upgraded specs, includes newer CPU | WinBeta: "..."I returned my Surface Pro 2 (v. 256GB) because of the poor performance after the failed 12.10.13 firmware update. I recall the SP2 I returned having a i5 4200U processor. To my surprise, when I checked the System Properties in the Control Panel on my replacement SP2, the processor was upgraded to a i5 4300U @ 1.9Ghz. - 2.5 Ghz," one Surface Pro 2 owner stated on Microsoft's official support forum..."

Windroid: What if Microsoft forked Android? | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Chester Ng: " . . . .Microsoft is about to hire a new CEO who will be looking to make a bold move in an effort to “turn around” the most formidable and profitable “underdog” in technology history. A move like this would only reinforce Microsoft’s “devices and services” company mantra. What better way to pull together “One Microsoft” than rally all its troops for an epic battle… right on Google’s home turf – Android! ..."

Google's 4K video format to hit TVs, mobile devices, PCs | PCWorld: "“Starting in 2014, you’ll see products from major mobile, PC and TV partners that are using a new, more efficient video format called VP9 that gives you HD quality at half the bandwidth,” said Francisco Varela, global director of platform partnerships at Google, in an email."

Moto X drops to $399 without contract to start the new year — Tech News and Analysis: Kevin C. Tofel: "The combination of “big” screen in a small package, long battery life, relatively pure Android experience and special features – active display and touchless control – are the reason the X is my only Android phone at the moment."

China's Xiaomi plans to more than double smartphone sales in 2014 | Technology | theguardian.com: "... Barra later explained that Xiaomi is happy to sell phones essentially at cost, and then to make money from selling services on them, and noted that countries such as India, Russia and Indonesia were "sweet spots" for its business. Xiaomi is expected to start selling its phones in Singapore later this year. Lei said privately that Xiaomi had sold 18.7m smartphones in 2013 – a 160% increase from 2012 – and that sales revenues, including taxes, rose 150% to 31.6bn yuan (£3.16bn). Xiaomi's sales growth far exceeds projections for the global smartphone market, which is expected to expand at an annual rate of 18% a year until 2016, according to research firm Canalys ..." -- (Editor's note: All running on Android )

Google Is Shutting Down Bump

Wall Street Journal (blog)
Apple eventually released its own version of local file sharing with AirDrop. Flock ... We hope our new creations at Google will do the same.

Apple Insider

Google, Apple Nab 345 Patents That May Govern Your Next Car

Forbes
What will your next car be like? Google, Apple and other giants of the smartphone business have plenty of ideas. In fact, Google alone has 310 U.S. ...

Capital Technologies

Google, Ford, LSU, Baidu, HTC: Intellectual Property

Businessweek
Google Inc. (GOOG:US), creator of the world's most-used search engine, asked a federal court in San Francisco to declare it doesn't infringe two ...

Apple denies working with NSA to create back door

MarketWatch
Apple Inc. said it never worked with the National Security Agency to create a back-door way for the organization to spy on iPhone users and it was ...

Washington Times

Microsoft Skype's Facebook, Twitter account hacked

Times of India
LOS ANGELES: The Syrian Electronic Army, an amorphous hacker collective that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, claimed credit for ...

Times of India

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