Windows 8 pro upgrade pricing
Microsoft has announced an aggressive pricing strategy to get its users to move on to the Windows 8 operating system once it is launched later this year. Recently it announced that Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro edition for a price of $ 39.99 (approximately Rs. 2,200). The corporation had earlier announced that the upgrade to Windows 8 will be available for those purchasing Windows 7 based personal computers from June 1 at an even more discounted price of Rs. 699. Windows 8 is the much-awaited OS upgrade from Redmond in recent years, as the operating system defines a brand new approach, one that combines its look and feel across mobile and desktop systems. The consumer preview of Windows 8 has been online for some months now.
Facebook hackathon
Facebook App development consultant KRDS is organising a 24-hour all-night hack contest for the developer community to build apps for Facebook from July 7 to 8. The KRDS FaceCode contest this year will have a special focus on development of Apps on the social network for a social cause or involving real-life issues such as corruption, education and traffic problems. Registrations are open until Friday (July 6). For more details, check https://www.facebook.com/groups/facecode2012/.
Surface, Nexus — tablet wars reloaded
The first battle of the modern tablet PCs went hands down to Apple, but the second battle promises to be a slightly more heated one. With Microsoft unveiling its remodelled Surface and Google announcing its 7-inch Nexus tablet at the recent Google I/O Developer Meet, the options are finally opening up for the consumers. The price point for Google’s new quad-core tablet at $ 199 (approximately Rs. 11,000) appears sweet for a device that will run cutting edge technology. Though it is meant to be a competition to Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, there are already speculations rife that Apple might launch a ‘mini-iPad’ to wage the war at the budget end of the consumer devices. Google’s new Nexus tablet will feature the next iteration of Android operating system Jelly Bean (4.1).