Dell Precision M2800 Laptop: Review

Introduced with a claim of being a sleek mobile workstation with a low price tag, the Dell Precision M2800 is a noteworthy gadget carrying sleek appearance with power-packed performance. Offered at a starting price of just $1,199, the device is claimed to be the lowest priced model of a new 15-inch mobile workstation currently available in the market. Adorned with rich silver and black looks, this budget priced mobile workstation is shipped along with a Haswell Core i5 or i7 processors and ISV certification. Being capable of handling professional graphics applications, the device can easily perform video editing, run heavy games, and act as photo-editing software.

Empowered with AMD FirePro W4170M graphics, and a 15.6-inch display, the company claims that this new Dell device is an ideal solution for users running workstation-grade software on non-certified laptops. Equipped with up to 1TB of storage and up to 16GB of RAM, the device offers ample space for storing your data safely and running all your programs efficiently. Arriving with power-packed performance, excellent display, and sleek yet strong build, the device is expected to hit the US market through Dell's business channel during spring 2014.

Design

Referred as a cousin to the super-slim M3800, the Dell Precision M2800 is a portable powerhouse that comes packed with several security features such as Fingerprint Reader, and Dell Data Protection. Crafted using MIL-STD-810G-tested chassis, the device is supported by an anodized-aluminum lid nicely paired up with a shining company’s logo placed right in the middle. The lid is also provided with a lock, located at the top, which keeps the notebook closed tight, when not in use.

The deck of the gadget consists of a solid black keyboard, lined with plenty of soft-touch keys that are ideal for typing long documents, and working continuously for hours. Measuring 14.92 x 9.86 x 1.31 inches and weighing 6.6 pounds, the M2800 is specifically designed for keeping your business up and running during travels, vacations, and outdoors. The 15-inch laptop is slightly thicker and heavier than its closest competitor- the 14-inch HP ZBook 14 measuring 13.4 x 9.3 x 0.83 inches and weighing 3.95 pounds.

For providing optimal durability and solid construction to the device, the entire shell is created using the tri-metal chassis, an anodized-aluminum, with a powder-coated base beneath. This mobile workstation also possesses a spill-resistant keyboard, which is also dust and shock resistant. Supported by Dell's Fast Response free-fall sensor, the device automatically shifts the hard drive to a safe position, if the chassis is about to take a spill.

Display

Since the device is empowered with advanced processors and a sound graphics card, having a high quality display is must for making it ideal to be an engineer’s and designer’s assistant. The M2800 possesses a 15.6-inch anti-glare screen, with a screen resolution of 1920 X 1080 pixels, which is capable of presenting heavy websites in a rich and colorful look. Imparted with excellent viewing angles, the device supports viewing sessions ranging up to 80 degrees on each side. Delivering a satisfying level of brightness, sRGB color gamut, and color accuracy, the device is an ideal gadget for editing pictures, videos, and camera clips.

Performance

Specially designed to deliver excellent performance while using 3D design software, the M2800 comes packed with a 2.8-GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-4810MQ processor and 8GB of RAM. Owing to its 1 TB SSD and the professional-grade AMD FirePro video card, the device is capable of maintaining high speed while browsing through multiple tabs and streaming HD videos.

Provided with ISV certification, the device is capable of delivering optimal performance while running heavy applications such as Autodesk AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Cloud, and more. Made available at affordable price, the device produces professional grade graphics to deliver professional quality work at an affordable cost. Equipped with the Dell Precision Performance Optimizer (DPPO), the device is capable of boosting up application performance up to certain levels.

Certified to run professional software and 2D or 3D computer aided design (CAD), the device performs excellently during various activities including digital content creation (DCC), image and audio editing, and others. The device runs on Windows 7 Professional (64 bit) or Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) operating system (OS) to ensure smooth functioning of all your business as well as personal tasks. Arriving with 6-cell or 9-cell (97Wh) Lithium Ion battery with ExpressCharge features, the device can be powered on around 7 hours during active browsing or video playback.

Dell Precision M2800 Laptop Technical Specifications

Feature	Description
Processor	2.8-GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-4810MQ processor
Operating System	Windows 7 Professional (64 bit) or Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit)
Battery life	Up to 7 hours
Camera	HD Webcam
Memory	8 GB
Storage	1 TB
Display	A 1920 X 1080 15.6-inch anti-glare screen
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Version 4.0

 Featuring an alluring finish, sturdy construction, and excellent configuration, the device is an excellent budget alternative for all those who wish to own a mobile workstation. Designed and manufactured by Dell, the Precision M2800 is a major step to give tough competition to the mobile workstations available in the market, especially with heavy price tags. Offered with customized configuration options, the laptop by Dell is an ideal solution for meeting business, designing, web developing, personal, and gaming PC requirements. Owing to its highly portable design, the device can easily serve as a productivity companion while on travel and outdoors, but the company needs to work on its battery life.

Is Cloud Gaming the Future of Entertainment?

With the rapid growth of the cloud computing, not just computing related processes like data collection and information sharing have reached to a higher level, but many other processes are also adopting this information technology revolution. Cloud gaming is one such process.

Cloud gaming is booming quickly and gradually it is replacing the traditional gaming genre. The growth of Cloud gaming is obvious and irresistible because it is an innovative application that is offering new opportunities and new horizons to the existing as well as upcoming games. 

Understanding Cloud Gaming 

 

The huge demand and usage of cloud computing has created a wave of revolution in the gaming industry as well and it has considerably changed the concept of how humans play games. Although, cloud gaming is still an evolving, although rapidly evolving, concept, it is already been highly preferred by users because it offers ‘gaming on demand.’ Gaming on demand is made possible by keeping many distributed computers connected through a synchronous communication network, of course with the aid of Cloud computing.

Under cloud gaming, all the games are stored in the server belonging to the operator or the game company, and on user’s demand the game gets directly streamed from the server onto the users’ devices like computers, smartphones, tablets etc. 

Cloud-based gaming companies like OnLive and Gaikai has recently started providing services and platforms that allow users to play HD video games, which are rendered through remote cloud servers. 

Can Cloud-based Gaming Become the Future of Entertainment?

Cloud gaming has all the potential to become the future of entertainment that is channelized through video games. It has already started showing impact on social and personal aspect by bringing in plenty of benefits such as: 

·         Players can simply play online; need of bulky devices, all a user needs is a high-speed network with large-amount bandwidth

·         Can access variety of games without deploying any new hardware or a game console

·         This saves money and also cuts down the need of upgrading the console because applications and data of the game get stored in the cloud

·         Payment procedure is pretty simple as it can be done over the Internet only

·         Cloud gaming is more feasible and preferred because it includes various cloud services such as data management, easy payment, quick payment collections 

·         This frees gamers from playing high-performance indoor games with the need of bulky devices and thus makes outdoor activities more diverse. 

 Challenges of Cloud Computing

Despite gaming industry has set on an irreversible move with Cloud computing on the pilot seat, but it still requires dealing with some major challenges to actually bloom in the manner it is promising right now. Latency, Security and Packet loss are three main challenges that cloud-based gaming companies have to overcome. 

Packet loss

A game which is streaming directly from the cloud server needs to be free of congestion or packet loss. Games played locally using gaming console are spontaneous and Cloud gaming also has to meet up that spontaneity to sustain in the long run. 

Security 

Anything that moves to the online platform, always require dealing with security concern. In cloud gaming also, security is a potential challenge, especially in regards to data protection and location tracking of the gamer.

Latency 

Latency deals with the quality of gamers’ experience. While playing online, gamer demands quick response, consistency and more stable connection with the cloud server. Latency has always been a vexing challenge in the domain of online games, and cloud computing is also under this trap and it has to mend with as much finesses as possible. 

If the aforementioned challenges can be overcome then Cloud computing has all the potential to be a big hit in the coming future because it will facilitate high-class gaming at a reduced cost. The gamer won’t have to buy expensive consoles and deploy heavy hardware. Moreover, direct access to cloud server will let a gamer access variety of games which will be promptly available on demand through streaming.   

What Makes Google Nexus 5 Awesome

The Google Nexus 5 seems to be gaining swift popularity because of the latest Android version called KitKat 4.4.  This Smartphone is offered in collaboration with LG that is supposed to offer awesome specifications. The latest that you know of Nexus 5 has long been released but how many of you know about what all it has. Through this article you will be able to know the details about its specifications and what makes it amazing. 

Look and Feel 

Nexus 5 is an awesome Smartphone that runs on Android OS with dimensions of 5.43 x 2.72 x 0.34 inches. This phone weighs 130 grams that means that it is sleek and lightweight. The phone boasts HD display with a screen size of 5.0-inches. This phone contains multi-touch capability, proximity sensor, light sensor and scratchproof glass that say enough for not having to use any screen guard. The only thing that you would need to keep in mind is that it uses micro-SIM. Additionally, this phone supports micro-USB 2.0 version. The handset is available in classic black and snow white color options. 

When it comes to hardware you will find the set with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 chipset including 450MHz for providing better graphics. Moreover, it is offered with Adreno 330 graphics chip along with quad core Krati 400 Processor with 2260 MHz power. This certainly means that this time Google has kept it all in one place when it comes to providing technology. The RAM provided is that of 2 GB and you get two options of memory storage that includes 32 GB and 16 GB. The only thing that would disappoint you is that you will find no storage expansion slots in either of the versions. 

Camera, Connectivity and Battery

The thing to like most about the latest enhanced version of Nexus 5 is the enhanced camera with HD capacity. The rear facing camera will give you 8MP LED flash along with a 1/3.2-inches camera sensor CMOS that contains OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). For better photography experience, you will appreciate its F2.4 aperture and the focal length of 30.4. All these specifications explain a lot that how Google has put in a lot of efforts to provide better photography experience to the one who is interested in capturing pictures from their Smartphone. Other things include the following exciting features:

• Touch to focus
• ISO control
• Auto-focus
• Optical image stabilizer
• Digital zoom
• Burst mode
• Face detection
• White balance
• Geo tagging
• HDR and Burst mode

For video chat purpose you get a 1.3MP front loaded camera. You will be able to record 1080p HD, 30fps video recording along with video light. This is a great idea especially when it comes to capturing good videos without any difficulty in dim or uncomfortable light conditions. 

Connectivity options are:

• Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, n 5GHz, ac
• DLNA
• Micro USB
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Tethering
• TV-Out
• Miracast
• OTA
• SlimPort
• Computer Sync
• NFC

 The only thing that might annoy you is that the battery cannot be replaced. You get 3.8 V 2300 mAh, 8Wh but you will be delighted to have in-built wireless charging. If kept on standby you get 300 hours as far as talk time is concerned you get 17 hours. 

The price range for 16GB is that of $349 and $399 for a 32GB available on Google Play Store.

5 Reasons to Choose Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 Antivirus

Keeping itself ahead of others in offering best-in class antivirus solutions, Kaspersky has recently launched its array of antivirus solutions for the year 2014-2015. The array includes several antivirus solutions like Kaspersky Internet Security - Multi-Device 2015, Kaspersky PURE 3.0 Total Security, Kaspersky Internet Security 2015, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2015, and many others. Coming down to Kaspersky Internet Security 2015, a complete Internet antivirus, the software offers premium protection against several online threats and viruses.

Being an amazing combination of award-winning technology, updated directory of viruses, and instant detection rate, the antivirus is an ideal solution that keeps you safe online at a price of just $80 (approx.). Arriving with numerous unbeatable features, the product is  offered with webcam protection and Wi-Fi security notifications that ensure complete safety of your online privacy and identity.

In this blog, you will read about the 5 major reasons that will convince you to choose Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 antivirus as your next Internet security solution.

1.       Unique Safe Money Technology

Kaspersky completely understands that the money in your account is the actual finance that you’ve earned, and it is not something that stolen from anyone else’s account. Therefore, it keeps its technology updated with the ‘Unique Money Safe’ feature that offers an additional layer of protection while you’re engaged in doing financial transactions online. The antivirus program keeps a close check on PC’s data sharing and file transfer details during online banking, shopping by using payment gateways.

2.       Identity & Privacy Safeguards

Identity theft and frauds have increased to an utmost level in the recent past and thus caused severe issues to innocent users who give away personal information easily. A potential virus, hacker, or even a malware can steal important, sensitive and crucial information from your device and send it across to malware authors who use it for malicious purposes. Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 uses the latest cloud data, anti-phishing technology, and an improved keyboard mode that prevents your sensitive data from being stolen.

3.       Dangerous Website Alerts

You might have accidently accessed a malicious website and it has dropped or installed a dangerous virus on your PC, without letting it come into your notice. Accessing such dangerous websites is an invite to all those potential threats and viruses to attack your devices and damage it to an irreparable extent. The ‘Dangerous Website Alert’ feature of this efficient antivirus lets you safely search result links, and immediately block malicious and phishing websites for offering added security to the user’s PC.

4.       Enhanced Webcam Protection

Everyone starting from kids, homemakers, to business professionals, and tech enthusiasts, teens, to hardcore gamers, uses webcam for getting connected to their friends/relatives over the web. A web chat, conference, or video call can help you contact a person at the minimum expenses, but a spying webcam may take all your financial, personal, and business information in one go. This feature is capable of blocking an unauthorized access to your webcam, hence, ensures that your device and webcam is protected from secret spying activities.

5.       Wi-Fi Security Notifications

Using Wi-Fi is a regular practice carried out by PC or portable computer users however, they never bother to check the connection’s security and privacy terms. This Internet antivirus is capable of verifying the security status of a public Wi-Fi, its connection vulnerabilities, and the types of potential threats to keep you highly secure while using it. The program will immediately block the website access, if suspects any illegitimate, unusually, or phishing activity.

What are some of the exceptional features of this program?

·         Safe Money technology - helps in securing data during online transactions        

·         Application Control - safeguards your PC from running dangerous applications

·         Anti-Phishing - secures your digital identity       

·         Virtual Keyboard - combats against keyloggers and screen capture malware      

·         Anti-Spam - constantly checks unwanted emails             

·         Two-Way Firewall - helps in restricting and blocking hacker attacks        

·         Advanced parental control - limits and blocks kids’ online activities

·         Anti-Banner- blocks phishing and malicious banner ads

Available with the real-time Internet protection against all viruses and online threats, the Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 is a complete security solution for all your data, transactions, identity, and privacy. The program efficiently runs behind-the-scenes to offer maximum and hassle-free protection against all those stubborn threats, without affecting your PC’s performance and slowing it down. Combined with unique Safe Money technology, the antivirus is capable of securing all your financial and personal details during several online activities such as banking, shopping, transacting, or others. At the end, the program is an efficient antivirus solution for securing your digital identity and privacy.

All You Need to Know about Intuit’s Quicken 2015

Quicken is popular, especially in North America as a personal finance management tool. Developed by Intuit, Inc., this venerable financial software helps you in keeping a check of where your money goes. Managing the finance in the right way is an inevitable task of our life. We all know that, we have to do it and we all want to do it in the best possible way. 

Quicken by Intuit, since its first edition in 2013, has been a reliable app proffered by majority for tracking their personal finances. 

Last week, Intuit has released the Quicken 2015 for Mac with a better interface and new investment capabilities. Just like the earlier versions, this app is also helpful in tracking purchases, checking balances, keeping track of receipts and keeping your overall finance in sync, anytime, anywhere. 

However, the newly released version for Mac has received a revamped interface and also new expanded investment features. The highlights of Quicken 2015 for Mac are listed below:

Highlights of Intuit's Quicken 2015 

•  A new, simple and clean interface designed specifically for Mac
• Introduction of new features that support easy track keeping of investment portfolios
•  Users can create Schedule D tax reports for capital gains so that things become easy when April 15 rolls around
•   Quicken 2015 for Mac is integrated with a free mobile app for iOS and Android.

•  Through this app one can snap a picture of financial receipts and can keep track of these while on the go.
•  The app also enables one to keep tabs on finances, view budgets, check account balances, check transactions, and do much more
• Quicken 2015 for Mac supports 14,500 banks, their credit cards, and loan and investment accounts. Thus, one gets a unified interface from where one can get a single top-down view of their finances. 
• With the Quicken 2015, you can easily transfer data from your earlier Quicken app like Quicken Essentials for Mac, Quicken 2010 for Windows, Quicken Mac 2007, and others.

Features missing in Quicken 2015 

• Native bill payment
• Calendar view of bills and transactions
• Paycheck deduction tracking
• Can’t create a 12-month budget
• show loan amortization

For a  couple years, Intuit has been receiving negative feedbacks from its customers because the company became slow in adapting Quicken 2007 to Intel Macs. This leads to problems as a result of which OS X Lion had to remove the Rosetta compatibility system, which was effective in allowing Power PC-based apps to run. Thereby, the company was under the sheer pressure of updating the software.

 With above listed new and improved features and a much more user friendly interface, Quicken 2015 is sure to become a better personal finance management tool for Mac users and continue being the leading personal finance software. Using this new app, users can take control of their money and can understand the spending in a better way so that they can make smarter financial decisions in future. Intuit has made this new version available for $75 in Mac App Store and Amazon. However, from October 2014 onwards, it will be available for sale on retail locations also.

ASUS MeMO Pad 8 ME181C (2014) Review

The Taiwanese computer hardware and electronics company - Asus has been introducing tablets and portable computers in the market for all those budget-friendly users, who cannot afford a premium or high cost device like iPad. The next in line is an 8-inch ASUS MeMO Pad 8 ME181C, nicely paired up with technologically advanced PC configurations, attractive features, and excellent specifications. Among discussions for being one of the lightest tablets available in the market, the device is an ideal solution to meet your requirements at work, home, or play. Made available in a variety of colors such as Black, White, Purple, and Gold, this beautifully crafted tablet can be yours at a price of just $199.

Counting amongst one of the most impressive average-screen Android tablets, the Memo Pad 8 (ME181C) is imparted with thinner and lighter design to maintain its competitive edge. Possessing an 8-inch 1280 x 800 IPS display with 10 finger multi-touch support, the device offers a seamless portable computing experience to students, homemakers, teens, and gaming enthusiasts. Empowered with an Intel Atom Z3745 Quad-Core, 1.33 GHz, processor and 1 GB of RAM, the tablet ensures optimal performance and speedy operations. Offering you best deals on Amazon, Adorama, B & H, GameStop, Newegg, and Tiger Direct from the official website, the product is made available for end consumers during July 2014.

Design 

Featuring optimal portability and comfort, excellent looks, amazing sides, and easy-to-handle grip on the back cover, the device can be easily used at work, play, travels, or at home. Measuring around 4.9 x 8.3 x 0.3 inch approximately, the tablet features an inch-wide bezel on every side of the screen. Weighing around 0.70 lbs in your hand, the device is very light to carry and easy to handle while carrying it during business meets, boardroom discussions, and even vacations.

Made available in various attractive colors, the gadget carries stylish yet impressive professional looks to impress students, home users, and business professionals. Featuring an 8-inch screen, IPS display, glossy cover, Asus’s ZEN UI, and color options, the gadget hold a separate identity, when compared to the traditional black and white tablets.

Featuring stereo speakers on the backside of the device, this tablet offers amazing audio support while watching movies, streaming videos, listening to music, and playing games. The exterior of the device is adorned by a soft-touch matte back cover for providing optimal grip while holding the device. Crafted using chamfered metal edge, the entire build of the device is sturdy as well as resistant to catching fingerprints.

Featuring a MicroUSB port located at the top edge of the main unit, the device also houses a single micro SD slot placed on the left-hand side. A 5MP rear-facing webcam occupies the top-center location on the back shell while a 2MP front-facing camera is incorporated for web chats on the top-center location of the device. The Asus logo records its existence at the center of the back shell. Talking about competitors, the device is narrower and lighter than Lenovo A8 and the Acer Iconia A1-830.

Display

In order to deliver an amazing video quality experience, MeMO Pad 8 is imparted with an 8-inch top-quality 1280 x 800 high-definition (HD) IPS display. It’s amazing color contrast features and beautiful glossy cover make all your images come to life with vivid and bright picture frames. Possessing a sturdy built with a combine creation of high-grade glass and metal, the screen of the device ensures optimal durability.

The gadget is capable of producing crystal clear images and records excellent viewing angles while playing games, streaming your favorite videos, and watching movies. Well-equipped with In-plane switching (IPS) technology, the tablet delivers 178-degree viewing angle with accurate color reproduction and excellent brightness levels.

Equipped with a 10-PT multi-touch feature, the device features excellent touch-screen capability that allows you to easily swap, switch, and multi-task between apps. Featuring an IPS panel for understanding user inputs easily, the device comes pre-equipped with Anti-fingerprint coating to restrict it from catching fingerprints easily and keep it safe from scratches.

Ports and Webcam

Arriving with a limited section of ports and connectivity, the basic composition of ports includes volume buttons, MicroSD card slot, and a MicroUSB port. Users should be grateful to the manufacturers for providing a MicroSD card slot in a budget tablet, which can enhance the storage space of up to 64 GB. The device also houses a 2-in-1 Audio Jack (Headphone / Mic-in) for catering your requirements related to watching movies, listening to music, conducting web chats, and playing games. The device features Bluetooth 4.0 and WLAN802.11 b/g/n for instant file transfer and getting connected over the web.

The device houses a 5 MP rear-facing camera that is efficient in capturing all your special moments and recording videos in a 720p format. But, the 2 MP front-facing camera looks promising for web chats and capturing good quality selfies. 

Audio

The ASUS MeMO Pad 8 features stereo speakers for catering all your entertainment as well as gaming requirements. Mounted at the back-grill of the device, the speakers are loud enough to deliver amazing movie watching and video streaming experience. Empowered with ASUS SonicMaster-enhanced audio enhancement, the gadget delivers a world-class sound experience to users while playing games, listening to their favorite music, and watching movies. 

Performance

Empowered with an Intel Atom Z3745 Quad-Core, 1.33 GHz CPU, 16 GB hard drive, and 1 GB RAM, the MeMO Pad 8 efficiently completes work, home, and entertainment tasks. Featuring an amazing FPS rate, the device is capable of producing 720p videos playback with high-quality pictures and amazing sound quality. The new tablet by Asus tablet operates on Android v4.4 Kitkat and works effortlessly while running heavy apps, programs, and streaming HD videos.

Possessing ample amount of storage space, the device also comes with 5GB Life Time ASUS Webstorage Space and an additional 11GB storage for the first year. A MicroSD card slot has also been added for installing an external storage of up to 64 GB to offer optimal security and safe storage of all your valuable data. Owing to its fast processor, amazing configuration, and excellent display, the device is supported by 3 X 15.2Wh Li-polymer batteries and promises an all day battery life (9 hours.)

Tech Specs for ASUS MeMO Pad 8 ME181C (2014)

Feature	Description
Processor	An Intel Atom Z3745 Quad-Core, 1.33 GHz CPU
Operating System	Android v4.4 Kitkat
Battery life	Up to 9 hours
Camera	2 MP Front-facing and 5 MP rear-facing camera
Memory	1 GB
Storage	16GB
Display	8-inch LED Backlight WXGA IPS display

The tablet offers some enticing features such as Full HD display, an advanced Intel processor, and an amazing camera configuration that separates it from all the budget-sized tablets. Featuring a MicroSD card slot for additional storage is a surprise for all budget users. Featuring a thinner design, optimal portability features, and power-packed configuration, the ASUS MeMO Pad 8 ME181C will be acclaimed by users for its sleek styling and excellent wide variety of colors. This MeMO Pad 8 is an ideal solution for anyone looking for a small-budget Android tablet, however the company can think of improving its display and pricing strategy.

Mainstream Support for Windows 7 is Ending - Is It a Cause for Panic?

Windows 7 was introduced way back in 2009 and since then it has been an integral part of mainly desktop PC running within Windows ecosystem. Developed under the codename ‘Blackcomb,’ Windows 7 was primarily intended to be an incremental upgrade to address criticisms faced by its predecessor, Windows Vista. Later, the company incorporated several amazing features such as performance improvements, support for virtual hard disks, a new version of Windows Media Center, redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities to make it a new OS altogether. Featuring a similar appearance like that of Vista, Windows 7's interface was more streamlined and is nicely paired up with a redesigned taskbar that offers capability to pin applications to it.

The sad update by the company

In a recent press conference, Microsoft has announced that mainstream support for Windows 7 products will be ending on 13th January 2015, almost five months later. This sad revelation by the company has left the Windows XP users worried, who were thinking to shift themselves back to Win 7. The official support of XP ended in April 2014 making many users to switch to the Windows 7 for meeting their personal, work, and entertainment requirements.

The company said the official support and technical assistance has been withdrawn from Windows XP, however, Windows 7 will just experience a stop in Service Packs and introduction of new features. Unlike Windows XP, this operating system will receive the Extended Support, including new security patches and performance improvements, until the 14th January 2020.

What is the current picture and how Windows 7 users can manage?

Microsoft holds a strong position in the OS market, but the recent activities of the company are making the users a bit confused about possessing a Windows system in future. The company has recently announced the end of mainstream support for Windows 7, which has crossed the sale of over 630 million licenses in 2012.

As per a recent update, the company will provide performance improvements and service pack support for the OS till 2020, but mainstream support for several key products will end in 2015. After the final cut-off support for Windows XP, the Windows users are rapidly disappearing or are opting for other OSes, which might cost a bit higher but deliver optimal support.

Tech experts have commented on the situation by stating that ending the official support for popular Windows OSes is the company’s strategy to force users to upgrade to Windows 8 and above. Here comes the question that “Did users want the firm enhance its product’s lifecycle and provide longer support for the most popular products?” Well, the answer will always be a mixed response as some users want to stick to their old OSes while others may love to experiment with the latest technology.

What did the statistics say and how the company is loyal to its customers?

The date of the end of the mainstream support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 has been released and every tech user is a bit worried because of the announcement made by the company. The company has a clear support lifecycle policy, which reveals that the company will offer minimum of a 10 years of support for Business and Developer products. This tenure will include mainstream support offered for five years, which has already been ended in 2013.

According to the statistics, Windows 7 was introduced on 22 October 2009 hence, Microsoft should have ended the mainstream support for it during the past year. But the company is being slightly generous with the dates and decided to end it up in the beginning on 2015.

What will be the market scenario after January 2015?

Windows 7 users should not create panic for this update by the company as from January 2015 onwards, the OS will enter its extended support phase. During this phase, the company will deliver free security fixes for the platform, but will not be able to add up some new features to it. According to the statistics from Net Applications, Windows 7 currently holds 50.55% share of the total OS market and the experts say that it will experience some downfall in the near future. Post January 2015, the company will not offer any technical assistance for bug fixes to any of the non-security related issues and will not add any additional features to the software.

What issues Microsoft's business customers will face, once the mainstream support will end?

According to various technology websites, Windows 7 is one of the preferred choices of business users when it comes to offering an OS platform with simple UI and advanced features. Microsoft's business customers will be largely affected by the end of Windows 7 mainstream support and will migrate onto the latest OS versions offered by the company. Since the company has established itself for offering an amazing OS platform to cater business requirements, the business customers will adopt their latest products rather than choosing others.

This recent announcement is a wake-up call for all those Windows 7 business users, who thought of operating smooth business activities with the help of this amazing OS. The company has clearly mentioned that the official support will be ending for this OS in another five years i.e. in 2020. The announcement of extended support phase is a clue for all business customers to start planning for selecting another OS for their smooth business operations, within a year or two.

What Windows 7 users want and what is company’s response on it?

At this point, many users wanted Microsoft to extend the mainstream support for Windows 7, like the company did with Windows XP in the past. The support for XP was scheduled to be withdrawn in 2009, but the company carried it forward till 2014, nearly 12 years after the platform was released. In addition to this, Windows 7 is often regarded as ‘the new XP,’ hence, users don’t want to lose this efficient OS platform that is suitable for home, work, and play.

Some industry observers have commented on the company’s decision by stating the mainstream support for Windows 7 should be delayed till the uptake of Windows 8.1. Tech geeks have also explained the whole situation by saying that since Windows 8.1 has been introduced last year, so it hasn’t been tested on various performance factors.

In an answer to that, the company said that offering free support for older platforms is a waste of resources that’s why Microsoft has already ended the support for XP. The company’s spokesperson also added that users should head towards the Windows 8.1 Update, the latest OS by the company, to receive optimal future security fixes.

Conclusion

Many organizations and individual end users are quite unhappy with the decision of the company, however, Microsoft clearly mentioned the product’s lifecycle on their official website. The end support announcement should not create much panic amongst the existing Windows 7 users, as the shift will be a boon for technological advancements. Users should simply wait for Windows 9, which is expected to hit the market in 2015 with advanced features, performance improvements, and latest technological advents. According to sources, Microsoft has learned the lesson from Windows 8’s criticism and has put back all the necessary features that users want to experience in a desktop OS.