The end of Microsoft product support (and we feel fine)

The nostalgia for periodic big upgrades every five to 10 years is seriously misplaced, and it's not good for users or IT

Last month Microsoft started sounding the "end of support" death toll for Exchange 2007. Admins have a year to plan and migrate to either Office 365 or a newer version of on-premises Exchange. (If you go with on-premises Exchange, I recommend Exchange 2016 because Exchange 2013 is already three years into its 10-year support cycle and Exchange 2016 is a slightly beefier version of Exchange 2013 -- basically, you get three extra years of support by adopting Exchange 2016.) 

Simple succeeds: Visual Studio Code at 1.0

Microsoft's slim-and-trim development environment is now a full-blown 1.0 release with a large user base spanning languages and platforms

Visual Studio Code, Microsoft's open source, cross-platform development environment powered by Node.js and the Blink layout engine has been upgraded to a full 1.0 release after approximately a year of open beta testing.

According to a blog post on the Visual Studio site, Code became a 1.0-grade product because its API has been stabilized. Code was originally created for JavaScript and TypeScript development, but it now supports common languages like C++, Python, Go, and React Native. 

Clear the Store cache in Windows 10

Having trouble with the Windows Store? If the Store is refusing to launch, crashing or freezing, or if apps are not downloading or updating, you're probably just a little frustrated. Before you toss your computer out the window and swear off Windows 10 forever, try clearing the Store cache -- it's fast, simple and may resolve all of your issues (then again, it may not).

Here's how to do it:

1. Right-click the Start button and choose Run to open the Run window.

2. In the Run window, type in WSReset.exe and click OK.

3. An empty command prompt window will open up.

 

When the reset is complete, this window will close and the Store window will open. This fix will also work for the Windows Store in Windows 8, 8.1 and RT.

Source: Cnet

'It's prehistoric!' Today's teens react to Windows 95

Teens give Windows 95 a spin and learn about a time when dial-up Internet and patience were required to run a desktop computer.

Way before we all had easy-to-use laptops and Wi-Fi, there were desktop computers that used Windows 95.

Those of use who still remember using Windows 95 might recall how long it would take computers to boot up and the sweet sounds of a modem connecting to the Internet.

In this latest "Teens React to Technology" video from new-media production duo Benny and Rafi Fine (also known as The Fine Brothers), we see today's teens try to figure out how to use a computer running Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system.

"Windows 95 had its 20th anniversary last year, so we got our hands on an old system and showed it to teenagers who were not even alive in 1995," Benny Fine told. "The results, were pretty great and also makes you feel quite old."

Teen actor Karan Brar, age 17, guest stars on the episode. Brar is best know for his roles in "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" films and the Disney Channel TV series "Jessie" and "Bunk'd."

When Brar first turned on the old computer to get started he commented in the video, "Everything looks so dull and ancient."

Some highlights of the video include a teen thinking this was the first computer ever made, complaints of how long it takes to boot up, not understanding how to get to the Internet without Wi-Fi, and not knowing what a modem is. 

"It's scary to think that Wi-Fi is like so vital to us now," Morgan, age 19, said in the video. "If you go somewhere and they don't have Wi-Fi, that's the worst thing that can ever happen to you."

While it's easy to mock the teens in the video for not knowing how to use the kind of computers that many of us older folks were used to back in the day, that doesn't mean they don't appreciate the tech relic placed before them.

"Those who know technology should know something beyond the current, they need to know part of the past," Ethan, age 18, said in the video. 

Trying out Windows 95 sparked an interesting discussion about how technology has evolved.

"One teen reminded us all we may be upset with them for taking this old tech for granted, but it's not their technology," Fine added. "We may have felt the same way about things 20 years older than us when we were teens."

Source: Cnet

Get to know the Galaxy S7's Always-On Display

A feature we're sure to see more of this year is a display that never truly powers off. Let's take a closer look at Samsung's version.

According to Samsung, the average smartphone owner checks his or her device nearly 150 times a day: A quick press of the power button to view the time here, and double tap not the screen to view notifications there, apparently adds up fast.

Samsung's solution for this obsessive checking and waking our smartphones is through a feature it calls Always-On Display.

As the name implies, Samsung's latest Galaxy devices are equipped with the fancy new feature.

After locking your device, the screen will remain dimly lit. The default setting is to display the current time, with the information moving around on the screen every few seconds. Alerts for missed calls and text messages are also placed on the screen, with a few caveats (more on that in a minute).

How to add family members to your Windows 10 PC

Give each member of the household their own Windows 10 login.

Sharing a PC doesn't have to be a pain if you give each family member their own personal login. Personal logins allow for separate files, desktops, and browser favorites, and adult family members can monitor and restrict kids' activity by blocking websites, limiting screen time, and keeping tabs on what sites kids are visiting and what they're searching for.

To add a family member to your Windows 10 PC, you'll need to sign them up for a Microsoft account -- only the primary user can have a local login.

Here's how to get started:

Red Hat is boring -- and more open source companies should emulate it

Brick by brick, Red Hat has built itself into a powerhouse without raising piles of VC money. Today's open source upstarts could learn from it

Most open source companies no longer aspire to be the “Red Hat of” this or that market. But guess what? Those same open source companies still have something to learn from Red Hat -- namely, how to be boring.

Not boring in the sense of “these products put me to sleep,” but boring in the sense of thoughtful, consistent growth. While Red Hat can’t boast the GDP-sized profits of an Apple or the still-eye-popping growth of a Facebook, Red Hat has a P/E multiple (75) that suggests investors believe it has high-growth potential, even as it delivers a seemingly pedestrian rate of 15 to 17 percent.

Windows 10 review: Hold off if you use Windows 7

Windows 10 is what Windows 8 should have been, but it has too many rough edges to attract Windows 7 users. Continuous upgrades could change that as early as this fall

Windows 10 is much more usable than Wndows 8 or 8.1 and proudly offers a bundle of new features, including improved security, a new browser, and the voice-activated intelligent assistant Cortana. You might even call Windows 10 the most revolutionary version of Windows ever, mainly because it will be continually upgraded as part of Microsoft's "Windows as a service" effort.

But the question is not whether Windows 10 is a good upgrade for Windows 8 users -- obviously, it is. The real question is whether Windows 10 deserves to supplant Windows 7. Despite substantial new functionality in Windows 10, Windows 7 users should wait until the upgrade train brings more improvements.

Windows 10 Mobile on track for most Lumia phones

Microsoft's next test version of Windows 10 Mobile, expected around the first week of April, will support a lot more devices than the first one did.

Microsoft's Operating Systems Group team has added code to the next test build of Windows 10 Mobile that will allow that release to work on the majority of Windows Phones.

When Microsoft released the first test build of Windows 10 Mobile in February, it was built to run only on a handful of Lumia devices, specifically the Lumia 630, 635, 636, 638, 730 and 830 phones. Microsoft execs attributed the small number of initially supported devices to the "very tight OS partitions" that left insufficient room for the installation process to update the OS in place.

The rise of the multimodel database

By mapping documents, graphs, and relational tables to a collection of keys and values, a single data store can support multiple data models

NoSQL entered the scene nearly six years ago as an alternative to traditional relational databases. The offerings from the major relational vendors couldn’t cut it in terms of the cost, scalability, and fault tolerance that developers need to build reliable, modern Web applications.

Flash forward to today, and now vendors everywhere tout their NoSQL solutions. Open source projects have sprouted all over the place with thousands of developers contributing to them. In fact, more than 200 different NoSQL products and companies in the market are vying for developers' attention.

Microsoft combats tech support scammers with lawsuit

The software giant is trying to crack down on scammers that allegedly took advantage of consumers by claiming their PCs were infected with malware.

Have you ever received a phone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft who says he's detected a virus on your computer and, for a certain fee, he can fix it for you? If so, that's most likely a scam. And it's one that Microsoft is now trying to fight through legal means.