If I were Stephen Elop when he took over at Nokia, I would have embraced the Windows platform, too.
Microsoft is covering that with its Nokia partnership and no doubt increasingly via Windows platform adaptations that bring gesture and augmentation to the workplace.
The Windows platform now offers 65, 000 apps in its store, but lags behind giants Apple and Android, which offer hundreds of thousands of apps and games.
The fact is that many consumers may perceive either the existing Windows platform or the new Windows 8 as a liability rather than a strength in a tablet.
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But people who use the Microsoft browser will in no way, through the use of that browser or the Windows platform, be subject to any type of transaction fee.
Considering Microsoft's efforts to rebrand, redesign and rebuild its Windows platform, it's no surprise to hear the company is tweaking the visual aesthetics of its other brands, too.
Cumulatively, they outline in detail the way in which a strategy was carefully formulated to undermine the resistance of any company, such as Netscape or Apple, that dared to intrude on the Windows platform.
Its second quarter of Windows 8 and RT sales involved a big year-to-year jump as well, but it was also starting largely from scratch -- the combined Windows platform was still tiny at 3.7 percent.
On the upside, Oistamo and Lees added that the number of Windows Phone apps submitted on a daily basis had almost doubled, suggesting developers were becoming more interested in designing for the new Windows platform.
Jonathan Broskey, a former Apple employee who now heads the Army's Apple program, argues that the Unix core at the center of the Mac OS operating system makes it easier to lock down a Mac than a Windows platform.
The service is as yet only available to users of Apple's Macintosh computers, but should debut for users of Microsoft 's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Windows platform before the end of the year.
The two companies aim to help develop and deploy telematics applications on the Windows Azure platform, which includes Windows Azure and Microsoft SQL Azure, starting with TMC's electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012.
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In essence, Microsoft wants to create a Windows Internet platform with a range of related applications and services that suit it better than non-Windows Internet devices.
That ecosystem inertia is also working against the potential success of the Windows Phone platform.
The BBC has announced it is to bring iPlayer to the Windows Phone platform.
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This is just one of the things NVIDIA is doing to support the Windows RT platform.
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Using the Windows Embedded platform, retailers can build smart digital signage and intelligent kiosks.
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After considering the options, they selected the Windows Azure Platform to run their new online 311 service.
Microsoft Federal Systems will help design the ship's IT architecture based on the company's Windows 2000 platform.
This was the first public showing of an Unreal Engine 3-based application on the Windows RT platform.
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Even though Microsoft owns shares in Facebook, Home is not available at this time for the Windows Phone platform.
"The Windows 8 platform has a clean, elegant, and fluid interface, " he continued.
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Microsoft has bet big on the Windows 8 platform and its strength will be key for the firm going forward.
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The sensors, said Ballmer, will eventually be integrated into PCs and smartphones and powered by the cloud-based Windows Azure platform.
During the spring (Q2 2012), the roadmap claims that Microsoft will release Tango, the next evolution in the Windows Phone platform.
The Windows phone platform could certainly do with that sort of boost -- so far, sales haven't exactly set the world alight.
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It's a mainstay now, but back at the start of this past CES, Microsoft's Windows 8 platform was still far from release.
Nokia has deep device skills, sees smartphones success as a strategic imperative, and has made a big commitment to the Windows Mobile platform.
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