Microsoft to spotlight new Windows software September 30

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Monday sent out invitations to a September 30 event at which it is expected to provide a glimpse at the next version of its Windows operating system.

The US software titan revealed little with invitations that read: “Join us to hear what’s next for Windows and the enterprise.”

The event slated to take place in San Francisco will be aimed at developers behind programs designed for computers powered by Windows software, and at businesses that depend on Microsoft programs in their networks.

Microsoft was said to be working on a separate version of Windows for smartphones and tablets, as it works to adapt to lifestyles centered increasingly on Internet-linked mobile devices.

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft Windows 8 lags predecessor in first-year sales

SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8 system has racked up more than 200 million license sales since its launch 15 months ago, according to Tami Reller, its head of marketing, lagging Windows 7 which sold 240 million within its first year.

The latest Windows 8 sales figure, announced by Reller at a Goldman Sachs technology conference on Thursday, is the first that Microsoft has made public for more than six months.

The relatively slow sales of Windows 8, and its latest incarnation Windows 8.1, reflect a steady two-year decline in personal computer sales, as smartphones and tablet sales explode. Sales of tablets are set to overtake PCs worldwide next year.

Windows 8 was designed as a flexible new system that would work equally well on desktops PCs and touchscreen tablets, but it ended up alienating many traditional users, while the company’s Surface tablet has not won over many Apple Inc iPad users.

More worryingly for Microsoft, the number of people actually using Windows 8 is persistently low. While many businesses technically have purchased Windows 8 licenses, few have installed the system on office machines.

According to tech statistics firm NetMarketShare, only about 11 percent of PC users worldwide are using Windows 8 or 8.1. Meanwhile, 48 percent are sticking with Windows 7 and 29 percent are still running Windows XP, which is more than a decade old.

Windows 7, helped by the fact that it replaced the generally unpopular Windows Vista, is Microsoft’s most successful operating system to date, selling more than 450 million licenses.

source: interaksyon.com

Tech giant hiring fresh-grad Software Engineers from Southeast Asia

MANILA, Philippines — Technology giant Google is looking for software engineers to join its team in Mountain View, California, but instead of looking for talents in the United States, the company has specifically sent out a job posting for interested applicants in Southeast Asia.

In the job posting uploaded on the Google website, the search behemoth said it is looking for potential software engineers to join its team but they must have graduated from any university in Southeast Asia. ()

Interested applicants need not have extensive background in software development or programming, as the posting said Google only requires a minimum of one year relevant software development experience, aside from excellent coding skills.

Google said the candidate will be a member of a “small and versatile team” that will test, deploy, and maintain the company’s software systems. It did not specify, however, which particular product category the candidate will be working on.

“Google is and always will be an engineering company. We hire people with a broad set of technical skills who are ready to tackle some of technology’s greatest challenges and make an impact on millions, if not billions, of users,” the posting said.

The job opening comes at the height of the immigration reform debate in the US, where technology companies — which source talent and expertise from a broad range of countries around the world — have been caught in the middle.

Other qualifications for the post are as follows:

BA/BS in Computer Science (In lieu of degree, 4 years relevant work experience).
1 year relevant work experience, including experience with UNIX/Linux or Windows environments, distributed systems, machine learning, information retrieval and TCP/IP.
Excellent coding skill in C, C++, Java or Python.

Preferred qualifications:
MS or PhD degree in Computer Science or related technical discipline.
Experience in network programming and/or developing or designing large software systems.

Filipino software developers are recognized to be one of the best in the world. In 2012 alone, the local software development industry — which churns out products for local use and those outsourced by multinational companies — posted a total annual revenue of $1.16 billion.

Google maintains several offices in Southeast Asia, including in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and most recently, the Philippines. Many Filipinos expressed intent to join Google’s local workforce for a number of functions, but the search giant has yet to announce any expansion plans for its local team.

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft to Offer Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to Students for $70

Microsoft has announced the details of a new special offer for students, which will be able to purchase the Windows 8 Pro upgrade edition online for $69.99.

The offer starts Feb. 1 in the U.S., and will also become available in 49 additional countries by March 19.

On Feb 21, the offer will become available in 22 new countries, including Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Spain. Eleven more countries will follow on March 7, and 16 more on March 19. See the full list of countries where this offer will be available over at Microsoft's official blog.

Microsoft will also start its Windows Campus Tour on Feb 18, visiting over 150 university campuses across the U.S. A team of experts will be showing students the advantages of Windows 8, as well as the latest Windows-touting tablets and PCs.

source: mashable.com

More on the Nano Coat anti-heat solution

MANILA, Philippines - In the past two years, Trendway’s Nano Coat has been used in more than a hundred residential and non-residential projects.

The projects included St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City, Makati Medical Center, City Garden Hotel, Marco Resort Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City, the newly completed Supima Mall, Universal Motors Corp., Nissan car showroom in Cabanatuan City, Dunkin Donuts stores in Tacloban and Ormoc cities, and the most recent, the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa in Malaysia.

Because of its unique sunscreen coating technology, Nano Coat can block the sun’s heat and harmful UV rays without blocking the sunlight, thus allowing a feeling of freedom from the traditional dark sunscreen.

Using a combination of nano and sol-gel technologies, Nano Coat is easy to apply and maintain. After 30 minutes of application, your window is ready to use minus the heat and UV rays from the sun.

Nano Coat removes the discomfort and fatigue caused by the sun’s heat, prevents damage and color fading to personal belongings, and avoids skin dryness and potential diseases.

The clearer and sharper image adds comfort to the eyes, giving old windows a new look. And because it is odorless and non-toxic, it’s safe to apply Nano Coat even with people around.

An economical and environment-friendly solution to a long-time nuisance, Nano Coat provides savings in cooling power cost.

Nano Coat is in use in more than 40 countries, including the United States, Canada, Russia, Australia, Japan, and Korea, and in the Middle East and Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia.

Nano Coat is showcased at the ongoing Philconstruct 2012 at the SMX Convention Center.

For more information or demonstation, e-mail at sales@trendwaybuilders.com, call +63917-510 NANO (6266) or +632-426-4239, log on to www.trendwaybuilders.com or like on Facebook at Nano Coat Anti-heat Solution.

source: philstar.com

Microsoft pushes new Windows to developers

SEATTLE — Days after launching Windows 8, Microsoft Corp is mounting a strong campaign to win over the software developers it needs to kick-start its new operating system.

A lack of apps is Microsoft’s Achilles heel as it attempts to catch Apple Inc and Google Inc in the rush toward mobile computing.

Windows 8, the new Surface tablet and a range of Windows-based phones – all unveiled in the past week – are designed to close that gap, but the world’s largest software company still needs to convince developers to recreate the thriving ‘ecosystem’ that made PCs so successful.

“Please go out and write lots of applications,” Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer pleaded with 2,000 developers on Tuesday, kicking off an annual, four-day meeting at its campus near Seattle.

The event, called ‘Build,’ is the equivalent of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference and Google’s I/O event.

Microsoft gave each paying attendee one of its Surface tablets and 100 gigabytes of free space on its SkyDrive online storage service. On top of that, handset partner Nokia threw in a free Lumia 920 smartphone running Windows Phone 8.

The unprecedentedly generous give-away signals the intent of what Microsoft openly calls “evangelism.” Most developers at the meeting, who paid up to $2,000 to attend, are already converted to the Windows religion. But this year there is a feeling that Microsoft can re-establish itself as a relevant platform for developers.

“The sessions are overflowing. Everybody wants to learn,” said Greg Lutz, product manager at development tools company ComponentOne, who is attending the conference.

“The Surface is really exciting. It’s been interesting to see people that would normally be critics of Microsoft surprised to see how good it is,” said Lutz, whose company makes features that developers can use in apps, such as calendars or charts.

Microsoft recognizes it needs apps to flesh out its new online Windows Store and make Windows 8 machines more attractive to users, said Russ Whitman, chief strategy officer at Ratio Interactive, a design agency that helps companies create apps.

“The catalog (of apps) is where they are weak, there’s no doubt,” he said. “But if Microsoft stays focused on quality not quantity, they can win.”

Developer doubts

When Windows 8 launched on Friday, some major content providers had prominent apps in the Windows store, such as Netflix Inc, the New York Times and Rovio’s Angry Birds Space. But big names such as Facebook and Twitter were missing.

Twitter moved to rectify that on Tuesday, announcing that a native Windows app would be rolled out “in the months ahead.” Dropbox, a fast-growing cloud storage service, also announced it would soon have a Windows app, as did online payment firm PayPal and sports network ESPN.

But Facebook, which now has more than 1 billion users, has not yet made public any plans for a Windows app, despite the fact Microsoft is a minor shareholder.

And Microsoft still has to overcome indifference from many developers who do not see demand from users or simply do not have the resources to build Windows apps alongside iOS and Android.

“Windows 8 is getting good reviews and the tile user interface is a great fit with our geo-visual content,” said Jason Karas, CEO at website Trover, where users can share photos of interesting discoveries. “It’s on the roadmap for Trover, but we are still a very lean team, so we’re hesitant to support a third platform until we have all the innovations we want to see in iPhone and Android in place.”

Microsoft has yet to persuade other influential online services, for example car-rental firm Zipcar or real estate information firm Zillow, to develop for Windows 8.

To get more developers on board, Microsoft is spending this week demonstrating how it is making it easier to develop apps for Windows and get them into the real world.

A key part of that is a new set of tools tying in its Azure cloud service, which allows Windows apps to easily harness data stored in remote servers.

“Some of the new changes are pretty incredible and are going to make developing, especially some of the mobile apps, much easier,” said Mike Cousins, a software developer following the conference by webcast from Calgary, Canada.

“It just makes it super-easy to integrate mobile clients into your application,” said Cousins, who is developing Shuttr, a site for photographers to display and sell their work. “It’s been reduced from probably a week’s work to minutes.”

400 million new machines

Microsoft’s best argument to developers is the sheer size of the Windows user base.

Microsoft sold 4 million upgrades to Windows 8 in its first four days, a mere fraction of the 670 million or so machines running Windows 7. Ballmer said there would be 400 million new devices running Windows next year, including PCs, tablets and phones, and the company would be marketing heavily to consumers.

That is an attractive audience for developers, and Whitman at Ratio Interactive said he saw many new faces at Microsoft’s event this week who previously were more interested in web-based apps and other platforms.

“There’s a new generation of developers that can build on Windows 8 that have been building using JavaScript and HTML,” he said. “Seeing some of those developers show up and talk about building apps using other languages is pretty cool. It’s a whole different group than Microsoft has traditionally been able to court.”

One Wall Street analyst said developers may even be tempted to switch back to Microsoft after working with Apple’s iOS platform.

“There does seem to be some excitement about the new operating system and many of the new devices that are coming to market,” said Jason Maynard, an analyst at Wells Fargo Securities. “We have heard some developers talk about ‘re-Microsofting’ and moving from their Macs for app development.”

Cousins said that once developers see the user base for Windows 8 grow, the momentum will start to have an effect.

“All the new PCs people buy will be Windows 8, and people will start demanding Windows 8 apps from companies, and then they will start making them,” he said. “I think we’ll see a wave of apps coming out pretty soon.”

source: interaksyon.com

Nokia to ship new Windows Phone 8 Lumia smartphones this week

HELSINKI — Nokia late on Monday said its high-end Lumia 820 and 920 phones, which will run on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 software, will this week reach first operators and retail outlets in France and Britain and later in Russia and Germany as well as other select markets.

In the United States, AT&T will start selling the devices in early November. Verizon Wireless will begin selling Lumia 822 and T-Mobile will offer Lumia 810, Nokia said.

source: interaksyon.com

Tech focus now on Microsoft Windows 8, Surface tablet

SEATTLE — Firm sales numbers for Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8 and its new Surface tablet will not be available for three months, but it may be clear long before then if it has a hit on its hands.

“We can definitely gauge it by chatter,” said Emily Chan, an analyst at Bernstein Research. “There is a slight learning curve, so I don’t think we will see that big pop that iPad saw.”

Microsoft is desperate for the new-look, touch-friendly Windows 8 to grip customers’ imaginations, as it looks to regain ground lost to Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing and shake up the moribund PC market.

Perhaps more important is its new own-brand tablet called the Surface, available only through its own stores and website, which will challenge Apple’s iPad head on.

“I’d want to know the sales – and return rate – of the Surface,” said Sarah Rotman Epps at tech research firm Forrester. “But those numbers will be hard to get since Microsoft is the only retailer.”

Early reviews of the Surface have been mixed, generally praising the slick hardware, but faulting battery life and the limited software and applications available.

Some worry that the first Surface model, which runs on a stripped-down version of Windows 8 called RT that is not compatible with old Windows programs, will cause some confusion and dissatisfaction among customers.

The three models for sale on Microsoft’s U.S. website are already on back order, suggesting strong demand, but it is not known how many Surfaces Microsoft has manufactured.

“The fact it’s back ordered is indicative that there’s consumer interest,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner. “How Microsoft introduces it, evangelizes it and explains it will determine long term success.”

Ballmer noise

Microsoft has not said if it will reveal sales figures for Windows 8 or of the Surface before its next scheduled earnings on January 24. The company tends to trumpet good news and stay silent otherwise.

After the launch of Windows 7 three years ago, CEO Steve Ballmer waited only a month to announce strong sales. A year later, he waited only 10 days to report record-breaking sales of the Kinect, the motion-sensing add-on for the Xbox. But Microsoft has never shared the sales of Windows-powered phones, which have a lowly 3 percent of the market.

If Ballmer stays silent about Windows 8 sales, it might indicate a less than stellar performance.

“I would definitely take it a sign that it’s not super, super strong, but I won’t take it as something negative,” said Chan at Bernstein, who is expecting 8.3 million Surface sales by the middle of next year.

That averages out at about 1 million a month, a third the rate of the iPad, which notched up its first million sales in 28 days and has now sold more than 100 million units, averaging about 3.2 million a month.

Gartner forecasts that Surface and other tablets running Windows RT will sell about 2.3 million units this year and 9.3 million next year, grabbing about 2 percent and 5 percent of the worldwide tablet market, respectively.

Door-busters

Retail activity will be closely watched. Microsoft will have more than 60 brick and mortar stores open for the release of Windows 8 on Friday, half of them ‘pop-up’ stores that will stay open for the holiday shopping season.

Third-party retailers are cautiously optimistic.

“We have seen pretty good response to our pre-orders for Windows 8,” said Best Buy Co Inc spokesman Jeff Haydock. “Quite honestly, I don’t know what to expect from Friday. I don’t know if there will be lines or not. My sense is it will take some time for people to kind of come into the stores and check it out.”

Best Buy may give some color on how PC sales are going when it reports earnings on November 20.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the No. 1 U.S. retailer, said U.S. pre-orders for Windows 8 PCs “have been better than expected.”

Online retailers Amazon.com Inc, Newegg Inc and TigerDirect Inc have been silent on Windows 8 pre-orders.

The full impact of PC sales on retailers will not be evident until chains report same-store sales for November.

Quick reaction

One early indicator of Windows 8′s success will be the contents of the online Windows Store. Microsoft has had a harder time drumming up interest among developers for Windows 8, given the risk that there will be fewer users than competing platforms.

Microsoft will not disclose numbers, but there are expected to be 5,000 or so third-party apps available to U.S. users, in comparison with the iPad’s 275,000. Some big names such as Facebook Inc will be missing.

In social media, the tenor of comments on the Twitter hashtags #Windows8 and #Surface will give an indication of their reception after Ballmer unveils them both on Thursday.

Many users likely will be shocked by the new design, which dispenses with the Start button and features square tiles for apps.

“Public reaction to the new UI will depend how well Microsoft explains why ‘different’ is better and teaches how the new experience works,” said Gartenberg. “That all starts on Thursday.”

By the numbers

The ultimate test for Windows 8 will be PC sales.

Industry trackers are expecting a bump for PC sales in the last two months of the year, but not enough to rescue the whole year, which is forecast to dip for the first time since 2001.

Some analysts had expected an uptick in production of laptops ahead of the Windows 8 launch, but PC makers facing an uncertain global economy have been wary about committing.

Chip maker Intel Corp, which is a good gauge of future PC demand due to its position early in the production process, expects the PC business to grow at only half the normal seasonal rate in the fourth quarter.

Chief Executive Paul Otellini recently told analysts he expects to have a better understanding of the success of Windows 8 in 90 days.

Stephen Baker, an analyst at retail research firm NPD Group, is expecting a 10 percent jump in PC sales for November and December over last year, but said comparisons will be difficult given a profusion of new devices and the volatility of year-ago data.

Fourth-quarter PC shipment numbers from research firms Gartner and IDC will not be published until early January, although analysts say PC makers might start to drop hints about demand before then.

“There will likely be many milestones, but very few will ultimately be decisive. The key point is will PC sales continue to shrink or will they experience a boost,” said Al Hilwa at research firm IDC. “We can probably begin to properly judge that with some ambiguity in January.”

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft profit slips as PCs fizzle; Windows 8 awaited

SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp’s quarterly profit fell a greater-than-expected 22 percent, as sales of computers running its Windows operating system dipped and some revenue was deferred ahead of upcoming releases of its core Windows and Office products.

The sharp decline surprised investors, who had underestimated the effect of weak personal computer sales, sending Microsoft’s shares down 1.3 percent in after-hours trading.

“To us it seems like the macro conditions certainly deteriorated and no tech company will be immune to it,” said Trip Chowdhry, analyst at Global Equities Research.

Earlier on Thursday Google Inc reported sharply lower profit amid slowing advertising, following downbeat reports from Intel Corp and International Business Machines Corp this week.

Sales of PCs are expected to fall this year for the first time since 2001, according to research firm IHS, due to the weak economy and inability of the latest crop of lightweight laptops to compete with Apple Inc’s iPad.

Microsoft is betting the release of touch-friendly Windows 8 will rev up sales of PCs, laptops and Windows-compatible tablets as soon as it launches next week, and break Microsoft’s heavy reliance on PC sales for profit.

“I don’t control the macro-environment, but there’s a huge opportunity in the explosion of devices,” Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said in an interview. “There’s demand for compelling devices and a connected set of cloud experiences. That’s what Windows 8 is all about.”

Steep dip

Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, said fiscal first quarter profit fell to $4.47 billion, or 53 cents per share, from $5.74 billion, or 68 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Wall Street had expected earnings of 56 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales fell 8 percent to $16.01 billion, largely caused by the dip in demand for personal computers running Windows, as consumers held off new purchases in the tight economy or opted to buy tablet devices instead.

The revenue decline was exaggerated by Microsoft’s deferral of some $1.36 billion in revenue, chiefly from its Windows unit, which it will regain next quarter after Windows 8 is launched.

Analysts, anticipating the dip in PC sales and accounting for the deferred revenue, had called for sales of $16.4 billion.

On the positive side for Microsoft, its fast-growing server and tools business – whose datacenter ‘cloud’ services are in high demand – posted a 12 percent jump in operating profit to $1.75 billion. Its perennially money-losing online services unit – containing the Bing search engine and MSN portal – narrowed its quarterly operating loss by 29 percent to $364 million, as it increased its share of the search advertising market and cut costs.

“Investors were not expecting a home run. All expectations are on the launch of Windows 8 and the entrance into the tablet market,” said Daniel Ives, analyst at FBR Capital Markets. “In light of the environment, the macro and PC situation, these are respectable numbers.”

source: interaksyon.com

Windows 8 signals the end of Windows as we know it, analyst says

MANILA, Philippines — The impending release of Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 8 will bring forth such tectonic changes in user computing that will lessen the relevance of desktop-based computing and applications, according to analyst firm Gartner.

The shift, according to Gartner analysts, is underpinned by Microsoft’s decision to support a common core development platform for its desktop, phone, tablet and server flavors, also known as WinRT (Windows Runtime).

Microsoft announced the gist of that move last week for its next-generation Windows Phone 8 mobile OS, as well as the revelation that the software giant will soon ship its own tablet called Surface.

“Windows 8 is the start of Microsoft’s effort to respond to market demands and competitors, as it provides a common interface and programming API set from phones to servers,” said Michael Silver, vice president and analyst at Gartner, who pointed out that Microsoft will still continue support for Win32 applications but “will encourage developers to write more manageable and engaging applications using WinRT.”

Gartner said such a move is Microsoft’s response to intensifying demand from consumers for more mobile and flexible computing options, qualities found mostly among smartphones and tablets today.

More than a major upgrade, Windows 8 has been touted by the analyst firm as a major “technology shift,” similar to Microsoft’s move from DOS-based computing to Windows NT technology in the early 90′s.

“The user computing world is changing. PCs, although still critical components of the computing landscape, are no longer the only devices for delivering services and applications to users,” stressed Steve Kleynhans, vice president for client and mobile computing at Gartner.

Could enterprises keep up?

Consumers, in general, are quick to adapt to such changes and are relatively accepting of major technology shifts. It’s the enterprise segment, Gartner said, who should be keeping a close watch of developments within Microsoft, particularly its push for a Metro-style user interface, which uses a tiled design and a full-screen app-like experience in place of windows.

That said, the analyst firm predicts that most users and organizations will continue to run legacy applications for 10 or more years, but stressed that “the Windows Desktop and legacy Windows applications will decline in importance in future Windows client releases.”

It added that Metro-style apps will only gain significant traction in user-facing enterprise apps in at least five years’ time, adding that firms will take many years to move their applications to the new model, with many running Win32 apps and the desktop browser through 2015 even if they have already upgraded to Windows 8.

The turning point, Gartner said, for Metro-style apps to gain foothold in the enterprise would be by 2020, when it predicts that enterprise users would spend less than 10 percent of their time running Win32 applications.

“Organizations planning to develop new Win32 applications should switch to Metro for all new user-facing applications beginning in 2013 and should focus on external apps first and internal apps later,” it suggested.

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft sees 'rebirth' with new Windows 8 system

SEOUL — Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 series—featuring an upgraded cloud computing service—marks a “rebirth” of its operating systems, chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday.

Ballmer described Windows 8 as the “deepest, broadest and most impactful” Windows software ever created by the US tech giant, after the current Windows 7 sold at unprecedented rates to businesses.

“It’s really, in some senses, a dawning of the rebirth of MS Windows… It’s certainly the most important piece of work we’ve done,” he said in a speech to the Seoul Digital Forum.

Windows 8, whose preview version will be released in June, allows users readily to store and share personal data among various devices under the “SkyDrive” cloud computing service. Rival Apple already offers such a service.

The new Microsoft system will support a wider range of devices, including touch- and stylus-based smartphones and tablet PCs as well as desktop and laptop machines, Ballmer said.

The software giant has been trying to expand its presence in the booming software market for smartphones and tablets, which is currently dominated by Apple and Google.

Ballmer predicted that the cloud computing market would become dominated by a few big players.

“The number of core (cloud) platforms, around which software developers will do their innovation, is not ever-broadening,” he said.

“It’s really a quite smaller and focused number—Windows, various forms of Linux, the Apple ecosystem.”

In three to five years from now, “there will be just a few ecosystems that really can get the critical mass”, he said.

Ballmer estimated up to 500 million users will have Windows 8 next year, promising the “best economic opportunity” for device makers and app developers who adopt the new system.

Microsoft will also soon introduce Skype powered by Windows 8, Ballmer said. His company last year bought the leading Internet video and voice-calling service for $8.5 billion.

source: japantoday.com

Microsoft counting down to the end of Windows XP

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is counting down the days until it is through with the Windows XP operating system for personal computers.

The US software titan used a blog post to remind the world that in two years it will no longer support the generations-old operating system that people have clung to despite the releases of successors Vista and Windows 7.

“We want to acknowledge the two-year countdown to the end of Windows XP and Office 2003 support,” said Microsoft marketing director Stella Chernyak.

“Windows XP and Office 2003 were great software releases for their time, but the technology environment has shifted.”

She advised computer users, particularly businesses, to begin “migrating” machines to the latest versions of the programs well before Microsoft puts XP to rest on April 8, 2014.

source: japantoday.com