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Microsoft's next OS is Windows 10, will ship later in 2015
Instead of announcing the next version of its iconic operating system in front of a massive crowd of thousands, Microsoft chose an intimate venue with 50 or so reporters to launch the new Windows, which it's calling Windows 10. The company looks at the new number (yes, it oddly skipped a number) as an indication of the direction it's taking with the OS; Microsoft says it'll be "the most comprehensive platform ever," featuring a full range of products that'll be placed under the Windows 10 umbrella as part of "one tailored experience." That means it will support everything from the "Internet of Things" to enterprise servers, taking advantage of responsive design. Microsoft's Joe Belfiore showed off an early beta version of the new Windows on stage, which looks very much like the leaked screenshots we saw not too long ago; Belfiore says that the company wanted to bring the familiarity of Windows 7 and combine it with the functionality of Windows 8.
Threshold spiritual successor Stash seeks to 're-imagine the genre'
The team behind the classic MUD Threshold is back with Stash, a new MMO in the making that claims to "re-imagine the genre" with a growable base of operations, turn-based combat, and wide character customization. The inspiration for Stash comes from tabletop D&D, miniature gaming, D&D computer RPGs and Planescape: Torment. "We put a large emphasis on rewarding player skill in addition to character skill," the devs posted. "Your character's abilities and gear are very important, but the tactics and strategy of the actual players is equally important." Developer Frog Dice claims that this is a full-fledged MMO, although it remains to be seen how much of Stash is actually massively multiplayer (the site mentions clans, co-op play, and PvP). The team is looking to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter to fund development on the title. You can check out Stash's early development trailer after the break! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Next version of Windows to get public trial in the fall
While some people are still getting used to the idea of Windows 8, Microsoft's already working to put the next major iteration of Windows in people's hands. And that could be happening sooner than you think. According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, who has a solid track record on Microsoft-related scoops, the Surface maker is looking to release a "technology preview" of Windows Threshold, aka Windows 9, toward the end of September or the beginning of October. Foley notes that, in an effort to enhance the serviceability of the OS, people who instal the preview will be required to agree to "have subsequently monthly updates" pushed to their computer -- which seems like a small pledge to make in exchange for trying some new software.
Microsoft may ditch the Charms bar in its next big Windows update
Some would already argue that Windows 8 is anything but charming, but a slew of new reports indicate that Microsoft might give one of Windows 8's most iconic interface elements - the Charms bar - the axe in its next big OS release. Not much for names? The Charms bar is that love-it-or-hate-it disappearing menu that offers up access to device settings, sharing and the Windows search function (among other things). The tricky bit about it is that it's just peachy to use on touchscreen devices, but flicking your mouse cursor into a corner of your desktop's screen to invoke it gets tiresome after a while.
Windows 9 will morph to fit the device it's running on
Still holding onto your trusty copy of Windows 7 with a steely kung-fu grip? Well partner, it looks like Microsoft's next operating system, codenamed "Threshold," or, Windows 9 in the common tongue, is aimed right at you. The OS will apparently ship in three different flavors (desktop, tablet and mobile) and recognize the hardware its running on and adjust the experience accordingly, as ZDNet's Windows-leak queen Mary Jo Foley writes. Meaning, if you're on a traditional desktop or laptop using a mouse and keyboard, Threshold will boot directly into the Windows desktop you know and love. The Live-tiled Start screen may return for people using touch-based machines like tablets and convertible laptops, although there will supposedly be an option to switch between the two environments if Threshold detects an attached keyboard. What's more, Foley's sources also say that if you're itching to get your hands on the new OS ahead of its reported launch next spring, there'll be a public preview version this autumn. [Image credit: Associated Press]
Microsoft may preview Windows 'Threshold' in April, launch it in 2015
Microsoft may have just released Windows 8.1 a few months ago, but it's reportedly on the cusp of previewing its next major Windows version, Threshold. The SuperSite for Windows hears from sources that Microsoft will provide a "vision" for the OS at its Build conference in early April. While there aren't many details of what the software involves beyond an emphasis on cross-platform unity, the tipsters claim that Threshold will likely be called Windows 9 and center around a refined interface that's better-suited to desktop users. Whatever the OS looks like, don't expect to see it in action this spring. Provided the rumors are accurate, the crew in Redmond would only start work on Threshold after Build, and it would ship the finished code in April 2015. The sneak peek would mostly set expectations for developers worried about Windows' future in an unreceptive PC market.
Weekly Roundup: Amazon Prime Air drones, LG G Flex review, hands-on with the YotaPhone and more!
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Next Windows release reportedly codenamed 'Threshold,' set to further unify Microsoft operating systems
Microsoft's on the, erm, threshold of something big -- something that's likely to make its three major operating systems even more similar. Queen of Microsoft leaks Mary Jo Foley has caught word from some unnamed contacts that the next major update to the Windows family is codenamed 'Threshold.' That name comes from an internal email from EVP Terry Myerson. The codename reportedly covers updates to Windows, Windows Phone and the Xbox One operating system, bringing even more commonality to the three OSes. The Threshold is title more than just a big abstraction -- it's actually borrowed from the original Halo game, following the Cortana codename the company adopted for its forthcoming personal assistant offering. Among the shared, cross-OS features are single, unified app store and tool sets designed to further entice developers to create applications for all three. Naturally, none of the higher-ups at Microsoft are confirming the existence of Threshold yet, but Foley's projecting a spring 2015 release for the upgrades.
Free for All: An interview with ThresholdRPG's Michael Hartman
The last time I explored ThresholdRPG, I had a blast. It was one of a batch of MUDs that I used to re-introduce myself to the ancient gaming genre, and I enjoyed its simplicity and friendly community. MUDs can seem to be very similar to each other, so in order to enjoy them, you must be able to pick out the finer details that separate them. In ThresholdRPG, I particularly enjoyed fishing, roleplay, customization, and a free-to-play model that was years ahead of its time when first released 17 years ago. The game can be a bit odd, like any MUD. During MUD May I've discovered just how confusing many of these titles can be, but I have also grown to enjoy solving the "mystery" of each game's particular set of code-words that unlock actions. ThresholdRPG is like other MUDs and introduces players to basic commands, but once out in the world a player is on her own. The good news is that an out-of-character help chat is always available and sits right on top of the standard roleplay-enforced chat. That juxtaposition of both channels actually helps immerse me in the game, allowing me to see literally where and when I can use out-of-character speech. I asked Michael Hartman, president and CEO of Frogdice, to talk about MUD development and branching out into other styles of gaming.
Rise and Shiny: Threshold RPG
It's the third week in a row I have decided to spend with a MUD, or multi-user-dungeon. I've explained it before, but in case you are not familiar, a MUD is a text-based MMO. That's right: you play by typing commands and exploring environments, all in text form. I started this exploration with Gemstone IV, an amazing MUD that seems to be the gold standard for MUDs. I am still playing it and finding out how amazing it is. I moved on to BatMUD, a slightly more basic MUD that offered a great client but frustrated me. Honestly though, my time with BatMUD was a little unfair and I need to revisit the game. It really has some wonderful elements. Now that I have moved on to Threshold RPG, another ancient MUD from before the time of mostly graphical MMOs, I feel as though I have finally reached an understanding as to how MUDs work and what makes them incredible adventures still to this day. Threshold is more basic than all of them so far, but that's a good thing in many ways. There's also a lot that is lacking, and several tweaks that need to be made.
Gold Capped: Cataclysm glyph addons
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! The glyph market has spawned quite a few of the important modern auction house addons. It's a uniquely challenging market, as there are hundreds of different products, each with their own balance of suppliers, buyers, and materials. The challenges faced by early glyph producers were met by a hodgepodge of fairly complex addons and macros, and only recently have unified solutions began to appear. I remember that at one point, I had addons to: Keep track of how many glyphs I had on the AH, in various characters' banks and in their inventories. Allow me to queue a list of glyphs and build a materials list (that allowed me to buy the vendor mats with one click). Automatically queue enough glyphs in the second addon to assure that I kept stock levels at my desired level. Automatically post every glyph I made onto the AH. The tasks needed for this market are not unique, and so the most important tool that can trace its origin to the glyph market is certainly TradeSkillMaster. TSM is an addon that I've covered before, and it's built from the ground up to be perfect for glyphs. It's also perfect for a lot of other markets, but mostly those you can treat like glyphs.
Gold Capped: Why deep undercutting on the auction house works
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house, and Insider Trader, which is all about professions. For Gold Capped's inside line on crafting for disenchanting, transmutation, cross-faction arbitrage and more, check in here every Thursday, and email Basil with your comments, questions or hate mail! This week's gold blogosphere post is Cold's post on Cataclysm profitable commodities. In a thread in the comments on my last article in which I had advised a reader to undercut his glyph competition heavily instead of camping the auction house, I got another comment that got me thinking about pricing. It basically stated that every time the commenter undercut heavily on glyphs, he would immediately get re-undercut by a few copper unless his price was down to the point of no profit. I've written a little about the topic of pricing and undercutting before, but I felt it was time for a refresher. I'm going to start off by quoting what I wrote last March: "If everyone is knocking a copper off the next highest auction, they only way to undercut successfully is to try camp the AH and make sure you're always the competitor who has visited most recently. Needless to say, this is a colossal waste of your time." This is as true now as it was then.
Gold Capped: Bait and tackle
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aims to show you how to make money on the auction house, and Insider Trader, which is all about professions. For Gold Capped's inside line on crafting for disenchanting, transmutation, cross-faction arbitrage and more, check in here every Thursday, and email Basil with your comments, questions or hate mail! I'm going to start trying to include a link to something I've enjoyed reading in the gold-making blogosphere every week. Our first installment is JMTC's blogging carnival about lessons learned while preparing for Cataclysm. There are 18 submissions, which should keep you busy for a while. We've talked about auction house PvP before, but today we're talking about a glyph PvP method I like to call bait and tackle. Here's the problem: In order to sell glyphs, you need to spend a fair amount of time crafting them, as well as milling. In addition, on most sizable realms, there are a few hard-nosed competitors who are willing to play for longer than reasonable players. There have been times when, day or night, if I posted a batch of glyphs, every single one would get undercut exactly every 10 minutes.
MUD history gets a wiki for itself
When we last talked about multi-user dungeon (MUD) history here on Massively, it wasn't for good reasons. Wikipedia had been slowly removing some of the more memorable games from its archives, causing a response from a few of the resident experts here in the multiplayer genre. Since that story was published, many readers here offered a suggestion, "Why not go put the history on your own wiki?"Well, that suggestion has recently become a reality with the creation of MUD Wiki. MUD Wiki, a Wikia gaming wiki, will be holding all of the MUD history and information that Wikipedia has been slowly losing/removing. The wiki launched on January 11th, and is slowly filling up with all kinds of information relating to MUDs, including a growing entry for the recently Wikipedia-deleted Threshold RPG MUD. If you have anything to contribute, stop by and add what you have to the new home of MUD history.
MUD history dissolving into the waters of time
While many modern MMO users may never have looked at a screen of white text on a black background and typed "go north," multi-user dungeons, or MUDs, were the forerunners to modern graphical MMOs. Without their appeal and gameplay concepts, we wouldn't be playing World of Warcraft or even EverQuest. So, logically, we should make sure to preserve the histories behind the many MUDs which began our conquest of the online playing field, right?Well, it appears Wikipedia does not think the same way we do on this matter. The online encyclopedia powered by user contributions has begun cracking down and removing articles on MUDs, citing inability to provide verification along with reliable sources. Currently on the chopping block is the entry for Threshold, one of the oldest MUDs still active to this day. This isn't the first time Wikipedia has put online games under fire -- already pulling out the entries for BYOND, LegendMUD, and even removing the article on dragon kill points (DKP) for a time. The removal for the entry of LegendMUD is particularly painful, as there are other articles on Wikipedia that reference the LegendMUD entry, yet are still apparently viable on their own.
Threshold's One-Net protocol syncs up home automation, hectors ZigBee
If you're looking to automate your home, you've got enough options to drive you up your own walls, but apparently Threshold doesn't think anyone's nailed it down quite yet. Supposedly competing against the more familiar Insteon and ZigBee configurations, the company's One-Net reportedly "provides greater range, better security and a more open environment than competing schemes." Threshold states that it can produce One-Net nodes for just "two to three bucks" by using off-the-shelf transceivers, and that ranges of up to 100 meters can be realized indoors. The accompanying (free) software also works with transceivers from six other vendors (Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Semtech, RF Monolithics, Micrel and Integration Associates), and defines "everything from modulation schemes to messaging protocols." Threshold is planning to build a collection of home automation peripherals to mesh with the One-Net mainframe, including "door, window, motion, and moisture sensors," and a camera to boot -- but all these fancy frequencies still can't match the style points gained by having a magical mirror controlling the security side of things.
