Microsoft designed Windows 10 to pull users into Windows Store, and it might be working

Microsoft designed Windows 10 to pull users into Windows Store, and it might be working

Windows 10 users are downloading more apps than Windows 8 users did, and that's exactly what the Store needs to attract better apps.

Windows 10 users may finally be giving the Windows Store the love it needs to survive—largely due to smart plotting by Microsoft to make it happen.

Microsoft announced in a blog post Thursday evening that Windows 10 users are downloading apps at a vigorous rate. “The average Windows 10 customer is downloading six times more apps than the average customer on Windows 8,” said Microsoft’s Todd Brix, who authored the post.

This is hardly a grassroots movement, though. Microsoft has designed Windows 10 to drive users to the Windows Store. If it is indeed working, then that’s hopeful news for the future of the lackluster app store.

Why this matters: A critical mass of Windows 10 users, downloading lots of apps, is exactly what Microsoft needs to solve its chicken-and-egg problem with Windows Store. The Windows Store needs better apps, and it won’t get better apps until it gets more users. Windows 10’s design apparently addresses the user need. Now we wait to see whether app developers will follow the crowd.

How Windows 10 lures users to Windows Store
Microsoft’s Brix stated clearly that Windows 10 lay at the heart of Microsoft’s campaign to promote the Windows Store. “We have taken steps to change the way people discover and experience apps in Windows 10,” he explained. Brix added that the user-hooking techniques are broadly deployed, incorporating “features both inside and outside of the Store that are fast becoming part of people’s daily lives.”

Brix went on to describe how Microsoft designed Windows 10 to drive those users to the Store. “For example, Cortana provides app recommendations based on the customer’s personal interests. In addition, the Start menu, Microsoft Edge and the Notification Center will also suggest apps that customers might enjoy.”

(Of course, if you’ve adjusted your Windows 10 privacy settings to fend off the attentions of these services, you might not get any app suggestions.)

Now all those users need are more and better apps. Microsoft’s working on that, too: The blog post describes a host of new features designed to make it easier for users to find and buy apps on the store, and for developers to port existing apps to the Windows 10 platform.

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The Big Question Rises How To Become Microsoft, Cisco, ComTIA Certified

The big question rises how to become the Microsoft certified , All Microsoft certifications are acquired by simply taking a series of exams. If you can self-study for said exams, and then pass them, then you can acquire the certification for the mere cost of the exam (and maybe whatever self-study materials you purchase).

You'll also need, at minimum (in addition to the MCTS), the CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ certs; as well as the Cisco CCNA cert.

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) - This is the basic entry point of Microsoft Certifications. You only need to pass a single certification test to be considered an MCTS and there are numerous different courses and certifications that would grant you this after passing one. If you are shooting for some of the higher certifications that will be discussed below, then you'll get this on your way there.

Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) - This certification was Microsoft's previous "Developer Certification" meaning that this was the highest certification that was offered that consisted strictly of development-related material. Receiving it involved passing four exams within specific areas (based on the focus of your certification). You can find the complete list of courses and paths required for the MCPD here.

Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) - This is Microsoft's most recent "Developer Certification" which will replace the MCPD Certification (which is being deprecated / retired in July of 2013). The MCSD focuses within three major areas of very recent Microsoft development technologies and would likely be the best to persue if you wanted to focus on current and emerging skills that will be relevant in the coming years. You can find the complete list of courses and paths required for the MCSD here.

The Microsoft Certifications that you listed are basically all of the major ones within the realm of development. I'll cover each of the major ones and what they are :

Most people, however, take some kind of course. Some colleges -- especially career and some community colleges -- offer such courses (though usually they're non-credit). Other providers of such courses are private... some of them Microsoft Certified vendors of one type or another, who offer the courses in such settings as sitting around a conference table in their offices. Still others specialize in Microsoft certification training, and so have nice classrooms set up in their offices.

There are also some online (and other forms of distance learning) courses to help prepare for the exams.

The cost of taking classes to prepare can vary wildly. Some are actually free (or very nearly so), while others can cost hundreds of dollars. It all just depends on the provider.

And here's a Google search of MCTS training resources (which can be mind-numbing in their sheer numbers and types, so be careful what you choose):

There are some pretty good, yet relatively inexpensive, ways to get vendor certificate training. Be careful not to sign-up for something expensive and involved when something cheaper -- like subscribing to an "all the certificates you care to study for one flat rate" web site -- would, in addition to purchasing a study guide or two at a bookstore, likely be better.

If you want a career in IT, then you need to have both an accredited degree in same (preferably a bachelors over an associates), and also a variety of IT certifications. The MCTS is but one that you will need.

You should probably also get the Microsoft MCSE and/or MCSA. The ICS CISSP. And the ITIL.

There are others, but if you have those, you'll be evidencing a broad range of IT expertise that will be useful, generally. Then, in addition, if the particular IT job in which you end-up requires additional specialist certification, then you can get that, too (hopefully at the expense of your employer who requires it of you).

Then, whenever (if ever) you're interested in a masters in IT, here's something really cool of which you should be aware...

There's a big (and fully-accredited, fully-legitimate) university in Australia which has partnered with Microsoft and several other vendors to structure distance learning degrees which include various certifications; and in which degrees, considerable amounts of credit may be earned simply by acquiring said certifications. It's WAY cool.

One can, for example, get up to half of the credit toward a Masters degree in information technology by simply getting an MCSE (though the exams which make it up must be certain ones which correspond with the university's courses). I've always said that if one were going to get an MCSE, first consult the web site of this university and make sure that one takes the specific MCSE exams that this school requires so that if ever one later decided to enter said school's masters program, one will have already earned up to half its degree's credits by simply having the MCSE under his/her belt. Is that cool, or what?

I wouldn't rely on them over experience (which is far and away the most valuable asset out there) but they are worth pursuing especially if you don't feel like you have enough experience and need to demonstrate that you have the necessary skills to land a position as a developer.

If you are going to pursue a certification, I would recommend going after the MCSD (Web Applications Track) as it is a very recent certification that focuses on several emerging technologies that will still be very relevant (if not more-so) in the coming years. You'll pick up the MCTS along the way and then you'll have both of those under your belt. MCPD would be very difficult to achieve based on the short time constraints (passing four quite difficult tests within just a few months is feasible, but I don't believe that it is worth it since it will be "retired" soon after).

No job experience at all is necessary for any of the Microsoft Certifications, you can take them at any time as long as you feel confident enough with the materials of the specific exam you should be fine. The tests are quite difficult by most standards and typically cover large amounts of material, but with what it sounds like a good bit of time to study and prepare you should be fine.

Certifications, in addition to degrees, are so important in the IT field, now, that one may almost no longer get a job in that field without both. The certifications, though, are so important that one who has a little IT experience can get a pretty good job even without a degree as long as he has all the right certs. But don't do that. Definitely get the degree... and not merely an associates. Get the bachelors in IT; and make sure it's from a "regionally" accredited school.

Then get the certs I mentioned (being mindful, if you think you'll ever get an IT masters, to take the specific exams that that Strut masters program requires so that you'll have already earned up to half the credit just from the certs).

If you already have two years of experience in working in the .NET environment, a certification isn't going to guarantee that you will get employed, a salary increase or any other bonuses for achieving the honor. However, it can help supplement your resume by indicating that you are familiar with specific technologies enough to apply them in real-world applications to solve problems.

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5 ways to give IT recognition

IT’s work can be hidden away and therefore ignored. But it can pay to put a spotlight on it.

Appreciating IT workers
We all like to know that our efforts are appreciated. For people working in IT, recognition is too often neglected, simply because so much of what IT workers do is behind the scenes and goes unnoticed by the majority of employees.

Click through to see five things that Paul Ingevaldson, author of The 9 ½ Secrets of a Great IT Organization, did when he was the CIO at Ace Hardware that cost little to nothing and that you can implement today.

Two-level reviews
My practice was to conduct a follow-up review for everyone in my organization after their review by their direct supervisor. If you’re worried that this could take a lot of your time, you’re right. But it’s worth it. The payoff is that you learn more about employees who don’t report directly to you, and if you focus on their future in the follow-up review as I did, they feel more engaged. Be aware, though, that the feeling of engagement will dissipate if, after ask your employees about their goals and the skills they want to acquire, you then do nothing to help.

Birthday greetings
Is it really worth your time to keep track of all your employees’ birthdays and send them birthday greetings every year? It was for me. I was always amazed at the reaction. Invariably, employees would either responded with an emailed thank-you or conveyed their thanks when they ran into me in the cafeteria line or hallway. I always sent an email instead of a card, but I liked to make mention of something that the person was working on and stress its importance to the department and the company.

Incentives
This one costs money as well as time, but coming up with appropriate incentives for your staff can be very effective. When you publicly give out rewards for the on-time and on-budget completion of projects, you could find that other projects experience less spec creep and blown deadlines. Bit by bit, IT will reap its own rewards, as it gains a reputation of getting the job done on time.

Awards dinners
Done right, an awards dinner can be fun and rewarding for your staff. I did this every January to recognize the accomplishments of the previous year. If your budget won’t allow you to host everyone in the IT department, just invite the senior people in IT, but be sure to include the company officers. Their presence tells your people that their efforts are appreciated throughout the company.

As for the awards, I would have my senior managers submit nominations, and then I made the final decisions. Categories we recognized included “best use of a new technology to develop a system for the company,” “most important system implemented during the year,” “the user department that worked best with IT to develop a new application for the company” and “the department that was the hardest to deal with.”

Executive helpers
I got this idea from an IT magazine. We had a problem getting senior executives accustomed to using their desktop and mobile computers most advantageously. Their schedules made offering them classes difficult, but the executives were also reluctant to display their lack of knowledge in companywide training classes. The idea I borrowed was to name several IT people who would be willing to spend one-on-one time with the executives in their offices helping them to understand the best way to use the technology. The IT staffers had to promise that they would never use this task as an excuse for not completing their projects, and the executives had to limit the time to one or two hours a month.

The result was great. The executives learned a lot about the features of their systems, and the IT staffers got to meet many of the top executives in our company.

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From Windows from Vista to 8.1, Microsoft Year-end Patch Tuesday hits 'em all

Internet Explorer (again) needs fixes; recent Windows XP vulnerability not addressed

Microsoft is wrapping up the year's Patch Tuesday bulletins next week with 11 more fixes, pushing the total for 2013 to 106, up from last year's total of 83.

Five bulletins ranked critical all hold the potential for enabling remote code execution on victimized machines and affect a wide range of platforms including most versions of Windows, Windows Server, Internet Explorer, SharePoint and Exchange.

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The patches will include a remedy for the .TIFF zero day vulnerability, a flaw in Microsoft Graphics that leaves Microsoft Office and Lync apps and Windows open to attack. Common exploits of the vulnerability include a Word file containing a malicious .TIFF image that leads to the attacker gaining control of the machine with current user rights. “In this vulnerability, an attacker needs to convince a user to preview or open a bad TIFF image for exploitation,” says Paul Henry, a forensics and security analyst for Lumension. “Because we know persuading users to click isn’t always that hard to do, a patch for this one is definitely welcome.”

The problem and exploits in the wild were discovered last month, but Microsoft didn’t deem it worth an out-of-band fix.

All the critical bulletins save one require restarts, so scheduling the patches will be a chore. “Be careful and have a rollback plan in case the patches break your custom environment,” says Tommy Chin, a technical support engineer for CORE Security.

RELATED: Microsoft's $100k hacker bounty sounds great but has a lot of loopholes

Another critical bulletin this month addresses a vulnerability in all versions of Internet Explorer from 6 through 11. “It is best to patch the ones that require restart quickly, since the vulnerable code is already loaded in those scenarios,” says Chin. “Definitely patch Windows and Internet Explorer first.”

A bulletin affecting Microsoft Exchange does not require a restart but warrants attention, says Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek. “Bulletin #5 is a server-side bulletin for Microsoft Exchange and will probably include the new Outside In library from Oracle that was released during October’s Critical Patch Update,” he says, referencing an Oracle update that included fixes for middleware in Outside In Technology, versions 8.4.0, 8.4.1. Outside In provides tools to access and control content in unstructured file formats.

One of the less severe bulletins, ranked important, should still be a high priority, says Kandek. “Bulletin #6 is for Microsoft Office and is only rated important, but it will still deserve your full attention due to the Remote Code Execution possibilities, most likely through file format vulnerabilities,” he says.

A vulnerability in Windows XP discovered last week is not being addressed in this wave of patches. “This is perhaps another reminder that end of life is now just four months out for Windows XP and users still running it should move to a current generation operating system sooner rather than later,” Henry says.

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Microsoft: Avoid a (bad) October surprise, lengthen RSA certificates now

Microsoft urges a long-overdue security upgrade

Microsoft is taking advantage of a light Patch Tuesday to urge that customers upgrade their security keys so they don't wind up having trouble with Outlook, Exchange and other Microsoft applications.

The company says businesses that haven't done so should look for applications that use RSA certificates that are smaller than 1,024 bits because starting next month updated Microsoft applications won't accept them.

BACKGROUND: In face of Flame malware, Microsoft will revamp Windows certificate lengths

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The result will be that certificate authority services won't work, making it impossible for applications to reach other resources that require the certificates, Microsoft says.

Internet Explorer will deny access to Web sites with smaller keys, Outlook 2010 won't encrypt email and Outlook won't be able to connect to Exchange servers, the company says.

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Other platforms affected include Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems.

"[T]his could be a serious issue for a lot of companies because when it breaks your software, it breaks it in a big way," says from Paul Henry, a security and forensic analyst at Lumension.

In an advisory, Microsoft says businesses should examine systems and applications "that have been tucked away to collect dust and cobwebs because they 'still work' and have not had any cause for review for some time." Those are the ones most likely to have shorter certificates; most mainstream applications moved to lengthier ones long ago at the urging of security-standards and best-practices bodies.

The upgrade to stronger security settings has been available since August, but next month Microsoft will issue it as part of its Windows Update cycle.

While the upgrade will boost security and avoid a list of problems, it can cause issues, the company says. Things to look out for:

= Error messages when browsing to web sites that have SSL certificates with keys that are less than 1,024 bits;

= Problems enrolling for certificates when a certificate request attempts to utilize a key that is less than 1,024 bits;

= Difficulties creating or consuming email (S/MIME) messages that utilize less than 1;024 bit keys for signatures or encryption;

= Difficulties installing Active X controls that were signed with less than 1,024 bit signatures;

= Difficulties installing applications that were signed with less than 1,024 bit signatures (unless they were signed prior to Jan. 1, 2010, which will not be blocked by default).

Meanwhile, Microsoft advises that next Tuesday it will have just two Patch Tuesday security bulletins for its customers to deal with. Both are ranked Important, a step down from its most serious bulletins, which are marked Critical.

The first bulleting fixes problems with Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 Service Pack 1, which makes the platform vulnerable to elevation of privilege attacks. The second affects Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 3 and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 and also addresses elevation of privilege weaknesses.

In a cryptic statement during the launch of Nokia Windows Phone 8 smartphones this week, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop might have tipped the company's hand about developing tablets.

If the company does make a Windows 8 tablet, it would embrace both the phone and computer versions of Windows 8 and perhaps demonstrate what advantage the common interface might hold for users.

Here's the quote as reported by Fast Company: "We have not announced any plans to introduce a tablet product on Windows or any other platform. But what is quite clear is that the digital experience that people expect today is one that spans multiple different environments: the phone, the tablet, the PC... Certainly, with Nokia's strength in mobility, this is an area we're looking at very closely, and hope to be able to talk more broadly soon about what our perspective is on how to approach that opportunity. It's a real opportunity."

It sounds like a non-denial confirmation that they will build a tablet. If he'd wanted to deny, he would have said, "We're not making a tablet." But he said, "We have not announced any plans to introduce a tablet," which is not only already known, but also doesn't actually answer the question.

Windows 8 App Fest in India

If Windows 8 lacks anything it's apps, and a Microsoft-sponsored App Fest in India this month will try to address that.

The 18-hour event in Bangalore calls for teams of up to four programmers to design and build apps for submission to a Microsoft team for review and possible submission to the Windows store, says as story in The Times of India.

Microsoft lags behind Apple and Android in the sheer number of applications written to the new touch-friendly operating system, so this event and others like it could put the company and Windows 8 itself on better footing.

Microsoft seems to be taking a more conservative approach with apps development for Windows Phone 8, with a preview program for the SDK kit for the phone starting next week that is open only to developers who have already published Windows Phone apps. Everybody else will have to wait until later this year when Microsoft unveils Phone 8.

Symantec offers free Windows 8 security

Symantec is developing three security applications for the Windows 8 platform specifically: one that offers cloud-based security management, a second that white lists safe data and applications and a third that wraps the Internet Explorer 10 browser engine inside a secure casing, according to a story in Computerworld.

The applications are free initially, but later may be restricted to those with Symantec service subscriptions and who own Norton security software, the story says.

In the story Symantec's senior director, product management Gerry Egan doesn't have much good to say about the security improvements in Windows 8 vs Windows 7, something Microsoft has been promoting. He says it is partially true that Windows 8 is more secure, but that under the covers the operating system is a traditional Windows desktop that is vulnerable to the same type of malicious code.

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