Here’s what else is happening today.
11/3/2015 9:44:19 AM
Good morning. Clearly, it’s going to be one of those days.
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Microsoft quietly sets an end date for Windows 7 PCs
Not a big deal, but Microsoft this week quietly updated its Windows lifecycle fact sheet, revealing that October 31, 2016—just one year from now—is the last date on which PC makers can sell new PCs with Windows 7 preinstalled. Since no one wants Windows 8.x, that means that it will be all Windows 10 after that date. Fine with me.
“It’s official: Amazon is opening its first-ever bookstore in Seattle”
Irony alert.
Activision to pay $5.9 billion for “Candy Crush” maker
Activision—which produces the hit “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” video game series—announced last night that it would purchase King Digital Entertainment, the maker of the “Candy Crush” series of mobile games, for an astonishing $5.9 billion. Clearly, Activision is compensating for its inability to create a single successful mobile game. Or, overcompensating. Big time.
“Here’s Why Activision Spent $5.9 Billion on the Creator of Candy Crush”
Mad cow disease?
Blackberry’s Android-based phone arrives on Friday
And as The New York Times notes, there’s really only one reason for them to make such a device: Apps.
Marty Beard, BlackBerry’s chief operating officer, said in an interview that its choice of operating systems is intended to overcome the BlackBerry 10’s greatest shortcoming: its relatively small number of apps and, in some cases, their quality.
“We know that the number one complaint of a BlackBerry user is apps,” Mr. Beard said. While using Android resolves that problem, the downside, he said, was that “Android had that reputation for not being secure.”
Which begs the question. Why is Microsoft moving so slowly to do the same? Windows phone was late to market in 2010, and Blackberry 10, which debuted in 2013, was even later. And yet here’s Blackberry, at least trying to turn things around, just two years later. Why can’t Microsoft move this quickly?