Android has overtaken Windows as the most used operating system on the internet

For years the tech industry has believed in the dominance of the almighty Microsoft Windows. Windows is one of the most used operating system in the desktop space with more than 90.45 percent of devices powered by the operating system according to data by NetMarketShare.

However, according to a recent report by StatCounter, Android has dethroned Microsoft Windows as the most popular operating system (OS) for internet usage across product segments such as desktop, tablets, laptops and mobile devices.

Image Credit: StatCounter

The interesting thing is that Android overtook Windows last month with internet usage market share across the world at 37.93 percent in comparison to the 37.91 percent usage on Windows OS.

Aodhan Cullen, the CEO of StatCounter termed this to be a “milestone in technology history” and “the end of an era.” He goes on to say that, “It marks the end of Microsoft’s leadership worldwide of the OS market which it has held since the 1980s.”

This statement might not hold true entirely since we are only talking about the OS preferred to access the internet. Windows is the preferred choice for desktops. But the results do point to a definite trend in the market where PCs are observing a continuous decline in overall market share when compared to mobile devices.

The report notes that Windows holds about 84 percent internet usage market share in the desktop market which includes PC and laptops.

Cullen correctly points out, “Windows won the desktop war but the battlefield has moved on.” Windows 10 Mobile OS is nowhere close to be competitve. It has a minuscule 0.3 percent market share as compared to over 80 percent of Android market share. There is no way Windows is making any inroads in the mobile sector.

One interesting thing to note here is that Windows has maintained its lead in North America and Europe with 39.5 percent and 51.7 percent internet usage market share while Android held around 21.2 percent and 23.6 market share respectively.

Asia was the deciding factor to give Android a marginal bump by holding 52.2 percent as Windows slumped to 29.2 percentage. The reason for Asia being so contrasting in terms of market share can be because of the fact that most people would opt to choose a smartphone rather going for a PC or a laptop.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 5:03 pm| Modified date: April 4, 2017 5:16 pm

Flock OS is the world’s first chat operating system

  20 Dec 2016 , 17:23

Flock, a team messenger for businesses, on Tuesday launched the world’s first chat operating system called “FlockOS”. The new OS allows developers to build customised apps, bots and integrations on Flock.

The developers can either use the customised apps within their organisations or publish it on Flock’s App Store, making them available for all Flock users.

“With FlockOS, we have thrown open our platform to the global developer community. Our User Interface (UI) is a canvas for developers, allowing them to create truly intuitive apps and integrations which seamlessly blend with the core product,” Bhavin Turakhia, CEO, Flock, said in a statement.

“Chat will soon become the next operating system, probably within the next three to five years. FlockOS empowers teams and developers to create custom experiences within Flock that is designed for their unique team needs,” Turakhia added.

With FlockOS, developers can build apps that provide a tightly integrated experience by using widgets. These include the attachment widget, sidebar widget and modal widget.

FlockOS provides setup slash commands, providing an additional option for users to interact with the app and can configure a Bot to send directed messages to users, carry on conversations and completing tasks from within Flock.

IANS

Microsoft Releases Office 2016 Build 15.27 to Production on Mac

A week after launching Office 2016 15.27 to the Insider Slow Ring, Microsoft has

 introduced the update to the production release ring.

By Luke Jones -

October 12, 2016 4:59 pm CEST

 Microsoft Launches Azure App Service Companion on Android

Microsoft Updates OneNote for Windows 10

Microsoft Releases Office 2016 Build 15.27 to Production on Mac

Microsoft Tasks Pegatron with Making New Surface Hardware

Microsoft Patch Tuesday Highlights Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Edge and Office

Microsoft is continuing to bolster its Office suite on Apple platforms. A week after rolling out an update for Office 2016 on the Insider Program, the updates arrive on the production ring. This means the updates were saw last time have rolled out to all users.

This brings the Office 2016 suite up to version 15.27 (161003) on Mac.

The changelog is the same as the Insider release a week ago. However, there is one new addition to the feature set for the production ring release. More specifically, OneNote now sports a new spell checker tool to help users tidy up typos.

• More functions: In Excel, use CONCAT or TEXTJOIN to shorten your text formulas, or try the forecasting functions to help you see the future. (Feature requires an Office 365 subscription.)
• Trim audio and video files: In PowerPoint, trim unwanted content from the beginning or the end of your audio or video files. You can also trigger an animation by using a bookmark in your media file. (Feature requires an Office 365 subscription.)
• Make sure your notes are accessible: In OneNote, find and fix accessibility issues in your notes using the Accessibility Checker on the Tools menu.
• Try our new designs: In OneNote, we’ve made some changes to help you get around your notes. Check them out by turning on Preferences > General > Enable experimental features, and let us know what you think!
• In OneNote correct your typos by using suggestions from the spell checker.

As well as moving version 15.27 (161003) to production, Microsoft also sent out a new update to the Slow ring. This is another 15.27 build, namely 161007. There is no changelog for this release so it is probably to clear up issues and fix bugs in 15.27 161003. Expect this release to make its way to production in the next