Angry Birds Star Wars Edition for the iPad is as good or better than the original Angry Birds (I’m not a fan of the other versions). So, I was interested to see the game appear in the Windows RT app store. Unfortunately, the version for RT costs 66% more than the iPad version: $4.99 vs $2.99.
While making more money per sale for developers is a good thing. I think Windows RT app prices need to be competitive with versions of the same app on other platforms.
Note: Composed this app entirely using a Surface with Windows RT. The biggest problem was finding an image editor. None of the RT apps provided freehand cropping. Will discuss how I worked around this in a future blog item.
Microsoft promotes the soon-to-be-released Surface RT by saying it can let you:
I’m no Microsoft cheerleader or fanboi (though I am a former Microsoft MVP). But, after reading reports like this one in All Things D about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seemingly trying to placate notebook and tablet hardware partners, I had to vent. And, since Ballmer often gives out his email address and tells people he reads his own email, I figured, why not send it to the man himself.
On March 1, 2011 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage of the conference center in Bellevue, Washington to address a bunch of Microsoft MVPs (enthusiasts). At one point he held up the tablet you see in the photo above and made some comments about it. I, quite honestly, can’t remember what he said that day. And, if I did, the information might still be covered by an NDA. So, instead, I will reimagine that day and theorize what may have been going through Mr. Ballmer’s mind as he addressed a gathering of Microsoft MVPs (enthusiasts).
The first Windows Phone devices released in the fall of 2010 had hardware limitations imposed by Microsoft. Thus, the entire first generation of devices lacked components that were common even back then. Among the hardware missing from the reference design and the devices based on it is a gyroscope. This component has become increasingly important in games and motion based activities. Microsoft’s design shortsightedness has come back to bite it less than two years after the first Windows Phone devices were released. Its own recently released PhotoSynth panoramic camera app for Windows Phone (first released for the iPhone) won’t work correctly with the entire first generation of Windows Phone devices.