Microsoft overclocks Xbox One GPU clock speed by 6%

In a recent podcast with Marc Whitten, corporate VP of Xbox he revealed that the company was able to safely bump up the performance of the GPU on the console by 6-percent. Whitten didn’t elaborate much on this statement, but he did indicate that developers will be able to push the system a little harder.

During Major Nelson’s podcast, Whitten stated:

That’s the time where you start tweaking the knobs. Either your theory was right dead on, or you were a little too conservative, or you were a little too aggressive. It’s actually been really good news for us, an example of that is we’ve tweaked up the clock speed on our GPU from 800mhz to 853mhz.

He also talked a little bit about new drivers that help take advantage of the GPU better called “mono driver.”
Microsoft’s Albert Penello elaborated on this improvement on NeoGAF boards recently. According to Penello, Microsoft set “aggressive targets for reliability, performance, yields, and noise.” This all makes perfect sense considering that the Xbox 360 was notorious for having a very high failure rate made popular by the Red Ring of Death stigma. The Xbox 360 originally sounded like a jet was taking off before several iterations of refinements were made to the console.
It seems like the company set out to improve on these things as the Xbox One is reported to be stealthily quite.

We want it to be DEAD quiet (and let me tell you, X1 is quieter than the new Xbox 360 we just released). And we wanted killer game performance. But those targets are in conflict with each other.

Penello adds that through testing, the team was able to find that the console could safely handle the bump in clock speed despite pushing the GPU beyond its set parameters.

What we’ve found through the development process is we were able to actually exceed our goals on the thermals and acoustics.
This gave us headroom to increase the clock speed without any hit to noise, reliability, or heat, so we took the opportunity to bump the GPU. I get it’s only 6% or so, but that could translate to a few FPS in the real world.

Posted in Games, Hardware, Industry, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox One | 5 Comments » Read more from Mike Ferro
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Microsoft takes a $900 million hit on Surface RT tablets

Microsoft has announced its earnings for Q2 2013, and the results are a mixed bag. One obvious negative, however, is the $900 million writedown officially blamed on “inventory adjustments” related to the Surface RT tablet line.
The $900 million figure comes as a result of unsold Surface RT tablets, with Microsoft rumored to have built between 3 million and 5 million units, and consequently rumored to have sold only around 1 million units. It was only last weekend that Microsoft announced a series of price cuts which saw the 32GB Surface RT tablet drop from $499 to $349 and the 64GB Surface RT drop from $599 to $499.
In real terms this hit caused the company’s earnings for the quarter to drop from 66 cents per share to 59 cents per share. Both figures were lower than the 75 cents per share Wall Street analysts were predicting.
Microsoft Surface with RT, to give it its official billing, was meant to offer an affordable alternative for those who wanted Windows on a tablet but didn’t need the full capabilities Windows 8 has to offer. Unfortunately Windows RT isn’t great, and the Surface RT tablets don’t (or at least didn’t before the recent price cuts) represent good value for money.
Have you purchased a Surface RT tablet yet? I suspect not, as very few people have done. I’m not even sure mainstream consumers know what a Surface RT tablet is, quite frankly. Many may not even be aware you can get Windows 8 in any form on a tablet, as their knowledge of the market begins and ends with the Apple iPad.
This is a huge problem that Microsoft needs to remedy if it hopes to keep the Surface brand going. Which looks likely given the strong rumors that a new line of Surface tablets are to be launched in the very near future. If Microsoft doesn’t breathe life into the Surface brand then they could have another Zune on their hands.
Posted in Microsoft Surface, News, Opinion, Windows 8 | No Comments » Read more from Dave Parrack
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Microsoft helps Americans understand UK

Educating employees before they move countries is obviously a noble undertaking. Unfortunately some of the advice handed out can come across as a little unnecessary and condescending when read out of context. Still, Microsoft should be awarded an A for effort.
The United States and the United Kingdom are long-time friends. The two countries share a language, a homogeneous, multi-cultural population and a love for one another’s cultures. And yet despite all this the U.S. and the U.K. are very different countries.
Microsoft has recognized this fact, and so rather than send American workers to the U.K, ill-advised and unprepared, the company has produced a guidebook for these employees to read before they make the trip over the pond into a new life. As a Brit myself, some of the guide makes for amusing reading.
The pamphlet is titled A Guide To Working & Living in Cambridge
(Cambridge being the city housing Microsoft Research’s UK facility). It helpfully informs incoming workers that firearms and drugs are illegal in the U.K. It also suggests that while the NHS is indeed free, the “main disadvantage” to this in practice is that there can “occasionally be long waits for certain treatments.”
Next on the list is the humble pub, which is “more than a plain bar,” instead being “homely places full of historical character (and characters!).” And don’t forget chippies, which sell the “national treat of fish, e.g. cod, fried in a crispy batter.”
More differences are outlined, such as terms for housing and the higher price of petrol in Europe. All stuff which an incoming American worker needs to know, but which sounds rather odd when spelled out so blandly in a handbook of this nature.
Despite my slightly mocking tone, American Bridget Hannigan, who moved to the U.K. in 1988, told BBC News, “[This guide is] not a bad thing. If someone has just been transported here I think this could be helpful. There are a lot of differences. It took me about three months to adjust.”

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Microsoft reorg confirmed: Xbox One OS now under Windows division

As rumored, Microsoft has confirmed that the company will be going through a reorg via a memo from Steve Ballmer. The memo details a massive restructuring of the company dividing everything into a number of divisions. As a result, it seems that the Xbox division will now be split across two departments.
In Ballmer’s memo [via All Things D], he outlines the new divisions: Business Development and Evangelism, Marketing, Engineering, Advanced Strategy and Research, HR, Legal, Finance, and Operations.
Under Engineering, the division will be segmented under four units: Operating Systems, Applications and Services, Cloud and Enterprise, and Devices and Studios.
As previously rumored, Windows Chief, Julie Larson-Green has been named as the person in charge of Devices and Studios, which includes the management of the Xbox One hardware. Its widely believed that Don Mattrick was pinned as the candidate to take on this role before he moved over to Zynga. Larson-Green will also be responsible for Studio management.
The Operating Systems unit will be headed by Terry Myerson, former head of Windows Phone. Myerson will oversee Windows and Xbox One’s software functions including OS and software Apps. This is a telling move, showing the direction Ballmer wants to take the Xbox in.
As a result of this reorg, financial reporting will no longer be broken out into distinct business units like Xbox/Entertainment. This may make it much more difficult for investors to determine the performance of specific products such as Windows Phone, Bing and Xbox One in the future.
Its alarming that the OS for the Xbox One will now be helmed by the Windows division. Its been rumored since back in 2001 that the ‘old school’ cronies in charge of the powerful OS division has objected to the money losing Xbox. Its not surprising as Microsoft is a software company and is used to enjoying profit margins higher than 60 percent.  
The original intent of the Xbox was to levy the game console as a Trojan horse by paving a road into the living room for Windows. With the Xbox’s OS software under Myerson, the direction of how the platform will operate will ultimately come from his area. Ballmer did emphasized collaboration between the various departments as the key to succeeding.
With Don Mattrick out, its concerning that there is no longer a ‘games guy’ in the leadership position at Microsoft.

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Apple takes in more than twice the revenue of Microsoft and loses market share

Apple earned twice the revenue of Microsoft last quarter but still lost over 10 percent of its market value.  What does that say about the differing expectations concerning Apple and Microsoft?  Mostly that investors expect more out of Apple and when they don’t get it they are quick to punish the company.
The Washington Post reports that Apple’s revenue for last quarter was $54.5 billion, up from $46.3 billion.  Microsoft announced that its revenues were $21.46 billion for the quarter up from last years $20.89 billion for the fourth quarter. $54.5 billion versus $21.46 billion. Hmmm.
Apparently investors were disappointed that Apple’s growth seems to be slowing even though Apple’s sales of the iPhone were an all time high of 47.8 million. Still Apple has lost 35 percent of its value since September dropping from a high of $705 per share to $450.5 as of the close of the stock market today. As The Register points out, there were some unique aspects to Apple’s earnings figures.

And that’s where things get interesting. As Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer, who shared the call with Cook, pointed out, the quarter reported on Wednesday had 13 weeks; last year’s Q1 had 14 weeks. "As such," Oppenheimer said, "average weekly revenue was $4.2bn in the current-year quarter, compared to $3.3bn in the year-ago quarter." That’s a per-week revenue increase of 27.2 per cent.

Meanwhile Microsoft’s ending price on the stock market was $27.63 which was a gain of $.07 percent for the day. The Verge pointed out that Microsoft’s 2012 fourth quarter revenues increased just 2.7 percent over the same period last year.
But here is where the difference lies.  Investors see Apple growth as slowing and think that Apple’s potential for future growth has diminished.  Microsoft’s investors see potential increased growth because of the various different facets of Microsoft’s company.
Here’s the rub.  While Apple’s iPhone has sold well this year, there are parts of the world where the iPhone is too expensive for the market. Cheaper Android and even Windows Phone smart phones will sell in greater quantities.  For instance, Geek.com reports that Apple is in fifth place when it comes to the smartphone market in China, in part, because most people can’t afford an iPhone.
PCs and Macs are taking a drubbing as consumers drift away from computers to tablets.  While the iPad still remains wildly popular, Microsoft tablets are just getting started and are expected to increase in market share.
Whether you agree with the prognosticators or not, you can’t argue with the disparity in revenue between the two companies.  Of course, that’s just last quarter.  We have whole new year of competition ahead of us.  Let’s see how they finish next December.
Posted in Microsoft | No Comments » Read more from Susan Wilson
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Is Microsoft right to increase the price of Windows 8?

The ability to get Windows 8 on the cheap (in a legal and legitimate way) is ending soon. But is Microsoft doing the right thing in upping the price of its latest operating system?
Anyone choosing to upgrade to Windows 8 from XP, Vista, or Windows 7 has, until now, been able to do so on the cheap. By taking advantage of Microsoft’s admittedly generous early discounts, it’s been possible to justify switching to the latest operating system, even if you’re not convinced it’s worth the time and effort to do so.
However, things are changing, and soon.
The promotional pricing for Windows 8 that Microsoft chose to offer from launch is ending on Jan. 31, 2013. The offer has meant that anyone buying a new Windows 7 computer could upgrade to Windows 8 for just $15, and anyone with an older computer (XP or newer) could upgrade to Windows 8 for $40.
From next month the price of upgrading will increase to $120 for Windows 8 (Core) and $200 for Windows 8 Pro. This has caused a considerable amount of consternation among some people, who have complained that Microsoft is somehow ramping the price up to take advantage of consumers after the initial frenzy of interest has died down.
As pointed out by Paul Thurrott, this isn’t actually the case. The promotional price was always temporary and always going to end a few months after Windows 8 was launched into the wild. The new price is also the same price as Windows 7 was after its initial promotional period ended. In other words Microsoft is doing things completely by the book.
That isn’t the end of the story though. Maximum PC argues that Windows 8 is a different beast from Windows 7, and that the cut Microsoft gets from everything sold through the Windows Store means the initial asking price for the OS should be lower. There’s also the fact that Windows 8 isn’t doing anywhere near as well as Windows 7, which adds to the argument for pricing it accordingly.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we witness a u-turn from Microsoft on this one. The current promotion will lapse, but there’s nothing preventing them from instituting a brand new one.

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