Week In Review (Feb 4 – Feb 8)

It was the day before launch. Yes, Microsoft’s Surface Pro is seeing the light of day at retail stores across the North American continent tomorrow. By now you may already have read a few early reviews, okay a lot of early reviews of the device. Surface Pro stole most of the spotlight this week, but not all of it.

Here are other Windows 8 stories that kept us going through the past five days.

News of the Week

The undisputed champion this week was Surface Pro, hogging up all the headlines — none bigger than the news that Microsoft has not restricted the upcoming tablet to Windows 8, as most circles believed. Wonder how long will it take for YouTube videos showing Linux on Surface Pro.

Petition of the Week

Windows 8 brings with it several new changes, large and small. One such adjustment is the dumping (for the lack of a better word) of the glassy Aero user interface. While a lot of users have moved on, some still want Microsoft to bring it back officially.

Offer of the Week

WinZip has been a flag bearer of compression tools on various operating systems, including Windows since the early 90s. The company released an app for Windows 8 late last year, but the application went free (probably for a limited time) this week. Now, this is an offer you can’t refuse.

Cancellation of the Week

While Surface RT came with a lot of hoopla, Microsoft had planned a modest, invite-only launch event for Surface Pro in NYC — one that had to be called off at the 11th hour due to severe weather. Ultimately, this is a totally sensible decision by the technology company.

Oops of the Week

Ah, proof that even the giants can make mistakes. Microsoft had earlier announced the available free space on Surface Pro, but then retracted saying the tablets actually offered around 6 extra GB that were not taken into account in the earlier calculations. Only if gaffes like this became the norm.