Microsoft slates Windows 8 beta for late February 2012

Computerworld - Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed that it will release a public beta of Windows 8 in late February, 2012.

The company broke the news at a San Francisco developers event Tuesday, where Antoine Leblond, vice president of Windows Web services, touted Windows Store, the app market that will be the sole distribution channel for applications designed to run in Windows 8's new "Metro" interface.

Windows Store will open to the public at the same time Windows 8's beta ships, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.

While Microsoft has yet to talk about an official launch date for Windows 8, the beta's timing hints at a fall 2012 debut, assuming the company paces Windows 8's final development and testing as it did Windows 7's.

• Microsoft slates Windows 8 beta for late February 2012
• Windows 8 will be 'largely irrelevant' on PCs, predicts IDC
• Microsoft slashes upgrade times for Windows 8
• Microsoft to streamline Windows 8's patch process
• A deep dive into Windows 8 Developer Preview
• Metro apps to be sold only from Microsoft's app store
• Visual tour: Windows 8 goes Metro
• Microsoft CEO hints at 'Metro-ization' of Office
• Windows 8 snags an early thumbs-up
• Echoing Apple, Microsoft bans Flash from Metro IE10 in Windows 8

Continuing coverage: Windows 8 

Windows 7's first developer-oriented release was at the end of October 2008. Microsoft offered a public beta of the OS in late January, 2009, and the final version hit shelves the third week of October, 2009.

Although Windows 8's beta will appear a month later in the cycle -- February instead of January -- its Developer Preview launched a month earlier, in mid-September rather than Windows 7's October, perhaps making the two schedules a wash.

At the same Tuesday event, Microsoft said more than three million copies of the Windows 8 Developer Preview had been downloaded since it was released to the public Sept. 13.

That has been enough to register on some Web metrics. Last month, according to California-based Net Applications, Windows 8 accounted for three-hundredths of one percent of all personal computers that accessed the Internet, or about one-fourth the number of Windows 2000-powered PCs, and half again as many as ran the even older Windows 98.

Microsoft said nothing Tuesday about the feature set customers can expect to see in the beta, or what day in February it would appear on the company's download servers.

During the Windows 8's beta test stretch, only free apps will be allowed in the Windows Store. Yesterday, the company also kicked off a "First Apps" contest, whose judges will select eight apps to feature during the store's beta run.

The deadline for submitting a Metro app to the contest is Jan. 8, 2012.

Microsoft will also extend invitations to other developers to create content for the Windows Store's late-February opening.

The Windows 8 Developer Preview continues to be available from Microsoft's website.

NBC | As 2012 Turnout Battle Brews, Justice Department Eyes Voter ID Laws

If it’s pres­i­den­tial cam­paign sea­son, it must be time for another furor over voter fraud and voter suppression. As the Democ­rats did in 2008, they are again charg­ing that Repub­li­cans are try­ing to use photo iden­ti­fi­ca­tion laws and other changes in elec­tion laws to win­now out would-be Demo­c­ra­tic voters.

The dif­fer­ence this time: six more states have enacted laws, or strength­ened their exist­ing laws, requir­ing vot­ers to show a form of photo iden­ti­fi­ca­tion such as a driver’s license in order to cast a ballot. The stand­out among the new voter ID states: Wis­con­sin, which may have a recall elec­tion next year for Repub­li­can Gov. Scott Walker. It also has a mar­quee Sen­ate race and will likely be a bat­tle­ground in the pres­i­den­tial race.

Last week Demo­c­ra­tic National Com­mit­tee chair­woman Rep. Deb­bie Wasser­man Schultz launched a new mobi­liza­tion effort, say­ing, “Repub­li­cans across the coun­try have engaged in a full-scale attack on the right to vote, seek­ing ways to restrict or limit vot­ers’ abil­ity to cast their bal­lots for their own par­ti­san advantage.”

The strat­egy, she con­tended, dis­pro­por­tion­ally affects African-Americans, Lati­nos, and young peo­ple and could “skew the 2012 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion in the Repub­li­cans’ favor.”

Assis­tant Attor­ney for Civil Rights Thomas Perez said last week that Jus­tice Depart­ment lawyers are review­ing some of the recently-enacted state laws to ensure that they com­ply with the Vot­ing Rights Act and do not have “a racially dis­crim­i­na­tory pur­pose or dis­crim­i­na­tory effect.”

Advocates of broader voting rights are looking forward to a speech on voting next week by Attorney General Eric Holder. “We’ve been pushing him hard to do that because we think it is a national crisis,” said Laura Murphy, the director of the Washington Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The big question is what will the Justice Department do – and that’s why we’re so excited about the attorney general’s upcoming speech.”

Democrats confront one big obstacle: the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision handed down in 2008 and written by Justice John Paul Stevens, upheld Indiana’s photo identification law. “There is no question about the legitimacy or importance of the State’s interest in counting only the votes of eligible voters,” Stevens said. The decision left open the possibility that future plaintiffs could try to show that, as applied in specific cases, a voter ID law is unconstitutional.

Democrats Planning Major Voter Education Effort To Counter Voter ID Laws

Democrats said last Thursday they are planning a major effort to protect voting rights in the 2012 election after several states passed voter photo identification laws and restrictions on early voting and same day registration.

Concerned over what they call voter suppression efforts in states, party officials said they were organizing on a number of fronts to, educate voters on the types of documents necessary to vote and pursue lawsuits if necessary.

A new website, ProtectingtheVote.org, makes the case that actual instances of voter fraud are rare, despite Republicans’ success in passing stricter laws to combat fraud in dozens of states. Democrats accuse the GOP of trying to stifle minority votes as a way to win elections. The site and an accompanying report, “A Reversal in Progress,” are the first step in an “unprecedented voter protection effort,” DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (picture above right) said during a conference call.

"We have a history of challenging these matters in court if need be. We'll be more than prepared to continue that into the future," said Will Crossley, the Democratic National Committee's counsel and director of voter protection.

Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin have passed laws this year requiring photo ID to vote. Efforts to restrict early voting have been approved in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Party officials contend blacks, Hispanics, senior citizens and the poor are less likely to have required photo IDs and worry that the laws could lead to some voters being disenfranchised if they fail to carry an ID with them. They said early voting among black voters was key to Barack Obama's success in the 2008 election in North Carolina and Florida and could complicate efforts there next year.

"We're aggressively engaged in making sure that we help voters move these obstacles and barriers that are being put in their way that are essentially designed to rig an election when Republicans can't win these elections on the merits," said Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC head.

Republicans said the laws were designed to deal with mounting administrative costs and to eliminate voter fraud, citing the activities of ACORN, a now defunct political advocacy group. Congress cut off ACORN's federal money in 2010 following allegations the group engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement.

"Knowing President Obama is facing a steep climb to re-election, Democrats are resorting to scare tactics rather than addressing voter fraud cases," said Kirsten Kukowski, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman.

Democratic officials point to success in Maine, where voters repealed a new state law that required voters to register at least two days before an election, restoring Election Day voter registration. In Ohio, party activists say they have gathered enough signatures to prevent a law reducing the number of days of early voting from taking effect until residents can vote in a referendum next year.

Nomination Race Hurting GOP, But Not Helping Obama

Pew Research Center: As the fight for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination unfolds, more Americans say their impression of the GOP field is worsening than improving. Those views, however, have not resulted in a better view of President Barack Obama at this point.

By a margin of two-to-one, more say that their impression of the GOP field is getting worse (31%) than getting better (14%). Half (50%) say their impression remains the same as they learn more about the Republican candidates.

About one-in-five (19%) say their impression of Obama has improved as they learn more about the Republicans. About as many (21%) say that the GOP campaign is worsening their impression of the president. Most (58%) say the Republicans have had no effect on their feelings about Obama.

The negative margin in evaluations of the GOP field rises to three-to-one (29% worse vs. 10% better) among independents, according to the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Washington Post, conducted Dec. 1-4 among 1,008 adults. Still, more than half (55%) say their impression is unchanged.

Only Republicans are more likely to say their impression of the field is improving (30%) rather than getting worse (8%).

Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say their take hasn’t changed. Last month, about half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (48%) said they saw the field as excellent or good; about as many (46%) said they saw the candidates as a group as only fair or poor. (See “Obama Job Approval Improves, GOP Contest Remains Fluid.”)

Among independents, 14% say the GOP campaign has improved their impression of Obama while 20% say it has made them more critical of the president. Nearly two-thirds (64%) say their opinion remains the same.

More than a third of Democrats (36%) say the GOP campaign has made them feel better about Obama, while 6% say it has made them feel worse. Most (56%) say their impression of the president has not been changed as they learn more about the Republican candidates.

From the Pew Research Center.

Russia election protests: Putin plays down losses

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has played down his party's losses at Sunday's parliamentary election as inevitable for a party in power.

Thousands of police and interior troops are on alert in Moscow, after one of the biggest opposition rallies in the city centre for years.

Police made 300 arrests as protesters chanted "Russia without Putin".

Among those held was Alexei Navalny, a top anti-corruption campaigner and fierce critic of Mr Putin.

A counter-demonstration by Putin supporters was held beside Red Square on Tuesday amid reports that opposition supporters were planning a new protest.

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) say Sunday's election was slanted in favour of Mr Putin's party, United Russia.

United Russia won the election with just under 50% of the vote, a sharp drop in its support.

Correspondents say the result reflects Mr Putin's declining popularity ahead of his bid for the Russian presidency in March.

'Inevitable losses'

Speaking to United Russia officials in Moscow on Tuesday, Mr Putin suggested that electoral losses were inevitable for any party in power.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Yes, there were losses and they are inevitable”

Vladimir PutinRussian prime minister

"Yes, there were losses and they are inevitable," the prime minister and former two-term president said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

"They are inevitable for any political force, especially for one which, not for the first year, bears the brunt of responsibility for the situation in the country."

Mr Putin also rejected the accusation by Mr Navalny and others that his party was especially corrupt.

"This is a label applied not to a specific political party but to authorities [in general]," he said, promising to tackle the issue.

Corruption has been the chief accusation levelled against United Russia by Mr Navalny, one of the country's most influential bloggers.

Troops deployed

Little has been heard from the campaigner since his arrest though he was brought to a Moscow courthouse on Tuesday.

But a fellow opposition figure, Ilya Yashin of the Solidarity group, was jailed on Tuesday for 15 days for disobeying police orders during the previous day's rally.

A new rally in central Moscow has been called for Tuesday evening, against United Russia. A page on the Russian social networking site vKontakte calls for "making it hot for the thieving authorities".

Afghanistan bombs kill 58 in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif

Twin attacks apparently targeting Shia Muslims have killed at least 58 people in Afghanistan.

In the deadliest incident, a suicide bomb struck a shrine packed with worshippers in the capital, Kabul, killing at least 54 people.

Another blast struck near a Shia mosque the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif at about the same time, killing four.

The attacks appear to be of a sectarian nature unprecedented in recent Afghan history, correspondents say.

They coincided with the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura - the most important day in the Shia calendar and marked with a public holiday in Afghanistan.

Ashura is the climax of Muharram, the month of mourning for the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.