Week In Review (Dec 3 – Dec 7)

Promotion of the Week After running bazillions of ads promoting Windows 8 and Surface RT, Microsoft tried its hands at product placement as the company’s premier tablet made an extended appearance on ABC’s popular sitcom Suburgatory. Love it or hate it, you can’t deny this is creative marketing for Surface. Sour Grapes of the Week Eric Schmidt made headlines a couple of days back when he outright discarded Microsoft out of what he calls the “Gang of Four”, a group of companies that he believes are landscaping consumer technology. Needless to say, not everyone believed in the ranking algorithm of Google’s chairman. Comeback of the Week Between fame and fortune. The popular Windows 8 app Tweetro recently had a bit of a rough time handling fame when it crossed the 100,000 token user limit set by Twitter. It made a triumphant return to the Windows Store this week as Tweetro+ priced at $9.99. Drama of the Week Not many know this but Rubicon is a river in Italy famous for being the place where Julius Caesar uttered the famous phrase Alea iacta est (meaning the die is cast). Rubicon is also an app developer that tore into Microsoft over its Windows Store policies, later retracting its rant. Let’s hope the die remains cast. Threat of the Week As if 32-bit malware is not enough of a headache, analysts have warned of native 64-bit viruses set to hit Windows next year. Security firm Trusteer said in its report that while a few 64-bit malware are already out it in the open, the number could rise exponentially in 2013. Here’s hoping for the opposite.]]>