If your office runs 24/7, you'll have to do the migration in stages. You may have to migrate servers one at a time, and migrate departments group by group. So, some work gets paused, but most of your business will run during the entire migration process.

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Under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft has done a major reshuffle at the company. Nadella will be tightening the focus that the sharp and most celebrated CEO of the world, Steve Ballmer, gave to the company with attack campaigns against Google. Nadella is appointing Mark Penn as C-level executive promoting him to the role of chief strategy officer.

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Windows XP is 13 years old and Microsoft has no obligation to continue supporting it -- but failing to support it means that many of the most vulnerable or cash-strapped customers could end up playing host to an avalanche of malware or security exploits.

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Microsoft will soon no longer support Windows XP so current XP users will need to migrate to a newer version of Windows or possibly Linux. If they don't migrate, they run the risk of serious security problems once Microsoft stops issuing updates for Windows XP.

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It sounds like Microsoft is working on a dual-boot smartphone strategy that would cover both Google Android and Windows Phone. Um... this strategy sounds a bit like the 1990s, when IBM launched a dual-boot initiative involving OS/2 and Windows. Anybody else remember how that story turned out?

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• Microsoft’s Strategy is to Hurt the Competitors, Not Create Products
• Skype Chief Executive Quits Microsoft Amid NSA Scandals
• Bill Gates’ Pet Patent Troll (Intellectual Ventures) is Seemingly Collapsing But Trying to Disrupt the Government With a PAC

She was on her computer at home doing something or the other when suddenly things went bad for her. The menu bar and the task bar disappeared, including the “Start” button and she couldn’t close or change anything on her screen. In a panic, she called friends to try to see if she could get guidance to fix it. One friend told her that the same thing had happened to her and it turned out to be a virus. Olivia was told to turn her computer off immediately and reinstall Windows. That was the only way to proceed.

All of her family pictures and all of her files…gone. She and her friend reinstalled Windows and spent the next two days getting her computer back into shape.

When I was giving the keyboard shortcut portion of the class, I noticed Olivia holding her hands over her mouth as her eyes grew wide. I thought she was going to cry. It turns out that Olivia had accidentally hit the F11 key while she was typing. She had no controls, no cues or hints as to how to get her computer screen back to normal. She had no idea she had accidentally hit the F11 key or that hitting it again would return things to normal. When she discovered how easy this was to fix she was both relieved and angry. She even left her seat to come forward and give me a hug as she recounted the story.

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Support for Windows XP officially ends on April 8, 2014. After this date Microsoft will no longer issues security updates, patch exploits or provide any other means of official, direct support to its users

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It was one of those slow news days in the feeds and searches, but there were a few eye catchers. PCPro is running a piece telling LibreOffice to just ignore Microsoft's attempts to retain their monopoly in UK government offices. In what's turning into a series on Linux jobs, Libby Clark talks to the Dice president about Linux hiring in IT today. And in a long overdue about-face, Canonical seems to bringing local menus back to Ubuntu applications.

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Yes, Microsoft is supporting Linux by way of Android. Do you really think -- with the clock running down on Microsoft's final acquisition of Nokia -- that the Finnish phone company would make such a move without Microsoft's full backing? I don't.

I think Microsoft and Nokia have made a smart move. I'm not the only one.

Mary Jo Foley, the top Microsoft reporter on the planet, writes: "Nokia is clearly wooing Android developers who want to build apps for users in developing markets." I think it's bigger than greenfield markets. I think Microsoft/Nokia wants Android developers creating apps for all markets.

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With the Mobile World Congress show underway in Barcelona, people are still talking about the significant news from the event on the open source phone front. As predicted here recently, Nokia announced the Nokia X and X+, which are smartphones running Android. The Nokia X will start selling for €89 next week.

What makes these phones news, of course, is that Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia is looming, so some are predicting that the phones will put Microsoft in the Android business, but others are predicting that Microsoft might simply do away with these phones after the acquisition.

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"This isn't about switching to open source software, but to a format widely and well-supported by open source office formats," noted blogger Chris Travers. "The government could continue to run Microsoft Office, but the preferred data format would be ODF. This makes Microsoft's argument seem to be rather shrill. Why on earth would changing the default format of released documents be a big deal?"

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Ford will ditch Microsoft in favor of BlackBerry to power its next-generation infotainment systems, inside sources claim, switching to QNX for increasingly complex car multimedia duties after ongoing criticisms of the current SYNC system. The transition, yet to be officially announced by either Ford or BlackBerry, is said to be a reaction to poor driver feedback of SYNC, as well as the expense involved in using Microsoft's platform.

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This will be the first time the Finnish smartphone maker will be trying their hands at producing an Android device. The buyout of Nokia by Microsoft has not completed yet and before the deal goes through fully, Nokia might be able to get three Android smartphone in the market. We have been already hearing a lot about Nokia X, but if we are to believe the rumours, Nokia is planning to have a portfolio of devices spread across different price bands.

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Gaming on Linux has been behind Windows for a long time. Fortunately with the release of Steam for Linux that gap is beginning to close and I can foresee a time whereby Linux gaming will be on at very least a par with Windows.

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The research group asked organisations still using Windows XP about their plans post-April, when Microsoft ceases providing official support and security fixes for the 11-year old OS.

11% of the (admittedly small) 641 companies queried stated they intend to switch to Linux. The low-cost, robust security and growing reputation in enterprise use are likely key factors informing such plans.

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It has been a while since I last wrote a review about Zorin OS. Time moves pretty fast and with other distributions making great strides, is there still a place for an operating system like Zorin which basically deploys a familiar looking desktop on top of Ubuntu.

It has been a couple of versions since the last review so it is a bit pointless for me to just write the differences between now and then, so instead I am going for the full review as if I had never seen it before.

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Some work really well with Linux installations, dual-booting with no problem right from the start. Others are difficult, unpredictable and downright maddening in their inconsitency, and seem to go out of their way to prevent Linux booting. So if you want to dual-boot Linux and Windows, try to find a description written by someone with the same system you are using, or at least a system from the same manufacturer.

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This news confirms that Nokia Normandy was not just an internal experiment but Nokia actually has plans of bringing the device to the market even after selling itself to Google’s rival Microsoft. We understand that Nokia is a separate entity and will always try to do whatever is best for the company. Launching a low cost Android device could help Nokia capture emerging markets like India which still has customers loyal to the company. However, the Microsoft-Nokia deal hasn’t closed yet and the timing of the launch makes it look like Nokia is trying to get in bed with Google before marrying Microsoft

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Ben Edelman is a sellout masquerading as an academic. He worked for Microsoft by covertly spreading FUD against Android in 2011 and he is doing is again. Microsoft has a tradition of passing ‘dirt’ for people to publish and make its rivals (ODF, IBM, Google, GNU, Linux etc.) look bad. It comes from Microsoft’s PR agencies.

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