Valve Readies Prototype Steam Box Video Game Console
Microsoft Reverses One-PC Office 2013 Licensing Restriction
Valve Readies Prototype Steam Box Video Game Console
The firm's chief executive Gabe Newell revealed Valve expected to offer prototypes of its upcoming video games console for testing within four months time.
Mr Newell would not be drawn on whether Half Life 3 was a planned launch title for the Steam Box. Its upcoming Steam Box hardware is designed to make it easy to access the service via living room televisions posing a challenge to Nintendo's Wii U, the upcoming Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's next Xbox.
"We're working with partners trying to nail down how fast we can make it," Mr Newell told the BBC. "We'll be giving out some prototypes to customers to gauge their reactions, I guess, in the next three to four months. There are noise issues and heat issues and being able to [deal with] that while still offering a powerful enough gaming experience is the challenge in building it."
He added that his company had still to finalise how the console's controller would work as it continued to explore the possibility of including sensors to measure the gamers' body states.
Source: BBC News
Microsoft Reverses One-PC Office 2013 Licensing Restriction
Following a wave of criticism over the licensing terms for the retail version of Office 2013, which essentially tied your version of the software to a single computer for ever, Microsoft has amended the agreement with a transferability provision.
Now users are allowed to move the productivity suite to another computer up to once every 90 days. The change is effective immediately and covers Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013, Office Professional 2013, and all of the standalone Office 2013 applications.
Under the previous terms, if you ever needed to reset your machine you could reinstall Office as well, but if died or got stolen, or if you simply upgraded to a new machine you couldn’t transfer the license even after uninstalling it from the old one. The only exception was if a computer had died while under warranty.
Microsoft clarified that these were the same licensing rights as the Product Key Card (PKC) version of Office 2010 those that come preloaded with new PC purchases and require users to buy a product key to activate. Of course, the problem is with Office 2013 you no longer have the option to choose between PKC or FPP (Full Package Product) and the only retail version available had been demoted to OEM status. The updated, consumer-friendlier agreement is certainly welcome news.
Source: Techspot
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