WOW Weekly – Microsoft Embrace Open Source, Sony goes Backwards

Welcome to WOW Weekly. This week Microsoft finally shakes hands with the open source community at last after years of snubbing it. Sony announced that they are releasing emulation software for the PS4 which will enable you to play PS2 games but what’s the catch. Apple announce that during the holiday period they will not accept any new apps or updates.

Microsoft Embraces Open Source

Microsoft finally embraces the open source community after years of being an enemy. The change comes with the new CEO Satya Nadella, successor to Steve Balmer, wanting to bridge the gap between Microsoft’s developer platforms by building a closer relationship with the open source world.

In 2014 Microsoft open sourced its .Net Core framework and is now making release candidates for Linux and Mac with versions of Visual Studio available for both platforms. Microsoft is pushing new apps to Android and Apple devices before developing for its own Window’s devices. With the rise in popular open source software and Linux distributions this is a good move for developers who want to build apps for multiple platforms and no doubt cost-effective for Microsoft.

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Sony Goes Backwards

Like Microsoft did with the Xbox One last week; Sony have announced that they are going to enable backwards compatibility for certain PS2 games through emulation software. However there is no indication whether you will need to buy the games through the Playstation store as new or you can insert the original discs to download them for free.

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Apple App Store

The Apple App Store have announced that it will not accept any new apps or updates to existing apps between December 22nd & 29th. It’s warning developers that any new releases should be submitted well before this time. Over the year the revenue from the app store has increased by 25% and the number of customer transactions grew by 18%.

New Releases in Brief

Yoast SEO, the popular SEO WordPress Plugin has had a major release this week. The major update includes real-time content analysis with an upgrade of the snippet preview to change to a preview editor. The re-written plugin now uses the power of the browser than the server to make the plugin faster. No need to save the post on update anymore. The plugin has collaborated with OnPage.org enabling you to check out whether your site can still be indexed by search engines and notify you on your WP dashboard and by email. The premium version is $69 a year enables you to have multiple focus keywords.