Does Metro Have A Future?

Mark Pickavance analyses the direction that Microsoft is taking and if this will deliver a future for its tablet environment

With Microsoft offering a zero-dollar pricing for Windows 8 on 9" devices and smaller, many are wondering if its vision of muscling into Apple and Google's mobile platform market might just be possible. But before that can happen, Microsoft's tablet interface and apps have numerous other hurdles to overcome.

Do You Need A Download Manager?

Yes, there are many benefits, even with today's fast broadband internet connection. Roland Waddilove tries four free tools

Back in the days when everyone used dial-up internet through a modem, a download manager was an essential tool to have on your computer. The internet connection was slow and unreliable, and connections were often dropped. A download manager enabled you to fetch big files much more easily. Most people today have the luxury of fast broadband internet access, and with the rise of fibre connections you may wonder whether a download manager is still needed.

There is no doubt that the importance of the download manager has declined in recent years, and many people can manage quite happily without one, but they still have their uses, and in this article I'll examine some of the ways in which they can help, no matter how good your internet connection is.

Remembering... The BBC Micro

David Hayward recalls those hazy days spent in computer studies lessons

If you were lucky enough to have a forward thinking school back in the early 80s, then the chances are that every computer studies lesson was spent sat in front of a BBC Micro. Usually there were three school children to every computer, crowded around the tiny square monitor and staring at the screen - with one or more of those getting increasingly frustrated by the slow typing of the one in control of the keyboard.

The school computer was an amazing thing. It helped many of us get to grips with a concepts beyond the games-playing 8-bit machines of the day (chiefly the Spectrum and C64) and it allowed us to smirk at the teacher who ended up getting a little hot under the collar when the computer did something he or she couldn't get to grips with.