There has been a lot of worry with the unveiling of Windows 8, for developers — that is. The reason being is that Steven Sinofsky revealed that Windows 8, codename Windows 8, will be able to run applications programmed using HTML5 and JavaScript, but not much was mentioned about the future of Silverlight or the .NET Framework in regards to these new “immersive” applications coming in Windows 8.

These worries were not without merit, as Microsoft was locking discussion topics about this issue on MSDN, along with them being very quiet about the issue as well.

“HTML5 and Silverlight are complementary technologies serving different needs, and Microsoft is committed to both,” said a Microsoft spokesperson, in regards to my question about whether applications using this newer Metro-like interface will be able to be created using using Silverlight/.NET.

After all, Sinofsky did say that the applications demonstrated running on Windows 8 were running in Internet Explorer 10, and that, “The browser that we showed runs Silverlight and it will still run on the desktop.” The Microsoft spokesperson I talked to also pointed me to the video transcript of Sinofsky at D9, so if D9′s transcript contained anything inaccurate, Microsoft wouldn’t be referring to it themselves.

Another question is: “What about tools for HTML5?” After all, Microsoft does provide excellent development tools for Silverlight/.NET in the form of Visual Studio, but currently when developing HTML5 “applications” you are left with good old Notepad. Many developers would simply laugh out loud if they were told to use such “tools” to create tools for the next generation of Windows, but I was also pointed by the Microsoft spokesperson to a recent blog post on the Silverlight blog talking about HTML5 and Silverlight. In the blog post is concluded with, “over the coming months we’ll be  particularly demonstrative of our emphasis on HTML5, in Internet Explorer and in tools.”

Well, looking back we can see that this blog post may have been an allusion to that of what was recently announced with Windows 8. We have yet to see any “tools” for developing HTML5 “applications,” but we may be seeing that soon, or more likely at the BUILD conference this September.

Finally, after months, it appears that HTML5 Bing is starting to roll out to users, at least for some. Currently I have access to this new design on my netbook but not my desktop. You can see a screenshot of what is to come above, but as LiveSide has stated, “[a] screenshot doesn’t quite do the new interface justice.”

With the new Bing you get instant results (somewhat like Google Instant), and the tab bar goes with you as you scroll down the results, and that Bing Rewards program no longer requires the Bing Bar as you can see if you view the full image I posted above.

I can access the new Bing design on both IE9 and Google Chrome, though it does not appear for me while using Opera or Firefox. Since I can only access the new Bing on my netbook, IE9 graphics-wise is a tad slow, so the transitions aren’t as “cool” as they could be, but still nice. For some reason, these seamless transitions do not work in Google Chrome at all.

There has been absolutely no word from the Bing Team regarding the roll out of the new site, so we can only assume it will roll out slowly to users. If (and when) the Bing Team decides to say anything I will be sure to post it here, on Today in Windows.

Have you ever heard of Microsoft Mediaroom? Well, neither have I. Apparently Mediaroom “is the latest update of the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform software, intended for use in a set-top boxes to access on-demand as well as live television programming on a Microsoft IPTV network,” according to Wikipedia. What’s my point? ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley believes that Windows Phone 7 may get a Mediaroom client, codenamed “Rome,” which would allow you to do video chat something like FaceTime on iOS. The best thing? More than 26 providers have adopted this platform along with AT&T’s U-Verse service, so one would think you would be able to chat with quite a few people right off the bat.

Windows Phone 7 has already been jailbroken using ChevronWP7, but then the tool was eventually pulled (in part by the developers and Microsoft). Now Microsoft is actually inviting the famous iPhone jailbreaker George Hotz (or Geohot) to try and jailbreak Windows Phone 7 with this tweet: “#geohot if you want to build cool stuff on #wp7, send me email and the team will give you a phone – let dev creativity flourish #wp7dev.” Neowin also mentions Geohot can work on a WP7 jailbreak without worrying about being sued by Microsoft, however he is currently being sued by Sony over jailbreaking the PlayStation 3.

Finally! HTML will now lose its version numbering because “the term is now basically being used to mean anything Web-standards-related, so it’s time to move on!” announced Ian Hickson (HTML specification editor). Instead the HTML specification will “evolve organically as additions are integrated, sort of like a rolling release model,” according to Ars Technica. Now if only we could remove the name 4G…

Windows 7 SP1 isn’t even out to the public yet and according to Neowin, Windows 7 SP2 is already underway (but no surprise, these things always start fairly quickly) and has been since autumn of 2010. Wzor.net (where the leak came from) says “Service Pack 2 is already actively underway since the autumn of 2010, and if all goes according to plan then the appearance of a second service pack, Service Pack 2 for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 is expected in mid-2012.” But also, “Windows 8 is scheduled for the very end of 2012, so it really can be called: Microsoft Windows 2012 Apocalypse Edition, at least the server version will be named as Windows Server 2012.” But wait, there’s more! Supposedly there will be two betas (at least one, if not both, will be public) and three months after that there will be a release candidate. At last, they say Microsoft will begin selling Windows 8 in the box on January 7, 2013. Seems weird to miss the holiday, but hey, it’s a rumor!

Yeah, Oracle is still suing Google over Android for copying Sun’s Java code without permission (I forgot, and I bet you did too)… However, Oracle has found a lot more evidence, a lot more evidence that will not favor Google at all. This comes from Electronista:

Oracle’s claims that Google copied Sun’s Java code without permission in Android may have gained fuel on Friday. A separate search by Florian Mueller of the code (ZIP) has found more files than Oracle itself cited that appear to lift code directly. Among them, six files attached to Android 2.2 and 3.0 appear to have been extracted from Sun’s Java source code using a decompiler and simply grafted into the just-in-time Dalvik engine Android uses at its root.

About 37 files were even marked as “proprietary/confidential” Sun files, and a separate file included in the code served as a copyright notice from Sun urging users not to distribute the material. Google has since claimed that Oracle was hiding code to make it look like more copying was involved, but Mueller noted that even open-sourced, GPL 2 parts code could have violated Sun (and now Oracle) rights after the latter’s code was distributed without its consent. He suggested that Oracle not only had a case but may have been conservative in presenting its evidence.

Mueller then says “It seems to me that Oracle has not even presented the tip of the iceberg in its amended complaint. The discovery process could be very fruitful for Oracle, and may become dreadful for Google.” Have fun Google, have fun.

To top Friday off, an analyst has said that the “Wii 2 will not sell well,” coming from CNET. I personally am not surprised — yes I know it is only an analysts prediction — because c’mon… There is the Kinect and PlayStation Move, so much better than what the Wii has to offer. To me I look at the Wii and think “Why not just use the Kinect?” especially when it comes to dancing games. What kind of crap is that? The only thing the Wii can track is your hand movements, while the Kinect watches your entire body movement. Well, I guess the Wii isn’t totally useless, they still have the Nintendo games (which tend to be the only good games for their consoles). Could Nintendo be the next Sega? They sure could be.

Paul Thurrott of Windows Phone Secrets and WinSuperSite.com has revealed what he knows about the updates coming for Windows Phone in 2011.

First update: “No Donuts”

Thurrott says that a Windows Phone update codenamed “NoDo” will RTM in January, though it won’t ship until early February.

The first update will include copy & paste, support for the Qualcomm 7×30 chipset (which has improved 3D and multimedia performance), CDMA location stack and numerous software fixes.

Major update: “Mango”

Last month we got news of a rumored massive update for Windows Phone, which would make Windows Phone 7 become Windows Phone 7.5, supposedly.

Thurrott confirms that this update would bring Internet Explorer 9 to Windows Phone (which would bring the rendering engine Trident 5 to the browser), HTML5 support, Silverlight in the browser and gesture support as well.

Currently the build number is “75xx” which suggests it would indeed be called Windows Phone 7.5, but says it currently calls itself Windows Phone 7.2. He goes on to say the branch called the “entertainment” branch which suggests other updates revolving around, obviously, entertainment.

Please understand that this is not necessarily the next update after “NoDo,” this is simply a major update for Windows Phone in the future, but there could be more updates in between.

Windows Phone at CES

Sadly Steve Ballmer didn’t announce much of anything for Windows Phone at CES. No new sales figures, no updates, no anything (well, Kindle for Windows Phone is here now).

Windows Phone was demonstrated during Steve Ballmer’s keynote, which many thought was odd as they already introduced Windows Phone, and as stated, it wasn’t like anything new was announced.

Many rumors have been floating around about updates for Windows Phone 7, including Microsoft detailing a bigger update for the platform in February, but we now have some more tips.

Mary-Jo Foley on the All About Microsoft blog is reporting that Windows Phone 7 “Mango” would add HTML5 and Silverlight to the browser on the mobile platform.

The update in January is still said to be the copy and paste update, but the first major update wouldn’t come until sometime this summer (August or September), according to Foley’s sources.

This major update is codenamed “Mango” and will basically be Windows Phone OS 7.5, and may even be named as such. The update precedes Windows Phone 8, so we should start hearing rumors about WP8 soon enough, great.

“Mango” is said to bring HTML5 and Silverlight to the browser, as previously stated. Currently applications are created using Silverlight, but Silverlight in the browser would be just like Flash, it would allow Silverlight on the web to run, so you would be able to watch Netflix videos through the browser. However, seeing as there is a Netflix app, there would be no reason

Foley also says she would not be surprised if more enterprise functionality would be added in this update as well. Even the Microsoft executives said Windows Phone 7 focused mainly on consumers, which is great, except for the fact that enterprises won’t adopt it without such functionality.

None of this information about a major update for Windows Phone 7 has been confirmed by Microsoft.

Edit: Forgot to add that the “Mango” update would also add Far Eastern language support along with other features and functionality.

Further reading:

• Microsoft said to detail second Windows Phone 7 update in February – todayinwindows.com