Lawsuit names 100 'John Doe' defendants who 'aided and abetted' Microsoft
By Gregg Keizer
Microsoft Corp. has denied that it makes money when users "downgrade" Windows Vista to the older XP, as a lawsuit filed last week alleges.
The lawsuit, submitted to a Seattle federal court last Wednesday, stems from the $59.25 fee that a California woman was charged in mid-2008 when she bought a Lenovo laptop and downgraded from Vista to XP.
"Microsoft does not charge or receive any additional royalty if a customer exercises those [downgrade] rights," said Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster in an e-mail late last week. "Some customers may choose or need to obtain media or installation services from third parties to install the downgrade version."
In fact, it's computer makers, not Microsoft per se, who charge users the additional fees for downgrading a new PC from Vista to XP at the factory. Dell Inc., for example, adds an extra $20 to the price to downgrade a PC.
Microsoft, however, may profit from the way it structures downgrade rights. Only buyers of PCs with pre-installed editions of Vista Business and Vista Ultimate can downgrade, and then only to Windows XP Professional. All three editions are higher-priced versions of their respective lines, a fact that the lawsuit mentioned in passing.
"Customers have been forced to purchase the most expensive version of [Windows XP] in order to 'downgrade' from the Windows Vista operating system," the complaint read.
That was the cause of some confusion last year, when Dell Inc. was accused of gouging customers by charging $150 to downgrade a new computer to XP. Dell, however, countered that although it did charge $20 to install XP on the machine, as well as to cover the cost of the additional media, the bulk -- $120 of the $150 -- was the price of upgrading the PC from the standard Home Premium to the more expensive Business edition.
Microsoft does not offer downgrade rights with its Vista Home Premium, the most popular of Vista's editions.
"Microsoft mandates that customers who want to downgrade to XP must purchase the license to Vista Business or Vista Ultimate," said Dell spokesman David Frink last December. "[That's] typically about a $130 premium, though some retail outlets charge more."
"Downgrade" describes the Windows licensing rights that Microsoft gives users, who are allowed under some circumstances to replace newer versions of Windows with an older edition without having to pay for another license. The practice became popular last year when users, unhappy with Vista's performance on the new PCs they bought, instead sought ways to run the leaner XP.
The lawsuit, filed by Los Angeles resident Emma Alvarado, charged Microsoft with multiple violations of Washington state's unfair business practices and consumer protection laws through its policy of barring computer makers from continuing to offer XP on new PCs after Vista's early-2007 launch. She claimed Microsoft's practice resulted in customers paying more for XP than they otherwise would. "They have been forced to pay substantially more to acquire the Windows XP operating system than they would have to pay in a competitive marketplace," the suit said.
Alvarado also named 100 "John Doe" co-defendants. "[They] are the persons, firms and corporations who have participated with Microsoft in the wrongdoings complained of and performed acts and made statements in furtherance thereof," the lawsuit read. "The Doe Defendants acts as co-conspirators and aided and abetted, or participated with, Microsoft in the commission of wrongful acts."
Bowermaster claimed that Microsoft had no downgrade program as such. "Microsoft does not have a downgrade program. It does offer downgrade rights as part of some Windows Vista licenses, including Windows Vista Business purchased through the OEM channel." That, however, belies the fact that Microsoft has regularly offered downgrade rights to users. When it released Windows XP in 2001, it allowed people who had XP licenses to downgrade to Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98, according to Gartner analyst Michael Silver.
Alvarado is seeking compensatory damages and wants the case declared a class-action suit.
source : www.computerworld.com
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Dell could join Acer in unveiling smart phone
Rumors of Dell entry grow on eve of GSMA Mobile World Congress
By Matt Hamblen
January 30, 2009 (Computerworld) When Dell Inc. stopped selling the Axim PDA in 2007, several industry observers predicted that the PC and server maker would eventually move on to sell smart phones.
The rumors that Dell would enter the smart phone business have persisted since then and have even gained heat with the approach of the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, historically a popular venue for vendors to unveil new mobile phones.
For example, Acer Inc. has confirmed online that it plans to launch new smart phones at the show. Acer officials have not commented on the plan beyond the statement posted on the company's exhibitor page on the Mobile World Congress Web site.
Several analysts have looked for Dell to enter the smart phone business because of its background in handhelds and because of its 2007 hiring of Ron Garriques, who had been the head of phone development at Motorola Inc.
Garriques was hired to head up all consumer product development at Dell, and had to sign a noncompete agreement that would prevent him from working on any phone until February 2009, noted Kevin Burden, an analyst at ABI Research Inc. in New York. "That deadline for Garriques is fast approaching," Burden said in an interview. "We all knew Dell would get into smart phones at some point."
But Burden said that Dell could go all the way to the brink of announcing a smart phone and then pull back if the economics are not right. The same thing happened with the Axim PDA, he noted, citing the firm's decision to postpone its launch from 2000 until 2002. Burden said he had first-hand knowledge of that decision, having worked as a consultant to many manufacturers, including Dell, at the time.
"Dell has never been first to market with anything," Burden noted. "They sit back and look to see when the market has sustainable volumes and squeeze ... to get prices down."
Andy Kitson, an analyst and blogger at Juniper Research Ltd., said Dell might balk at the cost of designing and developing a smart phone. The Wall Street Journal reported, based on information gathered from unnamed sources, that Dell has already created two smart phone prototypes running the Windows Mobile and Android operating systems.
Independent wireless and telecom analyst Jeffrey Kagan said Acer's announced plans and the rumors of Dell's entry into the smart phone market come at a good time. "The market is lousy compared to great times, but for smart phones, the market is still decent," he said.
Burden said that successful forays into the smart phone business against the likes of Apple Inc. with the iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd., maker of various BlackBerry devices, would depend in large part on which carriers end up selling the devices in the U.S. When asked which carriers are likely to sell Dell or Acer smart phones, Burden said "who knows? Selling mobile phones is lot different than selling PCs directly as Dell has done, and the only effective way is through a mobile agreement with an operator to get good volumes of sales."
But Burden agreed with Kagan that smart phones are one of the few products expected to grow in sales in 2009, meaning manufacturers of all types of computers and handsets will try to sell them. He noted that ABI projects that smart phones will make up 17% of mobile device sales in 2009, up from 14% last year. The total number of mobile devices sold in 2009 will be 2.5% less than last year, ABI added.
source : www.computerworld.com
By Matt Hamblen
January 30, 2009 (Computerworld) When Dell Inc. stopped selling the Axim PDA in 2007, several industry observers predicted that the PC and server maker would eventually move on to sell smart phones.
The rumors that Dell would enter the smart phone business have persisted since then and have even gained heat with the approach of the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, historically a popular venue for vendors to unveil new mobile phones.
For example, Acer Inc. has confirmed online that it plans to launch new smart phones at the show. Acer officials have not commented on the plan beyond the statement posted on the company's exhibitor page on the Mobile World Congress Web site.
Several analysts have looked for Dell to enter the smart phone business because of its background in handhelds and because of its 2007 hiring of Ron Garriques, who had been the head of phone development at Motorola Inc.
Garriques was hired to head up all consumer product development at Dell, and had to sign a noncompete agreement that would prevent him from working on any phone until February 2009, noted Kevin Burden, an analyst at ABI Research Inc. in New York. "That deadline for Garriques is fast approaching," Burden said in an interview. "We all knew Dell would get into smart phones at some point."
But Burden said that Dell could go all the way to the brink of announcing a smart phone and then pull back if the economics are not right. The same thing happened with the Axim PDA, he noted, citing the firm's decision to postpone its launch from 2000 until 2002. Burden said he had first-hand knowledge of that decision, having worked as a consultant to many manufacturers, including Dell, at the time.
"Dell has never been first to market with anything," Burden noted. "They sit back and look to see when the market has sustainable volumes and squeeze ... to get prices down."
Andy Kitson, an analyst and blogger at Juniper Research Ltd., said Dell might balk at the cost of designing and developing a smart phone. The Wall Street Journal reported, based on information gathered from unnamed sources, that Dell has already created two smart phone prototypes running the Windows Mobile and Android operating systems.
Independent wireless and telecom analyst Jeffrey Kagan said Acer's announced plans and the rumors of Dell's entry into the smart phone market come at a good time. "The market is lousy compared to great times, but for smart phones, the market is still decent," he said.
Burden said that successful forays into the smart phone business against the likes of Apple Inc. with the iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd., maker of various BlackBerry devices, would depend in large part on which carriers end up selling the devices in the U.S. When asked which carriers are likely to sell Dell or Acer smart phones, Burden said "who knows? Selling mobile phones is lot different than selling PCs directly as Dell has done, and the only effective way is through a mobile agreement with an operator to get good volumes of sales."
But Burden agreed with Kagan that smart phones are one of the few products expected to grow in sales in 2009, meaning manufacturers of all types of computers and handsets will try to sell them. He noted that ABI projects that smart phones will make up 17% of mobile device sales in 2009, up from 14% last year. The total number of mobile devices sold in 2009 will be 2.5% less than last year, ABI added.
source : www.computerworld.com
Microsoft charges ex-employee with spying
Claims suspect stole company information to aid his patent infringement suit against Microsoft
By Nancy Gohring
January 30, 2009 (IDG News Service) Microsoft Corp. has filed a lawsuit against a former employee, charging him with taking a job at the software company in order to steal information that would be helpful in his patent infringement case against the company.
When Miki Mullor applied for a job at Microsoft in 2005, he said that he had been an employee of a company called Ancora that had gone out of business when in fact the company was still running and Mullor was its CEO, Microsoft alleges in the suit.
Once employed by the software giant, he downloaded confidential documents unrelated to his job about technology that Microsoft offers to computer makers, according to the suit, filed in the King County Superior Court in Washington. The technology lets end users forgo the Windows operating system activation process on PCs that come preloaded with the Windows software.
Then in June of last year, while Mullor was still employed at Microsoft, Ancora filed a suit accusing Microsoft of infringing on a patent related to the technology.
Ancora's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is against Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba, but because the technology in question was provided by Microsoft, the PC makers have asked the software maker to defend them against the claims.
Microsoft also alleges that Mullor ran programs on his laptop in an effort to wipe any evidence that would show he had downloaded the files. The software giant was able to detect which programs he ran and was able to recover some of the documents that he downloaded, according to the suit.
Also, Microsoft said it has e-mail evidence that in 2004, before Mullor applied for a job at the software company, he was already planning to file the patent infringement suit.
Microsoft contends that Mullor committed breach of contract for failing to disclose his continued involvement in Ancora, stole confidential documents and failed to disclose his intentions regarding the patent infringement suit. The company also believes that it is entitled to a royalty free license for Ancora's patent in part because Mullor didn't tell Microsoft that he knew of the patent even while he knew that Microsoft was still developing its own similar technology.
The company also accused him of fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets and unjust enrichment.
Mullor is listed as chairman and founder of Ancora on its Web site, which as of midday on the West Coast appeared to be offline. His biography included his time working for Microsoft and said that he once served in the Israeli Military Intelligence and has a law degree from an Israeli university.
Mullor did not respond to a voice mail request for comment about Microsoft's suit.
source : www.computerworld.com
By Nancy Gohring
January 30, 2009 (IDG News Service) Microsoft Corp. has filed a lawsuit against a former employee, charging him with taking a job at the software company in order to steal information that would be helpful in his patent infringement case against the company.
When Miki Mullor applied for a job at Microsoft in 2005, he said that he had been an employee of a company called Ancora that had gone out of business when in fact the company was still running and Mullor was its CEO, Microsoft alleges in the suit.
Once employed by the software giant, he downloaded confidential documents unrelated to his job about technology that Microsoft offers to computer makers, according to the suit, filed in the King County Superior Court in Washington. The technology lets end users forgo the Windows operating system activation process on PCs that come preloaded with the Windows software.
Then in June of last year, while Mullor was still employed at Microsoft, Ancora filed a suit accusing Microsoft of infringing on a patent related to the technology.
Ancora's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is against Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba, but because the technology in question was provided by Microsoft, the PC makers have asked the software maker to defend them against the claims.
Microsoft also alleges that Mullor ran programs on his laptop in an effort to wipe any evidence that would show he had downloaded the files. The software giant was able to detect which programs he ran and was able to recover some of the documents that he downloaded, according to the suit.
Also, Microsoft said it has e-mail evidence that in 2004, before Mullor applied for a job at the software company, he was already planning to file the patent infringement suit.
Microsoft contends that Mullor committed breach of contract for failing to disclose his continued involvement in Ancora, stole confidential documents and failed to disclose his intentions regarding the patent infringement suit. The company also believes that it is entitled to a royalty free license for Ancora's patent in part because Mullor didn't tell Microsoft that he knew of the patent even while he knew that Microsoft was still developing its own similar technology.
The company also accused him of fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets and unjust enrichment.
Mullor is listed as chairman and founder of Ancora on its Web site, which as of midday on the West Coast appeared to be offline. His biography included his time working for Microsoft and said that he once served in the Israeli Military Intelligence and has a law degree from an Israeli university.
Mullor did not respond to a voice mail request for comment about Microsoft's suit.
source : www.computerworld.com
Can Your IT Department Read Your Offline Gmail?
by Kyle Monson
We've been waiting for some sort of offline functionality to come to Gmail ever since Google Gears was released—it seems like the feature for which Gears was invented in the first place. And now that offline Gmail is here (and seems to work well, according to Lance Ulanoff), I have but one concern about it: Is it safe to use on a work PC?
Offline Gmail works by archiving and storing your Gmail messages locally on your machine. I'm guessing you use your freemail account the same way everyone does—for the e-mail that you don't really want stored on your corporate servers or sitting in your corporate inbox. If that's the case, storing an archive of those message on your work PC might not seem like such a great idea.
The archive is buried fairly deep in your C:\ Documents and Settings file tree. If you're using Firefox, the archive is stored here: C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\74d61f9f.Default User\Google Gears for Firefox\mail.google.com. For Chrome, your messages are kept here: C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Plugin Data\Google Gears\mail.google.com.
That's right, there's a different archive for each browser you use Offline Gmail with (I couldn't get Offline Gmail to archive my messages with IE8).
Naturally, every company has different I.T. policies in place, and varying levels of employee privacy. In the case of Offline Gmail, it would be extremely difficult for your I.T. department to read your archived e-mail as of right now.
The archived messages are stored in a proprietary database file type called "COM-GOOGLEMAIL#DATABASE" or "GOOGLEMAIL#DATABASE". I'm guessing your I.T. department doesn't have a tool to access the data inside the file, or the free time to build one (though such a tool may someday exist).
So your private e-mail is almost certainly private on your work PC, at least for the time being. Still, our Security Watch Contributing Editor Larry Seltzer advises taking the safe route, telling me that you have to "assume you have no privacy from your company."
"If you put it on your work machine you should assume they can and will [be able to access it]," he said. "And they should be able to. It's their computer."
Rajen Sheth, the senior product manager for Google Apps, told me that while there aren't any tools that can open the proprietary file format, the files will act just like any other files on your work PC.
"Basically, it'd be like any other file on your desktop," he said. "If your I.T. department encrypts your disc, it'd be encrypted as well."
If you're worried, Sheth suggests enabling it for your home PC and not for your work system (though it seems the work system is the one you really want offline access for, assuming it's the one you'll be traveling with and carrying on planes).
Worrywarts will also be happy to learn that Offline Gmail data isn't as sticky as some other Google Gears data. For instance, when you clear your private data in Chrome, it doesn't necessarily get deleted from Google Gears, as Security Watch recently pointed out. Sheth assured me that this isn't the case with Offline Gmail data—any time the offline feature is disabled, the archive is deleted from your machine.
Originally posted to AppScout.
source : www.pcmag.com
We've been waiting for some sort of offline functionality to come to Gmail ever since Google Gears was released—it seems like the feature for which Gears was invented in the first place. And now that offline Gmail is here (and seems to work well, according to Lance Ulanoff), I have but one concern about it: Is it safe to use on a work PC?
Offline Gmail works by archiving and storing your Gmail messages locally on your machine. I'm guessing you use your freemail account the same way everyone does—for the e-mail that you don't really want stored on your corporate servers or sitting in your corporate inbox. If that's the case, storing an archive of those message on your work PC might not seem like such a great idea.
The archive is buried fairly deep in your C:\ Documents and Settings file tree. If you're using Firefox, the archive is stored here: C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\74d61f9f.Default User\Google Gears for Firefox\mail.google.com. For Chrome, your messages are kept here: C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Plugin Data\Google Gears\mail.google.com.
That's right, there's a different archive for each browser you use Offline Gmail with (I couldn't get Offline Gmail to archive my messages with IE8).
Naturally, every company has different I.T. policies in place, and varying levels of employee privacy. In the case of Offline Gmail, it would be extremely difficult for your I.T. department to read your archived e-mail as of right now.
The archived messages are stored in a proprietary database file type called "COM-GOOGLEMAIL#DATABASE" or "GOOGLEMAIL#DATABASE". I'm guessing your I.T. department doesn't have a tool to access the data inside the file, or the free time to build one (though such a tool may someday exist).
So your private e-mail is almost certainly private on your work PC, at least for the time being. Still, our Security Watch Contributing Editor Larry Seltzer advises taking the safe route, telling me that you have to "assume you have no privacy from your company."
"If you put it on your work machine you should assume they can and will [be able to access it]," he said. "And they should be able to. It's their computer."
Rajen Sheth, the senior product manager for Google Apps, told me that while there aren't any tools that can open the proprietary file format, the files will act just like any other files on your work PC.
"Basically, it'd be like any other file on your desktop," he said. "If your I.T. department encrypts your disc, it'd be encrypted as well."
If you're worried, Sheth suggests enabling it for your home PC and not for your work system (though it seems the work system is the one you really want offline access for, assuming it's the one you'll be traveling with and carrying on planes).
Worrywarts will also be happy to learn that Offline Gmail data isn't as sticky as some other Google Gears data. For instance, when you clear your private data in Chrome, it doesn't necessarily get deleted from Google Gears, as Security Watch recently pointed out. Sheth assured me that this isn't the case with Offline Gmail data—any time the offline feature is disabled, the archive is deleted from your machine.
Originally posted to AppScout.
source : www.pcmag.com
3G Networks: Not as Fast as You'd Expect
Matt Hamblen, Computerworld
Saturday, January 31, 2009 3:02 PM PST
The 3G networks of all four major U.S. wireless carriers deliver slower speeds than customers expect, according to Gartner Inc., which said it has received the most complaints about AT&T's network.
The Gartner findings, summarized in a recent report by analyst Phillip Redman, point to many factors behind the less-than-satisfactory speeds.
The research firm urged companies and consumers to be realistic in their expectations and read the fine print of their agreements with carriers, and it urged companies to test products before investing in them. "Most providers market speeds as high as 1.8Mbit/sec. on their 3G networks, [but] the fine print doesn't guarantee such speeds," the report said.
The Gartner report focused on AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA, noting that all of them market their 3G wireless speeds as "broadband" which is generally defined as data transfer speeds that are faster than 1.5Mbit/sec. for downloads and at least 250Kbit/sec. for uploads.
But the actual mobile network averages are "generally between 300Kbit/sec and 700Kbit/sec lower" than expected for both uplink and downlink speeds for many reasons, Gartner said. It noted that carriers "don't guarantee these speeds, but advertise they can provide 'up to' advertised speeds."
Only some laptop cards support the highest speeds promoted by carriers, Redman said. And network speeds can be half as fast as marketed when a users are moving around, such as while traveling in a car, compared to when they're stationary.
Redman singled out the iPhone 3G, sold exclusively by AT&T, saying it won't support downloads faster than 1.4Gbit/sec., while some laptop cards get 1.7Mbit/sec. "Companies shouldn't expect the fastest network speeds on the iPhone 3G," Redman said in the report.
In comparison, Redman said the BlackBerry Bold "supports faster speeds," though he did not detail how much faster they are.
All of the big carriers defended their marketing of 3G speeds and the way they deliver on their promises, but AT&T took special exception to the Gartner report and attacked Gartner's methodology.
"We deliver to customers on speeds," said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel in an interview. Redman based his conclusions about AT&T, he added, "on anecdotal feedback from only 30 customers to fashion some sweeping generalizations about us in particular."
Siegel argued that Redman should have tested the new BlackBerry Storm, which offers a full touch screen, as a comparison to the iPhone -- not the BlackBerry Bold. Redman refused, Siegel said.
Redman did not say how many complaints Gartner received, but defended the company's research methods as the best in the industry.
Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon, said 3G speeds are "exactly as promised," and noted that business customers and consumers adopting laptop cards are using the faster speeds for music and video. "I guess the proof is in the customer usage numbers," Nelson said. "Data usage has increased to more than 26% of overall Verizon Wireless revenue, with more than half of that nonmessaging data."
He said the advertised rate is the same as a consumer promise, Nelson said, which is described on the Verizon Wireless Web site as a "typical" download speed of 600Kbit/sec to 1.4Mbit/sec, with uploads of 500Kbit/sec. to 800Kbit/sec. for a laptop card.
Jeffrey Kagan, an independent analyst, said that while business clients of Gartner might be getting complaints about 3G speeds, the issue is not as a compelling for the overwhelming number of consumers who use faster networks for video and music and quicker Web browsing.
Most wireless customers have no idea what speed they are getting or what the 3G network is supposed to provide, and they're generally impressed with faster speeds than the speeds networks provided two years ago. "Users want to see continual improvement," he said. "Forget all the labels and numbers."
Kagan and Redman both noted that speeds are affected by many factors, including the number of users on a cell tower at a given time, the local geography, any interference from nearby buildings and variations between the devices they use.
source : www.pcworld.com
Next Up for Windows 7: A Release Candidate
by Chloe Albanesius
The next Windows 7 update will be the release candidate, Microsoft announced Friday.
"The next milestone for the development of Windows 7 is the Release Candidate or 'RC,'" Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, wrote in a blog post. "Right now, every day we are researching issues [with the beta release], resolving them, and making sure those resolutions did not cause regressions (in performance, behavior, compatibility, or reliability)."
"The path to Release Candidate is all about getting the product to a known and shippable state both from an internal and external (Beta usage and partner ecosystem readiness) standpoint," he wrote.
That path does not yet include a release date.
"When is the Release Candidate and RTM? The answer is forthcoming," Sinofsky wrote. "We are currently evaluating the feedback and telemetry and working to develop a robust schedule that gets us the right level of quality in a predictable manner. Believe me, we know many people want to know more specifics."
The team is "taking a quality-based approach to completing the product and won't be driven by imposed deadlines," he said.
So what's happening now?
"A very significant portion of our effort from Beta to RC is focused on exclusively on quality and performance," Sinofsky wrote. "We want to fix bugs experienced by customers in real usage as well as our broad base of test suites and automation."
At its peak, the Windows 7 team was getting "send feedback" notes from users every 15 seconds. The team got some "feedback where we thought something was straight forward or would work fine, but in practice needed some tuning and refinement," he wrote. "Over the next weeks we'll be blogging about some of these specific changes to the product."
By the time the release candidate is ready, there will be very little fine-tuning from a coding perspective, Sinofsky wrote. "The ship [will be] on the launch pad and all the tools ... put away in the toolbox to be used only in case of the most critical issues."
source : www.pcmag.com
The next Windows 7 update will be the release candidate, Microsoft announced Friday.
"The next milestone for the development of Windows 7 is the Release Candidate or 'RC,'" Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, wrote in a blog post. "Right now, every day we are researching issues [with the beta release], resolving them, and making sure those resolutions did not cause regressions (in performance, behavior, compatibility, or reliability)."
"The path to Release Candidate is all about getting the product to a known and shippable state both from an internal and external (Beta usage and partner ecosystem readiness) standpoint," he wrote.
That path does not yet include a release date.
"When is the Release Candidate and RTM? The answer is forthcoming," Sinofsky wrote. "We are currently evaluating the feedback and telemetry and working to develop a robust schedule that gets us the right level of quality in a predictable manner. Believe me, we know many people want to know more specifics."
The team is "taking a quality-based approach to completing the product and won't be driven by imposed deadlines," he said.
So what's happening now?
"A very significant portion of our effort from Beta to RC is focused on exclusively on quality and performance," Sinofsky wrote. "We want to fix bugs experienced by customers in real usage as well as our broad base of test suites and automation."
At its peak, the Windows 7 team was getting "send feedback" notes from users every 15 seconds. The team got some "feedback where we thought something was straight forward or would work fine, but in practice needed some tuning and refinement," he wrote. "Over the next weeks we'll be blogging about some of these specific changes to the product."
By the time the release candidate is ready, there will be very little fine-tuning from a coding perspective, Sinofsky wrote. "The ship [will be] on the launch pad and all the tools ... put away in the toolbox to be used only in case of the most critical issues."
source : www.pcmag.com
Microsoft warns that Vista, XP upgrade blockers set to expire
Kills Windows XP SP3 blocker after just 10 months
By Gregg Keizer
January 30, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. is warning customers that tools for blocking automatic upgrades to the newest service packs of Windows Vista and Windows XP will expire in the coming months.
In a note on a company blog aimed at enterprise IT professionals, Microsoft said the Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) blocking tool expires on April 28, while the one for XP SP3 expires May 19.
The tools, which were released in December 2007, prevent service packs from reaching PCs via Windows Update, Microsoft's default update service, and are primarily used by corporations that have not yet tested or approved the newest upgrades.
Microsoft's policy is to let users block service packs for up to 12 months after general availability. That, however, doesn't necessarily mean users can block upgrades for a full year after the company has flipped the switch on automatic downloads.
The April 28 expiration date for the Vista SP1 blocking tool, for example, is almost exactly a year after April 23, 2008, when Microsoft triggered automatic upgrades. But it will give Windows XP users just over 10 months of blocking when it kills that operating system's tool in May; Microsoft began automatically upgrading Windows XP to SP3 in early July 2008.
The blocking tools, which are still available on Microsoft's site for downloading, are composed of an executable, a script and a group policy template.
Microsoft regularly issues such tools when it rolls out major updates to its operating system software and to its Internet Explorer (IE) browser. Earlier this month, for instance, it posted a tool to bar IE8, which just launched in release candidate form, from PCs.
The Vista/XP tool kit that is available now will continue to block Vista SP2 installations for approximately a year after that service pack is released. According to recent reports, Vista SP2 is expected in final form sometime before mid-May.
source : www.computerworld.com
By Gregg Keizer
January 30, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. is warning customers that tools for blocking automatic upgrades to the newest service packs of Windows Vista and Windows XP will expire in the coming months.
In a note on a company blog aimed at enterprise IT professionals, Microsoft said the Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) blocking tool expires on April 28, while the one for XP SP3 expires May 19.
The tools, which were released in December 2007, prevent service packs from reaching PCs via Windows Update, Microsoft's default update service, and are primarily used by corporations that have not yet tested or approved the newest upgrades.
Microsoft's policy is to let users block service packs for up to 12 months after general availability. That, however, doesn't necessarily mean users can block upgrades for a full year after the company has flipped the switch on automatic downloads.
The April 28 expiration date for the Vista SP1 blocking tool, for example, is almost exactly a year after April 23, 2008, when Microsoft triggered automatic upgrades. But it will give Windows XP users just over 10 months of blocking when it kills that operating system's tool in May; Microsoft began automatically upgrading Windows XP to SP3 in early July 2008.
The blocking tools, which are still available on Microsoft's site for downloading, are composed of an executable, a script and a group policy template.
Microsoft regularly issues such tools when it rolls out major updates to its operating system software and to its Internet Explorer (IE) browser. Earlier this month, for instance, it posted a tool to bar IE8, which just launched in release candidate form, from PCs.
The Vista/XP tool kit that is available now will continue to block Vista SP2 installations for approximately a year after that service pack is released. According to recent reports, Vista SP2 is expected in final form sometime before mid-May.
source : www.computerworld.com
Gears of War bug not SafeDisc DRM's first
Legitimate owners of the PC version of the popular game were blocked starting Thursday
By Eric Lai
January 30, 2009 (Computerworld) The antipiracy technology that locked out players of the popular Gears of War game on Thursday was also implicated in a 2007 bug that allowed hackers to take control of Windows PCs.
In November 2007, Microsoft Corp. revealed that copies of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were being exploited because of a bug in SafeDisc's digital rights management (DRM) technology, which is meant to guard against illegal copying.
Legitimate owners of the PC version of Gears of War, a third-person shooter and sci-fi game, were blocked starting Thursday, according to numerous reports.
Blocked players would either have to re-install the game or set the date of their PC back to Wednesday, Jan. 28 or earlier.
Gears is developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The maker of SafeDisc's DRM is San Francisco-based TryMedia Systems Inc.
Formerly owned by licensing software maker, Macrovision Inc., TryMedia was sold to RealNetworks Inc. in February 2008.
The customer support section for Gears of Wars players at TryMedia's Web site did not have any information on the bug.
Representatives at RealNetworks did not return a request for comment. But Epic said on its user forums that it is working on a fix with Microsoft.
SafeDisc's DRM was popular for almost a decade, though it has been supplanted in the past year by Sony Corp.'s SecuROM.
Last fall, players of the widely anticipated Spore video game complained so vigorously about the burdens imposed by the SecuROM DRM that EA eventually removed it.
Pirated owners of Gears, ironically, were not affected since SafeDisc's DRM had been disabled.
Both incidents give ammunition to DRM critics, who argue that DRM is ineffective and actually hurts paying users more, said Michael Arrington, an analyst at Acacia Research Group.
"When it becomes such a nuisance to users, you can bet that pirates will circumvent it," Arrington said.
While game developers typically have no love for DRM because of the fear of embarrassing incidents such as with Gears or Spore, publishers still insist upon it, said Arrington. And despite the rise of subscription-based online gaming, publishers won't make games free or dump DRM anytime soon, he said.
source : www.computerworld.com
By Eric Lai
January 30, 2009 (Computerworld) The antipiracy technology that locked out players of the popular Gears of War game on Thursday was also implicated in a 2007 bug that allowed hackers to take control of Windows PCs.
In November 2007, Microsoft Corp. revealed that copies of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were being exploited because of a bug in SafeDisc's digital rights management (DRM) technology, which is meant to guard against illegal copying.
Legitimate owners of the PC version of Gears of War, a third-person shooter and sci-fi game, were blocked starting Thursday, according to numerous reports.
Blocked players would either have to re-install the game or set the date of their PC back to Wednesday, Jan. 28 or earlier.
Gears is developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The maker of SafeDisc's DRM is San Francisco-based TryMedia Systems Inc.
Formerly owned by licensing software maker, Macrovision Inc., TryMedia was sold to RealNetworks Inc. in February 2008.
The customer support section for Gears of Wars players at TryMedia's Web site did not have any information on the bug.
Representatives at RealNetworks did not return a request for comment. But Epic said on its user forums that it is working on a fix with Microsoft.
SafeDisc's DRM was popular for almost a decade, though it has been supplanted in the past year by Sony Corp.'s SecuROM.
Last fall, players of the widely anticipated Spore video game complained so vigorously about the burdens imposed by the SecuROM DRM that EA eventually removed it.
Pirated owners of Gears, ironically, were not affected since SafeDisc's DRM had been disabled.
Both incidents give ammunition to DRM critics, who argue that DRM is ineffective and actually hurts paying users more, said Michael Arrington, an analyst at Acacia Research Group.
"When it becomes such a nuisance to users, you can bet that pirates will circumvent it," Arrington said.
While game developers typically have no love for DRM because of the fear of embarrassing incidents such as with Gears or Spore, publishers still insist upon it, said Arrington. And despite the rise of subscription-based online gaming, publishers won't make games free or dump DRM anytime soon, he said.
source : www.computerworld.com
Remaking Microsoft: Break Up The Company
Microsoft needs a makeover from top to bottom.
By John Foley
InformationWeek
January 31, 2009 12:01 AM (From the February 2, 2009 issue)
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) needs a makeover, and not one of those cosmetic restructurings where the org chart changes but the company stays the same.
For evidence that its business is broken, look no further than its financial results for the quarter ended Dec. 31 and the fact that the company's stock hit a 52-week low. Microsoft revealed that its client business declined 8% and that sales of Office to consumers plummeted 23%. Microsoft is laying off employees and cutting costs, and it has stopped offering guidance to financial analysts. In other words, Microsoft isn't sure what the hell to expect next.
The economy is partly to blame, of course, but Microsoft's problems are much more deeply rooted. It's a proprietary software company in an open Web services world, and its laudable effort to reorient itself around "software plus services" is taking too long.
What might Microsoft do to remake itself? It could spin off MSN, its entertainment division, or its ERP business to create more nimble, independent companies. Back in June 2000, when U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered Microsoft to be split up to stem anticompetitive business practices, it was considered a strong-arm move that the Department of Justice ultimately rejected.
This time, Microsoft's breakup should be voluntary, aimed at shedding bureaucracy (the company's administrative expenses were $5.1 billion in fiscal 2008), unburdening internal developers from the expectation that everything they create be gunked up with hooks to other Microsoft products, and get better products to market faster.
Microsoft has kept its $60 billion ship intact as a way of encouraging synergies across product lines, but that strategy may have reached the point of diminishing returns. Windows PC users want iPods, iPhones, and BlackBerrys, too, not all Microsoft technology all of the time.
Microsoft also needs to do a better job of capitalizing on its huge investment in R&D--$8.2 billion last year--by finding new ways to expose the innovations coming out of Microsoft Research and getting its patented technologies into the hands of entrepreneurs. The Windows ecosystem spends too much time in Microsoft's slipstream.
A decline in venture capital funding makes this a tough time for startups to forge ahead with bold ideas. Microsoft should consider creating its own VC arm and funding startups directly.
Breaking up the company, throwing open research, and pumping money into boot-strapped ventures will require unblinking leadership. Microsoft has a strong mix of veteran top executives and fresh blood, including Stephen Elop, president of its Business Division, and Qi Lu, president of Online Services. But the questions of who will succeed Steve Ballmer as CEO, and when, hang out there. As part of its overhaul, Microsoft must provide an answer.
Illustration by Sek Leung
source : www.informationweek.com
By John Foley
InformationWeek
January 31, 2009 12:01 AM (From the February 2, 2009 issue)
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) needs a makeover, and not one of those cosmetic restructurings where the org chart changes but the company stays the same.
For evidence that its business is broken, look no further than its financial results for the quarter ended Dec. 31 and the fact that the company's stock hit a 52-week low. Microsoft revealed that its client business declined 8% and that sales of Office to consumers plummeted 23%. Microsoft is laying off employees and cutting costs, and it has stopped offering guidance to financial analysts. In other words, Microsoft isn't sure what the hell to expect next.
The economy is partly to blame, of course, but Microsoft's problems are much more deeply rooted. It's a proprietary software company in an open Web services world, and its laudable effort to reorient itself around "software plus services" is taking too long.
What might Microsoft do to remake itself? It could spin off MSN, its entertainment division, or its ERP business to create more nimble, independent companies. Back in June 2000, when U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered Microsoft to be split up to stem anticompetitive business practices, it was considered a strong-arm move that the Department of Justice ultimately rejected.
This time, Microsoft's breakup should be voluntary, aimed at shedding bureaucracy (the company's administrative expenses were $5.1 billion in fiscal 2008), unburdening internal developers from the expectation that everything they create be gunked up with hooks to other Microsoft products, and get better products to market faster.
Microsoft has kept its $60 billion ship intact as a way of encouraging synergies across product lines, but that strategy may have reached the point of diminishing returns. Windows PC users want iPods, iPhones, and BlackBerrys, too, not all Microsoft technology all of the time.
Microsoft also needs to do a better job of capitalizing on its huge investment in R&D--$8.2 billion last year--by finding new ways to expose the innovations coming out of Microsoft Research and getting its patented technologies into the hands of entrepreneurs. The Windows ecosystem spends too much time in Microsoft's slipstream.
A decline in venture capital funding makes this a tough time for startups to forge ahead with bold ideas. Microsoft should consider creating its own VC arm and funding startups directly.
Breaking up the company, throwing open research, and pumping money into boot-strapped ventures will require unblinking leadership. Microsoft has a strong mix of veteran top executives and fresh blood, including Stephen Elop, president of its Business Division, and Qi Lu, president of Online Services. But the questions of who will succeed Steve Ballmer as CEO, and when, hang out there. As part of its overhaul, Microsoft must provide an answer.
Illustration by Sek Leung
source : www.informationweek.com
Microsoft, HP, eBay to weigh in on US privacy laws
The move could lead to a standard federal breach-notification law
By Robert McMillan
January 31, 2009 (IDG News Service) A group of U.S. companies, led by technology giants Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and eBay, is set to outline recommendations for new federal data-privacy legislation that could make life easier for consumers and lead to a standard federal breach-notification law.
The recommendations, which were developed by a group of industry players called the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum, are set to be released at an upcoming privacy conference six weeks from now, according to Peter Cullen, Microsoft's chief privacy officer.
The companies have been working for the past three years to encourage the adoption of federal consumer data-privacy laws and to answer the question of what federal legislation should look like, Cullen said in an interview. Other forum members include Google, Oracle, Procter & Gamble and Eli Lilly.
One idea is that laws should make it easier for consumers to understand what they're getting into when they share their personal data with Web sites, Cullen said. "The whole focus on consent really puts an unfair burden on the consumer," he said. "My mom doesn't know what an IP address is."
The recommendations will cover rules around data use and the ability of consumers to correct inaccurate data. And they will cover data breach notification, which is now covered by a patchwork of state laws.
Simplifying breach-notification laws by creating a single federal standard is important, Cullen said Wednesday while speaking at a discussion of privacy policy in San Francisco. "It's not that there is no privacy law. There's actually too much privacy law," he said. "If you think about data-breach notification laws just as an example, there are 38 state laws, many of them very different."
"We need to think about much more of a framework approach."
Congress has passed some laws covering consumer data privacy, such as the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but existing laws do not comprehensively cover consumer privacy in general.
Bills have been proposed, but they have all died in committee or on the House floor, said Ari Schwartz, chief operating officer with the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a public policy advocacy group.
Schwartz said he expects new legislation to be put forward again this year. Whether it will pass is another question. "By the end of this year we'll be able to determine whether this Congress can deal with it," he said. "There's a lot going on right now because of the economy, but there are members who have said they want to see privacy legislation."
Although CDT was a charter member of the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum, the group dropped out about six months after its creation when members decided to focus on working with industry rather than public interest groups, Schwartz said. The split was amicable, he said.
"They're people that are clearly committed to legislation," he said. "A lot of them put their necks out to support it at a time when it would not be as popular as it would be right now."
One academic who follows the topic said it's significant that the industry has agreed in principle that there should be some sort of baseline privacy law.
"That's interesting, because prior to 2006 these groups were pumping money into the libertarian machine, and now the tune is a bit different and more open to different options," Chris Hoofnagle, director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology's information privacy programs, said via e-mail.
source : www.computerworld.com
By Robert McMillan
January 31, 2009 (IDG News Service) A group of U.S. companies, led by technology giants Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and eBay, is set to outline recommendations for new federal data-privacy legislation that could make life easier for consumers and lead to a standard federal breach-notification law.
The recommendations, which were developed by a group of industry players called the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum, are set to be released at an upcoming privacy conference six weeks from now, according to Peter Cullen, Microsoft's chief privacy officer.
The companies have been working for the past three years to encourage the adoption of federal consumer data-privacy laws and to answer the question of what federal legislation should look like, Cullen said in an interview. Other forum members include Google, Oracle, Procter & Gamble and Eli Lilly.
One idea is that laws should make it easier for consumers to understand what they're getting into when they share their personal data with Web sites, Cullen said. "The whole focus on consent really puts an unfair burden on the consumer," he said. "My mom doesn't know what an IP address is."
The recommendations will cover rules around data use and the ability of consumers to correct inaccurate data. And they will cover data breach notification, which is now covered by a patchwork of state laws.
Simplifying breach-notification laws by creating a single federal standard is important, Cullen said Wednesday while speaking at a discussion of privacy policy in San Francisco. "It's not that there is no privacy law. There's actually too much privacy law," he said. "If you think about data-breach notification laws just as an example, there are 38 state laws, many of them very different."
"We need to think about much more of a framework approach."
Congress has passed some laws covering consumer data privacy, such as the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but existing laws do not comprehensively cover consumer privacy in general.
Bills have been proposed, but they have all died in committee or on the House floor, said Ari Schwartz, chief operating officer with the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a public policy advocacy group.
Schwartz said he expects new legislation to be put forward again this year. Whether it will pass is another question. "By the end of this year we'll be able to determine whether this Congress can deal with it," he said. "There's a lot going on right now because of the economy, but there are members who have said they want to see privacy legislation."
Although CDT was a charter member of the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum, the group dropped out about six months after its creation when members decided to focus on working with industry rather than public interest groups, Schwartz said. The split was amicable, he said.
"They're people that are clearly committed to legislation," he said. "A lot of them put their necks out to support it at a time when it would not be as popular as it would be right now."
One academic who follows the topic said it's significant that the industry has agreed in principle that there should be some sort of baseline privacy law.
"That's interesting, because prior to 2006 these groups were pumping money into the libertarian machine, and now the tune is a bit different and more open to different options," Chris Hoofnagle, director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology's information privacy programs, said via e-mail.
source : www.computerworld.com
Kamis, 22 Januari 2009
Acer Announces New Ergonomic Monitors for Business
by Kathy Yakal
Acer has announced the introduction of two new models in its Business Series (B Series) monitor line for professionals. The new Acer B Series monitors - B233HU bmidhz and B273HU bmidhz - feature a stylish ergonomic design and state-of-the-art features, making them perfect for the office.
The new 23-inch and 27-inch Acer B Series monitors feature a stylish dark grey bezel with a sturdy, black base. Control buttons on the front panel allow easy and intuitive use, while enhancing the monitors' sleek looks.
Both new monitors feature flexible height adjustment, tilt and swivel, to optimize the best viewing angles. Users can tilt the monitors 15 degrees up or 5 degrees down, swivel 35 degrees to the right and left, and adjust the height up to 11 cm. These new viewing angles are not only great for a single user, but excellent for multiple people viewing content on the monitors, such as presentations or videos.
The new displays boast a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 2048x1152 resolution, providing excellent high-definition picture quality and the ability to multitask. The ultra-high 2048x1152 resolution allows the monitors to display two pages at the same time, presenting twice the length of a web page on a 1024x768 resolution monitor. The 16:9 aspect ratio allows professionals to view high-definition digital content without the image distortion that arises from incompatible aspect ratios.
Acer's newest displays are available through authorized resellers and online retailers. The B233HU bmidhz display is available for an MSRP of $289 and the B273HU bmidhz display is available for an MSRP of $409.
Originally posted at the PCMag @Work blog.
source : www.pcmag.com
Acer has announced the introduction of two new models in its Business Series (B Series) monitor line for professionals. The new Acer B Series monitors - B233HU bmidhz and B273HU bmidhz - feature a stylish ergonomic design and state-of-the-art features, making them perfect for the office.
The new 23-inch and 27-inch Acer B Series monitors feature a stylish dark grey bezel with a sturdy, black base. Control buttons on the front panel allow easy and intuitive use, while enhancing the monitors' sleek looks.
Both new monitors feature flexible height adjustment, tilt and swivel, to optimize the best viewing angles. Users can tilt the monitors 15 degrees up or 5 degrees down, swivel 35 degrees to the right and left, and adjust the height up to 11 cm. These new viewing angles are not only great for a single user, but excellent for multiple people viewing content on the monitors, such as presentations or videos.
The new displays boast a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 2048x1152 resolution, providing excellent high-definition picture quality and the ability to multitask. The ultra-high 2048x1152 resolution allows the monitors to display two pages at the same time, presenting twice the length of a web page on a 1024x768 resolution monitor. The 16:9 aspect ratio allows professionals to view high-definition digital content without the image distortion that arises from incompatible aspect ratios.
Acer's newest displays are available through authorized resellers and online retailers. The B233HU bmidhz display is available for an MSRP of $289 and the B273HU bmidhz display is available for an MSRP of $409.
Originally posted at the PCMag @Work blog.
source : www.pcmag.com
Minggu, 18 Januari 2009
Update: EU hits Microsoft with new antitrust charges
Regulators object to Microsoft's bundling of IE with Windows
By Gregg Keizer
January 16, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. confirmed today that European Union regulators have formally accused the company of breaking antitrust laws by including the company's Internet Explorer (IE) browser with the Windows operating system.
"Yesterday, Microsoft received a Statement of Objections from the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission," the company said in a statement on Friday. "The Statement of Objections expresses the Commission's preliminary view that the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows since 1996 has violated European competition law."
According to Microsoft, the EU claimed that "other browsers are foreclosed from competing because Windows includes Internet Explorer."
The Norwegian browser maker that first filed a complaint with about Internet Explorer applauded the EU's move. "We commend the Commission for taking the next step towards restoring competition in a market that Microsoft has strangled for more than a decade," said Jon von Tetzchner, the CEO of Opera Software ASA. "[This] demonstrates that the Commission is serious about getting Microsoft to start competing on the merits in the browser market and letting consumers have a real choice of browsers."
In December 2007, Norwegian browser maker Opera Software ASA filed a complaint with the EU that argued Microsoft stifled competition by bundling IE with Windows, and that the U.S. developer hindered interoperability by not following accepted Web standards.
In its December 2007 complaint to the EU, Opera argued that Microsoft stifled competition by bundling IE with Windows, and that the U.S. developer hindered interoperability by not following accepted Web standards.
At the time, the Competition Commission said it would "study this complaint carefully." Later, when it announced an official investigation, it credited Opera's complaint for jump-starting its action.
Several months earlier, the EU's second-highest court had ruled against Microsoft's appeal of a landmark 2004 antitrust ruling, and reaffirmed record-setting fines. Within a month, Microsoft caved on all counts, saying it would not appeal further and would slash licensing prices for Windows protocols.
Closing that case, however, did not mean that the EU would back off. In February 2008, after the EU levied a final $1.3 billion fine on Microsoft for the 2004 violations, Neelie Kroes, the head of the Competition Commission, warned Microsoft that it faced further action. "This is about the 2004 decision only," Kroes said in 2007, talking about the latest fine, "and not about any of Microsoft's other actions."
Investigations announced a month before, including one based on Opera's complaint about IE, would continue, she said. "There are lessons I hope Microsoft will learn," she added at the time.
The EU is also investigating a complaint that involves Microsoft's Office suite. That complaint was filed by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a trade group whose members include many of Microsoft's rivals, including Adobe Systems Inc., IBM, Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc., and deals with Office 2007's native file format, Open XML.
Today, Microsoft said it is "committed to conducting our business in full compliance with European law," phrasing that it has used in the past when responding to EU antitrust actions. It said it would respond to the charges within the next two months, as it is allowed by law, and left open the door to requesting a hearing, as is its right.
The EU Completion Commission was not available for comment Friday.
source : www.computerworld.com
By Gregg Keizer
January 16, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. confirmed today that European Union regulators have formally accused the company of breaking antitrust laws by including the company's Internet Explorer (IE) browser with the Windows operating system.
"Yesterday, Microsoft received a Statement of Objections from the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission," the company said in a statement on Friday. "The Statement of Objections expresses the Commission's preliminary view that the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows since 1996 has violated European competition law."
According to Microsoft, the EU claimed that "other browsers are foreclosed from competing because Windows includes Internet Explorer."
The Norwegian browser maker that first filed a complaint with about Internet Explorer applauded the EU's move. "We commend the Commission for taking the next step towards restoring competition in a market that Microsoft has strangled for more than a decade," said Jon von Tetzchner, the CEO of Opera Software ASA. "[This] demonstrates that the Commission is serious about getting Microsoft to start competing on the merits in the browser market and letting consumers have a real choice of browsers."
In December 2007, Norwegian browser maker Opera Software ASA filed a complaint with the EU that argued Microsoft stifled competition by bundling IE with Windows, and that the U.S. developer hindered interoperability by not following accepted Web standards.
In its December 2007 complaint to the EU, Opera argued that Microsoft stifled competition by bundling IE with Windows, and that the U.S. developer hindered interoperability by not following accepted Web standards.
At the time, the Competition Commission said it would "study this complaint carefully." Later, when it announced an official investigation, it credited Opera's complaint for jump-starting its action.
Several months earlier, the EU's second-highest court had ruled against Microsoft's appeal of a landmark 2004 antitrust ruling, and reaffirmed record-setting fines. Within a month, Microsoft caved on all counts, saying it would not appeal further and would slash licensing prices for Windows protocols.
Closing that case, however, did not mean that the EU would back off. In February 2008, after the EU levied a final $1.3 billion fine on Microsoft for the 2004 violations, Neelie Kroes, the head of the Competition Commission, warned Microsoft that it faced further action. "This is about the 2004 decision only," Kroes said in 2007, talking about the latest fine, "and not about any of Microsoft's other actions."
Investigations announced a month before, including one based on Opera's complaint about IE, would continue, she said. "There are lessons I hope Microsoft will learn," she added at the time.
The EU is also investigating a complaint that involves Microsoft's Office suite. That complaint was filed by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a trade group whose members include many of Microsoft's rivals, including Adobe Systems Inc., IBM, Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc., and deals with Office 2007's native file format, Open XML.
Today, Microsoft said it is "committed to conducting our business in full compliance with European law," phrasing that it has used in the past when responding to EU antitrust actions. It said it would respond to the charges within the next two months, as it is allowed by law, and left open the door to requesting a hearing, as is its right.
The EU Completion Commission was not available for comment Friday.
source : www.computerworld.com
AMD to Cut 1,100 Jobs
by Reuters
NEW YORK - Advanced Micro Devices Inc said on Friday it would take a $622 million charge related to its ATI acquisition, and cut 1,100 jobs and reduce salaries.
AMD, which trails Intel Corp in computer chips and was criticized for overpaying for its $5.4 billion 2006 purchase of graphics chip maker ATI, also announced the impairment of another $62 million of intangible assets in a document filed with regulators on Friday.
The $622 million impairment charge comes after an $800 million impairment charge for ATI recorded in the company's June quarter.
As part of its cost cuts it said Chairman Hector Ruiz and Chief Executive Dirk Meyer will temporarily take 20 percent salary cuts, while U.S. and Canadian executives at the level of vice president and higher will take 15 percent cuts.
North American employees who are not eligible for overtime pay will take 10 percent cuts, while overtime-eligible employees will see their pay reduced by 5 percent. It is also implementing voluntary pay reduction measures for employees outside North America.
In addition, AMD is suspending matching company contributions to 401(k) employee retirement plans.
It said the job cuts will reduce its product company workforce, excluding foundry workers, by 9 percent and will come from attrition, divesting its handheld business, and the elimination of another 900 positions.
In an emailed statement, AMD did not say how much money it expects to save from the actions.
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
source : www.pcmag.com
NEW YORK - Advanced Micro Devices Inc said on Friday it would take a $622 million charge related to its ATI acquisition, and cut 1,100 jobs and reduce salaries.
AMD, which trails Intel Corp in computer chips and was criticized for overpaying for its $5.4 billion 2006 purchase of graphics chip maker ATI, also announced the impairment of another $62 million of intangible assets in a document filed with regulators on Friday.
The $622 million impairment charge comes after an $800 million impairment charge for ATI recorded in the company's June quarter.
As part of its cost cuts it said Chairman Hector Ruiz and Chief Executive Dirk Meyer will temporarily take 20 percent salary cuts, while U.S. and Canadian executives at the level of vice president and higher will take 15 percent cuts.
North American employees who are not eligible for overtime pay will take 10 percent cuts, while overtime-eligible employees will see their pay reduced by 5 percent. It is also implementing voluntary pay reduction measures for employees outside North America.
In addition, AMD is suspending matching company contributions to 401(k) employee retirement plans.
It said the job cuts will reduce its product company workforce, excluding foundry workers, by 9 percent and will come from attrition, divesting its handheld business, and the elimination of another 900 positions.
In an emailed statement, AMD did not say how much money it expects to save from the actions.
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
source : www.pcmag.com
Europe charges Microsoft with abuse of monopoly again
By Paul Meller
January 17, 2009 (IDG News Service) Microsoft was formally charged with monopoly abuse by Europe's top antitrust authority, the European Commission, over the way it bundles the Internet Explorer browser with Windows.
The move follows an unsuccessful attempt by U.S. authorities nine years ago to strip Internet Explorer (IE) of its unfair advantage over competing browsers. European authorities were more successful in their prosecution of Microsoft over similar antitrust offenses five years ago, fining the company over €1.6 billion and ordering it to change the way it does business.
he Commission's charges were delivered to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, last Thursday in the form of a formal statement of objections. The company is studying the charges and will respond within the next two months, as is usual in European antitrust cases, it said.
The new charges are the first of many anticipated against the company in the wake of a failed court appeal by Microsoft last year against the original European antitrust ruling.
The latest statement of objections follows a relatively short investigation, one year long, sparked by a complaint from Opera Software, a Norwegian browser developer.
Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner welcomed the Commission's decision to press charges. "It's clear they are taking this very seriously," he said in a phone interview on Saturday.
However, he still doesn't know if the Commission pursued both aspects of his company's complaint against Microsoft: In addition to complaining about the bundling of IE into Windows, Opera also pointed out that the software giant was undermining open software standards on the Internet.
"Its a problem for companies like ours if Microsoft doesn't support the open standards we all apply, because many Web sites are designed to work with IE, which means our browsers won't always work out of the box," he said.
IE is still the most widely used internet browser, although its market share dipped below 70 percent globally in 2008, according to Web analytics company Net Applications. In December, Opera's share was around 0.71 percent.
Von Tetzchner said he hopes the Commission doesn't apply the same remedy it did in its last ruling, when it ordered Microsoft to offer a second version of Windows alongside the regular version of the software, but without a bundled copy of Windows Media Player .
Microsoft complied with the ruling but no one bought the unbundled version, which was sold for the same price as the version with Windows Media Player included.
"That's not really what we are looking for as a remedy for the bundling of IE," von Tetzchner said, adding: "The only way to give users a genuine choice is to strip out IE from Windows and either replace it with a rival browser or offer users a list of browsers to choose from."
The latest antitrust charges against Microsoft almost certainly won't be the last.
At the same time it opened the investigation into the bundling of IE, the Commission also opened a separate probe to see whether Microsoft withholds information from companies that want to make products compatible with its Microsoft Office productivity suite.
It is also looking for interoperability problems with Windows server products and Microsoft's .Net software framework, following a complaint by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), a trade group representing companies including IBM, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Red Hat and Opera.
This separate probe is ongoing, said Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for the Commission.
ECIS said Microsoft deliberately withholds interoperability information in order to put rival software companies at a disadvantage; and bases its complaint on the part of the earlier European antitrust ruling that found Microsoft guilty of withholding interoperability information about its Windows server operating system.
"There was a fear that the Commission might be moving on to other battles, having won a resounding victory over Microsoft already," said Thomas Vinje, legal counsel for ECIS, citing other powerful technology companies such as Intel that are the subject of escalating antitrust battles in Europe.
But the fact that the Commission is pushing ahead with the IE case "makes me more optimistic it will press charges in the interoperability case," he said.
The real fight with Microsoft is only just beginning, though. The remedies the Commission demanded in the first antitrust case against Microsoft were largely ineffectual, especially on the bundling side. The true value of that case lies in its power of precedence and can only really be appreciated by lawyers and judges, Vinje said.
The cases that follow, including the IE charges, the interoperability case and possibly others, will be much more significant for consumers and competitors than that first antitrust ruling.
On the bundling side, the Commission is unlikely to make the same mistake it made the first time, and will most likely demand that IE is stripped out of Windows entirely, instead of calling for two versions of the operating system as it did before.
Meanwhile, if the Commission presses charges in the new interoperability case championed by ECIS it could break down the biggest barriers preventing open source operating systems such as Linux from competing with Microsoft on personal computer desktops.
source : www.computerworld.com
January 17, 2009 (IDG News Service) Microsoft was formally charged with monopoly abuse by Europe's top antitrust authority, the European Commission, over the way it bundles the Internet Explorer browser with Windows.
The move follows an unsuccessful attempt by U.S. authorities nine years ago to strip Internet Explorer (IE) of its unfair advantage over competing browsers. European authorities were more successful in their prosecution of Microsoft over similar antitrust offenses five years ago, fining the company over €1.6 billion and ordering it to change the way it does business.
he Commission's charges were delivered to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, last Thursday in the form of a formal statement of objections. The company is studying the charges and will respond within the next two months, as is usual in European antitrust cases, it said.
The new charges are the first of many anticipated against the company in the wake of a failed court appeal by Microsoft last year against the original European antitrust ruling.
The latest statement of objections follows a relatively short investigation, one year long, sparked by a complaint from Opera Software, a Norwegian browser developer.
Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner welcomed the Commission's decision to press charges. "It's clear they are taking this very seriously," he said in a phone interview on Saturday.
However, he still doesn't know if the Commission pursued both aspects of his company's complaint against Microsoft: In addition to complaining about the bundling of IE into Windows, Opera also pointed out that the software giant was undermining open software standards on the Internet.
"Its a problem for companies like ours if Microsoft doesn't support the open standards we all apply, because many Web sites are designed to work with IE, which means our browsers won't always work out of the box," he said.
IE is still the most widely used internet browser, although its market share dipped below 70 percent globally in 2008, according to Web analytics company Net Applications. In December, Opera's share was around 0.71 percent.
Von Tetzchner said he hopes the Commission doesn't apply the same remedy it did in its last ruling, when it ordered Microsoft to offer a second version of Windows alongside the regular version of the software, but without a bundled copy of Windows Media Player .
Microsoft complied with the ruling but no one bought the unbundled version, which was sold for the same price as the version with Windows Media Player included.
"That's not really what we are looking for as a remedy for the bundling of IE," von Tetzchner said, adding: "The only way to give users a genuine choice is to strip out IE from Windows and either replace it with a rival browser or offer users a list of browsers to choose from."
The latest antitrust charges against Microsoft almost certainly won't be the last.
At the same time it opened the investigation into the bundling of IE, the Commission also opened a separate probe to see whether Microsoft withholds information from companies that want to make products compatible with its Microsoft Office productivity suite.
It is also looking for interoperability problems with Windows server products and Microsoft's .Net software framework, following a complaint by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), a trade group representing companies including IBM, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Red Hat and Opera.
This separate probe is ongoing, said Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for the Commission.
ECIS said Microsoft deliberately withholds interoperability information in order to put rival software companies at a disadvantage; and bases its complaint on the part of the earlier European antitrust ruling that found Microsoft guilty of withholding interoperability information about its Windows server operating system.
"There was a fear that the Commission might be moving on to other battles, having won a resounding victory over Microsoft already," said Thomas Vinje, legal counsel for ECIS, citing other powerful technology companies such as Intel that are the subject of escalating antitrust battles in Europe.
But the fact that the Commission is pushing ahead with the IE case "makes me more optimistic it will press charges in the interoperability case," he said.
The real fight with Microsoft is only just beginning, though. The remedies the Commission demanded in the first antitrust case against Microsoft were largely ineffectual, especially on the bundling side. The true value of that case lies in its power of precedence and can only really be appreciated by lawyers and judges, Vinje said.
The cases that follow, including the IE charges, the interoperability case and possibly others, will be much more significant for consumers and competitors than that first antitrust ruling.
On the bundling side, the Commission is unlikely to make the same mistake it made the first time, and will most likely demand that IE is stripped out of Windows entirely, instead of calling for two versions of the operating system as it did before.
Meanwhile, if the Commission presses charges in the new interoperability case championed by ECIS it could break down the biggest barriers preventing open source operating systems such as Linux from competing with Microsoft on personal computer desktops.
source : www.computerworld.com
Senin, 12 Januari 2009
AMD Plans Graphics Supercomputer
January 9, 2009 - By Reuters
LAS VEGAS, Jan 8 (Reuters) - U.S. chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc, facing a slump in demand for personal computers, is hoping the old adage that entertainment is recession proof will prove true this year.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday, AMD Chief Executive Dirk Meyer showed off new technology for advanced computer graphics in video games and films, in what the company called the convergence of the "cinematic and the interactive."
Meyer said AMD's new chips will help blur the lines between games and films, helping them look much more life-like.
He also announced plans to develop, along with software company OTOY, what he called the "fastest graphics supercomputer" in the world in the second half of 2009. The supercomputer could help film studios make movies more interactive and gaming companies increase realism, Meyer added.
But the upbeat tone of his presentation was at odds with the half-empty Las Vegas Hilton Theater and the chip industry's somber mood.
Just a day earlier, AMD's chief rival Intel Corp (INTC.O), the world's largest chip maker, stunned the market with its second revenue warning on the fourth quarter, saying demand for personal computers was even worse than it feared. Intel and AMD make nearly all the microprocessors for the world's 1 billion PCs.
Meyer said the consumer electronics industry is in the middle of a "sea change" and called the current economic situation "challenging," "volatile" and "unprecedented."
"Optimism has been a little more difficult to achieve these days," he said.
AMD laid off 600 workers in its most recent quarter from a total workforce of about 15,500 as the sector started to contract.
The company has posted losses for eight consecutive quarters, in part due to delays in rolling out new chips that resulted in AMD falling behind Intel technologically.
But AMD is hiving off its manufacturing plants into a joint venture with Abu Dhabi to cut costs and get a cash injection, and its last quarterly results were better than Wall Street had expected thanks to a new graphics chip.
In difficult times, Meyer said AMD can set itself apart because it is the only chipmaker that can deliver both x86 and graphics chips, which is the key to its Fusion chip platforms.
Fusion is AMD's name for technology that merges a graphics processing unit and central processing unit on a single chip. The effort springs from AMD's $5.4 billion purchase of graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies in 2006.
Meyer was joined on stage by executives from PC makers Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc, video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc, and Lucasfilm movie company as they demonstrated new products based on Fusion.
Earlier this week, AMD's much-anticipated chip, the Athlon Neo, made its debut in HP's Pavilion dv2 ultra-portable notebook. Meyer said it will target consumers looking for something between a high-end notebook and a stripped down netbook. The dv2 will start at $699.
AMD also used CES to unveil its Dragon platform, which combines its new Phenom processor with an ATI Radeon graphics chip. Dell's XPS 625 desktop uses the technology.
Shares of AMD closed up 3.01 percent at $2.74 after falling on Wednesday due to the Intel warning. The stock remains far below its year-ago levels of around $8.
source : www.extremetech.com
LAS VEGAS, Jan 8 (Reuters) - U.S. chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc, facing a slump in demand for personal computers, is hoping the old adage that entertainment is recession proof will prove true this year.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday, AMD Chief Executive Dirk Meyer showed off new technology for advanced computer graphics in video games and films, in what the company called the convergence of the "cinematic and the interactive."
Meyer said AMD's new chips will help blur the lines between games and films, helping them look much more life-like.
He also announced plans to develop, along with software company OTOY, what he called the "fastest graphics supercomputer" in the world in the second half of 2009. The supercomputer could help film studios make movies more interactive and gaming companies increase realism, Meyer added.
But the upbeat tone of his presentation was at odds with the half-empty Las Vegas Hilton Theater and the chip industry's somber mood.
Just a day earlier, AMD's chief rival Intel Corp (INTC.O), the world's largest chip maker, stunned the market with its second revenue warning on the fourth quarter, saying demand for personal computers was even worse than it feared. Intel and AMD make nearly all the microprocessors for the world's 1 billion PCs.
Meyer said the consumer electronics industry is in the middle of a "sea change" and called the current economic situation "challenging," "volatile" and "unprecedented."
"Optimism has been a little more difficult to achieve these days," he said.
AMD laid off 600 workers in its most recent quarter from a total workforce of about 15,500 as the sector started to contract.
The company has posted losses for eight consecutive quarters, in part due to delays in rolling out new chips that resulted in AMD falling behind Intel technologically.
But AMD is hiving off its manufacturing plants into a joint venture with Abu Dhabi to cut costs and get a cash injection, and its last quarterly results were better than Wall Street had expected thanks to a new graphics chip.
In difficult times, Meyer said AMD can set itself apart because it is the only chipmaker that can deliver both x86 and graphics chips, which is the key to its Fusion chip platforms.
Fusion is AMD's name for technology that merges a graphics processing unit and central processing unit on a single chip. The effort springs from AMD's $5.4 billion purchase of graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies in 2006.
Meyer was joined on stage by executives from PC makers Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc, video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc, and Lucasfilm movie company as they demonstrated new products based on Fusion.
Earlier this week, AMD's much-anticipated chip, the Athlon Neo, made its debut in HP's Pavilion dv2 ultra-portable notebook. Meyer said it will target consumers looking for something between a high-end notebook and a stripped down netbook. The dv2 will start at $699.
AMD also used CES to unveil its Dragon platform, which combines its new Phenom processor with an ATI Radeon graphics chip. Dell's XPS 625 desktop uses the technology.
Shares of AMD closed up 3.01 percent at $2.74 after falling on Wednesday due to the Intel warning. The stock remains far below its year-ago levels of around $8.
source : www.extremetech.com
Sabtu, 10 Januari 2009
Hands On with the Intel Convertible Classmate PC
by Cisco Cheng
LAS VEGAS—At CES 2009, Intel took the wraps off of its convertible Classmate PC, a tablet targeted at students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The original Classmate PC reference design was sold in bulk, primarily to international countries that were willing to deploy a thousand of these at a time. With this new version, Intel has partnered up with three OEMs in the United States: CTL, a Portland-based company, will brand it as 2GoPC, M&A will brand it as the Companion PC, and Equus Computer System will have a product as well. This new student tablet is available immediately online, with prices starting at $499. If you're not a student, this netbook is not for you.
Intel added a new swivel, resistive touch screen to the convertible platform, and updated the innards with the Atom platform. The keyboard is small, roughly an 84-percent one, and Intel admitted that it was designed with the slender fingers of a student in mind. Meanwhile, the MSI Wind and the HP Mini 1000 boast 92% keyboards.
Though the new Classmate PC is technically a netbook, it will not compete in that space.
For one thing, it's considerably more expensive than netbooks like the Wind, the Acer Aspire One, and the Lenovo Ideapad S10. CTL's 2GoPC sells for $549, which is a considerable premium to pay for a student netbook with tablet capabilities. The reference unit weighs 3.2 pounds with the 6-cell battery (up to 5 hours, claims CTL); a 4-cell option brings the weight to 2.9 pounds, although CTL is not planning to sell one.
A nifty handle is part of a sleeve that is securely attached to the unit, so students can easily pick it up and go. The 8.9-inch touchscreen is not digitized, but it does come with a stylus, which can be used, along with your fingers, to navigate the screen. The latter method works, although I had to press firmly with my fingertips and drag them. The stylus is comfortable enough so that a student can use it for the course of a day. The unit has a built-in accelerometer as well, so that rotating the unit itself will automatically adjust the orientation.
The new Classmate PC's features are like the original: modest, at best. The new model comes with two USB ports, VGA-Out, and an Ethernet port. The built-in Wi-Fi chip supports 802.11abg and 802.11n wireless. The Classmate's storage has improved since its predecessor, though it will still be offering 2-GB to 16-GB SSD drives, for price-sensitive markets, and rotating drive of between 40 GB and 120 GB, for optimal capacity.
The original Classmate PC used an Intel Celeron M processor; the new convertible tablet moves to the Intel Atom platform, specifically the 1.6-GHz N270 processor and GMA 950 graphics. The tablet will use the XP Home or Professional operating system, with memory configurations expandable to 1 GB. Intel does not plan to support Windows Vista at this point, which is arguably a better environment for tablet users.
As a single unit, the Intel Convertible Classmate PC is overpriced. But in bulk, prices can significantly drop. This is not something that's tailored to adults, as the keyboard is severely undersized and features are limited. (We'd suggest the eeePC T101H, an adult-friendly convertible.) For kids, however, Intel developed an entire ecosystem of collaboration software for them and their teachers. And because of that, there is a market for it.
source : www.pcmag.com
LAS VEGAS—At CES 2009, Intel took the wraps off of its convertible Classmate PC, a tablet targeted at students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The original Classmate PC reference design was sold in bulk, primarily to international countries that were willing to deploy a thousand of these at a time. With this new version, Intel has partnered up with three OEMs in the United States: CTL, a Portland-based company, will brand it as 2GoPC, M&A will brand it as the Companion PC, and Equus Computer System will have a product as well. This new student tablet is available immediately online, with prices starting at $499. If you're not a student, this netbook is not for you.
Intel added a new swivel, resistive touch screen to the convertible platform, and updated the innards with the Atom platform. The keyboard is small, roughly an 84-percent one, and Intel admitted that it was designed with the slender fingers of a student in mind. Meanwhile, the MSI Wind and the HP Mini 1000 boast 92% keyboards.
Though the new Classmate PC is technically a netbook, it will not compete in that space.
For one thing, it's considerably more expensive than netbooks like the Wind, the Acer Aspire One, and the Lenovo Ideapad S10. CTL's 2GoPC sells for $549, which is a considerable premium to pay for a student netbook with tablet capabilities. The reference unit weighs 3.2 pounds with the 6-cell battery (up to 5 hours, claims CTL); a 4-cell option brings the weight to 2.9 pounds, although CTL is not planning to sell one.
A nifty handle is part of a sleeve that is securely attached to the unit, so students can easily pick it up and go. The 8.9-inch touchscreen is not digitized, but it does come with a stylus, which can be used, along with your fingers, to navigate the screen. The latter method works, although I had to press firmly with my fingertips and drag them. The stylus is comfortable enough so that a student can use it for the course of a day. The unit has a built-in accelerometer as well, so that rotating the unit itself will automatically adjust the orientation.
The new Classmate PC's features are like the original: modest, at best. The new model comes with two USB ports, VGA-Out, and an Ethernet port. The built-in Wi-Fi chip supports 802.11abg and 802.11n wireless. The Classmate's storage has improved since its predecessor, though it will still be offering 2-GB to 16-GB SSD drives, for price-sensitive markets, and rotating drive of between 40 GB and 120 GB, for optimal capacity.
The original Classmate PC used an Intel Celeron M processor; the new convertible tablet moves to the Intel Atom platform, specifically the 1.6-GHz N270 processor and GMA 950 graphics. The tablet will use the XP Home or Professional operating system, with memory configurations expandable to 1 GB. Intel does not plan to support Windows Vista at this point, which is arguably a better environment for tablet users.
As a single unit, the Intel Convertible Classmate PC is overpriced. But in bulk, prices can significantly drop. This is not something that's tailored to adults, as the keyboard is severely undersized and features are limited. (We'd suggest the eeePC T101H, an adult-friendly convertible.) For kids, however, Intel developed an entire ecosystem of collaboration software for them and their teachers. And because of that, there is a market for it.
source : www.pcmag.com
Intel's Barrett Announces 'Small Things' Charity Challenge
by Chloe Albanesius
LAS VEGAS – Intel on Friday announced the launch of the Small Things Challenge, a one-year charity program intended to facilitate donations to Kiva.org and Save the Children.
"What we're doing is in fact coming up with a challenge for you – something called the Small Things Challenge – one step at a time," Intel chairman Craig Barrett said during his Consumers Electronics Show (CES) keynote.
Intel set up a Web site for the group at SmallThingsChallenge.com.
"What we're going to do is focus on … the Save the Children group and Kiva.org, education and economic development," Barrett said. "My company Intel will donate a nickel for ever click that happens, within limits."
People can contribute to the Small Things Challenge in three ways: donate to Save the Children's Rewrite the Future program, which helps children in war-torn countries receive an education; provide a micro-loan through Kiva.org, which helps entrepreneurs in developing countries get their businesses off the ground; or encourage friends and family to donate.
Send an e-mail encouraging someone to donate and for every person who clicks on the "we'll donate 5 cents for you" button on the Web site, Intel will donate another 5 cents, up to $300,000 in 2009. The funds will be split between Save the Children and Kiva.org.
There is no minimum donation necessary for Save the Children, but Kiva.org requires a minimum of $25.
The challenge is currently scheduled to run until December 31, 2009.
Musicians Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows joined Barrett onstage at his keynote to issue their support for the challenge.
"I think we feel it's our responsibility to [contribute]," said Levine. "We've been blessed with a lot of success and the least we can do is give back in any way we possibly can."
Kiva.org is "able to connect lenders to entrepreneurs in developing countries so a food vendor can open a shop, or a water carrier can purchase a new cart, which means more jobs in the village, which means more economic growth for their community," Levine said. "And they're not looking for a handout. They're looking for a way to better their lives, and you can help."
Levine helped Intel create a video explaining the Small Things Challenge, which will be featured on the site and YouTube, Barrett said.
"Each of these organizations … finds ways to empower and encourage people to step forward and take their place in a world that has always told them it has no room and no place for them," Duritz said. "We disagree. Through education the boundaries of our lives are shattered."
The bulk of Barrett's keynote was spent highlighting technology education and healthcare initiatives in which he and Intel have been involved.
Save the Children will soon be distributing Intel's Classmate PCs to 10 schools in Bangladesh, a program that will eventually expand to include 300 schools in the area, said Caroline Miles, chief operating office of Save the Children.
Barrett also highlighted a second-generation, portable device from OQO that Barrett said can help doctors remotely connect to patients' medical records from the field.
The $999 touchscreen OQO model 2+ runs the 1.86GHz Intel Atom processor, has 2GB of RAM, and 3G connectivity capabilities.
Barrett also showcased an upcoming game from Warner Bros. Interactive Games intended to teach young people about HIV/AIDS. It has been deployed in three test sites in Nairobi, Kenya and lets five kids play at once.
source : www.pcmag.com
LAS VEGAS – Intel on Friday announced the launch of the Small Things Challenge, a one-year charity program intended to facilitate donations to Kiva.org and Save the Children.
"What we're doing is in fact coming up with a challenge for you – something called the Small Things Challenge – one step at a time," Intel chairman Craig Barrett said during his Consumers Electronics Show (CES) keynote.
Intel set up a Web site for the group at SmallThingsChallenge.com.
"What we're going to do is focus on … the Save the Children group and Kiva.org, education and economic development," Barrett said. "My company Intel will donate a nickel for ever click that happens, within limits."
People can contribute to the Small Things Challenge in three ways: donate to Save the Children's Rewrite the Future program, which helps children in war-torn countries receive an education; provide a micro-loan through Kiva.org, which helps entrepreneurs in developing countries get their businesses off the ground; or encourage friends and family to donate.
Send an e-mail encouraging someone to donate and for every person who clicks on the "we'll donate 5 cents for you" button on the Web site, Intel will donate another 5 cents, up to $300,000 in 2009. The funds will be split between Save the Children and Kiva.org.
There is no minimum donation necessary for Save the Children, but Kiva.org requires a minimum of $25.
The challenge is currently scheduled to run until December 31, 2009.
Musicians Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows joined Barrett onstage at his keynote to issue their support for the challenge.
"I think we feel it's our responsibility to [contribute]," said Levine. "We've been blessed with a lot of success and the least we can do is give back in any way we possibly can."
Kiva.org is "able to connect lenders to entrepreneurs in developing countries so a food vendor can open a shop, or a water carrier can purchase a new cart, which means more jobs in the village, which means more economic growth for their community," Levine said. "And they're not looking for a handout. They're looking for a way to better their lives, and you can help."
Levine helped Intel create a video explaining the Small Things Challenge, which will be featured on the site and YouTube, Barrett said.
"Each of these organizations … finds ways to empower and encourage people to step forward and take their place in a world that has always told them it has no room and no place for them," Duritz said. "We disagree. Through education the boundaries of our lives are shattered."
The bulk of Barrett's keynote was spent highlighting technology education and healthcare initiatives in which he and Intel have been involved.
Save the Children will soon be distributing Intel's Classmate PCs to 10 schools in Bangladesh, a program that will eventually expand to include 300 schools in the area, said Caroline Miles, chief operating office of Save the Children.
Barrett also highlighted a second-generation, portable device from OQO that Barrett said can help doctors remotely connect to patients' medical records from the field.
The $999 touchscreen OQO model 2+ runs the 1.86GHz Intel Atom processor, has 2GB of RAM, and 3G connectivity capabilities.
Barrett also showcased an upcoming game from Warner Bros. Interactive Games intended to teach young people about HIV/AIDS. It has been deployed in three test sites in Nairobi, Kenya and lets five kids play at once.
source : www.pcmag.com
Microsoft Delays Windows 7 Beta Due to Traffic
by Mark Hachman
Microsoft has delayed the Windows 7 public beta, due to traffic issues on the Microsoft Web site, according to a Friday afternoon post on the Windows Team blog.
"Due to very heavy traffic we're seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta," Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc wrote. "We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta."
As of 4:55 PM, the main Windows 7 page was not showing a link to the beta. The TechNet page was also reporting that the beta had been delayed: "Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta," the site reads. "The volume has been phenomenal -- we're in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We're sorry for the delay and we'll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience.
It's for reasons like these that the BitTorrent protocol was invented. Why not let your customers share the bandwidth burden, Microsoft?
Originally posted on AppScout.
source : www.pcmag.com
Microsoft has delayed the Windows 7 public beta, due to traffic issues on the Microsoft Web site, according to a Friday afternoon post on the Windows Team blog.
"Due to very heavy traffic we're seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta," Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc wrote. "We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta."
As of 4:55 PM, the main Windows 7 page was not showing a link to the beta. The TechNet page was also reporting that the beta had been delayed: "Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta," the site reads. "The volume has been phenomenal -- we're in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We're sorry for the delay and we'll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience.
It's for reasons like these that the BitTorrent protocol was invented. Why not let your customers share the bandwidth burden, Microsoft?
Originally posted on AppScout.
source : www.pcmag.com
Minggu, 04 Januari 2009
Emerson unveils AC/DC power supply
Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Dec 24, 2008
Emerson Network Power has added the Intelligent VS (iVS) AC/DC power supply to its line of fully configurable modular power supplies.
Capable of delivering up to 4,920W of high-density output (12W/in3), the iVS is a fully programmable and intelligent high-power standard power supply.
Emerson Network Power's iVS power supplies are specifically designed for industrial, military and medical instrumentation applications that require high power, reliability and maximum flexibility.
Fully modular in design, iVS power supplies use digitally configurable single- and dual- output power supply modules available in six power ratings.
Spanning 210W to 1,500W, they support 24 different output choices ranging from 2V to 60V, to allow a wide choice of power configurations.
All modules are fully interoperable with existing Emerson configurable platforms, and can be quickly configured to match exact application requirements, enabling greater precision and energy efficiency.
source : www.electronicstalk.com
To maximise control flexibility, microcontrollers integrated into the case and modules are paired with Emerson Network Power's highly intuitive I2C GUI-based control software.
The software enables designers to configure and reconfigure voltages and current limits, and inhibit or enable settings for individual power supplies, while allowing them to conveniently export their final configuration specs for mass application.
It offers OEMs and end users powerful real-time voltage, current and temperature monitoring, to provide at-a-glance performance confirmation for the entire power supply, including the case and all its constituent modules.
All iVS power supplies feature field-upgradable firmware, which extends product lifecycles and offers developers flexibility and interoperability.
They are rigorously industrialised to ensure high reliability in demanding applications, and are rated for performance at temperatures ranging from -40 to 70C.
They are also pre-certified for a wide range of safety specifications - including UL, CSA, VDE, CE and CB certifications - to ensure rapid, cost-effective power provision off-the- shelf.
Emerson Network Power has added the Intelligent VS (iVS) AC/DC power supply to its line of fully configurable modular power supplies.
Capable of delivering up to 4,920W of high-density output (12W/in3), the iVS is a fully programmable and intelligent high-power standard power supply.
Emerson Network Power's iVS power supplies are specifically designed for industrial, military and medical instrumentation applications that require high power, reliability and maximum flexibility.
Fully modular in design, iVS power supplies use digitally configurable single- and dual- output power supply modules available in six power ratings.
Spanning 210W to 1,500W, they support 24 different output choices ranging from 2V to 60V, to allow a wide choice of power configurations.
All modules are fully interoperable with existing Emerson configurable platforms, and can be quickly configured to match exact application requirements, enabling greater precision and energy efficiency.
source : www.electronicstalk.com
To maximise control flexibility, microcontrollers integrated into the case and modules are paired with Emerson Network Power's highly intuitive I2C GUI-based control software.
The software enables designers to configure and reconfigure voltages and current limits, and inhibit or enable settings for individual power supplies, while allowing them to conveniently export their final configuration specs for mass application.
It offers OEMs and end users powerful real-time voltage, current and temperature monitoring, to provide at-a-glance performance confirmation for the entire power supply, including the case and all its constituent modules.
All iVS power supplies feature field-upgradable firmware, which extends product lifecycles and offers developers flexibility and interoperability.
They are rigorously industrialised to ensure high reliability in demanding applications, and are rated for performance at temperatures ranging from -40 to 70C.
They are also pre-certified for a wide range of safety specifications - including UL, CSA, VDE, CE and CB certifications - to ensure rapid, cost-effective power provision off-the- shelf.
Windows 7 beta 1 performance - How does the OS compare to Vista and XP?
How does Windows 7 beta 1 compare to Vista and XP in terms of performance? That’s a question that’s been hitting my inbox regularly over the past few weeks. Let’s see if we can’t answer it!
Important note: Before I go any further I feel I need to make a point, and make it clear. The build I’m testing of Windows 7 (build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400) is a beta build, and as a rule beta builds are usually more geared towards stability than performance. That said, the performance of this build should give us a clue as to how the OS is coming along.
Rather than publish a series of benchmark results for the three operating systems (something which Microsoft frowns upon for beta builds, not to mention the fact that the final numbers only really matter for the release candidate and RTM builds), I’ve decided to put Windows 7, Vista and XP head-to-head in a series of real-world tests to find out which OS comes out top.
The tests
There are 23 tests in all, most of which are self explanatory:
1. Install OS - Time it takes to install the OS
2. Boot up - Average boot time to usable desktop
3. Shut down - Average shut down time
4. Move 100MB files - Move 100MB of JPEG files from one hard drive to another
5. Move 2.5GB files - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB to 100MB)
from one hard drive to another
6. Network transfer 100MB files - Move 100MB of JPEG files from test machine to
NAS device
7. Network transfer 2.5GB files - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB
to 100MB) from test machine to NAS device
8. Move 100MB files under load - Move 100MB of JPEG files from one hard drive to
another while ripping DVD to .ISO file
9. Move 2.5GB files under load - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB
to 100MB) from one hard drive to another while ripping DVD to .ISO file
10. Network transfer 100MB files under load - Move 100MB of JPEG files from test
machine to NAS device while ripping DVD to .ISO file
11. Network transfer 2.5GB files under load - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files
(ranging from 1MB to 100MB) from test machine to NAS device while ripping DVD
to .ISO file
12. Compress 100MB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
13. Compress 1GB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
14. Extract 100MB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
15. Extract 1GB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
16. Install Office 2007 - Ultimate version, from DVD
17. Open 10 page Word doc - Text only
18. Open 100 page Word doc - Text and images only
19. Open simple Excel doc - Basic formatting
20. Open complex Excel doc - Including formula and charts
21. Burn DVD - Win 7 beta 1 .ISO to disc using CDBurnerXP
22. Open 10 page PDF - Text only, using latest Adobe Reader 8
23. Open 100 page PDF - Text and images, using latest Adobe Reader 8
These series of tests will pitch Windows 7 build 7000 32-bit against Windows Vista SP1 32-bit and Windows XP SP3 32-bit. The scoring for each of the tests is simple. The winning OS scores 1, the runner up 2 and the loser scores a 3. The scores are added up and the OS with the lowest score at the end wins.
source : blogs.zdnet.com
Important note: Before I go any further I feel I need to make a point, and make it clear. The build I’m testing of Windows 7 (build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400) is a beta build, and as a rule beta builds are usually more geared towards stability than performance. That said, the performance of this build should give us a clue as to how the OS is coming along.
Rather than publish a series of benchmark results for the three operating systems (something which Microsoft frowns upon for beta builds, not to mention the fact that the final numbers only really matter for the release candidate and RTM builds), I’ve decided to put Windows 7, Vista and XP head-to-head in a series of real-world tests to find out which OS comes out top.
The tests
There are 23 tests in all, most of which are self explanatory:
1. Install OS - Time it takes to install the OS
2. Boot up - Average boot time to usable desktop
3. Shut down - Average shut down time
4. Move 100MB files - Move 100MB of JPEG files from one hard drive to another
5. Move 2.5GB files - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB to 100MB)
from one hard drive to another
6. Network transfer 100MB files - Move 100MB of JPEG files from test machine to
NAS device
7. Network transfer 2.5GB files - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB
to 100MB) from test machine to NAS device
8. Move 100MB files under load - Move 100MB of JPEG files from one hard drive to
another while ripping DVD to .ISO file
9. Move 2.5GB files under load - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB
to 100MB) from one hard drive to another while ripping DVD to .ISO file
10. Network transfer 100MB files under load - Move 100MB of JPEG files from test
machine to NAS device while ripping DVD to .ISO file
11. Network transfer 2.5GB files under load - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files
(ranging from 1MB to 100MB) from test machine to NAS device while ripping DVD
to .ISO file
12. Compress 100MB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
13. Compress 1GB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
14. Extract 100MB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
15. Extract 1GB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
16. Install Office 2007 - Ultimate version, from DVD
17. Open 10 page Word doc - Text only
18. Open 100 page Word doc - Text and images only
19. Open simple Excel doc - Basic formatting
20. Open complex Excel doc - Including formula and charts
21. Burn DVD - Win 7 beta 1 .ISO to disc using CDBurnerXP
22. Open 10 page PDF - Text only, using latest Adobe Reader 8
23. Open 100 page PDF - Text and images, using latest Adobe Reader 8
These series of tests will pitch Windows 7 build 7000 32-bit against Windows Vista SP1 32-bit and Windows XP SP3 32-bit. The scoring for each of the tests is simple. The winning OS scores 1, the runner up 2 and the loser scores a 3. The scores are added up and the OS with the lowest score at the end wins.
source : blogs.zdnet.com
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