The PC Informant » Other operating systems

The Chrome operating system is no Windows rival- yet

Vic Laurie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:46:36 +0000

Ever since Google announced that it was creating a new operating system called Chrome, there has been speculation that this would be a problem for Windows. Very little was actually known about the potential OS until yesterday, when Google revealed some details. The OS will not be available for another year and seems to be strictly a Web appliance operating system. There are several interesting features. For example, the Official Google Blog says:

First, it’s all about the web. All apps are web apps. The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.

Second, because all apps live within the browser, there are significant benefits to security. Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer.

Some other information about Chrome is at MaximumPC. Google has a kindergarten explanation of Chrome in the video clip below:

The Chrome OS is not anything like Windows or any other general PC operating system. It is for the Web and small devices only. However, a Web appliance is just what millions of people need and it will be very interesting to see if this type of system someday replaces the PC in many households

Windows Start-up & Shutdown Sounds from Windows 3.1 on up

Vic Laurie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:41:49 +0000

It seems that people will collect almost anything. Vince Bognot has put together Windows Start-up and Shutdown Sounds from Windows 3.1 to Windows 7. I am not sure who cares but here is his collection:

Via the Windows Club

Did Apple blow a golden opportunity?

Vic Laurie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:49:12 +0000

When Microsoft was struggling with the poor reception for Vista, poor search market share, security holes, and other problems, Apple made some inroads on Windows. However, several observers have written that Apple failed to really take advantage when Microsoft was in a hole. Now with Windows 7 revitalizing Microsoft, they say the chance to make substantial gains on Microsoft has passed.

Jim Jubak is a stock market commentator and at his investment blog, he asks, Has Apple blown it? Did the company squander the competitive chance of a lifetime? He makes a pretty good analysis:

But it still looks to me that Apple has missed its chance. It had a limited window of opportunity when competitors such as Microsoft couldn’t do anything right and it didn’t turn that opening into a big enough share of the personal computer market. It was first to market with a game-changing smart phone but the company has pursued a high-end niche strategy with the iPhone that has left the door wide open for Google to grab for the mass market.

If this is as good as it gets for Apple, the company has no one to blame, finally, but itself. The opportunity was there and Apple didn’t exploit it as ruthlessly and as relentlessly as it needed to.

Here’s my basic problem with Apple’s strategy and execution: The company didn’t kick ‘em hard enough when they were down.

In his blog, Bill Pytlovany, Windows expert and the author of WinPatrol, writes:

The market has been ripe for Apple to pick up a sizable portion of the computer share but it has failed. According to market researchers IDC and Gartner, Macintosh sales are up but their share is still way below 10%. That compares to PC sales by Acer and Toshiba. Why doesn’t the Mac have a larger market share?

Apple Inc has a polished image, high customer satisfaction and its brand identity couldn’t be much better. People who chose Macs have been very happy with their purchase. The only portable music play anyone wants is an iPod. The iPhone has set the bar so high for cell phones that companies are struggling to keep up. The stock value of AAPL is double what it was a year ago and is still climbing.

So, why are people still forking over their hard earned money for Windows 7 machines and not Macs? It doesn’t make sense. Did Apple drop the ball while Steve Jobs was on sick leave? In their efforts to target the cool people did they missed an opportunity to attract the main stream market disappointed with Windows Vista?

Personally, I think Apple has decided that the PC is not its main business. After all, it’s the consumer electronics like the iPod and the iPhone that have been blockbuster successes. In PCs, Apple has a strong niche position in the upscale market but apparently doesn’t see any point in going up against an entrenched Windows in the mass PC market.

What do you think? Did Apple miss a big chance to increase its share of the PC market? Or is it really a consumer electronics and entertainment company?

Cell phone vs. PC

Vic Laurie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:31:45 +0000

It’s been quite a while since the cell phone was just a voice communicator. Camera, games, music, personal data manager, email, texting, Web browsing- all of these and more are features that are available on various models of the so-called “smartphones”. In fact, the most advanced of these über cell phones are really small mobile computers.

In many parts of the world, the cell phone is the main device used to get on the Internet. As recently noted, the number of smartphones keeps growing and will soon exceed the number of PCs. For some time now, there has been speculation that the smartphone or some similar mobile platform would become the main device for personal computing and communication.

The speculation becomes closer to reality as the mobile platforms continually grow in power and utility. Already, the iPhone and its cousins are the main device for many. At Technologizer, Harry McCracken has a post called PC vs. Phone: Which Matters Most? He writes about a recent survey of smartphone users:

A quarter of the survey respondents said that they use their smartphones more than they do their PCs for business use. I’m not sure if that sounds low or high, but as smartphones get smarter over the next few years, you gotta think that many of us will come to see them as our principal computing devices, and consider traditional PCs to be the secondary, special-purpose gadget.

And at ZDNet, Dion Hinchcliffe asks, Are the iPhone and social networks making the classic Web and intranet obsolete? He thinks that not only the PC but also the present Web may be replaced. He writes:

There’s been an important and relatively sudden change taking place over the last couple of years in the way that we interact with the Web. While direct access or search activity has been (and still is) the most common way that we access the content and applications of the Web, new ways have been rapidly growing and competing with how we work online, both at home and at work.

Thus these new models, exemplified by social networking sites like Facebook or mobile apps on platforms like the iPhone, Palm’s new webOS, and Android, will ultimately herald a change in the way that we work with our IT systems in the enterprise.

Technology always goes down surprising paths and what we will be doing 5 or 10 years from now, I won’t venture to guess. But it is hard to believe that the complex and ponderous Windows PC will continue to be so dominant. Some people see Google’s Android system as the coming thing. For an enthusiastic look at Android, see the Gizmodo post, Giz Explains: Android, and How It Will Take Over the World. A little hyperbole there, of course, but who knows?

Is Windows 7 the last major release?

Vic Laurie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:34:18 +0000

Windows 7 is currently the focus of attention and will likely dominate the PC for a few years. But what about the future? At PCMag, technology industry analyst Tim Bajarin speculates about what comes after Windows 7:

So, Windows 7 does, in fact, matter. But for how long? At the moment, we live in a client/server world, so the operating system will likely matter on the enterprise level for some time. On the consumer level, the availability of thousands of Windows apps for PCs may well help this dominant OS live on as well. But as always, the world of technology is changing, and as such, it’s possible that this may be the last major version of Windows to come out.

He goes on to say:

With these factors in play, Win 7 may end up being the last major Windows release. Next time out, the OS may be much more focused on the cloud. Like Google’s Chrome, such a release would likely be free. Over the next few yeasr, Microsoft will have to figure out how to make money from cloud-based services, rather than from selling the operating system outright. In order to do this, the company will have to reinvent itself—something that will have to happen if Microsoft is going to survive and thrive in the future.

Another observer who wonders about the future of Windows is Christopher Dawson. Dawson provides IT for a school district and he writes an education blog at ZDNet. He compares Google and Microsoft:

I had a couple of very enlightening conversations with representatives from Microsoft and Google back-to-back on Friday. While our conversations were focused on their educational initiatives, some of which I’ll be featuring tomorrow on ZDNet Education, the more interesting aspects of the interviews actually related to their entirely different approaches to the Web, the cloud, and computing in general. These approaches, and the history behind them, beg the question, is it time for Microsoft to reinvent itself if it wants to avoid becoming the computing equivalent of fossil fuels?

Is Windows too unsafe for secure online transactions?

Vic Laurie — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:56:35 +0000

A growing number of technology professionals are saying that the Windows operating system is too unsafe for sensitive online transactions like banking. This is not just the same old tired refrain from Linux and Mac fanboys. These are respected professionals making a sober assessment of a rapidly growing problem. For example, Michael Horowitz, who writes about defensive computing at Computerworld, recently wrote:

Do you make online financial transactions from a Windows computer? If so, you may want to re-visit that decision.

It’s a given that almost all malicious software targets Windows. In my opinion, while it is possible to secure a Windows computer, the process is too hard, too time-consuming and/or technically over the head of most people.

Horowitz goes on to explain why he thinks some sort of portable Linux setup is the best solution. Not switching completely to Linux but using one of the Linux distros that run on a CD or a USB key for sensitive transactions. As he explains, it’s not all that complicated to browse the Internet with Firefox and portable Linux.

Yesterday, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes took up this theme in a ZDNet post:

It’s time to ditch Windows for online banking and shopping.

There, I’ve said it.

Last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller told an audience in San Francisco how he nearly fell for a bank phishing email. As a result of this Mueller now doesn’t do any banking on line.

Then Washington Post “Security Fix” columnist Brian Krebs advises businesses not to carry out online banking on Windows-based machines and to use a Linux-based LiveCD.

I’m going one step further, and suggest that no one use Windows for either banking or online shopping. Period.

So, am I saying this to be controversial? No. Am I attacking Windows or Microsoft? Am I trying to start a flame war? No.

So why am I saying this? Simply because I believe that the risk of using Windows outweighs the convenience.

Like Horowitz, he recommends using Linux on a CD.

I do a lot of various transactions on the Internet and I have to say that I am seriously considering using Ubuntu on a CD. The sophistication of the latest bank scams is alarming.

Added later: Here is the article in the Washington Post by Brian Krebs in the Kingsley-Hughes quote mentioned above. It begins:

An investigative series I’ve been writing about organized cyber crime gangs stealing millions of dollars from small to mid-sized businesses has generated more than a few responses from business owners who were concerned about how best to protect themselves from this type of fraud.

The simplest, most cost-effective answer I know of? Don’t use Microsoft Windows when accessing your bank account online.

I do not offer this recommendation lightly (and at the end of this column you’ll find a link to another column wherein I explain an easy-to-use alternative). But I have interviewed dozens of victim companies that lost anywhere from $10,000 to $500,000 dollars because of a single malware infection. I have heard stories worthy of a screenplay about the myriad ways cyber crooks are evading nearly every security obstacle the banks put in their way.

But regardless of the methods used by the bank or the crooks, all of the attacks shared a single, undeniable common denominator: They succeeded because the bad guys were able to plant malicious software that gave them complete control over the victim’s Windows computer.

Turning on PCs instantly

Vic Laurie — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:45:50 +0000

One of the drags in Windows systems is the length of time it takes to get a machine booted up and running. This is not inherent in PCs; Linux systems generally boot much faster, for example. Various technologies for near-instant bootup have been around for quite a while but the Windows hegemony has always been in the way. Now, Dell has finally come up with a system that takes advantage of the Linux speed while maintaining Windows as the main operating system. The New York Times Bits blog reports on the Dell Latitude Z laptop:

But the most impressive feature on the Latitude Z may be the ability to check e-mail, calendar and contact information and to browse the Web via an instant-on software package.

The software fires up the moment you open the laptop and connects right to a wireless network without Windows.

(Under the hood, it’s Linux running on top of an ARM chip on a mini-motherboard that provides this quick access feature. You’re basically talking about most of the components needed to run an iPhone being hitched to a large battery. So, the computer can run in instant-on mode for days.)

Some users Dell surveyed spent 70 percent of their time working in the instant-on mode. Microsoft is sure to take note of that figure. Windows has turned into a clunky cup holder.

Unix is 40

Vic Laurie — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:03:19 +0000

Most home PC users are unaware of what is the most important operating system ever developed. Yes, it’s Unix and not Windows. That takes nothing away from Windows because Unix has played a unique role in general computing. Unix has reached its 40th birthday and eWeek commemorates it with a slideshow:

Forty years ago, a new operating system called Unix was created, and a new revolution in computing began. Today, Unix-based operating systems still run many of the biggest and most important computing systems in the world. In fact, the core of Unix can be found in every major operating system in use today, from Apple’s Mac OS X to Linux to, yes, even Windows. If Unix itself hadn’t forked into many different versions, it might very well be the dominant OS in use today. In honor of the 40th anniversary of Unix, we’re taking a look at some of the many different iterations of Unix operating systems.

Computing in Africa

Vic Laurie — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:49:26 +0000

The computing scene in Africa has been in the news lately. Here are some links with African stories:

How broadband is changing Africa
Fast broadband will transform Africa, and the rest of the world will change too, says Bill Thompson at BBC.
IBM launches new Netbook software in Africa
CNET reports: “IBM has unveiled a new Netbook software package designed to help businesses in Africa. Partnering with Ubuntu Linux sponsor Canonical, IBM announced on Wednesday that its new software package will use a Linux-based operating system and cloud computing, offering users in Africa an alternative to conventional and costly PCs and applications.”
Another push for netbooks in Africa
Christopher Dawson writes at ZDNet: “Usually when I’m writing about netbooks in Africa, they are coming from OLPC or a local OEM selling Intel Classmates. Now, however, IBM and Canonical (the company that brings us Ubuntu) are bringing a different strategy to the emerging African market. By using cheap netbooks running Ubuntu, coupled with IBM’s cloud computing platforms, businesses that could not otherwise afford computers for each of their employees will have access to really inexpensive computing.”
IBM, Canonical partner to target Africa netbook market; Upend Microsoft
Larry Dignan writes at ZDNet: “IBM said that it can save up to 50 percent per seat relative to Microsoft desktops. Emerging markets are among the more interesting Linux-Microsoft battlefronts. What makes the IBM-Canonical partnership notable is the distribution heft that Big Blue brings to the table relative other early players such as the One Laptop Per Child initiative.”

Dell dabbles with Linux

Vic Laurie — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:51:08 +0000

It’s not exactly a major effort but Dell continues to play around with putting Linux on PCs. Ars Technica reports:

Dell has launched its first Moblin-based product, the Mini 10v netbook. It will ship with Canonical’s special Moblin remix of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. It looks promising, but Dell warns that Moblin is still incomplete and is primarily intended for developers.

Although Linux enthusiasts may welcome this, I can’t see it helping Linux to get on the consumer desktop.