Practical Technology

for practical people.

November 20, 2012
by sjvn01
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Linux Foundation support for booting Linux on Windows 8 PCs delayed

By design, Microsoft has made installing and booting Linux on Windows 8 PCs with UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) Secure Boot troublesome. Many of the major Linux distirbutors, including Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu,  have proposed different ways of addressing this problem. The Linux Foundation, which supports all Linux, recently proposed a universal plan for addressing the UEFI Secure Boot issue. Unfortunately, it’s been delayed.

The plan was, as James Bottomley, Parallels‘ CTO of server virtualization and well-known Linux Kernel maintainer, explained on October 10th, 2012, to “obtain a Microsoft Key and sign a small pre-bootloader which will, in turn, chain load (without any form of signature check) a predesignated boot loader which will, in turn, boot Linux (or any other operating system).”

Linux Foundation support for booting Linux on Windows 8 PCs delayed. More >

November 18, 2012
by sjvn01
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What not to buy on Black Friday: Windows 8 PCs & laptops

I decided to take a break from Windows 8. I thought if I took a breather and then came back to Microsoft’s newest operating system on a brand new PC, an ASUS CM6830 with a 3.4GHz Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GT 620 graphics, 8GBs of RAM, and a fast 7200 RPM 1TB hard drive, I might see something different. You’ll find this model, and dozens of others, at Best Buy and other retailers, for great prices on Black Friday. They all have only one problem: They’re all still running Windows 8 and it’s just as bad as  I remembered.

How do I hate thee Windows 8? Let me count the ways.

What not to buy on Black Friday: Windows 8 PCs & laptops. More >

November 13, 2012
by sjvn01
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Was Sinofsky fired for Microsoft’s sins?

When Microsoft fired… excuse me, announced that Windows and Windows Live President Steven Sinofsky is leaving the company, many Microsoft experts opined that he left because of internal politics. Sorry. I don’t buy that argument for a New York minute. If Windows 8 took off at the same rate Windows 7 did–with developers anxiously looking forward to publishing software for it–and had Sinfosky’s strategic moves worked, such as Microsoft deciding to make its own Windows 8 hardware, we’d be talking about Sinofsky as Steve Ballmer’s successor, not left wondering what the heck just happened.

Yes, I’m sure internal politics had something do with it. Sinofsky wasn’t the easiest guy to work with. You know whom else I’ve met in the technology business who wasn’t that easy to work with? Guys like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison. While being self-centered and cocksure of yourself causes friction, when you make successful technology and business decisions, it doesn’t kill your career.

Nice guys usually finish last at top tech companies. What counts, what always really counts in tech, is delivering the hot technology on which people spend serious money. It you blow that, and you’re not the CEO, you’re history. Just ask Scott Forstall, former head of Apple’s iOS.

Was Sinofsky fired for Microsoft’s sins? More >

November 13, 2012
by sjvn01
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Nokia Siemens Networks makes 4G LTE infrastructure market gains

Most of the news about Nokia, the smartphone company, is bad. Nokia Siemens Network  (NSN), the mobile broadband company, however, has some relatively good news

According to a report from the telecom analyst company, the  Dell’Oro Group, NSN’s third quarter of 2012 saw NSN claiming the second largest share of the LTE mobile radio access network (RAN) market by revenue. For NSN, that represents a gain of over 21% marketshare over the last 12 months.

Nokia Siemens Networks makes 4G LTE infrastructure market gains. More >

November 12, 2012
by sjvn01
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HP clarifies Windows 8 consumer PC downgrade and warranties

HP isn’t supporting consumer PCs  downgrades from Windows 8 to Windows 7. However, the company has clarified that, if you do change operating systems anyway, your consumer Windows 8 PCs will still be under warranty .

It’s been a confusing few days in HP laptop and desktop land. For a brief time, it appeared that HP would support Windows 8 consumer PCs downgrading to Windows 7. Microsoft would not have been amused! Microsoft’s official licensing policy restricts Windows 8 downgrades to Windows 8 Pro users.

HP clarifies Windows 8 consumer PC downgrade and warranties. More >

November 12, 2012
by sjvn01
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Verizon gets out of the Android and Blackberry app business

I use a Verizon Android smartphone, the Droid 4, but I’ve never used any of Verizon‘s built-in Android applications or gone to its app. store. It turns out I wasn’t the only one. By January 2013. Verizon won’t just be removing its apps from the market, it will start deleting its Verizon specific apps from your Android or Blackberry smartphone.

Why? Verizon isn’t saying in detail. but there’s no secret here. People dislike carrier-specific software. Android users in particular have never had much love for the bloatware that carriers routinely load on smartphones. Worse still, a lot of the bloatware came with security holes.

Despite this, for years, the carriers, including Verizon, resisted selling smartphones with stock Android. Verizon may not be ready to load pure Android with no Verizon specific changes on their smarpthones, but  the company that they’re not making any friends, nor profits, with their pre-loaded apps.

Verizon gets out of the Android and Blackberry app business. More >