Practical Technology

for practical people.

December 15, 2008
by sjvn01
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How is Microsoft with Vista like the Big Three automakers?

For more than a decade, if you owned a PC, you ran Windows and, far more often than not, Internet Explorer was your Web browser. In fact, for a while, the only three things you could be sure of were death, taxes and Microsoft.

Things have changed.

For the first time since Bill Gates strong-armed PC vendors into installing Windows, the operating system has dropped below a 90% market share, according to a Net Applications’ survey of Internet users’ operating systems.

That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Well, maybe you felt the same way back in the early ’90s when Toyota and Honda started really ripping into the market shares of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. And we all know how well American car makers are doing these days, don’t we? Whether the Big Three get a bailout or not, most automobile industry analysts expect at least one of them, if not all three, to go bankrupt in the next two years.

The Toyota of the PC market muscling in on Microsoft’s dominance is Apple. Mac OS X now has 8.8% of the market. Linux is far behind at not quite 1%. But with the growing popularity of Linux-powered laptops and netbooks from vendors like Dell, Lenovo and Asus, the open-source operating system is gaining ground at Windows’ expense as well.

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December 10, 2008
by sjvn01
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With HP in, all OEMs now ship desktop Linux

I have known for more years than I care to think about that HP has been almost ready to release a pre-configured Linux desktop system. But, then, they wouldn’t pull the trigger.

Now, they have. At long, long, one more time with feeling, last, HP is shipping Novell’s SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10 SP2 on a business desktop: the HP Compaq dc5850

The problem was HP was a house divided when it came to shipping a Linux desktop. A lot of HP, mostly on the engineering side, wanted to do it. A lot of other HP staffers, mostly management, wanted nothing do with it.

It’s not that HP didn’t get that their customers wanted Linux. They already knew that. HP had actually been shipping Linux on servers for ages. Next to IBM, when it comes to servers, HP is the most significant supporter Linux has. I mean, besides supporting the big names of Linux, like Red Hat and Novell SUSE, HP actually supports more obscure Linux distributions such as Asianux, Mandriva, and even the ultimate community Linux distribution: Debian.

But, when it came to the desktop, HP always got cold feet.

Oh, you could order Linux on a desktop, like the HP/Compaq nc6120 business notebook. And, if you wanted computers by the semi-trailer load, HP would install whatever you wanted on them. But, if you wanted ‘ready-to-wear’ desktop Linux you were out of luck.

Recently, however, the pro-Linux desktop forces started winning. First, HP released the HP 2133 Mini-Note with SLED. Now, starting on December 15th, you’ll be able a full desktop system preloaded with SLED and ready to go starting at $519.

With this move, HP finally followed Dell, which was the first major OEM to make desktop Linux available as a pre-load, Lenovo and Asus into the desktop Linux revolution. In fact, with HP coming aboard, the first stage of the Linux rebellion is done.

Today, for the first time ever, all the major PC vendors are shipping at least one system with pre-loaded desktop Linux. It’s a big day for desktop Linux users, maybe the biggest day ever.

A version of this story first appeared in ComputerWorld.

December 10, 2008
by sjvn01
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HP Finally Offers Pre-Installed Desktop Linux

For years, HP has been slowly edging towards releasing a pre-installed Linux for general users. Today, December 10th, the company finally announced that it would be releasing Novell‘s SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10 SP 2 on its low-priced business class HP Compaq dc5850.

This new desktop offering is aimed at SMB (small-to-medium sized businesses) and education users. Anyone interested in a Linux-powered work desktop, though, will be able to put the SLED-powered dc5850 to use.

The dc5850 is a small form-factor desktop. It comes with a wide variety of AMD processors. These range from the 2.2GHz AMD Sempron LE-1250 processor to the quad-processor 2.3GHz AMD Phenom X4 9600B processor. The system can hold up to 8GBs of RAM, but typically comes with 512MB to 2GBs of RAM.

You also get a variety of choices for your graphics. These include integrated AMD Radeon 3100 Graphics; NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS or the ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT. You also have many hard drives to choose from. The one thing the drives have in common is that they’re all fast. At the low end, there’s a 80GB 7,200 rpm drive and you can go up to a 500GB 7,200 rpm drive or a smaller, but faster, 160GB 10,000 rpm drive. You an also pick from one of three removable SATA drives.

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December 9, 2008
by sjvn01
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XP lives… for a price

Can we cut the crap? No one wants Vista, and stubborn Windows users have demanded XP. While neither Microsoft nor its partners will admit it, Microsoft has abandoned its attempt to kill off XP.

Last June, Microsoft announced that it would no longer be selling XP. Even then. Microsoft had started backing away from its flat statement that XP was history.

First, the rise of netbooks, which all were using desktop Linux, frightened Microsoft into offering XP Home to netbook vendors. It was already too late. Desktop Linux now runs on about three out of ten netbooks. It’s no wonder that Windows has, at long last, dropped below 90% of desktop market share.

Next, Microsoft decided that it would still allow some low-end desktops to run XP Home. This move seems to have amounted to little. I haven’t seen any cheap desktop systems with XP Home. Instead, Vista Basic, the Vista that even Vista fans can’t stand, is what I’ve found on bottom-end desktops.

Businesses, though, can’t use XP Home. It won’t work with corporate networks using AD (Active Directory) or domains. CIOs and CTOs, unless they’re willing to give desktop Linux or the Mac a try, must use XP Pro.

The good news for companies that won’t give up on Windows is that Microsoft quietly decided to let users buy ‘downgraded’ XP Pro from computer manufacturers through July 2009. The bad news is that it’s going to cost you.

Dell is now charging an extra $150 to use XP Pro. For the price of two XP Pro licenses, you can buy a business-network-ready netbook.

I get why people want XP Pro. It’s easily my favorite member of the Windows family. With Vista SP2 looking like a non-starter, and Windows 7 looking more and more like warmed-over Vista, I think that no matter what Microsoft may say, XP is going to be around for a long time to come.

Still, as I look ahead, I wish more people would give desktop Linux and the Mac a try. At an additional $150 a crack for XP and an economy heading for the dumpster, desktop Linux is more than ever the affordable choice. And Macs, which have always been the high-priced luxury line of computing, are beginning to look a lot more reasonable.

A version of this story first appeared in ComputerWorld.

December 7, 2008
by sjvn01
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Digital Copy: A feature that’s no feature

You may have noticed that many new DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are being advertised with a new, extra ‘feature:’ Digital Copy. These films, such as Wanted, The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, come with an additional disc. On this disc is a copy of the movie you can put it on your computer, and from there, view it on your PC’s screen or on your television via an Apple TV or some other computer-to-TV device.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well… no.

This is simply the movie industry’s latest attempt to sugar coat DRM (Digital Rights Management). You already bought the movie. You should be able to watch it on any device you own that can show the movie and back it up. Of course, that’s the last thing the movie companies want you to do. As far as they’re concerned, you don’t buy a movie, an episode of a TV show, an album, or song. You rent the use of it on one, or at most, two, devices.

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December 5, 2008
by sjvn01
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No Kindle for Christmas

I don’t have a Kindle. Yet. I was holding out for the second edition of the Kindle, but Amazon was unable to ship out by this holiday season. Now, even if you wanted the first model, you can’t have it. Amazon has run out of Kindles.

Argh! This makes two holiday seasons in a row Amazon’s shelves have been bare of Kindles. I can only presume that they didn’t know that Oprah Winfrey was going to name it her favorite new gadget in October. After all, if any company should know that when Oprah gives her blessing to a product it flies off the shelves it should be Amazon thanks to her book recommendations that turn no-name books into best-sellers.

Be that as it may, we won’t see first, or second, editions of Kindle this December. Kindle, however, isn’t the only Linux-powered eBook reader out there. Sony has two models out. There’s the Sony Reader PRS-700BC and the older Sony Reader PRS-505.

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