The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: April 22, 2007

Official News - page 12


WINDING DOWN

An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton

I'm back... ACCU Conference was great - what I can remember of it - except for the food, which was vile. My talk, on network programming went off well, with several dozen people there. That was pretty good when you consider that I was talking at the same time as Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of C++. Frankly, when I saw that they'd rearranged the schedule so that this happened, I didn't think anyone would be at my talk!

Since this is the first edition after the Easter break, and the figures are now in for the first Quarter of 2007, I thought it was an appropriate time to take a look at how Microsoft's Vista version of Windows is getting along.

So...


Analysis: Vista - Three months and counting...

Vista... Yes, you know the new version of Microsoft Windows. A thousand or so digital years in the making, and now having been on sale for three months. Perhaps a good time to review how it's doing.

Well, according to Microsoft, they've sold twice as many copies as they had sold of Windows XP after it had been out for three month. Sounds good, doesn't it. Only one problem I can see. The size of the PC market has more than doubled since XP was launched! By my calculations that puts Vista -behind- XP in relative terms. And this is in spite of Microsoft's undoubted success in eliminating the opportunity for consumers to specify XP for new computers.

Then there's the little-publicised compatibility problems. Problems do I hear you ask? Yes problems. It seems that a number of high profile applications don't work properly with Vista and aren't certified for Vista. Some of them are obvious, like Symantic's anti-virus software which has run foul of Vista's much vaunted security (that's the bit that pops up a million and one dialog boxes all the time).

Other programs that won't, or may not, run properly on Vista include the current versions of Adobe's Photoshop, InDesign and Dreamweaver packages. IBM's Lotus Notes isn't certified, although it will run on Vista, but IBM is warning that users may suffer glitches.

Even worse news for users of these packages is that the current versions will probably -never- be certified to run on Vista. If you want to run on Vista you will have to buy the new versions due out shortly. So upgrades to Vista will cost not only buying a new computer, but also the cost of buying new versions of the major applications. No wonder a whole lot of companies are deciding to stick with XP!

But it's not just shrink wrap products that are having problems. Big companies and government departments have custom software which it turns out won't run properly under Vista. The best known organisation to have problems is the US Federal Aviation Authority, which has a number of custom built Lotus Notes plug-ins that won't work with Vista. That's 45,000 desktops that are still running Windows XP, and the FAA is only one example.

Microsoft claim that there are no more problems with compatibility this time round than there were with XP. Not a claim that it's easy to verify (hands up those who remember how many compatibility problems there were when XP was launched?), but even if it's true, the business climate has changed since XP was launched. Google has its new Google Apps package, at which organisations like the FAA are starting to take a hard look.

Linux desktops, after years of struggling to attain a professional look, are nearly there. I recently installed the latest Ubuntu Linux distribution and its Gnome desktop had a definite Windows XP feel installed straight off the disk without any tweaking. Alarmingly, it even had that Windows lack of useful information when something goes wrong (in this case with the networking drivers). It was a bit spooky. There is such a thing as a too-perfect emulation of the original...

Apple Macs are still overpriced, but not as much as they used to be, and they are cool machines that will boot into XP if you have the correct, easy to use software. Only the fact that Apple is busy re-inventing itself as a consumer products company has stopped it making a big push to fill the gap, but it's doing very nicely, thank you.

That's at least three serious competitors that either weren't around, or weren't up to it, when XP was launched, and which could take advantage of compatibility problems. Of course, Microsoft isn't going to go away in a hurry, it's got a lot of money, a lot of talented engineers, and inertia is on its side. But then it's only 20 or so years since the word on the street was that no one ever got sacked for buying IBM!


Shorts:

While we're talking about Microsoft, I guess I should mention that its 'Flash Killer' new technology, called Silverlight, was launched this week. Previously known under the very unsexy moniker of 'WPF/E', the plug-in will work not only with Microsoft's own IE, but also with Safari and Firefox on both Windows and the Mac. Anyone else notice the absence of Linux? I wonder why that could be :)

Canny readers will also not be surprised to hear that Silverlight also has facilities for Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). I guess it's yet another product written to satisfy big media at the expense of the consumer. I guess I'll pass on this new plug-in - I like my music and video unadulterated.

http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-6176022.html
http://www.physorg.com/news95944421.html

I hate to tell US readers, but the days of (online tax free) wine and roses are nearly over. The politicians are starting to get their act together. They may not know exactly what this 'dig-it-all one-line' Internet stuff is about, but they can recognise a cash-cow when it pokes them in the face.

A new offensive is being mounted to persuade Congress critters to pass laws requiring companies like Amazon to charge sales tax on shipments going out of state. At the moment online retailers have been able to point out that there are over 7,000 different tax agencies each with different, and often conflicting tax regulations. The agencies, however, are starting to get their act together to provide a single, unified tax, and, when they, or if, they succeed the main defence of online retailers will vanish with the wind. At that stage it will only be a matter of time before you can kiss tax-free online transactions goodbye...

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6176638.html

Those of you who've been reading this newsletter for a while will know that I'm involved in writing the new C++ programming language international standard. Obviously I take it seriously, but even members of standards bodies can laugh at their work sometimes. The other week a member posted a URL for a really funny contribution to the long running debate on whether standards stifle innovation. It's not technical - you'll all recognise, and have strong opinions, on the piece of standard equipment being analysed. Read it - I know you'll like it :)

http://www.consortiuminfo.org/bulletins/mar07.php#considerthis


Homework:

I would have told you about the title of this article in Ubiquity online magazine, even if hadn't been planning to recommend it :)

It's called 'The Phenomenology of Slowly-Loading Webpages'. A fabulous title! And it's well worth reading too. The author, Robert Roseberger is a philosopher with a knack for explaining philosophical terms in language ordinary people can understand. In this piece he uses the mental break caused by a web page that loads slowly, instead of the normal speed, to explain the philosophical tradition known as phenomenology.

If you'd like to broaden your knowledge to understand some philosophy, read it. It's fascinating!

http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v8i15_rosenberger.html


Scanner: Other stories

Calif. techies sue AT&T and Yellowpages in overtime spat
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/13/att_yellowpages_overtime_class_action/

Router technology creeps into the space age
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/13/space_routers/

Microsoft mugged over VC-1 codec patent terms
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/14/microsoft_vc-1_codec_analysis/

Microsoft aims to add 1 billion more users by 2015
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSN1634018120070419

CDs, chocolate, and cigarettes dumped in favour of phones
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/15/fags_chocs_cds_no_more/

Visa hit by transactions failure
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/04/13/visa_system_failure/


Acknowledgements

Thanks to readers Barbara, Fi and DJ for drawing my attention to material used in this issue. Please send suggestions for material to alan@ibgames.com.

Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
22 April2007

Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist. His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan.

Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html


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