By Eric Pettifor 2010 could prove to be the year of the iPhone killer, but, if so, Apple’s bereavement will simply be collateral damage in the ever-raging battle between giants Microsoft and Google. Google’s Android on a Google phone won’t deliver the death blow, but it will be a sign of the end times. Android […]
Why does anyone use Windows?
By Eric Pettifor I am much more enamoured of my Acer Aspire One netbook since I put the Xubuntu Linux distribution on it (instructions here). The original Linux interface strongly suggested that its developers thought people would like the netbook to be a simple internet appliance. An interesting idea. However, it looks like a laptop, […]
40 and still gorgeous
Over at Computer World, they’ve got a piece celebrating this summer’s 40th anniversary of the invention of the UNIX operating system with a look back at its past. While originally designed to be a multiuser operating system, and later becoming the default for big iron, UNIX was initially created on a quite gutless, even by […]
Yet more disappointing technologies
Shaun Nichols and Iain Thomson of pcauthority.com.au have compiled a list of top ten disappointing technologies. Drum roll please . . . Number 10: Virtual RealityNumber 09: Alternative Search EnginesNumber 08: Voice RecognitionNumber 07: Apple LisaNumber 06: 10 GB EthernetNumber 05: FireWireNumber 04: BluetoothNumber 03: ItaniumNumber 02: ZuneNumber 01: Windows VistaYes, there you have it, […]
Microsoft to open the Windows?
Will Microsoft be compelled to open source its Windows operating system? Yes, says Charles Babcock in his informationweek.com article, Why Windows Must Go Open Source. He posits that Microsoft is facing serious competition from Linux on netbooks and other low-end computers, such that if it wishes to protect its application market (mostly Office), it had […]
2009: Linux on netbooks, Nokia on Apple’s tail
I’m looking back at last year’s end-of-year tech columns and feeling totally bummed out. We still don’t have globallink communicators with roll up screens a la “Earth: Final Conflict.” It remains something for the lab, like this prototype. Still no sexbots. Perhaps they’ll be one of those techs like videophones — featured in scifi, but, […]
Negroponte vs. the Open-Source Fundamentalists
Rumblings of discontent within the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project erupted to the surface last week with the resignation of chief software architect, Walter Bender. A split has formed between those, like Bender, who see the project as primarily educational, and OLPC leader Nicholas Negroponte, who wants to push as many laptops into the […]
Resistance is futile
A while ago, I wrote a piece outlining why the One Laptop per Child’s XO computer was not for the average user. It essentially boils down to the fact that the XO uses a graphical environment, Sugar, which is totally tailored to classroom use and eschews anything outside that narrowly defined context, including what most […]
Mom and the MacBook
My mom is a Linux-using grandma who travels a lot. Recently she required medical attention while in another city, and wound up in hospital for several weeks. I felt very sorry for her. Yes, for the medical concerns, of course, but also because she was cut off from the internet. Even her brother, my octogenarian […]
Dellelujah!
Huzzah! At last it has finally happened. A major PC vendor is selling Linux preinstalled. That’s right, you no longer need fear whatever it is that’s so scary about installing an operating system. How’s this sound for $599 US? Dell Dimension E520 NIntel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4300 (1.8GHz, 800 FSB)Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 7.041GB Dual […]
