<IT WORLD> Windows 7 inches closer
By Martin J Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - In its rush to get Windows 7 on to the shelves, Microsoft
is pushing Release Candidate 1 of the operating system - effectively the final
testing stage - out to developers this week and to the public on May 5. It is
not planning a Release Candidate 2, so this is as close as you can get to the
fully operational product.
One new function that has generated hype on the web this week is an XP
compatibility mode that will allow Windows 7 to run applications in an XP
environment. A company product user guide stated "The Release Candidate
provides you the flexibility to run many older Windows XP applications in a
virtual Windows XP environment on a Windows 7-based PC, called Windows XP Mode,
this new feature requires an additional download".
The soon-to-be-available RC1 is feature complete, but Microsoft is
releasing the Ultimate edition, whereas most consumers will get the Home
Premium version pre-installed on new PCs or laptops, so some of those features
will not be available in the final product.
XP users will not be able to upgrade to the latest operating system and will
need to perform a data backup, format and clean install, which can be
time-consuming and requires some technical knowledge. Vista users will be able
to upgrade their current installations to Windows 7 relatively effortlessly.
Current reviews of Beta versions of Windows 7 claim faster installation times,
vastly improved performance and boot times, smoother application switching and
a far superior user interface - benefits that Apple's rival operating system,
OSX, has been streets ahead with for a long time. The difference with a new
competent Windows platform will be one of price, which, especially in the
current economic climate, Apple will lose ground on. Microsoft it seems is
running at full speed with Windows 7 so it can bring on the final product and
brush the nightmare of Vista under the digital carpet.
Industry
Data storage technology could be revolutionized once again as the boffins at
General Electric Company's research division claimed a breakthrough this week.
The company announced that it had developed a disc using hologram technology
that can store the same amount of data as 100 standard DVDs or 20 single-layer
Blu-ray discs.
GE intends to license the new optical technology to companies that will
manufacture players for the disc and expects it to be available by 2012. The
technology will enable data to be stored beneath the surface of the disc in
three dimensions as opposed to current CD and DVD formats, which write to the
surface only.
The discs, composed of microholographic material, will be able to hold 500
gigabytes of data; the company hopes to eventually develop one that can store a
full terabyte. The six-year project has cleared a number of hurdles to attain
its current success; one of the major problems was sourcing materials and
techniques to allow smaller holograms to reflect sufficient light for data
retrieval.
Over the next few years, optical technology, solid state and cloud computing
systems will all be vying for the top spot in the data storage medium race.
This leaves the consumer with more choice than ever and cheaper costs per
gigabyte to store data.
Gaming
Video game publisher Konami has pulled the plug on a realistic warfare game
pitching US forces against enemies in Iraq. The Japan-based company dropped
plans for Six Days in Fallujah in light of the reaction from the United
States. The first-person shooter was depicted as insensitive and inappropriate
long before its planned release next year. The game aimed to reconstruct the
second battle of Fallujah by conveying the reality of warfare to bring players
closer to the action. Konami partnered with over three dozen US Marines to
develop the title.
Telecoms
Knockoffs are nothing new in China, but one has been attracting attention this
week for its uncanny resemblance to a very popular phone from Apple. The
Hi-Phone looks, feels and operates the same as the iPhone, but is available at
about a quarter of the cost. It even has a little Apple logo on the back,
according to a report in the New York Times this week.
Small companies in China can now mass-produce counterfeit cell phones and
replicate units from Nokia, Samsung and Sony-Ericsson with remarkable
precision. Some of them sell for as little as US$20 a piece. Global brands may
be forced to lower their prices if the competition starts to hurt.
Internet
Mozilla released its final beta of Firefox 3.5 this week with the final product
still slated for this quarter. The latest salvo in the browser wars comes as an
effort to slow the take up of Microsoft's recently released, feature-rich
browser, Internet Explorer 8.
Originally to be named version 3.1, Firefox underwent substantial back-end
changes to its Javascript engine and page-rendering technology so the
developers settled for the 3.5 moniker. This performance-enhancing technology
should put the new version on a par with Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari in
terms of speed. Many of the other features are now available in all or the
leading browsers on the market. The decision of which one to use will
eventually come down to personal taste, as there won't be much between them in
terms of performance and functionality.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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Industry
