<IT WORLD>
Windows XP still a winner
By Martin J Young

HUA HIN, Thailand - Microsoft's most successful operating system to date turned 10 years old this week, but instead of birthday celebrations the company is urging consumers to drop it in favor of its latest version.

Windows XP was officially launched on October 25, 2001, to cheesy commercials of people flying around to the tune of Madonna's Ray of Light. Microsoft realized back then that sharing data and connecting with friends was the key to a successful

 
product, although they did not envisage a then 17-year-old Mark Zuckerberg making that success a reality on a slick website rather than on a PC.

Windows XP is no slouch; today the aging software still dominates 47.29% of computer operating systems, according to research firm Net Applications. At its peak, XP ran on almost 80% of desktop computers. Compare that with Apple's latest platform, OSX 10.6, which currently only has a 3.31% market share and even Microsoft's own latest version, Windows 7, which has 30.36% share, and the message is clear; XP is here to stay.

Even with its success, Microsoft would like it to go away and is making a bigger effort to discourage almost half of the world's computer users from keeping it. Officially, Windows XP will expire, in terms of any support from Microsoft, in April 2014; from then on users are on their own. The company has also designed its latest web browser, Internet Explorer 9, so that it will not function on XP and users need to upgrade their operating systems if they want it.

Ten years in the wild and three service packs later, Windows XP represents a stable operating system that runs on both new and aging hardware, although its limitations are showing through and the latest computer equipment will be choked running it. Vista was a disaster in terms of a replacement, and the much improved Windows 7, which has sold 450 million licenses since its launch two years ago, is finally catching up, but it will be a few years before XP finally kicks the digital bucket despite the catalysts of its creators.

Also 10 years on, this week marked the end of the Sony Ericsson handset joint venture, almost exactly a decade after the alliance was forged. Sony, which is paying US$1.5 billion for Ericsson's 50% share of the venture, will now seek to integrate the smartphone business more closely with its computers, televisions and tablets.

This may help it to better challenge Apple, whose easily networked products are proving a big hit with consumers. Apple this week declined to comment on rumors that it was readying to revisit  the TV business, taking it beyond the present Apple TV set-top. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said the company might start shippping an Internet-connected TV next year.


Internet
The People's Republic of Censorship unleashed another salvo on freedom of speech this week as a raft of greater governmental controls over social media were announced in China. The communique from the Communist Party Central Committee came in response to the huge increase in the number of blogging and social sites that allow users to comment on scandals, attack official inefficiency and abuses, and discuss sensitive issues.

The document stated that its purpose was to "Strengthen guidance and administration of social Internet services and instant communications tools, and regulate the orderly dissemination of information," and "apply the law to sternly punish the dissemination of harmful information."

The targets appear to be micro-blogging websites such as Sina Corp's Weibo service, which is a Chinese version of Twitter. Censors struggle to keep up as news and comments disseminate rapidly on these platforms - a recent example was the criticism over the government's handling of a high-speed rail crash in Wenzhou in July.

The announcement is a likely precursor for stricter controls and more self-regulation for Internet businesses in China. One blogger responded that "Good culture will all disappear if opinion keeps being guided." The reality is that those wanting to speak their minds will soon have to jump even higher to get over China's growing firewall.

According to Google, China is not the only country exerting greater controls over information on the Internet. The search giant's Transparency Report indicates that government requests for data on US web users increased by 29% in the last six months.

The report shows where governments have requested that Google remove data or have blocked its services in entirety. All Google servers were inaccessible in Libya for the first half of the year, as was YouTube in China.

US government agencies sent Google 5,950 criminal investigation requests for data on Google users and services during the first half of 2011; the company complied with 93% of them. The report also says 11,057 users and accounts were affected by government data requests in the US and 25,440 globally.

Google is part of a Due Process Coalition that calls for transparency and reform, yet none of its fellow members, including Facebook, Microsoft, Aol and Amazon, provide any data about government data requests and their compliance.

According to the report Brazil made the most data removal requests for the period followed by Germany, the US, and South Korea.

Telecoms
The Microsoft Nokia alliance this week launched two new Windows-powered smartphones that it hopes will tip the balance in a battle currently dominated by Google's Android. The Lumia 800 and 710 handsets both offer the regular lineup of sleek gadgets, functions and connectivity options expected from today's smart-phones.

The higher specification Lumia 800 will retail at 420 euros (US$584) with the 710 at 270 euros. They are expected to hit the shelves in Europe and Asia next month and in the US early next year.

Industry
IBM appointed its first female chief executive in its 100-year history this week by nominating Virginia Rometty to head the technology corporation. Rometty currently manages the sales and marketing division and will be taking over from Sam Palmisano, who has been at the helm for a decade and turned 60 this year.

Rometty, 54, joins the still relatively small ranks of female technology chief executives in the United States. Most recently, former eBay boss Meg Whitman took charge of Hewlett Packard last month. Analysts and company executives have reacted positively to the announcement, stating that Rometty has been instrumental in forging IBM's successes, which they are confident will continue. 

Whitman this week reversed the decision of her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, to spin of Hewlett Packard's personal computer division. The company is the world's biggest PC maker by sales.

Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.

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