<IT WORLD> Microsoft in burnish
mode By Martin J
Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - Microsoft is
planning a Windows 8 Consumer Preview event in
Barcelona at the end of this month during which
the beta version of the operating system is likely
to be released and the date for the final edition,
later this year, should be announced.
In
an effort to be more mobile and tablet compatible,
company software engineers have made some radical
changes to the operating system. Windows 8 will be
the largest overhaul of the platform since Windows
95.
The hype is all about Metro mode,
which replaces the traditional Start button,
taskbar, standard icons and explorer interface
with something called live tiles, blocks of screen
that can be
manipulated by touch and
display real-time information such as new
messages, social network content and news feeds.
Users will have the choice of the
traditional Windows look and feel if they are
running the operating system on a desktop PC or
Metro if it is being used on a tablet. Microsoft
is gambling on Metro, and needs a winning hand if
it is to claw its way into the tablet market, at
present dominated by Apple and Google.
A
major complaint about current and previous
Windows-based systems is the boot-up time, Windows
8 promises faster booting - eight seconds or less
according to Microsoft. The software will utilize
new technology called the unified extensible
firmware interface (UEFI), which allows Windows to
interface directly with hardware-vendor firmware
to render consistent graphics throughout the boot
cycle. That black screen with those DOS start-up
parameters is history.
Coupled with the
speed boost is a new Secure Boot feature designed
to prevent malware from infecting computers during
start-up.
Another annoyance with current
and previous iterations of the platform is the
constant restarting that is required whenever
something is updated or installed. Windows 8
promises fewer of these, with the exception of the
"Patch Tuesday" update cycle and critical security
fixes.
A factory reset function will allow
users to wipe out everything on their machine and
restore it to the factory default at the touch of
a button. A Reset and Refresh mode reinstalls
Windows but retains user data, applications and
preferences - it will improve on the often
unreliable System Restore function in current
versions.
One of the best features of
Windows 8, and a smart move by Microsoft, will be
that it can and will run on older hardware that is
capable of running the decade-old Windows XP. The
company has yet to release the official minimum
hardware specifications for the new OS but they
are likely to be similar to Windows 7; a 1GHz
processor, 1Gb of memory, 20 gigabytes of hard
disk space and a DirectX 9 compatible graphics
card.
Providing Microsoft meets the late
2012 deadline for the final release, Windows 8
will be launched almost exactly three years after
Windows 7 hit the shelves. More information on new
functionality and the ongoing development of the
operating system can be found on the company
Building Windows 8 blog.
Industry Apple products are
wildly popular in China but the California-based
company and its phalanx of legal muscle has hit a
wall this week over the use of the name iPad
within the People's Republic. Apple originally
challenged Shenzhen-based technology company
Proview in December last year over the name, which
it claimed rights to in mainland China.
The history is a little convoluted.
Proview International Holdings registered the name
iPad back in 2000 for use in Taiwan and in 2001
for use in mainland China. Apple purchased the
iPad trademark in 2006. However, according to
Taiwan-based subsidiary Proview Electronics, the
deal covered only use of the name in Taiwan, not
the mainland. The rights for mainland China are
still owned by another subsidiary, Shenzhen-based
Proview Technology. The original trademark was
sold to a holdings company called IP Application
Development, unbeknown to Proview, secretly owned
by Apple Inc.
A Shenzhen court rejected
Apple's appeal in December and this week Proview
Technology filed for a temporary restraining order
on sales of the tablet device in mainland China.
Proview chairman Yang Rongshan stated" "We've been
negotiating with Apple, I can't tell you what the
status is right now since this is a commercial
secret, but so far their attitude is still quite
ambiguous."
Proview is asking between
US$38 million and $1.6 billion in compensation,
and while Apple has hoards of cash far in excess
of these amounts it is highly unlikely that it
will pay.
Gaming According to
Microsoft, revenue from the Xbox 360 and
associated services grew 9% to US$322 million in
the last quarter of 2011, although sales of
standalone Kinect sensors fell during the period.
The company shipped 8.2 million Xbox consoles
during the quarter, up 6.3 million from the same
period 12 months earlier.
Nintendo
reported a loss during the last nine months of
2011. Factors attributing to the poor performance
included price cuts on the 3DS handheld console, a
strong yen eroding overseas earnings and growing
competition from smart-phones that can be used for
gaming. The company hopes for a turnaround when it
launches the Wii U, the successor to the motion
detecting Wii console at the end of the year.
Sony also reported losses as sales from
its consumer products and services unit, which
includes video games, fell 24%. The company blames
lower revenues from the PlayStation 3 due to price
cuts and higher marketing costs.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times
Online correspondent based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online
(Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and
republishing.)
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