ZDNet Must Read:
The day Microsoft killed the "Vista" name - January 31, 2006
Tech pundits the world over have their own ideas as to why Windows Vista got such a bad reputation. My personal belief is that the public's impression of Vista was... Continued »
November 20th, 2008
Microsoft: Free anti-malware for all (Windows users)!
The other day Microsoft announced that it would phase-out sales of Windows Live OneCare subscriptions and roll out no-cost anti-malware during the second half of 2009. What does this mean for everyone involved?
Upsides for Microsoft
- Being able to fortify the Windows OS separate to issuing patches.
- Gaining access to systems where the users don’t run Windows Updates/Malicious Software Removal Tool.
- Being able to provide protection for vulnerabilities involving third-party tools.
Downsides for Microsoft
- Opening up a whole can of anti-trust worms.
- Microsoft anti-malware doesn’t really rank all that well (PDF).
- Great fodder for more Apple ads.
Upsides for Consumers
- Free anti-malware (although such a thing already exists).
- Out of the box protection.
- Security software on every Windows box would mean a lot less spam and malware all round.
Downsides for Consumers
- Microsoft anti-malware doesn’t stack up very well against the competition (PDF).
- If the take-up of the anti-malware is good, it’s a massive target for hackers and malware writers.
- If installed as default (unlikely) then it’s just more clutter for power users to get rid of.
- If the software has a bad day and starts removing key files or generating a lot of false positives, a LOT of people are going to be affected.
Upsides for other anti-malware vendors
- If the Microsoft offering is poor, it might drive sales.
Downsides for other anti-malware vendors
- Well, if the Microsoft product is good, the downsides are obvious.
The bottom line … it’s really a wait and see game as to what Microsoft brings out. Whispers that I’m hearing indicate that “Morro” (the codename for the product) will be similar OneCare and will be available as a download for Windows users.
How will other security vendors react? Well, I’ve approached a few for comment and so far the replies have ranged from silence to bewilderment. While it’s too early to know for sure, my guess is that there will be a clamor for the courts as soon as this goes live.
November 20th, 2008
How Apple gained the upper hand on Microsoft
I’ve just been working my way through hundreds of emails released as part of the Vista Capable lawsuit (if you want to read along at home with me, you can download them from here) and there’s one phrase that keep coming across that might explain why Apple got the upper hand on Microsoft with Vista.
The phrase is “Good Better Best” and it’s used by Microsoft engineers and executives to describe the different different Windows Vista experience that users would get depending on the level of hardware available.
Now, I’m not going to argue that on many levels, different hardware will give you a different experience. For example, a better GPU will give you a better gaming experience, better CPU will make transcoding video faster, a bigger hard drive lets you store more data, a TV tuner lets you … well, you get the idea. But what happened with Windows Vista was that there was a transition point where the level of hardware (specifically the GPU) gave users a wholly different user interface experience. Whether you consider the Aero UI to be important or not, to the average consumer who’d seen Vista ads, it’s a tough deal to explain why their Vista looks different to the Vista on TV or the Vista they saw in the store.
Enter Apple and the Mac. Having handled a number of Macs one thing stands out - the Mac experience on one model is pretty much the same as the Mac experience you get on another model. In fact, you can take an old Mac and upgrade the OS and get pretty much the same experience as buying a new Mac. Sure, the speed won’t be the same, and how much you can store on the disk might be less, but the Mac experience doesn’t vary that much from system to system.
Bottom line, the Mac experience removes uncertainty. You can be totally oblivious to GPUs, MHz, Intel, AMD, SATA, ATI, NVIDIA, [insert pretty much any term you can think of] … buy a Mac, and get the same Mac experience as “Bill next door” or “Joe the Plumber.”
Too many flavors, too many uncertainties … I hope to see fewer of both of these as Windows 7 gets ready for launch. Microsoft needs to work closer with OEM partners to make the entry level as easy and as painless as possible for causal users who aren’t interested in what makes their PCs tick. Right now, given that 50% of those buying Macs are new to the platform, I’d guess that things aren’t as painless as they could be.
How much is certainty worth to the end user?
November 19th, 2008
Holiday Gift Guide 2008: High-end hardware
Lists … if there’s one thing that people seem to what at this time of year it’s lists. Over the next few weeks I’ve planned on posting several kit lists for the Holiday season covering a wide variety of different kit.
To kick off the lists, I thought I’d start by getting the big numbers out of the way first and look at high-end hardware! The top-end, sky’s the limit stuff that, if nothing else, is cool to look at and fantasize about (and in a few months be able to pick up for a middle-of-the-road price!).
NOTE: Each time I come out with a list of kit I always end up fielding a few emails and comments from people wondering if companies have “bought” space on the list. Let me tell you now that the only way for a product to get on this list is to be the best - period. Manufacturers, vendors and PR companies have zero influence over this or any other recommendation that I make.
Quick menu
- CPU
- Motherboard - Socket LGA 1366
- Motherboard - Socket LGA 775
- Motherboard - Socket AM2/AM2+
- Graphics cards
- Hard drives
- RAM
- Sound card
- Speakers
- PSU
- Case
Next –>
November 18th, 2008
Apple dodges antitrust bullet
A California judge has granted Apple’s motion to dismiss Psystar’s counterclaims that the company violated antitrust laws by blocking third-parties from selling Mac OS-based systems.
After Apple sued Psystar for selling Mac-clone systems, Psystar later filed a counterclaim which charged Apple with violating federal and state antitrust laws. However, today Judge William Alsup dismissed Psystar’s claims and granted Apple’s motion to have the counterclaim dismissed unless Psystar can come up with an amended complaint by December 8th.
Some key points from the order:
- Whether products are part of the same or different markets under antitrust law depends on whether consumers view those products as reasonable substitutes for each other and would switch among them in response to changes in relative prices.
- The counterclaim admits that market studies indicate that, although Apple computers with Mac OS enjoy strong brand recognition and loyalty, they are not wholly lacking in competition
[n]otwithstanding the consistent upward differentiation in price across a broad spectrum . . . by and between a Computer Hardware System without a Mac OS and a Apple-Labeled Computer Hardware System with the Mac OS, studies by
Satmetrix Systems found that Apple is known for its “market performance and brand leadership” and that APPLE “far outranks
its closest competitor.”
Psystar fails to explain why these “competitor[s]” should be excluded from the definition of the relevant market. - Psystar also points to Apple’s extensive advertising campaigns. Those advertising campaigns more plausibly support an inference contrary to that asserted in the counterclaim — vigorous advertising is a sign of competition, not a lack thereof. If Mac OS simply had no reasonable substitute, Apple’s vigorous advertising would be wasted money. The advertising campaigns suggest a need to enhance brand recognition and lure consumers from a competitor. The “brand leadership” and brand loyalty Psystar alleges, if true, suggest that Apple’s efforts have borne fruit.
Full order here (PDF).
November 18th, 2008
Microsoft to deliver free anti-malware to Windows users
News just in from Microsoft - the company is to offer no-cost anti-malware to Windows users and phase-out sales of Windows Live OneCare subscription.
Code-named “Morro,” the product, which is scheduled for release during the second half of 2009, will offer protection against viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans.
From the press release:
As part of its commitment to provide users with a trustworthy computing experience, Microsoft has announced plans to offer a new, core security solution for consumers. Available at no additional cost,this new solution will focus on delivering easy-to-use protection from threats that can place personal information at risk and harm system performance.
This new anti-malware offering, scheduled to be released in the second half of 2009, will provide protection from a variety of threats – including viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans – and is specifically designed to address the demands of smaller PC form factors and the rapid increases in the incidence of global malware. This solution will be suitable for customers in emerging markets where infection rates tend to be higher, and where demand for entry-level PCs makes it even more important that protection be available that does not sacrifice system performance.
As part of the effort to protect the broadest possible range of consumers, Microsoft has also announced it will phase out sales of its Windows Live OneCare subscription offering in order to focus on removing hardware and cost barriers that can limit access to core malware protection.
Two questions …
- Do you trust Microsoft to provide security software? (no, I don’t … )
- How will other security vendors react to this? (badly I guess, unless this application turns out to be next to useless and be an advert for third-party security vendors)
Thoughts?
November 18th, 2008
The day Microsoft killed the “Vista” name - January 31, 2006
Tech pundits the world over have their own ideas as to why Windows Vista got such a bad reputation. My personal belief is that the public’s impression of Vista was tarnished by the experiences of early adopters, and many early adopters were burned by Microsoft’s decision to lower the requirements for the Windows Vista Capable logo and leave millions of people stranded with a sub-standard Vista experience.
In case you can’t remember as far back as early 2006, let me remind you on what the deal was with the Vista Capable logo. Basically this was a program that was unveiled by Microsoft in March of 2006 which allowed OEMs to label systems that shipped with XP installed as being ready for Windows Vista. Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, not when those PCs end up not being able to give the end user the full Vista experience by not being able to run Aero graphics thanks to sub-standard integrated graphics.
But how could a system marked as Vista Capable not be able to deliver the full Vista experience? Because on January 31, 2006 Microsoft lowered the requirements to Intel to shift millions of 915 chipsets. These chipsets did not support WDDM (Windows Device Driver Model) and did not support Aero.
The timeline, as described in the latest batch of unsealed court documents relating to a class-action lawsuit against Read the rest of this entry »
November 17th, 2008
Going “Core i7″ - What you need!
You know something funny, despite the current economic downturn, my Hardware 2.0 mailbox provides conclusive proof that there are folks out there who want to spend up to $1,000 on Intel’s newest piece of silicon - the Core i7 processor. But what do you need to get make your “Extreme” rig Core i7 ready?
Core i7 component gallery
The Core i7 processor
The Core i7 represents a new milestone in architecture for Intel. The LGA775 socket that worked for the Pentium 4 / Pentium D / Core 2 family has been replaced by the larger Socket LGA 1366. With the Core i7 Intel has also reintroduced Hyper-Threading, giving the desktop CPUs the power of eight virtual cores. You also get the brand new X58 chipset and support for DDR3.
The bottom line for all these architecture changes is an overall performance boost. Given the same clock speed, compared to the Core 2 architecture the Core i7 offers something in the region of a 15% performance gain - and these results are backed up by benchmark after independent benchmark. In fact, the bottom-end Core i7 beats Intel’s previous “”Extreme Edition” chip, the QX9770.
The Core i7 processors currently come in two flavors and three clock speeds:
- Core i7 920 2.66GHz | Street price: ~$320
- Core i7 940 2.93GHz | Street price: ~$600
- Core i7 965 “Extreme Edition” 3.2GHz | Street price: ~$1,070
Each processor comes fitted with 8MB of “Smart Cache” and support for 3 channels of DDR3 1066MHz memory.
More details on the Core i7 and Core i7 “Extreme Edition.”
Next –>
November 14th, 2008
AMD’s latest roadmaps offer hope - if the company can stick to them!
Yesterday AMD released roadmaps outlining its plans for 2008 to 2011, and they look good. They give a company that seems to have been in a tailspin for several years a glimmer of much-needed hope - as long as it can stick to the roadmap and actually deliver the goods.
Two problems have plagued AMD and resulted in the company delivering quarter after quarter of losses:
- Failure to deliver products in a timely manner. A good example of this were the Opteron server CPUs. Great processors, the only problem was they were a good year behind their time.
- Delivering products at too low a clock speed. A good example of this was the Phenom range of CPUs.
Outdated products + Less than impressive clock speeds = BAD QUARTERS!!!
OK, let’s take a look at AMD’s roadmaps.
OK, one of the first things that stand out is the delay of “Fusion” combined CPU/GPU package (called an accelerated Processing Unit or APU) until 2011. At last year’s financial analyst day AMD announced that a notebook platform called “Shrike” and an APU called “Swift” was supposed to debut in 2009. Not any more. There’s no mention of “Shrike” or “Swift.” Instead we have to wait until 2011 for the “Llano” and “Ontario” APUs to appear.
But isn’t this an indication that AMD can’t stick to a roadmap from year to year? Well, only time will really tell, but I think that it makes sense for AMD to wait for the 32nm architecture before pushing out APUs because this will be able to deliver good performance per Watt. This might seem like a house of cards build upon the foundation of getting the 32nm process working and delivering chips, and that’s true, but AMD sounds confident.
Putting APUs aside, AMD has four new mobile CPUs in the pipeline.
Two of those are “Conensus” and “Caspian” and both are slated to come out next year. They will feature two cores and DDR2 memory support. “Conensus” should appear during the second half of 2009 as part of the new “Yukon” platform aimed at ultra-portable notebooks and “mini-notebooks,” while the “Caspian” powered “Tigris” platform will follow towards the end of 2009 and target mainstream notebooks.
AMD will follow up in 2010 with “Geneva” and “Champlain.” Both of these CPUs will support DDR3 memory, and “Champlain” will bring four processing cores to mainstream notebooks. “Geneva,” like “Conesus,” will be aimed at ultraportable systems and mini-notebooks in a Ball-Grid-Array package (a chip that is soldered directly onto the motherboard). “Conesus” and “Geneva” feel to me as though they are targeting Intel’s low voltage Core 2 processors rather than Atom-based systems.
AMD also expects to debut 32nm processors on the desktop in 2011 with “Orochi.” Little details on this chip at present, other than it will feature more than four cores, have over 8MB of cache, and DDR3 support (no integrated GPU though).
Go back to the client processor roadmap. See the “Deneb” cores scheduled for next year? Those are the Phenom II X4 processors and will be launched at CES next January. These chips are a desktop version of the “Shanghai” server CPUs. These CPUs will form part of the “Dragon” platform, a replacement to the “Spider” platform that was launched at the end of 2007.
What was an interesting takeaway from the financial analyst day yesterday was seeing AMD rebrand itself. AMD became successful by appealing to the high-end enthusiast market during the late 1990s, but now AMD has moved away from that an is instead, at least when it comes to the consumer desktop and mobile, concentrating on mainstream value.
Here the message is “See for Yourself.” This is supposed to convey the concept that that benchmarks don’t sell the end experience, rather visual quality does. Why the shift from performance? Well, while AMD doesn’t do very well against Intel in the processor benchmarks, it does when it comes to graphics. Since AMD is focused on platforms it can push an overall experience rather than a set of benchmark results.
November 13th, 2008
Highlights from AMD’s Financial Analyst Day 11/13
Here are some highlights from AMD’s Financial Analyst Day. I’ve decided to post raw slides and might pick up on some of the points raised in later posts.
Profitability, Focus, Execution … you’ll be seeing a lot of that over the following slides.
Notebooks driving sales. Nothing new there.
November 13th, 2008
ASRock “4 second” Instant Boot for Windows
Want a way to boot up your Windows Vista PC from a full shut down in a matter of seconds? ASRock have the answer!
The solution is technology that ASRock call Instant Boot. This is interesting technology because it leverages the S3 and S4 ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) features which normally enable the Sleep/Standby and Hibernation modes in Windows to cut boot times down to something like 4 seconds. By calling S3 and S4 at specific times during the startup and shutdown process, Instant Boot enables you to boot up to your Windows desktop in a few seconds seconds, even after a total shut down.
There are two modes of Instant Boot available:
- Fast mode - This uses S3 and boots up in around four seconds
- Regular Mode - This uses S4 and takes some 20 to boot
The advantage of Instant Boot over normal Sleep and Hibernation modes is clear. Instant Boot allows you to get the benefits of a clean Windows boot without any of what ASRock calls “accumulated Read the rest of this entry »
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Right to Reply: Should any industry representatives wish to comment on any posts on Hardware 2.0, I will be happy to publish their reply verbatim on this blog.
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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