Archive for July, 2007
July 30, 2007 at 8:07 am
· Filed under Linux, PCs, Windows, desktop OS, open source
- This column was published in The Weekender, a mainstream South African newspaper, this past weekend (28-29 July, 2007). Click here to subscribe and read it in all its original glory – with pictures and everything.
A FRIEND went looking for a new PC recently and came away with a new theory: “The modus operandi is to baffle with BS in the hope that customers will buy piles of hardware and software that they may, or may not, ever need,” he explained over a pint at our local.
He has a point. I recently had a similar experience, after deciding to get a PC for my mom. However, like most males, I have an inherent distrust of salesmen. And, like most men (who aren’t salesmen), I have a copy of Ten Rules to Make Shopping as Painless as Possible.
Read the rest of this entry »
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July 26, 2007 at 11:21 am
· Filed under genetics, science
And now for something completely different. The International Herald Tribune is running a piece about how increased understanding in the field of genetics is presenting more questions than answers. It is also threatening to undermine the entire biotech industry. It’s fascinating stuff if you have any interest in the subject. You can find the article here.
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July 25, 2007 at 8:49 am
· Filed under Linux, Windows, desktop OS, software development
My brother accused me last night of showing an obvious bias on this forum. So I had a look at what I’ve posted so far and I have to concede that he may have a point – there has been a rather unhealthy focus on Microsoft. I’d like to point out that it wasn’t deliberate but merely a function of stories that caught my eye in the first week or so of doing this blog. Can I help it if a certain monopolist was in the news for all the wrong reasons? 
However, since I am now aware of this apparent bias I shall endevour to post stories about other areas of technology that interest me. But before I do that, I HAVE to post another piece that concerns Redmond, albeit tangentially.
Research house Evans Data has just released a new report that indicates a dramatic shift in the priorities of North American software developers. According to the press release there is now a move away from Windows:
“Windows dominance on the client is cracking … Targeting of the Windows OS has declined by 12% from a year ago, continuing a two-year gradual decline. Currently 64.8% of North American developers are targeting some version of Windows, as opposed to 74% last year and this is expected to drop another 2% in the coming year. “
The company also notes that while Windows remains the largest market segment developers are increasing targeting Linux (up 34% from 8.8% a year ago to 11.8% today).
You can read the full press release here and if you want to purchase the survey send an email to sales@evansdata.com. Oh yes, you may want to mention the title of the report: The Spring 2007 North American Development survey.
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July 24, 2007 at 2:06 pm
· Filed under Linux, Microsoft, desktop OS, open source
The Microsoft attack on Linux continues. My last post dealt with Alexander Wolfe’s idiotic assertion that there are too many Linux distros. I also mentioned the divisive tactics Microsoft is employing to try an undermine Linux in particular and open source in general.
Well this is a sort of follow-up: Groklaw’s Pamela Jones has dissected the agreement between Microsoft and Linspire and concluded: “… with Linspire’s agreement, you have to give up pretty much all your GPL freedoms, as far as I can make out, and more. And what do you get in return for giving up everything? True Type fonts, Windows Media 10, DVD playback, patent coverage..”
You can read her complete analysis here. It’s fascinating reading – especially if you’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about.
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July 20, 2007 at 2:04 pm
· Filed under Linux, Microsoft, desktop OS, open source
InformationWeek staffer, Alexander Wolfe, is claiming on his blog that too many Linux distributions make for an open source mess. He draws a parallel with the mess that Unix became but fails to recall one important facet of that era: the different Unix flavours were inextricably tied to the underlying hardware by vendors eager to sell more boxes. Linux doesn’t have that problem.
He also refers to DistroWatch.com and points out correctly that there are some 359 different flavours of Linux. But again, what he omits is more instructive than what he says: most of those distros are targeted at specific niche, and typically hobbyist, markets.
Realistically there are a far smaller number of mainstream distributions. These include: Fedora/Red Hat, Linspire (formerly Lindows), Mandriva, OpenSuse/Suse Linux Enterprise, PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu and Xandros (forgive me if I’ve left one or two out, but you get the picture). If you want to able to find support for your Linux distribution, you’d be well-advised to stick to one of these.
The other important point that Wolfe neglects to mention is that Microsoft, by virtue of its actions in trying to divide and conquer the Linux threat to its Windows monopoly, is effectively consolidating the market. By conning the likes of Novell (Suse), Linspire and Xandros into signing “we won’t sue your customers for infringing our [dubious] patents” agreements, the monopolist is marginalising some distributions to the benefit of the others.
And the biggest winner so far appears to be Ubuntu, if one looks that Distrowatch.com’s latest rankings on the home page (right hand side, page down). Part of the reason for this is you can get it freely from the internet (or get it from a FreedomToaster near you) and you don’t have to install it to play around with it: just boot from the CD. There is also a huge (and growing) user community always happy to help new users if they get stuck. All you need is an internet connection.
Have you tried it yet?
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July 20, 2007 at 8:35 am
· Filed under Microsoft, ODF
Tectonic is reporting that Microsoft SA was defeated in a vote to have it’s proprietary Office OpenXML (OOXML) document format accepted by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) on Wednesday. The vote count was 13-4 against. See the full story here.
While it is excellent news considering that there already is an internationally ratified document standard, Open Document Format (ODF), it’s still only a small battle in the overall war. Microsoft will not give up its monopoly easily because it stands to lose billions in revenue by no longer being able to force users of its office productivity suite to “upgrade” simply by creating a new and incompatible document format.
Fortunately, Redmond has also hit a snag in the US. Arstechnica reports that the company’s plan to have its its format fast-tracked for approval as an ISO standard hit a snag recently it lost a vote by the V1technical committee which advises the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS). Indeed, Microsoft failed by two votes to gain the necessary two-thirds majority to give OOXML the “Approval, with comments” rating. This is despite the software giant using its influence to pack the committee with sycophants. Read the full story here.
Here’s hoping efforts to thwart Microsoft’s dominance continue to succeed. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate.
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July 18, 2007 at 3:20 pm
· Filed under Linux, Microsoft, desktop OS, open source
Interesting piece on silicon.com where a panel of CIOs is claiming the cost of upgrading to Windows Vista is forcing more organisations to evaluate alternatives such as Apple Macs and Linux for the desktop. More here.
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July 16, 2007 at 11:31 am
· Filed under open source
One of my hobby horses is open source software – not because it’s “free” but because it’s simply better quality than anything available from proprietary software vendors who keep their source code to themselves. Think about it: for an open source programmer every new application is another page in their CV. But I digress.
Recent research by XiTi Monitor indicates that the use of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser is now almost 25% across Europe. In fact, in some countries it’s rapidly approaching the 50% mark. Similar figures can be found in the Far East but in deepest darkest Africa Firefox penetration is lagging at a paltry 13.1% – see the full report more here.
Interestingly users in the US are still predominately locked into Microsoft with Firefox users there making up just 15.1% of the web browsing public. This is supported by Janco Associates research published here. However, it should be noted that Janco’s CEO, M Victor Janulaitis, doesn’t agree that his figure of 13% represents US market share for Firefox. Indeed, he reckons his figures are the global average.
You make up your own mind.
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