In a transparent attempt to drum up anti-virus software sales, McAfee’s regional director for Africa, Chris van Niekerk, has told a colleague that an increase in smartphone adoption is synonymous with an increase in viruses. He maintains that hackers are targeting smartphones specifically and cites the weaknesses of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform as the primary reason for this. Read about his posturing here.
What van Niekerk fails to mention is that Microsoft is small potatoes – VERY small potatoes – in the smartphone operating system (OS) business. Indeed, the last research on the subject I saw was provided in Gartner report entitled: “Market Trends: Smartphones, Worldwide, 2Q06” (12-Sep-2007). In that report the US-based research house notes that smartphone shipments in 2Q06 were dominated by the Symbian OS (71,3%) and Linux (19.4%). Microsoft accounted for a paltry 3.3% of the market. For the sake of smartphone security let’s hope it stays that way.
Archive for September, 2007
AV vendors still crying wolf
Unbundle Windows, says EU Think Tank
The Inq is reporting that a European think tank dubbed The Globalisation Institute, has recommended to the EU Commission that it require the unbundling¹ of Microsoft Windows from new computers to promote competition in the Operating System (OS) software market.
Alex Singleton, president of the institute, penned a policy briefing which argues that following the success in forcing Microsoft to unbundle its Media Player from Windows, the Commission should take its thinking Microsoft’s operating system monopoly to its logical conclusion and support the “unbundling” of Windows from desktop computers.
Imagine that: not having to pay a Windows tax when you buy a new computer. The document highlights the fact that Windows imposes higher costs, saying: “The Windows monopoly imposes an extra cost on virtually every EU business, as the price of operating systems would drop in a more competitive market.”
As The Inq so eloquently puts it: hear, hear. You can download the full policy briefing (PDF, 1.2MB) here.
1. Bundling refers to the common practice of computer manufacturers to include the OS software with computer hardware, all for a single price and typically without the buyer having any choice as to what OS software they receive. Unbundling means the decoupling of computer hardware and software such that each is sold and priced separately, often with the buyer having a choice between two or more competing OS software products. This has been prohibited (in Europe) for vendors of expensive, large scale commercial computer systems such as mainframes and high-end Unix systems for about 25 years or so.
IBM jumps into OpenOffice.org; or does it?
Lucy Sherriff over at The Register reported earlier in the week that IBM has joined the OpenOffice.org development community by donating code it has developed for Lotus Notes and promising to contribute to improving the “feature richness and code quality” of OpenOffice.org. ComputerWorld’s Todd Weiss also reported the news, adding that Big Blue will dedicate a team of 35 Chinese programmers in China to the project and that more people will be added as needed around the world.
In the interim, however, IBM’s press release on the announcement seems to have disappeared from the company’s web site. Perhaps the more recent Inq story provides a clue, noting that some of the code IBM promised actually belongs to Microsoft.
And assuming the the Redmond monopolists have objected, why? Two reasons spring to mind: IBM’s participation in the project will certainly boost OpenOffice.org in its battle for market share against Microsoft’s similar product; and the widely reported remarks of John McCreesh, head of marketing for the open source project:
“We welcome IBM’s contributions to further enhancing the OpenOffice.org product. But equally important is IBM’s future commitment to package and distribute new works that leverage OpenOffice.org technology supporting the ISO ODF standard.”
and
“ODF is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the IT industry to unify round a standard, and deliver lasting benefit to users of desktop technology.”
Given Microsoft’s current battle with ISO and its members to have it’s own competing standard certified, the second reason would probably make most sense.
Financial Mail’s Duncan McLeod wrote about that battle on his blog, here and here. I’ve also mentioned the issue in previous posts here and here. And Groklaw’s Pamela Jones has a comprehensive report on the issue right here.
Firefox gains more ground
American web analytics firm, Janco Associates, reckons market share of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has dropped to 63.86% globally – from a high in January 2005 of 86.97%. The biggest winner is Firefox, which Janco says now accounts for 17.4% of the browser market.
But that, as Janco notes, is globally. Other sources (noted here) suggest Firefox’ average penetration into European markets, for example, at around 25% and Asian markets even higher. Whichever way you slice it, Microsoft continues to lose ground in the battle for browser hearts and minds. Find Janco’s latest paper here.
