Six reasons OSX will not go mainstream
Apple has a great consumer OS on its hands. Its sleek, it's easy to use and it will not ever make it to mainstream America.
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13.11.2008 Windows-based Eee PC to outsell Linux version - Another blow for Linux
Newsflash from ASUS - the company is predicting that the XP Home version of the Eee PC will outsell the Linux-based version by 3 to 2.
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13.3.2008 Windows 7 Performance Tools - Performance Tools Kit 4.1.1
Internet Explorer 8 will be not only an apex of performance, but also the next major iteration of the Windows client, according to Microsoft.
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1.9.2008 Windows Performance Blog
As I said in yesterday’s introduction, my job as an engineer on the Windows Vista team is to improve performance. I wanted to look at a study that measure a key area that we focused on for Windows Vista – consistent responsiveness during the times that matter most to users (when starting up their machine, after being idle, and when you are under the gun running tons of apps, etc.).
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29.12.2006 Microsoft tweaks IE 7 for performance
Microsoft has quietly released a patch aimed at improving the performance of Internet Explorer 7's phishing filter ahead of the company's regular patching schedule, which occurs on the Tuesday of every month.
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8.2.2007 Microsoft IE 8 - Great Performance
This morning, my editor asked why I hadn't blogged about Internet Explorer 8. My response: "Who cares?" Do you? Maybe we both should.
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27.8.2008 Windows 7 Performance Pillars
Attempting to avoid the rather sluggish experience that has become inherently associated with Windows Vista RTM, Microsoft promised, through the voice of Steven Sinofsky, that Windows 7 would not set a single “bit” out of Redmond until it would meet a set of performance criteria.
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29.8.2008 Windows 7 Performance, Explained
From startup to the way it handles hardware resources available, power consumption and applications, Windows 7 has been applauded as delivering a level of performance superior to that of Windows Vista, even as early as pre-Beta Build 6801.
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29.11.2008 How Microsoft really does employee performance reviews
You don't need to ask your boss for a raise at Microsoft, because each year we have an annual performance evaluation where managers review employee accomplishments in a process used for deciding things like salary increases or bonuses.
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22.12.2006 Vista SP1 a Performance Dud
With the initial performance characteristics of Windows Vista leaving much to be desired (see our previous post on the subject), many IT organizations have put off deploying the new OS until the first service pack (SP1) is released by Microsoft early next year.
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20.11.2007 Another Vista Reliability & Performance Update
Vista’s performance is one of those topics that won’t be exhausted until Windows Seven hits RTM. It all comes down to trade-offs.
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12.12.2007 Windows Vista Performance and Tuning
Windows Vista and SP1 focus on delivering greater performance and overall system responsiveness. By striking a balance between speed and responsiveness, Windows Vista and SP1 deliver a level of performance that has the greatest positive impact on the system’s usability.
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31.7.2008 Windows 7 -- Approach to System Performance
Many folks have commented and written email about the topic of performance of Windows. The dialog has been wide ranging—folks consistently want performance to improve (of course).
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28.8.2008 Vista Performance Post SP1
Poor performance was one of the sins associated with Windows Vista RTM, especially in comparison to Windows XP throughout 2007.
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9.10.2008 Squeezing Every Drop of Performance Out of Windows 7
In the sense in which Microsoft is building Windows 7 as the evolution of Windows Vista, the next iteration of the Windows client will perform as if on steroids, compared to its precursor.
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17.12.2008 Windows 7 beta 1 performance test
How does Windows 7 beta 1 compare to Vista and XP in terms of performance? That’s a question that’s been hitting my inbox regularly over the past few weeks. Let’s see if we can’t answer it!
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2.1.2009 Windows Vista Imaging and Installation Performance
Ideally, installation of an operating system is two fairly simple steps. First, copy all the OS files to the hard disk.
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4.10.2006 Outlook 2007 Update focuses on performance
Microsoft Corporation has released an update to Outlook 2007 designed to speed up the communication software’s much-criticized sluggishness.
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15.4.2007 Vista Compatibility, Performance and Reliability Pack
Windows Vista Compatibility, Performance and Reliability Packs – SP1 Preview - Microsoft offers fresh Vista updates to testers.
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31.7.2007 Windows 7 on Steroids – Next-Generation Performance Boosters
Yes, the silence around Windows 7 is certainly deafening, disconcerting and certainly a source of frustration for end users, but Microsoft is building the next iteration of Windows.
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20.5.2008 New Performance and Reliability Updates for Vista SP1
A reliability and performance update is available for download for Windows Vista Service Pack 1. This specific release targets all Windows Vista editions, provided that they have the first service pack integrated.
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25.6.2008 IE8 Performance vs. Google Chrome and Firefox
With Microsoft making headway towards the gold build of Internet Explorer 8, the Redmond company has to face an ugly truth. Performance-wise, with emphasis on JavaScrip performance, the software giant is getting ready to release a browser inferior to what is already available from rivals Google and Mozilla.
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27.9.2008 The Raw Performance Parallel Universe of Windows 7
Windows 7 more so than any other Windows client will be at the core of the transition to manycore hardware.
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11.10.2008 Windows 7 Increased Performance and Optimal Use of Available Hardware
icrosoft is optimizing Windows 7 in order to increase performance, and, in this context, the dispatcher lock is one of the components that has got cut off.
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6.1.2009 Building a High Performance Windows 7 PC
With Windows 7 release candidate just around the corner, the other day I was asked to spec out a high performance PC suitable for Windows 7 64-bit, This system would also be a great Vista system.
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15.4.2009 Understanding Windows 7 New Levels of Performance and Reliability
For an operating system that required unmatched hardware resources, Windows Vista failed to translate the horsepower available into sheer speed. The same is not the case for Windows 7, as the evolution from Vista brings new levels of performance and reliability.
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11.8.2009 Final Names for Windows Vista Performance Features
Windows PC Accelerators is the new term that encompasses Windows Vista's new performance-enhancing technologies.
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7.4.2006 Performance Results Mixed with Vista Service Pack 1
Files copied faster in our initial tests, but other performance was slightly slower with the SP1 installed.
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7.2.2008 AMD Phenom X3 processor family performance
For the most part of last year, there were scarce good news to report from AMD. It wasn't until the end of the year that new Radeon graphics cards were out, and the eagerly awaited Phenom processors were launched.
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6.5.2008 Vista SP1 Evolves with New Reliability and Performance Boost
Microsoft is indeed starting to deliver an increasing volume of details related to the upcoming Windows 7 client and Windows 7 Server releases, but the end of 2009/ the debut of 2010 is still not even on the horizon, and neither are the next iterations of the Windows platforms.
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19.8.2008On Vista, OSX and security researchers
Robert Hensing: So I made an interesting observation at Cansec last week. By day 3 I realized that I was the
sole
presenter running Vista. Hell I may have been the sole *attendee* running Vista. In fact if I had to break out the presenter laptop
OS's it would go something like this:
- 50% OSX
- 34% Windows XP
- 15% random Linux distros
- 1%
Vista (me)
If you add attendees to the mix the Windows XP numbers go up a bit and the OSX numbers may go down (i.e. it may
be 40% OSX / 40% XP).
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02.04.2008Mac OSX upgrade problems
Apple released a statement warning users upgrading from Leopard, about the newest available upgrade for Mac OSX to 10.5.6. The problem occurs from an
incomplete software update getting into the update process that can cause Mac OSX to cause errors during the "Configuring Installation" window
process. Apple recommends users, if they haven't already, to force the software update process to quit the download, remove the partial update
from your library and re-download the update. This problem is also been found in the standalone update from Apple's web site, and the combo
update. If users still faced with problems updating their Mac OSX machine, they are encouraged to contact Apple with related issues.
Read full story.....
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19.12.2008Windows Vista and Mac OSX see surge in consumer use
While businesses and corporate entities may have little interest in using either Vista or Mac OSX, both are gaining popularity and market share but
only in the area related to home or home office use which is both good and bad.
Its good in the fact that Vista now has a 10%
market share in computers that are connected to the Internet, its bad that corporations are either not going to deploy Vista or have delayed
deployments so much that by the time it comes around again, Windows 7 may be out.
Mac OSX now has something in the area of a 7%
market share, Mac use has seen excellent growth over the past year but has not been without its
share of problems. Large corporations would never deploy OSX on a wide scale so that is not a concern there.
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03.12.2007Five important security apps for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows
A little bit of common sense goes a long way when it comes to keeping your system safe and locked down. But some of us have friends, family, and
coworkers that need a little bit more. Ars has five freeware or shareware security apps for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux that will go a long way
towards keeping your systems secure.
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25.04.2008Apple strikes again to halt iPhone jailbreaking
Apple's latest update to OSX, 10.5.6, includes an impressive list of performance and bug fixes but hidden amongst the latest and greatest is that
10.5.6 disables the Pwnage tool, making you unable to jailbreak or unlock your iPhone or iPod Touch with Mac OSX. The update prevents jailbreaking by
disabling the software at the OS level. Apple is stopping 10.5.6 Mac's from recognizing the device in DFU (device firmware update) mode by using
new code that affects the USB ports on Apple computers at the driver level and how they interact with the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Read full story.....
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16.12.2008Red Hat refreshes its Enterprise Linux distro with version 5.2
The latest version of the company's commercial version of Linux for businesses offers new hardware support, several new features, and performance and
stability improvements...
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22.05.2008AMD FireGL V8600 On Linux
Since the introduction of
AMD's
new Linux OpenGL driver and their
open-source strategy running in parallel,
the past few months have been especially exciting for ATI
Linux users and
the Linux graphics scene in general. To many Linux users,
ATI graphics have went from being a name synonymous with problems
and poor 3D
performance to being an open-source crown jewel that has set a precedence in the
industry by releasing their GPU register
documentation, but at the same time continuing
to develop their high-performance proprietary driver for users interested in the
best
performance and enabling all of the bells and whistles on their graphics
card.
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19.05.2008Microsoft releases 20,000 lines of code to Linux community
Hell has not frozen over and pigs aren't flying in the sky, Microsoft has just released 20,000 lines of device driver code to the Linux community.
Company officials admitted the move was "a break from the ordinary" but were quick to note this is the first time Microsoft has released code
directly to the Linux community. The code will be available to the Linux community and customers and is expected to enhance the performance of the
Linux operating system when virtualized on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.
Read full story.....
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21.07.2009Linux.com won't be a news site, but instead a place for Linux
As first reported by " target="_blank">my
friend and colleague Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols at Computerworld yesterday, probably the most important domain name that a Linux-associated
entity could ever want, Linux.com, was sold by SourceForge, and is now in the hands of the Linux Foundation.
..
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05.03.2009Shift Linux: A New Direction
Since its incarnation in 2006, Shift Linux has had an ambitious team behind it. We have always strived to be "more than just another linux
distribution", a goal which has never been more important than it is now. Over the next little while, Shift will be reborn and redefined, moving
farther away from traditional Linux roots, and into something newer. Linux will always be our core, but on top of that, we need to use new
technologies, both those that exist and those which we can only imagine, to build something fresh. Today, Shift Linux will move forward. We have
several new goals that are being set. First of all, Shift needs to be streamlined.
Read full story.....
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23.11.2008Six reasons OSX will not go mainstream
Apple has a great consumer OS on its hands. Its sleek, it's easy to use and it will not ever make it to mainstream America. There are 6 reasons
why we will never see Apple take more than a third of the market share. For the sake of this article, mainstream will be referred to as greater than
33% of all computers.
Reason #6: The corporate world won't adopt OSX. Look around your office, more than likely you're looking
at a Windows based environment. While it's true that not all companies run Windows, it is safe to say that the majority do in some form. Why
wont corporations switch? Its simple, companies invest millions of dollars to keep up a Windows based infrastructure. The only thing costlier than
maintaining thousands of computers is to replace them all, all with OSX.
If we can't convert our companies to OSX then we stand little
chance in convincing institutions of higher education to do the same. The idea is based on a waterfall principle that we need a major change on one
front to affect the rest. The problem is that the world revolves around money and it costs money to replace current infrastructures with OSX. While
corporations are not the only user of computers they have a massive trickle down effect. The average person can pick up and use a Windows computer
without a problem no matter what version they use; it's a 'comfortable' operating system. The same can not be said about OSX, while it
may be easy to use, not nearly as many people have used OSX as compared to Windows. If our corporations use Windows our schools will teach upon it,
how many people have taken a Windows based course before?
Reason #5: Software. Let's take a simple look at the available software
titles out there for each platform. Regardless of the topic Windows based programs dwarf the OSX competition with ease. If your looking for a
program to do a certain task you will, without a doubt, have more options on Windows PC. If you're a hardcore gamer there is no option but to
have a copy of Windows at your disposal if you care to keep up on the most current titles.
If you're into business software the
options for OSX are dismal at best. While it's unfortunate that Microsoft commands so much power but the latest versions of Microsoft Office
always come out on Windows before OSX. While not a deal breaker for the home user it can be for reason #5.
Reason #4: Apples Image.
Apple has built the image that it is modern and un-Microsoft. While this is working out great for Apple in the short term it also limits its user
base. Take a look at any OSX vs Vista advertisement. It's always the cool kid making fun of the suit Vista. While this is great for the college
student looking to get a computer it doesn't work so well with mom and dad who very well may see themselves as a 'suit' in that picture.
Look around your dinner table and more than likely your father or mother is a suit at work. Professionalism is key to many adults and Apple has
steered itself away from be the professional option. Good for poor college kids not so good for the hard working suit.
Reason #3: OSX is
a closed platform. Want to build a custom computer with OSX; don't even try (legally). Apple has limited the configurations that OSX can be
implemented on. This works well for Apple's business model but anyone who wants to construct a custom built computer is not able to use OSX
(legally). If you're trying to build the ultimate computer with bleeding edge technology for your need, OSX is not an option. Lock the platform
and you lock out consumers.
Reason #2: The Apple Tax. To get a computer running OSX you must buy a computer from Apple. Apple computers
have a higher cost than a traditional PC from Dell or HP. Also it has to be mentioned that there is no low-cost option. The cheapest option is the
Mac-mini which starts at $599.99. For someone looking to buy a budget PC, Apple is not an option.
Reason #1: Steve Jobs. To become
a major competitor you must remain strong for the foreseeable future. Many people don't like to buy into a product that doesn't have a long
life ahead of it. Regardless of how well OSX runs, how cool it looks, it can all be attributed back to Steve Jobs; he is the master of sales and
marketing. Much of Apple's recent success can be attributed to his skills. Steve Jobs will not live nor want to work forever. When Steve passes
the buck to the next person in line will his horde of followers accept this?
Read full story.....
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13.11.2008ATI: Linux vs. Windows Vista
The results may surprise you...
Since AMD introduced their
new Linux display driver last month, we have published a number of different articles looking at the Radeon performance across
their different GPU product generations. This ATI/AMD Linux driver testing and exploration continued this month with the release of the
8.42 driver, which finally introduced AIGLX support for the fglrx driver. One
area though we haven't yet analyzed is how their official Linux driver now compares to their much-optimized Windows Catalyst driver. Today, however,
we will be looking just at that as we compare the ATI Radeon HD 2900XT 512MB performance under Linux and Microsoft Windows Vista.
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31.10.2007Firefox Faster In Wine Than Native Linux
Tuxradar did some benchmarks
comparing
Firefox's Windows and Linux JavaScript performance. 'We did some simple JavaScript benchmarks of Firefox 3.0 using Windows and Linux to see how
it performed across the platforms — and the results are pretty bleak for Linux.' Later on,
they tried Wine. 'The end result: Firefox from
Mozilla or from Fedora has almost nil speed difference, and Firefox running on Wine is faster than native Firefox.'
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13.02.2009HP joins the Ubuntu Linux bandwagon
HP's Linux support will no longer be limited to Red Hat and SuSE Linux. Through a new partnership with Canonical, HP is becoming one of the latest in
a series of huge IT players to hop aboard the Ubuntu Linux bandwagon...
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18.02.2009Techs and execs collaborate on Linux apps
In more and more Linux deployments at banks and brokerages, the business side of the operation is getting heavily into the act. Collaboration is
becoming the keyword, and suddenly Linux developers find they're being joined by executives...
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02.04.2008Windows Server Woos Linux Customers
Wooed by compelling
application ecosystems,
performance and cost, several
large enterprise Linux
customers have begun slowly
migrating back to Windows
Server, eWEEK reporting has
found.
The migrations
come after a quarter in which
Windows Server revenue grew
faster than Linux revenuethe
first time that has happened
since research company IDC
started tracking Linux server
spending in 1998.
Recent Linux-to-Windows
converts include consumer
products manufacturer
Unilever, online retailer
Overstock.com, French sports
yacht Areva Challenge (the
French entry for the 32nd
America's Cup yacht race),
and California candy maker
Jelly Belly.
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21.06.2007The World Series of Linux: Round 1
For untold thousands of developers around the world, it's not a game. For solution providers and their customers, it's not a game. But the
world of desktop Linux has become increasingly competitive, increasingly important to the IT industry, and increasingly available for anyone to try.
So we decided to take a look at some of the best-known Linux desktops available and ask one overriding question: Put to the test of usability in a
standard office environment, which is the best Linux desktop in the world?
Welcome to the inaugural edition of CMP Channel's The World
Series of Linux. This is the first time the CMP Channel Test Center has reviewed this number of Linux desktops across a standard hardware testbed, and
put them to real-world analysis. We wanted to know whether desktop Linux was, in fact, ready for business and whether it would be worth your while.
While the different distributions varied in performance and maturity, our testing has led us to one conclusion.
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13.12.2007Linux comparison: Introduction and Ubuntu
Introduction I have toyed around with Linux on and off for the last few years, mostly with Ubuntu. My first experience of Linux was Ubuntu. At first
it was a bit scary, with me wondering if my CPU would implode should I type the wrong command. The more I used Linux though, the more I learnt about
my computer. This is why I think anyone who finds computers and technology interesting, should give it a go. And what better time to do so than now?
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
04.12.2008New release of Linux kernel presents major changes
Linux expert Linus Torvalds announced in his blog on Wednesday that Linux kernel version 2.6.25 has been publicly released, with changes to WiFi
support, file system management, and virtualization...
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22.04.2008Catalyst 7.8 drivers available for Windows, Linux
AMD's graphics group has just
uncorked yet another monthly
video driver rev for Radeon
cards, Catalyst 7.8. The
Windows versions of Cat 7.8
promise several performance
improvements, including a
claimed "11% or greater"
performance boost with
antialiasing in Lost Planet
DX10 on the Radeon HD 2900 XT.
Such performance improvements
with antialiasing on the
Radeon HD are both needed and
possible for reasons we
explained
here. 3DMark scores on
the Radeon HD 2400 and 2600
are purportedly up by "as
much as 6%," as well.
The Linux
release brings a native 64-bit
version of Catalyst Control
Center and support for TV-out
connectors, along with a range
of stability fixes.
Catalyst 7.8 can
be had for
Windows XP 32-bit,
Windows XP x64,
Windows Vista
x86,
Windows Vista
x64,
Linux x86, and
Linux x64.
winbeta.org -
14.08.2007
