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COMPUTER Currents

Back in 1997 Microsoft bought Hotmail and removed the open-source base to replace with Windows 2000. Since then the company has fought tooth and nail against all things open-source. Sure, MS paid it lip service, but tried to undermine it as often as possible to the point of suing those that use Linux.

It cannot, however, argue at the success of open-source based enterprises like Google. The middle of last year, MS bought Powerset to get its natural language web search technology. This product is also heavily open source-based. The products use Hadoop, which Yahoo! also uses. Microsoft has taken on this product and is keeping it open source-based. This will be the first time that MS has supported an acquired open source product.

The aim, as usual, is to knock Google off its currently lofty perch and if this means straying outside of MS products, so be it.

The product is Kumo and it is due to ship in June, with open-source community code. It looks like Microsoft has finally moved from a platform of vague and dubious support to a more open stance. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Windows 7 news

If you own a low-priced notebook then Microsoft has a deal for you. Microsoft doesn't like netbooks because they generally don't run a Windows OS. Given that this is currently the fastest growing market, MS wants to do something about it. Even if the netbook does have Windows installed, it is the lowest-cost version which cuts into the bottom line MS would have gathered from you buying a desktop or regular notebook.

They have a solution, you get Windows 7. The version that runs on a netbook can only handle three apps at a time and does not come with a media player or even simple network handling. They are hoping that you will like Windows 7 so much that you will want to buy a real computer, i.e. one that runs their better versions of Windows.

For those with a bigger machine Windows 7 will support virtualisation. One immediate benefit is the ability to run Windows XP-compatible applications. XP mode sounds like the perfect solution to your "should I upgrade away from XP" dilemma, until you do a bit of testing, that is.

It's an add-on for Windows 7 Professional that comes in two parts, Virtual PC and Virtual Windows XP. The latter is a virtual hard drive loaded with XP SP3. You also need a CPU that supports virtualisation, but most don't. If all is good then you have to play in the BIOS a little. You also need at least 2 GB of RAM. You may need a disk with XP SP3 on it to get around some protected file issues, e.g. when trying to install Office 2000.

If it all works you may see a delay between hitting a key and an action occurring on the screen, I mean a severe delay. Remember that this is a beta. The product integrates with Windows 7 reasonably well. You miss out on some of the new interface bits and pieces but that is to be expected. So all in all it looked and ran like Office 2000, just with slower response times.

So this may work out, as long as you are OK with delays. It could help that organisation roll out Windows 7 and keep XP on hand, so to speak. Remember that this is not removing the complexity but rather hiding it. There are still two operating systems executing that need to be cared for. It is free so it may be worth the facility and the final release might be a bit faster.

Industry news

Sometimes the actions of governments go way too far. Take the recent Australian Internet censorship rules. They recently broke a new record requiring the takedown of not just a page that contained 'harmful' content, nor even a page linking to harmful content, but a page linking to a link to allegedly harmful content. What's next, six degrees of separation content will also be banned?

It looks like the end of SCO is finally upon us. Years ago I wrote that SCO had a limited lifetime because they kept pushing their brand of UNIX at the expense of Linux, even to the point of legal action. Then came Chapter 11 and now after a long time fighting they have gone into Chapter 7. The Bankruptcy Court has finally declared that SCO have not rehabilitated nor could they sell off their assets. Losing to Novell did not help either. SCO will continue to fight, they have no other choice, but it looks bleak for the former UNIX giant.

Looking to the near future, you may be able to carry a projector in your mobile phone capable of displaying up to a 100-inch screen. The technology will come by way of Microvision and Corning. The former makes projectors and the latter lasers.

You start with a green laser from Corning that provides the missing element for Microvision's pico projector technology. Red and Blue lasers have been available for a while, it is only recently that the green ones have been cracked for tiny versions. If you have RGB lasers, you can display full colour. You also don't need special options such as those in technology found in Samsung's mobile phone or Acer's travel projector. Using a laser technology, the focus is there as you vary the distance.

The evaluation kit is already available and an OEM version will soon be available in 20 x 40 x 7 millimetres. This is small enough to fit into a mobile phone or standalone portable unit. The technology could be on the street by the end of this year.

Apple has been a bit slow in paying their developers. I don't mean the in-house ones but rather the iPhone developers. At the time of writing some were still waiting for their February payment. We are not talking a few dollars here. Some have bills of tens of thousands of dollars left unpaid. That kind of money can affect your mortgage payments or even bankrupt you if it is your sole source of income.

Apple has not been responding to e-mails other than to tell people to wait while they sort it out. There is of course no number to call and Apple has been blaming bank errors and processing problems. Sounds a little like a brush-off to me and it in-

dicates how unprepared Apple was for the whole development initiative. Remember that Apple gets an annual fee and keeps one third of the payments. No reports of banking problems. The worst is that Apple refuses to apologise.

This is the last in a long series of development problems caused by Apple policies as far back as the Lisa days. They still refuse to open up their systems for general application writing. Technically you cannot write an app and sell it unless they have approved it and all sales go through their stores. You think they would have learned the lesson by now, but apparently not.

Email: jclhein@gmail.com