According to the latest from Microsoft, if you are running on a genuine copy of Windows 7 or 8.x then you will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. You will also be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for a price if you are running, shall we say, those versions of Windows that originate from dubious OEM sources. These upgrades will, however, be very attractively priced. I suspect they are referring to OEMs in places like China and India that may have been a little lax with their licensing agreements. If you have downloaded your copy from a Bit Torrent site and activated it with a keygen, then I doubt the upgrade offers will be as generous.
As a reminder, Windows Server 2003 will be moving off Microsoft support on July 14 this year. Depending on whom you ask, the numbers vary but there are an estimated 5-15 million servers still running this version of the operating system and perhaps even more if you count the smaller organisations often missed in such estimates. No matter what the real figure, a significant number of them will still be running after the deadline. Those that don't move will do so without future security patches or they will have to pay for the additional emergency support option provided by Microsoft. This is will be around US$600 (20,000 baht) per server for the first year and then an increasing amount for every successive year. There is also some trepidation around the possible issues that will be faced by those migrating to a later server software version. Will, for example, the software they use now still work on an updated server? What issues will be faced during a migration? The good news for the latter is that there are plenty of guides on migration to be found online so do a search using your favourite search engine and start reading.
The Apple Watch has not been faring very well, if the reports are accurate, with a range of complaints, covering elements like battery life, not working on tattooed wrists and range of software available. In a recent report covering an announcement from Quanta, the Taiwanese OEM that builds them, the problems could be tracked back to the Moon.
Apparently, due to the recent Lunar New Year holidays, they had to work extra hours, meaning that they may not have been as trained as they should, combined with Apple being at peak production during that period. I'm going to stop there, as if this excuse is really being used, although unverified, then it is the lamest one I have ever heard, for what appears to be simply a poorly-designed product.
If you have ever heard of the MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) then you will be pleased to hear that it is now open source. It was sort of open source before, so this is really just removing the last barrier to the code.
If you are old enough, and used to play games back in the day, then you will remember Doom. This has since been ported to just about every platform imaginable and now a new version of the 22-year-old game is returning on June 14. What platforms are to be supported, pricing and what it all contains will be revealed at the E3 2015 games show in Los Angeles in mid-June. There may, however, be an Oculus virtual reality version so the PC may be the first platform on which it appears.
The US Department of Justice recently arrested six Chinese nationals acting as university professors and graduate students. They apparently have been quietly stealing wireless technology from US firms and sending the specs back to the motherland. With 32 criminal counts ranging from espionage to the theft of trade secrets, they will probably not get a chance to travel home to build that fabrication plant they were planning on setting up to reproduce the technology back home. In related news, China has recently agreed to curb their hacking and purloining activities, but only with Russia.
South Korea has a new law that requires the installation of spyware on teenager's phones. Yes South, not North Korea. Any new smartphone going to anyone under 19 must have this software installed. Ostensibly, the reasoning is to protect young minds from pornographic material, but parents can monitor phone usage, apps and visited websites. Some send out current location and watch for keywords being received in messages. For the time being only Android phones are supported, which could trigger a rush of iPhone sales in the country.
If this has been implemented in South Korea, it can't be long before the idea starts to crop up elsewhere. The only good news for teenagers if that the software will only be installed in new model phones, so perhaps Samsung and LG can get rid of some of their older stock.
James Hein is an IT professional of over 30 years’ standing. You can contact him at jclhein@gmail.com