Microsoft has come up with a solution to the shipping of Windows 7 in Europe. Twelve versions of the new OS without IE installed but easy to add if required. The EU said the plan is inadequate.
Opera Software recently pointed out that MS had been telling everyone how difficult it was to get rid of IE, but then they suddenly ditched it. They also pointed out that having no browser is not a very good option. Instead of offering no web browsers, Opera wants computers to gives consumers a choice of browsers the first time they boot up.
The anticipation is that MS will simply induce people to install IE anyway. If you have been following this long and drawn out issue, it is similar to other tactical moves against regulation that they have tried in the past.
MS has tried ad-hominem attacks on members of the European Commission in the past, accusing it of not reading documents and not giving them fair hearings. Conditions have barely been met in some cases and ignored in others. True, MS has being paying large fines, but not changing its behaviour.
The latest ploy to drop IE is being seen as judicial manoeuvering to achieve a favourable outcome, which you can't really blame them for _ it worked in the US, after all. So as a scare tactic to tell consumers that they will have no browser and to try and force the hand of the relevant EU commissions, it didn't work.
Worse, they told their OEMs and retailers of their plans before telling the Commission. This was to trigger pressure from consumer groups ahead of the decision. That also failed to work. The other obvious target here was Opera and their browser market.
So how will they proceed? They tried taking out the media player and now the browser, which results in a fairly useless operating system from a user's point of view. These days a browser is integral to just about everyone's personal computing experience. So you've just bought a new PC. It has Windows 7 and no browser, so what do you do? Well, you will probably fire up Microsoft's Automatic Update and the first thing you will get is IE so that you can start accessing the Internet.
About the only solution is to offer other browsers during install or as part of a Windows update. This might be too much competition and Microsoft certainly doesn't want any more in the browser market as Firefox continues to nibble away at their lead.
More Windows 7
Yes it's getting closer and knowing what to do when it comes is getting more complicated.
What will you do when Windows 7 hits the streets? Some may drop down to their local supplier and grab a copy just to see what its like. Organisations will be considering the age of their XP installations and wonder if it's time for an upgrade. The pundits are all offering different advice depending on their particular bent.
For an organisation it is usually about the cost of an upgrade both in terms of the actual cost and the impact it will have on their operations. It is very rare to find a company where everyone is on the same version of the OS or application, even in a Microsoft shop.
When it comes to upgrades, Windows 7 has introduced a whole new level of complexity. If you are migrating from Vista to Win 7, as very few companies will, this is the easiest option. If, as many still are, you are on XP then the upgrade to Win 7 it is little more difficult and MS have made it more expensive.
If a company buys a new PC before April 23 that has Windows 7 pre-installed then you can downgrade to XP and then later upgrade to Win 7 when you are ready. After that date you can only downgrade to Vista. This will mean higher prices or the option to join the Software Assurance (SA) programme to upgrades. The problem with SA is that you are not guaranteed that any upgrades will be available for the 2 or 3-year SA period.
Even though some of my friends liked it, as organisation-level software, Vista was a failure. Windows 7 is another unknown and organisations prefer to wait 12-18 months before changing OS. For those, I suggest you get your new computer orders in before April 23, drop back to XP and see how Win 7 goes.
Mark Shuttleworth, the man who brought us Ubuntu, is waiting for Windows 7 to come out. He believes that at the netbook level at least Linux will still be the market leader when it comes to a reasonable OS. Vista doesn't work on them, hence the extension of the XP OS series to stay competitive.
Windows 7 is supposed to be a leaner OS but it still comes with a Vista core. To compensate, MS dropped the restrictions on what can run with the Starter Edition. It all sounds good until you see the new pricing structures. Ubuntu is free but according to DigiTimes Win 7 Starter will be $45-$55 (1,530-1,870 baht), compared to XP Starter at $25-$30 (851-1,020 baht).
The Starter edition is not available for the average person, as it is OEM-only. Pricing then becomes difficult to come by with differences based on volumes. There are also non-disclosure agreements, but if true this is a price doubling which at that level of the market introduces some interesting competition.
At that level, margins are slim and for a $300 (10.200 baht) machine, a $50 (1,705 baht) OS is a significant portion of the price. This means that Ubuntu can approach the likes of Acer, Asus, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and others for their OS instead of the expensive one from Microsoft. If you are using a Netbook then Ubuntu will give you just as much if not more functionality than Windows.
Industry news
Enough Microsoft for now. The recent WWDC, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, came up with some interesting offerings including the iPhone 3G S, the iPhone 3.0, Snow Leopard, new MacBook Pros and new parallel processing technologies from Apple.
For new iPhone information and specs you can start at www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html. The camera is still only 3 megapixels, which is starting to get a little light compared to others, but in reality this is about the best you can expect from a phone. The phone does support all cellular types, with 12 hours' talk time on non-3G systems. Audio specs aren't too bad but still no FLAC or OGG support and video playback is still somewhat limited in format support so expect to do a lot of converting. On the plus side, there is a finger oil-proof coating on the screen.
FireWire is back across the Apple range with FireWire 800 and a new level of hardware encryption. The new Snow Leopard is limited to Inten CPUs _ good news for Intel, bad for older Mac owners. This may be because of the new OpenCL graphics processing but Apple are keeping silent on the real reason.
The iPhone 3G S has poor low light photo capabilities and no flash, so if you want to use it as a camera make sure you have plenty of light. If you want a flash, get a Palm Pre.
Email: jclhein@gmail.com
About the author
- Writer: James Hein
