Microsoft’s troubles with its new Vista operating system just got a bit worse. Yahoo news is reporting that the British agency in charge of educational technology (known as Becta) has banned the use of both Microsoft Vista and Office 2007 from UK schools and universities, citing compatibility issues and poor performance.
The agency was also troubled by the fact that Microsoft refuses to support the Open Document Format, which is now internationally recognized as the standardized format for educational institutions. Instead, Microsoft has developed their own open format called Office Open XML, though it has failed to receive significant support by educational institutions to date.
The UK educational agency commissioned a study to examine the practical benefits of upgrading British schools from Windows XP to Vista and Office 2007. The results of the study recommended against “upgrading” to either of the Microsoft products. The primary concerns were a poor cost-per-benefit ratio, and continuing compatibility issues between Vista and certain hardware and peripherals already in widespread use at British schools and universities.
The study concluded that the “benefits remain unclear,” according to director Stephen Lucy of the Becta agency, and that “upgrading existing ICT systems to Microsoft Vista or Office 2007 is not recommended.”
The British educational agengy’s ousting of Vista from the classroom mirrors similar bans now in effect in the United States. The US Department of Transportation, for example, has banned the use of Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7, citing similar cost per benefit concerns and ongoing compatibility issues.
More and more, government and educational organizations are moving toward open source software, such as the Open Document Format, which has been embraced by schools and universities around the world as a standardized format for exchanging and editing text files.
The failure of Microsoft to support the Open Document Format has been a continued source of frustration for government agencies and educational institutions around the world. And with the British educational system being highly influential worldwide, it is likely that other countries may follow their move to reject Vista/Office 2007, depriving Microsoft of tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in worldwide revenue.
The British agency is leaning toward open source products such as the Linux operating system, and other “small footprint” open source software products. And although Microsoft has refused to officially comment on the British Vista ban so far, it is clearly a major blow to their continued international dominance within educational and governmental agencies.
The British report not only discourages the use of Vista and Office 2007 in schools, it even encourages schools and colleges to make students aware of free or low-cost open source operating systems, productivity suites and other software– something which could be far more devistating to Microsoft’s profitability in the long run.
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The MacWorld trade show introduced a new Apple personal computer that is less than 1 inch thick. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new MacBook Air notebook computer, which is the company’s first ultra-thin laptop, featuring a multi-touch track-pad and an internal 80 GB hard drive.
The new MacBook Air is only .76″ thick, and will fit comfortably inside a standard A4 envelope. The new notebook does not come within an inbuilt disk drive, but does have extensive wireless capabilities and can stream both CDs and DVDs from another Mac, as well as initiate live data backups to the Apple Time Capsule, the company’s new wireless hard drive.
Jobs claims that the “Air” is the world’s thinnest notebook computer, and weighing in at approximately 3 pounds, it will have the smallest “footprint” of any Mac or Windows PC laptop.
The price of the new MacBook Air, however, is anything but small. The notebook will go on sale later this month at a retail price of $1799. And though the new notebook does not include a CD or DVD player, Jobs is convinced that users “won’t miss it.” The concept of the “Air” is to be a wireless device which bridges the gap between personal devices such as the iPhone, and more fully featured desktop and laptop computers.
With that in mind, the new notebook won’t be able to play standard DVDs, but it will have easy access to online movie rentals via Apple’s iTunes store. iTunes has recently partnered with all of the major film studios, including 20th Century Fox, Sony, Paramount, Universal, MGM and others to offer instant download movie rentals from the iTunes web site.
Prices for the downloadable movie rentals are reasonable: $2.99 for older films, or $3.99 for new releases. High-definition downloads will also be available for many films for an extra dollar. Apple says that by the end of February more than 1000 different film titles will be available.
And though Apple has been quite successful at teaming up with film studios, they’ve had a bit more difficulty getting network television companies on board. For example, NBC recently pulled out of an agreement with iTunes after a lengthy dispute over program pricing.
20th Century Fox also pulled television programming from the iTunes site, and both NBC and 20th Century Fox have opted to license their programs to start up digital media distributor “Hulu,” a would be contender to iTunes online media throne.
Despite the release of the new MacBook Air and the addition of a new film studios to the iTunes catalog, Wall Street remained unimpressed with the new Apple offerings. Shares of Apple Inc. fell by more than 6% following the MacWorld trade show.
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Forget everything you think you know about laptop computers. Taiwanese company Asus has just released a new laptop that breaks every rule in the book — and then some.
The new Asus Eee PC is a rebel notebook computer designed to shake up the conventional wisdom. For example, conventional wisdom says that a laptop computer must have a hard drive– the Eee PC uses only a flash memory, for quicker access speeds and greater reliability.
Conventional wisdom also says that you can’t sell a fully featured laptop for $400, but that is exactly the price points set for the Asus Eee. Overall, the Eee is a powerfully featured 2 pound notebook computer with a staggering array of standard features at this price point.
The Eee doesn’t run Windows, but instead it uses a custom version of Linux. And while some may see this as a disadvantage, in reality the tiny Linux operating system ensurers that the laptop boots up extremely fast (try 10 times faster than a standard Windows laptop), and contains advanced features like an inbuilt WiFi chip and web cam that is preconfigured for Skype, which comes preloaded with the Eee.
There are also plenty of USB and FireWire ports, and it is also possible to install Windows, though after using the standard Linux version, you might rethink the necessity of cluttering up your new $400 laptop with bulky Windows software.
The Eee comes preloaded with the Firefox web browser, and the complete Open Office Suite, which effectively replaces Microsoft office, and is in fact much easier to use and configure. The laptop also comes preconfigured to use Google Documents for online document editing and sharing, and links to Yahoo Email, AOL messenger and Google’s Gchat.
Have I mentioned that there is an inbuilt DVD player? Or that you get all the usual media software you’d expect from modern laptop? In short you get all the functionality of a bloated, overweight Windows laptop in one compact 2 pound, $400 notebook that boasts a battery time of approximately 3.5 hours.
What the Asus Eee PC seeks is nothing less than to break all the rules about what a laptop has to be and do. By thumbing their nose at conventional wisdom, Asus has produced an amazingly functional and lightweight laptop that is in many respects far superior to traditional notebook PCs.
And although some people worry that they would miss running Windows sooner or later, in practical use, most people love the simpler and faster loading Linux operating system. Asus has definitely thought outside the box on this one and produced a compact, lightweight and inexpensive laptop that is a breath of fresh air when compared with the new slow and underperforming Windows Vista machines.
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The notebook computer market has been healthy for the past few years, and lately manufacturers have branched out into so-called “specialty notebooks,” including gaming notebooks, ultra light-weight business notebooks, and now Lenovo is introducing a dedicated “entertainment notebook.”
InformationWeek.com is reporting that Lenovo officially introduced three new notebook computers this week which are designed specifically for home theater and entertainment purposes. The Lenovo ThinkPad U110, for example, is powered by a dual core Centrino processor, and features a 1.3 megapixel camera embedded into the screen chassis, as well as a frameless screen and a sleek, home theater-type design.
More and more, manufacturers have been edging away from business laptops and toward the entertainment market. Lenovo latest offering takes this trend a step further by including Dolby home theater surround sound, integrated WiFi, and a high-end DVD recorder/player combo.
The new Lenovo notebooks contain four top mounted speakers and a hidden sub woofer on the bottom of the unit. The notebooks also ship with Lenovo’s multimedia control center software, and allows one touch DVD viewing.
MP3 and music support is also a big part of the new entertainment notebooks, and users can access their music collection from a single button above the keyboard. Likewise, photo viewing can be accessed just as easily, and the notebooks have touch sensitive controls that allow the user to choose multimedia files, while setting volume and equalization controls with one click.
The flagship of the new line is the Y710, which features a 17 inch widescreen display, 2 GB of standard memory and a 500 GB hard drive. Optionally, the notebooks can be outfitted with a second hard drive which is “hot swappable” to transfer movies, music and other data easily.
Other manufacturers are also jumping on the “entertainment notebook” bandwagon. Dell, for example, is producing no less than six new notebooks which are aimed squarely at into attainment users, with advanced DVD and music player functionality.
The popularity of portable MP3 players has also pushed many laptop manufacturers to include fully-featured music and media players that can be operated independently of the computer itself. For example, Lenovo’s new entertainment notebooks feature a one touch media select button to access music and movies without going through the usual Windows start up.
As more and more mobile phones begin featuring advanced multimedia players, the pressure is on to make notebook computers lighter, slimmer, and with increased functionality for playing media files.
Although companies like Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Dell are on the forefront of this trend, over the next few years it is likely the notebook computer itself will evolve into an all-in-one multimedia machine, similar to the trend we now see in mobile phones.
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