Win XP rules desktops

According to ZDnet, Windows XP is still the dominant PC operating system in the U.S. and Europe, holding 71% of desktops. Vista powers less than 10% of PCs. We can safely assume that in the rest of the world the scale tilts even more towards XP.

A Forrester Research report released in January says:

“IT decision-makers don’t have an entirely rosy outlook for Windows Vista… 15% plan on skipping Windows Vista entirely and going straight to Windows 7 soon after its release in 2010… another 22% still have no definitive plans for deploying Windows Vista, and 6% simply don’t know yet what their plans are.”

The main desktop players in North America and Europe:

• Mac OS X: 3 % of desktops
• Linux: 2%
• Windows XP: 71 %
• Windows 2000: 10 %
• Windows Vista: 10%

Tags: Windows, Windows 7, XP, Windows XP

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Least networked countries: blame your government

In a recent post I talked about how the most networked countries also happen to be the most developed nations, with Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland leading the pack. (For more, read the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report).

The report’s co-author, Soumitra Dutta, notes that the key factors common to the top performers must all be spearheaded by government, and has this to say:

“… (The highest performing) countries have invested very heavily in education. If you look at the quality of education, Denmark ranks 5th in the world. If you look at internet access in schools, Denmark ranks 6th. So very strong investment in education, a highly educated workforce is very important.

“At the same time these countries have very stable, very open economies and they’ve invested a lot in making economies very easy for businesses. So if you look at the time required to start a business, Denmark ranks 3rd in the world and if you look at the number of procedures required to start a business, Denmark ranks 4th.

"Now all this has been coupled with a strong focus from the government in terms of pushing technology as a key enabler of the country’s growth and development. So if you look at the e-government readiness index of Denmark, it’s ranked 2nd in the world.

"So a very strong government push, a very educated population, good open regulatory environment – all these different factors make for a very good standing for these countries."

Related post: Most networked countries = most developed countries

Tags: Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden

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Animation meets street art

Watch this amazing animated movie called Muto, by the Argentine artist known as Blu…

Tags: Blu, Muto, animation, street art

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How to fix spam

ZDnet published an interesting piece on how the spam problem could be resolved quickly… here’s an excerpt:

"The problem is that the major e-mail technology providers won’t work together to come up with some standard approaches to stopping spam. And when I say major, I mean AOL, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. If those four companies simply got together and said it’s time to fix the problem and here’s how we’re going to fix it, the rest of the world would have no choice but to follow."

Tags: spam

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Hypertext was proposed in 1945

This tidbit from "The Mythical Man-Month"…

Vannevar Bush, Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, wrote an article titled "As We May Think" for the July 1945 Atlantic Monthly where he "… urges that men of science should then turn to the massive task of making more accessible our bewildering store of knowledge."

In the article, he proposes and describes his "memex" machine that basically describes his vision of a world wide web.

Tags: Vannevar Bush, memex, hypertext

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Most networked countries = most developed countries

Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland are the most networked economies in the world, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report.

The report takes care to highlight the impact of networked readiness in spurring innovation, and the impact of information technology on a nation’s development process and competitiveness.

Co-author Soumitra Dutta notes the key factors uniting the top performers, all of which must be spearheaded by government:

• Heavy investment in education
• Stable and open economy
• Great ease for companies to do business
• Focus on pushing technology as a key enabler of the country’s growth and development.

So, comparing this ranking with the quality of education rankings, ease of doing business rankings, and e-government readiness rankings, it’s clear to see which regions and countries are on the right track (the Scandinavians, for example) and which are trailing.

Here are the rankings:

1. Denmark

2. Sweden

3. Switzerland

4. United States

5. Singapore

6. Finland

7. Netherlands

8. Iceland

9. Korea

10. Norway

11. Hong Kong

12. UK

13. Canada

14. Australia

15. Austria

16. Germany

17. Taiwan

18. Israel

19. Japan

20. Estonia

21. France

22. New Zealand

23. Ireland

24. Luxembourg

25. Belgium

26. Malaysia

27. Malta

28. Portugal

29. UAE

30. Slovenia

31. Spain

32. Qatar

33. Lithuania

34. Chile

35. Tunisia

36. Czech Republic

37. Hungary

38. Barbados

39. Puerto Rico

40. Thailand

41. Cyprus

42. Italy

43. Slovak Republic

44. Latvia

45. Bahrain

46. Jamaica

47. Jordan

48. Saudi Arabia

49. Croatia

50. India

51. South Africa

52. Kuwait

53. Oman

54. Mauritius

55. Turkey

56. Greece

57. China

58. Mexico

59. Brazil

60. Costa Rica

61. Romania

62. Poland

63. Egypt

64. Panama

65. Uruguay

66. El Salvador

67. Azerbaijan

68. Bulgaria

69. Colombia

70. Ukraine

71. Kazakhstan

72. Russian Federation

73. Vietnam

74. Morocco

75. Dominican Republic

76. Indonesia

77. Argentina

78. Botswana

79. Sri Lanka

80. Guatemala

81. Philippines

82. Trinidad & Tobago

83. Macedonia, FYR

84. Peru

85. Senegal

86. Venezuela

87. Mongolia

88. Algeria

89. Pakistan

90. Honduras

91. Georgia

92. Kenya

93. Namibia

94. Nigeria

95. Bosnia and Herzegovina

96. Moldova

97. Mauritania

98. Tajikistan

99. Mali

100. Tanzania

101. Gambia

102. Guyana

103. Burkina

104. Madagascar

105. Libya

106. Armenia

107. Ecuador

108. Albania

109. Uganda

110. Syria

111. Bolivia

112. Zambia

113. Benin

114. Kyrgyz Republic

115. Cambodia

116. Nicaragua

117. Suriname

118. Cameroon

119. Nepal

120. Paraguay

121. Mozambique

122. Lesotho

123. Ethiopia

124. Bangladesh

125. Zimbabwe

126. Burundi

127. Chad

Tags: World Economic Forum, Global Information Technology Report, Global IT Report, Soumitra Dutta, progress, competitiveness, innovation

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Worst MP3 player: Sony Network Walkman

I’m a big Sony fan, and own many products that I am very happy with, but their Network Walkman "MP3" players are just plain awful.

I bought one for my wife a year back because it looked like a nice choice for jogging. But unfortunately its so cumbersome in every sense that she has never used it. The whole concept is wrong, from its very inception, here’s why…

The thing is that it’s not a real MP3 player, which means that you can’t play back industry standard MP3 or WMA files; Sony has opted instead to support only proprietary ATRAC3 files. Never heard of them? Me neither.

To upload music to the Network Walkman you have to use Sony’s ugly SonicStage software, you can’t just copy files in the easy and straightforward fashion you may be used to.

The problem with this whole idea is that this is definitely no iTunes.

But my frustration just hit the roof; in an attempt to finally used the thing I tried to load the SonicStage software onto my Mac, and guess what? No Mac support.

So I’m off to the Apple Store for an iPod… I have two myself and of course love them (although my favorite MP3 player for sports is the Rio Forge Sport MP3 Player)…

Tags: Sony, Sony Network Walkman, Network Walkman, Rio Forge Sport MP3 Player, ATRAC3

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Incredible space images

Here are some amazing desktop background images taken by the Hubble telescope… compatible with Windows and Mac. For some reason the photos don’t look as good on the Hubble website as they do once you set them up as your background.

Tags: Hubble, space, Eagle nebula

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Internet scam by Network Solutions?

Internet domain stalwart Network Solutions is accused of unsportsmanlike conduct in a class action lawsuit.

According to the filing posted on PR Newswire:

Network Solutions has forced millions of people to buy Internet domain names from them instead of cheaper competitors through a scheme that’s netted the firm millions of dollars.

Whenever someone searches for the availability of a domain name through Network Solutions’ website, the company immediately registers the name for itself, preventing other companies from selling it and forcing consumers to pay Network Solutions’ expensive fees.

"… Each time someone asks Network Solutions about a domain name, the firm creates a monopoly for itself, forcing consumers to pay the price they demand," said Brian Kabateck, lead counsel in the class action suit and managing partner at consumer law firm Kabateck Brown Kellner’s.

The lawsuit also targets ICANN, the international organization that regulates domain names and other Internet protocols, stating ICANN is aware that Network Solutions is doing this and yet continues to facilitate its actions.

Tags: Network Solutions, Internet scams, ICANN, Brian Kabateck

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Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: and the winner is…

Sony and Toshiba have been battling for dominance in the world of high-definition DVD with their respective, and incompatible, Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.

This is reminiscent of the VHS vs. Betamax videotape war back in the 80’s, which Sony lost.

Today, however, Sony’s Blu-ray format has won the so-called "next-generation format war" as Toshiba just announced they are abandoning their HD DVD format.

This came about as a consequence of several rapid-fire events… first Warner Bros studios dropped HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, then Blockbuster, and now Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Netflix.

Blu-ray’s major backers were Sony, Dell, Apple. HD DVD’s major supporters were Toshiba,  Microsoft, Intel, and HP.

Sony’s Playstation 3 includes what is currently the best Blu-ray DVD player on the market. Microsoft recently released an HD DVD player for its Xbox 360.

Tags: Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD formats, Sony, Toshiba

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