Hardware 2.0

May 9th, 2008

Climate Counts tells climate-conscious buyers to avoid Apple

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 2:09 pm

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple Inc., Climate Count, Climate Counts, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Non-profit environmental group Climate Counts publishes a report that puts Apple at the bottom of its environmental list.

Apple scores 11 out of 100, while IBM, which enjoys the top spot on the list, scores 77.

Climate Counts goes as far as to attack Apple’s “coolness:”

But the range of scores in the sector is notable; those companies at the bottom of the sector may have a different perspective on what it really means to be “cool” than those at the top.

This isn’t the first time that an environmental group has criticized Apple. Greenpeace has regularly attacked Apple on its environmental policies.

Is this going to stop people buying iPods? I doubt it. Will this encourage Apple to embrace the environment? Hmmm …

Thoughts?

May 9th, 2008

First look at OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 12:05 pm

Categories: Thoughts, Software

Tags: Microsoft Office 2007, Document, Launch, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Corp., OpenOffice.org, OpenOffice, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel

Since I’m testing the viability of running Ubuntu on a number of platforms, and paving the way to shift from Internet Explorer to Firefox 3.0, I might as well take a look at the viability of abandoning Microsoft Office and making the leap to OpenOffice.org.

Now, I’m a firm believer that the OpenOffice.org (OO.o) suite offers far more functionality than the average user needs or wants. However, an area of prime concern to me is backward compatibility with Microsoft Office. This is important to me for two reasons:

• I have a massive archive of old Word, Excel and PowerPoint files that I need to be able to have access to. Not only do I need to be able to open these documents, but the reproduction (both on-screen and print) needs to be faithful.
• I exchange Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on a regular basis with others. Most of the people and companies I work with use Microsoft Office (although some do use OO.o) so my solution needs to be compatible.

With that in mind I downloaded OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta and loaded it into a VMware test machine for experimentation.

Here are some thoughts from the download and install process:

• The complete download is only 144MB.
• Installation was quick and painless, taking only a few minutes (less than five).
• No restart required.
• OO.o doesn’t seem to junk up the system much (compared to Microsoft Office 2007).

Once I had the application suite installed, I decided to have a look around.

• The first time loading any of the applications seems slow, much slower than the Microsoft Office 2007 equivalent. Subsequent launches are much faster (until you reboot).
• File loading times don’t seem that different to those the Microsoft Office 2007 equivalent.
• Once loaded, applications feel nice and responsive, same as the Microsoft Office 2007 equivalent.
• Occasionally I noticed odd screen artefacts when using menus or resizing windows. Not sure what’s behind this.

OK, but what about compatibility?

Word document compatibility

For this test I created three Word documents in .docx Word 2007 format:

• A simple one page document containing text and simple formatting
• A 217 page document containing text and simple formatting
• A two page document containing drop caps, SmartArt and Shapes

OpenOffice.org Writer beta handled the first two documents just fine with hardly any format differences (nothing that mattered at any rate).

The third document was a different matter. The formatting on the drop cap was wrong, the SmartArt didn’t show up and the Word Shape was rendered incorrectly.

Document displayed in Word 2007

Document displayed in Writer 3.0 beta

I then tool the three documents as displayed in Writer and saved them in the Word 97/2000/XP .doc format and tried opening these in Word 2007. All three files worked fine in Word 2007, although the two page document containing drop caps, SmartArt and Shapes was no longer formatted correctly.

Conclusion: Since I don’t do much with drop caps, SmartArt and Shapes, I think I could live with Writer instead of Word.

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May 9th, 2008

Minimizing XP SP3 woes

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 6:43 am

Categories: Microsoft

Tags: Problem, Reboot, AV, Tools & Techniques, Microsoft Windows XP, Management, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Software, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

I’m getting sporadic reports of Windows XP users having problems installing XP SP3 on some systems. Here are some tips to help make the install process a little smoother.

• Disable AV software
  It seems that some AV software causes the SP3 install to hang, while the installer seems fine with others. Disable AV software before beginning the install process.
• Uninstall beta/RC versions of SP3
  You can’t apply release SP3 over earlier versions. If you’re having problems, try ininstalling previous versions through Safe Mode.
• Uninstall IE8
  SP3 won’t play nicely on systems that have IE8 installed.
• Update drivers
  Might help, especially if your system is running really old drivers.
• Disable unnecessary startup applications
  It’s not just AV software that can cause SP3 problems. If you’re having problems getting SP3 to install then disabling as many unnecessary startup applications as you can might help.
• Possible solution to endless reboots
  Win dows blogger Jesper Johansson offers some advice for thiose suffering endless reboots when trying to install SP3.

I’ve only come across one stubborn system personally and disabling the AV software seemed to fix the problem.

If you have any tips (or issues) to share, feel free to leave them in the TalkBack section.

May 8th, 2008

And in other news … id Software announces Doom 4

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 11:20 am

Categories: In the news, Software

Tags: Software, Tools & Techniques, Games, Management, Personal Technology, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

OK, this has made my day. id Software has announced that production work has begun on Doom 4:

Production has begun on DOOM 4™, the next journey into the legendary DOOM universe. We are expanding our internal team and are currently hiring to work on this highly anticipated title.

“DOOM is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software.  “It’s critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles.”

OK, I know that Doom 3 wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and that the game was far from perfect, but I can honestly say that it was the only game that really felt palpably scary to me. Sure, it felt scripted, and yes, it was almost impossible to complete without resorting to cheat codes, but it felt scary.

Who’s willing to bet on Doom 4 (and maybe 5) coming out before Duke Nukem Forever. Any takers?

Thoughts?

May 8th, 2008

Got a .edu email address? Pick up Microsoft Office Ultimate for $60!

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 11:03 am

Categories: Offers

Tags: Microsoft Corp., E-mail Address, E-mail, Microsoft Office, Online Communications, Office Suites, Software, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Here’s a deal that some of you might be interested in:

“The semester may be ending, but that doesn’t mean the educational discounts have dried up for the summer — yet. Actively enrolled college students with .edu e-mail addresses (and carrying at least a 0.5-credit course load) have one more day to snag a copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate for a mere $60 at www.theultimatesteal.com. The 91-percent-off deal ends May 16th at 11:59 p.m., and Microsoft has full details for the offer at www.microsoft.com/education/ultimatesteal.mspx.”

Here is the really cool part, and I got this straight from the Microsoft senior vice president selling the software, Chris Capossela: anyone with a .edu address can get this deal. Most college alumni offices give their graduates .edu addresses.

(via NY Times blog)

May 8th, 2008

Here we go again …

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 10:15 am

Categories: Components, Industry, In the news, AMD

Tags: Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Marketing Research, Processors, Marketing, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Here we go again. AMD’s latest server roadmap promises six and then 12 core delights. Sorry, but given AMD’s current track record of over-promising and under-delivering, color me doubtful.

This is a perfect example of what I was saying yesterday about AMD. While the marketing machine is hyperventilating over technologies that are more than an arm’s reach away, when it comes to actually delivering these goods in a timely manner (and the timeliness window for processors is shrinking daily - a 3 to 6 month delay can be disastrous) AMD is notorious for its failure to deliver.

Also, this jump from six to 12 cores that AMD is promising, maybe it’s me but that sounds gimmicky. AMD is good at packaging arguments for triple-core processors and jumps from six to 12 cores as being “what out customers want.” I’m certain that AMD is trying to carve out a market with such statements.

I’m going to second Larry Dignan’s challenge to AMD: Don’t tell us what you’re going to do. Show us.

Thoughts?

May 8th, 2008

iTunes FairPlay DRM - Protecting artists and labels, or helping Apple sell more iPods?

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 5:02 am

Categories: Apple

Tags: Apple iPod, Digital-rights Management, Apple Inc., Apple iTunes, Digital Media, Digital Music, Digital Rights Management (DRM), Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Security

One day, two emails, two very different viewpoints:

Email #1: “DRM on songs sold through iTunes is a necessary evil, there to protect artists and the labels from piracy.”

Email #2: “Apple’s FairPlay DRM is nothing more than a tool that locks you into buying iPods forever. I know, I’ve bought my daughter three over the years!”

My take on this situation is that DRM played an important part in Apple’s success in creating a sales momentum behind the iPod. Sure, iTunes isn’t a total music black hole, but if you have more than a few dozen tracks locked up in it, and if those tracks are shackled by FairPlay, freeing the music is a major pain at best.

Then there’s the cash side of things. Read the rest of this entry »

May 8th, 2008

Mozilla spreads malware rather than security

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 2:30 am

Categories: Thoughts

Tags: Mozilla Firefox, Malware, Mozilla Corp., Web Browsers, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Cyberthreats, Viruses And Worms, Security, Internet, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Vietnamese users turning to Mozilla’s Firefox to offer then security got a shock yesterday when the company revealed that the Vietnamese language pack for Firefox 2 was contaminated with malicious code and that this had been available for download for three months.

Because of a virus infection, the Vietnamese language pack for Firefox 2 was polluted with adware, Mozilla security chief Window Snyder said in a blog posting. “Everyone who downloaded the most recent Vietnamese language pack since February 18, 2008 got an infected copy,” she wrote. “Mozilla does virus scans at upload time but the virus scanner did not catch this issue until several months after the upload.”

Now, as someone who has started making the transition from Internet Explorer to Firefox, this is a Read the rest of this entry »

May 7th, 2008

Where’s your federal tax “economic stimulus” going?

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 12:20 pm

Categories: Poll of the Day

Tags: Stimulus, Taxes, Free Trade, Financial Planning, Finance, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Quick poll …

The first batch of taxpayers have already started to receive their federal tax “economic stimulus” rebates, but where’s your rebate going to go?

Are you going to be stimulating the economy or saving?

Share your thoughts!

May 7th, 2008

How long can AMD continue to blame Intel for its failures?

Posted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes @ 12:06 pm

Categories: Components, Industry, Legal, In the news, Graphics, NVIDIA, Hardware, AMD, Intel, AMD/ATI

Tags: Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp., Processors, Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

I have a policy on this blog of not passing judgment on what’s legal or not (in the words of Homer Simpson, that’s for the courts to decide) but I do keep wondering how long AMD are going to continue blaming Intel for its failures instead of taking a look closer to home.

Here’s a rundown of the latest legal volley from AMD. I’ll let you take a look at this and come to your own conclusions. However, while there may or may not be merit to these accusations, but let’s face it, AMD’s problems boil down to one thing - a lack of compelling products.

Attention AMD - You can’t make money with outdated products!!!

When I look at AMD’s current product line, all I see is a forest of deadness. Intel has products trump every category of products going. Server, desktop, mobile, low-end, high-end, dual-core, quad-core. Intel has all these markets stitched up.

Instead of putting money into projects that might have made a difference (such as getting the Phenom processors out a year earlier than the company did - that would have been a good product a year or so ago!), AMD wasted time and money (hemorrhaged money might be a better term) on futile marketing fluff such as QuadFX. Even hardcore AMD fans have turned their backs on the company over the last 12 to 18 months. AMD is now pinning hopes on the triple-core Phenom X3, but the latest round of Intel price cuts have pretty much eliminated any advantage or appeal that this product might have had.

Also, take a look at AMD’s track record in the GPU market. Here’s a lucrative market but AMD/ATI endlessly offers up products that ultimately disappoint. NVIDIA doesn’t even have to break into a sweat keeping ahead of AMD/ATI. If AMD isn’t careful, NVIDIA will pound the company flat much like Intel has done.

AMD’s in trouble, and I don’t see any signs of a clear, competent recovery strategy. I don’t see how throwing money at lawyers will make much difference.

Thoughts?