First Take On Windows 7: Features Are Clever And Resemble The Mac

January 9, 2009

Microsoft’s new Windows 7 beta is faster, more compatible with older Windows and is loaded with productivity improvements, says Marketing Director Mark Croft.

It also resembles the Macintosh OS X operating system in key ways – most particularly by duplicating Mac’s bottom-of-the-screen tool bar of program icons.

Microsoft released Windows 7 for beta testing at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and hopes for 3 million people to download and test the program.

It says the software is well along the development track and, short of a few additional features and bug testing, is ready for market. It also indicates the program will be adapted for use on netbooks, the inexpensive laptops that are today’s hot sellers.

The improvements are more obvious than in the company’s previous Vista OS. The program runs faster and is quicker to boot. It also sports a major redesign of its user interface, with the tool bar at the bottom of the screen to which users can add and subtract program icons.

“It’s all about shortcuts to productivity,” says Croft, demonstrating the software at the show. For instance, another addition to the toolbar is wireless network strength meter, reminiscent of the one the Mac puts at the top of the screen.

Another improvement involves sizing programs. Slide a program to the side of the screen and it fills half the display. Slide it to the top and it becomes full screen.

Windows 7 will come with Microsoft’s firewall and spyware, but not anti-virus. Users need to turn to third parties.

Note the Mac-like toolbar at the bottom of the screen

Note the Mac-like toolbar at the bottom of the screen

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Acer Closing In On Dell In The PC Market As Apple Slips

December 23, 2008

Capitalizing on the consumer interest in cheap laptops, or netbooks, Acer outgrew many of its peers in the third quarter and closed in on Dell for the number two slot in the PC market.

Netbooks helped fuel Acers growth

Netbooks helped fuel Acer's growth

In the loss column, Apple’s market share slipped almost half a point. The company held 3.2 percent of the global market at quarter’s end, according to iSuppli.

Acer’s shipments in the quarter rose 79 percent to 9.7 million, with 3 million of them notebooks, iSuppli said. The majority of the notebooks, were netbooks.

That left Acer trailing Dell by less than 2 percentage points and claiming 12.2 percent of the market. Dell held onto a 13.9 share, with 11 million shipments. Hewlett-Packard is the number one PC maker.

ISuupli sees 4.3 percent growth in the PC market next year.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Solid-State Drives To Have Tough Times Despite Strong Netbook Sales

December 19, 2008

Solid-state drives using NAND flash chips were expected to have a bang-up fourth quarter, riding the coattails of the surge in netbook shipments.

These small, cheap laptops were to open the door for solid-state drives to get more than just a toehold in the market.

But vendors have become more cautious, especially in the wake of a Microsoft decision allowing larger, traditional hard-disk drives on inexpensive PCs (up to 160 GB), said the DRaMeXchange.

Solid-state drive penetration in low-cost PCs was 70 percent in the first half of 2008, but fell to 18 percent in the second half, the market research firm said.

Cost also is playing a factor. The price per GB is between $4 to $5 for a solid-state drive and about 50 cents for a hard-disk drive, the firm said,

Despite a doubling of netbook shipments in 2009, to about 23 million units, solid-state drives are likely to remain most common in high-end notebooks where price is less of a buyer consideration.

Solid-state drive shipments in netbooks fall, says DRaMeXchange

Solid-state drive shipments in netbooks fall, says DRaMeXchange

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Posted by Mark Boslet

What’s Hot According To The Media: Netbooks, Privacy, But Maybe Not Web 2.0

December 4, 2008

Netbooks? Hard to use. Google? Get ready for adolescence. What about green tech and Web 2.0?  Are they real?

Its time for a new discussion of online privacy, says John Markoff

It's time for a new discussion of online privacy, says John Markoff

The Silicon Valley press had its say Wednesday evening at a Computer History Museum event entitled: the Media Predicts 2009. Here is what we learned:

“If you look at TechCrunch, I’ve scrubbed the word Web 2.0 from the site,” said J. Michael Arrington, the founder of the site that (at least up to now) has chronicled the rise of Web 2.0. Suggesting there was little substance behind the flash, Arrington added, “I don’t know what Web 2.0 was.”

Not surprisingly, his views met with disagreement from other panelists. Web 2.0 is open interfaces and open tools that have allowed people to “put things together in lego-like fashion,” ventured John Markoff of The New York Times.

And with ultra-low cost publishing and some interactivity, it has changed politics, the media and next it will change the way people will do their jobs, said others.

Netbooks are hard to use, says J. Michael Arrington

Netbooks are hard to use, says J. Michael Arrington

What about green-tech investing? “It’s going to grind to a halt for some time,” predicted Mark Veverka, the West Coast editor at Barron’s. “(Investors) are not going to find it to be as successful” as investing in information technology.

However, “I don’t think the Yahoo deal (with Microsoft) is dead,” offered Veverka. “There’s no reason why this goes away.”

On the subject of netbooks, toast of the computer industry and the recent bright spot in an otherwise dull market, panelists found more agreement. “There will be hundreds of millions of them in a year,” if smart phones such as the iPhone and Android-based models are included, said Arrington. But “it’s probably not good news for Microsoft.”

Low-cost netbooks often don’t use Windows or opt for an inexpensive version of the operating system.

Next year could be a tough year for Microsoft, concurred Markoff. Windows revenue may not go up for a long time.

But netbooks are hard to use, Arrington shot back. The screens are small, video is jerky and their keyboards are difficult to navigate.

On a more sublime topic, Markoff suggested it is time for a new discussion of online privacy – not individual but group privacy as companies such as Google mine large amounts of search data for market intelligence.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Netbooks Are Hot And They Might Learn To Boot Up In Seconds

December 1, 2008

Small, cheap notebooks – known as netbooks – are among the hottest products in the PC market place.

Cloud OS boots inside a browser with icons at the bottom on the screen

Cloud OS boots inside a browser with icons at the bottom on the screen

Good OS would also like them to become quicker to turn on. The Emeryville, CA, company that supplies the Linux operating system that debuted in computers at Wal-Mart, announced a stripped-down operating system it says boots in seconds.

The product, called “Cloud,” opens in a browser and displays icons at the bottom of a Web page much as they are displayed in the Macintosh OS from Apple. Users navigate among the icons to make Skype phone calls, access Gmail e-mail, or reach Google Docs.

The OS is to first appear in a touch-screen laptop made by Giga-byte Technology of Taiwan and distributed early next year. The laptop is to be shown off at the Netbook World Summit this week in Paris.

According to Good OS, Cloud also allows users to “switch to the main operating system (Windows or a full version of Linux) with a single click.”

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Netbooks Compliment Notebook Sales, Michael Dell Says; Company Favors Profits Over Growth

November 20, 2008
Michael Dell using virtualization to spark commercial sales

Michael Dell using virtualization to spark commercial sales

Increasingly popular netbooks – low-cost notebooks – don’t appear to be stealing sales from more expensive, higher performance laptops, said Dell CEO Michael Dell.

“It appears to us this is mostly a complimentary category,” Dell said on an earnings conference call Thursday. “We (are) diving into that in a big way.”

Netbooks have been among the fastest growing segments of the PC market in the past quarter, especially in the emerging markets where consumers have less to spend.

Dell also said his company is focused on fielding products with good margins instead of cutting prices to gain market share.

“Given the choice between profits and growth, we’re going to go for the profits,” he said. “The first priority for us it so retain solid profitability for the company” in today’s tough economic climate.

Dell added that he expected to include more virtualization software in his server and storage lines to spark growth among commercial customers.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Gartner Likely To Lower PC Outlook For Fourth Quarter And 2009

November 12, 2008
PC market stronger than expected in the third quarter

PC market stronger than expected in the third quarter

Wall Street analysts have been trimming (sometimes slashing) their forecasts for fourth-quarter computer sales, predicting the worst from the economic slowdown and the slump in consumer spending.

So what is the outlook at a professional market monitoring firm, such as Gartner? Officially Gartner anticipates worldwide fourth-quarter growth of 13.6 percent with 6.8 percent expansion in the U.S.

But the research firm is having second thoughts.

The outfit says it updating its projections and is likely to lower its forecast for the fourth quarter and 2009. The new forecast is scheduled for publication in early December.

The worldwide PC market was actually stronger than Gartner projections in the third quarter because of the strong sales of netbooks, or mini-notebooks, in the EMEA market comprising Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said analyst Mika Kitagawa.

Growth during the period came in at 15 percent, compared to a projected 13 percent.

But growth was slower in the U.S. (3.5 percent) than the firm’s outlook (6.8 percent) and the economic downturn is likely to continuing hitting the U.S. market in the fourth quarter, he said.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Fast-Growing Low-Cost Netbook Laptops Transforming PC Market, Microsoft Says

October 23, 2008
Netbooks are attracting buyers with low prices

Netbooks are attracting buyers with low prices

They are portable, they cost $300 to $400 and their fast growth is changing the face of personal computing, says PC software king Microsoft.

Netbooks, or low-end notebooks, were the highlight of the third quarter. In an otherwise slow market, sales were strong. And that is likely to continue, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell said Thursday.

They make for “a more interesting market” because now significant differences have emerged in what full-priced business customers and budget conscious consumers look for in a computer, he said. But “it becomes a lot more complicated from a forecasting point of view.”

That’s because it is hard to know whether netbook sales expand the market by attracting more price-sensitive buyers or are made in lieu of otherwise more expensive computers.

“That’s the phenomenon I don’t think any of us know at this stage,” Liddell told analysts on a first-quarter earnings call.

Nevertheless, they are helping to prop up market growth rates during tough economic times. Microsoft projects PC sales will be up 10 percent to 12 percent in the December quarter, about the same pace as the September quarter. For Microsoft’s full fiscal year ending in June, they should be up 8 percent to 12 percent, the company said, held back by the slow economy.

For consumers, the netbook trend is good news. Computers are available for less. For Microsoft, they represent a challenge. Netbooks ship with a lower priced copy of Windows, potentially cutting software margins at the company.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

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