01/31/07 - A Big Day for Technology News
I went out to lunch with the ecreativeworks production team today. With service slow, the wall-mounted televisions provided good discussion revival, and definitely an alternative to staring at a plate full of cold, half eaten french fries. Yes, we can always count on CNN for some post-worthy tech news.
So while I scramble to get back to work, here’s a synopsis of what the CNN news ticker is touting in the tech world today…
1. Microsoft Employee and Google Earth Technologist Missing….
Jim Gray, 63, of San Francisco is an Nobel Prize Winner, (computer science) founder of Microsoft’s Bay Area Research Center, and Developer of technologies that drive mapping programs like Google Earth. Gray had planned to scatter the ashes of his 97 year old mother, and has since been no where to be found.
The search for gray will be extended 16,000 square miles, and executed by a combination of cargo planes, helicopters and patrol boats.
So far, no apparent cause has been identified.
2. YouTube to Share Revenue With Users.
Chad Hurly, 30, is one of the youngest multimillionaires in the history of the internet. He is co-founder of the wildly successfull YoutTube, a video content sharing site recsently bought by internet giant, Google.
Hurly and other co-founders opted against paying users for their contributions early on, lest it be labeled ‘money motivated’ rather than motivated by distributing user generated content. But now, after unprecedented grrowth and a solid user base, YouTube plans to “foster creativity through sharing revenue with our users.”
3. Microsoft Starts Shipping its New Operating System, “Vista.” Our Programmers Review!
A fellow blogger republishes Microsoft’s 15 reasons to go Vista, and adds a few reasons not too..
1. It’s the Interface, Stupid
2. Flip Over Windows Flip 3D
3. Live Thumbnails
4. Boost Performance With ReadyBoost
5. Cool Performance Tools
6. Better Security
7. Find Anything Fast With Search
8. Nifty Software Gadgets
9. Better Wireless Networking
10. Map Your Network
11. Better Graphics With Windows Photo Gallery
12. Become a Director With Windows Movie Maker
13. Better Notebook Support
14. File Sharing and Syncing
15. Protect Your Kids With Parental Controls
Why Not?
1. Vista Is Incomplete
2. Vista Is Expensive
3. Vista Wants a New PC
5. Windows XP Isn’t Obsolete
6. Vista May be the Best Reason Yet to Buy a Mac
Well, we decided to go internal. Here are some objective, and not so objective comments respectively.
Vista Reviews
This is what I think about Vista:
Every 5-7 years microsoft decides to bring out a new operating system so people in the world will have to spend $100-$200 on it.
Pros: I like some of the security issues that they have solved, but generally it is just a newer looking version of Windows XP. The only other thing they have fixed is that annoying issue when Microsoft Vista crashes you have the option to actually fix the issue.
Cons: Well there is always two things hardware never works on new systems and of course some older programs will not work right away or ever. What everybody is saying is the user account function is annoying and is very unsecure.
I wouldn’t buy Vista until they come out with some security updates. Because the people who buy it right away are the test dummies for Microsoft.
- Our Awesome Network Admin Guy
- - -
Pros:
Instant System Wide Searches
Saved Search Folders
(Both Exist in OSX, though Saved Search Folders are *very* buggy in OSX)
Dirrect X based desktop takes some load off the CPU and moves it to the video card… (OSX’s has always been OpenGL based)
Smarter Dialogs: ie: “Save: Yes - No - Cancel” is replaced by “Save: Save - Don’t Save - Cancel”
Breadcrumb Address Bar, makes it very easy to move up and down levels
Cons:
It checks the voltage of the video bus every 30 for “bus tampering” to prevent piracy of DRMed videos, and if the voltage is low, it restarts the video card. Some systems run low for various reasons other than tampering, and the video card will constantly restart.
Dirrect X based desktop slows computer drasticly if your video card is lame.
Breadcrumb Address Bar, makes it harder to just type in where you want to be in your filing system.
- One of our awesome programmers.
And my personal favorite…
DRM. Bleh!!!
$400 for eye candy. Whaaaaa?!!
- Another one of our awesome programmers
‘Nuff Said.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:47 am
Just a quick comment on
“5. Windows XP Isn’t Obsolete”
Windows XP is ancient. Think about this, Windows 98 to Windows 2000, 2 years, Windows 2000 to XP, 2 years. XP is 6 years old and showing its age, thats decades in computer years. Its API’s are actually falling behind Apples, which is insane because Microsoft is all about their developers. Aero was a necessity simply because of how lacking GDI and GDI+ are compared to more modern equivalents. Moving the rendering of windows off the processor and onto the video card just makes sense. Know how sometimes windows don’t redraw and you have to move them in XP? Not an issue in Vista (assuming you run Aero).