Archive for March, 2009

Could Google Be Linux’s Ticket to the Desktop Market?

Last week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt let us know that there’s a good chance that Google would be entering the netbook market soon. We’ve already seen Google’s Android OS on its new smartphone and have seen a working model on a netbook. It’s likely that if Google enters the netbook market either itself or with a partner, the netbook will be using the Linux-based Android OS.

Linux has seen some success in the desktop market with the Ubuntu distro backed by a large and ever-growing community. However, a large corporate backing could be exactly what Linux needs to be pushed over the edge. Of course, this argument has been made in the past, but at no other time in history has a corporation as large as Google hinted at pushing a Linux-based OS into the PC market. If anyone’s big enough to go toe-to-toe with Microsoft, it would be Google.

So what does Google need to make Android on the netbook a success? It needs the things any good Linux distro needs to succeed: a good community, package management, and hardware support. Android already has a pretty good amount of enthusiasm as a mobile phone (which is the only real option right now). Google also already has the Android Market which allows easy distribution of software for the platform much like the Apple AppStore for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The last is hardware support. This will have to be taken care of by the netbook device itself. However Google chooses to make the netbooks, flawless hardware support is going to be essential to the platform’s success.

A success for Android in the netbook market would mean better support from hardware makers for Linux. Giving better hardware and driver support to Linux will help it grow its user base as a lot of converts struggle with getting some hardware devices working with their chosen Linux distro. Ubuntu also already has a great community and a killer package management in aptitude. Hardware support has been all right so far, but leaves a lot to be desired. Given some more hardware support, Ubuntu (or any other popular distro) could be put in a much better position to compete with Windows on a more level playing field.

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Filed under Tech Trends : Comments (2) : Mar 10th, 2009

Zimbra’s User Count Exceeds Gmail

Just a couple of months ago, Zimbra reported that it had exceeded 20 million paid mailboxes and just now has announced it reached 40 million, surpassing the number of Gmail users. Zimbra, of course, is not quite in the same game as Gmail since Zimbra only offers its hosted solution for educational users, but one can get Zimbra hosted through a reseller. The software can also be downloaded and run on a local mail server at a company’s location.

Zimbra’s competition lies more in the paid Gmail mailboxes or in Microsoft Exchange, but surpassing the number of Gmail users is a great feat. A vast majority of the users have been educational as well as included in a deal with Comcast to offer their customers a hosted Zimbra account with each Internet subscription. What’s not included in the count, however, are a number of Zimbra open source users. Zimbra offers its core software for free as well as some additional features in the pay-for version which was the version counted. There really is not a way to count the number of non-paid mailboxes which could sum up to be quite a few mailboxes as well, but there’s really no telling.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Mar 9th, 2009

Verizon to ‘Share Customer Information’

Verizon is reportedly sending out notices to its customers letting them know that they will soon be sharing customer information unless the customer opts out within 45 days. The letter states that information shared will be “services purchased (including specific calls you make and receive), billing info, technical info and location info”. Verizon will be sharing the info with “affiliates, agents, and parent companies”. The kicker here is that by default one is included in the ones whose information will be shared. You have to opt-out in order to not have your information to be shared. Though there’s no solid evidence yet, some reports have said that if you receive your statements electronically that you may have to sign in to your online account to see this information and it could easily be missed.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Mar 8th, 2009

Internet Explorer Will Finally Be Able To Be Uninstalled

Evidently a recently leaked build of Windows 7 allows Internet Explorer 8 to be uninstalled. It still is installed by default, of course, but it’s allowed to be removed fully (with the exception of the rendering engine, MSHTML.DLL). Microsoft has been challenged in courts in Europe over creating a monopoly in the browser market by not allowing the browser to be uninstalled in the past and this very well could be a step to mitigate the risk of the same thing happening in other courts. You can remove IE8 from the system through the “Turn Windows Features On or Off” dialog. Unchecking the box just removes the iexplore.exe binary.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Mar 4th, 2009

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