Tag Archives | Operating Systems

Eleven Questions About Google’s Chrome OS

Posted by Harry McCracken on July 7, 2009 at 11:55 pm

chromeosHere’s one of those breaking stories that’s stunning at first–until you think about it, whereupon it feels like it was always inevitable. Google announced tonight that it’s working on an operating system for PCs, turning a hypothetical scenario that’s been around for years into reality. Almost by definition, it’s the most direct attack possible on the Microsoft hegemony, since it puts Google into competition with Windows itself.

Google isn’t revealing much in the way of specifics, other than that the OS is an open-source project based on its Chrome browser with a Linux kernel, and that it’s working with multiple hardware manufacturers to bring it to x86- and ARM-based netbooks in the second half of next year. It says the goal is to build an OS that boots in seconds and runs Web apps really well.

Like many big Google announcements (such as the unleashing of Chrome itself last September) this one prompts more questions than it answers. Such as the first eleven that popped into my head…

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Who’s Using What on Technologizer?

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 30, 2009 at 9:11 am

FirefoxWriting about Firefox 3.5 got me wondering: What’s the breakdown of browser usage on Technologizer right now? So I looked it up, courtesy of Google Analytics.

Over the last month, 50 percent of visitors have come via Firefox. Twenty-one percent have used IE, sixteen percent Safari, seven percent Chrome, two percent Opera, and four percent something else.

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Microsoft Chops Some Windows 7 Prices

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 25, 2009 at 8:48 am

Windows 7 LogoMicrosoft has dropped one of the lat  remaining veils relating to Windows 7 by announcing the OS upgrade’s pricing.  It’s not exactly stunning that the company chose not to follow Gizmodo’s advice that Win 7 should be free for all Vista owners. But there are a number of price breaks associated with the rollout.

The largest and most interesting price cut is for folks who preorder Windows 7 right away: In the U.S,  you’ll be able to reserve a copy from Best Buy, Amazon, or the Microsoft Store at a discount of more than 50 percent. This preorder price for the upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium, for instance, will be $49.99, versus a list price of $119.99.

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iPhone 3.0: It’s Here!

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 17, 2009 at 11:28 am

iPhone 3.0As promised, Apple has released iPhone OS 3.0. I’ve been using the gold master version for a week, and it’s been a joy so far.

Apple’s approach to the the iPhone’s development still makes me think of Benjamin Button: The OS was dazzling from the start, but only Apple intentionally put off implementing some of the mundane, basic stuff that you would have assumed every phone OS would have. With 3.0, it’s mostly there. (Which hasn’t stopped me from starting to compile a wish list of new features.)

iPhone 2.0 was about one sea change of a new feature: third-party apps. 3.0, by contrast, sports no one signature improvement. It really is about improvement everywhere. (Here’s an excellent point-by-point account of the hundred new features.)

iPhone SearchFor me, the single most meaningful new feature so far, by far, is search–especially within e-mail, where it’s beautifully done and makes the e-mail app far more useful. (I had stopped using the iPhone Mail in favor of Gmail; now I’ve switched back.) The far more widespread support for landscape-mode use of applications is a close second. Apple also says that Safari is faster, and while I haven’t done any benchmarks, the browser does indeed feel much snappier.

iPhone CameraIt’s also fun to burrow around the OS and encounter minor-but-welcome tweaks all over the place, like the way the camera app now shows a thumbnail link to the last photo you snapped. And if AT&T ever permits tethering–and offers a network that doesn’t lapse into EDGE at the worst moments–I’ll be thrilled.

iPhone Copy Cut PasteOh, and in case you hadn’t heard, iPhones now let you cut, copy, and paste. I wasn’t irate when the OS didn’t have this feature, and haven’t needed it so far. But it’s there, and it works well.

Much of what’s interesting about OS 3.0 will only reveal itself as new third-party applications come out: notifications, in-store purchasing, peer-to-peer connectivity, http video streaming, better GPS and map support, peripheral connectivity through the dock connector, and more. They’ll only live up to their potential if they’re widely embraced by developers. But everything we know about the iPhone as an app platform suggests that there’s every reason to be optimistic.

When Apple released iPhone 2.0 last July, there was widespread griping that it was buggy and unstable. Two months late, Apple polished the OS up with the much smoother OS 2.1. I can only speak about m y own personal experience with iPhone OS 3.0 to date, and sample sizes of one aren’t statistically significant. But it hasn’t crashed on me, and has actually made my iPhone more reliable: Until now, my phone’s Internet connection has had a nasty habit of stalling until I did a reboot, and–as far as I can tell–OS 3.0 has eliminated this major headache.

On Friday, some owners of iPhone 3Gs will spend hundreds of dollars to upgrade to the not-radically-different iPhone 3G S–in some cases grumbling as they do so. iPhone 3.0 brings most of what’s cool about the 3G S to any iPhone–for free. (For iPod Touch owners, it costs $10, and is merely a steal.) To riff on an old Apple OS X upgrade slogan, it’s like a new iPhone for your iPhone.

Once you’ve checked it out, let us know what you think.

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25 Features iPhone OS Still Needs

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 17, 2009 at 12:39 am

iphonefeaturs

I’m not sure how operating-system version numbers translate into human years, but this I know: 3.0 is still well short of adulthood. Windows 3.0 was the first version that was recognizable as Windows at all; Mac OS 3.0 came along so long ago that I don’t remember anything about it.

So it’s no knock on version 3.0 of the iPhone software to say that even though it contains 100 new features–some of which are a big deal–there are plenty more it could benefit from. What follows is a highly personal list of stuff I think this OS needs–and as far as I know, none of it is in OS 3.0. If we see some of it in OS 3.1, and more in 4.0, and a sizable chunk by 5.0, I’ll be a contented man.

I said the list is personal, but I tried to be realistic. It contains nothing that I can’t see Apple enabling, or which would require new hardware. I also didn’t include multitasking or Flash support on this list. They’ve been covered to death, and my gut tells me neither is coming to the iPhone soon. Consider them features #26 and #27 if you like, though–and I do suggest some things that might lessen the need for them.

Ready to celebrate the release of OS 3.0 (which is due later today) by being dissatisfied, nitpicky, and generally unreasonable? Here we go.

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One Windows 7, Indivisible?

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 12, 2009 at 8:54 am

Windows 7 LogoOver at ZDNet, my friend Jason Hiner has published an open letter to Microsoft, arguing that it’s not too late for Microsoft to scrap the six planned editions of Windows 7 and release the new OS in only one version. I admire Jason’s bold Hail Mary, but it’s presumably way too late for his scenario. Presumably Microsoft considered streamlining the Windows 7 lineup long ago–it caught plenty of flack over all the Vista variants–and made a willful decision to err on the side of more versions rather than fewer. If it hasn’t gone with a game plan like Jason’s by now, it’s just not in its DNA to do so.

I like Jason’s proposal that customization of Windows 7 for different types of users be done through feature packs rather than different versions of the OS. But I suspect that Microsoft is now deeply invested in the philosophy of offering different versions of its OS that it can sell at different price points to PC manufacturers who sell everything from $300 netbooks to $3000 luxury PCs. (Apple can sell OS X in just one version in part because it’s its own customer for OSes and doesn’t have to try and make everybody happy.)

The main problem with all those versions of Windows 7 isn’t that multiple versions of a product is inherently problematic. (Choice is good, no?) It’s that the differences between the Windows variants are subtle and hard to remember. At least it’s not yet as nightmarishly complicated as trying to decide which version of Crest toothpaste to buy.

Microsoft got this right with Windows XP, which came in two reasonably easy-to-distinguish variants: Home and Pro. And in the era of the really cheap PC, I think the company does need a really cheap version of Windows, so Windows 7 Starter Edition makes sense, too. If Microsoft were to offer three versions of Windows–plus an enterprise pack for corporate users–it would offer both choice and clarity. But I suspect we’ll have to wait until Windows 8 before there’s any chance of the Windows lineup getting simpler. And even then, it seems equally likely that it’ll get more complex.

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Memo Reveals Windows 7 Upgrade Details

Posted by David Worthington on June 5, 2009 at 6:48 pm

Best Buy customers who purchase PCs preloaded with Windows Vista between June 26 and Oct. 22 will receive free upgrades to Windows 7, according to a company memo obtained by Engadget.

Further, Best Buy will begin taking pre-orders on Jun. 26 for paid upgrades, according to the memo. Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade copies will cost $49.95, and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade copies will sell for $99.99. No details have been released about what full installs will cost.

“This new operating system isn’t just a “Vista that works” program–it’s a new operating system with improved productivity, functionality and creativity that uses less computer resources,” the memo read.

Windows 7 will be generally available on October 22 if European anti trust regulators do not find something objectionable in the final release. However, as first reported by Technologizer, Microsoft has a contingency plan to ship in January should it face legal scrutiny.

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The Palm Pre Revealed: The Technologizer Review

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 4, 2009 at 5:00 am

Palm Pre RevealedIs it possible to out-iPhone the iPhone? Again and again, we’ve seen other manufacturers come up with phones that try so very hard to look and work like Apple’s blockbuster, such as this one, this one, and this one. Some beat the iPhone on specs; none has come close to matching its appeal, imagination, or sales. For all the poseurs out there, the iPhone still feels like a product in a category of one, nearly two years after it first shipped.

But maybe the way to truly rival the iPhone is to counterpunch. What if a phone ignored some of the iPhone’s most obvious virtues, choosing to zig where Apple zagged? What if it aimed to rival not the iPhone’s look and feel but its spectacular record of innovation? What if the overarching goal was to be a really good, really inventive next-generation smartphone?

What, in other words, if it were Palm’s new Pre?

Back at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Palm unveiled the Pre with one of the most startling, sexy demos in tech history. Judging from the time I spent with a Pre this week, the phone lives up to most of its considerable promise. The hardware is quite good, but it’s the software–in the form of Palm’s webOS, the long-awaited successor to the groundbreaking-but-obsolete Palm OS–that makes the Pre so special. And the combination of the two is enough to catapult the Pre into a two-phone race with the iPhone 3G. (I suspect that one or more Google Android phones will be in serious competition before long, but the only Android phone to ship in the U.S., T-Mobile’s G1, is behind the iPhone and Pre by a furlong or two.)

Many people will find reasons to avoid the Pre, from its price ($299, or $199 after $100 rebate with two-year contract) to the fact it launches only on the Sprint network (a Verizon version is supposedly about six months away). Still, even if you never buy one, it’s a significant product. The Pre is so solid in so many areas that I expect multiple aspects of its hardware and software niceties to influence and improve competitive products. Maybe even ones from a company in Cupertino named after a piece of fruit.

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Windows 7: Coming to a PC Near You on October 22nd

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 2, 2009 at 11:45 am

Windows 7 LogoBack on May 11th, Microsoft confirmed what was already pretty obvious: Windows 7 would ship for the 2009 holiday season. Today, it got specific and said that the OS would show up on new PCs and in retail upgrade boxes on October 22nd. That’s a little later than some predictions–just yesterday I was telling someone that I thought it would arrive in time for the full back-to-school season–but it’s cheery news for a PC industry that’s presumably already worrying about the holiday sales period and looking for incentives it can give consumers to buy, buy, buy.

It’s also a positive development for consumers, since there’s plenty of evidence that a Windows 7 machine will be more pleasing than the same hardware loaded with Windows Vista (or for that matter, Windows XP).

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Maybe They Should Call It “Windows 7 Grudging Acknowledgment of Reality Edition”

Posted by Harry McCracken on May 30, 2009 at 9:07 am

Windows 7 LogoPaul Thurrott had it right: Microsoft has decided to lift the three-apps-at-a-time limitation from Windows 7 Starter Edition, the low-cost, low-end version of the OS which will likely show up on a lot of netbooks beginning this fall.

The company announced the change in plans at the Windows 7 Team Blog, in a post that also detailed remaining limitations of Starter Edition, among them its lack of Aero effects, custom wallpaper (!),  Taskbar previews, Fast User Switching, Media Center features, and DVD playback. It also tries to dissuade folks from associating Starter Edition and netbooks too closely:

As we continue to say since we announced the Windows 7 editions in February, all editions of Windows 7 have been optimized to run on the broadest range of hardware ranging from small notebook PCs all the way up to high end gaming machines. Windows 7 Starter should not be considered “the netbook SKU” as most machines in this category can run any edition of Windows 7. Many of our beta users have installed Windows 7 Ultimate on their small notebook PCs and have given us very positive feedback on their experience.

The post’s right that netbooks can run beefier versions of Windows 7–actually, I’m typing these very words on an Asus Eee PC 1000HE that’s working just fine with Windows 7 Ultimate. But  it remains to be seen just  how many netbooks will ship with anything other other than Starter given the price competition in the category (which is fierce) and the additional cost to bundle higher-end versions of Windows (which will be substantial). Starter Edition exists only because Microsoft would otherwise have to cede the low-end netbook market to Linux; it’s a version of Windows that Microsoft is releasing only because it doesn’t have much choice.

So if you’re thinking about buying a Windows 7 netbook, would you opt for Starter, or would you be willing to pay extra bucks for Windows 7 Home Premium or another more full-featured edition?

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