Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

The tide is beginning to roll in! Soon Lenovo laptops will be available with Linux!

Lenovo to sell laptops with Linux

“Lenovo Group Ltd., the world’s No. three PC maker, said on Monday it would start selling laptop computers preloaded with Linux software from Novell Inc. instead of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. The laptops are slated to go on sale in the fourth quarter of this year and will be sold to Lenovo’s business customers as well as to consumers. Lenovo announced its plans at the start of LinuxWorld, an annual conference for information-technology managers being held in San Francisco this week. The Linux operating system has been one of the fastest-growing types of software on servers and other types of powerful business computers over the past decade.”

So, you know I am not a gamer… but my son, Benjamin, is the Gamemaster! So, he would be more interested in this story than I would… not because he uses illegal games… all his are fully legal (I should know… my wife, Belinda or I buy them for him!) But, he does stay on top of what is going on in the gaming world.

US Gov’t Cracks Down On Pirated Games

“The US Government said Wednesday that it had executed 32 search warrants in 16 states as part of a crackdown on devices and chips which allow pirated games to be played on gaming consoles. Government officials say the targets of the raids were company’s that produce devices to circumvent copyright protections on Sony’s PlayStation 2, Microsoft’s Xbox and Xbox 360, and Nintendo’s Wii, among others. The industry claims these chips cause billions of dollars in lost revenue each year. The raids were the largest of their kind to to date, and were the result of investigations by the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office in Cleveland, Ohio. ICE says that in 2006, seizures of pirated works increased by 83 percent. ‘Illicit devices like the ones targeted today are created with one purpose in mind, subverting copyright protections,’ ICE Homeland Security assistant secretary Julie Myers said. ‘These crimes cost legitimate businesses billions of dollars annually and facilitate multiple other layers of criminality, such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering.'”

I sure hope not! Microsoft Works is terrible in the first place… computer companies already tend to give it away with cheap systems, and if I see it, I delete it. Now, M$ wants to give it away, but with built-in advertisements! You HAVE GOT to be kidding!

Microsoft Works Goes Free, Ad-Supported

“Microsoft Corp. will test a free, advertising-supported version of Works, an already inexpensive package of word processing, spreadsheet and other programs, but would not say whether it is exploring a similar Web-based suite. The company said Wednesday that a limited number of computer makers will pre-install Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT – news – people ) Works 9 SE on new PCs in certain markets, and that the test of the business model will last about a year. Microsoft’s announcement comes a week after its top executives sketched out a strategy for supplementing traditional packaged software revenue with subscriptions and Web-based services, during a day of meetings with financial analysts at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters.”

But… do they care? OK, OK, some do… I guess I am letting my Evil Empire detector buzz too much! But, there’s always OpenOffice!

Mac Users Left in Office 2008 Waiting Room

“Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft announced on Thursday its anticipated retail release date of the latest Office suite for the Macintosh Latest News about Macintosh will be delayed until January. Quality checks in June and July turned up problems that could not be resolved before the previous release target set for this fall, according to a posting to the Office for Mac Team Blog by Craig Eisler, general manager of Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit. Achieving the right quality level is “super important” to the company and the team, he wrote. Such slips are common in the software world, Laura DiDio, research fellow with Yankee Group, told MacNewsWorld. ‘This doesn’t cause me to raise an eyebrow.'”

Imagine a single Linux instance with 4 terabytes of memory (not diskspace… RAM!) Now imagine is has 2048 dual core processors (CPUs!) DEWD! 13.1 teraflops of computing power, connected to 240 terabytes of disk storage! Can I have one?

NASA Selects SGI to Provide Largest Shared-Memory System in the World

“SGI and NASA today announced that the agency has selected a record-setting SGI(R) Altix(R) supercomputer in its evaluation of next-generation technology to meet future high-performance computing (HPC) requirements. The system was acquired as part of NAS Technology Refresh (NTR), a four-phase procurement process that eventually will replace the Columbia supercomputer system, powered by SGI Altix. NASA’s new SGI Altix system is expected to be installed in August at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility at the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. The new system will be the first supercomputer to operate 2,048 processor cores and 4TB of memory under a single copy of Linux(R) — creating the largest Linux single system image (SSI) in the world. A larger SSI can accelerate scientific research by making all of the system’s processors and memory available to solve a single problem, or several problems at once. Driven by 1,024 Dual-Core Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors, the new system will generate 13.1 TFLOPs of compute power. The system’s dual-core processors allow more computing power per square foot, enabling NASA to pack more computing power into its supercomputing center. NASA also acquired an ultra-dense 240TB SGI(R) InfiniteStorage 10000 system to efficiently handle the massive data storage requirements.”

Digg started out as a neat idea… have people “vote up” (or, “Digg”) good stories and “digg down” bad stories so that you get interesting information that “floats up to the surface.” Pretty neat. But in recent days, more and more, it is being “hijacked” by groups (it seems to me) that have an agenda. For instance, it appears that Ron Paul groupies are “voting up” stories favorable to their guy. Also, the anti-conservative folks seem to “vote up” stories that appeal to the far left. But, whatever, if they can “organize” and vote the stories up, then one might say that that is how the site is “supposed” to work. Personally, I liked it better when the content was driven only by tech stories that folks thought were interesting… but that’s just me!

Now, a new chapter has begun. Digg, Inc. and Microsoft, Inc. have climbed into bed, and Microsoft will be providing the advertising content on Digg. Ouch. Come on, Kevin!

Microsoft Press Release on Digg

“Digg Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced an agreement in which the two companies will collaborate to bring relevant advertising to the more than 17 million unique monthly visitors to Digg, an innovative Web site that harnesses the collective wisdom of the world’s online audience to prioritize the overwhelming amount of content available on the Web. Microsoft’s advanced advertising technology and sales force combined with Digg’s unique and growing user community make possible the three-year collaboration, grounded in the companies’ commitment to technological innovation and user experience. As part of the relationship, Microsoft will be the exclusive provider of display and contextual advertising on Digg. The two companies also agreed to work together on future technology and advertising initiatives.”