About bloody time!

Windows users, businesses in particular, having been banging the desk for some time now over Microsofts plans to end-of-life XP. It looks like the Redmond giant has finally taken the ear plugs out!

Earlier this month we reported that Microsoft would continue to allow the sale XP on ULCPC’s. Microsoft has now sent a letter to customers stating that critical support for XP will be extended until 2014. A full three years longer than usually seen.

OEM will be allow to supply preloaded XP until 2009.

Why the change of heart? It’s all about Vista. The bottom line is that many users aren’t happy with the latest incarnation of Windows. In particular, many businesses are deferring Operating System upgrades until the launch of Windows 7 in 2010 citing issues such as hardware support and the Vista knack of hogging resources.

Now Microsoft needs to make sure that they get the next release right

Popularity: 24% [?]

Sharpened handsets at dawn.

Looks like Google have a serious competitor to Android. Symbian, Series 60, UIQ and MOAP platforms are to be merged into an open-sourced platform to rival to Android. Heading up this charge into the heart of Google-land is Nokia who are preparing to buy up the remaining Symbian shares that it does not already own.

The Symbian foundation is planning to Open Source selected components at the launch of the new initiative. Over the coming two years the entire platform will become Open Source. There’s a bonus here for current Symbian license holders: no more fees.

Sony Ericsson and Motorola will contribute the UIQ platform, and NTT DoCoMo will contribute its MOAP platform.

Other companies joining this initiative include AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone.

Forget the browsers wars (we know Firefox will win that one), things look set to get really hot in the mobile sector.

Popularity: 2% [?]

You won’t be assimilated…not just yet!

I’m quite keen to have a look at Googles Android handset but going on reports I may have to wait until 2009!

A report in Mondays Wall Street Journal suggests that a number of Googles partners in the venture simply won’t be ready for the planned 2008 release. This flies in the face Google statements that the first Android equipped handset will be with us by the end of 2008.

The WSJ did say that Android could still be with us this year but not through Google. T-mobile are planning to release a handset by the end of the year.

Android currently has 30 companies officially in the programme - surely that’s enough to make it happen?

Ok, yes it will be here. Oh, no it won’t. Actually, nobody knows! On the plus side, this means I can avoid be deluged with sponsored ads for just a little longer

Popularity: 2% [?]

According to UK students.

Well, that’s according to non-technology students. Admittedly, these students have acknowledged that propects are good due to shortfall of technology workers but they just don’t want a career in IT.

“Greater exposure of young people to the merits of a job in the IT sector is vital. We need to show them the variety of roles in IT and the importance that IT carries today. IT is at the heart of business these days and there are real opportunities now to have a career in IT which will ultimately lead to a position on the board,” said Mike Rodd, learned society director at BCS.

On top of this rather dismal report comes figures that show the number of female IT graduates is also falling. But, the number of female ICT A level students has risen by 40%. Hmm, I wonder what’s putting them off?

I know IT isn’t everyones cup of tea but I certainly wouldn’t call it boring. It certainly beats being a graduate with no job, no money and no prospects!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Hardware piled sky high.

These figures are an estimate provided by Gartner who estimate that the number of PC’s is growing at about 12% per year. On that basis there should be around two billion installed PC’s kicking around by 2014.

According to research director George Shiffler,

Mature markets, such as the US, Western Europe and Japan, currently account for 58 percent of the world’s installed PCs, but these markets only account for 15 percent of the world’s population,

On top of those figures, reasearch suggests that 180 million PC’s are due to be replaced this year - that’s a whole lot of recycling!

Popularity: 64% [?]

By 80%.

So, if you travel Europe with your T-mobile data card you’re quids in.

T-mobile currently charge £7.50 per Mb of data used but this will drop to £1.50 as of 1st  July.  This means that T-mobile will become the cheapest operator in when it comes to surfing using your data card in Europe. That accolade currently resides with 3 and Orange, charging £3 per Mb.

In addition to this announcement, T-mobile has stated that they will also be dropping the cost of texting from abroad; down from 40p to 25p per text.

The move comes in time for a 1st July deadline set by the European Commission. In February, Information society and media commissioner Viviane Reding told operators to make their data-roaming rates more reasonable by the start of July - or else the Commission would consider proposing strict new regulations on these charges.

Popularity: 4% [?]

MS eating Google dust!

In fact, they are also chewing on Yahoo’s dust. Figures for May show Google with a huge 61.9% of search market share followed by Yahoo with 20.6%. Google have a very long lead. To be fair, Yahoo have actually managed to improve their share by 0.2% over Aprils figures.

Erm, then there’s Microsoft. The software giant managed grab 8.5% of Mays search figures. That’s not too bad for an offering that is still relatively new to the game (if you discount the figures that show market share of 0.6% since April!)

I wonder if there’s any room for another search engine in the market?

Popularity: 7% [?]

…up 1.6% from April

Let’s face it, if you want to find bargains you browse the internet. True, we still like to see products up close and personal. But why go through the hassle of lugging your goods home or arranging delivery in a store when you can simply drop your address into the order field of an online shopping trolley.

This means that retailers have to become more innovative in the multi-channels sales sector - snooze and they loose!

This doesn’t mean we’ve gone online shopping mad. The current economic conditions have made consumers far more aware of the pounds in their pockets with sales growth being confined to the clothing, footwear and accessories sectors.

Other sectors haven’t performed so well with online sales of electrical goods and alcohol falling by 10% and 11% respectively.

Another factor to consider here is the growth of online discount codes. Companies are giving away discount incentives in order to drive traffic to their sites and convert visits into sales.

I’m off to buy a new UMPC - online, of course.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Heavy price for altering his grades!

No, it’s not a joke. 18 year-old Omar Khan really is facing 38 years in prison for breaking into his high schools computer system. Amongst the charges he faces are 34 charges of altering a public record, six counts of burglary, seven counts of computer access and fraud and one felony count of conspiracy. Adds up a bit when you look at it.

Khan is also accused of altering, copying and selling Advanced Placement tests to other students. Oh, and installing spyware on the school database.

When you look at the potential sentence it really does our justice system look soft!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Available for download.

OpenSuse 11 is here - actually, it was made available for download yesterday but better late than never.

The latest version of OpenSuse has some improvements which should make life a whole lot easier for users.

• improved installer
• improved sound management - at last
• faster package management
• OpenOffice 2.4 and Banshee media player

Personally, I’ve always liked Suse. I know that there have been a number of issues over the years regarding installation and support for certain pieces of hardware but with the backing Novell and AMD the free OS should be onto a winner.

Popularity: 64% [?]