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: 45% [?]

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: 48% [?]

I think it’ll have a tin opener on the side!

Well, maybe not. But you never know. But it’s no wilder than some of the speculation on the iPhone 3G. Following Steve Jobs keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. iPhone rumour jockeys have been throwing around ideas such as:

• front-facing camera for video calls
• changes in form factor
• GPS capability.

Reports are circulating on the internet that Apple is filing a patent for under screen solar cells. Looks the Apple really is Green!

Popularity: 61% [?]

It’s here.

I’ve just downloaded the latest Windows XP service pack. So far, no problems (I haven’t rebooted yet!) so hats off to Microsoft so far. The issue with Dynamics RMS is still present and Microsoft are working hard to resolve this - if you’re using DRMS, don’t worry; Microsoft automatically detects your installation and does not stream the download to your server. The problem also affects Vista SP1 but, as per XP, this has been covered by Microsoft until the issue is fixed - later this month, according to MS sources.

Now go, download and enjoy!

P.S Let me know if you have any problems. I’m off to reboot. See you later…maybe.

Popularity: 72% [?]

I wonder if they’ll give a us 2Gb download limit?

It looks like Virgin are ramping up their assault on BTs broadband services. A trial has run to test 40Gb connections over a 217 mile stretch of existing 10Gb backbone - basically, London to Manchester. The test was designed to examine the viability of enhancing the existing network.

Nortel Networks 40G Adaptive Optical Engine DWDM transponder cards and Juniper Networks T-series routers, with 40Gbit/s interfaces, were used during testing. The trial was run by Virgin Media as a proving ground for the growing requirements of Virgins customers - looks like we’re getting pretty bandwidth hungry!

Popularity: 66% [?]

Sticks fingers up at O2.

Vodafone has signed a contract to supply the iPhone to consumers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. Full details have not been released as yet which suggests this may not be an exclusive deal.

Popularity: 76% [?]

Creation of a grotesque love child?

Do you have platforms running Windows and Novell Linux? You’re in for a treat - if you run SCOM 2007. Novell is working with Microsoft to produce a suite of tools that will allow you to manage SuSe from a Windows platform. The move is part of the joint effort to push both Novell and Microsoft products deeper into Enterprise territory.

Novell have also announced a major push to use Open Source providers to enhance it’s ZENworks management tools for Linux.

I know that many of you will be thinking that Novell is a possible acquisition target for Microsoft but I doubt this will happen. Why buy a company when you can just squeeze them out of the market?

Popularity: 84% [?]

Does anybody want to stay here?

Yesterday I wrote an article about Indian techies preferences. Well, it would appear they’re not the only deserting our fair shores. A survey just by LoudHouse suggests that up to 65% of IT pros are seriously considering going abroad to work. The major reason cited by 87% or respondents: quality of life. I’m not going to launch into an anti-government rant, let’s just say that we’re feeling the burden more and more every day.

Retention of experienced staff is another issue for companies with over a third of workers polled saying that they are actively seeking a new job. The survey backs this statement up, suggesting IT workers know their skills are in high demand and are prepared to move in order to find a role that will stretch them.

An added bonus for all of us techies: the average salary of £35,160 is expected to rise by 4.5% this year, up from 3.3%in 2007 - happy days.

Popularity: 62% [?]

Service Pack ate my hamster.

Oops! It would appear that the rigourous pre-release testing Microsoft applies to patching and update has failed…again (remember SP2?). Microsoft has said that, due to a ‘compatability issue’, the updates should not be applied to machines running MS Dynamics RMS (Retail Management System). DRMS is a Microsoft application designed to handle retail chain management for small to medium sized companies. The glitch has caused Redmond to delay the SP3 release through Windows Upate and Microsoft Download Center.

The issue is also seen in Vista Service Pack 1. Microsoft is planning to filter automatic deployment of both Service Packs to systems running DRMS until the issues is resolved.

Hmm, no comment!

Popularity: 70% [?]

…India!

That’s right. According to recent survey, the number of IT graduates staying in India to work has risen from 65% between 1964 and 2001 to 84% between 2002 and 2008. The number of IITians believing that the West offered greater opportunities fell from 60% to 49% over the same period. Note: IITians - graduates of Indian Institutes of Technology. No, I didn’t make it up. That’s the phrase doing the rounds.

Respondents to the survey stated that India is catching up the West fast, citing improved range and career prospects quality and the major reason for no going West. Interestingly, 72% of IITians think that India will hold more promise of success within the next ten years. America polled 17% followed by Europe with 5% - Oops!

Popularity: 62% [?]