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Submission + - Microsoft fears Chromebooks .. (bgr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We were surprised last year when Microsoft started launching an anti-Chromebook ad campaign because, quite frankly, we’d never see anyone really use a Chromebook in the wild before and Chromebooks were nowhere to be found on usage statistics published by NetMarketShare. A few weeks later, however, we started hearing stories about Chromebook usage surging in schools although we didn’t have any real data to back up such claims. Now, however, The Wall Street Journal directs our attention to new research from Futuresource Consulting showing that Chromebooks’ share of the K-12 market for tablets and laptops exploded from just 1% in 2012 to 19% in 2013. What’s more, Windows’s share of the same market declined from 47.5% to 28% over the same period.

Submission + - HP Brings Back Windows 7 'By Popular Demand' as Buyers Shun Windows 8

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Gregg Keizer reports at Computerworld that Hewlett-Packard has stuck their finger in Microsoft's eye by launching launched a new promotion that discounts several consumer PCs by $150 when equipped with Windows 7, saying the four-year-old OS is "back by popular demand." "The reality is that there are a lot of people who still want Windows 7," says Bob O'Donnel. "This is a twist, though, and may appeal to those who said, 'I do want a new PC, but I thought I couldn't get Windows 7.'" The promotion reminded O'Donnell and others of the dark days of Windows Vista, when customers avoided Windows 7's predecessor and instead clamored for the older Windows XP on their new PCs. Then, customers who had heard mostly negative comments about Vista from friends, family and the media, decided they would rather work with the devil they knew rather than the new one they did not. "It's not a perfect comparison," says O'Donnell, of equating Windows 8 with Vista, "but the perception of Windows 8 is negative. I said early on that Windows 8 could clearly be Vista Version 2, and that seems to have happened." HP has decided that the popularity of Windows 7 is its best chance of encouraging more people to buy new computers in a declining market and is not the first time that HP has spoken out against Microsoft. "Look at the business model difference between Intel and ARM. Look at the operating systems. In today's world, other than Microsoft there's no one else who charges for an operating system," said HP executive Sridhar Solur in December adding that that the next generation of computers could very well not be dominated by Microsoft. "In today's world, other than Microsoft there's no one else who charges for an operating system."

Submission + - The Spamming Refrigerator (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by puddingebola
puddingebola writes: The "Internet of Things" is as susceptible to malware and spam as the rest of the net. From the article, "A fridge has been discovered sending out spam after a web attack managed to compromise smart gadgets...The spam attack took place between 23 December 2013 and 6 January this year, said Proofpoint in a statement. In total, it said, about 750,000 messages were sent as part of the junk mail campaign. The emails were routed through the compromised gadgets. About 25% of the messages seen by Proofpoint researchers did not pass through laptops, desktops or smartphones, it said." Read the Proofpoint's statement at http://www.proofpoint.com/about-us/press-releases/01162014.php

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