6813362
submission
ericatcw writes:
ChromeOS has yet to arrive to save the dying Linux netbook, but no matter: Linux is doing just fine on tiny laptops. According to Computerworld, about a third of of the 39 million netbooks shipping this year will come with Linux. Linux may actually overtake Windows on netbooks by 2013, according to ABI Research's forecast, as ARM-based netbooks running Moblin, ChromeOS, Android and Ubuntu gain popularity. Could that be why Microsoft recently listed Red Hat and Canonical as official competitors for the first time? ABI analyst Jeff Orr tells Computerworld a tactic that he thinks would help Microsoft stave off Linux on ARM.
6677431
submission
ericatcw writes:
Influential members of the open-source community say that fears over Oracle's takeover of the open-source MySQL database are overblown, and that the EU's interference with Oracle's pending acquisition would set a very bad precedent, reports Computerworld. They reject claims by MySQL co-founder Monty Widenius and free software guru Richard Stallman that the GPL license (ironically, created by Stallman) fails to protect MySQL against potential bad behavior by Oracle. One even sees Microsoft's "shadow" behind the politicking to get the EU to force Oracle to sell off MySQL.
6648797
submission
ericatcw writes:
Real men only eat bloody steaks, and they only overclock water-cooled gaming rigs, right? Wrong. Computerworld has a roundup of 5 easy(ish) ways to crank your netbook up to eleven, from safely fiddling with the motherboard voltage, boosting a 'Hackintoshed' netbook's graphics, to sawing off your HP Mini's anti-overclock hardware lock.
6496245
submission
ericatcw writes:
Taking a page out of McDonalds "billions and billions served," Microsoft says it reaps $1.3 billion a year from more than 100 million users of its SharePoint collab app. But some suggest that the figures are consciously inflated by Microsoft sales tactics in order to boost the appearance of momentum for the platform, reports Computerworld. A recent survey suggests that less than a fourth of users licensed for SharePoint actually use it. SharePoint particularly lags as a platform for Web sites, according to the same survey, a situation Microsoft hopes to fix with the upcoming SharePoint 2010.
6329861
submission
ericatcw writes:
Driven by increased crackdowns on BitTorrent sites such as The Pirate Bay, software pirates are fast-moving their warez to file-hosting Web sites like RapidShare, reports Computerworld. According to anti-piracy vendor, V.I. Labs, 100% of the wares in its survey were available on Rapidshare, which according to Alexa, is already one of the 20 largest sites in the world. V.I. Labs' CEO predicts file-hosting sites such as Rapidshare to supplant BitTorrent, as the former appear better protected legally.
5656807
submission
ericatcw writes:
Reviewers and netbook users are complaining that Windows 7 can cut a netbook's battery life by almost a third compared to XP, reports Computerworld. For instance, Laptop magazine found that the Toshiba NB205's battery life fell from 9.5 hours to under 7 when switched from XP to 7. Commentators at forums for Asus, Acer and MSI have complained the same thing. Microsoft didn't comment, but this would appear to contradict its earlier proclamations that Windows 7 would boost battery life over Vista.
