Nyadach's Profile

The only people I think who should be worried about MS OneCare is Symantec...and they are worried from how they are running off to the courts again about it. Security updates are still free, as is Anti Spyware. As for Anti Virus no ones forcing you to use OneCare or NAV. And after seeing Symantecs latest subscription price hikes of 25-33% across the board OneCare is looking more and more like a very nice option. Security is such a big thing these days. Heck, Nokia recently signed a deal to bundle a version of NAV on thier phone. And from how nasties are appearing on the PSP probably won't be too long till a version appears on it also. Security is such a huge market these days, and for a market MS hasn't touched, it would of been crazy if they wouldn't venture into it. There is the paranoia brigade who will see it as MS finding a way to charge customers to fix things, but people are still open to choice here. If they don't like it go hand your cash to Symantec, or if your feeling like not spending, there's always AVG.

You make a good point...due to so many people believing the "safer by design" BS, people don't tend to update. The same is true of the linux universe...and the end result is no one updating and attacks getting through. There's no such thing as a secure operating system, its just a case of how much hassle you want to put those attacking you through to get anywhere. Thats why I let the mutt guard the router, nowt getting past fido :P

Those CD's needing to play using the player on the CD is nuts. Fine the player is designed to run on Windows, but the player still sucks anyhow. Ain't these record co's heard of Java? Least then it could be equally bad on Win/Mac/Linux equally. DRM is the plague unleashed by the money grabbing bosses locked up in their ivory towers. Sadly they are just too far removed from understanding that people don't mind buying a CD, but they want to be able to play it the way in which they want too...not how some company dictates. They keep trying to destroy the P2P networks through brute force, but things will keep on popping up the more the companies try to pigeonhole users into using what they want to buy, the way they want to use it. Users should be given the freedom to use what they buy how they want to use it without being dictated too by the companies. Sadly it seems the companies don't see it this way. And the only winners are the criminals *sigh*.

Integrated? You can simply uninstall it. Ok, the option is no longer there on the install like it was in 95 and 98, but you are still able to remove it if the user wanted too. Heck, Media Players been nice and happy shipping with Windows long before IE has, so now they get uppity on it. The whole EU thing again MS was nothing more than them trying to show power over US corporations. Oh, and look at the end result of the EU joke. So, you can buy WinXP with or without Media Player. And what does the consumer choose? WITH. It is a feature which the public want no matter what the EU insane asylum wants. I had to crease up laughing at how Dell and HP are offering the non Media Player version and no one is buying it hehe. Kind of proves a point that its up to the consumer to decide, not some EU muppets.

It's all possible, its just a process of really deciding what you want the machine to do. I've recently done some work on some machines which have 512MB RAM, and are using a 512MB flash drive (write protected) for the OS and applications which is why I know this whole thing works. Even in 512MB its been possible to put WinXP, IE6, Java, Acrobat, Office, and a few other odds'n'ends and leaving the machine with (ok not much) 35MB free space for users to play around with. Users messing up the systems no longer an issue, restart, new copy of all programs and OS. Virus protections not needed, or spyware, restart its clean. I've done this also with Linux, to a lesser extent due to the applications. In theory I don't really see an issue why the MacOS couldn't do it also if you really go at it on a killing spree to remove the bloat (heck, if you can get XP down to under 100MB, its got to be possible). Its all fine on a LAN as you have somewhere else to store too. Laptop wise until we have wifi everywhere, its going to be a bit of a problem. Although thinking about it, having the machine not really go into full shutdown (not like it needs to since no HDD to protect), you could really keep a RAM drive for files etc, which is auto synced when it finds a connection again...eek, am starting to dream up new projects to play with hehe :P

The big marketing factor for the iPod was fashion and the sheep factor. Look at them, they will buy them no matter what, doesn't matter how bad the battery is in them or the fact your music’s going to lock you into iPods in the future with iTMS. It didn't matter that others did it before them, and others make better devices. It had fashion behind it. And then the sheep factor kicked in, and the masses followed. Laptop, and desktop wise though. It’s a lot more difficult. They might still have fashion, but they haven't the sheep (ok, maybe some, but not many looking at Apples whooping 3% market share now). The move to Intel should really help a lot if only for (on the laptops at least) the better battery and CPU. Desktop wise it should also make for more interesting designs. I am pretty much doubting they will bother with the desktop Pentiums, and probably stick with the Centrino and VIIV lines due to the low power, less heat, kick-ass performance which would allow for some very sexy new case designs. Ultimately though. Because they are fighting an already finished battle, the only way in which they will really gain heavily in market share will be to start shipping Windows (yeah yeah whine about it, but it would increase sales hugely). Even as a dual boot out of the box it would increase sales massively. Users love the designs, the laptops etc a lot of people really adore. But people won't buy one due to the OS on it. Moving to x86 will probably open up more sales though to those willing to install Windows themselves (much in the way the dual x86 PPC 6100 did), but to really get a big increase they do really need to enter the market. And that means installing Windows.

The thing is, the hard disk is still the best solution for huge storage capacities at a decent enough speed. Heck we'll be seeing 1TB drives next year, and we don't even have a realistic backup method for them other than buying a second drive. A big problem is size of what’s being run. I used to cram 40 odd application on my Newton's 1MB card hehe. But then again the applications were very simple. As mentioned about the handheld video players. Would be great to plug into a TV and play back anywhere...sheesh even better if TV's got wifi (yeah yeah fantasy time). My personal belief on how things are moving is more office centric style. Have a server at home, some big (ish) machine with a shed load of hard disks in it stick in the basement or attic. And then it throwing music and video out to the TVs, hifi's, portable stations etc around the house. And the actually desktop machines end up as very much simplified systems like a very much smaller Mini Mac with no storage at all...maybe just the OS on a locked flash (like used in a thin client terminal), and a load of RAM on it so it can cope with web cache etc through a RAM drive. Laptop wise, I am kind of thinking more on the idea of probably a much smaller machine like the Hitachi with no hard disk (think its Japan only at the moment though). The entire things very much simplified down to a VPN access machine going back to your office. You could quite easily modify something like that with a lot of flash to hold a proper OS and applications, but keeping the web cache on a RAM drive, and all storage online. Would work fine, as long as you are in an area with wifi access.

Hadley is right on with the Google of music searching...am still looking forward to see what Google does with that once they go live with it. When the originally said they were going into searching multiple online music stores, and even trying to get there own payment system in operation where you pay Google for the song and then get it from wherever sounded great. Can't wait to see if they get it to work that simply though. As for iTunes hmm, I dunno. Just look at the recent launch in Australia where its lacking Sony and EMI. If/when they pull out of all the other countries (believe its around April/May time when the next licensing round is due) iTunes why would anyone want to use it if it hasn't any music? Apple will have to relent and do what the music companies want or they'll be sunk. Can a music service survive only with garage bands and no big lables? We all know Sony wants the iPod dead. Can Sony do it? I wouldn't put it past them or if not, severely messing up iTunes in the process.