S Korea to break away from Windows by 2020

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-07-05

Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP on April 7, 2014. (photo/Xinhua)

South Korea said that it will move away from Windows in the future to avoid dependency on the Microsoft operating system, citing the fact that Windows XP is no longer supported.

In a government statement, South Korea said that it has upgraded its operating system to Windows 7 to replace Windows XP, but has no intention to repeat the cycle again in 2020 and consequently has decided to choose open resources instead, reports TechEye.

South Korea will invigorate a pivot program consisting of ten public and private institutions, the program related to employee education and the system paid for by the government. Apparently, South Korea is trying to support its domestic software developers.

This is the second defeat Windows has suffered in Asia after the Chinese government rejected Windows in its procurement project, reported Beijing Business Today, the biggest financial newspaper in Beijing.

The central government of China has ordered that no computers belonging to the facilities of the central government be installed with Windows 8. Meanwhile, officers have publicly encouraged domestic operating systems.

There has been report about the central government banning Microsoft Office as well, though Microsoft China denied the news. What is clear, however, is that Microsoft is losing its government customers, and very fast.

Its discontinuation of support and upgrades for Windows XP seems to be the main reason leading Microsoft into this crisis. Since its introduction in 2001, the now classic Windows XP has dominated the operating system market for personal computers. In additional to common users, Windows XP enjoys a huge amount of government customers.

Microsoft retired the thirteen-year-old Windows XP in this April so as to popularize the latest operating system Windows 8, causing an earthquake in business. Governments and companies spent quite a lot to upgrade to Windows 7, and many came to the awareness of the over-dependency on Windows and the future cost of inevitable replacement.

Furthermore, since the NSA's Prism surveillance program was exposed last June, countries and businesses have become much more alert to information security, gradually cutting their reliance on huge corporations such as Windows and Apple, and switching to domestic software.

Microsoft is in a difficult situation in the age of the mobile internet. On the one hand it has to deal with Apple and Google to transform to mobile market; on the other hand, its advantages in its core software are weakening due to loss of government customers.

Fortunately, there is still some time for Microsoft to rearrange itself. The empire of Microsoft will not collapse in one night, after all, and there are years to go before the arrival of 2020.

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Austrian 'FunkFeuer' helps American 'Internet-in-a-suitcase' project

Deutsche Welle, 17 June 2011

Rooftop antennas create a blanket
of WiFi coverage

An Austrian wireless networking project that plants Wi-Fi antennae across rooftops is a key element in an American government "liberation technology" project designed to circumvent and thwart Internet filters, censorship and surveillance.

The rooftops of Vienna may seem like an unlikely site for tech innovations.

However, FunkFeuer, an obscure Austrian wireless mesh networking project that plants WiFi antennae across some rooftops is now a key element in a large "liberation technology" program by the American government. This new group projects is designed to circumvent and thwart Internet filters, censorship and surveillance in authoritarian regimes around the world.

The Austrian project, called FunkFeuer - or "network fire" in German - is an experimental mesh network in Vienna and other cities that has been underway for five years.

While FunkFeuer is not receiving any money from the American government, its popular, free, open-source mesh networking software is being now used by a tech initiative from the New America Foundation, an American NGO, which has received a US contract to work on a new shadow Internet project.

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that the US State Department is pouring millions of dollars into various projects, one of which is a so-called "Internet-in-a-suitcase." The idea is that American agents could pass along a satellite connection, quickly and surreptitiously deploying a local WiFi network.

"We’re conscious of the fact that this is probably the edgiest, most kind of entrepreneurial kind of programming in the US Government and that it’s on the cutting edge of technology and one cutting edge of history," said an unnamed State Department official, who spoke to journalists in Washington, DC on Wednesday.

"I mean, this is - we’re watching the need for this kind of support play out in real time as we look across the Middle East. But again, the need is not one particular piece of technology or one silver bullet."

The American government’s aim is to help protestors in Libya, Iran and other global hotspots by building shadow wireless networks - by drawing on the FunkFeuer concept.

In other words, the project eventually should be able to, at a moment’s notice, smuggle in a satellite phone, and various other WiFi equipment - similar to what’s used in Vienna - that could be used amongst trusted activists, even if the local government shuts down nearly all regular access.

"FunkFeuer mesh antennas network with each other and pass on data packets to each other in a very unpredictable way – and eventually the smart network learns how to send the data packets to the Internet," explained Aaron Kaplan, one of FunkFeuer's leaders, in an interview with the Deutsche Welle.

In other words, what makes a mesh network different is that it’s much harder to shut down, because even if one point is switched off the network will still function. That’s unlike a more traditional, linear, point-to-point type of network that is more commonly used to pass a WiFi signal across a large distance.

Kaplan added in an e-mail sent to Deutsche Welle that he is helping the Open Technology Initiative, as part of the New America Foundation, to “integrate the mesh software (that FunkFeuer actively uses in its network) into smartphones.”

Network fire

Kaplan and others have been working for years setting up this experimental network in various parts of Vienna and other parts of Austria. There are lots of other kinds of mesh networks around the world, but this one is particularly large, and it’s also open-source, which means anyone can tinker with the technical specifications.

These antennas share an Internet
connection across a mesh network

Most recently, in January 2011, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak shut off nearly all Internet access in Egypt for five days earlier this year, prior to his abdicating power. Internet access remains heavily censored and restricted in many nations of the world, including Iran, China, Cuba and Myanmar.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech in Washington, D.C. earlier this year on the subject of Internet freedom, noting that the American government would award $25 million in project funding in 2011 to fight Internet repression.

"We are taking a venture capital-style approach, supporting a portfolio of technologies, tools, and training, and adapting as more users shift to mobile devices," Clinton said at the time. "We have our ear to the ground, talking to digital activists about where they need help, and our diversified approach means we're able to adapt the range of threats that they face."

Vulnerable activists

However, while the US has been aware of these projects for years, other technology experts remain concerned that these projects may make activists more vulnerable, as these networks are relatively easy to detect, and shut down.

Alexander Limburg, who works at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, and advises the Austrian government on cybersecurity, noted that while this idea is not completely new, it does represent a new, more concrete, direction for American policy.

Austrian developers have been working
on FunkFeuer for years

"In 2006 and 2007, [then-Sen.] Clinton and [then-Secretary of State] Condoleeza Rice both had people in the State Department who were very familiar with high-tech and who also sought to implement similar types of technology in Iraq to support counter-insurgency efforts," Limburg told Deutsche Welle. "So in the last six or seven years, the State Department has been acutely aware of technology and democratization."

But, he's a little bit skeptical about this project - mainly because Limburg says it’s relatively easy to detect, and therefore, shut down.

"Belarus is a very good example it’s also a country where such a thing has been tried before," he said. "It's also proved to be very dangerous for people who have tried to implement it. So, what becomes of the rooftop antennae remains to be seen."

Kaplan acknowledges that this type of network can be shut down, but adds that higher levels of detection avoidance are possible. Authorities, just like activists, can not only see the names of the wireless access points if they turn on their laptops or iPhones, but also can use other software to find hidden networks.

Still, Kaplan isn’t phased by his new link to US geopolitics.

"Years ago, we decided to make the mesh technology open source, so in essence everybody is allowed to use it,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It is out there on the Internet in the open, and [the Open Technology Initiative] is allowed to integrate it."

Still, he knows that FunkFeuer may not be a one-size-fits-all solution, and that activists need to recognize the limits of the tools that they use at any given time.

"You have to be very clear that technology is just the tool and when you develop a tool, [a new] tool that defeats the [original] tool will be developed [soon after]," he said. "I would be careful, you know, to put so much hope into one particular tool."

Author: Kerry Skyring, Vienna / sad

Editor: Cyrus Farivar

Vladimir Putin Orders Russian Government to Switch to Free Software by 2015

Mashable, Dec 2010

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a government order that lays out the groundwork for the transition of federal bodies and agencies to use free software, including Linux, by 2015.

The 25-point document (available here) outlines specific steps the government must take in order to move off proprietary software and onto free and/or open source alternatives like Linux. The government order was approved on December 17 and affects all federal agencies of the federal budget.

Each point of the document names the specific action that must be taken, the agency responsible for implementing that order, the time frame for implementation, and the expected result. For example, one point instructs Russia’s Ministry of Communications to form “the base package of free software solutions for typical problems of the federal executive bodies,” with the expected result a free package of software that includes operating systems, drivers and application software for servers.

Another order calls for “creating and maintaining a single repository of free software used in the federal bodies of executive power,” while another requires “the development of departmental plans to move to the use of free software, including plans for transition of subordinate budget institutions.” The final order, to be implemented in Q3 2015, calls for “preparation of the draft orders of the Government of the Russian Federation on the adoption of a phased introduction of free software for the next planning period.”

Russia has been moving in the direction of free software for the past few years. In 2008, the government ordered schools to implement free software packages in all of its computers. Schools that now want to use proprietary software have to pay for it out of their own pockets.

[Source: CNews via Open...]

White House Web site releases custom Drupal code

CNet News, by Steven Musil

Six months after announcing it would employ the open-source software Drupal to manage and publish its content, the White House Web site has contributed some custom code to the project.

Dave Cole, a senior adviser to the CIO of the Executive Office of the President and the man responsible for managing WhiteHouse.gov, said Wednesday that the administration is contributing four modules it created for the president's revamped Web site.

"This code is available for anyone to review, use, or modify," Cole wrote in a blog announcing the contribution. "We're excited to see how developers across the world put our work to good use in their own applications."

The four new modules focus on improving scalability, communication, and accessibility, Cole wrote.

A module designed to improve scalability is called "Context HTTP Headers" and allows Web site builders to add new metadata to their content and gives instructions to servers on how to manage specific pages, such as cache scheduling. Another module focused on scalability called "Akamai" allows WhiteHouse.gov to integrate with content delivery network Akamai.

A communication module called "GovDelivery" allows for more dynamic emails tailored to users' preferences.

An accessibility module called "Node Embed"--designed to make it easier to manage rich photographs and video content--aims to help the site be in compliance with Section 508, the government's accessibility standard.

The White House's announcement last October that it was transitioning to Drupal was a high-profile endorsement for the open-source software, which allows anyone to see, modify, and redistribute the source code underlying the software that's actually installed on a computer.

Indonesia Information Technology Report Q4 2009 - New Report Published

New report provides detailed analysis of the Information Technology market

Companiesandmarkets.com and OfficialWire, by Press Office, Published on November 20, 2009

The Indonesian IT market should grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 13% over 2009-2013 despite a deceleration in 2009, with demand in key segments affected by the global economic crisis. In H109, some manufacturing organisations deferred IT procurements, but there was continued spending in the financial sector, which had previously accounted for as much as 30% of total spending.

Demand is expected to pick up in 2010, and return to double-digit territory by 2011.

Government spending is expected to increase this year, and some fundamental drivers, including low computer penetration and growing affordability, should ensure that the market remains in positive growth territory. Indeed, Indonesia is projected to be one of the best regional IT market growth prospects over BMI's five-year forecast period. 2009 has undoubtedly brought more caution, however, with pressure for cutbacks as companies focus more on the bottom line and immediate needs.

By 2013, Indonesia's hardware-dominated IT market is projected to reach a value of US$5.7bn, displaying faster growth than many Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbours. With information and communication technologies (ICT) penetration of only around 20% and development restricted to richer areas such as Java, the market has much latent growth potential. However, the country's uneven development, and resultant digital divide, is a major barrier to faster growth within this potentially huge IT market.

Industry Developments

In H109 a ministerial decree directed that local government offices across Indonesia must adopt open source software (OSS) by 2011. The mayor of Surabaya revealed in July 2009 that his city had launched a pilot project for OSS applications. According to the mayor, all Surabaya municipal offices were now using the software, and civil servants had been given relevant training. The local government hoped that the municipality could save between 20% and 25% of its budget.

E-government is expected to emerge as an area of growing opportunity for IT vendors over the next couple of years. Currently, several ministries at both federal and province level are planning to implement projects. In 2008, a number of projects were launched, including an e-procurement system by the State Ministry for State Enterprise, which covered 25 state-owned enterprises, including state oil and gas company Pertamina and state electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

The government is also rolling out new e-learning initiatives, which could see education's share of the local IT spending rise from its estimated level of around 4%. The current ratio of PCs to students in public schools is around 1:3,200, and the government wants to increase this to 1:20. As there are 53mn students in Indonesia's schools system, this would require at least 2.5mn computers.

Indonesia Information Technology Report Q4 2009 © Business Monitor International Ltd Page 6 Competitive Landscape Multinational vendors dominate the Indonesian brand PC market leaders, with Acer currently boasting the edge in both notebook and desktop segments. In addition to HP and Acer, the rest of the top five comprises of Dell, Lenovo and Zyrex. While locally assembled 'white boxes' still claim up to 60% of the local PC market, a number of local PC and notebooks brands also enjoy increasing success, including Zyrex and Ion.

Acer is thought to have a market share of more than 40% for notebooks. In 2009 the Taiwanese vendor continued to expand its presence across both notebook and desktop segments with more product releases.

Meanwhile, HP has pledged to reclaim top spot in the Indonesian market from Acer at some point in H110 and has been aggressive in launching new notebook and netbook series.

IT services vendors have reported a growing demand in the telecoms, manufacturing and banking sectors.

Oracle has an agreement with local IT solutions provider PT Sigma Cipta Caraka (Sigma) to provide outsourcing services. Meanwhile, e-government is also being eyed by IT services vendors as a potential growth area. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said that it had targeted the government as a future growth driver in the Indonesian market. Currently, TCS's 15 local clients are principally from sectors such as banking and financial services, telecoms and media.

Hardware

The report forecasts 2009 Indonesia computer hardware spending of around US$2.5bn, up from US$2.4bn last year. Growth decelerated in 2009 and is forecast to be in low single digits this year before ticking up again in 2010. Double-digit growth is expected to resume in 2011, with the market rising to a value of nearly US$4.0bn by 2013.

Early results for 2009 were encouraging, due largely to notebook sales, which surged thanks to the popularity of netbooks; notebook sales grew faster than desktops in H109. In the current environment, the most promising growth driver is perhaps the consumer segment, which accounts for around 25% of computer demand. The main drivers are growing affordability and more credit availability.

Software

For 2009, software sales are projected at US$402mn, up from an estimated US$377mn in 2008, despite the current economic slowdown. There were signs in H109 that many firms planned to increase software spending. One market inhibitor is the continuing software piracy problem, which, by the local government's own figures, loses Indonesian software companies alone more than US$100mn a year.

Over the forecast period, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software continues to be of most interest to the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) market as currently only around 20% of Indonesian SMEs are estimated to make use of IT.

IT Services

Indonesia's IT services market is projected to be worth US$589mn in 2009, recording year-on-year (y-oy) growth of 4% from US$564mn in 2008. Currently, IT services account for only 17% of the country's hardware-centric IT market sales. Hardware deployment services remain the largest Indonesian IT services category, with approximately a 20% share.

In 2009, the banking sector continued to provide opportunities for IT vendors, despite the fallout from the global financial crisis. Banks continued with transformation strategies driven by factors such as new technologies & services and regulatory compliance. However, most opportunities are currently in fundamental service areas such as system integration, support systems, training, professional services, outsourcing and internet services.

E-Readiness

Low telephone line density, high charges and low PC penetration are all significant obstacles to higher internet penetration. However, the picture is not all bad as there are signs of faster growth in user numbers, and recent surveys have shown that, among a very small elite, there is fast adoption, by regional standards, of broadband and a willingness to pay for video conferencing, security and other additional features. The government is encouraging fixed wireless deployments, including WiMAX, to bring the internet to more remote areas.

The government is also rolling out an internet-based National Education Network, which involves 1,000 network points in five clusters nationwide, designed to facilitate the use of the internet in schools. Despite some advances in e-education, constraints remain due to poor infrastructure and lack of public awareness in a country where only 20mn people own fixed-line telephones.

Google eyes more RI firms to sell web applications

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/03/2009 1:06 PM

Google Apps, a collection of online applications and utilities, is expanding in the Indonesia market as growing numbers of companies have opted for its premium services since their introduction late last year.

"Until today, more than 10 local companies have used Google premium web applications," said Putranto Yuwono, director of EB Connection, the local partner of Google recently.

"Another 10 companies have been expressing their interest to use these products," he added.

Putranto, however, refused to disclose whether there was any noted company among the 10 current users of Google web applications.

"One of our latest customers is coal mining firm PT Energi Kaltim Persada," he told The Jakarta Post.

Putranto said he was optimistic Google products would gain a significant market share in Indonesia.

Web Apps is considered one of the open source software providers with big prospects to replace more expensive propriety applications.

Firms can use hosted web applications for communication, productivity, and collaboration. Google Apps include Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Sites, and Google Docs.

Putranto said that all applications hosted by Google were available free to users, but with less features.

"Free users can access all of the basic functions. But for better business solutions, it may not enough," he said.

Google's email service, Gmail, for example, only provides real-time translation for premium users.

Premium users get 25 GB of inbox capacity while free user gets 7.4 GB.

The wave of migration from propriety software to open-source applications is now gaining momentum because open source provides cost efficiencies and helps avoid legal charges for piracy.

A noted IT expert Onno W. Purbo said recently most web applications do not require high-profile hardware and are more cost efficient.

Sharing Onno's views, Putranto said: "With only US$50 per user, you can do exactly the same as you can do with proprietary software that may cost up to $300."

Tan Bee Loon, a representative from Google Enterprise Southeast Asia, said that Google customers would also benefit from continuous innovation as Google would still keep developing the products being used.

"There are so many benefits, like real-time translation when opening email through Gmail," he said.

Tan highlighted the ability of Google Apps in collaborative working both between applications and between different users, enhanced emailing systems, and system security.

Putranto explained: "Google Apps enable company's employees to work on a single project simultaneously from their own laptops. We have also cooperated with a number of cellular phone providers to provide calendar-based reminder services.

"*Once the reminder service is used* the users will get text messages reminding them about their appointments which they originally filed on Google calendar," Putranto said. (bbs)

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Laptop for every pupil in Uruguay

BBC News, By Verónica Psetizki, Montevideo, Uruguay

362,000 pupils in Uruguay now have the distinctive laptops.

Uruguay has become the first country to provide a laptop for every child attending state primary school.

President Tabaré Vázquez presented the final XO model laptops to pupils at a school in Montevideo on 13 October.

Over the last two years 362,000 pupils and 18,000 teachers have been involved in the scheme.

The "Plan Ceibal" (Education Connect) project has allowed many families access to the world of computers and the internet for the first time.

Uruguay is part of the One Laptop Per Child scheme, an organisation set up by internet pioneer Nicholas Negroponte. His original vision was to provide laptops at $100 (£61) but they proved more expensive.

The Uruguay programme has cost the state $260 (£159) per child, including maintenance costs, equipment repairs, training for the teachers and internet connection.

The total figure represents less than 5% of the country's education budget.

Around 70% of the XO model laptops handed out by the government were given to children who did not have computers at home.

"This is not simply the handing out of laptops or an education programme. It is a programme which seeks to reduce the gap between the digital world and the world of knowledge," explained Miguel Brechner, director of the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay and in charge of Plan Ceibal.

"A revolution"

In the run up to Uruguay's general election on 25 October, the project is being promoted as an achievement of the Tabaré Vázquez government.

"It's been a revolution, which has helped us enormously, but it hasn't been easy," explained Lourdes Bardino, head teacher of School 173 in Las Piedras.

Ms Bardino said that some teachers were originally opposed to the introduction of the XO laptops.

"We have a lady who's been teaching for 30 years and when they gave us the computers and the training, she asked for leave because she didn't want to have anything to do with the programme. Later she changed her mind and now computers have changed the way she teaches."

All the teachers have been given training, but the extent to which they use the laptops in the classroom is up to them.

Research carried out recently by the State Education authorities revealed that some teachers have chosen not to include computer-related work in their lesson plans.

Costs and criticisms

The laptops have an open source Linux operating system with a user interface called Sugar. It has attracted some criticism from detractors for not being mainstream.

However Mr Brechner believes that children should learn computer skills regardless of the software available. Blind children were being taught on a Microsoft Windows operating system, he said.

The annual cost of maintaining the programme, including an information portal for pupils and teachers, will be US$21 (£13) per child.

The future

Now that all the schoolchildren have their computers, the authorities say that they will endeavour keep the schools connected, particularly those in rural areas, where many still do not have internet access.

There are plans to extend the scheme to secondary schools and pre-school children next year.

Organisers of the Plan Ceibal have set up a consultancy in order to advise other countries wishing to replicate the Uruguayan experience.

Mr Brechner said that Rwanda, Haiti, El Salvador, Paraguay, some provinces in Argentina and Colombia have been in touch although they have not yet decided to contract their services.

"We would help them with tenders, planning, evaluation, which software to use, how to spread the word, training, all the "know how" we have developed. We don't have a manual. It´s a culture shock scenario - many countries are simply too scared to put it into practice."

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Google, Verizon to develop Android mobile phones

Reuters, Tue Oct 6, 2009 10:48am EDT

A man looks at his phone as he walks past a Verizon wireless store in New York, July 30, 2009. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless said on Tuesday it will develop and sell mobile phones and services using Google Inc's Android operating system software.

Google has been pushing into the mobile phone market to replicate the success it has in desktop computers. The ultimate idea is to sell targeted advertising on mobile phones, which many analysts believe is the next big frontier in advertising.

The Verizon Wireless deal is the Android system's latest with a major U.S. mobile phone company. Others include Sprint Nextel Corp and T-Mobile USA.

Google and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, will sell several Android-based devices loaded with applications from both companies and other mobile software developers.

In addition, the family of Android phones, which will be distributed by Verizon Wireless, will come from top handset manufacturers, the companies said.

Taiwan's HTC already makes Android phones, and Motorola last month introduced the first in a line of cell phone developed in partnership with Google.

Samsung and LG are also expected to make Android handsets.

T-Mobile USA is a unit of Deutsche Telekom.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul; Editing by Derek Caney)

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Google to roll out free tool to help save energy

Reuters, Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:31pm EDT

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOG.O) is soon to roll out free software which allows consumers to track their home electricity use and improve energy efficiency in a bid to help mitigate global warming.

Dan Reicher, Director for Climate Change and Energy Initiatives Google, told Reuters it was in talks with utilities companies in the United Sates, Europe and Asia to make the product available shortly to general consumers.

As part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Google said in February it would use its software skills for the programme that will show home energy consumption in real time on a user's computer or a telephone.

"It will get rolled out very soon to regular energy consumers," Reicher said, without providing exact timings.

"When I began getting information about my own home, I discovered that I had a 35-year electric motor running for my heating system. That was using huge amount of electricity. I did not realise that's the change I need to make in my home."

The company cited studies showing that access to home energy information typically saves between 5 percent and 15 percent on monthly electricity bills.

"The beauty of the tool we are developing is that is going to be an open source," Reicher said. (Reporting by Nao Nakanishi; Editing by Keiron Henderson)

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A hands-on preview of Windows 7

Microsoft has released an early preview copy of its new operating system, Windows 7.

BBC 

The release follows in the wake of Vista, which has been subject to fierce criticism from a number of users. 

When Vista launched in January 2007, many complained that it ran slowly and failed to work at all with some programs and devices. 

Corporate customers have been slow to switch from Windows XP to Vista, although Microsoft said that the operating system had an unfair press, and that it enjoyed record sales. 

Despite this Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP so PC makers can continue selling it to those that do not want to upgrade. 

Windows Vista took more than five years to develop but Windows 7 is likely to arrive within a couple of years. 

Microsoft's VP, Steven Sinofsky, described Windows 7 as an "exciting new version" and claimed it would deliver a more personalised experience. 

With Windows 7, Microsoft has added a range of new functions including: 

• A new taskbar to give more rapid access to files and programs.
  
• A feature called HomeGroup, allowing users easy sharing of data across PCs and other devices in the home.
  
• Support for devices such as cameras, printers, and mobile phones with a product called Device Stage offering a single window to manage tasks for each device.
  
• Windows Touch - software for touch screen devices that enables users to use different gestures to perform tasks.
  
• Improvements to some applications, such as MS Paint, and Calculator.

Microsoft's chief software architect Ray Ozzie said Windows 7 would be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. 

The new operating system is scheduled for release in 2010 and the advance code still had limited functionality. A widely released public trial, or beta, version is expected to be available in early 2009. 

To test Microsoft's claims BBC News gave a copy of the early version of Windows 7 to Alex Watson, editor of Custom PC. 

The early version made a good impression on Mr Watson, who described it as "quick, snappy, and reliable". 

Uphill struggle

Given the popularity of Windows XP and the plethora of issues that came with the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft may have a tough job persuading users to upgrade - noted Kelvyn Taylor, editor of Personal Computer World. 

"The problem is that they [Microsoft] have to overcome the damage - perception wise at least - that Windows Vista caused. And that will be an uphill struggle. 

"People are comfortable with XP, so there will have to be something significant in Windows 7 to persuade people to migrate over, " he said. 

"Pricing, response time, and reliability are all issues that will need to be addressed. If Microsoft do that, then they're in with half a chance. Otherwise Windows 7 will end up as little more than Vista 2 Mark II."

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Open-source ERP grows up

Open source is picking up momentum in the ERP market because of its flexibility and relatively low cost

Infoworld.com, By Robert Lemos, CIO.com, April 22, 2008 

Can open-source software find a home in mission-critical systems? Based on momentum in the open-source ERP (enterprise resource planning ) market, it's starting to look that way, particularly for IT leaders at midmarket and smaller enterprises.

While ERP systems are the heart and soul of the modern business, they've also been an IT bogeyman for the past decade. The software requires long and expensive customizations to fit the business processes of specific industries and companies. Tales of late, costly rollouts haunt IT managers looking to upgrade the way their companies currently do business. Recently, garbage-hauling giant Waste Management filed a lawsuit against enterprise-software maker SAP for $100 million to cover the cost of its failed ERP implementation.

The problem has lingered since the 1990s: In 1997, Nestle USA embarked on an ERP project that took more than six years and $200 million; the company originally intended to spend the same amount on rolling out the system to all offices internationally.

Even when rollouts are done, enterprises find themselves locked into costly licensing and maintenance agreements in a market without much price pressure dominated by two main vendors, Oracle and SAP.

Enter open-source software. Popularized by the growth of the Linux operating system, open-source software allows anyone to view and audit the source code and customize the software. ERP systems require a great deal of customization, making open source a seemingly ideal approach. Companies also appreciate the ability to audit the code that runs their critical systems.

In 2007, former CIO of Capital One Gregor Bailar told attendees at CIO's CIO-08 The Year Ahead conference that he was excited by the potential of open-source ERP systems: "I'd love to have an open-source ERP system that would just wail on what we have," Bailar said.

For small- and medium-sized businesses, the lower cost of open-source ERP systems is often the major selling point, initially. This was the case for frozen food maker Cedarlane. Going with an ERP system created by xTuple (formerly OpenMFG) saved the company "a couple of hundred thousands dollars" from the get-go, says IT director Daniel Baroco. To convince the company's owner to move the company to an ERP system, there needed to be little up front cost for the then-$40-million business, he says.

"You couldn't even put on the table that we were going to invest a million dollars in technology," Baroco said. "For emotional reasons, more than anything."

The impact of the system is obvious today, he says. The company has grown its revenues to $600 million, from $40 million, and the amount of paperwork created to fulfill orders has dropped significantly. In 2004, workers typically had to fill out 1,000 invoices per day, sometimes creating three invoices for the same order. Today, the company has reduced that number to 400 and can track food wastage; that's data it didn't have in 2004.

"I was really undereducated in the open-source thing at the time," Baroco said. "I became a fan of open-source because of this."

Small and midmarket businesses, such as Cedarlane, are the best prospects for open-source ERP implementations, says Ned Lilly, CEO of xTuple.

"The sweet spot for us is the $20 million to $50 million company that is hitting their head on the ceiling of trying to work on QuickBooks," Lilly says.

Lilly does not expect to convert many customers of traditional leaders such as SAP and Oracle, but for smaller companies that are worried about cost and the complexity of traditional implementations, open-source solutions are becoming a clear choice, he says.

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No Recession at Red Hat

By STEVE LOHR, The New York Times

Red Hat, the Linux software company, gave a nice welcome present Thursday to its new chief executive, James Whitehurst.

The company, which distributes Linux and other open-source software, reported that its quarterly sales grew 27 percent and earnings slightly surpassed analysts’ consensus estimate. The company also presented an upbeat outlook for its just-started fiscal year, predicting growth of another 30 percent. In after-hours trading, Red Hat shares rose nearly 5 percent.

Red Hat, based in Raleigh, N.C., has done the difficult — built a solid, profitable business around open-source software. It charges its corporate customers yearly subscriptions for its flavor of the Linux operating system along with technical support and training. For its current fiscal year, ending in March 2009, Red Hat expects sales to reach $665 million to $680 million, above Wall Street projections, while earnings per share should rise to 78 cents to 82 cents. The per-share number is a bit below the consensus estimate, but that is more than explained by Red Hat’s assumption that in a recessionary environment, interest rates will fall further, reducing the income on the $1 billion in cash the company is sitting on.

Mr. Whitehurst, who joined the company in January, said that in a recession Red Hat should continue to gain ground, since open-source software is regarded by many corporate customers as a lower-cost alternative to proprietary products.

Red Hat has now established itself as a strong player in the corporate software market. For a year, Oracle has tried to undercut Red Hat by offering a similar version of Linux and charging less for technical support. But it has made scant progress to date.

Red Hat certifies that 4,000 different software applications run on its brand of Linux and has worked closely for years with all the significant hardware vendors. “There’s a network effect there,” Mr. Whitehurst said in an interview. “Oracle doesn’t have the ecosystem.”

Nor does anyone else have that kind of Linux-based ecosystem. It could look attractive to enterprise software companies that increasingly seek to offer corporate customers several layers in the so-called software stack — an operating system, middleware, perhaps a database and applications too. If the Red Hat ecosystem is valuable, it would also not be too expensive at current prices. Its market capitalization is $3.4 billion, a price tag that would be reduced substantially by that $1 billion in cash.

Oracle, Sun Microsystems, I.B.M., EMC (parent of VMware) and even Google have been rumored as possible suitors. The recent flurry, to be sure, is but the most recent round of rumors about Red Hat.

It is flattering to be mentioned, Mr. Whitehurst said, but he noted that corporate customers and the industry benefit from what he called Red Hat’s “Switzerland status” — not being a province of one of the major powers in the technology industry.

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