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After five years, 64-bit editions of Windows make up nearly half of install base

Publié: juillet 9, 2010, 9:17pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

64-bit editions of Windows have been available to OEMs and consumers for five years, and they have finally begun to exhibit command over the PC market, Microsoft reported today.
By June 2010, 46% of all PCs running Windows 7 were running the 64-bit edition. Three and a half years after Windows Vista launched, only 11% of users have installed the 64-bit version, considerably fewer than Microsoft claimed in 2008 when product manager Chris Flores told us "20% of new Windows Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to the Windows Update were 64-bit..."
Irrespective of Vista's performance, Microsoft evangelist Chris LeBlanc says there are certain factors contributing to the growth of 64-bit editions right now.
First, the cost of memory has dropped significantly in the last five years, a majority of processors are 64-bit enabled, and more compatible hardware and software is available today. Secondly, companies such as Intel are upgrading their internal systems to the 64-bit architecture.
Gartner predicted last year that as much as 75% of all enterprise PCs will be running 64-bit editions of Windows by 2014.
"On the surface, it would appear that the most obvious time to perform a move from 32-bit to 64-bit would be during an operating system migration (such as from Windows XP to Windows 7). Many companies feel that, if they don't make the move now, they may have to wait until Windows 8 or potentially Windows 9 before another opportunity arises," Gartner's research said.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Windows Vista - Microsoft - Operating system - Microsoft Windows - Windows XP
Ericsson: 70% of the entire world subscribes to a mobile service

Publié: juillet 9, 2010, 7:09pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson is responsible for all kinds of wireless equipment, from cell site infrastructure to consumer premises equipment to mobile broadband chips. So when they talk about the industry, it would behoove you to pay attention.
Today, Ericsson announced its estimate that the global mobile market contains over five billion subscribers, growing at a rate of 2 million per day.
This is an extremely significant estimation, because according to estimates by the United Nations and the U.S. census bureau, the entire human population of the earth is only about 6.8 billion.
If the market grew by 2 million additions per day and the population remained static, the entire world would become mobile subscribers in just 2 and a half years. Ten years ago, the company says there were only 720 million subscribers.
Today's estimate comprises all wireless subscribers, and Ericsson says that more than 500 million of these are 3G subscriptions. The company says mobile broadband is growing at a similar pace to wireless as a whole, and that it expects to reach 3.4 billion by 2015.
Of course, individual subscribers are only part of the picture. Ericsson says a key component to the future growth of the mobile industry is in machine-to-machine communications in such areas as smart metering, transportation tracking, digital signage, and connected appliances and mobile broadband cameras.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Telecommunication - Ericsson - Betanews - United Nations - Mobile phone
Google is staying in China with 'unfiltered' services

Publié: juillet 9, 2010, 5:17pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Google's license to offer search services in China has been renewed after months of restructuring and negotiations with the Chinese government.
In 2005, Google first won a license to operate within China, but to remain available, it had to adhere to strict government oversight and censor search results. Queries related to human rights topics, or to Tibet and the Dalai Lama, for example, would redirect searchers to Government-run sites.
After initially justifying its decision to filter searches according to the government's demands, Google's services were repeatedly subjected to heavy censorship.
In March 2008, YouTube and Google News were blocked for carrying reports of protests in Tibet, and running up to the 2008 Summer Olympics, the government made well-publicized moves to crack down on "cyber dissidence."
By 2010, Google could no longer justify censorship as it had four years prior. Representatives from the search company told us "We will no longer self-censor in China," and searches from mainland China began to be redirected to Google Hong Kong, which was uncensored.
"The Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced," Google's Chief Legal Officer David Drummond said in March.
Google today issued a brief statement in its blog confirming its return to mainland China: "We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China."
According to the search company, Chinese users will receive unfiltered results, but services will be limited.
"Users can conduct web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering. This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page," Google said.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Google - China - Google.com - hongkong - Google China
Patent-holding company NTP sues smartphone makers

Publié: juillet 9, 2010, 4:55pm CEST par Ed Oswald

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Six companies were sued by patent holding company NTP on Friday, claiming infringement on the same patents that successfully earned the company a $612.5 million settlement from BlackBerry maker RIM in 2006. The lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va. Thursday afternoon.
NTP said it filed the suit against Apple, Google, HTC, LG, Microsoft, and Motorola to force the companies to pay licensing fees for their technology. The patents include methods to deliver e-mail over wireless connections.
Requests for damages were not specified. A request for comment from all defendants named in the suit had not been returned as of press time.
"Use of NTP's intellectual property without a license is just plain unfair to NTP and its licensees," co-founder Donald Stoudt said in a statement. "We took the necessary action to protect our intellectual property."
Stoudt, a lawyer, founded NTP along with Thomas Campana, the inventor of the technologies the company holds patents for. Campana never moved to commercialize his efforts, and died in 2004.
His company originally moved to sue RIM in 2001, and nearly had an agreement to settle in 2005 which fell apart. Following the settlement of the suit, the US Patent Office examined NTP's patents and found that only three of the original ten claims against RIM were valid.
Most of the patent holding company's portfolio remained intact, however, and the company has filed with an appeals court to have those patent claims thrown out by the USPTO restored.
"No patents in U.S. history have received as much scrutiny as NTP's patents," Stoudt argued. He added that he hoped any claims could be settled without the case having to go to trial.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Microsoft - Apple - NTP - Research In Motion - Lawsuit