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BetaNews.Com (11 non lus)

2012 is LTE's 'breakout' year

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 9:55pm CET par Ed Oswald

While the buzzword in mobile in 2011 was LTE, consumers by and large did not respond to the hype. Only 6.8 million LTE devices sold worldwide -- a small drop in the bucket of annual phone sales. Strategy Analytics says that's about to change in a big way.

The firm predicts shipments will increase by a factor of ten to 67 million units in 2012. The firm expects markets in the United States, Japan and South Korea to spearhead this growth, with a broader range of devices from manufacturers including Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Pantech and Fujitsu giving consumers more options.

Apple is expected to include LTE in the next iPhone following the inclusion of 4G in the new iPad. iPhone is the top-selling phone model worldwide, and LTE compatibility will contribute a significant portion of the standard's growth in 2012. Why is Apple finally biting the bullet and joining the ranks of its competitors? It's all about adoption.

"Multiple operators and multiple phone vendors will be launching dozens of LTE models across numerous countries worldwide", Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston argues. "LTE has quickly become a high-growth, high-value market that no operator, service developer, device vendor or component maker can afford to ignore".

In 2011, LTE deployment was limited to a few carriers worldwide. Here in the states, Verizon Wireless was the only carrier to have a network of any consequence, although AT&T started their rollout later in the year. In 2012, things are much different: AT&T will continue to build out its network, and Sprint is expected to join the fray.

T-Mobile is a bit behind, with a rollout expected in 2013, however it's not out of the question we'll see LTE-capable devices early. In any case, the marked increase in coverage will in turn spur manufacturers to release more LTE-capable phones, increasing overall sales.

There are a few factors that will work against LTE adoption during the year, Mawston says. One of these is cost: both plans and phones will remain relatively expensive. Another is a number of kinks surrounding the technology that have yet to be rectified. "Consumers will be concerned about LTE usability issues, such as shortened battery life, excessive device weight, or sudden bill shock caused by high data consumption", he explains.

Even with a ten fold increase in sales, overall LTE phones will still be a small fraction of total phone sales worldwide: in 2011, Gartner says some 1.77 billion phones were sold.
AT&T blames FCC for T-Mobile layoffs

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 9:23pm CET par Joe Wilcox

You'd never know that the execs over at AT&T are bitter about the failed T-Mobile USA merger or paying out $3 billion for absolutely nothing.

Yesterday, T-Mobile handed out 1,900 pink slips, mostly to employees working in call centers. Gee, that's not a vital area, now is it? Today, AT&T rallies to T-Mobile's defense, blaming not the nation's fourth-largest carrier but the Federal Communications Commission. AT&T's rationale: The carrier would have preserved those jobs if allowed to buy T-Mobile.

Of course, the blame game accomplishes something else: Absolves AT&T's responsibility. The consequences of a failed merger left T-Mobile limping along. Cutbacks or downsizing of some kind were inevitable. Last month during its quarterly earnings report, T-Mobile acknowledged net loss of 706,000 subscribers.

Stated differently: The failed merger weakened T-Mobile -- that and being the only major carrier without iPhone. But is the merger gone bust the FCC's fault or AT&T's -- or perhaps a little and a lot of both?

You know AT&T's answer to that question. Jim Cicconi, AT&T Senior executive veep of External and Legislative Affairs, posted after market close today:

Yesterday, T-Mobile made the sad announcement that it would be closing seven call centers, laying off thousands of workers, and that more layoff announcements may follow. Normally, we’d not comment on something like this. But I feel this is an exception for one big reason: only a few months ago AT&T promised to preserve these very same call centers and jobs if our merger was approved. We also predicted that if the merger failed, T-Mobile would be forced into major layoffs.

At that time, the current FCC not only rejected our pledges and predictions, they also questioned our credibility. The FCC argued that the merger would cost jobs, not preserve them, and that rejecting it would save jobs. In short, the FCC said they were right, we were wrong, and did so in an aggressive and adamant way.

Rarely are a regulatory agency’s predictive judgments proven so wrong so fast. But for the government’s decision, centers now being closed would be staying open, workers now facing layoffs would have job guarantees, and communities facing turmoil would have security. Only a few months later, the truth of who was right is sadly obvious.

So what’s the lesson here? For one thing, it’s a reminder of why 'regulatory humility' should be more than a slogan. The FCC may consider itself an expert agency on telecom, but it is not omniscient. And when it ventures far afield from technical issues, and into judgments about employment or predictions about business decisions, it has often been wildly wrong.

The other lesson is even more important, and should be sobering. It is a reminder that in government, as in life, decisions have consequences. One must approach them not as an exercise of power but instead of responsibility, because, as I learned in my years of public service, the price of a bad decision is too often paid by someone else.

AT&T did leave T-Mobile with spectrum in 128 markets and $3 billion breakup fee. If data throttling is any indication, AT&T subscribers, and I'm among them, will pay for executives' T-Mobile remorse for some time ahead.

As for the FCC. Did regulators' objection to the merger preserve competition, and jobs, or squash it? You tell me in comments.

Photo Credit: Jonnystockphoto/Shutterstock
Close All Windows -- one click, shuts them

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 7:52pm CET par Mike Williams

If your desktop is hopelessly cluttered with a host of unnecessary applications, then you can start to regain some control by minimizing all open windows (press Winkey+M, or click bottom-right in Windows 7). Actually closing all those applications usually takes a little more effort, of course, but it doesn’t have to be that way: NTWind Software’s Close All Windows can do it in a click.

The program itself is tiny (a 36KB download), and doesn’t use any system resources or require installation. Just pin your preferred executable (there are both 32- and 64-bit versions) to the taskbar, or create a convenient shortcut if you’re not using Windows 7, and you’re ready to go.

Then, when you next need to regain control of your desktop, launch CloseAll and it’ll cycle through all the top level application windows on your desktop, sending them Close messages. So your security suite and anything else living in your system tray should carry on running, as normal: it’s only regular applications that will close.

And if any of these have unsaved work, then they ought to prompt you, just as normal: you shouldn’t lose any data. (That’s the theory, anyway, and it’s how CloseAll worked in our tests, but we can’t guarantee this will apply everywhere: test the program with your own applications, just to be sure.)

Of course closing every running application may sometimes feel a little drastic, particularly if you’ve a core set of programs you run all the time. But fortunately CloseAll takes account of this, too, and you can tell it to ignore particular programs by specifying them on the command line.

Change the shortcut properties to launch CloseAll like this, for instance -- CloseAll.exe -x=”outlook.exe|firefox.exe” -- and when launched the program will close everything but Outlook and Firefox. Check the ReadMe.txt file in the CloseAll download file to find out more.

Photo Credit: svns/Shutterstock
Has an employer asked for your Facebook password?

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 7:15pm CET par Joe Wilcox

It's a serious question, following today's stunning privacy post from Facebook. Has an employer or prospective one asked you for your Facebook password, or that of another social media site; could be Google+, Tumblr or Twitter, among others?

The request might have come as condition of continued employment, and there threat of reprisal might seem, or even be, real given the current job market. Or perhaps a prospective employer said that you couldn't be considered for a new position without first giving up your password. Please answer in comments. This is one of those rare occasions I don't mind, and even recommend, anonymous commenting if answer is "Yes". There also is a poll. Please answer, and you can choose multiple responses.

Anyone who asks for your Facebook or other social media password(s) as condition of continued or new employment should be fired immediately. Any company that allows such a practice should be vilified and prosecuted.

The practice is an egregious privacy breech of widening circles. Particularly for Facebook, there are boundaries -- anywhere from no one to friends or friend of friends -- who can view one another's Facebooks. The employer voyeur doesn't just violate your privacy but theirs.

Erin Egan, Facebook chief privacy policy officer, makes the social network's position clear:

As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job. And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job. That’s why we’ve made it a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to share or solicit a Facebook password.

My question for Facebook: How far are you really willing to go? If I as an individual user violate your terms of service, the consequence can be fatal: Closing my account. Facebook, are you willing to similarly enforce the ToS against businesses, by pulling their brand pages -- even if they are advertisers? Nothing less shows your commitment to protecting Facebook users' privacy.

No one could rightly accuse me of being a friend of Facebook. The company needs to do much to put its privacy house in order, I contend. Facebook profits from pretty much everything that anyone shares on the social network. People talk about the omniscience of God. What about CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook?

Abuse of Power

Still, there's a difference. The existing or prospective employer is in a position of power over the employee or job seeker. There is a power imbalance, which legally is at the core of sexual harassment or discrimination statutes. The employer misuses his or her power for gain. The motivation isn't as self-gratifying or self-serving as sexual harassment -- or anywhere as demeaning or abusive. But it's a power imbalance leading to personal violation nevertheless, and potentially that of others.

Something else: Many companies have strict security policies about making and not sharing passwords. So why is Mr. or Mrs. Human Resources person so cavalierly demanding personal passwords from people they hire -- or fire.

Has an employer or prospective employer asked for your Facebook password?

Again, it's a power imbalance, and worse. HR manager is position of utmost trust, because he or she has so much access to employee information. Asking for the personal password from a position of power might seem to the HR manager and even those above him or her as serving the company's interest. Instead, the practice is a legal, as well as moral, quagmire.

US law prohibits asking about sexual preferences or religion, for example. Forced access to Facebook accounts can provide that information -- and more. Some smart lawyer can, and should, argue that existing statutes already cover Facebook password privacy prying because it reveals information companies aren't allowed to ask for during the employment process.

That some employers ask for what they shouldn't isn't surprising. When haven't businesses pushed the hiring and firing limits? That's how we got trade unions or laws governing what employers can ask you or me for.

Something else: Zuckerberg has repeatedly stated he wants to shake up standard mores about privacy, and Facebook's business model is about pushing down the body bubbles that separate us, encouraging people to share more and more publicly. But it's one thing to freely share personal information and another to be coerced or compelled to get or keep a job.

Photo Credit: Adam Gregor/Shutterstock
WinStep Nexus and Extreme 12.2 improve docks' speed, visual effects

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 5:39pm CET par Nick Peers

WinStep Software Technologies has updated its flagship products,WinStep Nexus and WinStep Extreme, to version 12.20. Despite the relatively minor version number, WinStep claims this is a “monster release”.

There are numerous new features in both releases, but one major improvement is performance, with WinStep promising vastly increased rendering times, including animated icons (20-30 times faster), resulting in acceptable performance even on slower systems.

WinStep Nexus 12.20, the free Windows dock tool, also promises smooth transition effects when adding, removing or moving items in the dock. There’s a new RainDrop effect that transforms the dock’s surface into liquid, with rain drops falling continuously to a user-defined frequency and a soothing audio effect that can be switched off if not required. Other new effects include Burn, Grayscale and Fireworks attention effects.

The dock is now capable of reserving screen space across all displays on a multiple-desktop setup, and incompatibilities with some ObjectDock 2 themes have also been fixed. Icon labels can now be tweaked further, with solid color backgrounds and drop shadows supported.

The dock activation key can now be used to toggle showing and hiding of the dock, and docks left always on top can now be hidden behind maximized windows.

The Email Checker widget now supports three major webmail accounts: Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail, while the Weather.com feed has also been restored with 14 new weather icons added to provide a more accurate visualization of the weather.

There’s improved support for touchscreens, and a workaround to allow the app to work properly on laptops sporting hybrid Intel/nVidia graphics chipsets.

WinStep Extreme Updates

WinStep Extreme 12.20, WinStep’s shareware collection of related desktop customization tools, includes the latest build of WinStep Nexus Dock, but all adds a number of improvements to the other apps in the suite too. The right-click context menus have been improved in both the Shelf and NextSTART to boost organization, functionality and usability – WinStep is keen to highlight the NextSTART component to prospective Windows 8 users frustrated at the loss of the Start menu from the desktop.

The user can now disable the functionality whereby the Shelf is collapsed by clicking the label of the active tab, plus specify the colors of the 3D Frame around the icons in the Shelf itself. There are new customizable “Launch” and “Attention” effects added, while in-Shelf docks can now be configured to expand horizontally as well as vertically. It’s also possible to sort Folder, Documents and Desktop Shelf tabs by name, type, date or size, while the Shelf can now be locked into place on the desktop.

A complete list of changes can be read in the change log.

WinStep Nexus 12.20 is a freeware download for PCs running Windows 2000 or later – a more fully-featured Ultimate version is also available with prices starting from $24.95.

WinStep Extreme 12.20 comes as a free trial download for PCs running Windows 2000 or later – a Basic stripped-down version is available for $29.95, or the fully featured version can be had for $39.95.
Facebook bans employers from snooping on job seekers' profiles

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 5:10pm CET par Ed Oswald

Reports of prospective employers asking for Facebook passwords during the hiring process or as terms of employment has the social networking site upset. Facebook says asking for your password is a violation of privacy, and very well could set up the employer for legal action.

Criticism of the practice came to a head earlier this week following an Associated Press story detailing several individuals who had been subjected to disclosing their passwords to either obtain or to keep a job. Employers' attempts to peer into your social life has the attention of lawmakers too: in both Maryland and Illinois legislation is being considered to make the practice illegal.

Legislation at the federal level is sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). That bill would make it a violation of federal law for employers to use Facebook accounts as a condition of employment. He told Politico on Wednesday that he saw it as an "unreasonable invasion of privacy" and would have a bill ready soon.

Facebook argues that disclosing your password to employers not only breaches your own privacy but that of your friends. The site notes that sharing or soliciting passwords violates Facebook's terms of service.

"As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job", chief privacy officer Erin Egan writes in a Friday blog post. "And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job".

Facebook notes that using the site to gather information for employment may put the employer at risk of being sued. For example, the Facebook user may be a member of a protected group, and by the employer not hiring the individual after accessing her profile could now be open to a discrimination claim. Egan also said that it's likely companies are not providing the right training on how to handle personal information.

Egan has a word of warning for those who continue to use Facebook in this manner: "We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges".

Egan emphasizes: "While we will continue to do our part, it is important that everyone on Facebook understands they have a right to keep their password to themselves, and we will do our best to protect that right".

Photo Credit: Joachim Wendler/Shutterstock
Need for speed, but Firefox is too slow? Try Pale Moon 11

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 4:53pm CET par Mike Williams

Firefox 11 delivered some useful features, including add-on synchronization, extended developer tools and the ability to import some Chrome profile data.

It wasn’t so hot on performance enhancements, though, beyond support for Google’s SPDY protocol (and that’s not yet widely used enough to make a big difference for most people). So if you value speed above all else, then you may want to check out Pale Moon 11, released today: it’s based on the same source code as Firefox 11, so looks and feels very similar, but is further optimized to deliver the very best performance.

This build is essentially a maintenance release, and new features such as SPDY and enhanced CSS and HTML5 support won’t be too visible to most people. WebGL and font rendering performance should be further enhanced, though, and it’s good to see that the developer has re-integrated status bar functionality again. This can show you links, network status and more, and clicking Tools > Status Bar Options allows you to set it up just as you’d like.

So how fast is the program, exactly? SunSpider showed Pale Moon 11 maintaining an average 9.1-percent lead over Firefox, very marginally down from its 9.5-percent lead last time. And Dromaeo’s inclusion of the important DOM handling operations make it a little more relevant, though, and here we found Pale Moon had a 15.8-percent advantage over Firefox, a notable increase on its 9-percent lead last time.

Browser benchmarks don’t properly assess the full benefits of Pale Moon’s optimisations, though, and the results vary considerably depending on what you’re doing, anyway. SunSpider’s access tests gave a lead to Firefox, for instance, but the date and string operations showed Pale Moon had anything up to a 40 percent advantage over the competition.

If you like Firefox but need some extra speed, then, Pale Moon could be a good compromise; while not always fast enough to notice any difference, the program does perform a little better overall, and the Pale Moon 11 downloads are available now.

Photo Credit: Dudarev Mikhail/Shutterstock
New iPad is now available in 35 countries

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 4:40pm CET par Joe Wilcox

Today, Apple released new iPad in 25 more countries, bringing the total to 35 plus one US territory since sales started one week ago. What a week, too.

Sales over the three-day launch weekend reached 3 million units. After initially positive reviews, the knocks started in droves. Consumer Reports' tests found new iPad to be quite hot, as much as 116 degrees F, setting off a web maelstrom of blogs, news stories and social media posts. CR plans to release a more formal, and final, examination as early as today. Other complaints claim the supplied charger is inadequate for new iPad's giant battery. BetaNews hasn't found the tablet to be too hot or to charge too slowly. But tongues will wag.

New iPad is now also available in: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. The tablet launched in these 10 plus territory: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdon, United States and the US Virgin Islands.

Distribution is key to success in the global economy, and one of the fundamental reasons iPad has sold so well since its launch nearly two years ago. Apple leveraged logistical operations established for iPod and iPhone. So far, only Amazon and Samsung have shown similar manufacturing and distribution wherewithal to compete with iPad, which is global media tablet leader, followed by Kindle Fire and Galaxy Tab.

BetaNews readers aren't exactly excited about Apple's tablet. According to our poll, which has an unusually low 848 responses, 47.17 percent of you won't buy new iPad. Meanwhile, little more than 31 percent have ordered (and most likely received) the tablet, while another 15.21 percent plan to get it within 3 months.

Based on your comments, and others around the web, new iPad's high resolution display -- 2048 x 1536 -- is the major, appealing feature. Every platform needs a killer app/feature to succeed, and the better-than-HD display is it for new iPad.

DisplayMate president Raymond Soneira finds after exhaustive, comparative testing: "The display on the new iPad decisively beats (blows away) all of the tablets we have previously tested, including the iPad 2...the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Barnes & Noble Nook tablet, and the Amazon Kindle Fire at the back of the pack".

But price and size matter, too. ABI Research predicts the media tablet market will dramatically change within five years. Today, Apple is market leader in the two major segments -- tablets priced above $400 and those with displays larger than 9 inches. These "wide-aspect" tablets accounted for 75 percent of tablet volumes last year -- the majority iPad 2. By 2016, sub-$400, 7-to-9-inch tablets will account for 60 percent of tablet market share, ABI predicts. Sales to emerging markets like India and Russia will open the way for lower-cost, smaller tablets -- and that's good for Android.

Frequent BetaNews commenter "woe" sizes up tablet competition by perhaps the most important metric:

1. iPad (ecosystem)
2. Kindle Fire (ecosystem)
3. Everything else (no ecosystem, no one cares)

Amazon and Apple device ecosystems are built in part on curation, offering an end-to-end hardware, software and services stack, which includes sync, apps and digital content.

Only Amazon has done any meaningful Android customization on tablets, making its curated experience similar to Apple's. ASUS has carved out a niche for Eee Pad Transformer, but nothing really reaching beyond Android enthusiasts and gamers. Amazon's continued success is good for driving up Android shipments against iPad, but it's bad broadly. Kindle Fire benefits Amazon's ecosystem and its customers willing to buy into the curated experience but not the expanse of third-party developers or larger Android ecosystem.

Will media tablet competition come down to iPad and Kindle Fire a year from now? I wonder.
SugarSync 3.0 gets darker look, improves iPad features

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 2:11pm CET par Mark Wilson

A huge proportion of us are now multi-device users. In addition to our home computers, there is also a work machine to think about and to this you can add other mobile devices such as iPads and Android phones. Almost without realizing it, we have become used to living in the cloud and web-based email services such as Gmail, and online office tools such as Google Doc, have made it possible to access our emails and files on any device with an internet connection.

There is no reason that the same philosophy should not be applied to files, and this is something that SugarSync aims to address. The latest version has been redesigned from scratch, bringing a new look and ways of working for anyone who managed to get their hands on a new iPad.

SugarSync is one of a growing number of synchronization tools that can be configured to ensure that the files you need are always available no matter which device you are using. Available for iOS, Android, Windows and OS X, it does not matter how many different systems you own, you should be able to keep everything in sync.

The app itself is nothing new, but iPad users have an updated version to install which has a lot in store. The light-colored, chunky look of the previous interface has been replaced by a darker, sleeker look that is sure to win over many people, but of course any app is about much more than just good looks.

The interface has been redesigned to help make it easier to get things done faster than before. This starts with simple things such as the addition of photo and video backup links to the start screen, but there is a general change of focus that should enable you to get more done in the app faster than ever. This is helped in part by the app’s new look which takes full advantage of the available screen space and reduces the amount of wasteful white space that is on view.

A slick three-dimensional view is used so you can stack open folders on top of each other and view the contents of more than one at the same time and also jump back and forth with your navigation far more easily than before. There is also improved support for gestures, but the core features of synchronization, sharing, downloading, media access, such as streaming of your music files, and file backups are at the very least equal to the like of Dropbox, and in many instances exceed the capabilities of the competition.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the SugarSync for iOS review page. If you user other platforms you should also take a look at the SugarSync for Windows/Mac and SugarSync for Android reviews.
Windows tablets and the enterprise, what's the problem?

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 2:47am CET par Chris Boss

I have repeatedly read how Windows 7 is not well-suited to touch, which is the reason some people are waiting for Windows 8 before buying a tablet. Microsoft's solution is Metro -- the next generation touch interface for Windows. Yes, Metro is touch friendly, but is it really the answer to the enterprise when it comes to Windows tablets?

Windows 7 is not any less suited to touch and a tablet PC than Windows 8. Sure Windows 8 does offer a few perks that make touch better as far as the operating system is concerned, such a better on-screen keyboard. But as far as applications a business may want to design themselves specific to tablets, I don't see any advantage Windows 8 has over Windows 7.

Actually Windows 7 already has the key features necessary to impliment quality touch applications. It supports the WM_TOUCH and WM_GESTURE messages (which is how WIN32 handles touch). Two-point touch is sufficient for most touch applications, so today's Windows 7 tablets are completely viable for business use right now.

Metro and Touch Targets Consumers

Maybe I am biased, but I find the Windows desktop better suited to business applications than Metro. Yes, Metro does have some exciting features, such as Contracts (a way of sharing between applications), but this does not mean it is significantly better than the desktop for business apps.

Metro has its origins, not from computers, but from a phone user interface. Yes, the world is saturated with smartphones today, so some people think that a Windows tablet should act more like a smartphone than a computer. But for a moment, consider this: Windows 8 Consumer Preview has a number of apps you can download from the Microsoft app store, such as games, entertainment, weather apps, etc. Have you seen any serious business apps included in the Windows Store?

I think Microsoft could make a big impression on its business customers by including just one serious business program as a Metro app. The next generation of Office will still be a desktop style application. What an impression they could have made it they had included just one part of Office as a Metro app, but it hasn't happened yet. Office 15 will come with Windows on ARM devices. Microsoft has insinuated for free but hasn't explicitly said so.

My impression right now is that Metro targets consumers. Consumers want simple and easy touch UIs that let them browse the web, send email, read books and so forth. Businesses though are different. A tablet needs to be a tool, not a toy or a distraction. This does not mean that Metro can't handle a real world business application. But what makes Metro any better suited to business applications than the Windows desktop?

The Problem Is With Software

(This is where I will diverge from the mainstream viewpoint, so maybe you ought to sit down (if not already) before you read further.)

I have been working with the Windows API (WIN32) for nearly 10 years now, so I think that I can reasonably grasp how Windows works under the hood. I design tools for programmers and not for consumers and understand the challenges developers face in writing software. I am not your typical "bleeding edge" style programmer, who is always designing for the next generation computers, but rather one who recognizes the need to write software that runs well even on the typical low-cost, mass-market computer and even older legacy computers.

Maybe because my experience dates back to the old days when computers were very limited in power (can you say "floppy disk"?) and a programmer had to find ways to get the most out of minimal hardware, my viewpoints are different; I am not alone.

No matter the reasons why, more of the problem with Windows tablets and touch has to do with how software is developed, rather than it being a problem with the current Windows tablets running Windows 7. I don't feel that Windows 8 deals with this problem any better than does Windows 7, so things won't get any better when Windows 8 is available. The UI (Metro) may be different, but the root cause will still be there.

To start with, the majority of our software today is developed using Microsoft's own programming tools. I won't say they are bad; lots of quality software is built using them. But as a programmer who works with non-Microsoft programming tools, I can honestly say this: One of the terms common programmers, especially those who don't use MS development tools, is "bloated". What does a programmer mean when he or she says that? It means the software uses too much of a computer's resources, such as the CPU, GPU, memory and disk drive space.

If you can write an application that is half the size, uses half the memory and runs twices as fast, won't you get a more "fast and fluid" experience from it?

Rather than deal with this inherent problem, Microsoft programmming languages in recent years have added a feature they feel will compensate, called "asynchronous" to many of its languages; so when an application makes a call to an objects method that is asynchronous, it returns immediately no matter how long it takes for the code to execute. Metro applications will use this technique even more.

I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but asynchronous code does not speed things up on a computer, but actually slows it down. Why? Because, at its core this simply means you are using threads to have multiple blocks of code run at the same time. Guess what? Threads have overhead (called a "context switch"), which actually puts a greater load on a CPU and not less. This is why long-time WIN32 programmers have learned to use threads very carefully and only when they really would make a difference (ie. reading external data input).

If you doubt this then read a book written by somebody who knows: Multithreading Applications in Win32: The complete guide to threads by Jim Beveridge and Robert Wiener and published by Addison Wesley Developers Press.

Root Cause -- How Software Is Developed?

Another reason for bloated software today is likely something most programmers don't want to admit: Over-reliance on OOP (Objected Oriented Programming). This is something the majority of programmers would disagree with me on, but there is good reason to believe that Object Oriented Programming has not only increased the bloat in software today, but it may even decrease productivity in software development.

Metro and WinRT are highly dependent upon OOP, particularly COM (which is really a form of OOP when you think about). Microsoft programming languages are so object oriented today that I doubt many Windows programmers would even know how to write a Windows application without using any OOP at all.

The core Windows API, on the other hand, is basically a flat API (some more recent additions though do use COM). Now as far as 3D graphics are concerned, one of the reasons I chose OpenGL over DirectX is because it too is a flat API requiring less dependence upon COM and OOP.

Richard Mansfield wrote an excellent white paper about why OOP is not the panacea many think it is. He had some valid points. If you don't know who Richard Mansfield is, then you likely are a lot younger than me. He was the editor of Compute magazine back in the `80s, and anyone who ever learned how to program the Commodore 64 definitely knows who he is. His book on 6502 machine language was so well-written it taught me well enough so I could write my own compiler for the C64. Obviously then, there are some experienced programmers who feel that a more procedural style of coding can have benefits over OOP, so it's not just me who feels this way.

If the principles of writing efficient software we learned years ago were implimented when writing software for today's Windows tablet computers, I think "fast and fluid" would definitely be the norm. One of the things us old-time programmers may appreciate is the importance of using compilers that generate fast, small and efficient machine code.

Today, surprisingly, many programming languages are going the route of being interpreted rather than producing pure machine code. Sure pure machine code is not cross platform, but if you are writing software only for x86 Windows, that is not an issue. If you want "fast and fluid" nothing beats fast machine code. Even compiled languages are so bloated today, that you really don't get the full benefit from them.

Today, Intel Atom CPU's are regularly criticised as being too slow, lacking power. Windows tablets (the reasonably priced ones) usually come with an Atom CPU. But it is programmers who are most likely to make this criticism. Why? Because their software runs too slow on these CPUs. But the problem is not the CPUs, but the software. A well-written WIN32 application can run very fast even on the Atom CPU.

Is WIN32 Really That Powerful For Tablet Software Development?

Despite those who like to refer to the Windows API (WIN32) as ancient, and lacking power, and those who would be lost without so called modern OOP, there are those who can (and do) write Windows software using non-Microsoft languages, without OOP and using the pure Windows API. Guess what? The software they write is much smaller, faster and less bloated than most software today.

Don't appreciate this? Check out this developer's website and download his amazing program called Toolbar Paint. Its a great toolbar bitmap editor, which was surprisingly written using assembler.

Toolbar Paint is only 56 KB (yes, kilobytes) in size! When was the last time you used a Windows application which is only 56 KB?

The programming circles I deal with most use a much higher level language than assembler, but yet they too are building applications that size in the kilobytes, rather than in megabytes. Such small-size applications are what Windows tablets need today. All one has to do is add touch to such applications and design the user interface with slightly larger UI elements -- and now you have well-written, resource light, application that will run great on today's generation of Windows 7 tablet PCs and even tomorrow's Windows 8 PCs (on the desktop).

Maybe it is how we write software that needs to change, if we want to use tablet computers in the enterprise.

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Paragon Partition Manager 11 SE Personal giveaway, worth $39.95, but yours for free!

Publié: mars 23, 2012, 12:00am CET par Mike Williams

While the standard Windows partitioning tools have improved a little in recent years, they’re still on the basic side. To put it politely. If you really want to take control of your hard drive layout then you’ll need a little help, and Paragon’s Partition Manager 11 SE Personal is a great place to start.

The program doesn’t simply allow you to create, format and resize partitions, for instance. You also get options to move or merge them, redistribute free space between existing partitions, undelete or recover a lost partition, and more.

There are a host of bonus functions, too. Partition Manager can back up a drive’s MBR, first hard disk track, individual partition or entire hard drive, for instance. A Linux-based disaster recovery disc helps you to restore backups or otherwise get an unbootable Windows PC working again. And advanced options include the ability to convert the file system on a drive, update a drive’s MBR, and even view and edit a partition at the sector level.

You don’t have to get involved with this level of complexity unless you really want to, though, and for the most part Partition Manager 11 is very easy to use. A simple front-end menu means its core functions are never more than a click or two away, and well-designed wizards are always on hand to walk you through the more difficult steps.

To obtain your free copy of Partition Manager 11, first visit the Downloadcrew Giveaway site on Friday, March 23rd, between 00:00 and 23:59 CET -- that's Thursday, March 22nd, 7 pm EDT to 6:59 pm March 23rd for Americans.

Log in (creating a free account if you don’t have one already) and download the installation file.

And this time, licensing is handled by the program itself. Just launch Setup, click “Registration” and a browser window should open at Paragon’s registration page (but if it doesn’t, click here instead).

Complete the form, click Submit and you’ll be emailed your product code and licence key within minutes.

Please note, there are three restrictions on this giveaway.

First, you must obtain your serial code on Friday, before the offer expires. Which means that, at a minimum, you should follow the registration process we describe above right after download.

Second, the Personal Edition is strictly for personal, non-commercial use only.

And third, a change in Microsoft’s license conditions means Paragon can no longer distribute their Windows PE-based recovery discs, so Partition Manager 11 SE Personal now comes with a Linux-based environment, instead. Don’t let that put you off, though, it’s still very easy to use, and in fact if you’re only using the core partitioning tools then you’ll notice very little difference.

Photo Credit: Zadorozhnyi Viktor/Shutterstock