Monthly Archive:: January 2014

Windows 8.1 Update 1 to hide Metro by default

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-30 Windows 128 Comments

Microsoft is once again planning to alter the way its Start Screen works in Windows 8.1 Update 1. While the software giant originally released Windows 8.1 last year with an option to bypass the "Metro" interface at boot, sources familiar with Microsoft's plans have revealed to The Verge that the upcoming "Update 1" for Windows 8.1 will enable this by default. Like many other changes in Update 1, we’re told the reason for the reversal is to improve the OS for keyboard and mouse users.

Wow, a touch interface does not work with a mouse and keyboard. Who saw that coming.

I expect photos of many people eating crow.

From Providence to Lahaina: the Jolla review

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-30 Wireless 28 Comments

In October 2011, with the writing on the wall after Nokia switched to Windows Phone and closed the long-running MeeGo project, several former Maemo Nokians left the company ("Nokia was a coward"). With support from their old employer through the Nokia Bridge program, but without any access to Nokia's intellectual property or patents, the new company - called Jolla - continued the work that spawned the legendary N9, only able to use the open source parts of that phone's software.

Late 2013, their work culminated in Sailfish, running on their own smartphone, the Jolla. In a way, this device and its software has been in the making since 2004-2005, and considering the rocky roads and many challenges these people had to overcome between then and now, the phone sometimes seems to radiate defiance and determination.

After Google pressure, Samsung will dial back Android tweaks

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-29 Wireless 26 Comments

In early January, while the rest of the consumer technology world at CES marveled at the sheer size of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy tablet, Google execs were dismayed by what they saw on the screen of the massive 12.1-inch slate - a fancy new user interface called Magazine UX.

Multiple sources familiar with the companies' thinking say the two technology giants began hammering out a series of broad agreements at CES that would bring Samsung's view of Android in line with Google's own. The results of the talks, which have only just begun dribbling out to the public, also underscore the extent to which Google is exerting more of its influence to control its destiny in the Android open source world.

Dilemma. I don't like Google exerting control in this manner, but, on the other hand, anything that - for the love of god - makes Samsung stop building its own software for phones is a good thing. Tough call. Then again, this deal may also simply be another aspect of the big patent deal, indicating that this deal is about much more than patents alone.

In any case, the recent renewed collaboration between Google and Samsung seems to indicate that Samsung has little to no intention to move away from Android, and with Samsung still shipping exactly zero Tizen devices, I have little hope we'll ever see that platform jump front and centre.

Google sells Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion

Submitted by bowkota 2014-01-29 Google 58 Comments

Google is selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo, giving the Chinese smartphone manufacturer a major presence in the US market. Lenovo will buy Motorola for $2.91 billion in a mixture of cash and stock. Google will retain ownership of the vast majority of Motorola's patents, while 2,000 patents and a license on the remaining patents will go to Lenovo. Lenovo will pay Google $660 million in cash, $750 million in stock, with the remaining $1.5 billion paid out over the next three years.

MS reveals its server designs, releases open source code

Submitted by lucas_maximus 2014-01-28 Microsoft 17 Comments

Microsoft has joined the Open Compute Project, a consortium that Facebook created to share the designs of servers and other equipment that power the internet's largest data centers.

Like other internet giants, Microsoft designs its own servers to be more efficient than standard boxes sold by the likes of HP and Dell. While Google has mostly kept its designs secret, Facebook has made its server and rack specifications public and has urged others to do the same. In theory, companies can swap best practices, and any vendor can sell servers identical to the ones that power Facebook's data centers.

Microsoft joining Open Compute boosts the chances that the project might have some impact on the server industry.

Good move.

Dutch courts overturn Pirate Bay blockade

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-28 Legal 25 Comments

Today, the Court of Appeals of The Hague rendered its judgment in the appeal of internet service providers XS4ALL and Ziggo against anti-piracy organization BREIN. In first instance, the District Court allowed Brein's claims: an IP-block and DNS-block. Purpose of the block was to prevent the subscribers of the providers to access The Pirate Bay-website.

The Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, since the providers could show that the block had not been effective since the first ruling. In applying the case law from the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the Court of Appeal held that an access provider is not under an obligation to take measures that are disproportional and/or ineffective.

A win for us Dutch people, and hopefully, a ruling possible cases in other European countries can cite.

South Korea rules phone bloatware must be deletable

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-27 Wireless 41 Comments

Smartphone users in South Korea will soon be able to have the option of deleting unnecessary pre-installed bloatware, thanks to new industry guidelines commencing in April.

"The move aims to rectify an abnormal practice that causes inconvenience to smartphone users and causes unfair competition among industry players," said the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, in a press release.

New regulations that fly directly in the face of the biggest player in mobile - Samsung. Odd, since we were told that Samsung owns the South-Korean government.

I do wonder where the line is drawn, though. Will South-Koreans also be able to delete Newsstand and Weather from iOS, or the Calculator from Android?

Samsung, Google sign 10-year patent sharing agreement

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-27 Legal 55 Comments

Ingrid Lunden explains the significance of the deal (I dislike her headline though, since it falsely implies Google and Samsung were at legal odds):

First, the deal will bolster both Samsung and Google's patent positions against patent infringement allegations and subsequent litigation from competitors, and specifically Apple, which has been involved in acrimonious, multinational patent battles worth billions of dollars against Samsung for years now, over Samsung's Android-powered range of Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

Second, it is a sign of how Google continues to put the patents it gained from its $12.5 billion Motorola acquisition to good use across the Android ecosystem. The ecosystem part is key here. I personally wouldn’t be surprised to see deals like this one appear with other OEMs.

Apple celebrates 30 years of Mac

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-24 Apple 77 Comments

Thirty years ago, Apple introduced the Macintosh with the promise to put the creative power of technology in everyone's hands. It launched a generation of innovators who continue to change the world. This 30-year timeline celebrates some of those pioneers and the profound impact they've made.

Apple is also asking what your first Mac experience was. For me, it was a computer I had saved up for for a long time. Back in those days - around 2002-2003 - the Mac was virtually non-existent here in The Netherlands (or at least in the area where I lived), and the only place I'd ever seen Macs was at the dental department. Colourful iMacs - fun machines.

In any case, I was intrigued, and eventually bought an iMac G4 800Mhz. In my view, the most beautiful design the iMac ever had, but mine eventually died of a logic board failure within a few years (a notorious problem). I still think they're beautiful little machines, and would love to have the ultimate G4 iMac.

After that first iMac, I owned several Macs - an original iMac, a PowerBook G4 15", a PowerMac G4 dual 450Mhz, a Cube, my current iMac from 2012, and my favourite, a 12.1" iBook G4. There's one Mac I really want to add to my collection as soon as possible: the iBook G3/466 Special Edition. If you have one of these and would like to get rid of it - let me know.

Windows 8.1 Update 1: rumored release target is March 11

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-24 Windows 45 Comments

One more tidbit about Windows 8.1 Update 1 from my aforementioned source: Update 1 may feature some of the work that Microsoft has been doing behind the scenes to reduce further the memory and disk space requirements for Windows. This would allow Windows 8.1 Update 1 to run on cheaper small tablets.

Windows 8.1 Update 1, screen shots of which leaked earlier this week, is expected to allow users to pin Metro-style/Windows Store apps to their desktop task bars. Thumbnail previews of these Metro-style apps will be available from the Desktop task bar, according to additional screen shots. Windows 8.1 Update 1 also is expected to include close boxes for Metro-style apps.

Seems like some welcome changes, but it's going to take a lot more for people to warm up to Metro. The biggest problem to me is that since there aren't any compelling Metro applications, there's simply no reason to put with its idiosyncrasies, especially on desktops. I cannot think of a single Metro application that is better than its desktop counterpart, nor is there any Metro application that is better than similar applications on competing platforms.

Developers need users, and users need developers. Right now - Metro seems to lacks both.

How Silicon Valley’s CEOs conspired to drive down wages

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-24 In the News 40 Comments

In early 2005, as demand for Silicon Valley engineers began booming, Apple's Steve Jobs sealed a secret and illegal pact with Google's Eric Schmidt to artificially push their workers wages lower by agreeing not to recruit each other's employees, sharing wage scale information, and punishing violators. On February 27, 2005, Bill Campbell, a member of Apple's board of directors and senior advisor to Google, emailed Jobs to confirm that Eric Schmidt "got directly involved and firmly stopped all efforts to recruit anyone from Apple."

Later that year, Schmidt instructed his Sr VP for Business Operation Shona Brown to keep the pact a secret and only share information "verbally, since I don't want to create a paper trail over which we can be sued later?"

This is why I always smile whenever I hear a pundit claim his or her pet company "does no evil" or has "moral standards". Companies are guided by one thing, and one thing alone: money. They have no morals. They have no moral compass. We see evidence of this every single day - whether it's poor working conditions in low-wage countries, scummy tax evasion techniques, or stuff like this, which is essentially robbing hard-working people of their money.

It's important to note, though, that the way companies work in our society has also been a major factor in the development of our wealth, luxury, and scientific progress; so no, it's not all bad. However, I do wish companies would stop spouting the obvious nonsense that they "do no evil" or have "moral standards", when it's clear to everyone with more than two brain cells to rub together that that's just a bunch of marketing bullshit. I really feel for the people that actually believe that nonsense.

Of course, the criminals responsible for the illegal behaviour described in the article should be put behind bars. Sadly, that won't happen.

Nokia posts disappointing Lumia sales

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-23 Wireless 90 Comments

Nokia has just posted its results for the fourth quarter of 2013 - this is the last set of quarterly results which include the devices division, which has been sold to Microsoft. The parts that remain at Nokia are doing relatively well, but the holiday quarter for Lumia was a letdown.

Exactly how much of a letdown we can't say, since Nokia has - curiously, but tellingly - stopped reporting Lumia sales (update: Nokia has confirmed it sold 8.2 million Lumias). However, they do state that Lumia sales in the fourth (holiday) quarter were down from the third quarter, but up from the year-ago quarter, meaning they sold anywhere between 4.4 and 8.8 million Lumias during the holiday quarter of 2013. Tweakers' Arnoud Wokke has done the math, and concludes Nokia sold between 7.55 and 7.98 million Lumias (update: Nokia has confirmed it sold 8.2 million Lumias). Average selling price dropped again, most likely due to the popularity of the low-end 520. This gives Nokia a smartphone market share of about 2-3%.

All in all, the devices division, with its crashing Asha sales and struggling Lumia sales, was a clear stone around Nokia's neck, kept somewhat afloat by cash injections from Microsoft. However, those injections apparently weren't enough, and by now, we can conclude that Microsoft was effectively forced to step in and buy Nokia's devices division - lest someone else do it.

With this being the last quarter in which Nokia reports on its devices division, an era has come to an end. Now it's up to Microsoft to try and see if they can make something out of the Lumia brand - however, without the Nokia name, that's going to be a very tough sell.

Just ask the Surface department.

Legalised corruption soars in the US; Google, AT&T lead the pack

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-23 Legal 40 Comments

Google led in lobbying spending by ten tech firms who pumped a combined $61.15 million into efforts to influence federal regulators and lawmakers in 2013, up 15.9 percent from a combined total of $52.78 million, according to records filed with the Clerk of the House this week.

Apparently AT&T is not considered to be a technology company, because they spent more than Google. All in all, virtually all companies heavily increased their spending on legalised corruption in the US.

Thorium Core: ReactOS “cloud” desktop

Submitted by twitterfire 2014-01-22 ReactOS 60 Comments

I'm not exactly a fan of reporting on Kickstarter projects, but I guess I can't really ignore this one any longer.

Thorium Core is a commercial distribution of ReactOS, the Open Source Windows compatible operating system, targeted for cloud computing

Thorium Core is an attempt to build a commercial operating system and cloud services platform, based on ReactOS, which is an Open Source implementation of the NT architecture seen in modern versions of Windows.

It would seem that cloning Windows NT - in the end a neverending chase while wearing a stone around your neck and with your feet glued to a concrete block on Jupiter - is no longer a reasonable future goal. I kind of have my doubts about this project, but as always - major credit for trying.

The Muen Separation Kernel

Submitted by fran 2014-01-22 OS News 59 Comments

The Muen Separation Kernel is the world's first Open Source microkernel that has been formally proven to contain no runtime errors at the source code level. It is developed in Switzerland by the Institute for Internet Technologies and Applications (ITA) at the University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil (HSR). Muen was designed specifically to meet the challenging requirements of high-assurance systems on the Intel x86/64 platform. To ensure Muen is suitable for highly critical systems and advanced national security platforms, HSR closely cooperates with the high-security specialist secunet Security Networks AG in Germany.

The webpage contains instructions for building the kernel yourself, for installing it in a virtual machine, and for running it on real hardware.

Fanboys: have you ever loved something so much it hurt?

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-21 In the News 87 Comments

Anybody following tech media in the past few years would instantly recognize the Thorne. He's a fanboy. That is, the kind of crazily obsessed tech enthusiast who appears to have become unhinged somewhere between peeling off his smartphone's screen protector and making his 457th comment on Android Central. He seems to love - as in, romantically love - his phone. He explodes with rage when somebody says anything less than glowingly positive about it.

I've been dealing with fanboys for as long as I'm an OSNews editor - made worse by the fact that I don't really have a strong allegiance to any platform, and therefore, tend to criticise and praise each of them at the same time, on a weekly basis. This means I have to deal with all manner of fanboys, and while it sometimes can be quite tiring, it's just kind of adorable most of the time.

The other side of the coin is being accused of being biased for or against something. I used to maintain a list of all the companies and products I was accused of being biased for or against. Interestingly enough, all of the companies and products mentioned appeared in both the biased for and biased against column. In other words, I was biased for and against every single company and product mentioned on OSNews at the same time.

In the meantime, out in the real world, I try to use as many different products from as many different companies as (financially) possible, so that I gather as much as real-world experience as I can. So, in the past 18-24 months, I've bought a Nexus 7, HTC 8X Windows Phone, Surface RT, iMac, Find 5 (Android), a self-built Windows 8 PC, Nokia E7 (Symbian), iPhone 5S, Jolla, and only last week I added a Nokia N9 to my collection. On top of that, I've used a whole bunch of other classic devices to further expand my horizon. I love technology, regardless of brand or platform.

So yes, I've probably had more experience with fanboys than just about anyone here on OSNews. However, the things I've had to deal with are minute compared to the things people like Joshua Topolsky from The Verge has had to deal with.

The gist of this somewhat random collection of words: be happy OSNews is a relatively small, niche site. Sure, we get into our (in the grand scheme of things, pointless) debates, but at least virtually every regular commenter here displays a reasonable amount of intelligence and restraint. We could do a whole lot worse.

HP brings back Windows 7 ‘by popular demand’

Thom Holwerda 2014-01-21 Windows 115 Comments

HP really wants people to buy a Windows 7 PC instead of a Windows 8 machine. The PC maker has been emailing customers over the weekend noting that "Windows 7 is back." A new promotion, designed to entice people to select Windows 7 over Windows 8 with $150 of "savings," has launched on HP's website with a "back by popular demand" slogan. The move is clearly designed to position Windows 7 over Microsoft's touch-centric Windows 8 operating system.

Windows 8.x is just fine. Nothing's wrong with it. It's all the users' fault. Windows 8.x is just fine. Nothing's wrong with it. It's all the users' fault. Windows 8.x is just fine. Nothing's wrong with it. It's all the users' fault. Windows 8.x is just fine. Nothing's wrong with it. It's all the users' fault.

FreeBSD 10.0 released

Submitted by Drumhellar 2014-01-20 FreeBSD 52 Comments

FreeBSD 10 has been released. You can read the release notes, and, of course, go ahead and install it.

New website for Visopsys

Submitted by andymc 2014-01-20 OS News 33 Comments

We report regularly about Visopsys - one of the few hobby operating systems that survived where virtually all the others (SkyOS, Syllable, etc.) died out. They've got a new website, which seems like a nice occasion to give it some attention again.

The bulk of Visopsys is a fully multitasking, 100% protected mode, virtual-memory, massively-monolithic-style kernel. Added to this is a bare-bones C library and a minimal suite of applications - together comprising a small but reasonably functional operating system which can operate natively in either graphical or text modes. Though it's been in continuous development for a number of years, realistically the target audience remains limited to operating system enthusiasts, students, and assorted other sensation seekers.

Linux 3.13 released

Guest post by diegocg 2014-01-20 Linux 6 Comments

Linux kernel 3.13 has been released. This release includes are nftables, the successor of iptables, a revamp of the block layer designed for high-performance SSDs, a power capping framework to cap power consumption in Intel RAPL devices, improved squashfs performance, AMD Radeon power management enabled by default and automatic AMD Radeon GPU switching, improved NUMA and hugepage performance , TCP Fast Open enabled by default, support for NFC payments, support for the High-availability Seamless Redundancy protocol, new drivers and many other small improvements. Here's the full list of changes.

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