John Lennon, one of the world's most recognised names in the history of music, always imagined a world where people lived as "one". He also beseeched the world with his wife, Yoko Ono, to "give peace a chance". They sang, "Everybody's talking about/ Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism/ This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism/ All we are saying is give peace a chance", in an earnest attempt to spread the message of peace through music and catchy rhymes. Today, emulating the same example of an imagined peaceful world, Facebook, one of the most frequented social networking sites, has joined the peace bandwagon by being part of the Peace Dot initiative, started by Stanford University.
What is the Peace Dot initiative?
'Peace Dot', the brainchild of Stanford's Persuasive Technology Lab, is an attempt to bring together technology and world peace, heralding a social change. The website says, Many are pessimistic about peace, but our Stanford team sees a different trend. Today, many good things are happening. To highlight work that increases peace, we organized "Peace Dot" and invited some partners to join us. Stanford will help track the progress and share data, which it hopes will be positive.
Where does Facebook come in?
Facebook is perhaps one of the first social media sites to join the Peace Dot campaign. "Facebook is proud to play a part in promoting peace by building technology that helps people better understand each other. By enabling people from diverse backgrounds to easily connect and share their ideas, we can decrease world conflict in the short and long term", says the website.
How does it work?
Everyday, more and more people across the world are logging in to Facebook to connect with long lost friends, relatives and acquaintances. This is where the Peace dot campaign comes in, its inherent message being, "You are not alone". Peace Dot aims to spread the message of peace through this thriving culture of social networking.
What does it track?
The Peace Dot movement tracks the number of people connected to others across ethnicities, religion and across the continents which have a record of disputes. For example, there are about 7231 India-Pakistan connections as of the last 24 hours, which is displayed on the site. Every day, claims the site, they ask people the question, "Is world peace possible?", the answers to which are tracked region-wise. Even though the statistics say that only 8.51% people in the US think it is possible, Facebook is confident that the numbers will increase as the campaign gains momentum.
Just a few days old, this campaign is all set to connect the online world and has succeeded in adding a whole new dimension to social networking - that of world peace, the online way.
Imagine that. And give peace a chance.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
POPULAR GAMES ON FACEBOOK
Got time to spare after touching base with your friends and groups on Facebook? It is time to get addicted to online gaming, for social gaming is the latest most happening fad to hit cybertown. Here is a list of some of the most popular games on Facebook.
FarmVille:
Have you ever considered farming as a retirement option? Then check out FarmVille and get your farming basics right - minus the manure, of course. A management game, FarmVille, allows you to set up a farm your own way and tend to your animals like you would in a real farm. With more than 61,323,326 monthly active users, it is perhaps one of the most popular games on Facebook.
Word Challenge
This game is for people who love English. Juggle around words to form new ones, challenge your friends and even go on a discovery of new words and build your vocabulary. Word games are the most fun way to improve your language skills, as reflected in the thousands of followers that this game attracts.
Bubble Town
If arcade games are your cuppa happiness, you will just fall in love with this one. What makes Bubble Town way different from other similar games like Bejeweled is the simple fact that the Borbs in the town snooze off if you do not hit them! Borbs are the cute faces which populate Bubble Town. This also makes Bubble Town one of the most addictive arcade games on Facebook.
YoVille
YoVille is a virtual world in itself. You can customise your YoVille character to do almost anything you would do in your daily life. Make friends, play with them, have fights, go to work, earn wealth and even acquire a house, much like Sims, though with a lot more options.
Mafia Wars
Have you wanted to be a Mafia don and start your own kingdom of crime? Check out Mafia Wars. The goal of the game is to run three types of crime business, be the ultimate mafia don and rule over New York City. This is another hugely popular game with the addicted users also using their spoils of war as their status updates on Facebook.
Know-It-All Trivia
From spelling tests to History and Math, Know-It–All is a very entertaining and informative game in a quiz format. The questions have to be answered within a particular time limit, which just adds to the fun.
Biotronic
This is another arcade game. Play it to enjoy the exploding combos and colourful animations that fill your screen.
Cafe World
You do not need any inclination for cooking to play Cafe World, just a deep love for food will do. All you have to do is set up a virtual character and choose a dish to cook. The only drawback here is you can't taste the yummy looking dishes, but this minor hitch aside, this is a big hit with gastronomes in the virtual world.
Fish World
Do you love aquariums but do not want to get your hands dirty and clean fish tanks? Fish World on Facebook, gives you the chance to keep exotic and colourful fishes in aquariums you have to maintain. You can 'live' in an environment that will make even Nemo see green!
Farm Pals
Farm Pals is a more basic game than FarmVille. But what makes it fun is the fact that you can steal produce from your friends' farm. No arguments about who owns the apples with angry neighbours in this!
These games are the most popular on Facebook, as evidenced by the number of addicts that run into thousands of thousands for each. So which game will you be playing the next time you are on Facebook? Tell us!
FarmVille:
Have you ever considered farming as a retirement option? Then check out FarmVille and get your farming basics right - minus the manure, of course. A management game, FarmVille, allows you to set up a farm your own way and tend to your animals like you would in a real farm. With more than 61,323,326 monthly active users, it is perhaps one of the most popular games on Facebook.
Word Challenge
This game is for people who love English. Juggle around words to form new ones, challenge your friends and even go on a discovery of new words and build your vocabulary. Word games are the most fun way to improve your language skills, as reflected in the thousands of followers that this game attracts.
Bubble Town
If arcade games are your cuppa happiness, you will just fall in love with this one. What makes Bubble Town way different from other similar games like Bejeweled is the simple fact that the Borbs in the town snooze off if you do not hit them! Borbs are the cute faces which populate Bubble Town. This also makes Bubble Town one of the most addictive arcade games on Facebook.
YoVille
YoVille is a virtual world in itself. You can customise your YoVille character to do almost anything you would do in your daily life. Make friends, play with them, have fights, go to work, earn wealth and even acquire a house, much like Sims, though with a lot more options.
Mafia Wars
Have you wanted to be a Mafia don and start your own kingdom of crime? Check out Mafia Wars. The goal of the game is to run three types of crime business, be the ultimate mafia don and rule over New York City. This is another hugely popular game with the addicted users also using their spoils of war as their status updates on Facebook.
Know-It-All Trivia
From spelling tests to History and Math, Know-It–All is a very entertaining and informative game in a quiz format. The questions have to be answered within a particular time limit, which just adds to the fun.
Biotronic
This is another arcade game. Play it to enjoy the exploding combos and colourful animations that fill your screen.
Cafe World
You do not need any inclination for cooking to play Cafe World, just a deep love for food will do. All you have to do is set up a virtual character and choose a dish to cook. The only drawback here is you can't taste the yummy looking dishes, but this minor hitch aside, this is a big hit with gastronomes in the virtual world.
Fish World
Do you love aquariums but do not want to get your hands dirty and clean fish tanks? Fish World on Facebook, gives you the chance to keep exotic and colourful fishes in aquariums you have to maintain. You can 'live' in an environment that will make even Nemo see green!
Farm Pals
Farm Pals is a more basic game than FarmVille. But what makes it fun is the fact that you can steal produce from your friends' farm. No arguments about who owns the apples with angry neighbours in this!
These games are the most popular on Facebook, as evidenced by the number of addicts that run into thousands of thousands for each. So which game will you be playing the next time you are on Facebook? Tell us!
SIX RULES FOR SOCIAL NETWORKING
In recent days, I've spent time with a number of veterans of the social networking business. One of the surprising things I have learned is how much experience these people now have, and how much they agree with each other about some of the basics of the business.
Just a few years ago, when companies like Friendster were emerging and outfits like Twitter still did not exist, social networking was a little-understood phenomenon. Experience has taught us a lot, however, and practices are starting to standardize. That is not to say that something new will not pop up, or that no new business will be created; this is still capitalism, with plenty of room to surprise. Whatever does happen next, however, the emerging rules will likely play a role, either in system construction or creative destruction.
In Pictures: 20 Social Media Blunders
In Pictures: The Web's Savviest Social Media Manipulators
Here are six points everyone seems to agree on, presented for easy memorization and with apologies to Johnnie "If it does not fit, you must acquit" Cochran.
1. When you have scale, it's good to fail.
Google knows this: When you have millions of users, you can, and should, experiment with some small percentage of them all the time. The field is so new that there are no set rules, and failure is tolerable for the sake of a decent feedback loop. "Things change so fast, you are best off just doing things by trial and error," says Gina Bianchini, founder and chief executive of Ning, a service that provides a template of design tools for people to build their own social networks. About 5,000 networks are created every day on Ning, and 80% of them are short-lived or fail. That still gives Ning 250,000 networks on which it can place ads, watch behavior or charge for premium services.
2. Seek the unique.
There are too many social networks, too many styles of discovery, commenting, sharing and all the other aspects of participation. People are fatigued by choice. All is made worthwhile by finding a group that is as passionate about some specific area of your life as you are. That may be work, a la LinkedIn, but don't expect most people to socialize there. That may be family, like with Facebook, but you tend not to see such a broad range of behaviors. The third aspect of most lives--hobbies and interests--is where you encounter the greatest variety. If there is room to grow a new social network, it will have to center on a passion, something people feel is particularly true of their own personalities.
Here are six points everyone seems to agree on, presented for easy memorization and with apologies to Johnnie "If it does not fit, you must acquit" Cochran.
3. The default position is rampant suspicion.
Trust is possibly the most valuable currency on a social network. At its best, people are giving up important parts of their identity. Doing so successfully, so that fans, friends, and like-minded strangers respect them, binds users closely to the network. That loyalty is perpetually at risk, however, and network designers say users' worries are manifest when they don't understand something about the social network.
"In the absence of information, there is an assumption of conspiracy," says Jay Adelson, one of the founders of Digg, a social news site. That may be simply because social networks are so new, or that the medium of computer networks lends itself to fears of anonymous control. The solution, from a provider's viewpoint, is to be as clear as possible about why you are doing something, even when it seems obvious to you.
4. Trust is at stake, so make things opaque.
Paradoxically, being open also involves refusing to disclose certain things, particularly things about how ranking and filtering systems work. "All algorithms get hacked by somebody," says Kevin Laws, a former executive with Epinions, a social rating site that was purchased by Shopping.com. "You have to remove the transparency around how your algorithms actually work." The audience can only trust the system if they know that the system cannot be gamed, and that means they can't know everything.
5. Esteem is how you gather value.
French playwright Moliere compared writing to prostitution: You start off doing it for love, then for a few friends and finally for money. The history of the social Web is basically the opposite. Sites like Epinions and Digg began by paying people money to comment on things, and found nothing but problems--some people gamed the system, while others did not trust the results. As in open source software, a lot of the positive motivation to participate comes from the recognition you receive from other participants for doing a good job. Money just confuses things.
6. Secret names were made for flames. To raise the bar, say who you are.
When Digg started, Adelson recalls, "anonymity was key; there was a sense people needed privacy. Now people are used to living in public." Part of that may be an effect of Facebook, a wildly successful site with very little anonymity. One-third of Digg's new users come from the Facebook Connect service, and these folks are used to being seen by others. They tend to behave more responsibly as a result, and may get better value in terms of how much others trust them. Down the road, they are also likely to be targeted with more personal ads--whether that is an intrusion or a value-add is a rule that has yet to be worked out.
Just a few years ago, when companies like Friendster were emerging and outfits like Twitter still did not exist, social networking was a little-understood phenomenon. Experience has taught us a lot, however, and practices are starting to standardize. That is not to say that something new will not pop up, or that no new business will be created; this is still capitalism, with plenty of room to surprise. Whatever does happen next, however, the emerging rules will likely play a role, either in system construction or creative destruction.
In Pictures: 20 Social Media Blunders
In Pictures: The Web's Savviest Social Media Manipulators
Here are six points everyone seems to agree on, presented for easy memorization and with apologies to Johnnie "If it does not fit, you must acquit" Cochran.
1. When you have scale, it's good to fail.
Google knows this: When you have millions of users, you can, and should, experiment with some small percentage of them all the time. The field is so new that there are no set rules, and failure is tolerable for the sake of a decent feedback loop. "Things change so fast, you are best off just doing things by trial and error," says Gina Bianchini, founder and chief executive of Ning, a service that provides a template of design tools for people to build their own social networks. About 5,000 networks are created every day on Ning, and 80% of them are short-lived or fail. That still gives Ning 250,000 networks on which it can place ads, watch behavior or charge for premium services.
2. Seek the unique.
There are too many social networks, too many styles of discovery, commenting, sharing and all the other aspects of participation. People are fatigued by choice. All is made worthwhile by finding a group that is as passionate about some specific area of your life as you are. That may be work, a la LinkedIn, but don't expect most people to socialize there. That may be family, like with Facebook, but you tend not to see such a broad range of behaviors. The third aspect of most lives--hobbies and interests--is where you encounter the greatest variety. If there is room to grow a new social network, it will have to center on a passion, something people feel is particularly true of their own personalities.
Here are six points everyone seems to agree on, presented for easy memorization and with apologies to Johnnie "If it does not fit, you must acquit" Cochran.
3. The default position is rampant suspicion.
Trust is possibly the most valuable currency on a social network. At its best, people are giving up important parts of their identity. Doing so successfully, so that fans, friends, and like-minded strangers respect them, binds users closely to the network. That loyalty is perpetually at risk, however, and network designers say users' worries are manifest when they don't understand something about the social network.
"In the absence of information, there is an assumption of conspiracy," says Jay Adelson, one of the founders of Digg, a social news site. That may be simply because social networks are so new, or that the medium of computer networks lends itself to fears of anonymous control. The solution, from a provider's viewpoint, is to be as clear as possible about why you are doing something, even when it seems obvious to you.
4. Trust is at stake, so make things opaque.
Paradoxically, being open also involves refusing to disclose certain things, particularly things about how ranking and filtering systems work. "All algorithms get hacked by somebody," says Kevin Laws, a former executive with Epinions, a social rating site that was purchased by Shopping.com. "You have to remove the transparency around how your algorithms actually work." The audience can only trust the system if they know that the system cannot be gamed, and that means they can't know everything.
5. Esteem is how you gather value.
French playwright Moliere compared writing to prostitution: You start off doing it for love, then for a few friends and finally for money. The history of the social Web is basically the opposite. Sites like Epinions and Digg began by paying people money to comment on things, and found nothing but problems--some people gamed the system, while others did not trust the results. As in open source software, a lot of the positive motivation to participate comes from the recognition you receive from other participants for doing a good job. Money just confuses things.
6. Secret names were made for flames. To raise the bar, say who you are.
When Digg started, Adelson recalls, "anonymity was key; there was a sense people needed privacy. Now people are used to living in public." Part of that may be an effect of Facebook, a wildly successful site with very little anonymity. One-third of Digg's new users come from the Facebook Connect service, and these folks are used to being seen by others. They tend to behave more responsibly as a result, and may get better value in terms of how much others trust them. Down the road, they are also likely to be targeted with more personal ads--whether that is an intrusion or a value-add is a rule that has yet to be worked out.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
GOOGLE SEARCHES 3G PROSPECTS IN INDIA
Google, the world’s largest search engine and one of the biggest internet brands, is understood to be eyeing opportunities in the third generation of mobile telephony, or 3G, in India.
Sources in the telecom industry say Google is looking at broadband wireless access, or BWA, in the country and may participate in the auction with an Indian partner. BWA is also known as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, or WiMAX.
As an alternative, Google could be just a technology partner to a telecom service provider. Foreign companies can buy up to 74 per cent equity in such a venture.
A spokesperson for Google in India, when contacted, said the company would not comment on speculation.
The Department of Telecommunications, or DoT, is offering spectrum both for 3G services as well as BWA and hopes to auction spectrum by the middle of January next year. It finalised the information memorandum last week.
Google is not new to mobile telephony. It shook the world two years ago by announcing that it would bid for the US government’s auction of radio frequencies that could be used to deliver the next generation of internet and mobile phone services.
The company’s plan was to provide a nationwide wireless broadband service that would take on digital subscriber line services and cable internet access. However, it lost out in the auction as incumbent telecom behemoths like AT&T and Verizon stole a march.
Analysts say there are many reasons for Google to look at 3G. "With the wave of consumers adopting BWA as the likely scenario in India, it is expected to bring about a shift in the focus of advertisement revenue from fixed line internet to mobile internet. Search-led advertisement is the biggest of all in the online business, and Google is the natural stakeholder in the Indian BWA space," says Alok Shende, principal analyst, Ascentius Consulting.
Others cite other reasons. "Google wants to create a global space in wireless internet, since mobile subscribers outnumber internet users. In India, 3G subscribers will outdo WiMAX users. Given these estimates, it makes sense for Google to bid for 3G spectrum," says a telecom analyst who did not wish to be named.
Google has also submitted a proposal to regulators in the US for clearance to use unused channels, which the company calls Wi-Fi 2.0 and on which it is possible to offer wireless broadband services at very high speeds.
The BWA spectrum to be put up for auction by DoT will be in the frequency of 2.3 GHz, with a base price of Rs 1,750 crore for a pan-India licence. The government will auction two blocks in BWA spectrum and reserve one for state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd in Mumbai and Delhi and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd elsewhere.
Spectrum in the 2.5 GHz for BWA will also be auctioned after the outstanding issues of interference with the mobile system of department of space are resolved.
Sources in the telecom industry say Google is looking at broadband wireless access, or BWA, in the country and may participate in the auction with an Indian partner. BWA is also known as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, or WiMAX.
As an alternative, Google could be just a technology partner to a telecom service provider. Foreign companies can buy up to 74 per cent equity in such a venture.
A spokesperson for Google in India, when contacted, said the company would not comment on speculation.
The Department of Telecommunications, or DoT, is offering spectrum both for 3G services as well as BWA and hopes to auction spectrum by the middle of January next year. It finalised the information memorandum last week.
Google is not new to mobile telephony. It shook the world two years ago by announcing that it would bid for the US government’s auction of radio frequencies that could be used to deliver the next generation of internet and mobile phone services.
The company’s plan was to provide a nationwide wireless broadband service that would take on digital subscriber line services and cable internet access. However, it lost out in the auction as incumbent telecom behemoths like AT&T and Verizon stole a march.
Analysts say there are many reasons for Google to look at 3G. "With the wave of consumers adopting BWA as the likely scenario in India, it is expected to bring about a shift in the focus of advertisement revenue from fixed line internet to mobile internet. Search-led advertisement is the biggest of all in the online business, and Google is the natural stakeholder in the Indian BWA space," says Alok Shende, principal analyst, Ascentius Consulting.
Others cite other reasons. "Google wants to create a global space in wireless internet, since mobile subscribers outnumber internet users. In India, 3G subscribers will outdo WiMAX users. Given these estimates, it makes sense for Google to bid for 3G spectrum," says a telecom analyst who did not wish to be named.
Google has also submitted a proposal to regulators in the US for clearance to use unused channels, which the company calls Wi-Fi 2.0 and on which it is possible to offer wireless broadband services at very high speeds.
The BWA spectrum to be put up for auction by DoT will be in the frequency of 2.3 GHz, with a base price of Rs 1,750 crore for a pan-India licence. The government will auction two blocks in BWA spectrum and reserve one for state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd in Mumbai and Delhi and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd elsewhere.
Spectrum in the 2.5 GHz for BWA will also be auctioned after the outstanding issues of interference with the mobile system of department of space are resolved.
WEB ADDRESSES TO SPEAK ALL LANGUAGES
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, has set the ball rolling for web addresses in scripts other than Latin. This will allow uniform resource locators (URLs), as web addresses are called in virtual parlance, in languages other than English, including Hindi, Tamil or Bhojpuri.
About half of the world’s 1.6 billion internet users use languages based on scripts other than Latin and may cheer the move. India, which has 50 million internet users, speaks hundreds of languages.
Icann, the non-profit group that oversees domain names, is meeting representatives from all over the world this week in Seoul to decide on this change, which will be one of the biggest in the 40 years of internet. If it is cleared, Icann will begin accepting applications for non-Latin domain names and the first entries into the system are expected in the middle of next year.
Icann is also to decide whether it can give users freedom on global top-level domain (GLTD) names.
"If this happens, it will definitely increase the number of internet users. Why should users type in English if they could time in Tamil or Hindi," says Kiruba Shankar, founder chief executive officer of Business Blogging.
At present, web addresses are limited to 21 suffixes, such as, .com (80 per cent), .net and .info, and country-specific ones like .in for India. With this change, companies and individuals can have unlimited choices such as .indian, .delhi, .paris, .gabbarsingh or .whateveryouwant.
Corporate houses like the Tatas, Birlas or Reliance could apply for .tata, .birla or .reliance and could, in turn, give each employee a .tata, .birla or .reliance email identity.
Like all good things, these will come at a price: Rs 40 lakh to Rs 2 crore.
Jasjit Sawhney, managing director and chief executive officer of Net4India, an internet service provider which offers domain registration services, says the move to open up web addresses is good "but will take time to trickle down in India because of technicalities". Currently, names on the internet can be typed in local scripts. For instance, you can type dukaan (shop) in Devnagari, the script for Hindi, but not .com.
Icann is in talks with information technology departments of countries to get the exact meaning of .com in local languages, say, Hindi or Tamil. "What do you call .com in Hindi? One has to decide on such issues," says Sawhney.
Naresh Ajwani, president-government affairs, Sify Technologies, who is attending the Icann meeting in Seoul, points out that the Department of Information Technology in India already has fonts for 22 local languages. "This, and the fact that GLTDs may be opened up to more domains, will witness a sea change in the way the internet is structured," says Ajwani.
About half of the world’s 1.6 billion internet users use languages based on scripts other than Latin and may cheer the move. India, which has 50 million internet users, speaks hundreds of languages.
Icann, the non-profit group that oversees domain names, is meeting representatives from all over the world this week in Seoul to decide on this change, which will be one of the biggest in the 40 years of internet. If it is cleared, Icann will begin accepting applications for non-Latin domain names and the first entries into the system are expected in the middle of next year.
Icann is also to decide whether it can give users freedom on global top-level domain (GLTD) names.
"If this happens, it will definitely increase the number of internet users. Why should users type in English if they could time in Tamil or Hindi," says Kiruba Shankar, founder chief executive officer of Business Blogging.
At present, web addresses are limited to 21 suffixes, such as, .com (80 per cent), .net and .info, and country-specific ones like .in for India. With this change, companies and individuals can have unlimited choices such as .indian, .delhi, .paris, .gabbarsingh or .whateveryouwant.
Corporate houses like the Tatas, Birlas or Reliance could apply for .tata, .birla or .reliance and could, in turn, give each employee a .tata, .birla or .reliance email identity.
Like all good things, these will come at a price: Rs 40 lakh to Rs 2 crore.
Jasjit Sawhney, managing director and chief executive officer of Net4India, an internet service provider which offers domain registration services, says the move to open up web addresses is good "but will take time to trickle down in India because of technicalities". Currently, names on the internet can be typed in local scripts. For instance, you can type dukaan (shop) in Devnagari, the script for Hindi, but not .com.
Icann is in talks with information technology departments of countries to get the exact meaning of .com in local languages, say, Hindi or Tamil. "What do you call .com in Hindi? One has to decide on such issues," says Sawhney.
Naresh Ajwani, president-government affairs, Sify Technologies, who is attending the Icann meeting in Seoul, points out that the Department of Information Technology in India already has fonts for 22 local languages. "This, and the fact that GLTDs may be opened up to more domains, will witness a sea change in the way the internet is structured," says Ajwani.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
NEW 'WINDOWS' OPEN UP TO COMPUTER USERS
Mumbai: With its advanced features, Microsoft’s Windows 7 comes off better than Vista and the last generation Windows XP
If you have been holding off buying a new computer, then Windows 7, the latest operating system (OS) from Microsoft, will give you a good excuse to buy one. Windows 7, or Win 7, is largely believed to be better than Microsoft's previous OS Windows Vista and way more advanced than the last generation Windows XP. But is it really all that?
First impressions
While it is easy to get infatuated with a new design and swanky features, the viability of an OS is only determined when you begin using it eight hours a day. We used a preview copy of Win 7 for over 12 hours and we have to admit that we do prefer it over Vista because it's more stable and did not crash out even once.
We installed Win 7 on a desktop with 1 GHz processor and 4GB of RAM. The OS took a little over 30 minutes to install on the PC that had Vista Home Basic edition (time to install could vary depending on hardware profile and existing OS on your PC). Decisively, Win 7 loads faster than Vista, which takes hours to install.
Win 7's minimum hardware requirements are roughly similar to those of Vista Home Basics -- both require a 1 GHz processor and 15-16GB of hard-drive space, although Win 7 demands a minimum of 1GB memory, while Vista Home Basics needs 512MB memory.
Let's be honest here. Win 7 is both a sigh of relief and breath of fresh air, after Vista. Built with a renewed focus on performance and ease-of-use, Win 7 is poised to succeed where Vista couldn't.
Why is it better than Windows Vista?
Haunted by sluggish performance issues, from playing games to complicated disk access programmes to poor networking features, Vista was undoubtedly Microsoft's biggest failure. Win 7, by contrast, will run fine on most of the existing netbooks as well as older PCs.
Win 7 delivers a completely revamped user interface and some brand-new features designed to make organising and sharing your files easier. Simply put, the user gets much more than new wallpaper and a different colour taskbar.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
Is it really more secure and easier than Windows XP?
In one word -- yes, Win 7 is way more secure than Windows XP and a step ahead of Vista too. Even though it is eight years old, Windows XP still remains the world's most widely used operating system and almost completely dominates the netbook market.
But Windows XP users have a lot more to gain by going to Win 7. Vista had introduced some great features, such as fast searches of the entire hard drive, which, of course, are present in Win 7 too. Such features will be quite an attraction for users who haven't yet used them on their Windows XP machines.
All technical tirades aside, Win 7 is the back-to-basics operating system. Moving beyond the eye-candy features, Windows XP users can customise how the user account control functions, or how tray icons work to suit their needs. This was never there in Windows XP.
What type of PCs and laptopscan run Windows 7?
The basic requirements of a PC to run Win 7 are a 1 GHz processor, minimum 1GB of RAM and 16GB hard drive space. In simple words, any hardware that worked with Vista will work for Win 7 too.
Since Microsoft is targeting future generation of casual users who use computers for mainly emails, office documents, Internet and video among other things, Win 7 could be an ideal choice for future PCs.
HP India has started retailing Win 7-preloaded PCs at between Rs 27,990 and Rs 90,000, while Acer PCs with Win 7 OS will be priced at between Rs 15,000 and Rs 35,000. Acer notebooks with the new OS will be priced at Rs 21,000-70,000.
Should you get ready to pay for the upgrade?
That's a million-dollar question, if you are a Windows XP user. Is it worth Rs 5,800, that a Windows XP users will pay to get the new features in Win 7? Probably yes, as a superior OS also means a more secure and functional PC. But this is not necessarily a must-have upgrade for all the existing Windows XP users.
Although those users who will be upgrading from Vista will find it easier (and cheaper) to adopt Win 7, those who are migrating from Windows XP might need to completely wipe their hard drives and re-install their applications.
What you pay and what you get
* Windows 7 Starter (via OEM only): Up to three concurrent applications, ability to join a Home Group, improved taskbar and JumpLists.
* Windows 7 Home Basic: For Rs 5,899, users get unlimited applications, live thumbnail previews that enhance visual experience and advanced networking support.
* Windows 7 Home Premium: For Rs 6,799, you get Aero Glass and advanced windows navigation, improved media format support, enhanced Windows Media Centre and media streaming, and also multi-touch and improved handwriting recognition.
* Windows 7 Professional: For Rs 11,199, users can join a managed network with the Domain Join feature, protect data with advanced network backup and encrypting file system and print to the right printer at home or facilitate intuitive printing with Location Aware Printing option.
* Windows 7 Ultimate (worldwide): For Rs 11,799, it is meant for advanced users who want to protect data using the BitLocker feature on internal and external drives, deploy DirectAccess for seamless connectivity over corporate networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2.
What's new about Windows 7
# In Win 7, when you hover over a taskbar icon, you get actual previews that are placed side by side. In simple words, it offers the ability to snap a window to half your screen size simply by dragging it to the left or right of the screen
# Has a cool new feature with which users can drag windows to each side of the screen and they automatically size themselves so that each takes up half the screen
# User Account Control in Win 7 gives users easy control options without complicating the process like Windows Vista
# Win 7 replaces the taskbar context menu with a useful list of frequently used documents and tasks, and even allows you to pin documents or shortcuts to the menu
# Windows Explorer gets a facelift in Win 7. Some minor changes like while browsing between various tabs, you will now see a sliding windows effect, a nice visual effect
# Once you have installed the OS, the first thing you will notice is the faster shutdown and boot. Even the time taken by the machine to enter and come out of the sleep mode is less than Vista and XP
# For those who love to open an array of windows while working, the new Aero Peek feature in Win 7 lets you preview individual windows from the grouped taskbar applications, and even close documents from the thumbnails themselves. Aero Peek becomes a handy tool for users who like to multi-task
If you have been holding off buying a new computer, then Windows 7, the latest operating system (OS) from Microsoft, will give you a good excuse to buy one. Windows 7, or Win 7, is largely believed to be better than Microsoft's previous OS Windows Vista and way more advanced than the last generation Windows XP. But is it really all that?
First impressions
While it is easy to get infatuated with a new design and swanky features, the viability of an OS is only determined when you begin using it eight hours a day. We used a preview copy of Win 7 for over 12 hours and we have to admit that we do prefer it over Vista because it's more stable and did not crash out even once.
We installed Win 7 on a desktop with 1 GHz processor and 4GB of RAM. The OS took a little over 30 minutes to install on the PC that had Vista Home Basic edition (time to install could vary depending on hardware profile and existing OS on your PC). Decisively, Win 7 loads faster than Vista, which takes hours to install.
Win 7's minimum hardware requirements are roughly similar to those of Vista Home Basics -- both require a 1 GHz processor and 15-16GB of hard-drive space, although Win 7 demands a minimum of 1GB memory, while Vista Home Basics needs 512MB memory.
Let's be honest here. Win 7 is both a sigh of relief and breath of fresh air, after Vista. Built with a renewed focus on performance and ease-of-use, Win 7 is poised to succeed where Vista couldn't.
Why is it better than Windows Vista?
Haunted by sluggish performance issues, from playing games to complicated disk access programmes to poor networking features, Vista was undoubtedly Microsoft's biggest failure. Win 7, by contrast, will run fine on most of the existing netbooks as well as older PCs.
Win 7 delivers a completely revamped user interface and some brand-new features designed to make organising and sharing your files easier. Simply put, the user gets much more than new wallpaper and a different colour taskbar.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
Is it really more secure and easier than Windows XP?
In one word -- yes, Win 7 is way more secure than Windows XP and a step ahead of Vista too. Even though it is eight years old, Windows XP still remains the world's most widely used operating system and almost completely dominates the netbook market.
But Windows XP users have a lot more to gain by going to Win 7. Vista had introduced some great features, such as fast searches of the entire hard drive, which, of course, are present in Win 7 too. Such features will be quite an attraction for users who haven't yet used them on their Windows XP machines.
All technical tirades aside, Win 7 is the back-to-basics operating system. Moving beyond the eye-candy features, Windows XP users can customise how the user account control functions, or how tray icons work to suit their needs. This was never there in Windows XP.
What type of PCs and laptopscan run Windows 7?
The basic requirements of a PC to run Win 7 are a 1 GHz processor, minimum 1GB of RAM and 16GB hard drive space. In simple words, any hardware that worked with Vista will work for Win 7 too.
Since Microsoft is targeting future generation of casual users who use computers for mainly emails, office documents, Internet and video among other things, Win 7 could be an ideal choice for future PCs.
HP India has started retailing Win 7-preloaded PCs at between Rs 27,990 and Rs 90,000, while Acer PCs with Win 7 OS will be priced at between Rs 15,000 and Rs 35,000. Acer notebooks with the new OS will be priced at Rs 21,000-70,000.
Should you get ready to pay for the upgrade?
That's a million-dollar question, if you are a Windows XP user. Is it worth Rs 5,800, that a Windows XP users will pay to get the new features in Win 7? Probably yes, as a superior OS also means a more secure and functional PC. But this is not necessarily a must-have upgrade for all the existing Windows XP users.
Although those users who will be upgrading from Vista will find it easier (and cheaper) to adopt Win 7, those who are migrating from Windows XP might need to completely wipe their hard drives and re-install their applications.
What you pay and what you get
* Windows 7 Starter (via OEM only): Up to three concurrent applications, ability to join a Home Group, improved taskbar and JumpLists.
* Windows 7 Home Basic: For Rs 5,899, users get unlimited applications, live thumbnail previews that enhance visual experience and advanced networking support.
* Windows 7 Home Premium: For Rs 6,799, you get Aero Glass and advanced windows navigation, improved media format support, enhanced Windows Media Centre and media streaming, and also multi-touch and improved handwriting recognition.
* Windows 7 Professional: For Rs 11,199, users can join a managed network with the Domain Join feature, protect data with advanced network backup and encrypting file system and print to the right printer at home or facilitate intuitive printing with Location Aware Printing option.
* Windows 7 Ultimate (worldwide): For Rs 11,799, it is meant for advanced users who want to protect data using the BitLocker feature on internal and external drives, deploy DirectAccess for seamless connectivity over corporate networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2.
What's new about Windows 7
# In Win 7, when you hover over a taskbar icon, you get actual previews that are placed side by side. In simple words, it offers the ability to snap a window to half your screen size simply by dragging it to the left or right of the screen
# Has a cool new feature with which users can drag windows to each side of the screen and they automatically size themselves so that each takes up half the screen
# User Account Control in Win 7 gives users easy control options without complicating the process like Windows Vista
# Win 7 replaces the taskbar context menu with a useful list of frequently used documents and tasks, and even allows you to pin documents or shortcuts to the menu
# Windows Explorer gets a facelift in Win 7. Some minor changes like while browsing between various tabs, you will now see a sliding windows effect, a nice visual effect
# Once you have installed the OS, the first thing you will notice is the faster shutdown and boot. Even the time taken by the machine to enter and come out of the sleep mode is less than Vista and XP
# For those who love to open an array of windows while working, the new Aero Peek feature in Win 7 lets you preview individual windows from the grouped taskbar applications, and even close documents from the thumbnails themselves. Aero Peek becomes a handy tool for users who like to multi-task
Friday, October 23, 2009
WHY '7' COULD BE MICROSOFT'S LUCKY NUMBER
Microsoft Thursday launched the next version of Windows, dubbed Windows 7. The problem is: a majority of current Windows users still use XP, which is getting to be nine years old now.
After the launch of Windows Vista, people had no option but to buy PCs pre-loaded with Vista. Some paid extra to "downgrade" to Windows XP.
The main issues with Vista? Widespread reports of sluggishness, frequent hangs and crashes, and incompatibility with certain software and hardware. Vista was basically a troublesome experience.
Somewhere down the line, Microsoft had lost touch with consumers. And it has worked hard to correct the shortcomings.
Windows 7 was available for thousands of Beta testers worldwide since January, and Microsoft listened to what they had to say. Many bugs have been ironed out -- this time before the official release of the product.
According to PC vendors, market acceptance of Windows 7 is much higher than it was for Vista. This is good news for the new PC market and Microsoft. To quote most reviewers of the pre-release versions: "Windows 7 is what Vista should have been".
And Windows 7 is a "make-or-break" situation for Microsoft, especially after the Vista debacle. But Wired magazine summed it up aptly: "Although Windows 7 will be familiar to XP users, fundamentally it's different enough to make you change the way you think of Microsoft."
Here's why I think Windows 7 will encourage thousands of PC users to spend their money to upgrade.
* Speed - It's faster on the same hardware
* Compatibility - It has lower hardware requirements and works well on older machines and netbooks
* New features - Windows 7 is prettier than Vista and comes with new features like aero peek, aero snap, aero shake (to handle multiple open applications and windows better), easier home networking
* Longer battery life - Users will get better battery life with notebook PCs since Windows 7 makes more efficient use of system resources.
* Hardware advantages - It will boost performance with newer multi-core CPUs
* Increased security - The new Windows Action Center integrates security and maintenance into one package
* New Media - Native support for Blu-Ray, ISO image burning and new media formats and codecs to fully take advantage of the digital age.
Will businesses upgrade?
This is a particularly tricky question. It takes time to deploy an operating system on a large scale and decision makers may be hesitant of shaking up a current system on XP that "works" and has nothing wrong with it.
Even so, it makes sense to consider that:
* After almost nine years, XP is beginning to show its age; it cannot last forever
* Rather than upgrade hardware, companies can spend the same amount to upgrade to Windows 7; of course, this probably only applies to PCs less than 3-4 years old. Beyond that, it doesn't really make sense to stretch the hardware
* Windows 7 offers much improved security
* There will be inevitable compatibility issues with XP as it gets even older, plus discontinued support from Microsoft
But Microsoft also faces major challenges with Windows 7:
* Windows 7 does not offer a very smooth transition from XP -- there is no upgrade option, only a fresh install; the data however remains
* There could be possible employee training and network management issues for corporates
* The economic slowdown will hamper upgrade
* Vista still casts a shadow on business users of Windows and turnaround will take time
* Chinese pirates have already hijacked the launch of Windows 7 and copies with authentic-looking packaging sell for as little as $3 in China
* Prices for the full versions are likely to be high, which is a problem
I think businesses will not immediately switch to Windows 7. In the long run, yes. Right now, there aren't many tangible benefits (or at least none that have been properly communicated).
But it's a whole different story for consumers. After having used Windows 7 for over six months now, I can tell you Microsoft has something big here. They've finally got their act together!
Pictures of the people here at the given link:
http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3299981
After the launch of Windows Vista, people had no option but to buy PCs pre-loaded with Vista. Some paid extra to "downgrade" to Windows XP.
The main issues with Vista? Widespread reports of sluggishness, frequent hangs and crashes, and incompatibility with certain software and hardware. Vista was basically a troublesome experience.
Somewhere down the line, Microsoft had lost touch with consumers. And it has worked hard to correct the shortcomings.
Windows 7 was available for thousands of Beta testers worldwide since January, and Microsoft listened to what they had to say. Many bugs have been ironed out -- this time before the official release of the product.
According to PC vendors, market acceptance of Windows 7 is much higher than it was for Vista. This is good news for the new PC market and Microsoft. To quote most reviewers of the pre-release versions: "Windows 7 is what Vista should have been".
And Windows 7 is a "make-or-break" situation for Microsoft, especially after the Vista debacle. But Wired magazine summed it up aptly: "Although Windows 7 will be familiar to XP users, fundamentally it's different enough to make you change the way you think of Microsoft."
Here's why I think Windows 7 will encourage thousands of PC users to spend their money to upgrade.
* Speed - It's faster on the same hardware
* Compatibility - It has lower hardware requirements and works well on older machines and netbooks
* New features - Windows 7 is prettier than Vista and comes with new features like aero peek, aero snap, aero shake (to handle multiple open applications and windows better), easier home networking
* Longer battery life - Users will get better battery life with notebook PCs since Windows 7 makes more efficient use of system resources.
* Hardware advantages - It will boost performance with newer multi-core CPUs
* Increased security - The new Windows Action Center integrates security and maintenance into one package
* New Media - Native support for Blu-Ray, ISO image burning and new media formats and codecs to fully take advantage of the digital age.
Will businesses upgrade?
This is a particularly tricky question. It takes time to deploy an operating system on a large scale and decision makers may be hesitant of shaking up a current system on XP that "works" and has nothing wrong with it.
Even so, it makes sense to consider that:
* After almost nine years, XP is beginning to show its age; it cannot last forever
* Rather than upgrade hardware, companies can spend the same amount to upgrade to Windows 7; of course, this probably only applies to PCs less than 3-4 years old. Beyond that, it doesn't really make sense to stretch the hardware
* Windows 7 offers much improved security
* There will be inevitable compatibility issues with XP as it gets even older, plus discontinued support from Microsoft
But Microsoft also faces major challenges with Windows 7:
* Windows 7 does not offer a very smooth transition from XP -- there is no upgrade option, only a fresh install; the data however remains
* There could be possible employee training and network management issues for corporates
* The economic slowdown will hamper upgrade
* Vista still casts a shadow on business users of Windows and turnaround will take time
* Chinese pirates have already hijacked the launch of Windows 7 and copies with authentic-looking packaging sell for as little as $3 in China
* Prices for the full versions are likely to be high, which is a problem
I think businesses will not immediately switch to Windows 7. In the long run, yes. Right now, there aren't many tangible benefits (or at least none that have been properly communicated).
But it's a whole different story for consumers. After having used Windows 7 for over six months now, I can tell you Microsoft has something big here. They've finally got their act together!
Pictures of the people here at the given link:
http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3299981
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