Reflections of a PC guru - Windows Vista with one week to go
Thursday, November 23rd, 2006Dear readers
Welcome to my first blog post. I would like to wish all our clients and friends, a Happy Thanksgiving in the United States.
With the year quickly coming to an end, I thought I would take this opportunity to review the fast changing technology and PC landscape.
Earlier this year, the Personal Computer (PC) as we know it celebrated its 25 year. In August 1981, IBM released its new computer, dubbed the IBM PC. ‘PC’ stood for ‘personal computer’ making the company responsible for popularizing the ‘PC’
The earlier PC running Microsoft-DOS (MS-DOS) were humble in origins compared to today’s PCs with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor with 16K of memory, one or two 160K floppy disk drives and an optional color monitor.
What made the IBM PC different from other vendors at the time was that it was built from off the shelf parts and had an open architecture which still prevails today.
The first IBM PCs told for around $1,500, which is equivalent to around $4,000. Compare this today, where we can pick up laptops anyway from around $500 to $1,000. Indeed the PC industry has come along way from MS-Doc to the early release of Windows 3.1, through to Windows 95 to XP.
In about a week from now, Microsoft will be launching its much anticipated new operating system, Vista.
Initially, Vista, will only ship to businesses with a consumer offering expected early next year. The unlike previous versions of Windows, Vista will be available in a number of flavors, all the way from a basic package called Windows Home Basic ($199) to Windows Vista Ultimate $399) which adds every available feature, including media Center, tablet input, advanced backup and a series of exclusive extras.
Vista also features Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11, Windows Defender, and Windows Desktop Search. While each new operating system from Windows has introduced new features, Vista is not expected to break new ground. Many of the features in Vista are already in XP. If you regularly download patches from Microsoft security center, you will already have one most secure PC around
Therefore this begs the question, is it a necessary or compelling upgrade. I will review this in the next series of blogposts; all the way from what you need if you are going to switch from Windows XP and what kind of system you need, and how to install it