Lenovo's gains in China compensate for weakened US sales
If the negative global economic trends truly are subsiding, as many analysts believe, then Lenovo may have sustained the worst the world could throw at it. It's scratched, and it's a little bruised, but it's not badly battered. Yesterday, the company posted a loss for the last quarter, but only the equivalent of $16 million USD (and that's just an "m"), on sales that declined nearly 18%.
Since Lenovo's profits had already been low in previous quarters, the company's gross profit decline of 37% may sound more dire than it truly is. As it turns out, cost-cutting enabled the company to shave $103 million in operating expenses in its fiscal first quarter over the same quarter the previous year, which very nearly kept the company in the black. And a 17% sales decline in the US -- a few ticks higher than the 13% analysts attribute to generally weakened PC demand -- was compensated for by a 15% sales gain in China, one tick higher than the number analysts attribute to China's continued economic ascent.
Movement to dump IE6 from the Web gets its own site
If anyone knows about the pitfalls and headaches of managing evolving platforms for downward compatibility, it's Microsoft. But the Web is a platform that is maintained, effectively, by the publishers that produce content for it; and in recent years, it is they who have been plagued with the task of propping up their HTML code to remain compliant not with what developers consider the "standard," but instead with what analytics firm NetApplications reports, even to the very minute of this writing, is the single most used Microsoft Web browser: Internet Explorer 6.0.
Some 27.21% of global Internet users, based on July data, run IE6, compared to 23.09% using IE7 and 16.21% using Firefox 3.0. That's an astonishing statistic when you take into account how many Windows Vista-based systems are geared, by default, to alert users and administrators of the availability of IE8. Microsoft's U-turn toward very gradually embracing some accepted W3C standards began with the advent of IE7, which itself is leagues behind modern Web browsers including IE8.
Testers claim discovery of serious CHKDSK bug in Windows 7 RTM build
A contributor to the online forum TheHotfix.net has provided visual evidence of what appears to be a serious memory leak caused by the CHKDSK hard disk integrity checking utility included with a build of Windows 7 that has been tagged for RTM. The bug appears to occur during phase 4 of the disk check, and can push resource usage to the 96% level.
Tester Jordan M. Jacob provides a picture of the memory leak in progress, as depicted in Windows Task Manager, a portion of which is excerpted here. (It doesn't bode well for the integrity of the test that Apple's iTunes drivers also appear to be running.) Jacob goes on to warn that the leak is capable of sending the OS into the dreaded blue screen of death (BSOD).
Google Chrome 3 continues to accelerate even as it adopts themes
Google operates its Chrome Web browser development process in three channels, all of which are under construction to some degree. The current "stable" channel is Chrome 2, which new users download by default; if they so desire, they can obtain a "beta" version of Chrome 3 instead. And then there's the "dev" channel, which is one step above and contains some code that could very well crash the browser.
With its latest drop of a developed version from the dev channel into the beta channel today, Google claimed a 30% speed differential between release 3.0.195.4 and the current stable release general users are downloading. "Google Chrome is now smarter about prioritizing the requests for the new page -- for instance, fetching text, images, and video for your new page -- ahead of the requests from the older pages," reads a blog post today from Google engineer Glen Murphy. "Loading pages on this beta release should also be faster than ever with DNS caching, more efficient DOM bindings, and using V8 for proxy auto-config."
Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo search will include 400+ employees
The real acquisition of Yahoo's search interests by Microsoft may have begun in earnest in December 2008, when Microsoft hired Dr. Qi Lu, the architect of Yahoo's search-driven advertising platform, appointing him to the very prominent role of President of Online Services. Now, according to a just released US Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Yahoo dated last Wednesday, under the agreement between the two companies, Microsoft will transition no fewer than 400 Yahoo employees from its search technologies departments to Microsoft, offering them competitive salaries; and in addition, will assist in the compensation of as many as 150 other Yahoo employees who will assist in the transition.
"Following the Commencement Date [July 29], Microsoft will hire not less than 400 Yahoo employees (the 'Transferred Employees') and will offer the Transferred Employees market competitive compensation packages," Yahoo's SEC filing reads. "In addition, Yahoo and Microsoft will mutually agree on a retention plan to be paid for by Microsoft to assist in retaining the Transferred Employees and an additional 150 Yahoo employees to be mutually agreed upon between Microsoft and Yahoo to assist with providing the transition services."
Microsoft says it's fighting on two fronts against netbook Linux, browsers
Sometimes it takes a few days for a long financial report to ruminate before a professional journalist manages to find a juicy tidbit lurking in the middle. Not surprisingly, the first journalist to find one in Microsoft's annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday was TechFlash's Todd Bishop. In his report yesterday, Bishop noted that Microsoft -- the company which European regulators continue to allege abuses its dominant position in multiple markets for even greater gains -- paints a picture of itself facing significantly greater threats from stronger competitors in two key market areas: the "UX" brands of operating systems, including Linux and Unix; and netbooks, whose rise in popularity has opened up a toehold for Windows' rivals.
The Client division of the company, Microsoft's annual report states, "faces strong competition from well-established companies with differing approaches to the PC market. Competing commercial software products, including variants of Unix, are supplied by competitors such as Apple, Canonical, and Red Hat. Apple takes an integrated approach to the PC experience and has made inroads in share, particularly in the US and in the consumer segment. The Linux operating system, which is also derived from Unix and is available without payment under a General Public License, has gained some acceptance, especially in emerging markets, as competitive pressures lead OEMs to reduce costs and new, lower-price PC form-factors gain adoption. Partners such as Hewlett-Packard and Intel have been actively working with alternative Linux-based operating systems."
GPU-enriched 3D for Web browsers targeted for H1 2010
A coalition that includes three of the four leading alternative Web browser manufacturers -- Mozilla, Google, and Opera Software -- along with graphics processor leaders AMD (ATI) and Nvidia, announced this morning their intention to produce a royalty-free mechanism for producing hardware-assisted 3D graphics using JavaScript-enabled Web pages, for initial distribution during the first half of next year.
Based on OpenGL ES, the WebGL language could conceivably open up the field of Web applications to classes of software traditionally reserved for local, on-system installation, including computer-aided design and engineering, rich visualization, and of course, gaming. While the <CANVAS> element in HTML 5 is already geared for 3D geometry, what WebGL would enable is the ability for JavaScript developers to utilize the GPU to produce fast, fluid, rendered scenes, effectively extending the already proven OpenGL ES system used by Sony's PlayStation 3, to the realm of Web apps.
Obama's cybersecurity chief resigns, signals disarray
The White House acknowledged this afternoon that Melissa Hathaway -- chosen by the President last February to lead the nation's cybersecurity review, and the person seen as most likely to be appointed to the "Cybersecurity czar" post -- will instead resign her appointment on August 21, letting someone else fill the post.
In an e-mail obtained yesterday by Federal Computer Week, White House spokesperson Nick Shapiro credited Hathaway for her contribution to the federal cybersecurity effort, including spearheading the 60-day review of the nation's security status ordered by President Obama. Hathaway, previously a Bush administration appointee, had been reporting to the Director of National Intelligence, though she was expected to be elevated to a "czar" style post (the term having originally been coined by then-Senator Joe Biden) that would report to Mr. Obama, by way of both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.
Mozilla releases second round of Firefox 3.5 bug fixes
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.5.2 for Windows from Fileforum now.
Perhaps the Mozilla organization's most valuable contributor to its Web browser's integrity is the tester who goes by the handle moz_bug_r_a4. On multiple occasions now, this developer has located and privately reported to Mozilla extremely serious issues, including a potential page hijacking exploit last December.
EC undecided whether Win7/IE8 bundling is unlawful
In the European Commission's first public comment on the matter since Microsoft changed its mind last Friday, a spokesperson for the EC's Office of Competition Policy told Betanews this morning that it has yet to make up its mind on the matter of whether Microsoft's bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows is specifically unlawful. This despite the EC having sent Microsoft a formal Statement of Objections last January which, although still officially private, Microsoft publicly interpreted as saying such bundling was unlawful.
"The Commission has not taken a final view on the lawfulness of Microsoft providing Windows with Internet Explorer preinstalled," stated EC press officer Maria Javorova this morning. "This issue is the subject of pending proceedings, the outcome of which cannot be prejudged, and the fact that Microsoft has announced its intention to continue this practice in the latest version of Windows to be shipped in Europe does not change that."
Microsoft works to claim its own slice of the cloud
It would appear to be the most lucrative new platform in all of computing: the "cloud" -- the space on the Internet from which applications and services can be presented to customers without the need for physical location. It was once called the "grid," but the fact that companies other than IBM managed to effectively rechristen the idea speaks to its inability -- along with everyone else's -- to build a clear and concise message around just what the cloud is.
No one really knows, at least not completely. That's the message we've seen thus far from nearly every major vendor in the cloud space, and it's the message we're seeing from Microsoft as well. Even with a full business plan for Windows Azure, the company's platform for .NET Services in the cloud, its own platform evangelist admitted to Betanews that much of the projected purpose for the service still remains a mystery. Microsoft usually undertakes a platform buildout by leveraging its resources from other platforms (Internet Explorer from Windows, SharePoint from Office, Exchange from Outlook, etc.). And it would seem, at least on paper, that Azure would be leveraged from .NET.
EC silent thus far over Microsoft's Windows 7 E tactics shift
When Microsoft originally presented its proposal to the European Commission last July 24 to offer Windows 7 to European customers without Internet Explorer 8 pre-installed as a requirement, it showed the EC a picture of how it could present customers with a choice of Web browsers, including IE8 but also Firefox 3, Safari 4, Google Chrome, and Opera. (The order of appearance may have been according to estimated usage share.)
As the company's proposal (DOC file available here) read, "Nothing in the design and implementation of the Ballot Screen and the presentation of competing web browsers will express a bias for a Microsoft web browser or any other web browser or discourage the user from downloading and installing additional web browsers via the Ballot Screen and making a web browser competing with a Microsoft web browser the default."
Bing's search gains could be sunk by Yahoo's losses
For the second straight month since its rebranding from Windows Live Search, Microsoft's Bing service has gained usage share in the US, according to private analytics firm StatCounter. And the trend for Bing is growing, picking up another 1.18% of US Internet user searches during the month of July, to 9.41%. That's after gaining just 0.42% for the month of June.
Here's the problem: While part of that gain came at Google's expense, the other part came from Yahoo, whose searches are soon to be served by Bing under the terms of last week's deal. Although Yahoo's US search share was nearly flat -- down by only 0.09% -- it's continuing its downward trend, losing about 3% of US searches since the beginning of the year. That's about one-fifth of its search audience.
NPD's Stephen Baker: How can Apple capitalize on its 91% premium PC share?
It's a very big slice of a shrinking pie. As the netbook form factor serves as a much-needed lifeboat for most PC manufacturers, driving average selling prices (ASPs) lower across-the-board, premium PC maker Apple is left with almost complete command of the higher end of the market. Those are the findings of research firm NPD earlier this week, as first reported by Betanews blogger Joe Wilcox. He computed the numbers NPD delivered, and concluded that in terms of revenue (not unit sales), more than nine of every ten dollars spent by Americans on computers whose prices are $1,000 or greater, are collected by Apple.
For the Apple faithful, being able to quote any Microsoft-like market share number in their favor is like Christmas come early. It means there's a genuine market segment where Apple is in complete control. But as those who know Apple very well are saying -- folks like NPD Vice President of Industry Analysis Stephen Baker, who is responsible for the numbers Wilcox cited and who spoke with Betanews this morning -- Apple has a little secret: It doesn't really care about market share.
EC: Microsoft will consider Windows 7 E 'ballot screen' for other browsers
In a public memo this afternoon, the European Commission has stated that Microsoft has offered to include a "ballot screen" with choices of Web browsers, including Internet Explorer 8 and others, as a way for the company to comply with the EC's directives. Last month, the company decided that it would remove IE8 from Windows 7 for European customers only, though that move alone was initially met with skepticism by the continent's legislators, who claimed that the move by itself would not restore choice to consumers.
Microsoft formally acknowledged the proposition minutes ago. Its public statement, given by General Counsel Brad Smith, includes the following: "If this proposal is ultimately accepted, Microsoft will ship Windows in Europe with the full functionality available in the rest of the world. As requested by the Commission, we will be publishing our proposal in full here on our website as soon as possible. While the Commission solicits public comment and considers this proposal, we are committed to ensuring that we are in full compliance with European law and our obligations under the 2007 Court of First Instance ruling."
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