linux

Dell's consumer business plummets

19 February 2013 by Steve Blum
, , ,


Apple delivers the buzz in Dell’s zone.

Dell’s fourth quarter 2012 financial results show a rapidly deteriorating presence in the consumer sector specifically and personal devices generally. Released this afternoon after Wall Street trading had closed for the day, the figures show a 24% decline in Dell’s consumer business and an overall decline of 20% in desktop and mobile device sales.

On the plus side, Dell says its networking sales are up 42%, its enterprise services business grew 6% and it’s seeing better PC results from large accounts – those numbers only dropped 7%.… More

How about renaming the company "Windows"?

5 February 2013 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,


Honest, my first name isn’t Baghdad.

Epidemics are easy to spot in retrospect, but it’s difficult – even dangerous – to predict that one case of a new disease will turn into something virulent. That said, our planet’s mass market of seven or so billion people is slipping away from Microsoft. They’ve caught the same bug that floored the company formerly known as RIM.

Three news items point in that direction. First, Acer is seeing growth in Chromebook sales and sliding Microsoft numbers.… More

Leaving CES, entering the future


Developers jump on a new mobile platform.

If mobile, desktop and other devices like TVs converge on a single operating system, it'll be a Linux variant. When processing, display and input technology get to the point that the size and form factor of a device is irrelevant, an open source ecosystem will provide a cross-sector point of convergence for developers and manufacturers. Service providers will follow. It's an entrepreneurs' world.

Windows 8 will survive as a mobile operating system.… More

New mobile OS worlds, maybe

10 January 2013 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,


Mobile moves fast, but not to Linux yet.

“The world changes on a dime, especially in the mobile industry,” said Ed Elkin, marketing director for advanced communications solutions at Alcatel-Lucent. “The next thing that happens is HTML 5.”

He was speaking at the “Smart phone trends: current and future” panel at CES this afternoon. Moderated by Mashable editor Lance Ulanoff, it also featured representatives from T-Mobile, AT&T and HTC.

In theory, applications based on HTML 5 could run on any mobile operating system with little or no modification.… More

One OS to rule them all

7 January 2013 by Steve Blum
, , , , , ,


Built for ARM and x86 processors.

Ubuntu will be the next major player in mobile and desktop operating systems, if it delivers on its promise of releasing a fully integrated platform by April 2014.

Founder Mark Shuttleworth put the mobile version of the company's Linux distribution through its paces at the Pepcom event at CES 2013 tonight. Running on a Samsung Galaxy – for no particular reason except it's a convenient development platform, he said – Ubuntu did all the things you'd expect from Android or iOS.… More