Integration's what you need (Web exclusive)
Here's another paradox: every year, the computer industry offers more and more power, and more and more capabilities, but does it with fewer and fewer parts. The secret of success is integration, and it is happening at every level of the industry.
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
21.2.03
DIY: Build your own PC. What to buy next after Windows 98. Windows XP: product activation and registration are two different things. A porn link that comes from mis-typing the address. AutoCorrect in Microsoft Word. Backchat: AOL parental controls, and the company that got a huge bill for dialling 090 numbers.
Ask Jack
Guardian Online
Ask Jack
Guardian Online
15.2.03
One program to rule them all (Web exclusive)
Here's an interesting paradox. The computer industry is widely acknowledged to be one of the most brutally competitive markets the world has ever seen. So why are most segments of the market dominated by a single supplier? Both old fashioned and new fashioned ecomonics have answers -- economies of scale; network effects. But in the end, the answer often boils down to: "well, it makes life easier".
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Wi-Fi is the simplest way of installing a home network and making a broadband Internet connection available to several computers. A new generation of systems that combine Wi-Fi with a broadband adaptor, such as BT's new Voyager 2000, make it even easier.
Guardian Online
St Valentine's Day, and William Gibson's new book, Pattern Recognition. Lana Clarkson, the B-movie queen killed in the Spector case. San Diego is Googletown. Send your complaints about poor service by text message to Grumbletext. Meet Zoe, the AIM (or AOL Instant Messenger) chat-bot. The ice warrior who plans to walk to the pole (not a Dr Who character). Ze's on-screen kaleidoscope. Six of the best: Valentine's Day.
Web watch
Filtering out spam, and tackling spam in AOL mailboxes. What is the best alternative to AOL? Buffering and breaks in streaming media. Backchat: more on typing the musical marks for sharp, natural and flat, and how to see the BCC: list in Outlook Express e-mail you have sent.
Ask Jack
Microsoft needs to find new markets in order to generate growth. The launch of the Xbox games consoles and Smartphone 2002 software are among the recent examples. But it is also starting to get serious about an area it has more or less ignored for 25 years: business software solutions, such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Although not ready to take on the heavyweights such as IBM and Siebel, it's a market Microsoft has marked out for "consolidation": ie takeover.
Computer Weekly
Here's an interesting paradox. The computer industry is widely acknowledged to be one of the most brutally competitive markets the world has ever seen. So why are most segments of the market dominated by a single supplier? Both old fashioned and new fashioned ecomonics have answers -- economies of scale; network effects. But in the end, the answer often boils down to: "well, it makes life easier".
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Wi-Fi is the simplest way of installing a home network and making a broadband Internet connection available to several computers. A new generation of systems that combine Wi-Fi with a broadband adaptor, such as BT's new Voyager 2000, make it even easier.
Guardian Online
St Valentine's Day, and William Gibson's new book, Pattern Recognition. Lana Clarkson, the B-movie queen killed in the Spector case. San Diego is Googletown. Send your complaints about poor service by text message to Grumbletext. Meet Zoe, the AIM (or AOL Instant Messenger) chat-bot. The ice warrior who plans to walk to the pole (not a Dr Who character). Ze's on-screen kaleidoscope. Six of the best: Valentine's Day.
Web watch
Filtering out spam, and tackling spam in AOL mailboxes. What is the best alternative to AOL? Buffering and breaks in streaming media. Backchat: more on typing the musical marks for sharp, natural and flat, and how to see the BCC: list in Outlook Express e-mail you have sent.
Ask Jack
Microsoft needs to find new markets in order to generate growth. The launch of the Xbox games consoles and Smartphone 2002 software are among the recent examples. But it is also starting to get serious about an area it has more or less ignored for 25 years: business software solutions, such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Although not ready to take on the heavyweights such as IBM and Siebel, it's a market Microsoft has marked out for "consolidation": ie takeover.
Computer Weekly
8.2.03
The open road to success (Web exclusive)
Palm's strategy is to avoid Apple's mistake, and turn itself from a vertically-integrated company into one of many supporters of a horizontal platform. Vertical integration is a good way of opening up a new market by offering "the whole product". However, in the long term, no single company can supply everything users of a successful platform will need. They need to get other companies on board to produce a choice of hardware, software and services, and drive down prices. It means switching from the vertical to the horizontal approach. Apple failed to do that when it mattered, but Psion and Palm are among the companies trying to make it work.
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
Palm's strategy is to avoid Apple's mistake, and turn itself from a vertically-integrated company into one of many supporters of a horizontal platform. Vertical integration is a good way of opening up a new market by offering "the whole product". However, in the long term, no single company can supply everything users of a successful platform will need. They need to get other companies on board to produce a choice of hardware, software and services, and drive down prices. It means switching from the vertical to the horizontal approach. Apple failed to do that when it mattered, but Psion and Palm are among the companies trying to make it work.
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
7.2.03
Memory on the cards: a round-up of the main types of memory storage card from CompactFlash to the mini-me RS-MMC cards that are coming soon. These cards are used in all sorts of gadgets from palmtops to cameras to voice recorders and MP3 players, and you may well end up with several incompatible types. Here's what to watch....
Guardian Online
What can you do (in the UK) if you have an e-mail "stalker". How to protect your personal files in Windows. The GuardianUnlimited Web site and access for people with disabilities. How to get a dynamic Web page sent by e-mail. Looking after lithium-ion batteries. Getting flat and sharp on the page with a musical font for Windows and Mac. Backchat: phone drop charges, and running Turnpike software under Windows XP.
Ask Jack
Guardian Online
What can you do (in the UK) if you have an e-mail "stalker". How to protect your personal files in Windows. The GuardianUnlimited Web site and access for people with disabilities. How to get a dynamic Web page sent by e-mail. Looking after lithium-ion batteries. Getting flat and sharp on the page with a musical font for Windows and Mac. Backchat: phone drop charges, and running Turnpike software under Windows XP.
Ask Jack
1.2.03
The joys (and risks) of being horizontal (Web exclusive)
The computer industry has turned through 90 degrees during the past 25 years. In the early days, it made sense for manufacturers to be "vertically integrated," supplying complete systems -- hardware, operating software, applications etc. The problem with that is that it locks users into proprietary and, inevitably, expensive systems. But, particularly after the launch of the IBM PC, the industry has changed to horizontal structure with competition at every level. That competition has expanded the market and driven down prices. However, the problem with chosing "best of breed" parts is that users have to become their own IT managers and system integrators.
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
The computer industry has turned through 90 degrees during the past 25 years. In the early days, it made sense for manufacturers to be "vertically integrated," supplying complete systems -- hardware, operating software, applications etc. The problem with that is that it locks users into proprietary and, inevitably, expensive systems. But, particularly after the launch of the IBM PC, the industry has changed to horizontal structure with competition at every level. That competition has expanded the market and driven down prices. However, the problem with chosing "best of breed" parts is that users have to become their own IT managers and system integrators.
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
31.1.03
The Smoking Gun has what The Who guitarist Pete Townshend wrote about child porn a year ago. Habeas uses a haiku to show e-mail is not spam. The EU is having a Year of People with Disability and IBM is aiming to make Web sites more accessible. Listen to old-time radio at RadioLovers. The Ten Second Film Competition (short enough to enter with many digital still cameras) and This Page Intentionally Left Blank. Plus: Six of the best online photo albums.
Guardian Online Webwatch
If you are getting lots of e-mail from big@boss.com, it's a virus, of course. Opt out: spam from Opt in Marketing. How to control cookies. Sites to help you rip DVDs to CD, free. Is a Wi-Fi system in the lounge a health risk? Back chat: securing e-mail with PGP, and "typo of the week", Simsbury's.
Ask Jack
Guardian Online Webwatch
If you are getting lots of e-mail from big@boss.com, it's a virus, of course. Opt out: spam from Opt in Marketing. How to control cookies. Sites to help you rip DVDs to CD, free. Is a Wi-Fi system in the lounge a health risk? Back chat: securing e-mail with PGP, and "typo of the week", Simsbury's.
Ask Jack
26.1.03
Why VHS was better than Betamax (Web exclusive)
The triumph of VHS is frequently cited as an example of the market choosing inferior technology. This reveals far too simple an understanding of the market and the way consumers buy things.If you look at "the whole product", you can see buyers making rational decisions. However, if you look deeper, it turns out that VHS wasn't inferior technology -- the story is an "urban myth" -- and Betamax actually lost because it didn't do what consumers wanted.
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
The triumph of VHS is frequently cited as an example of the market choosing inferior technology. This reveals far too simple an understanding of the market and the way consumers buy things.If you look at "the whole product", you can see buyers making rational decisions. However, if you look deeper, it turns out that VHS wasn't inferior technology -- the story is an "urban myth" -- and Betamax actually lost because it didn't do what consumers wanted.
Schofield on Saturday
Guardian Unlimited
23.1.03
Ripping a CD in Windows XP while avoiding WMA (Windows Media Audio). Changing Windows File Types to get multimedia files played with the program you prefer. How much power do you need to handle photo-imaging? (As much as you can get, usually!) Backchat: more on typing accents, and more on recycling PCs.
Guardian Online Ask Jack
Guardian Online Ask Jack
17.1.03
Vote for the best of the first decade of the Premier League. Getting the Olympic Games to London. Where to socialise online -- The Sims Online, or There. Feedroom: broadband news on the Web, and an Online Homebase where you could keep jottings. Blo.gs for tracking your favourite blogs. Six of the best: Flight, the first 100 years.
Guardian Online Webwatch
Back after its seasonal holiday, the Ask Jack column points to places where you can recycle an old PC or Mac, and whether it's worth upgrading from Windows 98 to make USB connections. CD: the possible pitfalls of using "packet writing" software (or "drive letter access" software) for backing up data. Getting rid of Lop.com's browser hi-jacker. The solution to switching identities in Outlook Express 6. Backchat: readers suggest different ways to enter accented characters in e-mail applications.
Ask Jack
Clients are putting on weight. Not only did the "thin client"/Network Computer idea flop in the computing industry, things that used to be extremely thin clients -- such as phones and TV sets -- are getting fatter by the day.
Computer Weekly > Technology > Networking
Guardian Online Webwatch
Back after its seasonal holiday, the Ask Jack column points to places where you can recycle an old PC or Mac, and whether it's worth upgrading from Windows 98 to make USB connections. CD: the possible pitfalls of using "packet writing" software (or "drive letter access" software) for backing up data. Getting rid of Lop.com's browser hi-jacker. The solution to switching identities in Outlook Express 6. Backchat: readers suggest different ways to enter accented characters in e-mail applications.
Ask Jack
Clients are putting on weight. Not only did the "thin client"/Network Computer idea flop in the computing industry, things that used to be extremely thin clients -- such as phones and TV sets -- are getting fatter by the day.
Computer Weekly > Technology > Networking
10.1.03
The birth of the "information age" could look like a black hole to our descendants because they won't be able to read out data -- either because the hardware is no longer available, or no-one can read the file formats, or copy protection makes it impossible. The BBC's Domesday discs are a case in point since the hardware needed to read them has already become obsolete. The question is, what to do about it....
Guardian Online
Guardian Online
21.12.02
Pixel of the bunch: some models to look at if you're thinking of buying a digital camera for Christmas.
Guardian Online
Christmas games charts: The Getaway has unexpectedly snatched the top spot from the GTA: Vice City, the fastest selling game the UK has ever seen. Deprived of the top spot, Electronic Arts dominates the rest of the charts...
Games watch
Christmas is a good time to back-up your PC (please, not as an annual job) or important file even if it means splitting a large file across several floppy disks. Encrypting e-mail. Unable to switch identities in Outlook Express after installing Service Pack 1. Entering accents/accented characters in Outlook Express. Backchat: Mac firewalls and Partition Magic revisited.
Ask Jack
Guardian Online
Christmas games charts: The Getaway has unexpectedly snatched the top spot from the GTA: Vice City, the fastest selling game the UK has ever seen. Deprived of the top spot, Electronic Arts dominates the rest of the charts...
Games watch
Christmas is a good time to back-up your PC (please, not as an annual job) or important file even if it means splitting a large file across several floppy disks. Encrypting e-mail. Unable to switch identities in Outlook Express after installing Service Pack 1. Entering accents/accented characters in Outlook Express. Backchat: Mac firewalls and Partition Magic revisited.
Ask Jack
13.12.02
Chip designers have been putting amusing little drawings on some of their bits of silicon, and you can now see the photo-micrographs online. The Spamarchive is collecting spam. The BBC's Celebdaq (a UK site like the Hollywood Stock Exchange) is to become the basis for a TV programme. The Victorian Dictionary; the search for Great Britons; and Forced Migration Online. Six of the best: digital camera sites.
Guardian Web watch
The C drive is full but you still have lots of space on D: what can you do about it? Mac firewall software. Plugging a Sony PlayStation (or other games console) into a PC monitor. Opera 6 crashing -- it's an ad thing. The jdbgmgr.exe hoax "virus" is still going strong.
Ask Jack
Guardian Web watch
The C drive is full but you still have lots of space on D: what can you do about it? Mac firewall software. Plugging a Sony PlayStation (or other games console) into a PC monitor. Opera 6 crashing -- it's an ad thing. The jdbgmgr.exe hoax "virus" is still going strong.
Ask Jack
6.12.02
Think about chips if you are buying a PC for Christmas. Under attack: what your firewall can tell you. If you have a router, you still need a firewall. Closing port 139. Outlook to go: a Rex was the smallest portable to synchronise with Outlook but some phones can do it too. Backchat: more websites about digital cameras, and OneTel's support for 64Kbps ISDN.
Guardian Online: Ask Jack
Comdex or CES? The balance has shifted to the Consumer Electronics Show, which is held in Las Vegas in January.
Computer Weekly
Guardian Online: Ask Jack
Comdex or CES? The balance has shifted to the Consumer Electronics Show, which is held in Las Vegas in January.
Computer Weekly
28.11.02
What's new at Comdex -- a round up of the Best of Show winners, dominated by Microsoft Tablet PC hardware and software, and some of the less prominent gadgets such as mice and business card readers.
Guardian Online
Most wanted toys; Ruavista, a look at urban streets; Trailsides walking tours; National Geographic's geosurvey questions; where to write reviews of British television programmes; sending e-cards to help GOSH; UCI Cinema's new site for kids; DIY portal software from the Internet Scout Project; and Six of the Best sites for toon lovers.
Web watch
What to do if you can't open attachments in Outlook Express 6 (with SP1 installed). Is it still worth upgrading that old Windows 95 machine? What do you need to do when you get "always on" broadband? Install a firewall. A Web site that could help you choose a digital camera. Backchat: more on linking PCs with USB and Ethernet cables, and the real appeal of ISDN.
Ask Jack
Guardian Online
Most wanted toys; Ruavista, a look at urban streets; Trailsides walking tours; National Geographic's geosurvey questions; where to write reviews of British television programmes; sending e-cards to help GOSH; UCI Cinema's new site for kids; DIY portal software from the Internet Scout Project; and Six of the Best sites for toon lovers.
Web watch
What to do if you can't open attachments in Outlook Express 6 (with SP1 installed). Is it still worth upgrading that old Windows 95 machine? What do you need to do when you get "always on" broadband? Install a firewall. A Web site that could help you choose a digital camera. Backchat: more on linking PCs with USB and Ethernet cables, and the real appeal of ISDN.
Ask Jack
21.11.02
Picture perfect: the market for digital cameras is now worth more than the market for still cameras, in the UK. But if you are thinking of buying one, here are some points to watch.
Guardian Online cover story
Prattle from Seattle: a first look at the Comdex computer trade show, being held this week in Las Vegas, starting with the traditional keynote from Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
Guardian Online
Connecting PCs with a USB-to-USB cable: a warning. ISDN as an expensive substitute for broadband. You can convert your Windows XP hard drive to NTFS but Zip disks and floppies stick to FAT (the DOS file system). Summoning the contact pane in Outlook Express. Which operating systems recognise USB drives. Mouse madness -- how to cope withy superspeed scrolling in Microsoft Word. Backchat: more on getting your Web site onto Google; handling Zone Alarm dial-ups; downloading albums with WinMX; and the McAfee hotfix for a problem that could be making your PC slow down and crash.
Ask Jack
Monday, November 18, 2002
The Bill Gates Show: Microsoft's co-founder kicks off the Comdex computer trade show in Las Vegas with an extended advertisement for Microsoft and many of its works.
Online Web exclusive
Guardian Online cover story
Prattle from Seattle: a first look at the Comdex computer trade show, being held this week in Las Vegas, starting with the traditional keynote from Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
Guardian Online
Connecting PCs with a USB-to-USB cable: a warning. ISDN as an expensive substitute for broadband. You can convert your Windows XP hard drive to NTFS but Zip disks and floppies stick to FAT (the DOS file system). Summoning the contact pane in Outlook Express. Which operating systems recognise USB drives. Mouse madness -- how to cope withy superspeed scrolling in Microsoft Word. Backchat: more on getting your Web site onto Google; handling Zone Alarm dial-ups; downloading albums with WinMX; and the McAfee hotfix for a problem that could be making your PC slow down and crash.
Ask Jack
Monday, November 18, 2002
The Bill Gates Show: Microsoft's co-founder kicks off the Comdex computer trade show in Las Vegas with an extended advertisement for Microsoft and many of its works.
Online Web exclusive
15.11.02
Corridor warriors: Microsoft and its hardware partners duly launched the first Tablet PCs (not the first tablet PCs). I can't imagine many people will be tempted to rush out and buy one, but the different models at least offer a choice of approaches.
Guardian Online: What's new
Congratulations to 5 year old Free Pint; Terry Riley and -- literally -- space music; online pronunciation guides; searching Google for cookery recipes; the Web's smallest advert; cowbells; a snap-taking MTV game; and six of the best things to do daily.
Web watch
DVD storage should soon be ready for the mass market with the arrival of cheaper multi-format drives; the searchable Ask Jack replaces Bostik; getting a Web site noticed; Mailwasher (beta version) can now bounce spam from Hotmail; Zone Alarm dialling out; and the problem of spam that arrives via an obscure Windows messaging service (one you probably have not heard of).
Ask Jack
Guardian Online: What's new
Congratulations to 5 year old Free Pint; Terry Riley and -- literally -- space music; online pronunciation guides; searching Google for cookery recipes; the Web's smallest advert; cowbells; a snap-taking MTV game; and six of the best things to do daily.
Web watch
DVD storage should soon be ready for the mass market with the arrival of cheaper multi-format drives; the searchable Ask Jack replaces Bostik; getting a Web site noticed; Mailwasher (beta version) can now bounce spam from Hotmail; Zone Alarm dialling out; and the problem of spam that arrives via an obscure Windows messaging service (one you probably have not heard of).
Ask Jack
8.11.02
Guardian Online Web site redesigned!
Microsoft and its PC partners launched the Tablet PC at the iMax cinema in London today. Britain's RM (formerly Research Machines) had a starring role thanks to its trials with primary and secondary schoolchildren.
Guardian Unlimited: Netnews (Web exclusive)
The music file-sharing scene isn't what it used to be, but you can still swap songs using a range of different software, including WinMX.
Guardian Online: Working the Web
Backing up a laptop PC. Home Phone Networking (HPNA). Junk mail from Microsoft Hotmail, spamming messages in Microsoft Windows Messenger, and yes, you can keep those e-mail alerts if you switch to Yahoo. Backchat: how Robin O'Connor handles interviews.
Ask Jack
Computer Weekly Web site redesigned.
Microsoft is trying to refine the phone business to make it more like the PC business. So far the only example of a Microsoft smartphone, the Orange SPV, doesn't measure up, but the strategy is important even if the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Computer Weekly > Technology > Mobile Computing
Microsoft and its PC partners launched the Tablet PC at the iMax cinema in London today. Britain's RM (formerly Research Machines) had a starring role thanks to its trials with primary and secondary schoolchildren.
Guardian Unlimited: Netnews (Web exclusive)
The music file-sharing scene isn't what it used to be, but you can still swap songs using a range of different software, including WinMX.
Guardian Online: Working the Web
Backing up a laptop PC. Home Phone Networking (HPNA). Junk mail from Microsoft Hotmail, spamming messages in Microsoft Windows Messenger, and yes, you can keep those e-mail alerts if you switch to Yahoo. Backchat: how Robin O'Connor handles interviews.
Ask Jack
Computer Weekly Web site redesigned.
Microsoft is trying to refine the phone business to make it more like the PC business. So far the only example of a Microsoft smartphone, the Orange SPV, doesn't measure up, but the strategy is important even if the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Computer Weekly > Technology > Mobile Computing
31.10.02
The Olympus DS-330 digital voice recorder has a USB connection and works with both PCs and Macs, but it's pricey and I didn't find the performance compelling. Also out: the first of Palm's new Tungsten range, Hauppauge's £129 DEC2000-t for picking up Freeview TV, a Pen Drive for USB 2.0, and the smallest ever Dell desktop PC.
Guardian Online: What's New
Multikult offers help with British bureaucracy in a wide range of languages, including Albanian. Liberati: a free art show. David Beckham kit on sale at Marks & Spencer. A Babalizer that translates phrases via multiple languages to see what comes out the other end. Road transport museum sites. Links to sites that make charitable donations. BMX XXX, Private Dancer and other rude games, and a miniature golf to play on the Web. Six of the best: Wi-Fi sites.
Web watch
Speech matters. Can you use a speech recognition to transcribe interviews with reasonable accuracy? How does Jimmy Corkhill in Brookside send voice emails, and what other software will do the job? You can get text-to-speech software that will read texts aloud, but can you save the sound to a wav file? What to do if the networking icons have disappeared from the Windows task bar (Systray). Backchat: remember, it is best to install an upgrade version of Windows to a clean drive: you only need a disc from the old version, it does not have to be installed.
Ask Jack
Guardian Online: What's New
Multikult offers help with British bureaucracy in a wide range of languages, including Albanian. Liberati: a free art show. David Beckham kit on sale at Marks & Spencer. A Babalizer that translates phrases via multiple languages to see what comes out the other end. Road transport museum sites. Links to sites that make charitable donations. BMX XXX, Private Dancer and other rude games, and a miniature golf to play on the Web. Six of the best: Wi-Fi sites.
Web watch
Speech matters. Can you use a speech recognition to transcribe interviews with reasonable accuracy? How does Jimmy Corkhill in Brookside send voice emails, and what other software will do the job? You can get text-to-speech software that will read texts aloud, but can you save the sound to a wav file? What to do if the networking icons have disappeared from the Windows task bar (Systray). Backchat: remember, it is best to install an upgrade version of Windows to a clean drive: you only need a disc from the old version, it does not have to be installed.
Ask Jack
25.10.02
Microsoft enters the smartphone market. Next week, Orange will put the first smartphone based on Microsoft's Smartphone 2002 software, which is based on the PocketPC suite. It certainly has its good points, such as the ease with which you can collect email. It has its bad points: the interface is a mess. But what is perhaps more significant in the long term is that this is not just a phone, it is an attempt to redefine the mobile phone industry.
Guardian Online
What to do if Windows XP fails to start, and you suspect you may have lost data. Why your mail is returned marked "Too many hops". Trying to find a truly silent mouse (help wanted). An ad-removal program that does not need Windows 98 or later: Spybot. Is it worth upgrading a notebook PC from Windows 2000 Pro to XP? Backchat: making PDF files with Ghostscript and Ghostview.
Ask Jack
Guardian Online
What to do if Windows XP fails to start, and you suspect you may have lost data. Why your mail is returned marked "Too many hops". Trying to find a truly silent mouse (help wanted). An ad-removal program that does not need Windows 98 or later: Spybot. Is it worth upgrading a notebook PC from Windows 2000 Pro to XP? Backchat: making PDF files with Ghostscript and Ghostview.
Ask Jack
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