As a result of an earthquake NE of Japan, grid power was disrupted and a tsunami flooded the diesel backup generators at the Fukushima nuclear power facility. After several days of struggling to cool the reactors, staff have been withdrawn. Extraordinary measures could not reverse the damage: Continue reading ‘There She Blows’
Archive for March 15th, 2011
No, it’s not illegal copying that keeps IE6 going in China. Surely illegal copiers would choose something better to copy.
According to Net Applications IE6 has a higher proportion of usage than any other country save S. Korea which is also many times higher in usage than most other countries. The two countries are conspicuous. What makes them different?
Back in 2007, IE6 had a large share everywhere. M$ and its friends decided to lean on the government of China to combat illegal copying of M$’s software. They sparked a prosecution that put away an organized criminal outfit for years. The result is that there exist, out there, many millions of CDs of XP with IE6 and no one is updating the version… Talk about unintended consequences. M$ was trying to get everyone to go legal and buy the latest koolaid. Instead they have frozen XP and IE6 in time, creating a generation of users of PCs that are unfamiliar with M$’s current products.
So the cause of IE6′s prevalence in China is not illegal copying of software, but the prosecution of illegal copiers.
The reason this effect is so large is that while China has many users of PCs, the country as a whole still has a very high ratio of users to PCs. The current wave of prosperity is enabling huge uptake of PCs but folks are not buying new PCs with IE6 on them. They are buying Android and GNU/Linux on small cheap computers instead. Otherwise, IE6′s share would plunge like a stone.
Wintel has received another blow, from Intel this time.
As Microsoft has announced its Windows operating system will add support for ARM-based platforms, Intel has recently decided to cooperate with Taiwan-based notebook makers including Inventec and Compal Electronics to push Intel/Android solutions and will showcase several devices based on the new solution at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) Beijing in April 2011, according to sources from notebook makers.
In addition to Windows and its self-developed MeeGo, Intel has add support for Android to its processors and the new strategy will allow its partners to have more choice, while significantly saving costs from licensing fees.
More choice. Isn’t that sweet?
Why would OEMs ship Android instead of that other OS? Because it is less expensive and the market demands small cheap computers. Now retailers will have something else to put on shelves. OEMs have tiny margins. They can raise margins significantly by shipping Android while reducing the retail price a bit. Everyone wins except M$. That’s good business because the world does not need to work for M$.
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