Google’s bright idea—for the right price
By Colin Campbell - Monday, October 29, 2012 - 0 Comments
Google’s Chromebook release went unnoticed after poor quarterly results
Google made two big announcements last week. The one that got the most attention was its accidental release of quarterly financial results hours before markets closed, with a space for comment from CEO Larry Page reading: “Pending Larry Quote.” The less-than-stellar numbers included sent Google’s stock falling nine per cent.
Google’s other news was mostly overlooked amidst the earnings embarrassment, but is likely to have a bigger long-term impact. It released a $250 laptop, the Chromebook. The ultra-cheap computer (made by Samsung and running Google’s Chrome operating system) is described in a punk-rock-themed ad as the laptop “for everyone”—a family- and student-friendly alternative to tablets like the iPad that cost closer to $600. It’s not just hated rival Apple that Google has its sights on. The Chromebook comes out just as Microsoft is set to release a critical overhaul of Windows and its Surface tablet.
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Microsoft hits control-alt-reboot
By Chris Sorensen - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments
Why the software giant is betting its future on a radical new version of Windows
Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA/Corbis
It was just over a year ago that hedge fund manager David Einhorn called for Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft Corp., to step down. Citing a stock price that hasn’t budged from US$30 in a decade, and a stuck-in-the-past corporate world view, Einhorn said it was time to “give someone else a chance.”
Ballmer didn’t pay any attention. And now it’s clear why. In recent months, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant has re-emerged as one of the most interesting—and even innovative—companies in the technology sector. While Apple and Google churn out similar-looking smartphones and tablets—so similar that Apple recently won a US$1 billion patent infringement case against Google’s hardware partner, Samsung—Microsoft’s new Windows 8 platform (to be released officially on Oct. 26 for PCs, followed by versions for tablets and phones) is a controversial attempt to import the world of touchscreen mobile devices to desktops, while offering the biggest rethink of the user experience since Windows 95. Gone is the familiar desktop grid of icons and folders with their 3D shading. In their place is an interlocking set of two-dimensional “tiles,” which gives users more information about programs or applications at a glance. For example, an email tile displays recent messages, while a social-media tile displays updates from friends. The new interface, dubbed “Metro,” is an attempt to provide a seamless experience across a wide variety of devices and, as a result, involves a lot more swiping and scrolling (with a finger on a touchscreen or a mouse on a desktop) as opposed to pointing and clicking.
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Oh Microsoft, what have you done?
By Colin Campbell - Friday, June 13, 2008 at 12:42 PM - 0 Comments
Poor, poor Microsoft. The same week that Apple brings the world the iPhone 2,…
Poor, poor Microsoft. The same week that Apple brings the world the iPhone 2, Microsoft watches Google strike up a deal with the company it was once courting, Yahoo. And then it goes and unleashes this ridiculous piece of technology on the world, the Microsoft Surface tablet table. It’s the worst invention since the Zune. You have to see the video of the tablet table in action in Las Vegas to fully appreciate its awfulness. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to scratch your eyes out.
