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June 12 , 2005 |
WTVN Radio • Columbus, Ohio Sunday morning from 8 until 9 |
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Will Apple be the next Osborne?Several times in the past, rumors have popped up suggesting that Apple would switch to Intel processors and each time the rumor proved to be untrue. Why would Apple want to put its operating system on an Intel-powered platform that anyone could buy? Apple is, after all, a hardware company that just happens to have an operating system and Apple has always wanted iron-fisted control over the manufacturing. Well, this time the rumor turned out to be true. I suspect that Apple has something in mind that will keep people from buying a cheap no-name PC and replacing the Windows operating system with OS X, but wouldn't it be cool if you could buy a single computer and boot to Windows, OS X, or Linux? Likely? No.
Apple has been profitable for a while and probably has a healthy stash of cash in the bank. The company has survived bad times before and knows how to survive; maybe that's what they're counting on now. Maybe there's enough money in the bank to keep the company afloat for the 6 to 12 months it will take to get Intel-powered Apples to market. Sales almost certainly will drop. If you're thinking of buying an Apple, why would you buy one now, knowing that it will be the last made with the PowerPC chip? By now Apple certainly has prototypes built. Apple certainly knows how to transition the operating system. Certainly new system specifications have been presented to the manufacturing plants in China. If that's the case, then the transition should be swift. And almost as certainly, anyone who's still using System 9 applications under OS X will be left out in the cold when the new hardware arrives. How will Apple manage to run applications designed for the PowerPC CPU run on an Intel Pentium? Transitive Technologies has developed an called Rosetta for this task. It will allow OS X applications to run on Intel processors, but not older applications. But that's OK. Hardware evolves and users must evolve with it. Those who are comfortable using old software on old computers will be able to continue for several years. As those older machines wear out, many will be able to replace them with used machines, including some that are still being made today. But they won't be able to buy new computers until they're willing to adopt OS X. So if Rosetta does what it's supposed to do, owners of OS X applications won't have to junk them when they buy a new Apple Intel computer. This isn't a new line of work for Transitive. The company already works with most of the large computer manufacturers to provide ways to run old applications on new hardware -- Silicon Graphics Irix applications on Linux operating systems with Intel Itanium CPUs, for example. These JAWS don't biteIf you're a sighted person, close your eyes. With your eyes closed, you can't read this page. That's a problem that blind and low-vision people have had with computers from the beginning and it's a problem that's only made worse by the Internet. So much information is available, but difficult to access if you lack vision. Enter JAWS, a "screen reader" program from Freedom Scientific. The story behind JAWS is as interesting as the application. Engineer Ted Henter was blinded by an auto accident in 1978. Henter chose to learn computer programming because he felt that he could find a way to make them help people who couldn't see. By 1985, Henter had started a business and in 1978 the Henter-Joyce Company started work on a screen reader. Henter named it Job Access With Speech -- JAWS. It wasn't until 1995 that the first Windows version hit the market place. The program is now 10 years old and Henter-Joyce merged with two other companies that develop accessible technology in 2002. The new company is Freedom Scientific. The company's focus is development of technology to aid the blind, those with low vision, and people with learning disabilities. JAWS has more than 100,000 users worldwide, including some WTVN listeners, which is how I heard about the program. Many of the people who work for Freedom Scientific use JAWS to do their jobs and the application has also been well received by employers who work to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. JAWS initially ran only on Windows 3.11, but it was updated for Windows 95, Windows 98, NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. If you've heard some of the feeble text readers available for DOS and Windows, you may think that's what JAWS sounds like. Or maybe you've heard the reader that comes with Apple's OS X. These are a far cry from JAWS. I asked the company to provide a sample of JAWS reading some text ... Version 6 of JAWS was released in January of this year and a free update came out in April. The application supports Microsoft and Corel Office product features such as tables and forms, complex spread sheets, and even creation and delivery of Powerpoint presentations.In addition to having localized versions for every country in Europe and South America, Freedom Scientific has worked with IBM Japan to serve that market and, in 2004, introduced Arabic and Chinese versions of JAWS. In all, the application works 17 languages. For more information, visit Freedom Scientific's website. Why there is no cat rating: I am not blind and feel that I cannot accurately judge an application designed for people who are, but it's the best text-to-speech application I've ever heard and those who have told me about it have been most complimentary. The application is not inexpensive at $900 to $1500, depending on the operating system and the additional features needed. New Quicktime for WindowsQuickTime 7 is included in Apple's OS X 10.4 for Macs, but the Windows version is still in beta. In fact, it was released just this week in beta form with no indication when the final release will ship. Apple calls QuickTime 7 the world's most advanced digital media technology. The primary new feature is support for H.264 video playback. Also called MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding), H.264 is a video compression standard with improved compression that's expected to provide double the compression of MPEG-4 ASP (Advanced Simple Profile). Besides creating smaller files, H.264 developers say the codec provides better looking video. How good and how small? The H.264 standard is said to provide DVD-quality video at less than 1 Mbps. It's what Apple uses to power the new video component of Ichat. H.264 provides better compression and higher quality by motion estimation to minimize redundant data and several other techniques that are designed to remove information that the eye won't notice. Quicktime 7 also provides improved surround speakers to enhance to effect for movies and games. Apple says the new version has better playback controls, requires less effort to set up, and the ability to scale image size smoothly. Nerdly NewsWorm breeders sink to new depthsShowing once again that the creeps who want to infect your computer have no shame, no scruples, and no morals, they are now spamming an e-mail that takes you to a website that infects unprotected computers. What's the subject? Sophos Antivirus says the spam claims that Michael Jackson has attempted suicide. The message is so badly written that only a fool would believe it.
Anyone foolish enough to follow the link will see a message that says the site is too busy. Meanwhile, the site downloads a Trojan onto the computer. Microsoft patch party comingThis coming Tuesday, Microsoft will release 10 security patches that cover several serious vulnerabilities -- some rated as "critical", Microsoft's highest severity rating. In one case, a flaw could be exploited to allow the spread of a worm without any action by the computer user. Microsoft hasn't announced the specifics of any of the patches, but security experts say the bulletins scheduled for release on Tuesday will include a cumulative Internet Explorer patch. Your notebook just got biggerSeagate has announced a 2.5-inch disc drive that will offer notebook computer users 160GB of space -- that's a quarter larger than the largest notebook drive available today. The Momentus disc drive uses "perpendicular recording" which stands data bits on end on the disc platter. Until now, disks have laid the magnetic particles flat on the disk surface. Seagate says that the new technology not only saves space, but also makes the disk more reliable. Also this week, Seagate announced plans to provide disk drive that reduce the risk of data access by unauthorized people. This is particularly a concern for users of notebook computers that are frequently targets of theft. Let us know what you think. Write to:
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The last time a company announced something like this, the company went out of business within a year. The company was Osborne, maker of the first portable computer, the Osborne 1. When the company announced that a new, improved version was in the works, anybody who was thinking about buying an Osborne 2 decided to wait for the Osborne 2. The company ran out of money and died of self-inflicted wounds.
