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Archive for April 28th, 2006

Windows Starter Edition to Cripple Africa

Windows XP

COMPUTERS slowly penetrate the less developed nations. Only sheer ridicule can at times prevent this from happening, as Bill Gates once tactlessly demonstared. Possibly in response to the $100 Open Source laptop, Microsoft announced that they will launch Windows XP Starter Edition in Africa around July this year. Yet, do not get excited or raise your hopes prematurely. Starter Edition of Windows XP is very limited, much like the Starter Edition of Windows Vista. To quote an old writeup:

The cut-down software limits the users in a number of ways including number of applications running at once, printing and network abilities. Gartner’s research has pointed out that the lack of features and limitations with applications will be very frustrating for users who may have had access to computers before at school or in cyber-cafes.

Thunderbird New Mail Notification

CrossOver
Thunderbird with an Aqua-based theme called CrossOver

MOZILLA Thunderbird is an Open Source mail/news (most latterly RSS) client, which I have praised several times in the past. It is also my default mail application — the haven I found after experience with various other packages.

At present, I continue to use a mail notifier for Thunderbird which is rather stripped-down and is called the Mozilla New Mail Icon (project homepage). However, it lacks some of the power of other checkers — particularly those that deliver detailed information without interfering with the user’s current work (e.g. steal window focus). The good news is that the Thunderbird team is making progress and is bridging the gap between the latest of Outlook and the Mozilla family of applications. A good example of this is their calendar extension. They may even go farther ahead by incorporating tabs, which for mail clients is unprecedented.

In Thunderbird 2.0 there will finally be a built-in function which triggers an overview-type popup whenever new mail arrives (see screenshot). This way, users will not necessarily have to divert attention to the bulky application. When mail arrives in large volumes, such features can be very valuable.

Piracy Bounty Raised

CD's pile

A great proportion of today’s software is illegally copied

FOR those who insist on using proprietary commercial software (or, in some cases, Open yet not Free open-source software), there are probably more reasons to fear. Apart from Genuine Advantage in Windows — that which delivers critical updates only to legal copies of the operating system — there is a further crackdown on illegal use of software in the UK. As one article suggests:

Anti-software piracy group the Business Software Alliance is offering a $36,000 reward to anyone who informs on employers who use illegal or unlicensed software.

The days are over when vendors turn a blind eye to piracy, wishing that the prospective cutomer becomes dependent on the package and locked in due to closed formats. With largely networked machines, network licences can be enforced, often in the form of invasion to privacy and communication that is made behind the user’s back. Be warned.

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