Windows 7 – Is It Worth It?

I have had a number of questions from readers of last month’s newsletter about Windows 7.  Are there problems or issues that people are having with Windows 7?  It is worth the effort and expense to upgrade?  Should I upgrade my existing PC or buy a new one?  To I have to upgrade?

To answer the last question first – no, you do not have to upgrade.  If you are running Windows XP or Windows Vista, and are happy with your computer’s performance, then you can continue to use those two operating systems for a while longer.  Microsoft has announced an official end of support date for Windows XP for April 8, 2014, and may extend it once or twice at the insistence of their largest corporate clients, but support for XP will end eventually, and you will probably want to move up before then.  Vista users will have more time, and what I can tell you is that as long as Vista’s performance quirks, like the “swirl of death”, are a problem for you, then you can continue to use Vista as well.  Vista owners have the least expensive and easiest upgrade path to Windows 7, so if running Vista is a problem for you, it makes sense to move now.

Is it worth the upgrade?  I ran Vista on my own laptop for the last two years, and moved to Windows 7 two months ago.  It is a big performance improvement over Vista, especially for memory and processor intensive applications such as photo editing or web design applications.  Hanging on to older operating systems like XP can become a pain as application revisions begin to expect the same performance characteristics that are found in Windows 7.  If your internet Security software is running slower than normal or making your computer sluggish, or you are having problems with certain web sites or web applications, it may be in indication that its time to move up.

If you have had your computer for more than 4 years, it probably makes more sense to buy a new PC than upgrade your old one, especially if it was designed to run with Windows XP.  Windows XP will run on 256MB of RAM, and most PCs came with 512 MB.  You would need at least 1 GB of RAM for Windows 7, and I recommend 3 or 4 GB.  I am running 4 GB.  I would suggest replacing a 4 year old or older PC running XP with a new Windows 7 system.  Hand the XP system down to your kids or use it for a cheap backup and file server.  That said, I have successfully installed Windows 7 on older machines and it runs fine.  As for Vista computers, anyone who purchased a system running Vista can upgrade the existing computer to Windows 7 and see a modest increase in speed and performance.  I would still recommend getting more memory, but you can do without it.

Are there problems or issues with Windows 7?  Not really.  I certainly haven’t had any, and the word from the field is pretty uniformly positive.  I like the new Jump Lists feature a lot.  Changes to the Task Bar took getting used to, but I am fine with the changes.  Networking, which was greatly improved under Vista, has been improved further with he addition of the Home Group concept.  I predict this will be a very popular operating system, and will be quickly adopted by many business users.  Consumers will of course have no choice but to buy Windows 7 when then buy a new computer.  There is a short learning curve, but overall, I think most people will be happy with Windows 7 once they get the changes figured out.

Bottom line – it is worth it.

Crystal Ball Gazing for 2010

Here is an interesting article from Trendwatching.com that discusses what it sees as the emerging trends of the new year and decade. (Yes – we are entering the second decade of the 21st century already.  Time flies.  Having fun yet?)

Here are the key points, with links to the longer article.  I think it is worth a look.

1. Business As Unusual

Forget the recession: the societal changes that will dominate 2010 were set in motion way before we temporarily stared into the abyss. More »

2. Urbany

Urban culture is the culture. Extreme urbanization, in 2010, 2011, 2012 and far beyond will lead to more sophisticated and demanding consumers around the world. More »

3. Real Time Reviews

Whatever it is you're selling or launching in 2010, it will be reviewed 'en masse', live, 24/7. More »

4. (F)Luxury

Closely tied to what constitutes status (which is becoming more fragmented), luxury will be whatever consumers want it to be over the next 12 months. More »

5. Mass Mingling

Online lifestyles are fueling and encouraging 'real world' meet-ups like there's no tomorrow, shattering all clichés and predictions about a desk-bound, virtual, isolated future. More »

6. Eco-Easy

To really reach some meaningful sustainability goals in 2010, corporations and governments will have to forcefully make it 'easy' for consumers to be more green, by restricting the alternatives. More »

7. Tracking and Alerting

Tracking and alerting are the new search, and 2010 will see countless new INFOLUST services that will help consumers expand their web of control. More »

8. Embedded Generosity

Next year, generosity as a trend will adapt to the zeitgeist, leading to more pragmatic and collaborative donation services for consumers. More »

9. Profile Myning

With hundreds of millions of consumers now nurturing some sort of online profile, 2010 will be a good year to introduce some services to help them make the most of it (financially), from intention-based models to digital afterlife services. More »

10 Maturialism

2010 will be even more opinionated, risqué, outspoken, if not 'raw' than 2009; you can thank the anything-goes online world for that. Will your brand be as daring? More »

Battle of the Smart Phones – Google vs. Apple

I am very interested in the gigantic Battle of the Smartphone Titans that has started between Apple (iPhone) and Google (Android).  This is a battle between exact opposites.  Apple is the epitome of a closed and tightly controlled development environment.  Google is completely open-source.  Apple manufactures their own handsets, Google lets anyone write to any handset.  Apple applications developers need to be approved to get into the AppStore, anyone can write applications for Android enabled smartphones.

The iPhone got the jump start, and went up against the reasonably weak and uninspiring competition that was at that time provide by RIM Blackberry devices, and the half-hearted offerings of Microsoft on the Windows Mobile platform.

Not to ignore RIM (Blackberry), Palm (Pre), or Microsoft (Windows Mobile).  These companies straddle the line that divides Apple and Google.  Palm, after years of indecisive marketing moves and declining sales, may have a comeback product in the Pre, which is available through Sprint, the weakest of the major mobile carriers.  What they need to do is finally surrender to the inevitable, abandon the Palm OS, and port the Pre to Android.

Windows Mobile has an advantage that comes of being part of the Galactic Empire that is Microsoft.  This is also is biggest drawback, since it is just one in a galactic collection of products, and not a major one at that.  I never see Windows Mobile attaining a dominant market position, but I don’t see them going anywhere soon either. 

And finally Blackberry, which seems to me to be heading down the same path that Palm went down, with the same bleak outlook.  Blackberry became the darling of connected executives everywhere, usurping the Palm in the market it had pioneered for the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).  I finally acquired a Blackberry, my first, in April of this year, and have service through T-Mobile.  My son purchased the first Android phone, the G1 at the same time.  I have to say the Blackberry is a poor competitor to the G1.  The applications that are available are rudimentary in comparison to what is already available for Android phones, and a joke compared to the extensive collection of apps available for the iPhone.  Web browsing is tediously slow and very low quality.  The email thing works ok, but I get so many emails that I quit sending all but a few to the phone.  Blackberry is going to need to step up to the application issue in a real way, or will find themselves losing their corporate customers to Android.  If corporate IT shops begin to embrace Android, I would say the party is over for Blackberry.

All things said – my money is on Google.  The Android enabled phones I have seen are just incredibly cool, plus users have the choice in price, feature set, and mobile carrier that you can’t get from the Apple/ATT alliance.  Need a physical keyboard?  It’s Android.  Want Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile?  It’s Android again.  Plus as the Linux world has shown us, you can get a lot more development accomplished in an open-source environment, than you can is a closed source world.  My next phone will be an Android phone.

Fake Email from Verizon Downloads “Balance Checker” Trojan Horse.

Big alert for Verizon users.  Emails from Verizon claiming that your account is over its limit and advising your to download and install a “Balance Checker” program are a hoax.  The program will install a Trojan Horse program that will give computer criminals access to your system.  This email started going out about 1:30 am Friday (CST).

If you ran the program, you have security problems that will require professional help.  See the article on IT World for more details.

A Funny Thing Happened…

I have been asked a few times how I got into the web design and hosting business.  So here’s my story.

I had no intention of having a web design and web hosting business. I was starting a computer support business and developed my own web site, mostly because I could, and I was too cheap to hire someone. Then I decided to offer a do-it-yourself web design class through the local Community Education program.

Inevitably, someone wanted help completing their project. Some people just threw up their hands and asked me to do the entire project. Eventually someone couldn't figure out how to set up a hosting account, so I added them to my own hosting space. About the third time that happened, I realized I was looking at another business opportunity, so I ran with it.

It's difficult at times to balance the computer and network support business against the design business. Computer support is kind of a firefighter sort of business, when a client calls you generally need to drop everything and go. Design work on the other hand works best in large blocks of uninterrupted time. But the design work fits nicely into the quite times in the support business, and so we continue to do both thing, even though they are quite different. The only problem arises when I am working a design project on a deadline, and get an urgent support call.

Sometimes business is what happens when we are busy making other plans.

By the way - everyone has told me that I need to write a business plan. Never did really, I just started out, tried things, kept doing the ones that worked, stopped doing what didn't, tried new things, etc. I seem to be doing pretty well.

Finally wrote my business plan - here it is: "Fix Computers, Make Money." Take that all you Harvard MBAs!!

AVG 9.0 Certified For Windows 7

Those of you considering Windows 7 can use AVG Internet Security, our recommended security suite, with the new operating system.  For those of you upgrading from Vista, you will probably need to reinstall the application and register your license key again.  Your remaining subscription time will remain in force.

AVG recently released version 9.0, which is available to current subscribers as a free upgrade.  PC World magazine recently featured a laboratory comparison of the top security suites, and AVG came in 4th place, with a score of 97 out of 100.  With it’s easy user interface, and low performance impact on the operating system, it is still our favorite.

We are Authorized Resellers for AVG.  If you are looking to purchase a license or two, please contact us by email, and we will send you a CD.

Windows 7 Released!!

Those of you who bought a Vista machine and hated it can take some comfort in knowing that it will be reasonably simple and not too expensive to upgrade to to the far superior Windows 7 operating system on Thursday.