Windows Weekly 139

Windows Weekly Episode 139

Windows Weekly 139: Big Trouble in Little Paul

The rebirth of Windows Mobile, PC sales soar, and Google bitch slaps China.

Topics

• PC shipments surge in holiday quarter
  • Biggest year-over-year quarterly gain in over seven years
  • Worldwide PC sales in quarter: Over 90 million, up 22.5 percent
  • US PC sales in quarter: Over 20 million, up 23 percent
  • Analysts cite availability of low-cost PCs. But we had these kinds of PCs last year.
  • I think there is one big difference between late 2009 and late 2008: Windows 7.
  • Top PC makers: HP, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba
  • Biggest winners: Acer and Dell
  • Biggest loser: Possibly Apple, which fell to 5th place in US market despite strong sales
  • The netbook--and Windows 7--have contributed to a plateauing of Mac sales that started, go figure, in October.

• Microsoft pulled Office/Word from its electronic stores and services
  • And it started appearing again within hours, depending on which service you're looking at
  • In accordance with injunction in i4i case

• A new outlook for Windows Mobile
  • Microsoft has a plan to save Windows Mobile and it might just make sense
  • First: Support for capacitive touch screens
  • Second: A new generation of Windows Mobile 6.5 (either 6.5.3 or 6.6) devices with touch-friendly UIs
  • Third: Windows Mobile 7
  • More at Mobile World Congress (February) and MIX'10 (March)

• Nexus One fallout
  • The "superphone" not so super according to some reviewers
  • Some complaints about the cost of ending the contract as well
  • But I think it's fantastic
  • This is the first serious iPhone contender I've seen

• Google and China
  • Other companies are involved as well
  • No one is saying this for some reason, but attack very clearly came from the Chinese government or its agents
  • Fallout: Gmail finally goes https:// by default

• Funny Mosspuppet skit
  • Nice Thurrott reference
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klG1E8ui1hE

• Video of Paul trying to steal Leo's coffee
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaEKtxMQGLE

Tip of the Week

• Some New Year resolutions - things we can do better this year
  • Backup. Early and often. Locally and offsite (ideally to the cloud). Consider syncing critical data (documents, music, etc.) between PCs as well (or instead, depending on your needs).
  • It's time to say goodbye to "www" in URLs (we already stopped using http://). As a heads-up, Chrome does a superior job of URL prediction when typing.
  • Modernize and simplify. Doing more with less is more relevant than ever. Don't just "upgrade" your system/infrastructure. Do the right thing.

Software Pick of the Week

• Simple AdBlock for IE - A simple browser extension for Internet Explorer designed to make ad blocking easy. Simple Adblock blocks all kinds of advertising from websites including flash ads, banner ads, rich media, slide-ins and fly-ins."

• Thanks to Mainuddin Ahmad Jonas for the tip.

Significant Products

• Link URL and optional brief description

Sponsors

Audible

• Audible.com/windows
• ad times: 0:34-0:48 and 1:15:55-1:23:52

Picks

Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuck (UNABRIDGED) Narrated by Gary Vaynerchuck

GoToMeeting

• GoToMeeting.com/WindowsWeekly
• GoToMeeting #4
• ad times: 0:49-1:00 and 19:10-22:29

Carbonite

• http://www.carbonite.com/
• Carbonite offer code windowsweekly
• ad times: 1:02-1:15 and 35:50-38:20

Production Information

• Edited by: Tony
• Notes:

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