Let’s see…
When you want to buy music online, you can go to Apple (www.apple.com) and download iTunes, to the new Napster (www.napster.com), to PressPlay.com, to BuyMusic.com, to MusicMatch, to RealNetworks, to MP3.com, to EMusic.com – the list is long.
It’s about to get longer in 2004 when Microsoft extends its reach a little further into the online music market.
The store is tentatively being called the Microsoft Music Download Service, and will offer files in the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format.
Whether it will function as a subscriber-based service like RealNetworks, or as a store like iTunes is unknown, but the belief is that it will combine the two like Napster.
Although it sells millions of songs, the iTunes formula is losing money with every download at this point. Apple is content to lose some money on the music, however, in order to keep selling its popular line of iPod portable music players. At the same time they may raise the price of music in the future, or achieve enough sales to get the music at a discounted rate, making the store as profitable as iPod sales.
With Microsoft branching into hardware recently with Xbox game consoles, table PCs and cell phones, it’s possible that a Microsoft music player similar to iPod may be on the way.
Linux richer than Microsoft?
Whenever the pundits debate the latest moves by Microsoft Corporation, someone inevitably points out that the company can afford to be patient and even to make a few mistakes now and then – with more than $50 billion in cash reserves behind them, they’re untouchable.
Of course investor groups are always quick to point out that some of that money is rightfully there’s and want Microsoft to pay a few more dividends, but the Redmond, Washington company isn’t budging. Right now that nest egg is one of the company’s greatest assets, enabling research and development, the aggressive marketing of products and market diversification, and for long-term sales strategies that make more sense than the get rich quick, race to the bottom schemes favoured by other software companies.
A recent article in Business Week (www.businesweek.com) challenges Microsoft’s position as one of the wealthiest software companies on the planet.
Linux, the upstart creation of Linus Torvalds that is free to own and upgrade, providing you share your code with other developers, is surprisingly wealthy.
According to Business Week, Linux’s wealth lies in its growing network of unpaid developers and the growing list of companies that have adopted Linux operating systems to power their computers, servers, and other software applications.
To find out more about Linux, and keep up with the developments for this rapidly evolving operating system, visit www.linux.com.
EU targets cybercrime
The European Union has set up a special agency to tackle the growing cybercrime issue, and not a moment too soon. In recent months perpetrators have branched out from computer attacks, and random cases to information theft and identity theft to full-on blackmail.
In addition to investigating cybercrime, the European Network and Information Security Agency will also educate the public about viruses, hack attacks, and other security issues.
Although the EU recognizes that the majority of cybercrime originates outside of EU countries, the U.S. has already come out in support of it, and said it would join the effort if it were to become more international.
In Canada, cybercrime falls to the RCMP Computer Crime Prevention division at www.rcmp.ca/scams/ccprev_e.htm.
Internet forum sets future standards
In the last 12 years or so, the Internet has come a long way. It has evolved from an experiment in telecommunications and computer networking, limited in capability, into a communications medium that is revolutionizing the way we do almost everything.
The question now is where do we go from here?
Tech representatives from more than 60 nations will meet in Switzerland from Dec. 10 to 12 to answer that question, reviewing the different options that will enable the Internet to continue to grow and evolve.
The World Summit on the Information Society, which is organized by the International Telecommunications Union, will tackle a number of important issues, including the big daddy of all Internet issues – governance. Who will run the Internet in the future?
The U.S., Europe and other western nations favour ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a private but non-profit organization that is responsible for handing out IP addresses. The other nations, including China and India, want ITU, an international body similar to ICANN, to be in charge.
At stake in this debate is the governance of all Internet growth.
With the Web rapidly running out of IP addresses, a new address system will have to be brought into being within the next decade. Whoever is chosen to administer the root server system, domain names and IP addresses will have the power to decide what the Internet is going to look like and, to a point, how it is going to work.
The $299 PC
More and more technology experts are expressing concern with the digital divide, recognizing that as the power of computers and peripherals continues to grow exponentially for those who can afford, those who cannot are falling farther and farther behind.
C/Net (www.cnet.com) recently showcased a Systemax PC that is available for a paltry $299 US, about $450 Canadian. That includes the PC, a keyboard, a Lexmark inkjet printer, and a mouse. Monitors are available starting at $85 US.
It’s cheap, and only has a limited ability for upgrades, but the performance matches the top machines of just two years ago.
The processor is a 1.1 GHz Intel Celeron which was first introduced in August of 2001. There is a 20 Gigabyte hard drive, a plain CD-ROM drive, and 128 Megabytes of SDRAM – slower than DDR memory, but not too shabby.
This computer wasn’t built to outperform, but to serve some pretty basic needs. In that sense it’s more than adequate for most users who just want it for e-mail, Web surfing, word processing, Excel sheets, accounting software, and other general applications.
The price puts a home PC within reach of even the most modest budget, helping to bridge the growing digital divide.
For more information, visit Systemax at www.systemax.com.
