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Modern PC News for the Week Ending
March 15, 2003
Commodore.ca | UPDATE: Massive New Tax on Blank CD / DVD Media in Mid March Informed sources now tell me that the final Government decision will not LIKELY be made until the first week or two of April and they will LIKELY provide a short 2 or 3 week transition period. All this means you have a few more weeks to buy your CD or DVD media. Click HERE for all the details. TheFeedRoom.com | AOL Is Now Blocking 2/3's of All Inbound Mail - 1 Billion Pieces Every Day
TomsHardware.com | Explanation of Gigabit over Cooper ...Before 1000Base-T, gigabit Ethernet required using either fiber-optic or special shielded copper cables, neither of which was practical for everyday LAN construction. These versions (1000Base-SX, 1000Base-LX, and 1000Base-CX) are still in use today in specialized applications, but we won't be focusing on them in this NTK. The 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet task force did its work well, and was able to come up with a standard that is, for all intents and purposes, a ten times faster version of 100Base-T. 1000Base-T was also designed so that it is backwards compatible with 10/100 equipment, and uses CAT-5 (or better) wiring (the stuff that you're using for your current LAN)... ...As I briefly mentioned in the Introduction, one of the key requirements for the 1000Base-T standard is that it work with existing Category 5 (CAT 5) cabling. After all, what good is a copper-over-Ethernet standard if it can't run on most of the copper that's already in the walls, network closets, and ceilings of corporate America? So the good news is that, unless your network was installed in 1996 or earlier (the standard was revised in 1995), you're probably ready to rock when you decide it's time to move up to gigabit speeds. But before you move on to the next section, there are some issues that you need to be aware of:
For new network installations, the general recommendation is to use CAT 5e cable. Although CAT 5 and CAT 5e cabling both have 100MHz bandwidth, CAT 5e cable is manufactured so that additional parameters that are important for high frequency data signals are better controlled... ...One thing you shouldn't buy into, however, is any recommendation that tells you to use CAT 6 for a gigabit Ethernet installation. CAT 6 was added to the TIA-568 standard in June 2002, and has a 200MHz bandwidth. Despite the fact that vendors would love to sell you their pricier CAT 6 wares, you should only consider it if you're going to be running 10Gigabit Ethernet over copper, which, frankly, any small networker is going to be extremely unlikely to do! And pitches for CAT 7 cable? Fuggedaboutit! ...Since all you'll need to buy are Network Interface Cards (NICs) and a gigabit switch, let's see what that'll run you:
The dirty little secret of gigabit Ethernet is that if you're running Win98 or 98SE, you probably won't get any benefit from your investment in gigabit gear. Although there are some registry edits that you can try to improve your throughput, you probably won't see much improvement over the network performance you're getting now with 10/100 equipment. The problem is that the TCP/IP "stack" in Win98 really wasn't designed with such high speed networking technology in mind, and has a hard time using a 100Base-T connection at its full potential, let alone a gigabit link! I'll have more on this topic in Part 2 of this NTK, but in the meantime, consider Win2000 and WinXP as the only serious Windows OSes to use for gigabit LANs. BetaNews.com |
Windows Longhorn Leak Offers Peek at
Future
...Rather than opening a
specific folder as in Windows XP, My Pictures (screenshot)
and My Music (screenshot)
in Longhorn bring up "virtual folders" that display appropriate files indexed
from various physical locations. Although pictures and music may be spread out
across multiple folders or drives, they can be accessed using a single interface
(screenshot).
ITWorldCanada.com | Corel Announces WorldPerfect Office 11 Ottawa-based Corel Corp. on
Wednesday announced the latest version of its core software, WordPerfect Office
11.
The software upgrades include a Document Map and Collaboration Review functions to enhance workflow efficiency while Reveal Codes and RealTime Preview complete the formatting control. As well: a customizable interface can be adapted for users’ needs; a Classic Mode features the WordPerfect 5.1 user environment; and an improved legal toolbar adds features from WordPerfect Law Edition. Additional improvements have been made to enhance extensible markup language (XML) file-sharing capabilities, including publish to PDF features, publish to HTML capabilities, support for open document management API, new e-mail document routing capabilities and Microsoft Outlook Address Book connectivity... CNet.com |
Microsoft Ups Ante in Instant Messenger Battle Microsoft on Thursday plans to launch a trial version of its instant messaging software for corporations, upping the ante in the battle for supremacy over one of the world's fastest growing communications technologies. Dubbed Greenwich, Microsoft's new server software allows businesses to support secure instant messaging on a network. In addition, it offers a bridge to Microsoft's popular consumer MSN Messenger IM network, giving it a potential jump on rivals lining up to court business customers with instant messaging products and services. "IM is a very hot subject right now among corporate users trying to tame this technology that has found its way into IT environments without, necessarily, IT approval," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. ...America Online, Yahoo and Microsoft... have been prepping their popular consumer IM products with new features such as security and authentication to compete with rivals that were quicker to court business customers. But some significant hang-ups continue to stall widespread adoption in the workplace, including a lack of interoperability between the three leading IM networks. With its heavy presence in both the consumer and corporate markets, Microsoft holds some unique advantages that could help it bridge the gap between the two. ...Greenwich is expected to officially launch in the "middle of this year," according to a company representative. Although Microsoft was originally planning to integrate Greenwich into Windows .Net Server 2003, Singh Pall said the company may sell it individually, although no decisions have been made yet. The beta version of the software will include real-time communication features beyond instant messaging, such as presence and multi-party collaboration. The software will also include multimedia functions such as PC-to-PC voice and video transmission... TomsHardware.com | ATI Radeon 9800, 9600 and 9200 Series
The new Radeon 9800 DirectX 9 VPU (R350) supersedes the
highly successful Radeon 9700 (R300). Technologically, the chip is an updated
and optimized R300 core, with changes that go beyond a simple clock speed bump.
The shader unit (SmartShader) has been supplemented with a so-called "F-Buffer",
which theoretically allows shader code of infinite length. As a dig at NVIDIA
for calling the FX a "DirectX 9+" part because of its extended programmability,
ATi has named their R350 a "DirectX 9++" part. You've got to love that
creativity. ....The Radeon 9800 PRO makes an impressive showing, nullifying the slim lead NVIDIA's FX 5800 Ultra held over the Radeon 9700 PRO. While the newcomer achieves parity with the NVIDIA card in standard tests, it totally dominates the FX 5800 Ultra when it comes to FSAA and anisotropic filtering. Additionally, the ATi cards offer the better FSAA/aniso implementation in our comparison. It remains to be seen whether this will change with future driver updates from NVIDIA. We'll take a closer look at image quality on both cards as soon as we have WHQL (or final) drivers for these cards. In addition to its more compact design (single-slot solution)
and its simpler (and much quieter) cooler, the Radeon 9800 PRO is also much
faster than the FX 5800 Ultra in all important disciplines (FSAA, anisotropic
filtering) and offers the best image quali We'd be harder pressed to make any recommendations on the Radeon 9500's successor, the 9600 PRO. Judging from the specs, it looks like the 4x1 design will probably be slower than the older 9500 with its 8x1 design, despite the clockspeed advantage (400MHz vs. 275MHz). We will only be able to answer that conclusively once we have a review sample, though. Don't hold your breath for any surprises where the Radeon 9200 is concerned though. This chip offers nothing new over its predecessor, aside from an AGP8x interface... Reuters.com | Sony Unveils First Blue-Laser DVD Recorder Japan's Sony Corp said on Monday it would start sales next month of the world's first DVD recorder that uses blue laser light and can pack a two-hour high-definition TV program onto a single disc. It won't be cheap, with a retail list price of 450,000 yen (US$3,800) while low-end DVD recorders using conventional red lasers go for as little as US$200. ...The recorder, which includes a built-in broadcast satellite tuner, will hit store shelves in Japan on April 10. No date has been set yet for an overseas roll-out... ...Blue light, with a shorter wavelength than red, can read and store data at much higher densities needed for high-definition recordings. Blu-ray discs, which Sony will also start selling on April 10, hold up to 23 gigabytes of data, or nearly five times as much as existing DVDs and enough for two hours of digital satellite high-definition programming. At 3,500 yen each, Blu-ray discs will also cost several times more than conventional discs. Other members of the Blu-ray consortium include Matsushita Electric Industrial Co which makes Panasonic products, South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Dutch manufacturer Philips Electronics NV. Toshiba Corp, a pioneer in DVD technology, has weighed in with a competing blue-laser format it says will be less expensive and more compatible with existing recorders, although it would only store 15-20 gigabytes of data per disc. A fragmentation of recording formats for existing red laser products has been blamed for hindering a take-off in DVD recorder sales, although the market has begun growing rapidly as the machines get cheaper. Sony's Blu-ray machine will be able to play red-laser discs using the DVD-R and DVD-RW formats, but not those using the DVD-RAM or DVD+RW formats. Toshiba is hoping to have its first blue-laser DVD recorder on the market in another year or so, a spokesman said, although an industry body is still hammering out technical details for the format. TomsHardware.com | Think Your Chipset Doesn't Make a Difference... Think Again! ...It's not just factors like the speed of the FSB or the memory that play a role here - chipsets can operate at very different speeds even with memory types that are seemingly the same. Tom's used the same Athlon XP 2000+ with the same RAM, video card, and operating system. The results below are typical:
Microsoft.com | Windows Server 2003 Pricing Announced These retail prices did not change much from Windows 2000. However there is the new inexpensive and limited Windows Server 2003, Web Edition see below.
Microsoft.com | Windows Server 2003 Feature Overview Key:
1 Not supported in 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003. ZDNet.com |
New Office Beta to Launch Next Week as Office 2000 Continues to Gain Market
Share Microsoft plans to officially launch Office 2003 Beta 2 on Monday, a release that will include a public preview available to several hundred thousand beta testers and businesses, said sources. ...In the most recent quarter... Office accounted for $2.4 billion of the company's $8.5 billion in revenue, and $1.88 billion of the $3.25 billion gross profit. ...People signing up for the public preview are expected to pay for shipping. In the past, Microsoft has offered public previews for free but charged between $20 to $30 for shipping and handling. ...In terms of the number of products being tested, the new Office 2003 beta will be one of Microsoft's largest. Besides Office 2003 Professional, which includes Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Access, Microsoft also will offer betas of the FrontPage Web site creation and management application, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Publisher, SharePoint Portal Server and SharePoint Services. ...Another new product, code named Iris, will be Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager. Like OneNote and InfoPath, Iris reached only a small number of testers during Beta 1. The new version of Outlook will add customer relationship management (CRM) features that could appeal to small- and medium-sized businesses. ...In general, Outlook is the most overhauled application in the new Office suite. Microsoft has moved the preview pane from the bottom of the screen to the right, so messages appear like full-page documents. The company also scrapped the Outlook Bar (YAAA... I hate that Damn thing and always turn it off) and beefed up security features. ..."Microsoft needs to find more ways to increase the appeal of Office," Silver said. Microsoft's biggest competitor is "older versions of Office." In fact, Office 2000 gained market share last year, he said. |
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...ATi is
updating its entire product line. All cards of the 9000, 9500, and 9700 series
will be replaced by successors named 9200, 9600, and 9800, respectively. 
ty
with those features enabled. If you're looking for the fastest 3D accelerator
currently available, the Radeon 9800 PRO is your chip. This doesn't make the
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra a bad product by any means, but the leadership is once
again firmly in ATi's hands.
= Feature
included 
= Feature
partially supported 
= Feature
not included