It would be foolhardy to proclaim the death of the PC in a year in which Windows 7 was key to record quarterly sales for Microsoft. The top stories of 2010, however, show that the PC for many people around the world has already become just one of several devices used to tap the Internet and a world of applications for entertainment and business -- and that increasingly, the main Internet access device is not a PC. The billions of devices connected to the Internet globally are also giving rise to data and security issues for the wired and mobile worlds alike. Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie's farewell note to his colleagues in October warned them that the PC software giant has to brace for a "post-PC world." News flash for Mr. Ozzie & Co.: The post-PC era has already begun.
A court-appointed special master has rejected class-action status in an antitrust lawsuit against Intel, determining that the plaintiffs failed to show that PC buyers were harmed by discounts Intel offered to manufacturers.
Despite Google's phenomenal growth, the Internet search giant does not appear to be worried about taking on too many projects, judging from comments made at a media roundtable Wednesday with company cofounder Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt.
Though PC-maker earnings this week confirmed sales declines for the second quarter, vendors and analysts underscored signs of a recovery in technology for the second half of the year.
Mixed news from the IT sector including earnings from Cisco Systems, worries about the telecom sector and a cloudy forecast for chips is being blamed for causing markets to take what most industry watchers are hoping is just a temporary dip.
Microsoft is cancelling its plan to offer versions of Windows without the Internet Explorer browser in Europe, a move that was supposed to ease antitrust concerns.
Sweden's LM Ericsson has won the bidding war over the wireless assets of Nortel Networks, agreeing to pay US$1.13 billion for the financially beleaguered Canadian company's CDMA business and LTE Access technology.
Though virtually all IT vendors say they'll face a tough sales environment over the next few quarters, a range of companies including IBM, Intel, CA and even financially beleaguered Nortel offered some hopeful words this week.
Microsoft made the Windows 7 beta available for public download Saturday, lifting the limit on the number of users who initially are allowed to beta test the software, after its servers were overwhelmed by users trying to download the operating system.
What started out as a banking crisis became, in 2008, a story for everyone: retailers, consumers, auto workers — and tech professionals. Though it wasn't business as usual, some big mergers — like HP buying EDS — were executed. Long-awaited products like the Android-based G1 "Google phone" were launched. Standards wars involving file formats like OOXML and hardware technology like Blu-Ray concluded. The battle against spam purveyors like McColo went on ... and on. Microsoft, moving into middle age and struggling to gain ascendance on the web, was involved in many of the biggest stories of the year. The most influential entrepreneur of our time, Bill Gates, moved on to focus on philanthropy. Here, not necessarily in order of importance, is the IDG News Service's pick for top 10 technology stories of the year.
SAP will bring a unified interface across its suite of business applications over the next few quarters as part of an ongoing effort to make its software easier to implement, according to company co-CEO Leo Apotheker.
Despite turmoil on Wall Street, U.S. spending on IT will increase more than previously expected, though the outlook for 2009 is dimming, Forrester Research said Wednesday.
As the US markets take a break for the long Independence Day weekend, economic worries and a disastrous June on the markets are battering shares of high-fliers including Apple, Google and Amazon, underscoring concerns about tech-sector growth.
This year has been a time of realignment and redefinition, as Apple launched its second zeitgeist-defining product of the new century, Dell and Intel battled to regain their former dominance, the software sector consolidated, Google rallied industry heavyweights around a common mobile device platform, and major vendors scrambled to embrace social networking. These, not necessarily in order of importance, are the IDG News Service picks for the top 10 stories of the year:
With shares of major technology companies trading as high as they have ever done in the post dot-com era, IT investors this week are scrutinising quarterly results from the world's biggest vendors to judge how the market will hold up for the rest of the year.
