Industry Round-Up for the W/E 13th April 2012
Find out what has happened to Netscape, Raspberry Pi’s finally arrive and Apple tackle Flashback malware.
- Windows XP support ends two years from now
- Raspberry Pi delivered
- Apple offers Flashback removal tool
- Domain name applications hit by software glitch
- YouTube now letting anyone monetize their videos through AdSense
- Netscape’s ignominious end: Swallowed by Microsoft
Windows XP Support Ends Two Years from Now
Shutters to come down on 8 April 2014 reports Simon Sharwood in The Register. Gartner’s July 2011 assessment of the global OS population suggested “Windows XP Home and Follow-Ons” had 68 million users, while XP Professional ran on 144 million machines.
A more recent Gartner study, reported 79% of business desktops and 45% of notebooks ran XP, based on responses from a 147-strong, self-selecting, group at its October 2011 US Symposium event (with a combined three million PCs in service).
Raspberry Pi Delivered
Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor of The Telegraph reports that the first batch of cheap Raspberry Pi computers, designed to inspire a new generation of programmers, is finally in the hands of British schoolchildren.
RS Components Glenn Jarrett, the firm’s head of electronics marketing, said:
“There has been a great deal of anticipation for Raspberry Pi since its launch at the end of February,”
Apple Offers Flashback Removal Tool
Flashback malware removed by new update, but users of older machines running 10.5 apparently shunned – while iTunes users are urged to add security questions, reports Charles Arthur of The Guardian.
The security company Symantec says that:
The number of infections fell from 600,000 on 6 April to 380,000 on 10 April, to around 270,000 on 11 April – suggesting a dramatic cleanup rate among Mac owners.
The greatest source of infection remains the US, with almost half of all infections, Canada and the UK.
Domain Name Applications Hit by Software Glitch
Maija Palmer of FT.com reports that the deadline to apply for a new top level domain name has been extended by just over a week to Friday, April 20th after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) was hit by software problems.
Icann still faces a number of hurdles in this project from potential lawsuits by disgruntled brand owners and questions about how it will handle the money from all the applications, which cost $185,000 a piece.
YouTube Now Letting Anyone Monetize their Videos Through AdSense
YouTube has announced that effective immediately, anyone can start making money using the video-sharing website, reports Shawn Knight on Techspot.
We suspect there will be a huge influx of ad-infused videos while only a few people with extremely successful videos will make enough money for the deal to be worth their while.
Netscape’s Ignominious End: Swallowed by Microsoft
Richard Waters of FT.com reports that Microsoft just wrote the final chapter in a historic rivalry that defined the early years of the Web – and which became Exhibit A in its anti-trust showdown with the US government.
We hear that the legal remains of Netscape – along with its patents – have just been traded to Microsoft by AOL as part of a landmark $1.1bn deal. More than a decade after it was vanquished in the browser wars, Netscape really does seem to be worth more dead than alive.