One billion PCs in use in 2008

There will be over one billion PCs in use worldwide by the end of 2008, according to a new report by Forrester Research.

And with PC adoption in emerging markets growing fast, there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, Forrester predicts.

It took 27 years to reach the one billion mark, but Forrester expects the rate of PC adoption to accelerate dramatically due to advancing technology, lower prices and global demand on the part of a technology-aware population.

According to Forrester, the emerging Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) market will account for more than 775 million new PCs by 2015.

"There is nothing more important to the long-term health of the technology industry and personal technology in particular than the ability to deliver relevant, accessible and affordable technology to the billions of people worldwide who have not been exposed to it," said Simon Yates, Forrester Research vice president and research director.

"The industry can probably survive selling incrementally better hardware and software to the people who already have technology in their lives, but the vast majority of growth in the PC and related industries will come from emerging markets," said Yates.

Forrester forecasts an acceleration in growth but also unpredictability in emerging markets. Vendors, it notes, are used to the predictability of buyers in mature markets, but high-volume launches into emerging markets are risky. According to Forrester, PC sellers won't have the luxury of introducing products on a small scale to test the market before going into full production because the economics will force suppliers to focus on bringing volume to market more quickly at much greater risk.

"There are risks. It is safe to assume that life cycles will be longer in emerging markets. Vendors, accustomed to mature markets where the average life cycle is between four and five years, will need to have a deep understanding of how to work in these markets and, with less of a market for replacement PCs, will need to band together to scale production for these emerging regions," said Yates.

Forrester praises Microsoft Unlimited Potential, the Intel World Ahead Program, AMD 50x15, and OLPC for their efforts in reaching untapped markets. Its findings are contained in a report entitled Worldwide PC Adoption Forecast to 2015.

Microsoft finds good facts to sell Windows Vista

Microsoft has launched a "get the facts" style campaign, only this time to push sales of Windows Vista.

The company has reportedly opened a website targeting OEMs and customers to counter reports circulating about missing driver support and a lack of third-party hardware and software working with Windows Vista.

According to APC Mag, the registration-only site promises to help OEMs and customers get the "real story" illustrating how Windows Vista is "ready today and tomorrow." [We presume that means "people ready" - ed.]

"Some customers may be waiting to adopt Windows Vista because they've heard rumors about device or application compatibility issues, or because they think they should wait for a service pack," Microsoft said in a newsletter, APC reports.

Until now, Microsoft has run "get the facts" campaigns to persuade customers to choose Windows or Microsoft applications, rather than Linux or open source, on grounds of better price, performance, TCO or security.

Whatever Microsoft says about "rumors", the facts remain that Windows Vista has come up short on third-party support. Since last November's unofficial launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft has raced to get ISVs and OEMs to certify drivers, having shipped an operating system that's unfinished by its standards.

In May Mike Nash, Windows product management corporate vice president, conceded a problem existed while also trying to downplay the issue. He attributed 80 per cent of user complaints to 4,000 drivers. Among those suffering: gamers and laptop users - with even Microsoft execs complaining Windows Vista does not support their branded laptops

By Gavin Clarke

America wastes gazillions with always-on PCs

Next time you leave the office, turn off your machine. According to a new report, the typical mid-sized American business wastes more than $165,000 a year in electricity costs thanks to PCs left on through the night. That’s more than $1.72bn in wasted funds across the country.

Simply by turning off machines during night hours, the report says, the average business could also eliminate 1,381 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, which translates to nearly 15 million tons nationwide.

Run by Harris Interactive, the report (PDF) was commissioned by the Alliance To Save Energy, a coalition that promotes efficient energy use, and 1E, a British-based systems management company.

As of May, the report claims, there were 104 million Americans who regularly used PCs at work, and 20 per cent “never” shut their machines down. Meanwhile, 60 per cent shut down only on occasion. The nighttime carbon dioxide emissions from these machines, the report goes on to say, is equivalent to the carbon spewed by 2.58 million passenger cars – more than are currently registered in the state of Maryland.

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Silicon Graphics unveils energy-efficient supercomputer

Silicon Graphics (SGI) has unveiled an energy efficient supercomputer blade system.

The SGI Altix ICE 8200 is the first in a line of bladed servers purpose-built to handle high-performance computing (HPC) applications and large workloads.

SGI said the solution’s ultra-dense rack architecture delivers up to 40% more computing performance per square foot than competing blades.

A single SGI Altix ICE 8200 rack can be powered by as many as 512 Intel Xeon processor cores, and deliver up to six teraflops in performance.

The new platform’s high compute blade density helps customers overcome more than “server sprawl”.

SGI said Altix ICE features an energy-smart design that can save organisations up to £28,000 in annual energy costs when using a 10 teraflops system.

The University of Exeter has just taken one of the systems, said SGI.

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Microsoft security engineer makes top-10 worst jobs list

Summer's here, and 'tis the season to be compiling lists. One of the most eagerly awaited is the Ten Worst Jobs in Science, issued by Popular Science magazine. This year the roster of horrible occupations has gained widespread attention because it includes "Microsoft Security Grunt".

Working at the Microsoft Security Response Centre (MSRC), according to the PopSci writers, is "like wearing a big sign that says 'hack me'... It's tedious work... to most hackers, crippling Microsoft is the geek equivalent of taking down the Death Star, so the assault is relentless."

PopSci places a job on the Redmond battlements at number five, worse than whale-dung analyst, corpse-maggot expert, Olympic drug tester and zero gee health-effects guinea pig.

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