The BMW M1 Bootskin for Windows XP.

If you are a BMW freak, here is another way to express your fanaticism.
Tech TuRBine brings you the BMW M1 Bootskin for Windows XP users. All you have to do is download the bootskin software and apply the M1 bootskin.

Download

Download other Bootskins from Tech TuRBine - click here.

( Pl Note that Bootskins are 16 color, 4 bit dithered bitmap images. While we try to bring you the best, it is impossible to bring you high quality images. Nevertheless they will look cool on your XP . )

Buying a new PC this Christmas?

Christmas offers have started showing up this year. Choosing a configuration is not easy for everybody. While shops have a pile of cute and portable laptops, we will be talking about desktops. My previous post would have introduced you to Intel’s new plans for this Christmas. I would be splitting buyers into separate categories, so you could choose what you want to buy yourself. As of Yesterday, Intel did not reduce any of its processor prices in its Price list.

Home and Office User: One who does Internet, MS Office and Home Entertainment will fall under this category. I would encourage people belonging to this category to buy a PC now because prices are dropping due to recession and you don’t care much about your PC hardware. I would recommend a Core 2 Duo Processor, G31 based board, 2GB of RAM along with 250 GB of Storage. A 19” TFT would provide ample screen space. Find a cool looking Cabinet and a Wireless Keyboard mouse combo.



Enthusiast: One who does a little of everything - Gaming, HD Media, Heavy Apps and Edting stuff. This truly depends on how willing you are to spend. If you have a good budget, I would recommend you to upgrade to the Core i7 processors with a x58 based board. Though there are not many products to choose from your system is future proof and offers reliable performance. You will have DDR3 and can go for good graphics like the ATI HD4870 or Nvidia GTX cards. If you have a tight budget, I would recommend you wait for some time expecting price drops due to the new i7 processor. If it happens, You can get a good C2Q with ample ram as both will be old by next year. I would recommend a 2.66Ghz Processor, 4GB Ram kit and an 22” TFT for both.

Hard Core Gamers: If I have a million, I would go for a Core i7-965, Asus Rampage II Extreme, Corsair Dominator or Kingston HyperX T1, GTX 280 in SLI. Yes, most gamers don’t have a million. Well for mid range Gamers I would suggest they get their hands on fastest clocking C2D Processor they can get with their favorite platform and graphics. High end serious gamers can go for a Quad Core Core 2 Extreme with the fastest memory kit you can afford. I would not recommend DDR3 for present Core 2 Platforms as they offer meager rise in performance. Graphics for both Enthusiasts and Gamers graphics - mid rangers can choose 9800GT, HD4830 and Heavy users can choose GTX280 or the HD4870. SLI systems are also an option to consider. Many 24” Monitors are there to choose from.

For those who want to have a powerful system at considerable rates can wait till summer as Core 2 series prices will drop when Intel promotes their Nehalem based processors. You can buy a powerful C2Q or even a C2E processor with your limited resources. Things to watch for are DDR3, PCI x16 2.0, Better IGP and larger,cheaper & faster storage.

6 Areas of Concern in Chrome

My Google chrome Beta has been updated to Version 0.4.154.29 and i didn't know until i visited this link.

Unlike Firefox, there is no update intimation of any sort in Chrome. If you can't wait for Chrome to get updated automatically, you have to click on the ' About Google Chrome' option in the wrench menu, to check for updates. Well that is not why i am saying Chrome isn't the best, there are a lot more issues which are yet to be addressed.


1 . Inadequate Privacy Settings:
When was the last time, you went incognito to secure your privacy ? Though the incognito feature gives you a history free browsing experience, people invariably forget to go incognito. Also when it comes to clearing browsing data, it has to been done manually each time. There is no such option as ' Clear Browsing data on Exit'. Leave alone the above mentioned FF feature, Chrome could have atleast incorporated the IE feature of Clearing History beyond 'n' number of days. Such options could have complemented the Incognito mode very well.

2. No Add ons or Themes:
If Chrome could support Add-ons, i definitely would not have been writing this review. I would have been downloading my favorite video streams from Video Portals, using the Realplayer 11 Video recorder Add-on. Also disappointing is the absence of support for plugins and Themes.
How long can we be looking at Chrome's plain design ? In the absence of the title bar, even a change in your OS theme doesn't affect Chrome.

3.Autocomplete option cannot be disabled:
I would call this the most irksome factor in Chrome. It combines the Search and Address Bar Functions into one bar, named the ' Omnibox'. And whenever you attempt to go to a url or try to search, lot of suggestions are thrown at you. These suggestions are both from your history and the web. Many would shrug at this option, because a combined autocomplete doesn't fit the bill.

4.Download blues:
The download tab is intergrated with the main browser window and is closed without intimation when the browser is closed. In FF the separate window for downloads, remains intact even when the browser is closed, so the need for an intimation doesn't arise. This is a major drawback in Chrome.

5.Forget Feed Preview:
In the first place there is nothing like 'Live Bookmarks', which is disappointing. Next is Feed previews. XML Site feeds are ridiculously displayed this way.


6.'Find in page' Flaws:
The 'Find in Page' option has serious flaws to it. It doesn't take text-boxes into account, while scouting for data. This will be a very big setback for bloggers in blogspot platform. They can never imagine editing their template with Google Chrome.

If all the above issues could be resolved, Chrome could be the best.

Our Earlier Takes: Google Chrome Review

WORLD AIDS DAY

December 1 is Worlds AIDS day, I recommend you to read the Fast facts and browse through the given links for a better world and peaceful state of mind.

AIDS and its History in India

AIDS Statistics in India

Preventing AIDS

AIDS Symptoms

World AIDS Day on WIKIPEDIA



AIDS FAST FACTS:

* HIV is short for human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

* HIV and AIDS are names for different stages of the same viral infection that impairs your immune system.

* This infection attacks the cells that coordinate your immune response to foreign invaders.

* This attack prevents your body from fighting off viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites.

* Because of this failure of the immune system, there is an increased risk of developing certain forms of cancer, including cervical cancer.

* You become infected with the HIV virus through contact with the infected body fluids of another person.

* Body fluids that can transmit the HIV virus include blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk.

* Once infected, the virus begins to quietly damage the immune system by invading helper T cells, or CD4 lymphocytes.

* CD4 lymphocytes are the white blood cells that coordinate the immune system.

* Eventually all people with HIV will go on to develop AIDS.

* It can take a decade or more before HIV develops into full blown AIDS.

* Many of the available treatments, if initiated early enough, can help delay the progression of HIV into AIDS.

* The rate of HIV infection among women in the United States has increased in recent years, particularly among women of color.

* Most cases of HIV infection in women are the result of sexual contact with infected men, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

* Pregnant or breastfeeding women infected with HIV are at risk of passing the disease on to their children.

* Though there is no cure for HIV and AIDS, treatments have become much more effective in recent years.

* Today, people with AIDS can lengthen their lifespan and enhance their quality of life through a variety of medications.

* Most people in the United States and other developed nations have access to HIV and AIDS drugs.

* In developing parts of the world, access to medications is limited and AIDS mortality rates remain high.

* Safe sex methods such as rigorous condom use during sex can minimize the risk of contracting the HIV virus.

* Pregnant women can minimize transmitting the virus to their babies by taking certain HIV medications.

Intel’s new Nehalem Micro-Architecture

Intel has a new delight in the micro processor market; it is a better performing new micro-architecture from Intel – Nehalem. This will replace the Intel’s present Core 2 architecture. Happy news for the die hard Intel fans is that, Intel’s chief people have told that they would from now on introduce new processor architecture every two years. Business aside, the new architecture holds a lot of technical goodies to talk about. Intel delivered the Core i7 processor and the X58 Chipset based on Nehalem technology. Nehalem is a Quad Core Solution scalable to 2 and 8 cores.

Two Divisions: Intel like AMD now splits the processor working into two major segments, the Core and the Uncore. The Core consists of all the Physical Cores along with their L1/L2 Caches. The Uncore region has three important parts of the processor, the memory controller, the L3 Cache and the QPI interface. There are two different clocks for this CPU. The Cores runs with the QPI clock with a suitable multiplier. The DDR3 memory controller and the L3 cache runs on the Uncore clock which could be different. A specific core could be effectively turned off when the need arises.

Turbo Mode and Cache: The Turbo mode, it offers a meager rise in clock speed when the processor is running under stable conditions and could offer better clock. The Turbo mode is totally governed by the CPU temperature. The Cache sizes are the lowest in recent times. But it is said that Cache is shared equally amongst the cores rather than each one having its own. Better and smarter utilization of the Cache eliminates the need for a larger one. But there will be increase in the L3 Cache size. As Intel says, the smart cache eliminates latency to increase performance.

QuickPath Technology: This is Intel’s synonym to AMD HyperTransport. Improved Parallelism and Point to Point connectivity are primary benefits. Finally, the Front Side Bus or the FSB will be replaced with QuickPath Interconnect (QPI). QuickPath enables direct access to the Memory and the I/O HUB (Yes, MCH is no more). This increases the access rate by three times. Also Multi-Processor Environments will be greatly benefited with QPI. QPI offers up to 25.6GBps inter processor bandwidth and 32GBps Memory Bandwidth. Normal end systems will have a single QPI and high-end machines will feature two of them, QPI-0 and QPI-1.

HyperThreading Strikes back: Intel has re-implemented the HT Technology in Nehalem Platform that was earlier used in the Pentium 4 Series of Processors. HyperThreading is a specialized form of Simultaneous Multithreading. HT enables individual cores to handle more threads to facilitate better performance. HT was said to be power inefficient, but with today’s memory bandwidth I think that including HT makes the architecture power efficient.

4 Cores 8 Threads

Socket and Dimensions: The new Nehalem uses Socket B or LGA1366. It could replace both the LGA771 and LGA775 due to its support for QPI. There are also some speculations that there will be two more sockets, LGA1160 for desktops and LGA1567 for high end server platforms. The physical size of the processor is more than the earlier processors by 20% paving way for larger heatsink, increased TDP.
Some Important Features: Nehalem is completely fabricated under the 45nm manufacturing process. It will support native (all cores on single die) 2, 4 and 8 cores. It incorporates the new SSE 4.2 SIMD. Review of Core i7 from AnandTech confirms a 30% performance increase in performance with 10% rise in power consumption. Some points to note are better Loop Stream Detector, Supports DDR3 only, eight core systems will be available, triple channel memory support.

Nehalem will be available at the end of 2008. Nehalem is aimed at the server workstation platform. The Specs and numbers provided here need not be exact as this is just Nehalem’s entry. Looking at the future, two other Lynnfield and Havendale are due 2010. These processors are said to include direct link with their GPU and Integrated GPU Core respectively. Also 2009-2010 will see Westmere and Sandy Bridge under 32nm fabrication. Nehalem is expected to move from 45nm to 32nm before them. After writing this post, I have only one thing left in my mind – what does AMD have for Intel???

Charge Your iPod with an Onion !!

Isn't that good news. All you might need is an onion and some Gatorade, to keep your iPod charged, in case you forget your USB cable on a long tour.
The biggest hoax in recent days, has been doing rounds in the youtube circle. The Video Hoax claims that an iPod could be charged with an onion previously immersed in an energy drink.
So i thought i should bring you the video hoax, which has notched up some 7 million views.






So if the above is a hoax, isn't their any other veggie process to keep your iPod or mp3 player singing ?
Of course !! there is a way. Visiting this link will show you how that could be done, nevertheless the experiment could damage your iPod or Mp3 Payer.

Cheers.

Src - The Hindu

What do MNP and 3G mean to India ?

The much awaited Mobile Number Portability(MNP) has finally been cleared by the Indian Department of Telecom. Sources say that MNP could be here by early next year. With the 3G proposal also making it's way through the red-tapes, what does it mean to us and the country ?

MNP allows you to change your network, without having to change the number. Isn't that amazing ?
For many it marks the end of a dissatisfied network experience and for the Industry it marks the beginning of better customer experience and disciplined service. In the first phase of implementation, mobile users of the four major metros in India can avail this facility if needed.
I opine that regional operators and operators with poor networks will have a tough time. What i like in the proposal is that it stresses the very old cliche ' Customer is King'. We will have the power to decide who stays in the market and who is to be shown the door !!
Another major boon to the country and the industry is the roll out of 3G services, which is also expected to happen early next year. 3G is the next generation technology ( for India ) that will allow you to send Video content, large files, in other words high amount of data through your phones. It will cause a sea change in the mobile world, just like what broadband did to internet. During the inception, it may have a few takers because of the requirement to buy 3G compatible mobiles but the trend is bound to change. 3G means a lot to the country as well. It can solve the spectrum crunch in rural areas and facilitate e-governance, says the govt.

With two breakthroughs in the offing, one wonders if these services will complement each other. In other words, can MNP facility be availed to shift your service from a Vodafone 2G service to an Airtel 3G service. I guess the present proposal facilitates one to shift between GSM and CDMA Operators, both basically being 2G technologies. Lets hope that the final draft of the MNP proposal holds a solution for this.
Whatever be the outcome, at the end of the day we will have better telephony around.

Cheers.

iPhone or the Android G1

We all know and have heard about the Apple iPhone. But how good is the T-Mobile G1 against the iPhone. Lets have a look.

Google has forayed into the mobile phone industry with its Open Source Android Mobile device Operating System. . The Android is based on Open Linux Kernel and was developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance. G1 previously known as G-Phone is officially manufactured by HTC (HTC Dream) for T-Mobile.

The phone is touted to be a competitor for the iPhone, which we think is mostly because of its touch functionality and the market power due to its immense popularity. But when looked upon closely, both phones have serious issues which cannot be overlooked for daily use. Of course, Hardware specs are directly dependent on your wallets weight.

The phone specs are pretty standard. It is a Quad band 3G phone weighing 158g. It runs on a Qualcomm MSM7201A 528Mhz processor (ARM11/ARM9) with 192MB RAM, 256MB ROM. It also has 3.2” TFT-LCD Touch sensitive display, 3.2MP Auto Focus Camera, Assisted-GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR. The display is 320x240 capable, a MicroSD slot and uses trackball with enter function for navigation. These features are little more advanced and feasible than the iPhone at 20$ less.

But speaking of competition, iPhone has better interface with slightly larger display, more internal storage and way better looks. But both are Network locked, cannot record videos and are much hyped phones. But G1 can prove this wrong as it can have a number of applications written for it. Thanks to the detailed specifications, we know the phone’s hardware is capable of video recording/playback. And Beta versions of video players are available for free in the Android Market. Whereas the iPhone cannot do this, until and unless Apple releases an update. But what G1 really misses is a standard 3.5mm Headphone jack like the iPhone and integrated memory. Speaking about dimensions, the QWERTY keypad does justice than the iPhone screen taps.

The Android software package has all the standard Google applications – Maps, Gmail, Calendar, YouTube, and Instant Messenger. Standard Text/IM/Email is available. It features a Music player with the Amazon Music store. Full rich content web browsing is possible with the WebKit based browser. The Androids flashy interface is handled by OpenGL ES 1.0. The Android Market will be a boon for G1 Users.When it comes to iPhone or G1, I would choose iPhone for its looks, trademark interface and music capabilities. I would choose G1 for being Open Source (means millions of free apps), better specs at lower price and a Large Display coupled with a QWERTY Keyboard. Looks wise G1 does not look bad; it is just not that slick. While G1 has several features to run over the iPhone, iPhone has only very few to match the G1. My preferred choice will be the G1.

Never lose your data again !! Keep It.

There are a huge number of websites providing you with online storage and the latest is keepit.

Keepit is an online storage facility with a difference. You don't have to log in each time and upload files of significance, which is a daunting task. Keepit saves you all these tasks with a storage client, which the website calls the ' Keepit Client'.
So how does keepit work ?

All you have to do is create an account for yourself with keepit and install the client to your computer. The first time you use this client, it gives you a digital key which you are asked to save.
This key is provided, to prevent anybody else from using your data.
After saving your key in a reliable location like a USB drive, use the client to specify folders which you would like it to take a backup of.
It is a breeze from hereon. You dont have to worry about losing data.
The most important aspect in the whole process is the key, which is very essential to retrive the stored online data. Only this key can ensure that you restore the encrypted data online.

Keepit is primarily a paid service, but you can opt for the free service with a more then sufficient 2GB storage.

So never lose your data !! Keepit.

Src - Keepit.com

Yamaha R6 Bootskin for Windows XP

Tired of your Windows XP Bootskin ?
You have a host of other bootskins to apply to your XP. Though there are ways to do it manually i would recommend going with Bootskin software from Wincustomize.
Now trying to be in line with the latest trend, we bring you some indigenous bootskins for download.

Here is the Yamaha R6 Bootskin from Tech TuRBine compatible with Bootskin software.



Download


( Pl Note that Bootskins are 16 color, 4 bit dithered bitmap images. While we try to bring you the best, it is impossible to bring you high quality images. Nevertheless they will look cool on your XP .... )

Solution for UAA and HD AUDIO Problems

To begin with, Intel has two types of integrated audio architectures; Ac’ 97 and the HD Audio. Ac’ 97 is history and HD AUDIO is the in thing and there lies the problem. Microsoft had released a Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) patch which most people are unaware of. laptops, OEM, barebone users find it difficult to obtain drivers for their sound cards due to this.

Here is the perfect solution for people with HD Audio and UAA Problems.

* The Best thing to do is download drivers from manufacturer’s website if they are available. Google like this 'Brand' 'Model' 'Drivers'(eg. Conexant CX20549 Drivers), you will hopefully find it somewhere on the internet. Some come with UAA auto installation procedure and some require manual installation. If you still have problems or have to do it manually, follow these steps to solve it.

* ID your hardware. I use PC Wizard. Identify your chipset and check whether it has HD AUDIO using the internet.

* If it is HD Compliant, then proceed to download UAA Drivers from this HP web page. It’s not available directly from Microsoft as majority driver packages include them.

* Unzip the contents, locate the MS UAA folder and install the patches. The patch is named as KB888111. Begin installation and wait till you will see some ‘found hardware’ balloon tips. If your device didn't show up all this time, it will now.

* Now run PC Wizard, find your hardware audio controller, and find the actual drivers. This should make your sound card work perfect. Install correct driver to ensure maximum benefit.
Who needs this solution? This solution applies for any audio hardware (Realtek, Via, Conexant….) on the Intel High Definition Audio Bus in most of the 9xx and x3x chipsets.

Why are we doing this? In these boards, the drivers access the audio hardware through the HD Audio Bus which requires the UAA bus drivers in order to access the hardware.


Why many don’t face this problem? They probably got a fully automated driver installation package like UAA+Driver and you probably have to do UAA first manually and driver next. Windows XP SP3 doesn’t have this UAA integrated on to it, it still is a Hotfix.

Hope this helps!!!

Converting .ivr to .mp3 - Tutorial

Internet Video Recording is a popular format these days.
But not good enough to be recognized by your audio system.
Leave alone audio systems when most media players fail to play the ivr tracks.

Now if you are hellbent in converting your favorite ivr tracks to Mp3 or any other format, here is the one-stop solution
without compromising on audio quality.

RIPPING !!


Yeah, though a tedious process, it is the only way these tracks can be converted to recognizable formats.

Now the process goes this way .
* First burn the ivr files as an audio cd.
* Then Rip the cd to mp3 format.

Software Requirements :
* Windows Media Player 11
* Real Player 11

STEP 1

Burn the ivr files as an audio cd with Real Player 11, since only from this version on, the
ivr files are recognized.
For Beginners i owe a little elaboration here.

Note ::( The above video is just a mock drill done without inserting a cd, nevertheless it shows you all important elements of burning an audio cd )

STEP 2
We will go about the ripping process next.
Please take note that only windows media player 10&11 let you rip ivr files directly to
.mp3 format. In all the other previous versions you do not have this privilege.

1)Open Windows Media Player and in the menu bar, go to
Tools ----> Options
2) Wherein you have to go to the rip music option.
It looks something like this.

3) In this window, you can select the format you want the audio to be ripped to,
also you can make changes to the location you want to save the file. Moreover
you can increase or decrease the audio quality too. ( A word of caution here-
some audio systems are incapable of playing bitrates above 192 kbps).

Once the above settings are tweaked, click apply and exit WMP.
The Next time you insert a burned audio cd by following the first step. You will have autoplay
displaying the " rip cd with wmp" option. Just click OK and your files will be ripped
to the location you specified in step 2(3).
If for any reason autoplay doesn't pop up on inserting the disk, goto Wmp and click the rip
option available below the menu bar.

Cheers.

Google Chrome Review

I thought I should post a review of the latest product from Google, Chrome. And here it goes..

To start with, Chrome is a Web 2.0 Browser. Web 2.0 is more like application oriented which makes browsing secure, fast and friendly. Meaning,Web 2.0 in Chrome will be secure, fast and friendly. While Firefox and other browsers are Web 2.0 Compatible, Chrome is naturally so. Chrome is backward compatible with Web 1.0 and fully compatible with Web 2.0. This is the first real feature that Chrome delivers.

Real Time Features:

Incognito Mode: This is the private browsing mode where data(History,Cookies..) that keeps your trace in your PC is not saved. Chrome does not retain any information from sites browsed in the Incognito Mode.

Dynamic Tabs: Guess what, these tabs are real deal. You can fool around with your tab any way you want. Drag your Tab to the display area and you can have a new window. Move tabs across windows. The real indigenous thing is that, when you open a new tab, the new tab is placed just next to that tab instead of the end. When you download something from a site, the download is marked in the tab and download status is shown only at that tab. Chrome always tries to maximise the browsing area.

Stability: Google says each tab is separately threaded. For Beginners, your CPU processes Firefox as Firefox but with chrome each tab is separately processed, If one crashes the rest will continue to work. But in others when one tab crashes the whole browser crashes. It is better to lose one than all. Multi-threaded Plugins allow each tab to process data independent of the other tab. From my test, it works neat.

Memory Handling: Chrome is not as heavy as Firefox; Chrome idles at half the memory required for Firefox or Safari. Google also says, when a Tab is closed Chrome frees all the memory that the tab took unlike other browsers which could leave a trail and eats the computer’s resources. These things make Chrome Ultra Lite. The Task Manager is good for handling Network bandwidth and Memory Utilization.

Looks: Plain Jane looks. No real Fuzz, just blue and white. All you see are the Address bar, tabs area, Browsing area, Bookmarks toolbar and the on-off appearing status bar, Now thats not a lot. No Full screen browsing option. No Menu bar or title bar. Chrome lacks polish.

One Bar for all: The Omnibox serves multiple purposes. Enter your URL, search with Google, View Autocomplete suggestions and History too. And Autocomplete can’t be switched off.

Small things that matter a lot: Same shortcuts as Firefox (Safari was irritating), Open-Source, Java Script(named V8) Debugger and DOM Inspector, Option to Clear Browsing data, I cannot live without Plugins and Chrome does not support Plugins(or toolbars)!

Though at first Chrome looked like a lighter version of Firefox, It is more than that. It is based on both Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox. Chrome has excelled well for a Beta Version.

Chrome is ridiculously fast, mature in design, bland in looks and maintains Google’s Minimalism Concept. The Browser war has a new candidate and we have another crash.

Yeah Right!!!

Why Windows?

Windows, it always has been ‘THE OS’ for you. Ever wondered why? Some say its User friendly interface, availability of 3rd Party applications; Security Updates and Some best anti-virus applications for the surplus viruses (which of course come free!) are the reasons. Well, these reasons are favored only by a typical minority of Windows users. They never really use their computers. The majority however never knew why they chose windows! I have a few reasons to why the majority never knew or will know why they chose windows.

OEM and Big Brands: The main reason for such tremendous popularity of the Windows OS is the OEM and Brand vendors. These guys slip in windows with their Standard hardware as a standard OS. Microsoft has had a good control over this market from the time of IBM PC Compatibles. IBM Compatibles are Computers which had similar hardware architecture to that of the IBM PCs and could support software running with IBM. At that time the two available consumer Operating Systems were from Microsoft and Apple. While Apple restricted their OS to their Macintosh, Microsoft made licensing possible for IBM PC Clones. They made themselves available to all the Vendors who could manufacture a personal Computer. This action of Microsoft, created a chain which never broke. Most of the computers manufactured were shipped with the Windows OS. This chain is quite difficult to break, could be impossible! A good reason to support my theory is Windows Vista. The vendors did not accept vista wholly due to its humongous resource hungry nature. At the time of its introduction, it was capable of running smoothly only with high-end systems of that time. The vendors withdrew their support for Vista as a result of which it was a complete disaster for Microsoft. Not to worry about Windows 7 slated to release next year.


Ignorance and Innocence: Yes it did, Ignorance and Innocence of yours did promote Windows! When you bought your PC you cared more about the hardware which is not a bad thing to do, but you never took the time to look at other options available for the Operating System. Though the list is short, the opponents are equally powerful and better equipped. Most users never knew Linux was as user-friendly as Windows, some didn’t know Linux had a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and was FREE. Nor Macintosh was available in big cheap boxes. Linux was never promoted except for a few geeks who wore the Linux tees. Yeah, innocence and ignorance is bliss, for Microsoft.

Its not yet over.

There is one good reason why you can choose open source OS.

Piracy: Have you ever seen any Ads from Microsoft begging you to buy their product, at least not in India. But instead we see TV Commercials, Hoardings, and Banners insisting you to use Genuine Microsoft Software. Last year BBC stated in their news that more than one third of software used in the business segment was pirated. And in nations excluding USA(@30%), piracy rates were more than 60% and one-third had it above 75%. So by default you would be exposed to pirated software especially windows, with or without your knowledge. Windows still is the most pirated operating system at 62%.

I ain’t telling you to shun windows, it is just that you can go open source than be a pirate unintentionally. (Of course Intentional piracy is an individual’s choice [:8]).