Saturday, July 11, 2009

"Hitler tree" may face the axe in Polish town

source:http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5665FO20090707

JASLO, Poland (Reuters) - An oak tree planted in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War Two to mark Adolf Hitler's birthday may soon face the axe if the local mayor has her way.

Authorities in Jaslo in rural southeastern Poland discovered the origins of the tree when plans were lodged to fell it to make way for a traffic roundabout.

"We obtained information that this is no ordinary tree but was put here to mark Adolf Hitler's birthday," said Jaslo's mayor, Maria Kurowska. "So should I try to improve our town's communications or should I allow a memorial to that criminal to remain standing? The choice is simple for me."

Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, triggering World War Two and beginning more than five years of occupation. Six million Poles died, including almost all of the country's three million Jewish citizens.

Not everybody in this town of 38,000 shared Kurowska's view that the tree must go.

"It was 1942 when the Germans brought a seedling of an oak here and planted it in the center of the town with all honors, an army orchestra and salutes," said Kazimierz Polak, who was present at the planting ceremony as a child 67 years ago.

"My father told me then that it was Hitler's birthday and we found out later the seedling had come from Braunau am Inn (in Austria) where Hitler was born," Polak said.

"It's a historic curiosity. What is the oak really guilty of? It's not the tree's fault that it was planted here to honor the biggest criminal and enemy of Poland."

(Reporting by Piotr Augustynek, writing by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Gareth Jones and Ralph Boulton)

NASA delays space shuttle launch until Sunday

source:http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE56A1MD20090711

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA postponed the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on Saturday to assess possible damage from lightning strikes at the launch pad overnight, a space agency official said.

The next launch attempt will be Sunday evening. Endeavour had been scheduled to lift off at 7:39 p.m. EDT Saturday on a 16-day mission to install a Japanese-built porch on the International Space Station.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz, editing by Doina Chiacu)

HP, Acer Developing Google Chrome OS Netbooks, Schmidt Says

source:http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/HP-Acer-Developing-Google-Chrome-OS-Netbooks-Schmidt-Says-384335/

HP and Acer netbooks running Google’s new Chrome OS could be available as soon as this year, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt announced at the annual Allen & Company conference. Chrome OS may give Schmidt reason to leave Apple’s board, but he declined to acknowledge Microsoft as a competitor.

Netbooks running Chrome OS, Google’s newly announced operating system, may be available later this year, according to a report from Reuters, which quoted Google chief executive Eric Schmidt at the Allen & Company media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 9.

“Everybody we’ve talked to under nondisclosure is excited about the plan,” Schmidt told Reuters. “So hopefully later this year we’ll see some announcements.”

According to Reuters, Hewlett-Packard and Acer are working with Google to create devices running Chrome OS, which was designed to better exploit the Chrome browser and modern Web services, such as online applications.

Google introduced Chrome OS on July 7, just nine months after its Chrome browser, which already has nearly 30 million users, according to Google. Initially, the Google team said there would be some overlap between Chrome and Android — Google’s mobile operating system, used predominantly on smartphones — but that the two would still be very distinct.

Speaking on July 9, however, Schmidt told Reuters that the two products are closely related and could eventually “merge even closer.”

Chrome OS is expected to compete with Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, as well as Apple’s OS X platform. Consequently, Schmidt, who is on Apple’s board, told Reuters he is in talks with Apple regarding whether he should excuse himself from that position.

Competition between Google and Microsoft has also grown in recent months, with Microsoft launching its own search engine, Bing — which on July 1 added the capability to search Twitter tweets, a functionality Google does not share.

Schmidt, however, reportedly declined to discuss the rivalry.

“I don’t want to talk about Microsoft,” he told Reuters. “We actually don’t look at market share at all.”

The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, takes place each July and is hosted by the private investment firm Allen & Company. Its guests are typically high-profile business leaders, political figures and philanthropists. Last year’s roster included Rupert Murdoch.

The Folly of Google's Latest Gambit

source:http://online.barrons.com/article/SB124726722483025477.html

The Folly of Google's Latest Gambit

By ERIC J. SAVITZ | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Microsoft to Google: Can't touch this.

GOOGLE IN ITS SHORT LIFE HAS PROVED INCREDIBLY talented at searching the Internet and selling ads. For all the other useful services it offers-e-mail, maps, YouTube, etc. -- it has produced no other financial successes. Nonetheless, it keeps cranking out products, aimed at getting people to spend more time searching the Web-and generating ad impressions.

In perhaps its most daring move, Google (ticker: GOOG) last week unveiled plans to move into the PC operating-system business, taking direct aim at technology's best franchise: Microsoft Windows.

It is a little hard to imagine this quixotic project -- dubbed Google Chrome OS -- will be very successful, for reasons I will discuss in a moment. But it certainly isn't hard to see why they are going to try: The stakes are extremely high. Windows generates $15 billion in annual revenue. It's the heart and soul of Microsoft (MSFT), the centerpiece of Bill Gates' dream to put a PC on every desktop. Other operating systems exist, but none have much traction in PCs. Apple refuses to license OSX for the PC market; Linux is a tiny player in desktops and laptops. Desktop Solaris, anyone? No thanks. Buy a PC, and what you get is a box to run Windows.

Were Google to win a modest share of the PC operating-system market, it would gain a huge edge in the battle for control of the computing universe. But it won't be easy. Google has challenged Microsoft before, to little avail. Gmail is useful but has hardly dented the combination of Outlook and Exchange. Google Apps, an early bet on cloud computing, has barely put a glove on Office.

Google will open-source the Chrome OS software, and give it to PC companies for nothing. That is certainly an alluring price, which is no doubt why Acer (2353.Taiwan), Lenovo (0992.Hong Kong), Asustek Computer (2357.Taiwan), Toshiba (6502.Tokyo) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) have signed up to work with Google on the project. If nothing else, the threat of a free Google OS could pressure Microsoft to cut the prices it charges these companies for Windows.

STILL, THE PROJECT IS A LONG SHOT. The software won't be available for a year or so-a year during which Microsoft will be cranking out Windows 7, a well-reviewed and eagerly awaited version that debuts in October. Buggy, much-maligned Vista would have been an easier target; too bad Google didn't make the effort a few years ago.

[5day]
OS SOS: Google plans an operating system to compete next year against Microsoft Windows. The Nasdaq index finished Friday at 1756, off 2.3% for the week.

I think Google misunderstands the nature of netbooks, which simply are small, cheap, lightweight PCs. Early versions ran Linux, and didn't sell. Once the netbook companies loaded them with Windows, sales picked up. On its last earnings call, Microsoft noted that the attach rate for Windows on netbooks had reached 90%. The people have spoken. Netbooks are a misnomer; while people do use them to connect with the Web, they use them for a lot of other things. Customers want netbooks to run standard software, including Office. And I doubt there will ever be a version of Office for Chrome OS.

As Vista demonstrated, an operating system can be a tricky beast. Google claims Chrome will be fast-loading, clean and virus-free. Nice, but I also want it to support my printer, work with iTunes and let me play cool games. And I want it to do useful work when I have no Web access. Google already had an OS, Android. First targeted at smartphones, Android is also going to show up in netbooks. Two new operating systems with overlapping markets? Really?

Google's decision to attack Windows comes just weeks after Microsoft's launch of Bing, a well-received search engine that is attacking Google at its core. Data from Hitwise shows Microsoft in June saw usage of its new search engine increase an average 25% a week sequentially through the month. Microsoft's task is more manageable. Search engines aren't that sticky. Operating systems require a commitment.

The boys in Redmond are holding the better hand.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Introducing the Google Chrome OS

from google blog
source:http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html

Introducing the Google Chrome OS

7/07/2009 09:37:00 PM
It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

We have a lot of work to do, and we're definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision. We're excited for what's to come and we hope you are too. Stay tuned for more updates in the fall and have a great summer.

Links to this post

Google Chrome OS planned for Q2 2010 - New technologies portal