TECHNOLOGY in 2011

Windows 7 with Service Pack 1

Windows 7 will be a year and a half old April, 2011. I have been running Windows 7 for two years starting with the Release Candidate. The recent service pack release has nothing new to add to the original product. SP1 is mostly just a roll up of the patches released since Window 7's release in October, 2009. I highly recommend you upgrade from Windows XP and or Vista or replace your current system with a new one with Windows 7 installed. My opinion now is that if XP is working okay it is broke any way. Get rid of it...

Windows 7 boots up and shuts down faster than XP or Vista with the same hardware.
If your current system has Vista, it should be capable of upgrading to Windows 7.

If your current system has a Pentium 4 or newer processor and at least 1.0GB of ram then it should be capable of upgrading to Windows 7. I have upgraded laptops as old as 2003 models and various desktops that satisfy the memory and CPU requirements.

In all cases the upgraded system works as well if not better than the previous system with XP or Vista.

Virtualization

If you are concerned that Windows 7 might not be compatible with a program or older device, you can run the free Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser here. If there is a program or device that won't run in Windows 7, it is very easy to make a virtual machine from the current XP or Vista machine. When Windows 7 is installed, free virtual host software can be installed that will let you continue to run the old operating system within Windows 7, and use the old program or device.

Not only can a physical machines be converted to a virtual machine, individual applications can be virtualized. Basically the virtual machine and virtual applications become files that are portable.

Virtualization is mainstream technology in the business world. It is available and practical now for consumers to use. It will save money and energy as a long term benefit.

Virtualization software for consumers is well developed. The two best products are free. Oracle's Virtual Box is available here, and VMWARE's Player is available here. Each source has extensive online support on their web sites and there is even more support on the Internet.

Smartphones

The world of computing and communicating are colliding as we speak. Most of us would be happy with a "dumb old" cell phone for keeping in touch when we aren't at home next to our land line phones. There are many communities in the world where landlines are not very common or non existent. They rely exclusively on cell phones.

There are places like the US where landlines are plentiful, but so are cell phones. These "handy" devices are changing rapidly into smartphones and beyond. We hear about "three g" and/or "four g" devices or "3G" and "4G". Each vendors has a different definition as to why their phones are 3G or 4G devices.

E Books, tablets, and netbooks are all very similar yet different. With the expected release of approximately 60 different tablets by the end of 2011, it would seem that the vendors don't know what the consumer wants, and the consumer doesn't know either...

In some countries currently available tablets are also phones...

Current phone technology is based upon the Sprint/Verizon CDMA technology, or the ATT/T-Mobile GSM technology.

Smartphones that also have Internet access use CDMA technology. However, in order to increase cell phone Internet speeds to be equal to or greater than wired speeds, newer technology is required.  LTE or "long term evolution" seems to be the preferred new technology that the four major cell phone providers must build.

There are smartphones and smart tablets on the market today with expensive up front  prices and expensive two year service contracts. Will these devices and services replace our own broadband home Internet services in the long term?

Don't be in a hurry to lock into a contract today. The smartphone world is currently not evolving, it is in a state of revolution.  It is too soon to predict the winners and losers.

I think that a tablet has to be a phone, an ebook, and a computer to catch my attention. Or at least the consumer needs to have the option of which of these features they are willing to pay for.

Stay tuned...