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| 17th August 2007 |
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Prompt Communications Newsletter
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Dear Reader,
Welcome to another edition of the Prompt Communications newsletter. An interesting move from Google this week, as the company adds Sun's StarOffice 8 office suite to its free bundle of esseential downloads, instead of OpenOffice instead of OpenOffice as widely anticipated. We're not sure what, if anything, this signifies but since StarOffice usually costs $70 and Google's now giving it away for free, we doubt many people will complain.
For any feedback on our newsletter, or to discuss how we can help you with your technology PR, marketing, social media and blogging consultancy, copywriting or surveys, please email me at hbutters@prompt-communications.com. We are always delighted to hear from you.
Best regards,
Hazel Butters
Prompt Communications
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Enterprise Technology Update
By Lance Concannon
Business slow to adopt Vista
Techworld reports that Forrester Research has found businesses are still dragging their heels when it comes to upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft's Windows operating system. The analyst firm interviewed 45 IT managers and found that most of them said they were waiting for Service Pack 1 to be released before considering migrating to Vista. This is hardly surprising, since it's widely considered to be good practice to hold off moving to a new version of any major software product until the first wave of early adopters have helped iron out all of the bugs. The release of Service Pack 1 normally signals that point in the lifecycle of an MS operating system.
Of course, the elephant in this particular room is the fact that Windows XP was, and still is, a perfectly good desktop operating system for most purposes. We wouldn't be surprised if a lot of IT managers are delaying their upgrade until MS forces them to do so by ending support for XP. Given the enduring popularity of the system, that could be a few more years at least.
StarOffice bundled with Google Pack
Google has added StarOffice 8 to it's free package of essential downloads known as Google Pack. The pack includes a selection of useful software from Google and other developers, including Google Earth, Firefox, Adobe Reader and RealPlayer. While the addition of an office suite to the pack isn't surprising, the choice of Sun's StarOffice 8 is interesting since the suite normally costs US$70.
Many people expected Google to opt for the popular open source office suite OpenOffice.org since it's completely free. Although Google has yet to comment on this decision, its likely that the distribution deal it signed with Sun in late 2005 was a significant factor.
Intel and Symantec to work on security chips
Reuters reports that Symantec and Intel are working together to develop new security products that will be built directly into Intel microprocessors, rather than running at the software level. A Symantec executive described the technology as "running underneath or alongside the operating system. The technology will initially be targeted at servers and business desktops, but might eventually find its way onto consumer PCs.
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Marketing Update
By Elissa Fry and Lisa Facinelli
Conde Nast launches new channel on YouTube
Following the explosion in popularity of social networking, it is no surprise that Conde Nast has announced the launch of an Easy living channel on YouTube. New Media Age online reports that the Easy Living channel will be aimed at foodies, with a series of cookery videos showing really simple recipes. Conde Nast hopes to follow its success with the launch of Vogue on YouTube, which has received more then 230, 000 hits since mid June of this year.
Friends of the Earth not so friendly
Environment group Friends of the Earth has pulled out of plans to sign a deal with BSkyB that would have given it widespread coverage as Sky’s charity partner. According to Guardian Unlimited (subscription required) the partnership would have given the charity group access to Sky’s 8.9million customers as well as £1.7m in donations and support from Sky.
However, an internal revolt amongst Friends of the Earth staff, ended any possibility of collaboration between the two organisations, with staff warning that any liaison would damage the charity’s reputation for independence.
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US Media Report
By Tarryn Morley
Lorraine Woellert is leaving BusinessWeek to become a Congress reporter for Bloomberg News' Washington, D.C. bureau. She will begin her new position at Bloomberg at the end of August.
Roberto Baldwin is the new online editor for MacLife.com. Baldwin began his new role on August 13th. Previously, he was a member of the web team at TMZ.com and wrote for Z-Gadgets, TMZ.com's tech section.
Although Portfolio has only just published its second issue, there have already been two high-profile departures at the magazine. The most recent departure is Kurt Eichenwald, a senior writer and investigative reporter. Before joining Conde Nast's Portfolio in 2006, Eichenwald was an investigative reporter at the New York Times.
UK Media Report
By Tarryn Morley
Andy Davis has been appointed editor of FT Weekend. Davis has held several editorial positions at the newspaper and is currently the paper's development editor. He will replace Michael Skapinker, who is stepping down to write and edit a Financial Times weekly business column.
Sam Jones has been hired by the Financial Times as a reporter. Jones was previously staff writer for International Financial Law Review and will be starting work at the Financial Times shortly.
Alun Williams has been hired as a web editor for Reed Business Information's Electronics Weekly. Previously, Williams worked for PC Pro and was a features editor on .EXE magazine.
Sky News has partnered with video-sharing website SkyCast to offer Second Life residents the opportunity to become virtual journalists. To join the "reporters' challenge", members must collect a Sky News microphone from the foyer of the Sky's virtual newsroom in Second Life and submit a two-minute video report on a story or issue relevant to the virtual community by September 30. These reports will then be hosted on skycast.com and the best entries will run on the Sky News website.
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Consumer Technology Update
By Sean McManus and Lance Concannon
The end for Google's video store
Google has pulled the plug on its video store and left paying customers with broken files that will no longer play. Because the videos Google sold are protected with digital rights management (DRM) controls to stop unauthorised copying, they stopped working when Google switched off its authentication servers on Wednesday. Customers who paid to download shows such as CSI, on the understanding that they would always be able to view them, have been denied a refund and instead offered a discount voucher for Google Checkout. If they want to get their money back, they'll need to find a shop that supports Google Checkout, buy something, and pay the additional tax and shipping charges - all within 60 days.
The Library of Congress in the US rejected the idea of leaving a loophole in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to allow DRM to be broken on products that no longer work. Google's shutdown might prompt a re-think, and is sure to make iTunes customers nervous about what they're spending their money on. Apple recently introduced DRM-free downloads from EMI, costing 30c or 30p more than restricted files. Sales went up by two or three times for some titles overnight.
Hotmail upped to 5Gb
Microsoft this week announced that it would increase the mailbox size for Hotmail users from 2Gb to 5Gb, no doubt spurred by Google's recent announcement that it plans to offer additional storage space to users of its range of online services including Gmail, Docs and Picassa, at a price of US$20 per year for 6Gb. Additional storage space is likely to be a useful proposition for intensive users of Google's services, but it's hard to imagine many Hotmail users needing more than the existing 2Gb of storage, no matter how many attachments they get sent every day.
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Web 2.0 Watch
By Fiona Blamey
I have seen the future, and it's not very exciting.
According to Facebook, I have 52 friends.
Of course 'friendship' is an elastic concept nowadays. Several of my Facebook friends wouldn't recognise me if they passed me in the street. But I do know who they all are, because they're listed under their real names, with real photos of themselves. There's just one exception - a chap with a fake name who's chosen to illustrate himself with a picture of a monkey.
My monkey-friend isn't just an exception on my friends list; he's an exception on Facebook as a whole. Back in 2001, I frequented a chatboard that carried the disclaimer: 'No one here is who they say they are. All celebrity postings are impersonated...badly.' On Facebook, you can be fairly sure that everyone is who they say they are, and that all celebrity postings are typed by the celebrity in question.
This may be why Facebook is popular with people who wouldn't ordinarily socialise on the internet. Rather than a dangerous no man's land, it's a perfect, reassuring mirror of real life.
I think it's rubbish.
I'm already nostalgic for the days when you had no idea who you were talking to online, when no one really did know if you were a dog or a monkey or Christine Hamilton or that bloke out of Belle & Sebastian. When everyone had names like Joss Ackland's Spunky Backpack and Backstage with Slowdive, and you could spend weeks flirting with a lego minifigure with half a raspberry on its head before finding out it was actually your mum.
Yes, a lot of that still goes on. But looking at Facebook, I can't help but think I'm seeing the future. And it seems to consist of lots of neatly ordered photographs of people kissing their babies, looking content, and politely throwing pretend hamburgers at each other in a carefully sanitised play area.
It's hardly the messed-up cyber-future imagined in Neuromancer and Snow Crash. If the state is indeed 'pooing its pants about the digital revolution', as last Sunday's Observer had it, its bowel movements may be in vain. We seem to be tidying up the internet, shelving our elusive alter egos, and obediently consolidating our online activity around our actual real-life identity - without any encouragement at all from the government.
There are some people for whom this moment hasn't come too soon. I don't think I'm one of them.
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Best of the 'Net
By Sean McManus
Get that Jet
In this simple game, you take a paper plane and throw it across a virtual screen. If you can get it far enough, you might be able to fly it out the window on the other side. It'll drive you insane trying to do it. And for all we know, where the plane goes could be completely random. Madness.
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Tech Toon
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