The week in your words: news roundup

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 19 Oct 2007 at 18:53

In a week that saw three operating systems meet very different reactions, the BBC try to edge away from a multi-platform version of the iPlayer, and Radiohead discover that people would still prefer to get their free albums peer to peer, we take a look back to see what the PC Pro faithful have made of it all.

A tale of three operating systems

First up then, the news that DSG, the group behind Currys and PC World, reckons Vista has cost it £20 million in lost profits. Unsurprisingly the story stoked up some strong opinion on both sides, especially from SwissMac, who settled for having a pop at both parties.

"Let's face it, Vista must be the most disastrous OS launch for years and years. Having said that, you can't blame Microsoft for Dixons' business error. They are so used to the "New OS = easy money" scenario they didn't notice that most people actually don't need a new OS."

An opinion which had Cjkace nodding sagely in the background.

"Vista is an excuse for the company stagnating, and desperately clutching at straws. Couple their poor decisions, with people's general lack of funds and DSG is heading for a disastrous few years."

Quite, but what conversation about Microsoft is complete without a mention of its arch-nemesis Apple? That was jimexbox's thinking anyway.

"You could level that accusation at Apple," he warms up. "I mean what is the 'killer' new feature that will make the majority of OSX users upgrade to Leopard? How many Mac users are happy with the current incarnation of OSX, and will upgrade when they replace their machine?"

A good question and one debated with gusto when Apple announced it was releasing its new OS, Leopard, on the 26 October.

Unsurprisingly, given Apple's recent pricing predicaments, Leopard's cost quickly emerged as a sticking point. Over to you Caladan.

"According to my currency converting desktop widget US$129 is about £64, and yet Apple UK wants to charge £85 for Leopard, 25% premium on the price for a few changes in the language. AMAZING!"

Amazing, or just VAT? You decide. Still there's always Ubuntu, the free Linux distribution from Canonical, which launched version 7.10 this week. Codenamed "Gutsy Gibbon", the OS offers a slew of new features as well as some extra eye candy, though bizarrely the principal talking point among our readers was the name.

"Any OS that calls itself "gibbon" (one of the funniest words in the English language) gets my vote. I'll be updating my Parallels install later on today," comments paulzolo, expounding one of the lesser known reasons for choosing an operating system. But what to call the next one? Hardy Heron? Hysterical Heffalump? Canonical knows where to turn should its ideas run dry.

BBC iPlayer

And speaking of ideas running dry, this week the BBC tried to fulfil its commitment to "platform neutrality" by offering Mac and Linux users a stripped down version of its iPlayer, an offer that provoked some interesting debate on the limits of the BBC's responsibility to the public.