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12 MAXIMUMPC MAR 2020 maximumpc.com
TRIUMPHS TRAGEDIES
2019: GOOD YEAR FOR PCs
Sales were up 2.7 percent,
according to analysts IDC, ending
seven years of contraction.UNIVERSAL MEMORY
Scientists have theoretically
found a way to build non-volatile
memory that’s as fast as DRAM.DISNEY+ TOPS CHART
The Disney+ streaming app was
the most downloaded app of
Q4 last year. It also made $
million in the first month—more
than HBO has made any month.MICROSOFT FORCES BING
A new Chrome extension from
Microsoft will force Office 365
ProPlus users to have Bing as
the default search engine.TESLA GOES TOO FAST
After 127 cases of “unintended
acceleration,” the NHTSA is
considering an investigation.MUSK VS. ASTRONOMERS
SpaceX’s plans for a global
network of satellites means
bright streaks appearing
across the world’s telescopes.A monthly snapshot of what’s good and bad in techTech Triumphs and Tragedies
FACEBOOK’S PLANS to launch a worldwide blockchain currency are slowly
unraveling. The Libra Association is losing its major players at an alarming
rate. PayPal dropped out first, then Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe left a week
before the formal signup. The political pressure hasn’t helped. A letter
from two Senators to prospective members made this clear: “You should
be extremely cautious,” it read, and promised a high level of scrutiny. Now
Vodaphone has pulled out, leaving just Uber and Lyft as known big names.
If nothing else, Libra has caused a stir in financial circles, and prompted
much discussion at the World Economic Forum. The idea of a truly global
stable digital currency is still sound, but it looks as if Libra may not be the
vehicle to do it, or not in the way it had once hoped. It still has some good
non-profit backers. One aim it has always had is as a financial service for
the “unbanked” in developing nations; here it has a decent chance, but its
grander schemes look to have fallen, or been pushed, to the wayside. –CLWheels coming off
Facebook’s grand plansFA CE BOOK’S
LIBRA STALLSSTEAM COMING
TO CHROME
GOOGLE’S CHROME OS may have started life as little more than a browser, but the company
has been building it into much more. Now it’s going to add more fun too, with support
for Steam. Getting this on to the millions of Chrome devices will bring Valve a healthy
number of new customers. Steam already has a Linux client, so the project shouldn’t
be too complex. How good Chrome devices are going to be at playing games is another
matter. They were initially intended as simple, cloud-based Internet devices. There are
no Chromebooks with a discrete GPU, but there have been hints of AMD GPUs. However,
the integrated GPUs are getting pretty good, and you won’t be running demanding top-
tier games on a Linux system anyway. All good news if you’re stuck with a Chromebook
for work or school—soon you’ll be able to burn time playing “proper” games. –CLFANCY SOME GAMING ON
YOUR CHROMEBOOK?WINDOWS 7 has now entered the twilight
world of “legacy” computing. Support from
Microsoft officially ended on January 14.
It is still possible to get security updates,
if you’re a business and prepared to pay.
Initially, ESU, Extended Security Updates,
were only to be available for Professional
and Enterprise versions, but Microsoft has
backtracked, and now promises to support
“all business customers,” as long as they
have an Office 365 Business subscription.
It’s a yearly fee, and is planned to last three
years. It costs $25 or $50 for the first year,
depending on your business subscription.
This doubles per year, so could be as much
as $350 per machine for the full deal. After
the third year, you really are on your own.
One organization that wasn’t ready was
the German government, which still has
thousands of Win 7 boxes, and has paid out
$887,000 so far for extended support.
How many Win 7 systems are out there?
More than you’d think. Most estimates are
around the 25 percent mark. This is a lot
of PCs, many millions, which makes it a
tempting target for malicious types. It
is possible that Microsoft will issue a
security patch if something properly nasty
happens; it did this for XP, five years after
official support ended, when a worrying
vulnerability was discovered.
The problem is that Windows 7 was so
popular. It took Win 10 over four years to
match its numbers, despite Microsoft’s
free update offer. This officially ended in
2016, but it didn’t actually stop it, merely
stopped publicizing it. You can still update
your system from the “Download Win 10”
section of the Microsoft site, as long as
you have a valid license for Win 7 or later.
Win 7 machines are going to be around for
a long time, and while Microsoft would like
you to upgrade, and doom-mongers will
worry about being hacked, it looks as if it’ll
soldier on for years. This isn’t a problem
we’ll have when Windows 8’s time is up—
it’s used on under 4 percent of PCs. –CLNo more security updates
GAME OVER
FOR WIN 7
©^FA
CEBOOK