Category Archives: San Diego Computer Repair

Windows XP No Longer Installed on Netbooks

Before Windows 7 launched, there was a lot of consternation about when Microsoft planned to cut off the supply of Windows XP to netbook makers.

This week, Microsoft officials reminded customers and partners of that deadline date – October 22, 2010. As of that date, “OEMs will no longer be able to pre-install Windows XP Home on new netbook PCs,” Microsoft officials said. (Microsoft announced this cutoff date back in 2008, when Microsoft called netbooks ultra-low-cost PCs, or ULPCs)

There are still a number of XP-based netbooks for sale at retail. But the number of Windows 7 netbooks has been picking up since Windows 7 launched in October. According to NPD’s Retail Tracking Service, as of April 2010, 81 percent of netbooks sold at retail in the U.S. came with Windows 7 preinstalled (according to a new post on the Microsoft “Blogging Windows” site).

A year ago, there was considerable worry about the price Microsoft planned to charge PC makers for Windows 7. The company is believed to charge OEMs about $15 per copy for XP. The rumored price per copy of Windows 7 is closer to $50. (Microsoft officials won’t comment on the record about the exact price per copy the company charges OEMs for any version of Windows.) The thinking a year ago was that PC makers would have to pass that higher cost on to consumers. However, netbooks have stayed cheap. OEMs (and Microsoft) have been maintaining higher margins by selling more pricey form factors, like thin and lights. Windows 7 slates (when they come to market) might fall into this higher-margin category as well.

There also were concerns a year ago as to how well Windows 7 would run on netbooks. Would anything but the lowest end SKUs be too cumbersome to run on low-power processors and/or machines with smaller amounts of drive space? The answer has proven to be no to both. A number of users are running Windows 7 Ultimate — and not just Home or Home Premium — on their netbooks.

Meanwhile, one more Windows-related date reminder: July 13, 2010 is the date when Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 2 reaches the end of support. If you still want/need Microsoft support for XP, you should move to XP SP3 before that date. Extended support — which means paid support plus free security hotfixes — for XP SP3 ends in April 2014.

Child Starves to Death while parents raised a Virtual child

Seoul, South Korea — A couple whose baby starved to death while they raised a virtual child in an online fantasy game was sentenced Friday, their defense attorney said.

Prosecutors at Suwon District Court had sought a five-year sentence for negligent homicide, but the court handed out a two-year sentence.

Sentence was suspended for the female defendant, Kim Yun-jeong, 25, who is expecting the couple’s daughter in August. Her partner, Kim Jae-beom, 41, will serve two years.

The unmarried couple’s defense attorney said he was satisfied with the sentence.

“This is the first legal case regarding Internet addiction in Korea,” said Kim Dong-young, a lawyer with the Korean Legal Aid Corp. “I am pleased that the female defendant’s Internet addiction was taken into consideration, and she was bailed.”

Three-month-old Kim Sa-rang died of malnutrition in September while her parents were engaged in 12-hour sessions of Prius Online. In the 3-D fantasy game, players nurture an online girl who gains magical powers as she grows.

Kim’s mother is a former factory worker while her father is a taxi and truck driver.

During their trial, the court heard that the toddler weighed 6.4 pounds (2.9 kgs) when she was born, but was only 5.5 pounds (2.5 kgs) at the time of her death.

The trial was in March, but sentencing was delayed after the court requested a psychological examination of the mother. Both defendants appeared contrite during the trial, with the mother frequently breaking down in tears.

Internet gaming is hugely popular in South Korea, with some 21,500 ‘PC Bangs’ — or Internet cafes — offering ultra-high speed Internet connections nationwide.

The case has highlighted the dark side of the nation’s Internet, an industry touted by South Korean officials as cutting edge. A public debate is under way in the nation over online privacy and regulating Internet rumors.

There is particular concern about gaming addiction and its effects on teenagers and those estranged from mainstream society. “Consequently, it comes as no surprise to me that two people who were disconnected from society in general found a common psychological space that kept them physically and socially divorced from reality,” said Tom Coyner, Seoul-based author of “Mastering Business in Korea.”

Suwon, the satellite town south of Seoul where the tragedy occurred, was named “Intelligent City of the Year” this month by a New York-based think-tank Intelligent Community Forum.

The honor was awarded because of the town’s investment in broadband infrastructure and its push to increase connection speeds to 1 gigabyte per second, according to reports.