windows operating system

Android still dominates U.S. smartphone market

Android continues to dominate the U.S. smartphone market, according to data released today by market researcher ComScore.

Google's mobile operating system captured 50.8 percent of the market for the three months ending in April, a 2.2 percent increase over the three months ending in January. Meanwhile, Apple's iOS accounted for 31.4 percent of the market in April, a 1.9 percent increase over January.

The gains by Android and iOS were made on the back of Research In Motion's struggling BlackBerry OS, which lost 3.6 percent of its market share to finish … Read more

Get a Windows 7 Family Pack for $119.99 shipped

Haven't yet upgraded your home PCs to Windows 7? I can understand why: a single upgrade license retails for $119.99, which I find exorbitant for an operating system--even one as solid as Windows 7.

As you may recall, about a month ago, Microsoft rereleased the Windows 7 Family Pack, a three-PC upgrade edition of Windows 7 Home Premium (32 bit or 64 bit, your choice). The price: $149.99. That's a little more like it.

If it wasn't "like it" enough for you, though, your patience just paid off: Dell Home has the Windows 7 Family Pack for $119.99 shipped. (… Read more

Report: Linux makes gains in server applications

A new report from the nonprofit Linux Foundation shows that Linux continues to grow at breakneck speed and will outpace all other server operating systems over the next five years. Additionally, Linux will be chosen for more than 66 percent of new or "greenfield" applications.

The report, titled "Linux Adoption Trends: A Survey of Enterprise End Users," reflects the results of an invitation-only survey with responses from 1,900 individuals. According to the report, Linux adoption continues to grow for a number of reasons, not just driven by reduced costs, but by technical superiority and security … Read more

Clean your computer's clock

This program, like many others, promises to clean your Registry, make your computer run faster, and, if you're lucky, do your dishes, too. At least when it comes to cleaning your Registry, Advanced Registry Optimizer seems to do a pretty good job.

The scan process was easy to initiate and was done in about 3 minutes, although don't forget that the scan time depends on the computer system. A smart-looking row of five tabs and their labels makes navigating the program options stress-free, and the lack of lag on the system was much appreciated. The user interface has … Read more

Confusion is the theme

Although it's touted as a program launcher, we found this free program to be more of a way to group programs and other items in one place on the desktop. Toolbox isn't for the novice, though, if only because of the knowledge required to understand all of its settings and options.

Toolbox has a busy user interface that features menu options at the top of a small window, and two tabs--one for creating toolboxes and another for application settings. You can go the easy route and add a desktop Toolbox with preset components like My Computer and the … Read more

Unix, Linux, and Mac housing projects

This is one of the funniest, best posts I've read in a long time. Randy Jensen wrote it back in 2007, but it just popped up on Digg today. I had never read it. It's hilarious.

Jensen compares different operating systems to types of houses, and comes up with some gems like this:

Windows is the government housing. The houses are built quickly, cheaply and go up anywhere and everywhere. Unfortunately since they were all built so cheaply, you end up spending twice as much later to keep the place standing.

And this:

Linux is the carpenter/designer'… Read more