Word: pc
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Windows XP is really the first easy-to-use, built-from-scratch operating system for PC users. It narrows the ain't-computing-fun gap with the Macintosh platform. That's because Microsoft took a cue or two from Apple...
...biggest change in Windows will remind users once again of Microsoft's corporate muscle: you will be forced to log in to XP. At home, where I share my PC with my three daughters, we now all have our own "accounts" that arrange our desktops. Ella, who has a thing for cows, has a bovine motif, for instance; Zoe prefers a King Tut theme. When I'm allowed on the machine, I hit Windows-L and instantly hot-key into my own account (a desktop built on a Daniel Clowes comic). Whatever programs my daughters are running continue...
Take a peek under your desk. See that snarl of cables, leads, paper clips and lost printouts cascading from the butt end of your PC? Well, etch the ugly sight into your memory for nostalgic reference. Computer cables are going the way of eight-tracks, pet rocks and typewriters. A wireless revolution is seeping into our homes, schools, offices and gathering points very quietly, and setting up what appears to be a face-off between two competing technical standards...
...rate of a dial-up modem, making it an ideal technology for linking computers to one another and to the Net in a wireless local-area network, or WLAN. It also has the advantage of being unequivocally here and relatively easy to use. All you need is a specialized PC card (for as low as $90) that slips into a slot in your computer, and an access point or base station (available for less than $300) capable of linking several computers. The downside? Higher power means higher power consumption--which reduces a laptop's battery life drastically. "It's physics...
Manufacturers hoping to boost a sagging PC market are racing to equip computers for wireless networking. "It's considered something of vast importance, given the economic slowdown," says International Data Corp. (IDC) analyst Jason Smolek. Compaq, Gateway and Dell are all selling computers with built-in wireless networking capabilities. IBM launched a top-line Wi-Fi equipped laptop named ThinkPad T23 in late July that offers enhanced security features. Apple, which virtually pioneered wireless home networking when it launched AirPort in 1999, is ahead of the pack. All its computers have been WLAN-ready since then...