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The Apple-1: The Original Apple Computer

While we have certainly come a long way from the Apple-1, we still find ourselves continually looking for improved computer performance.

It’s hard not to talk about computer history without mentioning Apple computers. Computer design and capability have obviously come a long way since the Apple-1, but it’s important to identify some of the early pioneers of the personal computer movement. Without computer clubs and visionaries like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who knows how different the industry may have turned out. [Read more…]

One Keyboard Shortcut You Should be Using

Keyboard shortcuts can make it easier to work with your PC.

Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of two or more keys that you can use to perform a task that would typically require a mouse or other pointing device. Keyboard shortcuts can make it easier to work with your PC, saving you time and effort as you work with Windows and other apps. But the recent update to Windows 10 has changed some of those time-honored keyboard shortcuts (and added some new ones!) So here is one of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for multitasking: Window Snapping!

[Read more…]

Tech Talk: Intellectual Property in a World of Innovation

 

What is innovation in a world of intellectual property?

Today we’re going to be doing something a little different. We’re going to be talking about a recent event in the tech world. Apple, creator of the iPhone, is suing Samsung, creator of the Galaxy line. The innovative and usually forward thinking company claims that the Samsung Galaxy has features that were stolen from the iPhone such as “edge-to-edge glass design,” “tap to zoom,” as well as other features. This legal battles has been going on for years and many different tech celebrities have been involved to varying degrees including Facebook, Ebay, HP, Dell, and even the big “G” itself, Google. But what does any of this have to do with you, the consumer? Well, the effects of this case could seep into the overall climate of the tech community and cause changes that may trickle down to you. [Read more…]

We’ve got the rundown on Windows 10

Is Windows 10 right for you?

Microsoft is coming out with a hot new operating system (OS) called Windows 10. As with any new OS, you need to get the rundown so that you know what you’re getting yourself into before you invest. That’s why we’re here with the facts so that you can decide whether or not Windows 10 is right for you. Ready to learn more? Well, here we go! [Read more…]

Windows Sales have declined since the launch of Windows 8

“People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn’t they? People feared coal, they feared gas-powered engines… There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters.” – Bill Gates

Well, Microsoft has recently changed, launching its newest version of its popular operating system, Windows 8, and people have not been receptive. In fact, window sales were down 21% after the first four weeks Windows 8 was on the market.

“Windows 8 has captured 58% of Windows computing device sales. Comparatively, Windows 7 had garnered 83% of such device sales in its first four weeks of release,” according to the NPD Group.

However, it is unclear as to whether the drop in sales is due to the release of Windows 8 or the fact that Microsoft increased the average price of its machines from $433 to $477 after the release of the new operating system. The only thing that is for certain is that Microsoft Windows sales are down. But Microsoft should have saw this coming, right? Public opinion of Windows 8 was not good when the product was demoed before its full scale launch. If you recall from one of our previous blog posts a few months ago, before the launch of Windows 8, most analysts were not very high on the new operating system.

 

According to ZDNet.com, even hard-core Windows 8 fans prefer Windows 7 by a two to one margin.

“We really don’t think Windows 8 will get significant traction as a PC OS in a corporate environment,” said Gartner analyst Steve Kleynhans. “Why? Because Windows 8 is a “plumbing” upgrade. This is an upgrade that drastically changes the technology without adding significant improvements.” “An SMB is unlikely to decide ‘Windows 7 is no longer good enough, I must have Windows 8!’,” said Analysys Mason analyst Patrick Rusby. “Windows 7 is proven and popular.”

Do you have Windows 8 or have you used it? What do you think about the new operating system? Do you love it, hate it, or are you indifferent? We want to hear from you!

If you have any questions, please contact Working Nets by calling (443) 992-7394 or visit WorkingNets.com today!

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Windows Sales Down 21% Since Windows 8 Launch

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Google Drive Not as Useful as it Could Be for Small Business

Google Drive is now one of those Google products that could potentially be of great value to small business… but it’s not really implemented in a way that would provide maximum usefulness to a business.

Google Drive is designed to be like Drop Box. You install a small client piece onto a computer, and then anything saved into its folder is quickly replicated to Google’s servers. From there it can be accessed via a web-browser, for remote document access, or even synced to the user’s home (or other) computer. Documents stored on Google Drive have versioning turned on as well, so you can easily access an earlier version of the document if you need to. In short, Google Drive can function as both an online backup system and a remote-access service. Not only that, but you can share documents with others, allowing them to read or even edit those documents, remotely. And the pricing structure is reasonable too. You can get small amounts of space for even $3.00 / mo. 200Gb only costs you $14.95/mo. That’s a decent amount of storage for a very small price-tag.

Security is… well, it’s as strong as your credentials. If you don’t share your username/password with others; if you don’t use easy-to-guess passwords, then the data is not accessible by the bad guys… unless, of course, they work for Google. Google’s servers, applications and ergo their system admins can technically get into your data and read your proprietary data. Their Privacy Policies say they won’t, but you ultimately have to trust them not to poke around in your data, or not be worried if they do. And if access to your data is subpoenaed, they can and will give it to the courts. So you have to be okay with that. If you’re not, this is certainly not for you.

But there are some other things about it that make it significantly less valuable to a small business, at least in my opinion. For one thing, the data must be housed in a \GoogleDrive folder substructure. You can point it at whatever base folder you like, but it will create a \GoogleDrive folder for its own use. That seriously limits some of the innate utility of the service, like using it to back up all your documents online. For many small businesses, 200Gb is plenty, and you can get more if you need it. But what difference does it make to Google whether I’m pointing it to C:\SharedDocs\GoogleDrive or pointing it to C:\SharedDocs? If the customers are paying for the data storage, they should be able to have it copy whatever data they want copied, right?

And then there’s the fact that it won’t run on a Windows Server OS. One of my clients has about 100Gb of data on his server’s data volume. He would like to have access to that data when he’s not in the office, and be able to allow some of his staff to access it remotely as well. We thought Google Drive might be a solution for him. But since we can’t run it on the server, we’re not really able to get this to work for him. Not only that, but when we try to run it from his workstation (WinXP SP3), and point it at the server shared drive, the client crashes. So it doesn’t work at all. I don’t know whether this would be more stable in Windows 7, but even so, he would have to leave his workstation on all the time, because we can’t run it directly on the server anyway.

So in summary, Google Drive has it’s place, but for many small businesses, it’s another almost-really-useful product by Google.