Ever wonder how many PC's are sold per year? What about per day, hour, minute? These numbers are astonishing and frankly hard to really see how big they are. So, we've done our best to show you a visual of the numbers and a few other amazing computer statistics. We hope you enjoy, and please do SHARE!
Microsoft recently announced that they are sticking to the cutoff date for Windows XP of June 30th. They tried this in January, but everyone complained and it was extended to June. But so far, it looks like June 30th will be the date. It is pretty amazing to think of how long Windows XP has lasted. For example, when it was released in October of 2001, the minimum processor to run it was a 233 MHZ processor, with 300 MHZ the recommended speed. Amazingly, they claimed you could run it on 64 MB of Ram, and that you only needed 1.5 GB to install it. As an interesting comparison, here are the system requirements for Vista: 1 GHz Processor, 1 GB memory, 15 GB of available hard drive space, and a 128 GB graphics card. Maybe that is why 99% of the computers we have sold in the past two years have still had XP on them. On identical hardware, Windows Vista is slower than Windows XP. Functionally, our users don’t see any improvements that justify the required extra expenses to get a machine fast enough to tolerably run Vista. Windows XP still accounts for about 63 percent of all Internet-connected computers, according to March 2009 statistics from Hitslink, while Windows Vista makes up about 24 percent.
But don’t count Microsoft out yet. They have done more than just increase their Vista marketing budget to try and convince you that Vista is worth upgrading to. They have also been working on Windows 7. And, I must say, the future is bright. I have been using Windows 7 for a couple of weeks now on my work machine, and I love it. I hope to get a blog up shortly telling you why I think it is much better than Vista. Now the only question is what to do after June 30th?
In the world of IT, there are a number of maintenance activities that need to be performed regularly in order to keep a network running smoothly. Much like changing the oil or rotating the tires on a car, system updates, backups, hard drive defragmentations and other processes are important for maintaining the overall health of a network or server. Many of these processes require system resources or even system down time, so a certain amount of planning and organization is required in order to minimize impact on end users or overall system performance. In addition, running too many of these tasks at the same time can cause these processes to slow down or even conflict with each other, further complicating the issues associated with system maintenance.
For these reasons, we have strived to maintain a proper schedule when it comes to system maintenance tasks. Most of these services happen during off hours when end users will be impacted least. In addition, they are set up to run at specific times in order to minimize conflicts, such as updates causing the system to reboot while a backup is in progress. It also allows for greater troubleshooting. For instance, if we know all system updates occur on a specific night, it makes it easier to assess whether or not those patches are related to a specific issue that a system may be having. This kind of organization not only allows us to provide better service, but is also essential to ensuring proper system health while minimizing system down time.
As computers progress and get cheaper, it is often easier and cheaper to replace a computer than it is to fix it. Some of our clients aren’t used to this approach. Many have been using computers since they cost $5,000 and are accustomed to maximizing the investment by getting as much use as possible out of the computer. Here are some of the reasons I give when I tell clients their money would be better spent replacing a problematic PC older than 3 years:
Productivity. Almost everyone who gets a new computer talks about how much faster it is compared to the old one. For business owners, that means your employees can be more productive, and hopefully make you more money.
Data protection. While it is always good to test your backup strategy, doing so by experiencing a failed hard drive is not what I would recommend. A 3+year old hard drive is in some cases a ticking time bomb. It is much easier to replace a computer before the hard drive dies.
New programs and features. Often times, companies contact us when they have a new program they want to install that won’t run on the computers they are currently using. This means that if they want to run the new program, all computers need to be upgraded or usually replaced.
Warranties. As a machine gets older, it is often more difficult to find replacement parts for some components. By being covered by a manufacturer’s warranty, we can typically receive all necessary parts next business day, free of charge.
Budgets. When you drive a computer until the wheels fall off, it is difficult to predict what the expenses will be. Computers often die a slow death, requiring on-site visits to replace failed components and employee downtime. If a company decides to replace all computers every three or four years, it is easy to plan in advance, before yearly budgets are created, which machines will need to be replaced during that year.
Dell doesn’t change platforms that often with their corporate customers, so when they do, it is a pretty big deal. The seven-year-old latitude D series will be phased out by the end of the year being replaced by the E series. Here’s why I will be ordering one as soon as possible:
Dell Latitude ONTM. Sometimes when I am traveling with my laptop, I need to get something on the internet real quick, or I need to check my e-mail. I don’t necessarily need to wait for Windows to start up to do simple tasks. Latitude ON allows you to pretty much instantly boot into a simple operating system (Linux based) to access your e-mail, calendar, contacts, or browse the internet. Since it is not using your system’s main processor or hard drive, it dramatically improves battery life.
Style. Some people say style shouldn’t matter for corporate computers, but when it comes to laptops, size and looks count. The new laptops are around 1 inch thin, and start out at around 2 lbs. This means you won’t feel inadequate sitting next to someone using a Macbook.
Speed. The new laptops use faster DD3 memory, faster processors, and are available with the latest solid state disk drives (sorry, I had to use a little geek speak, I am talking about a computer after all.
I am holding out for the Latitude E4300 due to be released in the next few weeks. It is the smallest Latitude available that uses full-size laptop components. This means you don’t have to sacrifice speed for size.
For those who know me, you know that I love technology. I am the one who has a new cell phone every six to nine months. My house has more computers than it does people. I am always reading blogs that tell me about new products that are coming out. I am often asked why I love technology so much (usually by my wife as I tell her about the new cell phone I have to buy) so I often wonder, is it simply because I want the newest gadget out there? I would like to think there is a better reason than that. I think the reason is simply I like solving problems. For me, I don’t want a new cell phone simply because it is new; I want a new cell phone in hopes that it will solve everything I hated about my old cell phone. And when that doesn’t work, I have to try again in six months or so.
This same problem solver mentality is seen as I design networks for clients. Usually we install a network and don’t have to change any equipment for three years. Recently, at one of our clients, we replaced a server that we installed about 18 months ago. It made me realize how far technology has come and how powerful it can be. When we installed their server 18 months ago, it was about a 16 hour job. It involved a technician going on-site after business hours, taking the entire network down, and migrating data to the new server. It also involved a technician being on-site the first two hours of business operations to finish the migration and update client computers. While we did an excellent job and it was seamless in the client’s eyes, it was a labor intensive job requiring a technician on-site for several overtime hours.
When it came time to replace the client’s second, aging server, we were able to dramatically change how the work was done using a technology we have been using heavily for the past year, VMware. VMware allows multiple servers to run virtually on a single piece of hardware. For this client, we replaced the 18 month old server and the much older server with a single new server running VMware. The previous server replacement took 16 hours with a technician on-site for most of that time, and it only involved replacing a single server. This time around, we were able to replace both servers with only two hours on-site, and three hours of remote labor. The best part is in three to five years when the client looks at replacing that piece of hardware, it will be a one hour job. That’s why I love technology.
Microsoft recently announced that they are sticking to the cutoff date for Windows XP of June 30th. They tried this in January, but everyone complained and it was extended to June. But so far, it looks like June 30th will be the date. It is pretty amazing to think of how long Windows XP has lasted. For example, when it was released in October of 2001, the minimum processor to run it was a 233 MHZ processor, with 300 MHZ the recommended speed. Amazingly, they claimed you could run it on 64 MB of Ram, and that you only needed 1.5 GB to install it. As an interesting comparison, here are the system requirements for Vista: 1 GHz Processor, 1 GB memory, 15 GB of available hard drive space, and a 128 GB graphics card. Maybe that is why 99% of the computers we have sold in the past two years have still had XP on them. On identical hardware, Windows Vista is slower than Windows XP. Functionally, our users don’t see any improvements that justify the required extra expenses to get a machine fast enough to tolerably run Vista. Windows XP still accounts for about 63 percent of all Internet-connected computers, according to March 2009 statistics from Hitslink, while Windows Vista makes up about 24 percent.