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DVD COMES IN MANY FLAVORS, BUT THE VARIOUS FORMS OF DVD ARE NOT ALL COMPATIBLE. IF YOU'VE EVER WANTED TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DVD-ROM AND DVD-RAM, DVD+RW AND DVD-R, [...]

A study evaluates traditional and quality-corrected indexes in developing price indexes for PC database software and the positive effect of code compatibility. Hedonic and matched-model price indexes models are used to compute software prices. Results reveal that software prices recede at a slower rate compared to PC hardware prices. Results also reveal that code compatibility results in greater price differential.

Major changes in system software are slow in coming. A recent landmark has been the emergence of Unix as the first major machine independent operating system. In 1967, when I […]

When Steve Ballmer launched the consumer version of Windows Vista in January, he boasted that the highly touted operating system was compatible out of the gate with hundreds of software […]

If you've ever wondered why major software releases such as new operating systems take so long, one of the biggest contributing factors is backward compatibility. Microsoft is especially sensitive to […]

In a sea change of philosophy, Microsoft Corp. is working to put security ahead of not just features and functionality, but also legacy application compatibility. In a meeting with eWEEK […]

The personal computer market is estimated to be worth $14.6 billion per year, and the number of PC clone retailers in New England alone attests to the profitability of this industry segment. Investing between $400 and $500 in computer parts and an hour in assembling these parts yields a personal computer clone that retails for between $800 and $1,000. Parts for clones are generally manufactured in Korea and Taiwan. The experiences of some of the PC clone supplying corporations based in New England are related, including short histories of such companies as: Unitech Inc., Microsmart, Computer Age, and Leading Edge Products Inc. As corporations have begun to purchase PC clones in bulk quantities (companies using clones include: Combustion Engineering, Turbine Management Systems, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and NASA), IBM is facing two alternatives: lowering its prices for IBM PCs or developing technologically advanced PCs with proprietary systems.

MICRO TO MAINFRAME GETTING IT TOGETHER Transferring information from a PC to a mainframe and back again (necessary in today's distributed environment) requires considerably more than just a wire or [...]

Beauty and the Beast -- the Mac married to UNIX. The Macintosh operating system has become famous largely because of its pioneering achievements in interfacing humans with computers. UNIX is […]

Although the departmental PC in the last decade has taken over much of what used to be done on a central mainframe, the most widely used computeraided-selling/computer-aided marketing applications show […]

Lack of equipment standardization can make smooth communication between computers difficult or impossible, but 'connectivity' products have been developed to bridge gaps between different systems. Examples of connectivity solution formats include: multitasking, simultasking, multiuser systems, and networking through local area networks. Four basic computer network 'server' options are: sharing network files, sharing a single copy of applications software, using a cross-environment network, or a combination of one of these three methods.

Selecting a personal computer (PC) requires assessing needs in a variety of areas, including current and future compatibility of intended software with the computer. Machine reputation, reliability, and availability of service are important. Performance, memory, and speed are usual operational requirements to consider. Add-on capabilities and price are also vital concerns. Good quality clones may be purchased instead of the higher-end models if only basic applications such as word processing or mailing lists are to be used. Greater memory is required if faster processing speeds will be utilized for high-end applications. Capacity and types of disk drives are important, as are communications capabilities such as facsimile or PC-to-PC interaction.

Widespread Launch of ISDN Blocked by Major Hurdles ST. LOUIS--The widespread implementation of Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) faces three major hurdles, according to users and vendors who attended the […]