Monday, February 5, 2001		Latest in IT world

For Windows ’95, the end is here

What came to be known as a turning point in the Windows operating system from Microsoft will soon be frozen in terms of sales. Microsoft has decided to phase out the Windows ’95 operating system, one of Microsoft’s most popular products among both consumers and businesses. The license to use this operating system expired in December last. "Beginning January 01, 2001, Dell is no longer licensed to factory install Windows 95," states an "end of life" notice on Dell’s Web site. In addition, Microsoft is not offering the OS under new volume licensing agreements that it sells directly to medium-sized to large businesses. The only place that the OS is still being sold is in the "original equipment manufacturers’ distribution channel," the network of distributors, dealers and small manufacturers. However, sales have dwindled. WindowsMe or the Millennium edition is what Microsoft is now pushing in place of Windows ’95 and Windows ’98

Apple has announced the shipping of its Titanium PowerBook G4 laptop, which the company introduced in San Francisco earlier in January. The company also plans to begin shipping its high-end Power Macs, as scheduled, this month. Company spokesperson has also said the company remains on track to ship its new OS X operating system in March and to begin loading it on new computers in the summer. Apple was the first computer company to come up with a user-friendly operating system, which was later adopted by companies like for Microsoft in its Windows operating system.

The UltimateTV on pause

Microsoft’s UltimateTV service is ready, but consumers will have to wait to use it because the hardware hasn’t hit retail shelves yet. In early January, Microsoft announced that its UltimateTV service was available and that Thomson Multimedia was already manufacturing RCA receivers that would come out this month. Now the receivers are not expected to hit retail stores until March, a Thomson representative has said. The first receiver will be the $399 RCA DirecTV DWD490RE and will come with a built-in hard drive and two digital tuners, which will allow viewers to watch a program on one channel while recording a different show on another. It will also integrate digital video recording, interactive television, Internet access and DirecTV’s satellite service. In the USA UltimateTV will cost $ 9.95 per month, which will allow subscribers to record up to 35 hours of programming and surf the Internet for three hours.