PC users are starting to resent taking part in science projects
Article Abstract:
The computer industry has a history of releasing products with known defects and providing faulty services. This may be due to some general misconceptions that the high tech industry holds to be true. The first misconception of people in high tech fields is that they are working on the most cutting edge technology in the world, so there is no problem with selling services and products that have known defects. The second attitude is to view customers as testers of experimental products, similar to a science project. Intel has admittedly released the Pentium II with 24 known defects. Microsoft's Word 97 files can not be saved in a format that is readable by past Microsoft word processing programs, even though the company said there would be an option provided to do so. Microsoft also shut down its mail server for two days, with only a couple hours notice, simply explaining that one of its mail servers was full.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1997
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The new champion in lightweight PCs: Hewlett's OmniBook
Article Abstract:
HP's $2,200 OmniBook 300 achieves various long-sought portability goals. The product is light, weighing only three pounds, yet it is powerful enough to run a Microsoft Windows-based word processor. The OmniBook comes with a standard-sized keyboard and a satisfactory nine-inch screen. There is a mouse that pops out of the computer's side. The OmniBook has four slots that accept PCMCIA cards. One of the slots holds Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS on permanent memory chips. A second card is for memory, holding rewritable chips that can accept 20Mbytes of data, or a miniaturized 40Mbyte hard disk drive. If the disk drive is not used, the OmniBook can run for as long as six hours on four ordinary AA alkaline batteries. The hard-disk model, which requires more power, needs AA lithium batteries. Options raise the computer's price to about $3,000.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1993
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Changing 'engines' is an easy way to soup up PCs
Article Abstract:
Users can replace their central processing unit (CPU) with Intel Corp's OverDrive microprocessor to speed up their microcomputers. In a test case using a Packard Bell IBM compatible 80486SX/20 system, it is easy to follow Intel's instructions to open the machine and replace the CPU chip with the OverDrive chip. In some 486SX computers there is a vacant socket ready to house the OverDrive chip so replacement of the CPU is not necessary. A performance test from the Norton Utilities program indicated that the computer's processing speed was increased by 66 percent, making the 486SX over twice as fast as a 386/33 system. The OverDrive chip provides this speed by reinstating the math circuitry disabled in the 486SX chip and doubles the CPU's speed in certain computations.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1992
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