Apple's New OS Runs on Same Old Hardware

• By Doug Barney
• 10/29/2007

But no. A quick search of Apple.com reveals that the hardware line hasn't changed any of its spots. It is the basically same overpriced line they've been selling since they moved from PowerPC to Intel.

While that may save me from shelling out a grand or two for a new machine, it still doesn't make me happy. I guess I'll have to wait till next year to get all hip with a new Mac. As David, my Mac guru points out, Jobs usually trots out new hardware at his annual MacExpo keynote.   

This is what Apple has for hardware as of today.

There's More to Virtualization than VMware
VMware is a shockingly good company. It just can't fail. When the company had too much market share, Microsoft started giving virtualization away. VMware just made more money. When nearly all other high-tech IPOs floundered, VMware's was a raging success, giving the company a staggering $40 billion or so market cap (this changes by the hour).

In fact, we're so impressed we put VMware's CEO on the cover of our November issue (read the article online here).

But VMware's rivals aren't just rolling over. Microsoft is still working on Viridian, its new hypervisor set to ship six months or so after Windows Server 2008. But the dark horse may well be Citrix, which just completed its acquisition of XenSource. Citrix now has desktop virtualization (we used to call it terminal or thin client computing), application virtualization and server virtualization. And with XenSource, it has terrific relationships with the open source community and a great multi-platform play.

Who do you think has the best long-term virtualization strategy? Let us know by writing me at [email protected] or posting your comments below.

You Can Be a Dell Hardware Engineer: You Just Gotta Think Green
It might be time to break out that old soldering iron as Dell has a challenge for you: If you can design the greenest computer ever made (green as in low power -- not olive, pea or pine) you could walk away with a cool thirty grand.

Get your design wrapped up by next April and send it on down to Austin.

Of course, if you really do design the most efficient computer ever, Dell will make billions -- and you'll make, er, about $30K before taxes.

Microsoft Update Controversy Reignited
IT people love to be in control of their own machines. You're not going to spend years becoming an expert  only to have someone else tell you how to run your PC. And if you've taken steps to set things up a certain way, and it gets changed anyway, why them's fightin' words!

This September, the WindowsSecrets Web site broke the news that Windows Automatic Update was updating files even if the user specifically blocked those updates.

Now the boys from WindowsSecrets have a new scoop -- apparently OneCare is doing the exact same thing! Not only that, but the Microsoft security service will automatically reboot your machine. Of course, XP has been doing that to me for years!

Here Comes the Money
New versions of the Mac OS, record fines from the European Union, and a slow Vista enterprise uptake have done nothing to tame Microsoft's growth. This quarter was a record of sorts as Microsoft experienced the fastest growth in six years.

Microsoft pulled in $14 billion in sales (a run rate of nearly $60 billion) and profits of almost $4 billion. Yes, my friends, software is still a high-margin business.