Users Bail on Windows XP Big-Time

Microsoft's Windows XP shed a large amount of usage share again last month as users continued to desert the decade-old operating system for Windows 7.

Windows XP lost 2.4 percentage points of share to post a December average of 46.5 percent, a new low for the aged OS in the tracking of Web metrics firm Net Applications. The month's fall nearly matched the record 2.5-point drop of October.

In the four months from September to December, XP jettisoned more than 11 percent of its share as of September 1, falling by nearly six percentage points during the period.

The four months prior to that -- May through August -- XP lost only 3.4 points, or about 8.5 percent of the share it owned as of May 1.

Windows 7 has been the beneficiary of XP's decline, gaining 2.4 percentage points last month to reach 37 percent. In the same four months that XP lost 5.9 points, Windows 7 grew by 6.4 points, taking up the slack from not only Microsoft's oldest supported OS, but also the hapless Windows Vista. (See also "How to Upgrade from XP to Windows 7.")

If the usual trend repeats, Windows XP will lose an even larger chunk of usage share this month: In both 2009 and 2010, XP's share fell 40 to 48 percent more in January than it did the previous month, most likely because of year-end purchases of new PCs equipped with Windows 7. With that in mind, XP's share could plummet by as much as 3.5 points this month.

The acceleration of XP's decline shows that users have gotten Microsoft's message that the operating system should be retired.

In July, Microsoft told customers it was "time to move on" from XP, reminding everyone that the OS would exit all support in April 2014. Before that, the Internet Explorer (IE) team had dismissed XP as the "lowest common denominator" when they explained why it wouldn't run IE9.

Two months ago, as Microsoft quietly celebrated the 10th anniversary of XP's retail launch, the company touted the motto "Standing still is falling behind" to promote Windows 7 and demote XP.

XP's hastened waning -- of the 12.4 percentage points it lost in the last 12 months, almost half came in the last four -- changes the date when the old OS will likely lose its primary spot in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Projections based on Net Applications' data now indicate that Windows 7 will become the most widely used version in April, several months earlier than previous estimates.

By the time Windows 8 debuts -- October seems the most probable on-sale date -- Windows 7 will have captured between 50 percent and 52 percent of the operating system usage market.

Windows 8's share also grew very slightly last month to 0.05 percent, or five PCs out of every 10,000, from 0.03 percent in November. That OS has yet to enter beta -- Microsoft has set the release for late February -- but a developer's preview has been available for three and a half months.

Net Applications calculates operating system usage share with data obtained from more than 160 million unique visitors who browse 40,000 Web sites that the company monitors for clients. More operating system stats can be found on the company's site.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer , on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

See more articles by Gregg Keizer .

Read more about windows in Computerworld's Windows Topic Center.

For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright ? 2011 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved.

Source: http://feeds.pcworld.com/click.phdo?i=fc12241b1973af3b485cbe5144309e41

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Dubai ? The Hub for Diverse Engineering Jobs

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Source: www.mynews.in --- Monday, January 02, 2012
Dubai has become famous all over the world for its engineering and construction masterpieces. It was only thirty years ago when Dubai was just a small fishing port where people came to dive for pearls or trade gold. But now it is one of the fastes ...

Source: http://www.mynews.in/News/dubai_%E2%80%93_the_hub_for_diverse_engineering_jobs_N419974.html

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Pilot's son fights to clear his father's name over fatal Air India crash

Fareed Rahman

DUBAI //The son of the Serbian pilot blamed for an Air India crash in Mangalore that killed 158 people has called for the accident investigation to be reopened, and vows to clear his father's name.

Alexander Glusica, 26, said that investigators, while preparing the report that found his father negligent, had not considered what he claims are inadequate safety measures at Mangalore Airport. He has asked Air India to look into the airport's safety and other possible causes of the crash.

"I find it quite necessary to resolve the whole situation and to present our father to the public in the way that he really was, and not in the way he was described in the official report and in the media," said Mr Glusica, of Belgrade, who is also a pilot.

"The only aim of the report was, from the beginning of the investigation, to put the blame on my father. The crucial point in the report is how unsafe the Mangalore Airport is."

The ill-fated Air India Express flight had been travelling from Dubai to Mangalore when it overshot the runway and crashed at Mangalore Airport on May 22, 2010. Only eight people survived.

A court of inquiry appointed by the Indian government found Capt Zlatko Glusica responsible for the crash, saying that he had been sleeping for most of the flight and woke up disoriented when the aircraft was about to land.

The report said the captain, who died in the crash, had been sleeping in his seat for about an hour and 40 minutes during the flight, and that sleep inertia might have clouded his judgement.

However, his son pointed out that the aircraft caught fire after crashing into the instrument landing system at the end of the runway. He believes positioning the system in such a place was partly to blame for the disaster.

"The location of the non-frangible structure at this point is forbidden by every international aviation regulation," Mr Glusica said. "The access roads to the crash site are also in very bad condition. That is why the fire rescue operators failed to reach and contain the fire in a reasonable time."

Mr Glusica said that he and some colleagues of his late father had prepared a list of arguments against the court of inquiry report.

"These are only a few remarks among those from the report which give a clue about how hazardous the Mangalore runway is. Having that in mind, it is more than necessary to reopen the investigation, all in the aim of preventing another disaster from happening once more," he said. "We will forward a letter to Air India asking for an explanation as to why our father is being held responsible for the crash even though there were a lot of other issues that caused the accident."

Mr Glusica said he would take the matter to court.

"Our plan is to file a lawsuit against them in order to clear our father's name that they so intentionally wanted to abuse."

However, an Air India spokesman based in New Delhi said the court of inquiry's findings could not be disputed.

"He has been making these claims for a long time, and as an airline we have no comment except that the court of inquiry is a legal committee set up by the government and has done detailed work on the accident," the spokesman said.

The spokesman said Air India had contacted the family regarding the crash, despite Mr Glusica's denial that it had ever done so.

Mr Glusica said his father had been an employee of Air India since 2008, and that he had three children - himself and his two sisters.

One of the sisters, Merima, wrote a poem in honour of their father. She wrote:

"What can we do when winter comes with the beautiful snowflakes? Lonely, we will walk down the street, looking into your windows ?

"The lights will be off. We know there's no one there since a long time ago. Only darkness ? Tears in my eyes, that's all that will remain ? May your wings be light, my angel."

"We miss our father so much," Mr Glusica said. "He was such a wonderful and caring human being. We love him."

frahman@thenational.ae

Source: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/pilots-son-fights-to-clear-his-fathers-name-over-fatal-air-india-crash

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