Computer Support Blog

If you own a Saturn automobile, you know just how terrible it can be when a company goes belly up without ever releasing their proprietary information to the general public or others within their industry.  Those who still drive their beloved Saturn cars are discovering that as problems arise, especially with the Saturn’s onboard computer, they are completely at the mercy of GM.  General Motors, which owned Saturn, may very well charge more than your local mechanic, but your local mechanic cannot access a Saturn’s onboard computer.  The reason for that is simple: before Saturn went bust, the company held very tightly to its trade secrets and the Saturn onboard computer program remained a protected property.  GM, as the parent company of Saturn, retained the coding and now uses it to compel the remaining Saturn owners to use their service centers.  Hewlett-Packard is taking the exact opposite approach with their webOS.  By making webOS into an open source program, anyone with computer programming ability will be able to acquire, alter and write applications for webOS.

HP had a pretty bad 2011 on the tablet computer front.  After having their tablet computer, the Touchpad, crushed by the sales numbers of the Apple iPad 2, the Kindle Fire arrived to metaphorically bulldoze a small mountain of dirt into the grave.  Hewlett-Packard gave the tablet computer market the old college try and the company lost obscene amounts of money in the process.  HP liquidated the last of the Touchpads for $100 and $149 when the Touchpads bore a $500 and $600 MSRP earlier in the year.  HP had a bad year on the tablet computer front.

So, HP announced they were no longer competing for that market.  In washing their hands of the tablet computer market, HP could have divorced itself from the customers who had invested in their product and moved on to their next big project.  Instead, HP executives announced that webOS, the operating system that runs the Touchpad tablet computer, would be released as open source software.

By making webOS open source, computer programmers may write applications of their own for their Touchpads.  They can use webOS to run other hardware, like smartphones, digital cameras or gaming devices.  If you become annoyed with how your electronic device is operating, you could write an app in webOS to reprogram it!

In addition to being consumer-friendly, making webOS into open source software, HP is giving a psychological pat on the back to its programmers.  Because the enthusiasm exists for webOS, in spite of poor Touchpad sales, HP is essentially telling its programmers and researchers, “You had a good product; it just didn’t sell.”  That kind of encouragement is remarkably cool from a multibillion dollar company.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

In news that’s sure to stoke the Apple vs. Android fan battles on messages boards across the Internet, Android has cut into iOS’s market share and is threatening to become the number two ranked mobile operating system.

According to comScore, Apple’s market share 1.3% this summer, as opposed to the significant 5% increase for Android.  While Google’s mobile OS still trails both Apple and RIM, Android has made massive gains and has the top spot in its sights.

Obviously, this is a significant moment for Google and Android.  As the only mobile platform to grow this summer, the popularity of Android cannot be questioned.  In terms of bragging rights in the ongoing battle with Apple, Google has struck a major blow.

However, while the numbers appear, on the surface, to be a major win for Android, Apple has no reason to concede anything yet.  As the company’s supporters would be quick to point out, Google has several key advantages in generating market share:

• Unlike Apple, Android phones can be found on all major carriers. The iPhone is, for the moment still tied to AT&T.
• iOS runs on only the iPhone. Android can be found on a hefty number of devices, ranging across all price points.
• The iPhone 4 was only available for one of the months covered by the comScore report. Additionally, it was the only iOS release, while Android was released on multiple new phones.

Regardless of the caveats, Android’s growth is still worth noting.  Apple’s supporters have long pointed to the company’s significant head start in both mobile operating systems and tablet computers as reasons why the competition will never catch up.

If the latest figures are any indication of what the competition can do when they’ve got the right product, Apple is going to have far more of a fight on its hands than it, or its fans, may have expected.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com