operating

Hewlett Packard reaffirmed its commitment to the computer business yesterday, bringing to a close three months of dramatic upheaval.

Since August, when HP and then-CEO Leo Apotheker outlined a plan to "explore strategic alternatives" for its Personal Systems Group, HP shaved roughly 20 percent off the price of its stock, damaged its supplier relationships, bewildered consumers and analysts, and, ultimately, ousted Apotheker and replaced him with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman.… Read more

The Mac still owns a tiny market share compared with Windows, but it's one that's slowly been inching up.

In the U.S., Apple held 6.45 percent of all personal computers last month, according to new data from Net Applications, a gain from 6.03 percent from August. The growth from the prior month isn't a surprise, though, since Apple typically enjoys a boost in September thanks to what Net Applications calls "the Back-to-School Bump."

But the latest number also shows a slow but steady rise over the past couple of years from October … Read more

In today's plugged-in world, "right now" is too slow. We're spoiled by the ability to discover the most obscure bits of information in less than a second simply by entering a word or phrase in a Web search engine. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The need for search speed may not let up until Google is able to read our minds--a day that may not be far off, for better or worse. Putting aside fears of an information-utility monopoly, there's no denying Google's ability to save time. To ensure the productivity-boost … Read more

China-based Alibaba Group is planning to launch an English version of its Aliyun mobile operating system, Reuters reports.

The English version of Aliyun will be available later this month, according to the news service, which was on-hand during an Alibaba press conference earlier today in Hangzhou, China. The company also told reporters that it's currently in negotiations with hardware vendors to bundle its operating system with their devices.

Alibaba launched its mobile operating system in China in July. The platform, which was developed by the company's Alibaba Cloud Computing group, relies heavily upon the cloud, offering cloud-based e-mail, … Read more

Samsung has no plans to acquire WebOS, the company's CEO Gee-Sung Choi said at the IFA conference in Berlin.

According to Bloomberg, which published his comments today, the executive said that his company will "never" attempt to acquire HP's WebOS operating system, adding that "it's not right that acquiring an operating system is becoming a fashion" nowadays.

Last month, HP made the surprising decision to discontinue its mobile hardware, including the TouchPad tablet, and focus its efforts on software and solutions. It hasn't necessarily turned its back on WebOS, but the platform'… Read more

An Asia-based report surfaced today that claims Intel will temporarily halt development of its MeeGo operating system for tablets and smartphones due to lack of interest. Intel, however, says it's still committed.

The DigiTimes report claimed that Intel plans to "temporarily discontinue development of its MeeGo OS due to a lack of enthusiasm for the platform from handset and tablet PC vendors."

Instead, Intel will focus on hardware that is paired with either Android or Windows Phone in 2012, according to the report, citing industry sources.

"We remain committed to MeeGo and open source, and will … Read more

Windows 8 will usher in yet another revision to the file management system used by millions of people.

A blog post today by Microsoft Director of Program Management Alex Simons details at great length the future of the new Explorer interface, and lessons learned from previous versions.

One fascinating aspect brought up from Microsoft collecting hundreds of millions of anonymous usage reports (from Windows users) is that despite having over 200 commands in Explorer, "the top 10 commands represent 81.8% of total usage" (such as paste, properties, copy, and delete). Many commands go unused.

Microsoft found that the context menu from right-clicking an object is usually the main method of entering commands at 54.5 percent, with keyboard shortcuts coming in second at 32.2 percent.

It was found that the command bar--the most visible feature of Vista and 7's Explorer menu--contains two of the top 10 commands used overall in Explorer, and was only used a measly 10.9 percent during file management sessions. Therein lies the opportunity for change, Simons said. … Read more

As promised, Nokia took the wraps off its latest update to the Symbian operating system today.

Dubbed Symbian Belle, the OS brings a number of interface improvements, new apps, and enhanced feature support. On the UI front, you now get six instead of three customizable home screens, and widgets can now be resized to your liking. In addition, the company has added Toggle widgets, so you can more easily complete tasks, such as turning on/off wireless connections and changing profiles.

In Belle, the status bar now incorporates a pull-down notifications tray, and the lock screen provides more information, such … Read more

Google's Android mobile operating system dominated the U.S. smartphone market last quarter, research firm NPD announced today.

According to NPD, Android was running on 52 percent of all the smartphones sold in the U.S. last quarter, overshadowing iOS, which secured 29 percent market share. BlackBerry OS came in third in the smartphone space with 11 percent share, NPD said. Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile, and WebOS all trailed with less than 5 percent market share each.

NPD's findings follow a similar report earlier this month from research firm Gartner. That company, which analyzed worldwide smartphone sales, … Read more