Eric Lai - Author - Good Gear Guide

Stories by Eric Lai

Article | 29/08/2008 Scented, other 'fashion' PCs hit the catwalk

No two industries appear more dissimilar than those of PCs and fashion. One has long been marketed on style, the other on function. One is dominated b...

Article | 26/08/2008 Vista may still have its day -- just like XP (eventually) did

Twenty-one months after its initial release, what do we know about Windows Vista? That home users hate it, businesses are uninstalling it and — accord...

Article | 20/08/2008 Microsoft may have 2,000 developers working on Windows 7

Microsoft's head of engineering for the Windows 7 operating system says there are 25 'feature teams' of about 100 employees each working on the upcomi...

Article | 14/08/2008 Pixar software to get boost on Windows supercomputers

The rendering software behind such hit animated movies as The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Monsters Inc. should become even more powerful when it beco...

Article | 14/08/2008 Reports: Windows Live Messenger getting WPF-based makeover

The upcoming Windows Live Messenger 9.0 will sport a revamped user interface based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) graphica...

Article | 12/08/2008 $12 Indian 'TV computer' a knockoff of 80s Nintendo system

Can a 20-year-old gaming console be the way to offer truly low-cost computing to Third World students?

Article | 11/08/2008 When the meteor and the 1PB database collide

Our fascination with the prospect of asteroids smashing into the Earth is as deep as the craters that can result from such cosmic fireballs. Think of ...

Article | 7/08/2008 SQL Server 2008's future 'cloudy'

Microsoft began making SQL Server 2008 available to users today, slightly behind schedule but still making good on its goal of releasing an upgrade to...

Article | 4/08/2008 The Asus Eee 1000 -- more power, still portable

It often takes high-tech vendors three tries to get a product right. Microsoft is the best example of this rule of three. (Think of how buggy and inse...

Article | 23/07/2008 Microsoft: Forget iPhone, we're still number two in business

Companies -- lots of them -- are still buying Windows Mobile smartphones, and Microsoft doesn't want to let iPhone-mania make them forget.

Article | 21/07/2008 Build a three-screen workstation

It's too bad the late George Carlin never updated his classic '70s comedy monologue "A place for my stuff" for the Digital Age. Here's how I imagine i...

Article | 10/07/2008 Study says reducing piracy enriches Microsoft's partners

Microsoft may have a massive army of channel partners selling and supporting its software, but not all are equally loyal. Some knowingly install count...

Article | 24/06/2008 Microsoft's Golden Age: Going, going ... gone?

Oracle and SAP AG may still be bigger in enterprise applications, and Oracle in databases. Both IBM and Hewlett-Packard may reap more IT dollars overa...

Article | 24/06/2008 The '640K' quote won't go away but did Gates really say it

Here's the legend: at a computer trade show in 1981, Bill Gates supposedly uttered this statement, in defense of the just-introduced IBM PC's 640KB us...

Article | 12/05/2008 Microsoft grows DAISY for blind computer users; Adobe wilts

The release of an esoteric plug-in for a twenty-year-old piece of software normally doesn't merit much attention... except when the software is the ub...