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As most of you would’ve known, Bryan Smith recently joined the TechZone Online Team. He has been appointed the position of writer, and you can look forward to some interesting posts from him, on his opinions about technology and the world we live in (welcome, Bryan!!)
The Nintendo Wii, whilst already quite established in many parts of the world, was only recently released here in South Africa, over the last December holiday season (2007).
A number of games were available to us consumers at launch, such as Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Spiderman 3, The Simpsons Game etc. However, many of the popular titles, like the much coveted (and highly anticipated) Super Mario Galaxy are nowhere to be found in popular tech retail stores.
The question I find myself, and other gamers, asking, is “where are the ‘real’ games?” Ok, so Zelda is a killer game… but we want Mario and Super Smash Bros. Brawl!!
So, I think it is quite clear amongst the gaming community of South Africa: if the Nintendo Wii is to gain any foothold (and by that, I mean a rather strong userbase), then the “big” titles need to be brought in, such that it is able to attract the vast userbase that Nintendo had hoped for (and, I must say, was quite successful at doing so).
So, the truth’s been out (quite a long time ago, in fact): Windows Vista sucks. In fact, it’s so bad that Microsoft is even allowing you to “downgrade” (read: upgrade) to XP. But the big question is, what will happen when there is no alternative, but for us PC users to “upgrade” (or is that “downgrade”?) to Vista.
Firstly, Vista is overpriced. If you, like me, want to get the full and proper version of Vista (“Ultimate” – why couldn’t there just be ONE version?!), then you’re going to have to fork out about R4000 (South African Rands). And that’s EXCLUDING the numerous hardware components you’re going to be forced to buy (even so Vista will still run sluggishly).
So, the question I think all tech geeks are asking themselves right now is, “Will Microsoft wake up and smell the coffee, and realise that Vista is going all wrong, or will they continue to hide this fact?”. Well, as most of the aforementioned geeks would’ve noticed at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft played very low-key regarding their flagship OS. Advertisements around CES by Microsoft only mentioned “Windows”, and not “Windows Vista”, meaning that the Redmond giant was marketing the entire Windows brand (which includes Live, Spaces, Messenger, Mail etc.), and not Vista, their primary product (and primary concern).
This leads many to think that Microsoft is already heading towards the next version of Windows, codenamed “Windows 7″. Apparently, if rumours are to be believed, they’ve already begun work on the OS, and it’s slated for release sometime in 2010.
Windows 7, I believe, will have to be something so mind-blowing, that it’ll be able to win back the thousands (and counting) customers that Vista has driven away. A key issue that I believe Microsoft should address, is the GUI. Yes, Vista looks great. In fact, it looks AWESOME! But can it really do anything? Nope. Well, not unless you scream at it, and even (possibly) get close to punching your PC’s screen. Windows 7 will have to maintain the GUI of Vista, but add more functionality to it. It’ll have to be remarkably robust, and versatile – meaning, we won’t have to spend thousands upgrading our systems to handle it.
And, I seriously hope Microsoft will get the message – “cut down on so many variations!!” I mean, there’s like 6 different versions of Vista, as opposed to 1 “ultimate” version of Mac OS X, Windows’ prime competitor. Hopefull the Redmond will release Windows 7 in just (hopefully) 1 version.
Wow. I’m blown away. Today, Steve Jobs and his bunch of genii over at Apple have truly made history in the technological world. The MacBook Air. Touted as the world’s thinnest MacBook… Gosh, this thing really takes the idiom “as thin as paper” to new levels!
And, the Air boasts an impressive 80GB hard drive, or 64GB solid-state drive. Wow. But, I’m not to impressed with it’s CPU speeds of upto 1.8Ghz… hmmm, maybe it’s because of the size of the thing!
Anyway, you can see pictures of the MacBook Air, read more about it, and even watch the cool official advert and guided tour, direct from Apple’s official website, at www.apple.com. Impressive stuff from Apple… Yet again! 
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