News
New Specs to Allow
Blazing-Fast USB Devices
The
USB 3.0 Promoter Group has finalized specifications for the
next-generation transfer technology. The completion of the
roadmap for USB 3.0 means the technology is now ready for device
manufacturers to bring the so-called SuperSpeed USB technology
to the market.
"The finalization of the specification is very significant and
has been anticipated in the industry since work on the
specification was announced a little over a year ago," said Jeff
Ravencraft, USB-IF president and chairman.
With more than 6 billion USB-enabled devices deployed in the
market today among a wide range of PC, mobile and consumer
electronic devices, it's reasonable to assume the next
generation of USB will be put to use in many of these existing
applications as well as new applications that will be enabled by
SuperSpeed USB, he told TechNewsWorld.
Microsoft To Offer Free
Security Software
Microsoft
Corp said Wednesday it will discontinue sales of its
subscription PC security service and instead offer free software
to help protect computers from viruses, spyware and other
threats.
With the move, the software giant appears to be taking aim at
McAfee Inc and Symantec Corp, its chief rivals in the PC
security market.
Microsoft plans to halt sales of its Windows Live OneCare
service on June 30. The service being discontinued costs $49.95
a year and covers up to three PCs. The new security program,
which the company has code-named "Morro," will be available as a
free download in the second half of next year.
Morro is designed
to work with smaller, less powerful computers, the company said,
which should make it appeal to a wide group of consumers.
However, McAfee said the move is a sign of capitulation on the
part of Microsoft. McAfee said OneCare managed to capture less
than 2 percent of the market in the two years it has been out.
"Microsoft is giving up," a McAfee spokesman said. "They are now
defaulting to a dressed-down free model that doesn't meet
consumer security needs."
Microsoft has a history of butting heads with its competitors in
the PC security space. In 2006 and 2007, Symantec and McAfee
raised concerns that Microsoft had designed Windows Vista to
deny them access to the heart of the operating system, which
they needed to protect it from certain kinds of malicious
software.
After negotiations, and some prodding from antitrust regulators
in Brussels, Microsoft said it would provide the information
needed.
