WinInfo Short Takes: Week of March 10
WinInfo | at | by Mike
Longhorn Quick Install: How It's Done
Longhorn's quick installation process is thanks to technology called the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), which is used by PC makers today to load a minimal Windows-based operating environment from CD that can create file partitions, access network shares, and install Windows from an image file, rather than the old i386 directory structure used by previous Windows versions. The reason it's faster, for the most part, is that a single image file can copy much more quickly than the thousands of small files in the old i386 directory.
Sony Considers Buying Palm, Apple
Sony Chairman and CEO Nobuyuki Idei has said twice recently that he would purchase Palm's software division, Palmsource, in order to save money licensing the Palm OS for his company's CLIE devices. But Idei also foisted the idea of purchasing Apple Computer recently, leading to speculation that Sony is ready to make a credible play for computing greatness. Palmsource, especially, would be a cheap purchase for the company, thanks to its recent split from the parent company, Palm, and low stock prices. As for Apple Computer--well, who can say? But Sony is one of the few juggernaut media companies out there that's kicking butt and taking names. You never know.