I hate to say it, but the PC business continues its boring trend. Both Intel and AMD (the two leading processor chip manufacturers) have announced "dual core" processors to much press ballyhoo. What does "dual core" mean to you, the average user. Absolutely nothing! In effect, "dual core" means that you get two independent processors under one cover. Theoretically, that means twice the processing power, eh? Well, perhaps not. The largest stumbling block to taking advantage of this available power is that your operating system (Windows) and your software applications need to be aware of the dual processor capability and to use it intelligently.
Programs such as word processors don't require much computing horsepower anyhow, and would never even try to take advantage of dual processors. Ditto for most applications that the average person uses. If Windows were smart enough (and someday it will be), you could run a program on each of the two processors; for example, if you had Outlook Express and Internet Explorer both running at the same time, each could use a separate processor. But, the horsepower required for these programs is also trivial, and one of today's processors can easily handle both chores without breathing hard.
So what applications might take advantage of dual core? A server computer that processes many thousands of transactions a second would be a candidate. Also complex data handling programs such as video or image processing might be able to use the horsepower.
But the bottom line here is that dual core is going to be a big yawn for the average consumer. The most major impact that I see is that the chip houses will use this as an attempt to increase revenue, and new software and Windows versions that support it will also probably cost more. For now, just ignore and stay away, is my advice!
As far as new software goes, I haven't spent very much money on new software at all these days. Except for a few specialized utilities, I haven't bought any software package recently, and I haven't bought a major software package in years. There just aren't many new applications coming out at all, and even less that might interest me. I do upgrades, of course, but not on all my programs. The disk defragmentation program that I use, Diskeeper, has a new version out, but the old version works just fine for me. I haven't updated my MS Office suite in years. The only software manufacturer that seems successful is separating me from my money for upgrades is Adobe, for Photoshop. Every 18 months or so, they manage to get me to fork over $150 for an update, and just did it again!
Since I visit many clients in my consulting business daily dealings, I get to take the pulse of what local people are doing. And I see the same things there. On the other hand, perhaps I am missing the boat. What people want is reliability and stability - they don't want things changing too frequently. If so, how come PCs in fact aren't more reliable and stable - an interesting question!
So, come ON PC industry - do something to break me out of my slump. If this trend continues, I may actually have to do something else with my time - perhaps politics!
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport - Oak Island area. You can visit his Website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.)