6 Promising tech startup casualties

SIX (6) Promising tech startup casualties:

Indiatimes Infotech

The global economic slowdown is not only gobbling up jobs, but also companies. And the worst victims in this carnage are start-ups. In the last few months many tech start-ups which were viewed as `trailblazers' and `sizzlers' till a year back have either closed down or have been sold for a song. Lacking enough cash to cushion the deepening economic crisis these young companies have been forced to wind off operations. Here are six `promising' companies that have fallen fatally to the economic turmoil.

Attune Systems

California-based Attune Systems Inc wound up its operations in December as the slowdown pains started hurting the software maker. The 25-member team at Attune Systems developed network file management products aimed to reduce file management complexity for the enterprise, government, and education storage environments. Attune's flagship product was Maestro File Manager FM5500 NAS virtualization appliance. The Maestro appliance provides a global namespace, allowing administrators to combine multiple physical volumes into one virtual volume. The application acceleration and file virtualization vendor, F5 Networks, recently bought the intellectual property of the now-defunct Attune Systems.

startup casualties

Reactrix Systems, a company specialising in interactive projected advertisements in malls and movie theaters, folded despite $75 million in venture backing. Founded in 2001, Redwood City, California company received $45 million fourth-round of funding in 2006. The company had strategic partnerships with National CineMedia and Samsung. Experts believe that the company's crash came due to the depressed advertising market caused by the economic downturn. The company apparently lacked enough cash to cushion the blow. Also, some believe that its offerings were considered too futuristic and experimental for clients to gamble their shrinking advertising budgets.

Fuzz.com

Another tech start-up that fell to slowdown is online music start-up Fuzz.com. In its farewell message to its registered users, the company wrote, "Sadly, we are contacting you to announce that Fuzz.com is shutting down on February 13, 2009. We have decided to shutdown because of increasing operating costs and flat revenues. It simply no longer makes sense for us to keep Fuzz.com running. Please note that once the site is shut down on February 13, 2009, the band and user accounts, and all other content on Fuzz.com, will no longer be accessible." Founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based music start-up, Jeff Yasuda said "We couldn't drive enough visitor traffic on the site to make it a viable business." It is being widely speculated that the company has decided to shut down in wake of dedicating their entire funds and resources to Blip.fm, a music station.

VuBotics

Tech startup VuBotics Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being in business for three years. The Atlanta-based software company marketed products to improve reading speed and comprehension on digital handheld devices. According to media reports, VuBotics raised $2.3 million in a stock sale in August 2006 and about $2 million additional in angel capital in 2007. VuBotics had issued 56 million shares to 500 shareholders, according to its Chapter 11 filing. In the month of October, VuBotics hired Jules Stine, a corporate reorganization expert as its new director and chief operating officer.

TZero Technologies

Another tech start-up that fell victim to the economic downturn was TZero Technologies, a Ultra-wideband (UWB) start-up. Less than a year after raising $18 million from OVP Venture Partners and others, TZero Technologies recently announced it is closing down. The company joins a shakeout in UWB that has claimed WiQuest and Focus Enhancements. Founded in 2003, TZero's ultra wideband chips are used in HD video audio/video components. What led to the possible shake-up of UWB is the high cost of UWB chips which never gained a foothold in the consumer market. Also, established technologies such as Wi-Fi, and new ones such as WirelessHD posed a great threat. Also, UWB started with much fanfare as a way to get rid of wires between consumer devices and an easy way to move high-definition video around the home. However, the promised high-speed data transfer fell short of expectations.

Guava Technologies

Guava Technologies Inc is among the startups that sold themselves up for sums which experts term less than what their investors may have spent on them. Millipore Corp acquired Guava Technologies, a developer of cell-analysis systems, for $22.6 million. California-based Guava made roughly $22 million in revenue last year.

8 new features in Windows 7

8 new features in Windows 7:

1. Most of us still use Windows XP, the operating system (OS) that Microsoft first developed way back in 2001. Though the company released Windows Vista in early 2007, few upgraded to it. Vista came with substantially enhanced security features that also lent the system greater stability, helping to avoid the kind of 'hanging' and 'crashing' that one suffered with previous versions of the OS. But the enhanced features also made Vista so computing-resource hungry that it slowed down all applications. The only way you could make it run well was by substantially upgrading your hardware. That would have meant significant expenditure. And most Indians -- consumers and enterprises -- thought it just not worth the money. Vista's failure pushed Microsoft to work quickly towards another version. It's called Windows 7 and is expected to be commercially launched later this year, may be October 23, as some reports speculate. A beta version has been under test for a while, and what's called a release candidate (RC) -- a version with potential to be the final product -- has just been launched. Last week, Mike Nash, corporate VP in Microsoft, gave TOI a demo of the beta version from Redmond, US. Here’s looking into the new features.
   
2. Windows 7 addresses Vista's problem of resource hungriness. The boot time was fast, and so was the time taken to come out of the hibernation mode. Reviewer Benny Har-Even in IT PRO found that "Windows 7 brings a more responsive and sprightly feel." It also seems to work with the smaller and cheaper netbooks that’s fast getting popular. Reviewer Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes in ZDNet, "Windows 7 works on netbooks, but if you push the system the same way as you push a desktop system then you might need to add more RAM. On top of that, remember that Windows 7 takes some 7.5GB of disk space, so you need to factor this in. My advice would be not to bother upgrading an existing netbook unless you really feel you want a particular Windows 7 feature. Wait for Windows 7 netbooks to arrive on the scene as some of these will hopefully come with 2GB of RAM fitted."


3. For those who use a number of applications and files at the same time, there's a new facility that helps to reduce desktop clutter. You can now drag them and stack them in groups on the taskbar. And what's more, if you hover the mouse over, say, the Windows Explorer stack, each window in it will appear horizontally as thumbnails, and you can click on the one you need to start using it. Right clicking on a stack gives a 'jump menu' that lets you see your most recent files. You can also 'pin' files that you use regularly on to a stack, so that they are always there on top of a stack. Also, if you have a number of windows open and you want to focus on one and avoid the clutter around it, just take the mouse to that window's titlebar and shake it. Everything else disappears. Shake the same way again, and all others reappear.


4. In XP, if you want to compare, say, a set of figures in one document with those in another, you have to go alternately into the two documents. In Windows 7, you can just drag one document or window to one side of your screen and it will snap to that side filling half the screen, and then you can drag the other document to the other side, and it will fill up the other side. Easy to compare, or copy from one to the other.


5. This one wasn't there in the beta version but is available on the RC. It allows you to access all the files on your home computer remotely, somewhat like how Slingbox allows you to remotely access the TV channels you get on your home TV. We didn't see a demo, so not sure how well it works in India.



6. Indians who like to keep their old stuff longer will like this. It allows you to run a XP application on Windows 7. But Preston Gralla of ComputerWorld who tested the feature says home users are not likely to have a great experience with it. "Sharing files between the two environments (XP and 7) will be a challenge... (and) it's not designed for games," he says. However, he finds it a great tool for businesses that have already sunk money into XP applications. Microsoft says small businesses using, say, Tally accounting solutions on XP will be able to continue using those on Windows 7.


7. Microsoft's Nash says almost all devices will work with Windows 7. "The customer will not have to enquire whether a device he is buying (printer, fax machine, smart card reader, network controller, in fact, anything) will work with the OS," he says. The OS also identifies the device being installed and offers appropriate follow-on options.



8. One big trouble with Vista was that each time a change was made to the system, a dialogue box would pop up asking you if you were ok with the change being made. It was designed as a security measure, to keep you aware of hackers trying to write on to your system. But it proved a huge annoyance for users installing new applications frequently. Windows 7 now allows you to set the level of information you desire.



9. Windows 7 comes with touch capability, which means you can use your fingers on the screen to perform many functions. Now, that can be really fun in certain applications. But you need a PC that's touch enabled. Windows 7 may encourage many now to look at that option. So, should you upgrade from XP to 7 when it is released? The new version has won mostly good reviews. Benny Har-Even says Windows 7 makes for the most exciting upgrade for Windows users since the arrival of Windows XP. Jamshed Avari of Chip magazine, who has been testing the beta version, says Windows 7 still has many bugs, is not stable and does not still have technology support. He believes a stable version may take another 7 to 8 months.


10. Jason Hiner of ZDNet, however, thinks there's nothing in Windows 7 that matters. "In fact, the computer operating system has never mattered less than it does today," he says, considering the way the web is taking over our most important requirements. Finally, here's an interesting comment we found on Trusted Reviews: "I'd rather save my money in times like these than upgrade an OS, which could mean bugs, lack of drivers, upgrading older printers and peripherals, maybe even the PC, as well as application software and utilities, plugins, shareware, codecs... I have better things to do and buy with my time and money, when XP is doing everything I really need."

How big is China threat for Indian IT?

How serious challenge does China pose to India's IT prowess? This has often been a question of umpteen debates and discussions. Will in another few years, the world's most populous country snatch India's position in the global technology space? No, says Robert Kennedy, director of the Global Initiative at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Dr Kennedy sees China still pretty far behind India, in fact behind even places like the Philippines and Eastern Europe. Reasons Kennedy, "It's largely due to a language problem. There are real challenges. Services exports from China will grow, but they won't overtake India anytime soon." On its part, China is targeting a series of tax breaks and incentives in designated pilot cities to encourage its outsourcing industry. But can it really dent Indian IT's marketshare? Does China really pose a mammoth threat to the Indian IT industry? Is the danger over hyped or under hyped. Write in, and let us know. .. . . . . . ...

Microsoft Windows 7 System Requirements

Microsoft Windows 7 System Requirements:


Windows 7 RC is about to release publicly on May 5th, 2009 and will be available on official Windows 7 site for download. But by that time Microsoft has now released minimum system requirements details, which you must have to test Windows 7 RC.The list of requirements you would need to run Windows 7 is not much high:

1GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1GB of RAM for 32-bit & 2GB of RAM for 64-bit processor
16GB of disk space for 32-bit or 20GB for 64-bit users
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Though this is the minimum requirements for Windows 7 but if you want to run Windows XP Mode, which lets you run Windows XP softwares then you’ll need 2GB RAM and 15GB of extra disk space.