You would think that, as time goes on, more and more Steam users would be adopting better hardware for their PCs. The Steam hardware survey for June 2012 tells us that may not necessarily be the case, as the company actually saw an increase in lower-end PC use over past hardware surveys. Take, for instance, the number of computers that use Intel Integrated Graphics - while NVIDIA and ATI GPUs are still by far the most common, in June Steam saw the use of Intel Integrated Graphics rise to 11%.
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‘PC’ Stories
Steam hardware survey sees rise in lower-end PCs
Microsoft extols virtues of Windows 8 graphics performance
Keeping everything nice and smooth on operating systems can be a bit of a challenge thanks to the differing hardware used across systems, but Microsoft has pledged to keep everything speedy in Windows 8. Taking to the MSDN blog, a lengthy post details how the company is taking advantage of hardware acceleration to ensure a steady frame rate of 60fps while keeping any graphical glitches and anomalies low.
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Plextor announces M5S Series SSDs
Plextor has announced a new line of SSDs, the M5S Series. The drives are based on a Marvell 88SS9174 controller and use 25nm-based NAND flash, which helps read and write speeds hit 520MB/s and 390MB/s respectively. Random read and write speeds are rated at 73,000 and 70,000 IOPS. Plextor is aiming the drives at those looking to make the jump from traditional hard drives to solid state drives for the first time.
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Global spam falls by 18% as Grum botnet is knocked offline
There are dedicated botnets out there in the wide world that exist solely for the purpose of distributing spam. Grub, the third largest botnet in the world, was finally taken offline by security experts yesterday, resulting in a dramatic 18% reduction of global spam. Grum’s servers, which were based in Russia, Panama, and the Netherlands, controled around 100,000 PCs. The two botnets that take first and second place, Cutwail and Lethic, are still active.
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Windows 8 release date finally announced
After spending what seems like eons with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Microsoft has finally given us a release date for Windows 8. We already knew that the next version of Microsoft's famous OS was going to be hitting shelves in October, but now, thanks today's announcement from Steven Sinofsky during the company's annual sales meeting, we have the actual day: October 26, 2012.
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Microsoft: 28m PCs affected by browser choice blunder
Microsoft has revealed that 28 million PCs were impacted by its legally-mandated browser choice blunder, blaming engineer error for not presenting Windows 7 users with a choice of web options. The European Commission has reopened its investigation into antitrust behaviors around browser bundling in Windows, after reports that many users weren't getting prompted to pick from a range of apps as Microsoft had promised; in a statement, Microsoft says the bungle was accidental rather than a malicious and deliberate attempt to squash the competition.
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European Commission investigating Microsoft’s browser option commitment [UPDATE: Microsoft responds]
The European Commission probed Microsoft back in 2009 over Internet Explorer’s massive market share, concerned that it was stifling competition thanks to the browser being installed by default on Windows PCs. Microsoft suggested an option screen that would give customers an option between five different browsers, but it turns out that Microsoft may not have implemented the solution for millions of Europeans.
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Valve working on Steam for Linux
Attempting to play games on Linux has always been a bit of a chore, with WINE compatibility often hit and miss. Valve has taken to its blog to reveal that a dedicated team has been put in place to try and bring Steam and games such as Left 4 Dead 2 to Linux. The team was first set up in 2011 with three simple goals: get Steam fully working on Linux, make sure Left 4 Dead 2 works at high framerates using OpenGL, and port extra Valve titles.
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Microsoft Windows 8 retail may be axed entirely
The latest Windows-related rumor might be a big one, depending on what you're tempted to believe. According to Microsoft insiders Paul Thurrot and Mary Jo Foley, the company may be looking to drop the retail version of Windows 8 entirely. This would leave Windows 8 with just two versions: the $40 upgrade DVD and the Windows 8 System Builder Kit (OEM version).
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AMD Trinity desktop launch reportedly delayed until October
Intel continues to dominate the desktop processor market, and it looks like its reign may continue for a while if the latest report from Digitimes is to be believed. The publication reports that AMD will be delaying the launch of its new Trinitydesktop processors from August to October in order to make changes to the platform. Motherboard manufacturers will also be affected by the sudden change, with companies scrambling to accommodate the new designs in time for a launch in the second half of the year.
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Giada i53 aims at HTPCs with Ivy Bridge and USB 3.0
A manufacturer has finally decided to build a mini PC featuring silicon other than Intel’s Atom or AMD’s various APUs. In this case it's Giada, today announcing its new i53 “book sized” mini PC. The company has managed to cram in Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors into a 26mm thick chassis, saying that the whole package only consumes 35W. The other specs aren’t bad either.
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PC sales slump with Asian shipments “worst in years”
Just when sales for the PC industry were looking up, computer shipments slipped globally in Q2. Analysts were expecting conservative numbers for the PC industry overall in Q2, and the latest report from IDC published this week shows sales were worse than expected. According to IDC, 86.7 million PC units were shipped globally in Q2.
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