Computer Upgrades
Computer Upgrades: Software makes hardware out of dateThe New Chip Cycle Approximately every 2½ years Intel makes an announcement of its intention to develop a new processor chip. It describes the characteristics of this new chip to the major software houses approximately three years before it has even made a prototype of the new processor! The new processor is usually around twice as powerful as its immediate predecessor at the point of launch. The software houses go away from this announcement and start to rewrite existing programs and to develop new software that take the power of this forecast chip quite literally to the limits of its endurance. This means that all proprietary (big name) computers can be guaranteed to be out of date in relation to contemporary releases of software in less than three years from their date of manufacture. This maximum three year time horizon does however assume that you have bought a new machine at the point of launch of the new Intel processor. This does not usually make economic sense. This cycle has seen a succession of ever more powerful processors:
Not only do the software houses already know the specification of the P10 that will probably appear during 2003, they have already been briefed on the specification of the next in the dynasty. Software DevelopmentOnce a year most of the software houses release a minor update of their software. Every two to three years there is a step change in the power of programs as Intel releases its new processor and the software houses jostle for market share by introducing enhancements to their products. Almost all of the proprietary (big name) machines are made at a moment in time for a moment in time. Some very limited upgrades are sometimes just about possible. But they are never enough. All the big names will of course tell you their machines can be upgraded. Of course they do! Try this. Say :”Fine! I believe you. Give me a written guarantee that you will upgrade the machine that I buy from you now for a figure of £150+VAT plus the current difference in the pricing of your models at any time in the next three years by replacing the entire main board and processor.” This will be a real problem for the salesman as his employer will have gone out of his way to prevent this from ever happening. In late 2001 ATW was involved in assisting a client who had purchased (for £11,000) a RAID 5 file server direct from one the world's largest computer manufacturers. It had been delivered with Windows NT Server but the client needed to upgrade to Windows 2000 Server. An ATW Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer attempted to install Windows 2000 Server but the installation failed. When he telephoned the manufacturer of the machine he was told that the machine was "operating system specific" and that it would never be able to run a later operating system than NT. It was further explained that the market needed to be cleared of old hardware in order to make for way for the sale of new machines. |
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Computer Upgrades Network InstallationMicrosoft Small Business Server Computer Network Support Regular Remote Monitoring |
