您现在的位置: > Language Tips > Audio & Video > Special Speed News  
 





 
Windows Vista: good news in computer tech.
[ 2007-02-05 09:40 ]

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

This week, with dancers and other events, Microsoft launched the general release of its new operating system for personal computers. Windows Vista became available in more than 70 countries.

This is the first new version since Windows XP in 2001. But the long-delayed release did not create nearly as much excitement as there was twelve years ago for Windows 95.

Vista is designed to make it easier to search for files on a computer. The appearance has also been improved. And Microsoft says the new system offers better security. Just how much better remains to be proven.

Most PCs use Windows. But people who may want to buy the new version for an existing computer first have to make sure that the machine can support it. This is true especially if a computer is older than a year or two.

Apple plans to release its new operating system, called Leopard, this spring. But many industry experts say the future of software may be in providing services over the Internet, the way Google does now. That means a move away from loading lots of programs onto individual computers.

Vista is not the only news in computer technology right now. Engineers have discovered how to use new materials to make the brains of a computer.

On January 27, Intel announced the biggest change in 40 years in the way processors are made. The company says the transistors in its next generation of processors will be made using hafnium, a kind of metal, instead of silicon. Intel says it will also use a secret combination of metals.

Transistors control the flow of electrical current. The new transistors will be the smallest yet, just 45 nanometers, or 45 billionths of a meter. Two thousand of them could fit across a human hair. Hundreds of millions will go onto the new processors.

Intel says the new technology will increase performance and use less power. It says it expects to begin production in the second half of this year.

Intel's new design uses what is known as "high-k metal gate" technology. But IBM made a similar announcement on the same day as Intel.

IBM said it has developed such technology for use in chip circuits as small as forty-five nanometers. The company worked with Intel's biggest competitor, AMD, along with Sony and Toshiba. IBM says products with the new technology will go on sale in two thousand eight.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.


点击进入更多VOA慢速


(来源:VOA  英语点津姗姗编辑)

 
 
相关文章 Related Stories
 
Coming to America as a Fulbrighter Life as a teaching assistant in US
         
 
 
 
 
 
         

 

 

 
 

48小时内最热门

     

本频道最新推荐

     
  《越狱》1(精讲之六)
  美妙的夜晚(通讯员佳作)
  A college handbook just for international students
  Bush delivers upbeat assessment of US economy
  British reality TV show spawns allegations of racism

论坛热贴

     
  这个菜单是真的,不是搞笑。
  “充电”(补充自己的知识)咋说?
  The interview with God
  最IN最时尚的街舞专有名词中英文对照
  how to say "彩铃" in English?
  请教“电子警察“的英文叫法