htxt.africa's Business Made Easy - December 2015 by htxt.africa

from ISSUE 2 | DECEMBER 2015 | HTXT.CO.ZA

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TOP TIPS ON...

HOW TO CHOOSE A PROJECTOR

Top tips to keep in mind when buying a

M A D E

E A S Y

business projector

OPEN SOURCE

Licensing answers Go with open source software, or stick with licensed? We ask.

EMAIL ENIGMA

Which works best? Google vs. Yahoo vs. Outlook offerings

WINDOWS 10

Business benefits Is Microsoft’s latest OS good for business?

Contents

www.htxt.co.za

ISSUE #2

December 2015

Need To kNow: News

FESTIVE SALUTATIONS

here’s a lot to get excited about at Christmas time if you’re in retail, and if you’re not, there’s at least the break to look forward to. Welcome to the December issue of Business Made Easy! We have a great issued lined up for you, full of information to carry into 2016 to make it one of your best years on record. We examine pressing issues like Open Source software versus licensed software, in which we highlight the benefits and pitfalls of each to help decision makers decide if Open Source is something they should experiment with, or if licensed software, despite its costs, is not perhaps the better long-term option. Buying a projector is also under the spotlight, with a detailed How To that provides all of the info for businesses to arm themselves with when they head off projector shopping. If there’s only one thing you take away from the article, it’s to avoid projectors whose native resolutions is only 800 x 600. We also have tips on how to go about registering a domain name for your new venture, as well as all of the important ways upgrading to Windows 10 can actually benefit your business. And that’s it for this issue. We wish you and your Operator loved ones a safe and happy holiday, and your ’s sub-r500 Steppa is first of its kind. business a prosperous 2016. obile operator MTN has important for South Africa. launched South Africa’s first Deon

MTN launches supercheap smartphone

SHOOTS DOWN MORE THREATS TO YOUR FINANCES. Kaspersky Internet Security – multi-device 2016. Taking the danger out of digital.

Android-powered smartphone that’s available on pre-pay for less than R500. It certainly an African first, and may even a world one: as far as we know, PUBLISHER: Brett Haggard – brett@htxt.co.za there’s no other smartphone in this class EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Adam Oxford – adam@htxt.co.za available for less than $50 anywhere. MANAGING EDITOR: Nick Cowen - nick@htxt.co.za That makes it quite a milestone in putting high-tech handsets within the DEPUTY EDITOR: Deon du Plessis – deon@htxt.co.za reach of everyone. Which is awesome. TECH & NEWS: Charlie Fripp – charlie@htxt.co.za The phone itself isn’t, of course, hugel STARTUPS & STUFF: Lungelo Shezi – lungelo@htxt.co.za y powerful. It’s based on a Qualcomm CONTRIBUTORS: Brendyn Lotz – brendyn@htxt.co.za, refere nce desig n, so it has a 1GHz single Clinton Matos - clinton@htxt.co.za core Snapdragon processor, a 3.5in ch SENIOR DESIGNER: Estelle Masana – estelle@htxt.co.za screen and a mere 2MP camera on board. ADVERTISING: Dorothy Haggard – dorothy@hypertext.co.za More limiting is the fact that there’s only Sengezo Jubane – sengezo@hypertext.co.za, Alfred Msowoya 512M B of memory and 1GB of storage alfred@htxt.co.za, Masego Leshora - masego@htxt.co.za on-board. The screen is a decent enough multitouch affair, which takes up most

It’s a milestone which puts hightech handsets within the reach of everyone… of the front of the device. There’s no physical keyboard. It also runs a positively ancient versio n of Google’s Android OS, Gingerbre ad. Still, that does still mean it’s able to access BlackBerry Messenger, which is hugel y

Sadly, MTN has confir med that there ’s no plans to upgrade the Steppa to a more recent version of Android, although local hackers are investigating the possib ility of unlocking the phone and flashing a custom firmware. There’s an FM radio though, along with a microSD port for upgrading the storag e. What you don’t get, however, is a fast HSPA radio for high speed internet access – you’ll have to settle for plain old 3G. All in all, though, it’s a heck of a phone for the price. Not even Nokia can come close with its Asha range of semismartphones, which start at about R799 and don’t have access to half the numb er of apps and services the Steppa has. Like the sound of this super budget smartphone? See our full review at

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htxt.africa’s Business Made Easy is At the bottom of almost every produced by: Hypertext Media, 102 on 11th, article in will Business Made Easy Climate Cha nge Cause more Highlands North, 2192, Johannesburg storm dam agesee you’ll one of these strange in sa More news at Contact Us: sts from short codes.Two It’sscienti a Bit.ly adress Wits have published a paper which says Email: info@hypertext.co.za shortening link, which means that that South Africa may be at when you type it into web go to htxt.co.za Tel: (011) 023-8001/4 increas ed riskyour of tropical storm damag browser it will take e. you to a longer Fax: 08654 83304 Our content is licensed under a Creative 6 | tech made easy | March 2014 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International Licence. Other rights may apply for non-original materials.

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FaCebook buys whatsapp For r200bn Facebook has just dived into its war chest again to make another big purchase, this time it’s buying the popular messaging service WhatsApp. bit.ly/1npd8wj

Typ e into this c you ode r bro web wse r! WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 3

Contents ISSUE #2

Need to Know 4

www.htxt.co.za

December 2015

The important stuff in SA business

How To

Business News New Post Office boss wants SAPO to be less dependent on mail R50m Kickstarted company shuts down

Want to know how to do stuff? Read here

How To buy a business projector Top tips to keep in mind when projector-shopping

How To register a domain name The first step towards getting your business online is registering its unique domain name. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how to do that.

The business benefits of Windows 10 Should you upgrade to Microsoftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest operating system? Here are a few good reasons to.

Unlimited cloud storage for SA businesses Cape Town future-proofs its network infrastructure

Business features 8

The best in-depth features Gmail vs. Yahoo vs. Hotmail Which email service is right for you?

To open source, or not to open source? We look at the pros and cons of open sourced business software

21 18 WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 5

NEWS

New Post Office boss wants SAPO to be less dependent on mail

he South African Post Office (SAPO) has been under a lot of pressure over the last couple of month to get its act together, and it seems like newly-appointed CEO Mark Barnes has a plan on how to make that happen. Speaking to The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield, Barnes said that SAPO needs to be made relevant for today’s society. “You can’t fix an outdated organisation by just making it smaller and remaining outdated. You have to change it and you have to make it relevant to the current circumstances,” he said. Barnes replaces current CEO Christopher Hlekane, and said that SAPO is well-placed to fill a gap. “What I put to the government was, that we can engage with commerce and

commercial opportunities in what must be described as one of the best placed infrastructure, logistics, financial service providers potentially in the country – and let’s call that the Post Office – which is what it is.” He added that SAPO needs to expand into other services, as the current model isn’t in line with world trends. “If you look at the models around the world, SAPO is now 70% dependent for its revenue on mail. Well, that is not true for the rest of the world, as most of them are down to around 30%. They do things like financial services, insurance products, logistics and other sorts of new age ecommerce forming the economic centre for their strategy going forward. And I think we can do that here. Why not?” SAPO has also had a number of economic issues, but Barnes, naturally, has a plan to

50m Kickstarted company shuts down

arlier this year, UK company Torquing Group started a Kickstarter campaign for its nano drone, the ZANO. After raising a recordbreaking (for Europe) £2 million (R50 million), the company only delivered a

More stories at

nodes, and data is stored in your country. This means South African business data is backed up to South African servers, Kenyan businesses to Kenya and so on and so forth. African countries that don’t have a Liquid Telecom node as yet are still able to use the service, though they will use the nearest node to them. Users are able to install one application on their notebook and then forget they ever installed Crash Plan because the application runs silently in the background. “The first time you use the service it may take a while to set up depending on the amount of data you have on your machine,” chief executive officer of Liquid Telecom, Nic Rudnick told us

AFRICANS TO HAVE FREE WIFI WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE IN FUTURE

go to htxt.co.za 8 | BUSINESS MADE EASY | DECEMBER 2015

The former CEO of both Cell C and Vodacom made this bold statement at a recent TEDx Johannesburg talk. Bit.ly/1MOOCNh

future demand and are ready for it.” To facilitate this, Bytes and Alcatel-Lucent have upgraded the city’s network infrastructure in a three-year deal for an undisclosed amount. This includes providing the city with high-end networking hardware, such as the AlcatelLucent 7950 extensible routing system often used by big network operators. This system has been designed to be upgradeable and as such is future-proof but can also make high speed data, voice and video services easier to access today. Leon Van Wyk, telecommunications manager of the City of Cape Town said in a statement, “This is facilitating easy access and driving competition by reducing broadband services cost to citizens. As a result of this, commercial ISPs are also using the City’s broadband infrastructure to provide internet access to the public via Wifi Zones.” There are currently 650km of fibre and 187 Wifi Zones throughout the city that are using this upgraded infrastructure. This will serve the city well as it plans to deploy even more fibre and connect even more people wirelessly to the World Wide Web. Sarel van Wyk, sales manager at Bytes Technology said, “This is an exciting project that has the potential to change lives and we are proud to be a part of it.”

MOBILE COMPUTING MOBILE COMPUTING I live each and every day to the fullest. I’m out the door in the morning and don’t stop until I get home at night. I need my electronic devices at my side – protected and accessible – keeping Ime live each and every day tomakes the fullest. I’m by outdesigning the door solutions in the connected. Case Logic it simple morning and don’t stop until I get home at night. I need my that fit my devices and my style. electronic devices at my side – protected and accessible – keeping Case Logic. Life, Simplified. me connected. Case Logic makes it simple by designing solutions that fit my devices and my style. Case Logic. Life, Simplified.

Bit.ly/1NbwyR2

at AfricaCom. “Once that’s done CrashPlan will simply update your backup with new and updated files.” Crash Plan is primarily aimed at SMEs and enterprises and is available now. A subscription costs $10.83 (R153.31) per user per month should you require cloud storage, and includes a 30 day trial. Should you prefer to backup locally or to a private server, the software license will cost $5.42 (R76.73) per user per month. Bit.ly/1Mx4AxI

HUAWEI LOOKING AT DEPLOYING 4.5G AND 5G CONNECTIVITY IN AFRICA

Chinese technology firm Huawei announced at AfricaCom 2015 that it will focus on deploying faster mobile broadband on the continent now that it has joined the Southern African Telecommunications Association. Bit.ly/1SZFxoE

IN STORE | ONLINE | MOBILE

FEATURE

Gmail vs Outlook vs Yahoo How the world’s most popular free email services compare

not enough to put Yahoo in front. Yahoo is a more lightweight affair than its competitors elsewhere; it’s easy to share photos with friends via the service’s decent integration with Flickr, but it simply doesn’t have the onboard functionality to test either Outlook or Gmail. The latter is an integral part of an impressive ecosystem that includes YouTube, Google Play, Hangouts and Google Drive – all of which are accessible remotely through mobile devices. The former has integrated Skype, SkyDrive and instant messaging on Facebook Chat. It even offers the ability to launch Office apps without having to launch it. Stacked against those two heavyweights, Yahoo can’t help but look a little thin.

SECURITY

All three services offer users the option of a two-step security login; once this feature is activated, users will be sent a code to their smartphone once they’ve entered their account password, and they’ll need to input the code to gain access to their inbox. Outlook, Gmail and Yahoo Mail offer Secure Socket Layer encryption as a default setting Gmail has taken things a little further by sending users alerts if there has been an attempted login from a machine they’ve never used or a foreign IP address. Since there are also a variety of online apps that can be logged

ver the last couple of decades, free email has gone from being a handy option to pretty much the most widely used form of email today. While email as a paid-for service hasn’t completely disappeared from the web, the majority of Internet denizens use a free email account. Gmail has led the field in this regard for years, but it isn’t the only option available. Furthermore, in recent years, its biggest competitors Yahoo and Outlook (formerly Hotmail) have revamped their designs and added new features in order to attract new email users. Here, we put all three email services up against each other to see how they compare:

INTERFACE

Even though all three email services stick to the same template in terms of layout, Gmail’s interface looks the most dated since it hasn’t really had a visual scrub since

10 | BUSINESS MADE EASY | DECEMBER 2015

it was launched in 2004. All sport a centred inbox, folders to the left and a search bar at the top, which is more prominently displayed in Gmail and Yahoo. Compared to Outlook and Yahoo, Gmail’s interface is also the least intuitive and the most visually cluttered. Folders are usually hidden behind the Hangout (chat) window and accessing features such as Contacts isn’t particularly intuitive. Perhaps the cleanest of all three is Yahoo Mail; every function is clearly indicated and easy to find. All the functionality sits above the folder queue in icon form and for a quick description users simply need to hover over them with the cursor. To be honest, it looks like what Gmail would look like if it had attended a rather expensive spa.

FEATURES

It’s no real surprise that searching and organization are killer features on Gmail –

into using a Google account (such as Feedly or Flipboard), Gmail also allows users to manage their account login permissions. Beyond its two-step security login, Yahoo Mail provides a phishing barrier and the ability to set the frequency for your sign-outs.

CONCLUSION

Microsoft has certainly put a lot of work into Outlook in its attempt to close the gap on Gmail. But while its features, smooth interface

and decent security measures are to be applauded, in terms of its customisation and organisation it still hasn’t enough to knock its biggest competitor out of the box. The upside, however, is that it’s certainly a better option than Yahoo, which needs a lot of bolstering before it can be considered a decent contender. Mind you, if you can live without all the bells and whistles and you simply want a free email address, Yahoo Mail does the job.

after all Google has worked hard to perfect them while its competitors played catch-up. The service allows users to sort mail by sender, subject, recipient, size, and attachment size. It also makes use of Google’s search algorithms internally so hunting down emails by address, topic, labels or body text is a synch. It’s easy to clear out your inbox without losing important emails using Gmail’s Archive function. Gmail also offers a function called the ‘tabbed’ inbox; once this function is activated, users can filter incoming emails in order of prioritised categories. Outlook gifts users and Archive function, email folders and Categories, which is functionally the same as labels in Gmail. You can also filter mail by sender. Yahoo’s organisational tools are fairly run-of-the-mill, offering folders instead of labels. It’s tempting to highlight Yahoo Mail’s 1TB of storage as a decent feature – it trumps Gmail’s 15GB - but then Outlook offers unlimited storage, so it’s

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 11

FEATURE

Open Source software vs. Licensed To open source or not to open source, that is the question.

n the world of licensed business software, you essentially get what you pay for – professionally-designed and developed software that’s closed off to further development by anyone other than the company that made it. Think of it as a delicious meal from a highly-trained chef at a high-end restaurant – he’ll feed you and take your money, but he’s not going to give you the recipe. Open-source software, on the other hand, is developed with an “open” mentality, meaning without proprietary code that’s legally locked down and closed to further tinkering. As such, it’s more like a meal developed with the input of a group of people; you’ll know exactly what went into it and it’ll nourish you and fill your belly, but likely won’t be quite as delicious as the aforementioned chef ’s meal. Or expensive. Microsoft’s Office365 is a licensed office software product; Libre Office or OpenOffice are its open source equivalents. But how does a business choose between open-source software and its licensed competition? In order to answer that, the risks and benefits of each need to be weighed up. When it comes to licensed software, the biggest draw for a lot of businesses is that it tends to be user-friendly, thanks to polished interfaces created with the help of teams of psychologists who spend thousands of hours working with the programmers, figuring out the best way to arrange things to maximise users’ productivity. Open source software is often not quite as polished. That is because the software could have been developed by a single person or a non-profit organisation that focused solely on functionality, rather than how the software is operated. One of the key drivers of OSS adoption is the malleability that allows businesses to tweak its functions to suit their needs. While the base software is often good, having an open architecture allows people

12 | BUSINESS MADE EASY | DECEMBER 2015

to make it much better. For licensed software, functionality is locked down until the company decides to release an official update, which could take anything from a few weeks to several months. OSS has a huge support group for the respective software products behind it in the way of internet communities. There are plenty of online forums and message boards about issues and fixes, and the community is often quick to help out. That said, licensed software has qualified customer support dedicated to answering any questions people might have. It might not be a community, but at least there is an official line of contact. Just remember, though, that it’s not always free. “In the end, there’s no easy answer. Open source software isn’t likely to be a free-andeasy cure to all your woes, but it’s certainly a viable option worth considering. Vendorsupported solutions don’t have a monopoly on solid feature sets or good support, but they may be a faster and easier choice especially for simple needs,” explains CEO of Phase2 Technology, Jeff Walpole. As Walpole said, it really should come down to what you and your company need. It might not be an easy decision to make, but you should find solace in the fact that there really is no wrong answer when it comes to choosing between open-source software and software that’s licensed.

Sprintnet Ad new to come

FEATURE

place it will project on and the width of the projection. When a ratio is listed instead of a distance, you’ll have to do some maths to figure it out, or use an online calculator.

LAMP LIFE Inside of all projectors is a bulb or lamp that projects the light needed to display an image. These bulbs have a listed amount of time they can be used (referred to as “life) usually expressed in hours. When buying a projector take note of the lamp life as well as how expensive replacements are, and how difficult they are to come by.

CONTRAST AND BRIGHTNESS

How to choose a projector for the office Looking for a new office projector? These are the points to keep in mind.

hen crowding around a laptop or monitor just isn’t an option, nothing beats a projector to show off your awardwinning presentation. Projectors actually share many similarities with regular TV and computer screens, but differ in a few key areas that can greatly affect your final buying decision.

cheaper projectors and have become extremely popular because of it. Unfortunately, the 4:3 aspect ratio is terrible for most applications because very little content is natively created for it. While WXGA and WUXGA still differ from the 16:9 norm, their 16:10 aspect ratio is far better for business use. Putting in slightly more money for one of these projectors could also save you time and hassle as you attempt to make your content viewable on the smaller ratios.

RESOLUTION AND ASPECT RATIO

SIZE

Many modern screens and media are made to work at either 720p (1280×720, 16:9 aspect ratio) or 1080p (1920×1080 pixels, 16:9 aspect ratio), which is also true for home projectors. Office and business projectors, on the other hand, have an entirely different range: • SVGA (800×600 pixels, 4:3 aspect ratio) • XGA (1024×768 pixels, 4:3 aspect ratio) • WXGA (1280×800 pixels, 16:10 aspect ratio) • WUXGA (1920×1200 pixels, 16:10 aspect ratio) SVGA and XGA are usually found in

14 | BUSINESS MADE EASY | DECEMBER 2015

Like screens, a projector will be rated to create a viewable space measured in inches from corner to corner diagonally. Where projectors differ is the fact that they have a range. Most projectors will list their size as with a minimum and maximum, for example 39”-300”. Measure the space you want to cover with your projection to determine your size needs.

CONNECTIONS

Connecting your source to the projector can be done in a variety of ways, so you need to make sure your projector supports your preferred method. These range from wires such as HDMI, VGA, composite and even S-video. While adapters can help if the right cable isn’t lying

around, it’s good to go with what you know. Alternatively, some projectors offer wireless connections that can communicate with a PC, tablet or phone by way of the internet or an app. These can manufacturer-specific, so they will be far less standardised. Going wireless will only be a necessity if the projector is planned to be mounted far away from the presenter, in which case a remote control for either it or the device with the content loaded on should be considered. A great cheat for this is a wireless mouse; they’re cheap and work with most devices and can do (almost) everything speciality controllers can.

HOW DO PROJECTORS DIFFER FROM MONITORS? THROW

Throw, also referred to as projection distance or simply “distance” is the distance between the projector and the surface you intend the projection to be shown on. Aside from a measurement, it can also be classified as a throw ratio. This ratio describes the distance between the projector and the

Brightness, measured in lumens, will determine how visible a projection is in terms of visibility in light. Generally, a higher lumen rating is better, but will drive up the price of the projector. Contrast is the difference between light and dark, and is measure as a ratio of the brightest white compared to the darkest black. For example, a contrast ratio of 15 000:1 means that the white is 15 000 times brighter than the blacks. As with brightness, the higher the better.

DLP VS LCD Digital Light Processing (DLP) and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) are two different technologies used in projectors to create an image. Neither constitutes an incorrect choice, so let’s look at what they do. DLP uses light reflected off of tiny mirrors to get the job done. DLP projector’s main draws are higher contrast ratios, better motion blur and smaller physical units, which is better if the projector needs to be moved around. Check the projector’s listed dimensions if this is a particular concern, though. LCD projectors use glass panels, just like LCD screens, and is better at colour reproduction at the

expense of potential pixelation. A third option, called Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) is a kind of fusion between DLP and LCD, but is usually more expensive and used for high-end projectors. At the end of the day, what matters most is what the projections look like in person, as manufacturers’ techniques and their projects usually matter more than the technology behind them. If you have the opportunity, ask for a demonstration if you’re buying from a store.

CONCLUSION

As with all technologies, once you dig deeper into the tech behind it, there is a whole new world of complicated terms and principles. If you’re a real AV fan they will interest, but for everyone else we’ve covered the core principles here. Bit.ly/1MSf7oC

How to buy a business projector: The cheat sheet Stick to your budget. If possible, try find a 16:10 aspect ratio projector. Measure the wall or canvas you’re going to be projecting on and look out for a model that can recreate that size. Make sure the projector can be connected to your existing devices and the devices of these intended to use it. You may need to spend more money on adapters. If the projector is going to be installed in a fixed location, make sure the throw distance is long enough to get the projection where it needs to be. If the room isn’t very dark, try get a projector with a higher lumen rating. Aim for higher brightness and contrast if it fits the budget. Whether DLP, LCD or LCoS; make sure the projector meets your other needs and is affordable. Check the lamp life, as well as price and availability or replacements. Read online reviews to see what people think of the product. If you’re buying from a physical store, ask for a demonstration. Google “[projector name] problems” to see some problems others have had with specific models. Check the warranty and after-sales support when purchasing.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 15

FEATURE

How to register a domain name

Looking to create a website for your up-and-coming business? Here’s the first step.

reating a website for a business these days takes all but 30 minutes and zero bucks from your pocket, thanks to a plethora of blog-style resources that allow you to do so. But what if you want your own domain name that doesn’t piggyback on another site but don’t know where to start? Well, let htxt.africa take you through what to do.

STEP 1: CHOOSE A REGISTRAR

You want to start off by finding a registrar website that lets you register a domain name in South Africa. Three good sites we suggest using are Register Domain, Web Africa or Domains. They’re easy to navigate through and tell you everything you need to know about registering a domain. For consistency purposes, we’ll use Register Domain as our reference website throughout this article; the other two websites should more or less work the same way.

addresses, you’ll have to get a bit creative and come up with something else. Once you have one that isn’t taken, you can proceed on to the next step.

STEP 3: KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING

Now that you have chosen a domain name that’s available, you should read up on what you’ll be getting when you register on the site. With Register Domain, you’ll get domain parking, which allows you to host your name and not have it go live for a certain period until you’re ready to launch, the ability to see when your website is down in and outside South Africa, social media tracking to see when your domain name is mentioned in any posts and more. You also have the option of having the registrar host your website, which means store all of its files on its servers and manage its traffic. Other sites should also offer more or less the same things. You can choose to either lease your domain

on a year-to-year basis, meaning you’ll have it registered for one year from the time you’ve registered until you have to renew your lease, or extend it to five years. In terms of cost, prices start from as little as R75 to register a .co.za domain name on a one year lease, and increase according to the extra services you may want to bolt on.

STEP 4: CHECK ALL THE RIGHT BOXES AND CHECK OUT Before completing your registration, make sure you’ve read all the terms and conditions through and that you’ve ordered what you want and none of what you don’t. If you’re happy that everything is in order, proceed to checkout and select the payment option you’ll be using. And that’s it, you’re done! Once everything is set up, it’s time to start a far trickier task: actually designing and building your site. Good luck! Bit.ly/1OQbq4Q

STEP 2: CHECK IF YOUR DOMAIN NAME IS AVAILABLE In the registration site’s top homepage section, you should see a search bar where you have to type in your desired domain name, just to make sure no one else has already snapped it up before you. If the name has been taken, don’t despair yet, there are other top level domains (TLD) other than .com, like .joburg, .durban etc. for you to explore, and you might find that your desired domain name is still available under one of these instead. In the case that your domain name isn’t available no matter the TLD, well just like with social media user names and email

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FEATURE

It’s even useful on smaller displays and can boost productivity by keeping useful info and apps within easy reach. Microsoft has accounted for the fact that many people don’t have multiple screens at work and has made adding virtual desktops incredibly simple; browsing them requires no more than a combination of key presses. This means you can switch between entirely separate desktops, complete with their own sets of running applications and icons of your choosing, as and when you need them.

FASTER ON THE SAME HARDWARE

Is Windows 10 good for business? To upgrade, or not to upgrade ; that is the Windows 10 question.

pgrading the operating systems of business PCs is a tricky question at the best of times, but now with Windows 10’s release addressing many of the issues raised by Windows 8, and Windows 7 and even XP still maintaining their popularity, many businesses are asking whether they should bother with Microsoft’s latest. To help you decide, we’ve taken a look at some of the business-specific benefits offered by Microsoft’s latest PC operating system. The answer, in case you’re wondering, is yes, just with a caveat. Read on to find out what it is.

IT’S FREE, FOR NOW

As long as you have a registered copy of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 then you are able to

upgrade to Windows 10 for free as long as you upgrade before 29th July 2016. This goes for Professional versions as well, but not Enterprise or any of the Windows RT/RT 8.1 OSes – those licenses work a bit differently and don’t qualify for the free upgrade to 10. After 29th July 2016, however, you will have to pay to upgrade to Windows 10 which, at the time of writing, costs R2 299.00 per license. Free is a lot cheaper. Fortunately Microsoft has made the upgrade process incredibly easy; all people have to do is opt in for the upgrade by clicking the little Windows logo that appeared on qualifying Windows machines shortly after the Windows 10 launch. You also benefit from not having to do any significant re-training of your staff to operate the new system because Microsoft has blended the best of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1; people should feel comfortable using the OS no matter what they were using previously with perhaps just a cursory introduction to some of the OS’s new features needed.

Baked into Windows 10 Pro is support for connection to a Domain, and Remote Desktop which lets you, or the IT department, login to your PC from anywhere with the right credentials. Windows Hello is a fantastic new feature that has support for fingerprint scanners right out of the box. The software also allows people to login with their faces in the future, though this requires Intel RealSense cameras that at present aren’t widely available. We’ll go into more detail about that in a bit.

A November update has optimised Windows 10’s code so finely, that Microsoft claims the OS runs “up to 30%” faster now than Windows 7 did on the same hardware. Having seen definite performance increases on our Windows 7 PCs after the upgrade, we know it to be true. Windows 10, then, offers businesses a computing performance boost without an additional cash outlay.

THE WINDOWS INSIDER PROGRAMME

Windows 10’s latest features are being tried out on a select group of volunteers known as Windows Insiders before they’re rolled out to all Windows 10 PCs as updates. This means that when you receive updates, they have been thoroughly tested.

DEFERRED UPDATES

But more importantly, Windows 10 gives your IT people fine control over when, how and if the updates on offer are installed. Some

updates can even be deferred for up to a year, giving network administrators more flexibility over which updates make it onto your business’s network.

THE FUTURE

We’ve already mentioned Windows Hello but we’ll go a bit more in-depth as to how it will work. Currently fingerprint scanners – which are present on many notebooks – are supported but in the future Windows 10 computers can be unlocked with a simple glance at an Intel RealSense camera. This new camera from Intel, which is expected to appear on business notebooks from next year, is able to pick up fine details on your face, including gestures and even smiles. This has the potential to provide greater security than a password as an employee would need to physically be at a computer to unlock it, and the camera is so advanced that it can’t be tricked into granting access.

CONTINUUM

Microsoft is also working hard on a Windows 10 feature called Continuum. The idea is

that you will be able to connect a smartphone running the Windows Phone operating system to a monitor, keyboard and mouse via a specially-designed docking station, effectively turning it into a full-fledged PC. Given that Windows 10 requires nothing more a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage to run, you could potentially be able to give your staff a Windows Phone handset which works as both a phone and a PC, eliminating the need for separate work devices. Expect to hear more about this in 2016, as Microsoft brings more powerful Windows Phones to market.

CONCLUSION

The short answer to the question of should you upgrade to Windows 10 is yes; but we strongly advise you to confirm first that the applications your business depends on work with Windows 10. To do that, consult with your IT department and weigh up the pros and cons. Should you have little reliance on older applications and legacy software, however, then we recommend upgrading to Windows 10 as soon as possible, before you have to pay for it.

DO MORE

Thanks to Windows 7, today it seems natural to snap two windows side-by-side to take up half a screen each. Windows 10 has improved on this: you are now able to snap up to four windows onto one screen which works exceptionally well on Full HD and 4K displays.

ENTERPRISE-GRADE SECURITY

Windows 10 has a host of new security features that benefit both SMEs and large enterprises. Returning once again from as far back as Vista is Microsoft’s tried-and-tested BitLocker encryption software that locks down entire drives and makes them inaccessible without the correct password.

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REVIEW

DETAILS • Price: R3 999 • Display: 5.7 inch 720 x 1 280p,

258ppi

• Operating System: Android 5.0.1

(Lollipop) System Chip: Qualcomm CPU: Snapdragon 410 @ 1.2GHz RAM: 1GB Storage: 8GB Front camera: 5.0 MP Back camera: 8.0 MP laser autofocus • Battery: 3 000mAh Li-ion Battery Scores • • • • • •

LG G4 Stylus Let’s get down to business

he LG G4 Stylus is a decent phone, but its true power is found in its simple but effective multitasking and extraordinary battery life. The Stylus boasts a 5.7-inch HD display, and the whole phone is just a bit bigger than its siblings, though also thinner than the flagship G4. As with previous LG smartphones, the Stylus’ unlock key and differently-textured volume rocker are located at the rear of the phone, just below the 8MP camera. But very much unlike the G4 and the G4 Beat, the G4 Stylus doesn’t feature a curved design. A micro USB charging port is located at the bottom while the 3.5mm audio jack is located at the top left; the stylus is located on the left side, within the body of the phone. The pleasantly-sized stylus sits very securely in its slot, too, so it won’t just fall out and get lost. Inside the G4 Stylus we find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 CPU that has a clock speed of between 200 and 1200MHz. We thought this would allow great adaptability of the CPU to scale down during idle and conserve battery, but even when running at idle the Stylus flits between 900 and 1200MHz; fortunately the battery is a massive 3000 Li-ion so it doesn’t suffer too badly.

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PC Mark revealed where the G4 Stylus was strongest: word processing and web browsing. While the average user may not find this all that appealing, a person constantly on the move and still needing to be able to edit documents and send emails will. An Adreno 306 GPU and 1GB of RAM make the dual window mode not only look good, but also extremely usable. The storage capacity is a relatively small 8GB, and there is support for a microSD card up to 128GB in size. The screen is not Full HD and the 720 x 1 280p IPS display only has a pixel density of 258ppi. For some reason this is only apparent when displaying text, which appears slightly pixelated - video and images don’t suffer, and the contrast is beautiful. Responsiveness is great with up to 10-point multi touch support. This means you’re going to have to be typing pretty fast to get the keyboard to lag out and that the stylus is extremely responsive. This is a small detail but once again, for the person who needs to make changes to documents on the go, the G4 Stylus is really a joy to use thanks to its pleasant typing action. The rear camera and 5MP selfie camera are nothing special. Low light conditions result in grainy photos; an HDR function

for the rear camera and beauty filter for the selfie camera do remedy this slightly but we have seen better in recent days; for instance the G4 Beat’s is better. The appeal of this phone, then, lies in its other functions. With heavy usage, we managed to get three full days of use out of the 3000mAh li-ion battery, which we could have pushed to three and a half days quite comfortably. Looking beyond the rather stingy storage, its pixelated text and the poor cameras, we are nonetheless impressed with the G4 Stylus. This phone makes no bones about the fact that it is a business machine that brings a lot of mobile office functionality.

SCORES Appearance

Performance

Display

Camera

Battery

Overall

HANDS ON

Microsoft Surface Book Hands On

We spent some one-on-one time with Microsoft’s first own-branded laptop in years.

little while back, Microsoft stepped into the fray to launch its first ownbranded laptop, the Surface Book, and on a recent trip to Redmond, we managed to get a hands-on experience with it right in Microsoft HQ. Immediately, the first thing we noticed is just how light it is, with its slender 312.3mm x 232.1mm x 22.8mm housing weighing in at 1.5kg when the keyboard and screen are connected to each other. Compared to the new MacBook Air, it is 500 grams heavier than the 11-inch version, and just under 200 grams heavier than the 13-inch model. Naturally, when the two halves are separated from one another, they are even lighter, and it is very easy to see why this would appeal to designers and people who would like to use the screen as a tablet. What will also appeal to designers is the stylus Microsoft has included. This snaps magnetically to the side of the screen; it’s a really cool idea on the surface, but it’ll likely get lost quite easily as there is no real space to store it safely. The screen is held in place with what Microsoft calls “muscle wire”. This is a very fancy term for a hinge designed to lock in place through carefully crafted wedges on the casing.

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The wedges also prevent the screen from flipping back on itself, so if you want to lay it flat on a surface, you would have to detach the screen, turn it around, and snap it back in. Oh, and the screen doesn’t just pop off. Here, you have to press a button on the keyboard that releases the clips, and only then can you carry it around. The same needs to happen if the screen has been flipped over. In terms of tech specs, the Surface Book has a 13.5-inch PixelSense display, a solid state drive for storage, a 6th-gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, and you have the choice of 8GB or 16GB RAM of memory. In terms of the keyboard, Microsoft has gone with what appears to be stock-standard chiclet keys found on many thinner laptops today. In comparison, it’s almost identical to Lenovo’s Yoga series. With that said, the keys are appealing to the touch and they are well spaced apart. The track pad is as iffy as any trackpad, but it does the job of accepting input just fine. In conclusion, the Surface Book appears to be a solid effort from Microsoft, but whether it is nice enough to entice people away from their current laptops and convertibles remains to be seen. Essentially, it’s a Surface tablet with a sturdy detachable keyboard, and that’s pretty

much it. We still wouldn’t say no to one, though. Microsoft hasn’t had much luck with launching its Surface products in South Africa either, so whether the Surface Book will be launching here is still an unknown at this point. If we hear anything, we’ll be sure to let you know.

DETAILS • Price: From $1499 (about R21 000) • Display: 13.5-inch PixelSense @ 3000 x 2000 (267ppi) with 10-point multitouch • Operating System: Windows 10 Pro with Office 30-day trial • CPU: Intel 6th-gen Core i5 or Core i7 • Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 520 (i5), NVIDIA GeForce GPU 1GB (i5/i7) • RAM: 8GB or 16GB • Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB or 1TB SSD • Security: TPM chip • Front camera: 5.0 MP • Back camera: 8.0 MP with autofocus

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