Features

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  Analysis: Why Linux is a desktop flop

  It's free, easier to use than ever, IT staffers know it and love it, and it has fewer viruses and Trojans than Windows.

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  A deep dive into Windows 8 Consumer Preview

  Windows 8 Consumer Preview is one of the biggest changes that Microsoft has made to Windows, moving it from an operating system aimed at a single class of hardware (PCs and laptops) to one that spans a wide range of devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

• Windows 8: What you need to get started

  Early yesterday, Microsoft shipped the Consumer Preview for Windows 8, the drastically different refresh of the venerable operating system.

• FAQ: What's what in OS X Mountain Lion?

  Last week, Apple took most Mac users by surprise when it released a developers preview of Mountain Lion, the company's newest desktop operating system, and announced it would ship the upgrade later this year.

• OS X Mountain Lion: A big cat for business?

  Apple surprised the tech world by unveiling a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the next generation of its desktop operating system set to ship this summer - just a year after OS X 10.7 Lion arrived.

• In depth: Hands on with Apple's new OS X, Mountain Lion

  Apple updates its iOS mobile operating system once a year. But why should the iPhone and iPad have all the fun? Apple has announced that it will release a new version of OS X—Mountain Lion—this summer, just a year after the release of OS X Lion.

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  20 popular Ubuntu Linux apps you may want to try

  As Ubuntu Linux continues to grow in popularity, most discussions of it tend to focus on the basics of the operating system itself, including especially details about its desktop environment and user interface.

• Analysis: Will this be the year of Apple in the enterprise?

  Apple has never been considered an enterprise technology company, but it owns a significant share of the mobile enterprise market, largely due to the success of the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air.

• Dig deep into Lion: The best overlooked, underrated features

  Apple billed this summer's release of Mac OS X Lion as having more than 200 new features, but most coverage of Lion in the intervening months has focused on only a handful of them. While iOS-like navigation and app-launching interfaces, autosave/restore capabilities, AirDrop file sharing and an emergency restore partition are by all means important, there are a lot of helpful tweaks and enhancements that can easily be missed.

• Windows XP: Pros and cons of not upgrading

  Windows XP users, your favorite operating system is a decade old, and if you're still using it, you're not cool anymore, at least according to Microsoft. That's the software giant's recent take on its aging OS, which is still more popular than Vista or Windows 7 worldwide. Microsoft is hoping the final cadre of users hanging on to XP will start to dump it and move to the more modern Windows 7.

• Why IT won't like Mac OS X Lion Server

  Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server adds innovative features and a new low price tag, but cuts in services and the elimination of advanced GUI administration tools may force some enterprise departments to think twice about the role of Mac servers on their networks.

• Apple iOS 4.3: A guide to getting started

  If you haven't synced your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad in the last 24 hours, you've got a surprise waiting for you: Apple has released iOS 4.3, promising new ways to access iTunes content, a Wi-Fi personal hotspot option and improved browser speeds. If you want to find out how to activate all the new features on your device, here's your getting-started guide to get the most out of iOS 4.3.

• Motorola Atrix 4G mightiest smartphone yet?

  The Motorola Xoom was the most advanced tablet that we got to try out at Mobile World Congress. Other tablets, including the HTC Flyer, certainly look promising, but the Xoom is the launch device for the Google Android Honeycomb OS - the version of Android developed specifically for tablets - and the devices on show at MWC were fully working ones used for live demonstrations.

• Windows on verge of dropping below 90% market share

  Windows is on the verge of dropping below 90% market share, with smartphones and tablets posing an increasingly serious threat to Microsoft's dominance of the operating system market.

• For an old or slow PC, try Puppy Linux 5.2

  There's no doubt Canonical's popular Ubuntu Linux distribution gets the majority of attention in the Linux world these days, but there are myriad others equally worthy of consideration.