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Global PC Market Up 16%

Global PC shipments hit 71.9 million in the second quarter of 2008, a 16 percent increase over the same time period in 2007, according to Gartner.PC shipments in the United States reached 16.5 million in the second quarter, a 4.2 percent increase from 2007. PC shipments rose during the quarter, despite the sliding economy. This was due to vendors cutting prices on PCs due to economic conditions.

Gartner Sees Big Future For Business Networking Sites

Although it's not their main purpose, Facebook and MySpace allow users to look at work-related subjects.  LinkedIn is more focused on this field.  But Gartner believes that, in the future, the business aspects of social networking will become a much bigger deal.

More Than A Billion PCs In Use Globally

The number of PCs in use worldwide has surpassed 1 billion and is on track to reach 2 billion in 2014, according to research firm Gartner."Mature markets such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan currently account for 58 percent of the world's installed PCs, but these markets only account for 15 percent of the world's population," said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.

Disruptive Technologies for the Next 4 Years

Gartner, an IT industry analyst firm, has published a report on what its analysts see as the top ten disruptive technologies for 2008 to 2012:

Gartner Analysts Share Bleak Outlook On Vista

Vista is crap, according to a number of users; Google gives over 20,000 results for that exact phrase.  And thanks to Vista, two Gartner analysts have gone so far as to say that Windows is collapsing.

Gartner: Open Source To Be Widely Popular By 2012

Like eating fruits and vegetables or building lighter cars, open-source technology seemed like the sort of good idea that would always go ignored.  But according to Gartner, elements of open-source technology will be present in 80 percent of all commercial software by the year 2012.

Phishing Attacks Increased In 2007

Phishing attacks in the U.S. rose in 2007 as $3.2 billion was lost to these attacks, according to a survey by Gartner.The survey found that 3.6 million adults lost money in phishing attacks in the 12 months ending August 2007, as compared with 2.3 million who did so the previous year. Phishing attacks were more successful in 2007 than they were in the past two years. Of those who received phishing emails in 2007, 3.3 percent said they lost money because of the attack, compared with 2.3 percent who lost money in 2006, and 2.9 percent who did so in 2006.

Gartner: Software Licensing Costs to Decline

Andy McCue at Silicon.com points to a Gartner report that, in many ways, reiterates what we’ve all been seeing.

More Payment Options Increase Online Sales

Online retailers are accepting more forms of alternative payments from shoppers in an effort to ease fears about online fraud according to a new report from payments processor CyberSource.

User-Generated Media Increasing

Between 46 percent and 83 percent of the online populations of France, The United States and the United Kingdom use user- generated media at least monthly, according to Gartner.