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Foxit Reader has long been the most visible Windows alternative to Adobe Reader, but in the latest update this popular freeware falters. How far it’s stumbled depends on how annoyed you get at installation shenanigans. Granted, there are some useful new features added, but where the jump from version 2 to version 3 cut bloat while adding in a few features, version 4 adds some new features while also throwing some unpleasant curve balls your way.

Foxit Reader 4 looks identical to Foxit Reader 3. It does allow for edits without installing its toolbar, though.

Worst of all, in our tests it commandeered the default PDF reader setting even though we unchecked that box.

I dislike criticizing a company’s business model, but forcing users to opt-out instead of opt-in combined with a surprisingly large number of preselected options, and it’s hard not to conclude that the cumbersome installation unfairly burdens the program’s otherwise reasonable features.

The interface is practically indistinguishable from the previous version. The toolbar still contains a lengthy row of icons. It’s not a bad design, but it does look very Windows XP and might be overwhelming to some users. Nine months after the official launch of sales-ripping Windows 7 is too long to be ignoring the new paradigm. Thankfully, the toolbar is fully customizable, with a deep set of options. You can start tweaking the configurations by right-clicking on it.

Foxit Reader’s installation has gotten worse, with multiple add-ons and features that users are opted-in to.

Foxit does lack some notable options, such as PDF creation and drag-and-drop, and the persistent pestering to add features is annoying, even though some of the features that you can add to Foxit are free. For example, Foxit promotes an online collaborative system called OnDemandCM on the program’s landing page when you open Foxit without loading a PDF. Once you install the add-on you’ll be asked to register at the Foxit site, but using the service itself isn’t free.

Over a half-day of use, Foxit’s performance varied. Mostly it would open PDFs and maneuver within them easily; occasionally it would be sluggish and momentarily unresponsive. Foxit still remains lighter on your system resources than Adobe Reader, but given the improving performances of online and in-browser editing tools and the strong debut of the free Nitro PDF Reader, it’s hard to recommend Foxit enthusiastically.

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Although still early in the process, newly leaked documents about Windows 8 offer some keen insight into where Microsoft wants to head with the next version of the operating system.

One thing that is made abundantly clear is that Microsoft has been paying attention to Apple. In the documents, which appear to come from an April meeting with computer makers, Microsoft discusses its Cupertino, Calif.-based rival and outlines plans to offer a Windows Store similar to the way Apple distributes software on its iPhone. The documents, which Microsoft has declined to comment on or authenticate, also talk about plans to give Windows a more iPad-like response time through new power management settings.

In particular, one slide titled “How Apple Does It: A Virtuous Cycle,” talks about the need for simplicity in design. “Apple brand is known for high quality, uncomplicated, ‘it just works,’” the slide says, adding that “This is something people will pay for!”

Other slides don’t directly reference Apple, but talk about the need for a number of features popularized by its products, including the App Store, as well as a more instant-on feel.

Although Windows has continued to dominate the PC market, still holding roughly 95 percent of global market share, it faces a significant threat from mobile operating systems looking to encroach on the low end of the computer market, including the iPad and Android-based devices.

Hewlett-Packard, which originally talked about plans for a Windows 7-based slate PC in January, now refuses to say whether it will build that product and has since announced plans to buy Palm in a deal expected to close shortly. Microsoft has been working on tablets for nearly a decade and, as early as 2005, outlined the hardware trends that would enable a device like the iPad. Thus far, however, only Apple has been able to create a hit with consumers.

Among the goals outlined for Windows 8 are some features that would appear to be aimed at making Windows more competitive in this market, including improved simplicity, better support of touch and gestures, as well as support for smaller-size screens.

Although the iPad is not referenced directly, the presentation does refer to the slate form factor as a “center of gravity,” alongside laptops and all-in-ones.

To achieve quicker boot-up, Microsoft is looking at several things, including a new combination of logging off and hibernating a machine that would offer a faster boot-up than a full restart. That combination would become the default on-off behavior, though just what to name the setting is still a question mark, according to the documents. The company is also looking to resume from sleep in less than a second, according to the documents.

“Windows 8 PCs turn on fast, nearly instantly in some cases, and are ready to work without any long or unexpected delays,” reads one of dozens of slides posted to enthusiast site Microsoft Kitchen, among other places.

Of course, the goal of instant-on PCs is a long held, but as yet unrealized aspiration. Microsoft significantly improved its boot-up, resume, and shut-down times with Windows 7, but they all pale when compared to the nearly instantaneous response one gets from a mobile device such as the iPhone or iPad.

As for the store, Microsoft apparently plans to let each computer maker brand the store under their own name. Among the benefits to consumers would be the ability to access those applications on any PC they own. It is also outlined as an opportunity for partners to make money after the PC sale, though it is described as “revenue neutral” for Windows, suggesting that perhaps Microsoft is not planning to take a cut of sales.

One slide suggests that, in an earlier forum with hardware makers, Microsoft heard that such a store is seen as needed as soon as possible, though this is clearly a tricky undertaking with Microsoft having to balance the needs of software creators, consumers, partners, resellers, and the PC makers–not to mention Microsoft itself.

The slides also offer up a time frame for Internet Explorer 9, suggesting a beta of the new browser is expected by August. Microsoft has had developer platform previews of IE9, but those have lacked a significant user interface and other features. The beta, according to the slides, will be the “first release of full IE functionality.”

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The Obama administration announced on Monday, “We are now beginning the next transformation in information technology: the wireless broadband revolution.”

The announcement aims to launch U.S. business into the online world, and was outlined in a presidential memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies.

It encourages both federal and private agencies to take a few steps, including a call from the federal government to free up 500 megahertz of wireless communication spectrum, which would nearly double what is currently available.

The freed up spectrum would then be auctioned off, with the majority going toward mobile broadband and other uses. It can then be shared between the private and government sector, including small businesses and individual users.

“This new era in global technology leadership will only happen if there is adequate spectrum available to support the forthcoming myriad of wireless devices, networks, and applications that can drive the new economy,” says the memorandum.

The document describes it as a move to expand wireless broadband in the United States, with a belief it “will trigger the creation of innovative new businesses, provide cost-effective connections in rural areas, increase productivity, improve public safety, and allow for the development of mobile telemedicine, telework, distance learning, and other new applications that will transform Americans’ lives.”

It states “The world is going wireless, and we must not fall behind,” adding that there are few developments in technology, which have as much “potential to enhance America’s economic competitiveness, create jobs, and improve the quality of our lives as wireless high-speed access to the Internet.”

Microsoft still won’t officially use Windows and the number eight in the same sentence, but several Microsoft enthusiast sites have posted what appear to be some early details on the next version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system.

On his Microsoft Journal Web site, Francisco Martin Garcia posted several slides stamped “Microsoft Confidential” that discuss key features of the still hush-hush operating system, including a focus on facial recognition as a means of authentication as well as improving boot-up times. The goal, according to the information, is that slates and laptops would be able to resume from sleep in less than a second.

The slides also suggest that the new operating system will support features such as 3D displays, wireless connection to televisions, as well as for things like USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0. CNET has not yet been able to independently confirm the authenticity of the slides, but key points, such as the use of internal Microsoft jargon, lend weight to their legitimacy.

Among the other features said to be under consideration for Windows 8 is an ambient light feature that would allow the display to automatically adjust to changes in lighting. Microsoft is also said to be considering a new mechanism for resetting a PC to its default state, while keeping a user’s files, settings, and applications.

Another enthusiast site, Microsoft Kitchen, has a bunch more slides, including a discussion of Apple; plans to focus on slates, laptops, and all-in-ones; as well as a focus on improved energy efficiency. Many of those slides are also dated April 20, 2010.

A Microsoft representative was not immediately available for comment.

The software maker has not talked about its plans beyond Windows 7. Microsoft has said that it is working on a minor “service pack” update to Windows 7 and will start testing it next month. That update, however, consists largely of bug fixes and doesn’t add significant features. Much of the company’s plans for this year center around touting the popularity of Windows 7 and pitching updates being made to the free, downloadable Windows Live Essentials programs, including Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. The company issued a public beta version of the updated Essentials tools last week, also noting that Microsoft has now sold 150 million Windows 7 licenses.

Although the desktop team hasn’t commented on when to expect Windows 8, the Windows Server team showed slides at last year’s Professional Developers Conference saying that it expected to have a major release of that operating system around 2012. Earlier this month, Server and Tools unit president Bob Muglia confirmed to CNET that the next server operating system will be a major release and is being developed along with its desktop counterpart, although he did not give a release time frame.

Microsoft says it has sold more than 150 million licenses of Windows 7, but has yet to talk officially about Windows 8.

The slides do appear to continue along some of the messaging themes that Microsoft started with Windows 7, both in terms of how it markets Windows to consumers as well as its efforts to improve collaboration with PC makers. The slides make reference to designing Windows 8 with the goal that PC makers will have more opportunities to make their systems unique.

Microsoft has been holding a regular series of meetings, known as forums, with hardware makers to improve relations post-Windows Vista. Several computer makers said there were significant improvements in communication during both the design and testing of Windows 7.

The Microsoft Journal document also makes reference to Forum II, while the April Microsoft Kitchen documents have Forum II highlighted, suggesting that perhaps they came from that meeting with computer makers. There is also reference to a Forum I with a December date. Future events are listed as to be determined in the slides.

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Streaming music from the cloud to your computer or mobile device is nothing new, but doing so with your own library is something that’s on the brink of becoming an everyday occurrence with upcoming efforts by Google, HP, and possibly even Apple.

Enter MSpot, the latest service to promise free and unlimited streaming from the cloud to your computer or Android device. The company on Monday is finally opening up this service to everyone following a month-long private beta.

To get it to work, users need to install a small piece of software on their Windows or Mac computer. This lets you pick which folders or specific albums you want to be synced to your MSpot storage. It can also be tied into the libraries of existing local jukebox software like Windows Media Player and iTunes. Every time you make a change in one of these places, like adding or removing files, and rating your music, those actions are synced back to your online collection.

On the client side of things, you end up getting a very simple jukebox interface which promises to work with IE, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. Android users running 2.1 or higher can also download an application that can set aside local phone storage and both stream and download songs to whatever amount of space you allow it to take up on your SD card or built-in storage.

We tried it out in Chrome and on Android and had great results. The songs began playing instantly, and the player interface was simple and intuitive. Best of all, we were able to access that same library from multiple devices at the same time.

The mobile application can stream your music over EDGE and 3G. We tried it on 3G and got music to start streaming in, in about seven seconds. It then played through without any breaks or buffering; on Wi-Fi you get instantaneous results.

MSpot lets you stream as much and as often as you want, however you only get 2GB of storage for free. More can be had in chunks of 10, 20, 50 and 100 gigabytes which ranges from $2.99 to $13.99 a month depending on what plan you get. That said, you might be able to get away with just using the free service; even if your music library is far bigger, as MSpot compresses tracks.

While an audiophile might cringe, I found the quality to be quite listenable on tracks that had started out at 320kbps, and been shrunk down to the company’s standard 48kbps AAC+ format. Would the original sound better? Sure, but with MSpot you can access these songs when you’re not in reach of that file.

There are certainly a few other things missing from the Web and Android experience, but I expect them to be added in the future. You cannot, for instance, upload directly to your MSpot library from either of these places, nor can you add or change ratings. But even without these things, MSpot’s core service is compelling enough to warrant a spot on your computer or Android phone.

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Dr. Oliver Williamson may not be a household name in IT outsourcing circles, but a consortium of academics is hoping to change that. Williamson, professor emeritus of business, economics and law at the University of California-Berkeley, won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009 for his examination of economic governance. Some outsourcing researchers say his lifelong study of transactional cost economics—the practice of accounting for the total costs of a contract, both obvious and hidden—contains valuable lessons for anyone engaging in outsourcing today.

Kate Vitasek, a faculty member in the University of Tennessee’s Center for Executive Education and author of Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules That Will Transform Outsourcing, along with three other academics culled Williamson’s work for lessons on improving performance, reducing costs and increasing satisfaction when outsourcing. 1. Build cooperation into the contract.

In an article on transaction cost economics and outsourcing management, Williamson wrote that “efficiency gains from trade go back to when our ancestors traded nuts for berries on the edge of the forest, [in] which exchanges were both transparent and simple.”

Modern outsourcing relationships, by contrast, are manifestly more complex. But Williamson maintains that additional gains can be realized if the outsourcing customer and supplier create processes to preserve cooperation throughout the life of the deal. For example, outsourcing partners should ask, “What’s in it for we?” instead of “What’s in it for me?” says Vitasek. “Don’t just say ‘win-win’. Contract for a ‘win-win’.”

2. Factor in hidden transaction costs.

No outsourced project ever costs what it purports to in the contract. In fact, the dotted line and the bottom line can be pretty far apart. Figuring out what an outsourcing deal will actually cost in the long run is tricky, but crucial.

“Every contract structure and relationship, especially in a vested, collaborative partnership, should account for risk, asset specificity, frequency and work to be done,” Vitasek says, “or else it’s not much of a contract.”

One-sided contracts that push all the risk on either the service provider or the customer will cost more in the long run.

3. Use the contract as a framework, not a weapon.

Outsourcing customers—particularly those who’ve been burned before—may be tempted to create an overly detailed contract to cover every possible contingency. That’s a mistake, according to Vitasek’s interpretation of Williamson, not to mention impossible.

“It limits innovation and encourages finger-pointing when there is inevitable scope creep and changes,” Vitasek says. “Instead of trying to guess about the future, it is better to indicate an outline of the work to be done and provide recourse for ultimate appeal. For work yet to be determined, focus on the process and tools to be used, not on the work to be done.”

4. Make end-of-life arrangements early.

Outsourcing partnerships can’t last forever, so it’s constructive to plan for the end early on. With “feasible foresight,” Williamson wrote in the Journal of Supply Chain Management in April 2008, an outsourcing customer can mitigate the effects of a defection from its services provider.

“It is important to recognize that business relationships may need to change due to changes in the market, and for this reason, contracts need a well thought out exit management plan,” says Vitasek. “Practitioners should clearly identify the costs associated with terminating a contract [and] create safeguards in the contract that are fair and equitable in terms of keeping either party whole in the event that a contract needs to be terminated prematurely.”

5. Create a shared vision statement.

If you can identify strategic points of alignment with your outsourcer, you will minimize additional transaction costs over the life of an IT services deal. Vitasek advises creating a shared vision statement to guide the relationship. She also recommends developing pricing models that reward service providers for achieving joint goals.

6. Play nice (but not too nice).

Sure, you can strong arm your supplier at the negotiating table—or be strong-armed—but either style of contracting will come back to bite you. Organizations that use what Williamson calls “one-sided muscular contracting” to gain advantage over an outsourcer will see only short-term gains, says Vitasek.

“[They] will ultimately face higher market costs and transaction costs from switching or transitioning suppliers, or from suppliers being forced to use conventional negotiations to put in myopic and costly contractual provisions and behaviors that simply drive up hidden costs.” Williamson also warned against “idealistic benign contracting,” which assumes that most people will do what they say—and some will do more—most of the time.

The Nobel laureate recommends a middle ground of “credible contracting,” which he describes as more “hardhearted wise” than its extreme alternatives. Credible contracting is “also flexible enough to acknowledge that complex contracts, by their very nature, are incomplete and thus require cooperative adaptation,” Vitasek says.

7. Always leave money on the table.

Most outsourcing customers and suppliers assume that leaving money on the table is, at best, wasteful, and at worst, foolish. Not so, says Williamson. Hard bargaining negotiations to get to the lowest possible price actually cost both the customer and the provider in the long run.

“Successive ploys and counterploys of this kind could plainly jeopardize the joint gains from a simpler and more assuredly constructive contractual relationship,” wrote Williamson. “Always leaving money on the table can thus be interpreted as a signal of constructive intent to work cooperatively,” thereby mitigating “concerns over relentlessly calculative strategic behavior.”

Of course, he also notes the effectiveness of this tactic varies based on the level of trust among those involved.

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Virgin Media is all set to release a revolutionary new modem and router with the ability to handle speeds of up to 400Mbps.

The network upgrades will be officially launched by the end of this year.

Virgin Media has around 70,000 subscribers for its current network, providing speeds of up to 50Mbps.

Along with the superior speed router, Virgin Will also provide its costumers with new services including consumer telepresence, cloud computing and home working.

Jon James, Virgin Media’s director of broadband stated: “We want to be ready for the evolution of network speeds in the coming years as we roll out ever-improving services, including our 100Mps service due at the end of the year and trials of 200Mbps ongoing,”

Virgin Media will also try and work out a deal with utility companies to use telegraph poles, allowing them to offer broadband connections to homes in located in rural areas.

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Eager Apple fans rushed stores around the world Thursday to become the first owners of the latest-generation iPhone as it made its global debut in five countries.

The iPhone 4, which boasts video chat, high-definition video and sharper screen resolution, hit Britain, France, Germany and Japan before going on sale in the United States on Thursday morning.

At Apple’s flagship New York store on Fifth Avenue, hundreds of people had gathered.

“I’m not preregistered, I’m just walking in,” said 19-year-old Kunal Patel, who staked out a spot by the store at 9:00 pm on Wednesday (0100 GMT Thursday).

“I’m just walking in. I hope to buy one and sell the old one,” he told AFP.

Jesus Hernandez said he had registered for a phone online to make sure he would get one on the first day in stores.

“I am so eager to see the higher resolution, HD video, all of that,” he said.

In Paris, Senegalese businessman Bassirou Gueye joined some 350 people queuing before the opening of Apple’s flagship store in the city, located in the chic underground shopping mall of the Louvre museum.

“I made a special trip to Paris to buy the iPhone 4. I’m interested in its high-tech features,” said Gueye, a self-avowed Apple aficionado who already owns half a dozen brandname devices.

In Germany, there were long queues at Apple stores in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg and phone company Deutsche Telekom complaining it did not have enough handsets to meet demand.

In Berlin, the main outlet opened its doors at midnight (2200 GMT) while in other cities eager buyers had to wait until 7:00 am (0500 GMT).

“There were hundreds of people waiting (in Berlin). It took us until 4:30 am (0230 GMT) to clear the queue,” Deutsche Telekom spokesman Dirk Wende said.

“By lunchtime iPhones in the high tens of thousands have already been sold. In Munich we have sold out.”

Some 500 customers waited in line outside Apple’s flagship Regent Street store in London when it opened its doors at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) — far more than those who queued for the launch of the iPad tablet last month.

First in the doors was Ben Paton, a 23-year-old student, who had queued for 16 hours. He described the feeling of holding the new phone in his hands “absolutely incredible, amazing.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’d love to do it again,” he said.

Japan’s eastern time zone put it first in line to sell the phone and hundreds braved sweltering humidity outside Apple’s store in the Ginza district to get their hands on the smartphone.

Ryoichi Hoshino was the first to emerge triumphantly clutching the new handset after Apple staff gave a loud countdown ahead of the release.

“I love this design, it’s going to beat my expectations 110 percent,” he enthused. “I’m going to use it to watch movies and use Twitter,” he said, referring to the micro-blogging site.

The original iPhone launched in 2007 brought smartphones to the masses. Apple has sold more than 50 million of the handsets in the past three years.

But its latest version enters a crowded market full of rivals boasting bigger screens and running on Google’s open-source Android operating system, which is more accessible to developers than Apple’s tightly guarded system.

The launch of the latest iPhone has been beset by various problems culminating in the white model being delayed to the second half of July because of unspecified manufacturing difficulties.

Carriers in the United States and France were also forced to suspend early orders because of heavy demand. Apple said it had received a single-day record 600,000 orders for the new smartphone.

The new iPhone will be available in 18 other countries in July and 24 more in August.

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