It was 15 years ago that Microsoft had one of its most successful launches ever–introducing Windows 95. The company managed to get people to line up for hours to be among the first to get their hands on a copy.

The company paid to treat people to free newspapers in London, lighted the Empire State Building in Windows’ colors, and draped Toronto’s CN Tower with a 300-foot banner–all part of a massive $300 million ad campaign that accompanied the product’s arrival.

Windows 95, which was separate from the company’s business-oriented Windows NT product, added a number of features over its predecessors including better network support, the ability to send faxes (yes, there was a time when that was a big deal) along with basic audio recording, audio playback, and video playback tools. Features now thought of as core parts of Windows, such as the start menu and taskbar, also made their debut with Windows 95. Plus, it just looked a whole lot better graphically and was far more stable than past consumer versions of Windows.

Internet Explorer debuted around the same time, but was sold separately as part of Microsoft’s Plus Pack for Windows 95. It was eventually bundled in directly with the operating system in an update to Windows 95 released the following year.

By the time Windows 95 was finally ushered off the market in 2001, it had become a fixture on computer desktops around the world.

“If you look at Windows 95, it was a quantum leap in difference in technological capability and stability,” Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald said at that time.

A decade and a half after Windows 95 hit the market, though, one question looms large for Windows? Are all its best days in the past?

Clearly it was a different time and Microsoft might be hard pressed to capture that kind of consumer attention no matter what it did. But, never mind the long lines, will Microsoft be able to continue to sell Windows at the price and volume it has?

It’s one of the most important questions facing Microsoft as a company. While the company has expanded far beyond its Windows roots, Windows and Office remain the engine driving the vast majority of the company’s profits even as it looks to cell phones, search, and online services to augment its mainstay businesses.

At the moment, the Windows business is doing quite well, with Windows 7 selling at an impressive clip. Indeed Windows 7 is selling far faster than Windows 95 did in its early days, though that’s as much a testament to how large the PC market is as anything else.

The longer-term question is whether Windows can outpace what I call the generic Web experience. In the coming years, smartbooks, tablets, cell phones, Netbooks and shapes we probably haven’t thought of will all be capable of delivering the Web, which is for many people their main use of a PC.

For Windows to be as relevant on Windows 95′s 20th anniversary as it is today, the company will have had to manage to evolve the operating system significantly.

I see a few ways this can happen, but none is a sure thing.

First, Microsoft (or a third-party software maker) can develop a new killer app that only runs on Windows. It’s been a long time since this happened, but certainly it’s not impossible. New user interfaces can also be added. Touch is already there, as is voice control to some degree, but gesture recognition such as that found in Kinect could pave the way for new uses.

Second, it could evolve Windows and Windows Live to offer a dramatically better way of doing the same tasks that most people do on the Web. Sure, we can manage our photos and music on the Web today and that is getting easier. However, tapping local storage and graphics, Microsoft has the potential to offer a better way and, with the latest version of Windows Live, is trying to do so.

Third, Microsoft could enhance the value of Windows by having a browser that is demonstrably superior to non-Windows rivals. This appears to be a tall order, given that Internet Explorer, while still leading in market share, has been well behind rivals when it comes to being seen as the technical leader.

For the record, this challenge is not just the one facing Microsoft. It’s also the one facing Apple’s Mac business. And while Microsoft must justify the $100 or so premium that it charges for Windows, Apple commands an even higher premium when comparing the Mac to one of these “generic Web” devices.

But Apple also has another entrant in the game–a viable alternative Web experience delivered in the form of the iPad. Microsoft, at least so far, appears to have only Windows, in its various flavors.

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Because it is based on the established iOS mobile operating system — and because it is relatively cheap and increases productivity — the iPad has found uncharacteristically quick approval from many information-technology managers at U.S. corporations.

Highlighting the success of the iPad in the business world, The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday noted that while many companies would not approve the iPhone for corporate use when it debuted in 2007, the iPad has quickly found acceptance with IT departments at companies. Part of that is because the iOS mobile operating system, previously only available for the iPhone and iPod touch, has been updated with business-friendly features such as Exchange e-mail and remote erase capabilities.

“Apple has addressed these and other issues, including the ability for companies to encrypt information on iPhones and set up secure ways for employees to connect to corporate networks,” author Ben Worthen wrote. “The latest version of the operating system used by the iPhone and iPad adds features that make the devices easier for a tech department to manage, including the ability for businesses to distribute internally developed apps without going through Apple’s App Store.”

The report noted that more than 500 of the more than 11,000 applications currently available for the iPad are business-oriented. One free application from Citrix, which allows employees to access corporate programs on the iPad, has seen more than 145,000 downloads.

Other advantages to the iPad: its $499 starting price makes it less expensive than a traditional business laptop, and more functional for activities like working standing up or giving a presentation.

The paper recalled that Mercedes-Benz dealers have been equipping employees with iPads to help them sell cars. The car maker began using the iPad at 40 dealerships in May, and earlier this summer said it was considering using the iPad at all 350 of its U.S. locations.

Other specific corporate uses of the iPad mentioned in the Journal’s report include:

• Baush & Lomb Inc., maker of eye-care products, had about 50 employees using an iPad soon after its launch. The company built its own application for salespeople. The company likes the fact that the device starts quickly and has a long battery life.
• Kaiser Permanente, an Oakland, Calif., health-care organization, has been testing the iPad in a 37,000-square-foot technology lab for viewing medical images such as X-rays and CT scans.
• Though Chicago law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP banned the iPhone when it first came out, it preordered 10 iPads before it was released. The company now has more than 50 attorneys equipped with iPads, and plans to issue them as an alternative to laptops next year.

Earlier this summer, Apple revealed that the iPad is at use in more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. Companies such as SAP and Wells Fargo.

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Hewlett’s Hunger For Acquisitions

Mark Hurd turned out to be a man of hearty appetites — including one for deals. Before resigning as Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive this month under a cloud, Mr. Hurd led a mergers and acquisitions tear that included the purchases of 3Com, Palm, and Electronic Data Systems. But any bankers worried that the tech group’s lust for deals might wane after his departure can breathe easier.

H.P.’s unsolicited bid for 3Par, announced on Monday, could even be taken as a sign the company’s takeover libido has been given a boost. If that were to prove sustainably the case, though, shareholders might find it troubling.

A single $1.6 billion offer by a company with a $90 billion market value is, literally, no big deal. And H.P. says 3Par’s data storage technology fits perfectly into its product portfolio in the arena of cloud computing. Moreover, the tech giant can point to early successes from its 3Com purchase.

But 3Par has been on the block for some time. So it’s surprising suddenly to see an unsolicited offer just a week after Dell, H.P.’s archrival, agreed to a friendly deal at the end of a competitive auction.

And there’s the question of price. Dell agreed to buy 3Par for $18 a share. To make 3Par think again, H.P. is throwing down $24 a share — more than seven times its target’s sales, and nearly two-and-a-half times what 3Par was worth before it went on sale. H.P.’s delayed reaction also means 3Par must pay Dell $54 million if it wants to go with H.P. instead.

Companies often wait to see their competitors’ cards before moving. But H.P.’s comportment in this process is curious. Perhaps unfairly, it leaves the impression that under Mr. Hurd the company was less eager to pay up for 3Par, but that with the penny-pinching boss gone, more spendthrift voices are being heard.

That would be a concern for shareholders. And it could explain why muscling in on 3Par, a small and strategically reasonable deal, albeit at a generous price, wiped nearly $2 billion off H.P.’s market cap.

A Tax on Mining

Nature may abhor a vacuum, but Australia needn’t. The country’s first hung Parliament in 70 years should not frighten investors. The bad news is that a proposed “supertax” on mining, despite its appealing logic, may not survive the political wrangling.

Two days after votes were cast, Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s incumbent Labor Party looks likely to emerge three seats short of a majority in the 150-seat lower house. Australia’s benchmark index has barely budged, and the Aussie dollar has risen slightly. The reason? The economy needs little work. Unemployment is probably as low as it can go, and debt is a meager 6 percent of gross domestic product.

Ms. Gillard must now woo the stragglers, likely to include one Green lawmaker and three independents. With little to play for in terms of economic policy, the bulk of the horse trading will revolve around secondary issues like broadband access in rural areas, water usage and carbon trading.

But the biggest bargaining chip looks to be the proposed mining tax, which would raise an estimated 10.5 billion Australian dollars ($8.94 billion) in two years by applying a levy to mining profits. The opposition National Liberal Coalition is unambiguously against the tax. Labor is in favor, though Ms. Gillard has already watered down the proposal inherited from her ousted predecessor, Kevin Rudd, by cutting the headline rate to 30 percent from 40 percent.

Taxing mining profits rather than levying fixed rents on production, as happens now, is a good idea. It would make the good times less good, but the bad times less bad. It would also capture some of the gains that commodity producers have earned as a result of easy money disgorged by governments, which has helped to push up prices.

While it is too early to call, the odds of independent candidates, who represent rural areas, backing the tax as it stands look slim. That would be a shame. Mining’s contribution to Australia’s economy is easy to overstate — it generates 6.7 percent of the country’s G.D.P. but accounts for just 3 percent of jobs. Yet measured by gross profit margins, it is by far the country’s most profitable industry. If the tax is dumped, the mine operators — not Australia — will have won.

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Worldwide PC processor sales were higher than usual in the second quarter, but signs of a weakening market could lead to a slower second half of the year, a market research firm said Friday.

When compared to the first quarter, unit shipments of microprocessors rose 3.6%, while revenues were up 6.2%, IDC said. The increases were much higher than the average sequential change in a calendar year between the first and second quarters. The average is a 1.6% rise in shipments and a 2.8% decrease in revenue.

The modest rise in revenue pointed to an increase in average selling prices, as computer makers bought more and higher-priced PC processors, IDC said. Specifically, system makers bought more mobile processors and more server processors, while sales of desktop chips remained flat.

IDC predicts worldwide processor shipments to increase 19.8% this year from 2009. However, the analyst firm saw a weakness in demand during the second quarter and said it expected that softness to continue in August.

“Major OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) cut PC build orders with their contract manufacturers who, in turn, have cut orders for commodity components,” IDC analyst Shane Rau said in a statement. “While the PC processor vendors re-iterated their solid outlook during their most recent earnings calls, the softness we’ve seen ultimately makes us concerned for end demand’s pull on processors.”

Indeed, for the current calendar quarter, Intel has forecast revenue of $11.6 billion, plus or minus $400 million. In the second quarter, Intel’s best quarter ever, the chipmaker reported a 34% increase in revenue year over year to $10.8 billion, with profit soaring 175% to $2.9 billion.

But IDC said that while the second half of the year is likely to follow seasonal patterns of higher PC sales due to back-to-school and the holiday shopping seasons, the analyst firm said it expected year-over-year growth in the second half of the year to be less than the first half.

“2011 remains a wildcard in terms of sustainable unit growth,” Rau said.

In looking at the major vendors in the second quarter, IDC found only small changes in market share in terms of shipments. Intel ended the quarter with an 80.7% share, a loss of 0.3%; AMD earned 19%, a gain of 0.2%; and VIA Technologies had 0.3% of the market.

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Microsoft today announced that the next version of Office for the Mac will include a pair of key features that debuted in the Windows edition of Office 2010 earlier this year.

Office for Mac 2011, which is slated for an October launch, will offer “Sparklines,” cell-sized Excel charts, and in-app image editing tools, two features that first appeared in Office 2010, the more popular Windows edition that hit the retail market last May.

Microsoft touted the new features as part of its attempt to boost compatibility between the Mac and Windows versions of the suite.

“What we’ve been able to do in Office for Mac 2011 is to bring a lot of power to bear to produce a professional-looking document that’s still compatible with Office for Windows,” said Kurt Schmucker, an evangelist with Microsoft’s Mac team, in a video the group released Wednesday.

Sparklines, which Computerworld reviewer Preston Gralla called the ”most useful” among the changes to Excel 2010 on Windows, lets users drop in bite-sized charts or graphs into individual cells.

Microsoft pitched Sparklines and improvements to Excel’s PivotTables as compatibility wins for Mac users who need to share spreadsheet documents with co-workers running the Windows version of Office.

Previously, Microsoft has made much of the debut of a ribbon-style interfacein Office for Mac 2011, another feature borrowed from the Windows edition.

Office for Mac 2011 will go on sale at the end of October; Microsoft has not yet set a definite date. however. Customers who purchase Office for Mac 2008 through Nov. 30 will be able to download a free copy of 2011 when it’s available.

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Apple has applied for a patent on a method to differentiate between authorized and unauthorized users of a particular iOS device. Once an unauthorized user is detected, the device can then automatically disable certain features or send notifications to Twitter or other services.

The patent, titled “Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device,” describes several ways a device could sense who is using an iPhone or iPad. Among the methods considered are voice print analysis, photo analysis, heartbeat analysis (!), hacking attempts, or even “noting particular activities that can indicate suspicious behavior.”

If the various analyses detect someone who is not authorized to use the device, it could set off a number of automated features designed to protect the device’s data, suss out the offending party, and alert the device owner. Sensitive data could be backed up to a remote server and the device could be wiped. The device could automatically snap pictures of the unauthorized user and record the GPS coordinates of the device, as well as log keystrokes, phone calls, or other activity. That information could be sent along with an alert to any useful service, such as e-mail, voicemail, Twitter, Facebook, or a “cloud service” like MobileMe.

As AppleInsider notes, Apple apparently experimented with enabling the iPad to recognize different authorized users and automatically change some settings for that particular user. Such a feature could be somewhat useful on iPads, which are sometimes shared among family members in homes and among several users in schools and businesses.

This proposed patent takes the capability one step further, by effectively locking out snoopers and thieves altogether, and alerting the device user of possible improprieties. The features would no doubt be welcome to enterprise users, who need safeguards around data that may be on a mobile device.

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Search strings using Diaz’s name have a one-in-ten chance of coming up with a site infected with or spreading malware, said DaveMarcus, McAfee’s director of security research and communication. Search for “Cameron Diaz and screensavers,” and the risk doubles, Marcus added.

As it has for the last three years, McAfee compiled search phrases that contained names of prominent celebrities, professional athletes, politicians and other newsmakers, then calculated the percentage of the resulting sites tagged as dangerous by the company’s SiteAdvisor software.

SiteAdvisor is a free plug-in for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox that flags risky sites — those serving up malware, adware, spyware and the like — in a search result list.

Diaz replaced Jessica Biel, last year’s top name bait. Biel fell two spots to third on McAfee’s list this year.

Actress Julia Roberts placed second on the Most Dangerous list, while supermodel Gisele Buendchen took fourth. Brad Pitt, the highest ranking man on the list and one of only two on the top 10, held the fifth spot.

“It’s a simple fact. The bad guys read the same news as the good guys,” said Marcus as he explained why some celebrities ranked higher than others. He attributed Diaz’s prominence to the fact that McAfee’s list was composed around the time when she was in two currently-showing films, “Knight and Day” and “Shrek Forever After.”

Attackers and scammers trade on the names of prominent people and topical events to dupe users into visiting malicious sites, to open malicious e-mails, and to click on malicious links embedded in Twitter messages, said Marcus.

“Dangerous searches relate to the news of the day,” he said. “In 2008, politicians like President Obama and [former Governor] Sarah Palin were the most abused. We expect politicians to be abused in the future.”

Obama was at No. 49 on McAfee’s list this year, while Palin was right behind the president at No. 50.

Others on the dangerous list included tennis player Andy Roddick (No. 14), and singers Lady Gaga (No. 37) and teenager Justin Bieber (No. 46).

“We’re not saying stay away from searching for celebrities like Cameron Diaz,” said Marcus. “We’re saying be aware of the broad use of their names, and know that criminals are looking for a way to social engineer you, and this is the type of attack they’ll use.”

McAfee released the fourth annual most-dangerous celebrity list Thursday just minutes before it announced Intel was buying the company for nearly $8 billion . Before the interview with Marcus, a McAfee spokeswoman made it clear he would not take any questions about the acquisition.

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LTE is generating excitement in the world of consumer electronics and ever-faster online video viewing, but the 4G (fourth-generation) mobile network technology may have even greater implications for specific industries that lack a good means of connectivity.

Texas Energy Network, a startup in Houston, will focus on the oil and gas industry in an LTE (Long-Term Evolution) test next week. Using equipment from Alcatel-Lucent, TEN hopes to demonstrate that LTE can bring more economical Internet access to drilling and exploration sites in the vast oil fields of the Permian Basin, which spans western Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

Most of the oil drilling in this region of about 25 counties takes place far from the populated areas where most cellular networks are concentrated, said TEN Chief Technology Officer Stan Hughey. As a result, oil and gas companies often are on their own when it comes to sending critical real-time data such as flow, pressure and volume from equipment in the field, he said. When mobile exploration teams are out looking for new fields, they need to make audio and video calls and generate large amounts of geological data that needs to be sent back to headquarters.

TEN, led by former Qwest Communications International (Q) executive Gregory Casey, wants to be an independent service provider for these companies, setting up and managing its own network. So far, the company is only looking at LTE.

“It appears to us it’s becoming a de facto standard,” Hughey said. Most mobile operators around the world that plan to deploy 4G networks have chosen LTE, a trend that bodes well for relatively high-volume, low-cost client devices once networks go live. Having a wide selection of clients was an important factor for TEN, Hughey said.

Today, most oil and gas companies rely on narrowband point-to-point wireless links (comparable to dial-up) using unlicensed radio spectrum, according to Hughey. Some lay fiber across their oil fields. For exploration, which requires high bandwidth and mobility, they often use satellite VSATs (very small aperture terminals). These can offer more than 1M bps (bit per second) but at a higher cost and with more delay than LTE, he said. It’s also likely that LTE client equipment will be much less expensive than VSATs, Hughey said.

The test will use one base station and last about a week, according to Alcatel-Lucent. The oil industry presents different challenges from consumer mobile data networks, said Mark Madden, Alcatel’s regional vice president of energy markets in the Americas. As with utilities setting up smart grids, the main purpose of the network is to send many small streams of data in from the field, he said. “The needs of the entire energy sector are uplink-focused,” Madden said.

The other difference is that the geographic reach of a base station is more important than densely packing base stations into an area to cover many simultaneous users. Alcatel is hoping to demonstrate its LTE base station working over a range of 20 miles, Madden said.

Alcatel said players in a number of vertical industries including health care, transportation and public safety have expressed interest in LTE. But this will be the first time Alcatel actually demonstrates LTE for an energy-sector application, Madden said.

Before it can move from tests to deployment, TEN will need radio spectrum licenses across the region. The company is now talking with several spectrum holders, Hughey said. The company plans to use paired spectrum, with one band for upstream and one for downstream traffic. It’s not clear yet what spectrum TEN will be able to use, but the company would like to tap into the 700MHz band, the same range that Verizon Wireless plans to use for its LTE network, coming later this year. In general, the 700MHz band offers greater reach per cell site than higher bands.

Alcatel said it could adapt to different bands depending on where TEN gets its licenses. Alcatel wouldn’t comment on how much bandwidth its equipment could deliver, saying that depends on how much spectrum TEN has.

If LTE works as expected and the frequencies are available, it will probably take between 12 and 18 months to roll out the network, TEN’s Hughey estimated. The service provider hopes later to expand to other parts of the U.S. and potentially other countries.

However, the company remains focused on the oil and gas industries. If it does allow private residents of the Permian Basin to hop on to the LTE network, its service-level agreements with oil companies will have to come first, Hughey said.

“You wouldn’t want somebody throwing a slingbox on there and taking bandwidth off the network,” Hughey said.

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Intel plans to buy security company McAfee for $7.68 billion.

The chipmaker said Thursday it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy all of McAfee’s common stock at $48 per share in cash. The boards of both companies have approved the deal.

Security has become an essential element of online computing, on par with energy-efficient performance and connectivity, Intel said.

“With the rapid expansion of growth across a vast array of Internet-connected devices, more and more of the elements of our lives have moved online,” Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a statement. “In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.

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Google CEO Eric Schmidt fears that too much information is shared online, and predicts that people will one day change their name and reinvent themselves in order to escape their digital past. That point of view might be extreme, but it is true that social networking has forced us to more closely examine and redefine the concepts of privacy and identity.

There are many exciting benefits to the evolution of the Web and the rise of social networking. Facebook and Twitter have enabled people to reconnect with friends and family, and provide a platform for sharing information and staying in touch. The real-time aspect of social network status updates has also transformed online search and breaking news.

The problem is that social networking also provides a very powerful tool for embarrassing yourself or ruining your reputation on a global and virtually eternal scale. Once you put it online, it is shared around the world in seconds, and can still be recalled after decades.

You’re Hired

It is not uncommon now for the job application process to include sharing your social networking account information. Tech savvy employers want to be able to check out your Facebook profile and your tweet history on Twitter.

What you say and how you act online says a lot about you. Examining your online persona gives employers a raw and unfiltered glimpse at who you really are, and is a much more effective tool for screening potential employees than the psychological personality or aptitude tests relied on in years gone by.

You’re Fired

There is a long and growing list of stories of people losing their job as a result of Facebook status updates or Twitter tweets. It is generally a bad idea to bad mouth your boss or your job on a social networking site, or to post pics and status updates about how much fun you’re having at the beach after you called in sick.

One poor soul learned this lesson the hard way–possibly costing him a job at Cisco before he even started. Employers are watching, so letting the world know that you hate the job you have been offered is a quick way to get that offer rescinded.

What’s Your (Friend’s) Credit Score?

It’s all about who you know. In this case, who you know could make or break whether or not you can get a loan. Some banks are using services like Rapleaf to scan your social network and identify contacts connected with you that also do business with the financial institution. Based on the financial stability and credit history of your social network connections, the bank can make an assumption about what sort of credit risk you might be.

Till Death Do Us Part

It seems fair to assume that your spouse would be a Facebook friend, and a part of your Twitterverse. Why not? Love is grand, and you want to share everything with your partner…until you don’t. If the relationship goes south, you may want to unfriend your ex and be careful what you say online.

A Time Magazine article explains “Lawyers, however, love these sites, which can be evidentiary gold mines. Did your husband’s new girlfriend Twitter about getting a piece of jewelry? The court might regard that as marital assets being disbursed to a third party. Did your wife tell the court she’s incapable of getting a job? Then your lawyer should ask why she’s pursuing job interviews through LinkedIn.”

You’re probably familiar with the phrase “an elephant never forgets”. Well, the Internet never forgets and it has zettabytes of archived storage capacity that can be searched in seconds thanks to companies like Google. I don’t recommend changing your identity to try and dodge your digital past, but I do recommend exercising a modicum of discretion and common sense regarding what you post online.

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