I'm saddened of the reports of SMB's being raided on the daily basis and I'm quite worried about the impact this dilemma could cause to our economy. We are already the worlds' laughing-stock because of our political folly, furthermore, what would they say if our economy fails because of the lack of support for the Small and Medium Businesses which our country is in dire need of to boost itself in the open ocean of world politics.

DO WE HAVE TO SUFFER MORE because most of our SMB's couldn't afford the software needed for their day-to-day transactions? Are there any more alternative solution aside from pushing them to purchase costly licenses? If not, let us advocate the use of Linux and Open Source Systems as an alternative to acquiring licenses for Closed-Source Systems (Commercial Programs , i.e. Microsoft and Auto Desk Products) which is quite expensive for most SMB's in the Philippines.

Considering the Total Costs of Ownership, a business entity can benefit from the low-cost of acquiring a license in using OSS as opposed from using a legitimate Microsoft-based and endorsed software. Let's consider this cost of ownership of a legit Windows System: License of Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2, USD 199.99 (PhP 9799.51), Microsoft Office Office Standard Edition 2003, USD 364.95 (PhP 18,068.67) AutoCad 2007, USD 4800.00 (PhP 237,600.00), sans the other programs. If we total them, it could cost a small engineering firm USD 5,361.91 (PhP 265,468.18) for a computer, and I doubt it only needs just one computer to do its job.

The reason why erring firms tend to use pirated software stems from the reason that a legitimate commercial system is the hefty price that they have to pay and for them, the only way to circumvent the high costs is to use pirated software which sells from PhP 100 a CD. It is legally binding that the Philippine Anti-Piracy Team, along with the Optical Media Board, CIDG, and the NBI to file cases against them. but would it be holistic? I think not, the daily raids will just further cripple our delicate economy as we also need SMB's to boost our GDP and right now, enforcing the legitimization of licensed programs won't just do any good as it would add more overhead costs to these poor establishments, thus impending their quick-demise

I'm in no way against Closed Source Systems as I also prefer using them, however I strongly advocate the alternative use of Free/Open Source Systems for SMB's to help negate the rise of piracy cases in the country.

Two flaming red race cars are about to hit the pedal, revs vrooming, exhausts flaming and the drivers waiting for the skinny, yet extremely gorgeous chick to say "GO!". The Ferrari jets forward from 0 to sixty in just about four seconds leaving the EVO8 for a scant 50 meters. The race may be over in a few seconds, but problem is, THIS ISN'T a Quarter-Mile race but drift-racing, where the finish line is on the tenth floor of a high rise building. With the grace of a dragonfly, and the shattering squeal of an eagle, the EVO just managed to swerve with every turns and finished first leaving the poor Enzo obliterated.


Why am I creating a blog from a car movie spin-off when what I'm supposed to talk about is how to get a new spanking PC? The reason is simple: You would have to consider your usage, budget and most of all, upgradeability. I can still remember 10 years ago when the Pentium MMX was the high-end PC of its day having 128 MB SDRAM (32 MB was considered huge then as Windows 95's minimum requirement only needs about 4 MB) as its maximum memory capability, and with 200 MHz processor speed to boot. Hard-drives then were 5GB, the GPU (graphics processing unit) was a pci 1.1 with 8MB RAM. Just a few months after Pentium MMX was released, out came Pentium II, which was supposedly faster, yet having some problems regarding with heat management.

My point there is, why buy a high-end PC when it could be obsolete in a couple of weeks? Fast-forward to the present, you could see a lot of processors type in the market boasting a higher output, speed, and optimum process capabilities from each other, but the rule of the thumb is, the higher the processor, the higher memory and power resources it needs, thus it doesn't really mean that you'd have to have the highest-end PC to suit your daily computer needs.

In order for you to have your perfect computer solution, you would have to first consider how are you going to use your system. Buying a PC is just like buying a car. If you're utilitarian, buy an SUV, if you're an executive, get a sedan and if you're really into it, flaunt a HUMVEE. Computer trends say that in order for you to have an optimum running system, you should get more, processor speed, memory and storage spaces, but this isn't necessarily the case. If you use your PC in the office, where only Office Suites and Accounting programs are needed, why the hell would you get a gaming PC? If you want to raise the ante, say goodbye to the TV and radio component, and get yourself a spanking Home Theatre system complete with a 52 inches Monitor Screen, tv and radio scrambler, DVD-RW and a whooping 7.1 Dolby surround sound!

Can't afford branded PC's? It's not to bad. You can always build your own, or have somebody build it for you, that way, it's cheaper, however, could be quite a head-ache for newbies who might need to know the trends and technologies of a computer life-cycle. Once, I encountered an asker in answers.yahoo.com wondering why her commodore 64 won't work with Windows XP and was quite slow with Windows 98, and it was like you would have to be an expert in order for you to rig the Commie 64 to run even Windows 95. (BTW, Commodore 64's are 16 bit systems back in the late 80's and early 90's and was one of the culprit of crashing AT&T during the Great Hacker War). While branded PC's such as HP boast of excellent product lines and tech-support, a DIY computer system has some tricks of its own aside from being cheap. You can always customize your system without having to pay extra for it, and you can have it your way too; You can have a high-end system cobbled from cheaper yet more reliable components. Besides, the bulk of your purchase lies in the name of the branded system, and hell, some of those companies are streamlining their costs by using cheap components, while all the while boasting how good their products are.

Finally, don't buy a bloated system right away. What I mean bloated is simply, a computer reaching its maximum capability. You should always consider buying a lower end system then later upgrade it when the time comes, anyway most software doesn't necessarily support the maximum memory capability of a system. Shall we say for example your RAM has already reached its max, you couldn't upgrade it, so when a new technology arrives, it's already trash. Reminiscent of VISTA, aight?

While this is my first blog, this is the longest I've ever written. I hope you'd appreciate the efforts I've done, as I'm not a good writer anyway.

Ciao...

Moral Lesson: You wouldn't need a Ferrari while traversing the thoroughfares of EDSA or Sukhumvit.