Such an obvious slip-up is easily understood; Windows XP, an application capable of DVD playback and CD writing must support DVD burning, surely? After all the application has been through three service packs and is still the most widely used distribution of Windows in the world. The sad truth is that support for DVD writing wasn’t considered important when XP was released seven years ago and since then Microsoft bizarrely haven’t seen fit to supply an update. Whilst Vista does support DVD writing it can’t handle HD standards such as HD-DVD or Blu-Ray so even Vista users may find the following software that I’m about to recommend of interest.

In the past I have very briefly touched on Deepburner (www.deepburner.com) which whilst an incredibly capable program hasn’t been updated sufficiently over the last couple of years for me to feel I can continue to recommend it; HD media support for example is still completely absent. Those still using Windows 98 may still wish to keep it in mind however as Deepburner is still compatible with this antiquated Operating System.

The alternative is an application called CDBurnerXP (www.cdburnerxp.se) which would appear to be a much more rounded piece of software due to the sheer number of features that you get compared to other free products on the market. You can, for example, burn to practically any disc including CD-R/CD-RW/DVD+R/DVD-R/DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM/BD(Blu-Ray)/HD-DVD and any dual layer variants. In terms of supported formats the range is equally impressive; if you choose to burn a CD for instance then you can import your songs in mp3, wav, ogg, flac and wma formats as well as importing playlists in M3U or WPL standards and track layouts by way of CUE sheets.

The software supports burning images so that you can create a virtual CD image; this is especially useful if you want to create an EXACT copy of the disc on another form of media such as a Hard Drive. Of course the software can handle burning the image back to disc along with converting and manipulating any images you may receive off others; over the Internet for example.

Amazingly the application is a tiny 2.8mb download however it does have the drawback of requiring Windows 2000 or above along with relying on the Microsoft .Net Framework. The .Net software is designed to allow programmers to develop Windows applications faster and more easily and whilst some users complain of speed issues it is becoming a lot more commonplace.

Downloading .Net isn’t an issue as it is available free of charge off the Microsoft website and in all probability you have most likely had it installed unbeknown to you at some point in the past when you installed a dependent application or performed a Windows Update. My advice would be to try installing CDBurnerXP and if .Net isn’t detected the application will give you instructions on how to proceed.

OS/2

Originally a joint venture between IBM and Microsoft in 1987, things in the first few years looked optimistic with Microsoft publically insisting that OS/2 was the future. This was until the release of Windows 3.0 which sold extremely well due to the Operating System being bundled with many PC’s – OS/2 on the other hand was considered an expensive alternative.

As you’d imagine, their marriage hit the rocks and IBM went alone. In 1992, they released OS/2 2.0 which they touted as being “a better DOS than DOS and a better Windows than Windows” before rebranding the following version 3 as OS/2 Warp in an attempt to highlight the new performance benefits. OS/2 Warp 4.0 was released around the same time as Windows 95 and included several impressive technologies such as speech recognition. It was however the last widely distributed version of OS/2 before IBM admitted defeat and stopped marketing the OS to individual users.

The reasons for its demise are multiple; most prominently was that Windows was bundled with most computer systems, many users didn’t see the need to replace it or even realised that they had a choice in the matter. A comparatively small user base raised issues such as poor driver support for non-IBM hardware; a problem for those interested in adopting the OS.

Failed Dot-Coms

What a fantastic time the 90’s must have been for entrepreneurs. Quite simply, you think up a half-baked idea involving the Internet, don’t even worry about the part of the business plan that talks about how you’re going to make a profit, and someone, somewhere is likely spend millions taking a punt on you.

Virtual Reality

The principal of virtual reality has always excited me; the idea is that through the use of hardware such as some special goggles and gloves, you can instantly be transported to an immersive 3D world. I’d imagine nothing substantial has ever developed is a combination of concerns over the cost of the equipment, coupled with the fact that nothing marketed so far has been substantial enough to justify investment by the home user.

Whether virtual reality has a future of not is unclear; to me it seems odd that we still play computer games on the same flat screens as we did decades ago but at the moment there doesn’t seem to be a killer alternative on the horizon.

eBooks

I have mentioned them before in the past and whilst the idea is fantastic and indeed environmentally friendly it doesn’t seem like the world is ready for them just yet. A lack of high quality, affordable readers and the fact that most prefer the reassuring feel of paper has meant their adoption in the marketplace has been very slow indeed.

Speech Recognition

This technology suffers from a combination of technical difficulties and the fact that, quite simply you look like an idiot when you use it. Whilst those with disabilities may find the technology helpful, the rest of us should just learn to use a keyboard; it’s faster, you won’t have to worry about background noise and most importantly the entire room won’t necessarily need to hear the abusive letter you’re writing to your bank manager.

Microsoft Bob – I have only used Microsoft Bob once in my life before immediately deleting it from the PC it came bundled with way back in 1995; by my estimation this would have made me thirteen. Bob was an application which sat on top of your existing Windows installation and was designed for making simple tasks such as deleting a file or writing a letter easier for the non technical user. Unfortunately I don’t think it really appealed to any particular demographic hence disappointing sales figures and the application was scrapped before Windows 98 was released.

The cartoon graphics and constant sound effects imply that it was designed for kids, but this is flawed as most kids actually know how to use a computer. Likewise, the average user who simply wasn’t technically savvy would find the application condescending – no one needs a cartoon elephant telling them how’s best to write a letter to their solicitor. By eliminating these two target markets we are left with a demographic of possibly simple people who both don’t know how to use a computer but are willing to take lessons from a series of annoying cartoon animations. These animations were persistent, annoying and don’t allow the user to do anything without their supervision.

Minidisc – Whilst it couldn’t really be considered a total flop, the Minidisc standard which was introduced by Sony in 1992 never really gave the Compact Disc a real run for its money. I think the reason for this is that for most users the format didn’t really offer any real advantages, and compared to the rapidly decreasing cost of CD-R discs it represented a sizable investment. Even to this day I can’t see any reason why the Minidisc standard was created in the first place and certainly how it managed to achieve the sales it did.

DAT Tapes – The Digital Audio Tape was designed by Sony to replace the old analogue cassette tapes back in the mid 1980’s. Owing to concerns in the industry over the ease that users could pirate DAT takes, along with an early user adoption of the recently released CD standard, the format suffered a short existence outside of the professional recording studio scene.

Betamax – We all know this story so I won’t go in to great detail. Whilst Betamax was technically superior to the VHS standard, it was a casualty of one of the first format wars. Betamax was introduced in 1975 and represents another failed Sony format – I’m certain they’ll be relieved at the BluRay format they so prolifically backed has come out on top this time.

Smart appliances – How would you fancy a fridge that monitors its contents and then takes it upon itself to order more milk off the Internet when you’re running low? These kinds of appliances create a real buzz at the trade shows, but in reality I’d genuinely take myself out in to the ‘big blue room’ by walking twenty metres to the garage down the road.

More than anything I’d be worried that I’d chuck something out that I didn’t like and then in a panic it would assume that I’d eaten it and order me more whilst I was down the pub.

CD-R – Whilst the CD format has been available since the early 1980’s, the specification for the writable version (CD-R) was published further down the line, in 1988. Whilst available in a number of different variants, the most commonly available is the 700mb version with a write speed of typically 52x (52 times the speed of the original CD-R standard). Whilst they don’t offer the storage capacity of newer alternatives such as DVD, they are still ideal for storing smaller amounts of data, for example a music album. CD-RW is a rewritable variant of the write once CD-R disc.

DVD-R – This format is typically capable of holding up to 4.7Gb (4700mb) of data and offers write speeds surpassing the CD-R standard. This makes the DVD-R an ideal choice for storing larger files, or indeed movies. There are DVD-RW (Rewritable) discs available along with a Dual Layer version which uses a second layer on the same disc which almost doubles the capacity to 8.5Gb

DVD+R – A rival format to the DVD-R, the DVD+R is technically very similar, but there are a number of subtle differences that distinguish the two. Whilst most end users wouldn’t notice between the two, the existence of the two formats means that if buying a DVD disc, you need to ensure that you pick the correct format unless you have a drive which supports both. As with DVD-R, this format is also available in DVD+RW and DVD+RW Dual Layer.

DVD-RAM – A competing format to the rewritable formats DVD-RW and DVD+RW, the latest revision of the DVD-RAM standard offers a maximum storage capacity of 9.7Gb. Considered extremely reliable, along with being designed for constant re-recording (a DVD-RAM disc can be rewritten 100,000 times compared to just 1,000 times for a DVD-RW or +RW disc), this format is ideal for frequent data backup. Its popularity has been hindered by the fact it’s approximately five times more expensive than a –RW or +RW disc.

HD DVD – This format was developed by a consortium of companies with the intention that it would be the successor of the conventional DVD. Exactly the same physical size as a standard DVD disc, this format allowed a maximum storage capacity of 15Gb per layer with a Dual Layer version to double this space to 30Gb. Recordable discs for this format are still expensive, costing over a fiver each. Unfortunately Toshiba who were the main driving force behind HD DVD, announced a couple of days ago that they would no longer be developing or manufacturing players and recorders for this format, meaning that it has essentially lost out to its main competitor, BluRay.

BluRay Disc – So named because of the blue laser that is used to read the bottom of the disc, the BluRay format has been developed by a number of companies that form the BluRay Disc Association. Technically a superior format to HD DVD, BluRay discs can store 25Gb per layer meaning that a Dual Layered disc will hold a massive 50Gb of data making them ideal for high definition movies. The success of this format is in no small part down to the Playstation 3 being equipped with a reader as standard.

There are also options regarding the type of surface on the top of the disc. A technology known as Lightscribe will allow you to literally etch a design in to the top of the disc using a laser built in to a compatible writer. Alternatively other discs have a white, paper style surface which allows the printing of directly on to the disc using a compatible printer. Next week we’ll look at these technologies in more detail.