01/10/2020 Week Highlights

1.)    Windows XP source code leaked

2.)   Amazon introduces new Biometric device in public

3.)    Samsung’s growth in smart devices being inevitable

4.)    AMD to strongly benefit from new chips from both Nvidia and AMD

5.)    QNTW: Should you build your PC yourself in Nepal?

 

DETAILS:

 

Windows XP source code leaked

Last week saw the source code of one of the most famous Operating System to ever exist, Windows XP, source code leak. The leak was hosted on 4chan and Mega. The seeders were on for few hours until Microsoft finally took action to shut them down. But the action was too late. Many people would have already downloaded it. The leak was not the first of its kind. Many leaks were done previously little by little until eventually the full source code could be made of it. We do not have any information if the source code is full but the size (about 40Gb) suggests it is. Some people with access to the source code have given some hints of the source code by stating that they are different areas in the code where the XP developers could not write the code and left some messages for future developers of Microsoft to fill them out.

This event will likely end in these 3 options:

More Viruses coming

Though Windows 10 and its security are way ahead of XP the similarities in the security ways remains. The viruses will likely spread throughout the Windows Community if the source code goes on the hands of evil people.

XP gets reincarnated

If the source is found and accessed by some enthusiast and people skilled in coding Operating System then they will likely experiment with XP and make the most out of it. Maybe, we will even see different XP flavors in the future. They can likely give great security features to XP similar to Linux. But Microsoft will also have to play a part in this which is allowing the spread and use of the edited OS in public which is very unlikely since this will directly reduce their Windows 10 sales.

Nothing will happen

People with access to source code will not be able to do anything out of it and Microsoft will stop any further spread of it making this case closed.

Advice: If you are a good coder or want to be one, you should search for the source code on various torrent and Dark Web Sites which most probably is still available but not be in near future.

 

 Amazon introduces new Biometric device in public

Amazon has introduced a new Biometric Device, the Amazon One. This is a unique biometric which makes use of Palm recognition which Amazon believes is more reliable than some other biometric being used. This is a contactless biometric device made by addressing the COVID crisis currently surrounding the world. It is in present available only in Amazon Go stores where users have to insert their credit card and scan their palm for the first time. Once the palm identity is attached to the credit card, the users will only have to use the palm from next time on while vising the stores. Amazon believes the palm data is secured in a secure cloud.

Though in the short term some effort will likely have to be made to educate people on the use of this contactless biometric since most people are used to contact biometrics only examples being Fingerprint scan, four/six-digit code verification, etc. People will most like take this as a contact palm recognition making the core idea behind it unused. Amazon says this is not limited to Amazon stores or other retail stores but is available to use on offices, stadiums and more places.

Advice: Though Nepal hasn’t seen the use of these smart devices at present, these devices present a benefit to people’s health and convenience in near future. To keep in mind is the fact that Amazon has betrayed people by repeatedly giving private information of its security and productivity goods’ users to US law forces which makes use of this on other nations a likely threat to privacy.

 

Samsung’s growth in smart devices being inevitable

Well with Chinese devices being banned around the world, we can see the Chinese share in the Smart device area reducing slowly but surely. With the most likely Samsung’s rival Huawei’s ban with the use of US resources and the use of Huawei devices in the US, Huawei has seen a huge fall in their share on this market, with Samsung now topping the share market and Apple being Third. While Apple devices are also a competitor but Android competitors are more viable to make an impact. While Xiaomi has not been banned in the US and other nations but it is just a matter of time before they face the same fate. Samsung on the other hand is getting more and more advantage. They are directly advertising their product to be a Korean (Non-Chinese) product, they are free from any controversy in this time where Non-Chinese people’s minds is filled with doubt on the subject of Privacy. After the Ban on the use of US products with Huawei, a large company which was spread on many sectors with a strong root being 1^st on 5g share, dominant on laptop making, dominant on making chips for smart devices, dominant in the manufacture of Tablets, Foldables, Smartphones, the situation will likely change. The 5g infrastructure of Huawei has already been banned from the US, India, European countries with the only big market remaining their own nation China. Huawei has been producing Kirin Chips for flagship-level smart devices which have occupied 20% of market share but this will likely stop after 2022 when they won’t be able to manufacture more due to lack of resource from the US. This will give a great boost to Samsung manufactured Exynos chips. Samsung has already been able to get hands-on deals worth more than 6b $ in a month from various investors like Verizon.

Samsung has also started preparing the alpha phase of 6g which is one of the first of its kind on the market. Samsung has also started investing more in its research which has helped it to be in front of the market. For instance, Samsung has grabbed the deal of making chips for snapdragon 875 because it can create more efficient and smaller chips(5nm) than the TSMC which Qualcomm previously worked with. Samsung is creating smartphones at a rapid pace with its phones covering all smartphone range which no other companies but Xiaomi and Huawei did. And they are more likely to increase the pace than decrease.

Advice: Nothing.

AMD to strongly benefit from new chips from both Nvidia and AMD

NVIDIA recently launched its 3080 and 3090 graphics cards from the newer Ampere architecture and is likely to release 3070 before next month. AMD is also about to release the NAVI 21 graphics card to Zen2 Architecture and more cards on the architecture. NVIDIA went on a big pre-order sale and there was seen a huge demand for the card. Now, this would suggest would AMD will lose some of their customers but the answer is the opposite. This is benefitting AMD in two ways.

People have seen this huge market and demand for the newer architectural graphics card. As you can read on my first blog https://glitchystar717.blogspot.com/2020/09/Week1.html that Nvidia could not keep up to the demand. This means AMD has a chance to steal many of its customers. AMD also is seeming more convincing to the users who demand more VRAM which it typically provides more than Nvidia cards.

But, the main profit is from AMD's CPU market. Now, We know that both of these companies are going to provide super fast cards. But, to make use of this super fast speed, it is eminent that People need a faster Motherboard with PCIe Gen4 Buses and faster CPU which supports this speed. Though Intel has been the hearts of all people for a long time Intel lacked behind in this regard. Though they had an upper hand in the past due to their faster single-core speed and didn’t require PCIe Gen4 support to attract customers AMD had been manufacturing and selling CPUs with this feature from 2017-2018. Though hey didn’t advertise this as a premium feature, they did say will be industry standard one day. And Yes, now it is a must for people they want to make use of the full speed of the newer cards from Nvidia and AMD. Though Intel will likely release some Gen4 cards next year, that will be their first gen PCIe Gen4 cards which will lack behind 4-5^th gen of AMDs cards with the same feature. Adding that AMD will cover greater price range and more options for customers. Even, the existing AMD PCIe Gen4 users can directly upgrade their Graphics cards without having to upgrade the CPU. So, Yes, AMDs share in the CPU market will increase by fair a bit if Intel does not come back fast.

 

Advice: If you are planning to own a 30 series RTX cards or Zen2 AMD card then choose a CPU with PCIe Gen 4 support which will likely be an AMD.

 

Q\N of the week: Should you build your PC yourself in Nepal?

In Short: Yes, if you know how to do it. No, if you don’t have time/interest.

 

Let's get straight, you can save as less as 500 to as much as 30k if you build your PC. Yes, it depends on various factors. Some of the factors include the Seller, the parts you use, the place you live, access to shops you have, and the old your product is.

The Seller

If you buy a prebuilt from a known seller or reliable seller, he will usually take his time’s worth for assembling it and choosing the right parts for you. However, some sellers take extra on every component they attach to or demand huge assembling cost.

The parts you use

It is a huge factor in countries like Nepal where the price may not be as fixed as foreign countries. For instance, let's assume you want a 1080p gaming computer that runs most of today's games and games in the next 2-3 years at 60+ fps. You have two options NVIDIA GTx 1660 or AMD 5500xt. In foreign countries, the respective cards cost $220 and $200 which is fair given that the latter slightly underperforms the former. But, in Nepal 1660 costs nearly 34k, and 5500xt costs nearly 36k. So you are getting less performance for more price. Though, you may want more VRAM in which case you need the 5500xt. So, buying the prebuilt with 5500xt will cost you more than buying parts yourself by looking up the price of similar performance providing components. This trend follows on other components as well.

The place you live

It is not surprising that people sell the products up to 20% more than the original cost in rural areas to get the profit they need to live. So, you will end up paying up to 20% extra on each component depending on your location if you choose to buy the separate parts because the sellers have fewer sales in rural areas. But, they might get the same profit by selling a Prebuilt with 10% more. So, yes please check the price in your area.

Access to shop

There are many good shops with good prices in New Road, Asan, etc but only some of them are registered online. So, if you have access you must visit them physically (be careful during corona time). This will cost you much less than online prices.

Old products

Yes, you get both used prebuilt and used components. And of course, you can get great deals on both of them. Though, the self-making has greater flexibility here by letting you choose which parts will you choose to be second hand. For instance, it's not generally good to buy a used graphics card but used RAM and CPU are always great value if they work (because they mostly end up living a long life if they work once). This is a general rule to avoid as much used components as you can which have moving parts like fans. But, if you plan to but a prebuilt used PC then you either need to choose one with that used GPU or use up your time to see one with all components you need but no GPU which are generally not available that plenty.

There are several other factors as well which I have not discussed but play a role. If you know some don’t forget to let others know in the comment. In either case, don’t forget to do some benchmarks and a stress tests on components like RAM, GPU, CPU before your warranty ends.

Conclusion:

As you might have known till now I am a huge fan of custom-made PCs so I will suggest this to anyone who knows how to assemble and choose the right parts. If you are with me until here, then here's a bonus which is my story of upgrading PC: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J9-w9HAPX0P6I8nqcvv0JNXarzqHaIM_/view?usp=sharing 

Image Credits:

https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-xp-leaked-code-confirmed-working-os-prove-authenticity

https://www.cioreviewindia.com/news/amazon-brings-new-biometric-payment-system-nid-5976-cid-143.html

https://vulcanpost.com/608747/malaysia-smartphone-huawei-p10-samsung-galaxy-s8-comparison/

https://www.gearbest.com/blog/new-gear/amd-new-advantage-pcie-40-better-than-intel-6328

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCW-kevlDjo&app=desktop