Windows

Nvidia has just presented the definitive chip against Intel and AMD. There is a problem: Windows

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The Nvidia processor for PC is the “the wolf is coming” of consumer technology. The company has been the reference for years in GPUs for gamers and flirted with SoCs thanks to the Tegra chips (which are what give life to both nintendo switch like to nintendo switch 2), but for computers they still couldn’t find a way to get equipment with 100% Nvidia guts. That just changed with the presentation of RTX Spark chips. It is a SoC that directly attacks the binomial Windows PC = Intel or AMD CPUone that is positioned as the alternative to those traditional options and that is specifically designed to compete for the heart of the consumer PC. Specifically, for laptops. Now, although Microsoft and Nvidia have been generating excitement for a few days and pointing out that it is the new era of the PC, there is a problem. Windows. The brake is no longer silicon, it could be Windows The theory is very interesting. RTX Spark combines a CPU Grace up to 20 cores that it has developed together with MediaTek (this is curious) with an RTX Blackwell GPU with 6,144 cores. TSMC (how could it not be otherwise) has given life to chip in a 3 nanometer lithography. Not only is it powerful, but it has up to 128 GB of unified memory (the same design that we see in Apple Silicon) and an interface NVLink which allows communication between RAM, CPU and GPU to be very, very fast. Nvidia talks about rendering heavy 3D scenes on laptops, running models with 120 billion parameters, and at the same time running games at 1,440p above 100 FPS with DLSS and ray tracing. The best? That Jensen Huang stood out at the Computex conference showing this in very thin and light laptops. It is the same strategy that Qualcomm follows. own Microsoft has already presented a Surface with RTX Spark and it is an architecture that makes a lot of sense in the universe of current light but powerful laptops… and also in desktop computers like a mac mini or of a mac studio. And, compared to the more traditional PC industry, the GPU is estimated to be in the range of a RTX 5070 for laptops. In the absence of testing it, it is undeniable that it looks good and that, although there are data that are not so favorable (such as bandwidth when compared to the most powerful Apple), it is a good addition to a segment in which, if we left the Intel/AMD duo, the only one that was trying was Qualcomm with devices like the Snapdragon X Elite. And there is the key: RTX Spark, like Qualcomm chips, is focused on being the heart of a Windows that is at its brightest. Because RTX Spark is a chip with ARM architecture and, although in office tasks Windows ARM It moves well, under more demanding tasks is when it begins to not be up to par. Microsoft’s system, which they themselves know is not at its best level of popularity due to the whole issue of AI features, has many shortcomings in its ARM version when it comes to gaming, precisely what Nvidia is promoting. It is also not the best optimized on laptop computers, something that is being seen with type machines. Steam Deck. The heart of the new Surface We are seeing it in recent years with PC-console asus, MSI either Lenovo: The hardware is good, but Windows drags down the experience significantly. The paradox is that the Steam Deck, being the least capable on paper, is usually more recommended precisely because it avoids Windows and relies on a system much more fine-tuned for that format. With RTX Spark, the two companies say they have been working for a long time to solve those problems and make this time, Windows on an ARM chip feel different with support for games with anticheat and native for personal agents. We will see in practice what ends up arriving, but two things are clear here. The first is that Microsoft gains aggressive hardware to compete face to face against Apple in the field of very powerful laptops with long battery life. The second is that Qualcomm is no longer alone in that corral and now it will be very interesting to see what hardware it responds with. Because Nvidia already has the chip, the CUDA ecosystem and agreements with all manufacturers, as well as the support of the giant TSMC. The “weak” link, therefore, is not silicon, it is a Windows on ARM that has improved a lot in recent yearsbut that is the element that will have the most to prove. In Xataka | Graphic muscle for Windows and a slam of the door on Android: the exclusivity toll that Nvidia demands with its new ARM architecture

The MacBook Neo has made traditional Windows laptops look ridiculous. This is great news for users.

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He MacBook Neo showed the way. Mid-range laptops seemed stuck in the past, with an unattractive price/performance ratio. The feeling was that once you were buying a laptop, it was better to invest 1,000 euros or more to be able to work and play comfortably. That seems to be finally changing, because we are seeing a lot of movement in the world of Windows laptops. Asleep on our laurels. Apple’s new model showed that there could be alternatives and caught manufacturers on the wrong foot. Everyone seemed comfortable with it. status quobut he MacBook Neo woke them up from slumberand soon we will see a deployment of modest but functional equipment. Above all, because three of the semiconductor majors already have their SoCs ready or almost ready to compete with the Apple A18 Pro of the MacBook Neo. Qualcomm Snapdragon C. The first alternative is this chip with ARM architecture that just announced by Qualcomm and according to the firm, it will allow equipment to be offered with starting prices of $300. It is very likely that these proposals are too limited (and have no more than 4 GB of RAM), but also that there are versions with higher configurations. The Snapdragon C promises remarkable efficiency, and Qualcomm is an old acquaintance of Windows for ARM equipment. Intel Wildcat Lake. In April we saw how Intel showed its great commitment to conquer this new era of mid-range laptops. I did it with his family Wildcat Lake in which, for example, the new Intel Core 3 304 are integrated. The fundamental advantage of these chips is that of using the traditional x86-64 architecture, which until now has proven to be the best option for Windows computers due to its completely native support for the OS and its applications. Nvidia waits its turn. A lot has been spoken how the duopoly of Intel and AMD on Windows computers could have an expiration date. Qualcomm has not managed to erode that reality, but who may have an important asset is Nvidia, which is preparing the launch of its Arm chips. There has been talk for months that there will be not one, but two based on the GP10 chip which Nvidia jointly developed with MediaTek. The names that are mentioned in the leaks are N1 and N1X, and although the details are unknown, the expectations are notable and already start to leak also Lenovo models that will integrate the N1X. But Windows on ARM has never caught on. The doubts with Qualcomm and Nvidia’s proposals are not due to them, but rather to Microsoft and its Windows operating system. Its version for ARM chips has been available for years, but the teams that have taken advantage of these chips were limited by some software conflicts. I’d better stay with Intel and AMD. There are hardly any problems in that sense anymore, but the promise of the efficiency of ARM chips was not so striking when the prices of such equipment were high. In the end, it was more worthwhile for most users to bet on “traditional” chips from Intel and AMD, and Qualcomm’s proposals—the only ones that appeared on the market—never quite conquered the general public, not even when Copilot+ PCs appeared. Windows 11, by the way, He didn’t make it easy either. with your list of requirements. Specs don’t matter (that much). We already saw yesterday how the specifications of the Wilcat Lake chips are superior to those of the Apple A18 Pro of the MacBook Neobut that doesn’t mean much. Above all, because the MacBook Neo have proven to be laptops that offer a fantastic user experience, but at the moment computers with Intel chips have not been analyzed and their performance is unknown. These same doubts affect future devices with Qualcomm or Nvidia chips: they will have to demonstrate that the user experience is as good (or better) than that of the MacBook Neo, or else these manufacturers (and Microsoft) will have a serious problem. It’s good news. Whatever happens, Apple’s move has caused manufacturers to finally move and develop solutions to try to compete with the surprising team from Cupertino. If the MacBook Neo had not been launched, we would probably still be stuck in the mid-range Windows laptop segment, but this is going to liven things up and revive competition between manufacturers. We all win. In Xataka | “We arrived too soon, but we were right”: The MacBook Neo is everything Microsoft dreamed of with the disastrous Windows 8

The Chuwi Unibook is the $450 Windows laptop that aims to take down the MacBook Neo. The problem is not the specifications

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The Chinese manufacturer Chuwi has given the surprise with the presentation of its Chuwi Unibook, a mid-range laptop that surprises with its price of $449 and that has undoubtedly been created to compete with the new rival to beat: the MacBook Neo from Apple. The truth is that on paper the proposal seems really attractive, but the problem is precisely that: that this computer, like all those that will soon appear based on Windows with similar specifications, will have to comply with what is important. The user experience will be everything. The MacBook Neo still has no response. The PC industry was used to not having too many concerns in the mid-range. The manufacturers had accommodated themselves and proposed proposals without much ambition, modest but functional. Then came the MacBook Neo from Apple and revolutionized the sector: For the first time it was possible to access the Cupertino laptop ecosystem and its experience for a much more affordable price. There are sacrifices to the MacBook Neo, of course, but the device’s appeal is evident to many users. Apple has the A18 Pro, Intel has Wildcat Lake. The striking thing about the MacBook Neo is that Apple demonstrated that the iPhone chip was more than enough for a mid-range laptop. To compete with it, Intel has launched a new family of low-cost processors called Wildcat Lake. These chips, made with Intel 18A photolithography, are promising, and according to some benchmarks one of their variants It is 21% more powerful than the Apple A18 Pro of the MacBook Neo. The spec sheet rocks. If we look at the pure specifications of the Chuwi Unibook, the difference is notable. The equipment is not only cheaper, but it surpasses the Apple model in almost everything. For example, it has a theoretically more powerful processor, keyboard backlighting, better connectivity and more battery. The sacrifices required by the MacBook Neo are fewer sacrifices in this equipment. On paper, the Chuwi Unibook is really promising. On paper. Source: VideoCardz Project Firefly. Intel’s Chinese division recently announced this initiative. With it, they hope to help manufacturers reduce manufacturing complexity by offering reference designs that reduce production costs. Intel has already done things like this in the past (I’m sure many of you will remember both the Centrino branding and its Ultrabook program), and the idea here is precisely to provide certain tools to manufacturers to develop more competitive models in a market. shaken by the Apple model. Manufacturers wait their turn. The launch of Intel processors from the Wildcat Lake family has caused several manufacturers to begin announcing laptops based on these chips. Lenovo is already preparing some models IdeaPad Slimand so much Asus as HP They also prepare their plays. The Chuwi Unibook seems to be just another variant of those proposals, and in all of them the specifications, although modest, seem to surpass those of the MacBook Neo. Lots of advertising, little real product. Almost all major manufacturers have shown their intention to develop mid-range laptops that compete with the MacBook Neo in that price range. The announcements have been varied, but none of them have communicated the price or availability date of these devices, probably because everyone is waiting to see how the memory crisis evolves. It is reasonable to think that the imminent Computex fair is the perfect occasion to definitively present all these proposals. But. The problem with the Chuwi Unibook, like that of other manufacturers waiting their turn, is not the specifications. The problem will be the benefits and above all the real experience that these teams offer. Windows PC manufacturers have not done well with cutting features in the past, and if that experience is not good we could witness a new phenomenon like netbooks: affordable equipment, but too limited and that ended up condemned to oblivion. In Xataka | “We arrived too soon, but we were right”: The MacBook Neo is everything Microsoft dreamed of with the disastrous Windows 8

Airplanes have circular windows for a reason. It took two plane crashes to find out.

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When you get on a plane, have you ever wondered why the windows of this means of transport They have an oval shape. If you look closely, it’s not just the windows: also the armrests, trays, screens and any interior furniture. has a circular shape. Although it may seem something purely aestheticthere is actually scientific reasoning behind this choice. But before getting into the technical details, we need to talk a little about the history of aviation and how two fatal accidents changed everything. In their early days, airplanes had rectangular windows like those found in any house. As taking to the skies became more popular in the 1950s, airlines started flying at higher altitudes. This guaranteed them considerable economic savings, since the thin air generates less resistance and, therefore, less fuel is consumed, as well as allowing more comfortable driving with less turbulence. But in order for planes to fly at those heights, manufacturers were also forced to make design changes. The cabin had to be pressurized so that the pilots could breathe without problems. And a pressurized cabin requires a cylindrical shape to function, which creates a pressure difference between indoor air and outdoor air which increases as the plane rises. The flat body expands very slightly and therefore stress is applied to the material. And this is where the shape of the windows come into play. In 1954 there were two fatal accidents which caused the death of 56 passengers and crew. The reason the fuselage disintegrated had to do with a design flaw, which was that they had kept the windows square. Due to its right angles, Cabin pressure was concentrated in its corners and it was multiplied by three, more than in the rest of the fuselage. That caused the windows to end up exploding. It must be taken into account that airplanes usually fly at an altitude of 10,000 meters or more and that level atmospheric pressure It is about a third of normal. As Real Engineering explains in this video“When a material changes shape like this, stress is created in the material. Eventually, the stress can increase so much that the material breaks.” This is exactly what happened in the aforementioned accidents. The problems However, in a circular plane, tension flows smoothly through the material, a flow that is interrupted by the introduction of a window. But if the window is oval, stress levels are more evenly balanced. The same principle applies to the cargo and cabin doors. And that’s why we also see it in the windows of ships and spaceships. Unfortunately, it took two plane crashes and several decades of research to realize the evils that square windows were causing. Furthermore, as commented Anthony Harcup, director of the Teague design company, which has worked with Boeing for more than 75 years in this article from Travel + Leisure: “Sharp edges hurt elbows, knees, hips… or any part of the body they come into contact with. Rounding of all parts of the plane is also done for the “deletalization”a design principle that ensures that when subjected to Murphy’s Law, a passenger cannot be injured anywhere in the airplane seat.” It’s not just the shape of airplane windows that has changed over the years, but also their material. The windows you see on airplanes actually They are not glass, but acrylicwhich is more durable than the first. Also, as you may have noticed, there are three layers in each window. In fact, the interior window that faces passengers is not even part of the structure of the plane (it is just a safety measure so that the exterior window does not get touched or scratched). And the second layer exists as reinforcement to maintain the pressure on the end in case the exterior window is damaged. If you looked at the window, you will also have seen a small hole in this layer. Its role is essential since it serves as a valve to equalize pressure between this inner window and the outer window. Between the interior and exterior window there is a small air chamber and this hole regulates the pressure between the two sheets automatically. In addition, it balances the humidity level, preventing the window from fogging up or freezing. Everything on an airplane is pure science. Images | Unsplash In Xataka | The design can save the middle seat on airplanes from being the most hated: wider and “without invasions”

Microsoft has funded a report showing that Windows laptops are better than the MacBook Neo. There are many questions

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Almost two months after the launch of the MacBook NeoApple’s cheap laptop continues to surprise. To Apple the firstwhich had sales forecasts that they had to fold because it seems that the model has taken off very well in the market. In fact, so well that can be a problem for the company itself. It has also caught walking changed to a segment of Windows laptops that compete in potential, but show that there are sections in which the smallest of the Apple family has no rival. The competition is being tough and something that shows that the Neo is the most successful MacBook in recent years is that Microsoft has supported a report to compare several Windows laptops against the MacBook Neo. And of course, controversy has broken out because the report does not point to key sections that make the Neo so interesting for certain sectors of users. All vs the MacBook Neo Microsoft dominates the laptop landscape. Although there is a recent movement to move to Linuxespecially after Microsoft’s latest actions filling your operating system with ‘junk’ which makes PCs slower (something the company’s CEO himself has acknowledged, stating that they are going to relax their foot on the accelerator of AI), Windows is THE computer operating system. It is accessible, it has been very easy to use for many years and if you buy a PC, it will most likely come with its license. In the highest range they have competition from MacBooks, but for less than 1,000 euros there is no discussion. A laptop for office use, one as a second computer or one for studying is Windows almost yes or yes. There are also Chromebooks out there, but sometimes not even Google remembers them. But of course, a MacBook Neo has arrived with a very attractive price, especially in the United States where, with the student discount, you can get it for $599. As we say, it seems that is entering that segment like a sharp knifeor even for those who already have a Mac and want a simpler one for other types of tasks. And Microsoft is not interested in having market share eaten away. Therefore, as we read in Wccftechhas financed a report to Signal65 to compare certain Windows laptop models against the MacBook Neo. What models? On paper, all four models have better features in many aspects such as storage, RAM, ports or the power of the processors. These are the points where the MacBook Neo falters the most (especially in storage) because its SoC is the A18 Pro of the iPhone 16 Pro with a totally different philosophy. If we look at the Signal65 comparison tables, it is evident that Windows laptops have an advantage over Apple’s. The problem is when you start reading the fine print. For example, in the performance tests, they were all done with the power adapter and here it is important because, while Windows laptops perform better with the adapter, Apple laptops do not distinguish between being plugged in or not (unless they are in power saving mode). On the other hand, comparative tables show certain biases such as pointing out that a larger screen (15.3 inches versus 13 inches) is better for the mere fact of being larger when the MacBook’s has more resolution and pixel density. The battery test has also sparked controversy because yes, one on the list, the IdeaPad Slim 3x, has 56% more battery, but the MacBook’s screen is brighter and, while the IdeaPad has a 60 Wh battery, the MacBook’s is 36.5 Wh. And then the issue of price. While the IdeaPad Slim 3x starts at $449, being a very aggressive device in this sense, the HP starts at $599, the Yoga 7i at $1,099 and the Omnibook at $949. In addition, two of them are convertible, so they are directly in another category. What is overlooked in the comparison is that the MacBook Neo, although it is true that it is not the most powerful, It has a design and build quality that a manufacturer with Windows cannot match for that price, nor can the screen and autonomy in a mobility environment in which you are not always with maximum brightness. It also does not address the efficiency of one system versus the other because, in the end, it is not an analysis, but rather a comparison that does not aim to honestly measure the devices. All five are very interesting and all five have their place in the market, but from the moment you compare pears with apples is when things start to not add up. Asus’s own financial director already pointed out that the launch of the Neo was a blow to the market, stating that all PC manufacturers should look carefully. In the end, the real problem is not how each team performs in the comparison, but rather that it is not a serious analysis either because of the choice of opponents or, above all, because of that great “financed by Microsoft” that shows that Asus’s financial director is not misguided and that the industry must take this Apple product seriously. That Microsoft has funded a biased comparison is important because it enhances the value of independent analyzes and, above all, because if the MacBook Neo is really harming the Windows laptop sector, they will surely respond with products that can stand up to it at the same price and users will win. The bad news is that both the Neo and any type of competition arrive at the worst time, being in the middle of a crisis with no end in sight and that is causing all manufacturers to offer worse RAM and storage configurations… and that is hard impacting even an Apple which has stopped offering some versions of its products. And something important in the background in the comparison: there are sectors in which things are not so much about specifications as about experience, and with the current Windows the experience … Read more

clean Windows of so much garbage

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Over the last few years, Microsoft has flooded Windows 11 of AI-based functions. Many of these tools have not gone down well with the community, not to mention the invasive advertising that has surrounded the operating system all this time. The result of this strategy without clear direction has led to fed up users, a damaged reputation and a nickname that has gone viral: “Microslop”. Now the company wants to regain the trust of users, and its own CEO has had to come out and say so in public. The problem has its own name, and it is “Microslop”. In recent months, Microsoft’s obsession with integrating AI into absolutely everything (Windows, Edge, Bing, Notepad, the Start menu) has generated great rejection from users. On social networks there are already many who nickname the company “Microslop”, a play on words between Microsoft and the term AI slop (content of dubious quality generated with artificial intelligence). The company tried to delete the term blocking it on their official Copilot Discord server, which sparked even more controversy and ended up forcing them to close that server directly. As we mentioned a couple of months ago, the maneuver was a perfect example of how to aggravate a problem instead of solving it. Recall: the straw that broke the camel’s back. Microsoft’s flagship feature for Windows, which promised a kind of AI-based PC photo memory, became the symbol of everything that was going wrong: an intrusive feature, with serious privacy implicationslaunched without anyone asking for it. She wasn’t the only one. Notepad, one of the simplest and most beloved Windows tools, also received AI functions that many users considered nonsense. The community responded, among other things, creating third party applications to eliminate all that unwanted content in one fell swoop. And in fact, if you want to eliminate everything you don’t like about Windows 11 suddenly, there is a tool that we have recommended in this house more than once: Win11Debloat. Pavan Davuluri was the first to admit it. In March of this year, the head of the Windows division published a text on the official blog of Windows acknowledging the existence of “pain points” regarding the AI ​​functions integrated into the operating system, and committing that the company will only integrate artificial intelligence where it is “truly meaningful.” He also promised an overhaul of the Feedback Hub, the tool for users to submit suggestions, to make it easier for complaints to better reach internal teams. what he said Satya Nadella. During Microsoft’s fiscal third quarter earnings call, the company’s CEO stated that Microsoft is carrying out “the critical work needed to win back fans and strengthen engagement” with Windows, Xbox (which also has its own now), Bing and Edge, and that in the short term the priority is “quality and better serving core users.” Nadella cited improvements such as better performance on devices with low RAM and a faster Windows update experience. The situation is quite serious in itself, and the fact that Microsoft’s own CEO has come to the fore to calm the waters in this way is an indication of this. Inside, the project is called Windows K2. According to they count From Windows Central, there is an internal initiative underway under that name whose objective is to undertake profound improvements in performance, reliability and user experience. It will not come as a big update with its own name, but as continuous and gradual improvements. The File Explorer, one of the elements most criticized for its slowness, is one of the priorities. So are the taskbar and greater control over widgets and the news feed, two of the most controversial additions to Windows 11. There are reasons for optimismeither and for skepticism. as well they point From TechRadar, it is striking that Nadella mentions Bing and Edge in the same breath as Windows when he talks about recovering ordinary users, since they are precisely the two tools that Microsoft has been trying to sneak into the operating system for years without anyone demanding them. On the other hand, the promise to reduce advertising and banners within Windows, something that Davuluri also included in his March commitment, will be the real test of cotton. And now, let’s see if there are facts. Microsoft has 1.6 billion active Windows devices per month, a figure that Nadella took the opportunity to remember at the same conference. That means that no matter how much Linux or macOS gain ground in the public debate, Windows remains the dominant operating system on the desktop. But that position of strength does not guarantee fidelity. The company knows this, and that is why this discourse towards quality and user feedback is more about necessity than strategy. We will have to wait to find out if the company is serious about it. Cover image | Microsoft and Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | The MacBook Neo is the biggest existential threat to the Windows laptop market. And the manufacturers have no answer

Someone connected an unprotected Windows XP PC to the Internet to see what would happen. The result is not surprising

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When Microsoft ends its support for security updates in its operating systems, it is not usually advisable to use a PC with said system unless it is for a specific and specific case. Eric Parker, content creator specialized in technology, wanted try with an experiment: use Windows XP today connected to the Internet and eliminating all types of protections. As you may have imagined, the PC has become a magnet for malware. In fact, in just 10 minutes, the operating system was completely compromised. Parker also helped make this happen for educational purposes and to demonstrate how dangerous it can be to use an operating system like Windows XP today. Windows XP without firewall and without NAT 10 minutes later: a magnet for malware The expert configured a virtual machine with Windows XP Service Pack 3 on a Proxmox server, also disabling its firewall and NAT (Network Address Translation) settings and replicating the connection conditions common in the early 2000s. To recreate this scenario, the researcher Completely disabled Windows XP firewall and assigned a direct public IP address to the system, exposing the machine without any intermediate protection. As seen in the video, in just ten minutes, the system showed the first signs of infection with the appearance of the “conhoz.exe” process in the Task Manager, which turned out to be a Trojan disguised as a legitimate component of the operating system. After downloading a compatible browser and continued use of the system, in a short time we see how the PC starts to accumulate malware from multiple unknown sources. The system had been a victim of several Trojans and malicious programs running from temporary folders. He was also the victim of a rogue FTP server that allowed full remote access to files, DNS modification to redirect traffic to attacker-controlled servers, and the creation of additional user accounts for attackers to maintain access to the system. A whole string of malicious processes that ended up hijacking the PC. Image: Eric Parker The key factor that allowed the rapid entry of all these malicious components was the vulnerability EternalBluepresent in unpatched Windows XP SP3. This security breach, which was later used by the famous ransomware WannaCryallows attackers to execute remote code without any user interaction. Parker explains that tools like Nmap allow cybercriminals to scan the network for vulnerable systemsquickly identifying exposed and unprotected Windows XP computers. A system that was crying out to be violated and a Windows 7 stronger than it seems The content creator himself admits that the conditions were as optimal as possible to get malware: disabled firewall, direct connection without NAT and unpatched system. Under normal circumstances, with a basic home router and the firewall activated, Windows XP would be significantly more protected. However, the risk does not disappear completely. The use of outdated browsers and the ease of privilege escalation on this operating system remain serious problems. And as shown in the experiment, once infected, The malware was able to automatically close security tools like Malwarebytes. To contrast the results, Parker performed the same test with Windows 7 under identical conditions. Surprisingly, after ten hours of exposure, the most modern system showed no signs of infectionevidencing the significant security improvements implemented in later versions of Windows. Now that official security update support for Windows 10 is ending soon, it’s good to take a look back and see how an outdated system can easily become compromised. Fortunately, today we have many more alternatives if we do not want to update to Windows 11. Cover image | Eric Parker In Xataka | FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 This article was originally published in Genbeta in June 2025 and is part of Genbeta’s “greatest hits” that we will discover here in the coming weeks.

is renovating its bullet train with 5G-enabled windows and noise-cancelling cabins

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High-speed rail is going through a phase of maturity where the differential is no longer so much speed, but rather productivity and comfort. In short: it wants to become a fully fledged alternative to flying in the business segment. While Spain is consolidated as the second country in the world in high-speed network and leader in technological interoperability, Japan (which was a pioneer with the Shinkansen in 1964) wants to regain its hegemony with deep digitalization. JR Central, the rail operator of the Tokaido Shinkansen, has announced which will equip the next premium suites of its famous bullet trains with windows with integrated 5G antennas and active ambient noise cancellation without the need for headphones. The news. The improvements are not cosmetic, but a serious commitment to transform the premium car into a work or rest environment comparable to a private office. 5G antennas on the glass. The technology is provided by AGCa Japanese company that weaves conductive microfibers into the glass to form an antenna that is connected to the on-board Wi-Fi router. While conventional systems bounce the 5G signal inside the train before reaching the router, antennas integrated into the glass keep direct line of sight with outside base stations. That is, a more stable Wi-Fi with a stronger signal. Integrated ANC. The system is called Personalized Sound Zone (PSZ) and has been developed by NTT. Its operation is like that of headphones with active cancellation: it detects the waveform of the ambient sound and from there, projects its inversion to cancel it. The main difference is that you don’t need to cover your ear: it uses a combination of microphones, speakers and spatially optimized low-latency processing. Why is it important. JR Central’s bullet train reaches speeds of up to 285 km/h, meaning it passes mobile network base stations so quickly that it often needs to reconnect to another radio. This phenomenon is known as handover and degrades the quality of the connection: it is the Achilles heel of connectivity in high-speed trains around the world. Yes, those internet outages also happen on the AVE. Finding a solution in windows is technically elegant and scalable. From the point of view of the premium segment, the robust connectivity and acoustic isolation without headphones places it in direct competition with the business class flight on routes within the country. Of course, in the absence of the price. For now, JR Central has only confirmed which will be more expensive than tickets for first-class Shinkansen Green Car seats, which already cost 40% more than a standard unreserved ticket. An example: standard ticket from Tokyo station to Kyoto (2 hours and 15 minutes) costs 13,320 yen and 18,840 yen for the Green Car, that is, 71 and 100 euros respectively. Context. The Tokaido Shinkansen is the busiest high-speed line in the world. Private compartments disappeared from the line in 2003 with the withdrawal of the Series 100 double-decker trains, which included private cabins. This new initiative means the return to the format in style two decades later. Regarding glass antenna technology, the collaboration between AGC, NTT Docomo and Ericsson has been going on since 2018. In fact, in 2019 this conglomerate of companies reached the world’s first 5G communication using an integrated fused silica glass antenna to transmit and receive 28 GHz signals, with average download speeds of 1.3 Gbps and maximum download speeds of 3.8 Gbps in a range of 100 meters. What JR Central is now announcing is the first commercial application in high-speed trains. And in Spain? In connectivity, there is a technological and approach gap. The AVE has Wi-Fi since December 2016 thanks to a system of outdoor 4G-LTE antennas combined with satellite, routers, servers and access points. That is, like what JR Central has just overcome: capturing the signal from outside and redistributing it inside. AGC’s solution for the Shinkansen eliminates this weak point by maintaining direct line of sight with the base stations, something especially critical at high speed. Of course, while PlayRenfe is universal for all travelers, the Shinkansen Wi-Fi will be in the luxury suites. Yes, but. The deployment is very limited: in the initial phase only a couple of suites will be installed in six trains, so coverage is residual against the park of operational units total and JR Central has not made public a roadmap for the expansion of these technologies. On the other hand, NTT’s noise cancellation technology applied to a train poses its own structural challenges, ranging from noise variations at 285 km/h to pressure changes in tunnels. It will be necessary to check the real effectiveness of the system under these conditions. In Xataka | There was a day when Japan was the leading high-speed country. It has been surpassed by China, a victim of its own country In Xataka | In 2015, Japan showed the world a train capable of reaching 600 km/h. Ten years later we still don’t know anything about him Cover | Fikri Rasyid

France wants to replace Windows with Linux. Extremadura and Munich tried it before, and both failed

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On April 8, 20226, the French Digital Interministerial Directorate (DINUM) advertisement that will migrate your jobs from Windows to Linux. He ordered all ministries to present a plan by the fall with the aim of eliminating dependencies on non-European software. The announcement in fact goes beyond changing Windows for Linux: it also affects collaborative tools, antivirus, AI, databases, virtualization or telecommunications. It is, on paper, the largest operation to replace proprietary software with free software that a Western State has ever attempted. And if the history of this type of projects teaches us anything, it is that many have ended in failure. French sovereignty. It is not that France is a lover of free software; What has happened is that the relationship with the United States has changed. Trump’s tariffs accelerated a debate that had been postponed for years: To what extent is it sustainable to depend on the US digital infrastructure? French companies like OVHCloud and Scaleway did not stop growing in 2025, but France has already taken some previous steps recently. In January 2026, announced the plan to replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with its own video conferencing platform, called Visiowith the aim that its 2.5 million employees would use it. At the moment 40,000 of them are using it, and it remains to be seen if the deployment ends up being total. This was LinEx, the Linux distribution derived from Debian that was used in public organizations in Extremadura. Spain tried it in 2002. The Junta de Extremadura is one of the most famous cases of attempted replace Windows with Linux in public administration. In 2001 it launched LinEx, a Linux distribution based on Debian, and tried to implement it massively in the educational environment and in the health system of the autonomous community. That was imitated in other Spanish regions: Andalusia had Guadalinex, Valencia had LliureX, Madrid had MAX, Galicia had Galinux, Catalonia had Linkat and Castilla La Mancha had Molinux. All of these projects proposed an alternative to the absolute dominance of Windows on the desktops of public officials, and they all failed, but the biggest failure was the one that promised the most: that of LinEx. LinEx myths and realities. Although this distribution worked reasonably in the aforementioned education and health environments, it never fully penetrated the general public administration of the Autonomous Community. In 2011 the project was transferred to a state foundation due to budget cuts and by then only 1% of positions of the Extremaduran autonomous administration used free software. The final blow came when SAP, which managed the community’s medical records system, decided to stop supporting Linux. That made this body return to Windows, and in fact in 2024 the Board formally eliminated the obligation to use gnuLinEx. Rise and fall of Linux in Munich. another case even more famous At the European level it was Munich. In 2003, the city council of this German city announced that it would migrate 14,000 Windows computers to LiMux, its Debian-based Linux distribution. In 2013 the project seemed a success: there were 12,000 migrated computers and theoretically more than 11 million euros had been saved in licenses and other costs. However, in 2014, complaints about loss of productivity and debate began. ended sharply: At the end of 2017, the leaders of Munich decided to migrate 29,000 PCs of their employees to Windows 10 from LiMux. The initial migration was never complete, and in many cases there was a mix of Windows and Linux systems to complete the processes, something that seemed inefficient and never managed to eliminate the dependency on Windows and especially on legacy applications. But there are silent successes. LinEx and LiMux failed in Spain and Germany, but there is precedent to show that abandoning Windows in favor of Linux can work. It proves it GendBuntua version of Ubuntu that was implemented in the French National Gendarmerie. This organization was already a pioneer in the adoption of the OpenOffice.org office suite in 2005, and since 2008 the plan was to abandon Windows in favor of its own Linux distribution. In June 2024, GendBuntu runs on 103,164 jobswhich represents 97% of the IT park of this organization. This has also saved around two million euros per year on licenses, and has reduced the total cost of ownership (TCO) by 40%. Another promising example: Schleswig-Holstein. This German state began its migration from Windows and Office to Linux and LibreOffice in 2021. In early 2026 had already completed almost 80% of the transition in its 30,000 jobs and according to its data that allowed savings about 15 million euros in licenses only in 2026. A one-time investment of 9 million euros is planned to complete 20% of the process, which is still tied to certain specialized applications and will therefore take a little more time. This is the model that is closest to the French initiative: gradual migration and above all a political will that is maintained among the legislatures that are in power. What distinguishes success from failure. Cases that work share three characteristics. The first, gradual and phased migration, not sudden and massive. The second, real internal technical support that goes beyond political declarations. And the third (and probably the most important), a sustained will beyond an electroral cycle. Those who fail share three others: trying to migrate everything at once, underestimating the cost of legacy applications and depending on the project not changing government, which certainly contributed, for example, to the failure of LinEx. A colossal challenge. Installing Linux on a computer is trivial today and it is true that today the learning curve has been significantly reduced and its use is very similar to that of Windows or macOS. The real problem is in the applications that run on top of it. In public administration there is often critical software tailored for Windows, forms that only work in certain browsers (including the old Internet Explorer), management systems that do not have equivalents in Linux or vendors that simply do … Read more

France has begun to retire Windows from its administration. It is the beginning of his divorce from Microsoft, Google and Amazon

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Digital sovereignty in Europe has gone from being a theoretical concept to something increasingly tangible and desirable with respect to the technology we consume. It is no longer just a trend that is increasingly more individual people are tryingbut has also become an object of desire for administrations and companies. The path to becoming independent from big tech in the United States is not easy and while there are startups like Mistral who gets rich in the processthere is a state that has decided to take a brave step forward: France. In a global environment where data and infrastructure are geopolitical weapons, the French Government, through the Interministerial Directorate for Digital (DINUM), has launched an aggressive roadmap to regain control over their information systems, thus reducing the hegemony of non-EU technological solutions. And it has started with Windows. The decision. In a high-level inter-ministerial seminar, DINUM together with ANSSI, the State Purchasing Directorate and the DGE formalized the most ambitious commitment to digital sovereignty adopted to date by a Western European power. Or what is the same: France wants to exit the American technological ecosystem in a systematic, planned way and with specific deadlines. It is not an experiment, it is state policy. The guideline is clear: map and reduce dependence on technology suppliers from outside the EU. The measure is not a veto but rather a mandatory transition towards a model where public administration must prioritize local or open source solutions, especially in critical services and sensitive data processing. As has declared the Minister of Action and Public Accounts David Amiel: “ We can no longer accept that our data, our infrastructure and our strategic decisions depend on solutions whose rules, prices, evolution and risks we do not control.” Why is it important. From a systems engineering and cybersecurity point of view, the measure is vital for issues such as protecting against Cloud Act of the United States, the law that allows its authorities to access data stored in American companies regardless of where the servers are located. On the other hand, it guarantees that the state maintains its necessary technical capabilities to operate its own infrastructure without depending on proprietary “black boxes” and to heal itself in the event of a change in conditions or other external problems. But this phased migration is much more than an OS change: it involves dismantling the entire associated ecosystem, certificates and applications designed for Windows. It means rebuilding the digital foundations of the state from the roots so that they function with total autonomy and without foreign parts, without citizens noticing the change on the surface. Context. Our daily personal, professional and bureaucratic lives live in an ecosystem governed by hyperscalersthose technology companies like Microsoft, Google or Amazon that dominate storage and cloud computing. This mention is not random: they alone eat more than 60% of the cloud cake, as Statista collects. The increase in cyber threats and the US technological monopoly in the West and its increasingly invasive turn to the privacy of others have done the rest. France has been maturing the doctrine for years “Cloud au Center“. While the ANSSI audited the dependencies on critical infrastructures, its sovereign cloud was being forged as a real alternative. In addition, the European regulatory framework, with the NIS2 directive wave cyber resilience lawhas created the ideal breeding ground. With tools like TchapVisio, FranceTransfert and Socle Numérique (alternatives to WhatsApp, Teams, WeTransfer or Microsoft 365, respectively) France no longer only has a plan, but a real operational base on which to scale. The plan towards sovereignty. It is neither a toast to the sun nor does it have vague and diffuse measurements or distant dates, but concrete, tangible movements and which is either already being implemented or is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year: DINUM abandons Windows and migrates its jobs to Linux. It is the first central State agency to do so. Already underway. Migration of 80,000 agents from the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie (equivalent to Social Security) to sovereign tools: Tchap, Visio and FranceTransfert. Already underway. Migration of the health data platform to a reliable European solution. Scheduled for the end of 2026. Duties for each ministry: present a dependency reduction plan, which includes databases, antivirus, AI or collaborative tools. For this fall. Yes, but. France has a basic skeleton and a legal framework, as well as public-private coalitions to accelerate the transition through concrete and measurable public commitments. But it won’t be easy. Exiting Windows involves disassembling Active Directory and what is behind it, something that costs a lot of time and money. And migrating 80,000 agents to new tools is not so much a technology problem but rather a problem of implementing new management. Also, go out where. Many European solutions still do not reach the integration, ease of use and capacity (especially in AI) of American big tech, which implies a step backwards in terms of quality. But even if it were possible, moving from a proprietary infrastructure to a sovereign one implies an enormous investment in time, personnel training and data migration. Finally, maintaining and evolving our own infrastructure requires specialized and experienced personnel in a market where talent is scarce and expensive. In Xataka | The CEO of Mistral sends a message to Europe: the end of being the technological vassal of the United States In Xataka | Europe seeks to become independent from Microsoft Office. Your alternative is already here, but not without controversy Cover | Clint Patterson and Arno Senoner

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