I’ve been spending a few entries covering the hardware that is going into PC World’s dream machine, but I’m going to wrap up my never-ending coverage of it by looking at the software the editors are including. That consists of the following:

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64
Microsoft Windows XP SP2
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
Adobe Master Collection Creative Suite 3
Electronic Arts Crysis
Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe
Call of Duty 4
Half Life 2: Orange Box
Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition
Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0
System Commander 9
Acronis True Image Home

Note that the winner of this box will receive two operating systems: Vista and XP. How do you run two OSs? They’re throwing in Systems Commander 9, which lets you install and run multiple OSs on a single computer. When you boot up, you select which one you want to use. VMware would have been the safer bet here, so I applaud the judges on this one. (See “Virtualization, what can it do?“)

Now, let’s talk about the applications. First, of course, there’s Office Ultimate. This new version includes  Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Accounting Express, Publisher, Access, InfoPath, Groove and OneNote. So, of course, that leads me to think this is truly a serious business machine.

And they’re throwing in Adobe Master Collection Creative Suite 3, which includes every product Adobe ever made or bought, and a few it downloaded from freeware sites on the web. I exaggerate, of course, but how many suites do you know for a single-user system that consumes 22 gigabytes? (Office only takes up 3GB.)

For security and disaster recovery, the machine includes Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 and Acronis True Image, both reliable protectors of all that you hold precious, digitally-speaking.

This software says professional, professional, professional. Ah, but then you get to the games…

First, there’s Crysis. The year is 2019 in Earth and the spelling practices of typical Americans have reached an all-time low… Wait, that’s not right. OK, so a team of scientists makes a frightening discovery. Then a massive alien ship reveals itself in the middle of somewhere… You get the idea.

Next is Microsoft Flight Simulator, which was probably added by the editorial crew in a pique of conscience, because why else would you choose to ferry relief material to the Congo when you can fight off alien creatures?

Then Call of Duty. Let me read the description to you: “Armed with an arsenal of advanced and powerful modern day firepower, players are transported to treacherous hotspots around the globe to take on a rogue enemy group threatening the world…” Hmm. I’m getting the idea that this dream box is intended for a typical male reader rather than a typical female reader of PC World.

So what’s missing? Communications products don’t show up on the list. Guess they figure we do all of that online nowadays. And what about programming tools? Or a copy of SQL Server. It seems for $30,000 a person ought to get a copy of a big honkin’ database management system.

What else would you add to the roster if you were designing this computing monster?

Posted on March 19th, 2008 by dian