Microsoft to promise world domination at PDC **NO JOKE**

[Deja Q]

http://www.tomshardware.com/business/20050919/index.html

Los Angeles (CA) - The way we build and use personal computers will change dramatically over the next 24 months, and if Microsoft has anything to do it, they will be a principal catalyst for these changes. Linux developers will regret admitting this, but the changes being made to Windows, announced at last week's Professional Developers' Conference, will dramatically impact the architecture and feature set of all personal computers, handhelds, and to some degree, even other consumer appliances.

This change at the software level is important, because it impacts not only how we work, but what we work with. No software producer in the world has the degree of influence over computer architecture as Microsoft. We benchmark systems today using performance tests that are at least ten years old, and are based on the way some people have always known Microsoft Office to work. These benchmarks help companies decide how much processor power, memory, and storage to deploy when purchasing or building systems in bulk. Now, the fundamentals of the applications we've tested are about to change. No longer will Office documents be locked into a proprietary format; in fact, the contents of those documents can be unlocked, queried, compared with and against one another, and shared using open formats. And not just the version of "open" formats that Microsoft has been pushing, but really Open in the traditional, Internet way.

The irony for Linux is huge.


The article has more.

[Book Lover]

1. And the new Treo is supposed to

come with a version of Win installed... just another item on the agenda of the apocalypse.

[bpilgrim]

2. so, johny come lately is now pointing fingers at the rest

who have started and thrive in the open source world - lol

yeah, whatever... they said the same things about the internet, too, before they got it and after :crazy:

peace

[Deja Q]

5. Yes, except MS has money and clout - both not entirely deserved.

When MS says something, people will listen.

MS will flatten them all in the end. As usual.

[Occulus]

7. Money and clout are not intrinsically necessary to open source software.

While having a money base is a good thing for software development, anyone with the correct knowledge can (and often does) contribute to the open source community.

Microsoft cannot flatten a decentralized movement such as open source software. That will always be around. Some of the better open source packages rival that which Microsoft produces, OpenOffice being but one example.

Open source operating systems will likewise always be around in one form or another. That is as it should be. No extra payment to a software company should be strictly necessary when purchasing a piece of hardware.

[Pobeka]

3. Microsoft promising to stick to open standards.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[MichiganVote]

4. Hypno, can you tell me what this means in plain language.

Does it mean that my XP platform is going to be worthless? I'm getting more and more fed up with this stuff. I just get the platform and the other support software for photos and whatall and then I hear an announcement like this.

My consumer blood runs cold.

[Deja Q]

6. No. It means Microsoft will be a cemented power and you cannot change.

If you wanted to use Linux on a PC made 2 years from now, don't bother.

BTW: Corporations don't give a flying fuck about consumers. They care only for the shareholders - people with the IQ of 60 but wallets the size of red china, some of which waiting to be filled with all that money that this quaint idea of shareholderism promises. I mean, it worked for Jim Allchin, right? (of course, anybody who isn't a higher up in the company is playing roulette...)

[PowerToThePeople]

8. There is no type of computer hardware that won't run OS.

They just have not got to all of them yet. There may be a period of "catch-up" time, but the OS community will run their software on M$'s proprietary gear...

[sproutster]

10. Plus I love watching the contests to break M$

I think it was 72 hours to install linux on xbox.

[MichiganVote]

13. So for a open up the box, plug it in, and hope for the best consumer

like me, I can still switch to Linux later. Cuz' its starting to sound good to me even tho' I haven't a clue how to change over yet.

Don't hate me, computer God's. I admit it, I'm a K-Mart shopper too.

[crispini]

15. You are correct. I don't see anything in the article

that suggests that MSFT will (or can) tie the OS to the hardware in the way that the OP suggests. Maybe I've missed it.

[MichiganVote]

17. Oh thank you Jesus!

[mainegreen]

9. Oh give me a break

Microsoft is going to make it so Office documents don't need office to be read? BULLSHIT! Why buy office then?

Microsoft intends to support the creation of a premium performance class of computer, separately from a standard performance class.
What are the requirements you ask?
Microsoft group product manager Greg Sullivan shared with us a set of tentative minimum hardware requirements, including 64 Mb of graphics memory as a minimum, 128 Mb recommended. Those specifications are likely to apply to DirectX 9 machines. Since memory specifications generally ascend in powers of two, then the 256 Mb of GDDR that an Australian Microsoft engineer reported might be necessary for users to realize the full Vista experience, is looking more and more like the likely figure. :rofl: Gee, sooo fancy. NOT!

Or how about this goodie:

Rather than develop a single, convoluted semi-standard (such as ActiveX) and ramming it through the default pipeline of the Web browser, Microsoft is embracing many of the alternative standards that have emerged in the development communities outside of its Redmond campus. But unlike those communities, Microsoft is stitching all these standards together - XML, XSLT, XAML, RSS, SOAP, LINQ, AJAX, and the list continues. By making all these standards come to life on the Microsoft platform in a way that no single vendor can make happen on the Linux platform, Microsoft is not only generating new and practical value that consumers can perceive - not just programmers - but also spotlighting the Linux communities' key weakness: their lack of cohesion among one another. :crazy: Oh, I'm sure microsoft will totally implement those succussfully. Totally! Oh yeah, Linux Sux cuz, um, lots of people contribute. Right.

I'd go on, but I won't. That article is pure flaimbait.

[sendero]

11. Anything that requires Microsoft to ...

... 1) innovate or
2) operate with integrity
3) concede profits

will never happen.

[charlie]

12. I'm kinda thick

Either this article is extra light on details or I don't see the earth-shaking nature of its claims. So MS is moving to XML in a big way, application independence and all that... what's the whoop? Application independence is the point of XML. Non-MS vendors and developers won't be locked out by proprietary data formats. This is scary?

The only other thing they talk about is its ballyhooed vector graphics GUI. And that Office 12 lacks menubars. It sounds like in addition to whizbang graphics, MS is going to rejigger the UI paradigm. That's not necessarily a guaranteed win for MS. People have had over a decade experience with the Windows interface, changing it to any significant degree is not going to make for happy users when the keystrokes and arrangements cemented into second nature suddenly don't work.

[crispini]

14. Yep. I agree with you. I don't get what the big deal is about.

I have very little confidence in MSFT's ability to design a decent user interface. They basically ripped off Apple and haven't done anything original since then. As a company, they have a dismissive attitude (on the whole) towards basic usability and good design. I'm not saying that it CAN'T happen, but I don't see the built-in, ground-up dedication to making things easier to use that I *do* see from (for example) Google.

I smell another Microsoft Bob in the offing... :7

[charlie]

16. I'm much more worried about DRM

and the vile Trusted Computing Initiative. That sounds more like the Microsoft I know and loathe.

[crispini]

18. I can't believe that TiVo has voluntarily implemented

that flag they're talking about, voluntarily. Makes building your own DVR sound kind of good.

[Pobeka]

19. Ding ding. A winner.

The Trusted Computing Initiative has the potential to require hardware to only run trusted software.

[banjosareunderrated]

21. And Apple ripped off Xerox.

Apple's people visited Xerox for 3 days and escaped with a company. They called it Lisa.

Don't let Jobs job you. They're all thieves. The one smart thing MS did is allowing their software to follow upgrade paths in hardware. At least MS allows the user to choose many different hardware solutions.

Now, Jobs announces that Apple will use Intel chips. The fact that AMD is outperforming Intel in every way except SSE3 and DDR2 is indicative of Apple's continued mis-management. Although the enthusiast market that AMD has already grasped is small, the fact is that computer users are getting smarter every day. And that means bad news to Intel. Not to mention OSX can already be run on certain AMD chips.

The new AMD chips support SSE3 anyway and rumour has it they're going to skip the DDR2 stuff and go right to DDR3. Intel still has the majority share of the market but if they continue to be so far behind, that will change.

Apple hitched a ride with the wrong star, imho.

[banjosareunderrated]

20. MS is done. Google will be taking over with network-booting.

The money they had before the IPO, the money they made after, the money they're going to make in the next offering--they're already getting into wi-fi. They'll have the money to offer broadband to municipals at dirt-cheap prices in the next 10-15 years. Soon, the OS as we know it will be gone and we'll all boot to the net. Compliments of google.

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