Does the OS matter anymore?

[MacBytes]

http://www.macbytes.com/images/bytessig.gif (http://www.macbytes.com)

Category: Opinion/Interviews
Link: Does the OS matter anymore? (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20050620090439)

Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)
Approved by Mudbug

[mad jew]

Interesting. I wonder what this XML thing will do to Office. Does it mean Apple'll be able to create an alternative that uses the same formats without any licensing issues?

[michaelrjohnson]

I feel the opposite of the article's author. In terms of having a computer or not, it makes little difference (as the article states). But I would argue that the OS is the *only* thing that matters anymore, and not just because of the Apple-Intel agreement. It makes little difference what piece of hardware your OS runs on, when it comes down to it, most see the OS as "our computer". It shows files, runs programs, etc. All the same basic functionality.

The choices come in *how* you want to get those tasks done, and that's how you choose your OS.

[Photorun]

Is this a trick question?

[michaelrjohnson]

Is this a trick question?

LOL :D

[iMeowbot]

Interesting. I wonder what this XML thing will do to Office. Does it mean Apple'll be able to create an alternative that uses the same formats
Yep.
without any licensing issues?
Don't bet on it. Microsoft are talking about "non-discriminatory" licensing and "royalty free" end use, but they are also talking about charging unspecified fees to those wishing to write software that implements the formats.

[wrldwzrd89]

Yep.

Don't bet on it. Microsoft are talking about "non-discriminatory" licensing and "royalty free" end use, but they are also talking about charging unspecified fees to those wishing to write software that implements the formats.
Microsoft is doing what Apple tried to do with Keynote and Pages (using XML-based formats (actually, gzipped XML) but not documenting or licensing them freely), right?

[iMeowbot]

Microsoft is doing what Apple tried to do with Keynote and Pages (using XML-based formats (actually, gzipped XML) but not documenting or licensing them freely), right?
The formats are documented and licensed, but not for free. XML already exists in Office 2003 as an option and a licensing program is already in place. The change with the next version will be to make XML the default format.

link (http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/xmloffice/default.aspx) (technical), link (http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/format/xmlpatentlicense.asp) (licensing -- "enabling technologies" is the gotcha)

[SiliconAddict]

That depends.... Does one's brain matter anymore? :rolleyes:

[shamino]

The OS matters to applications in the same way that air and water matter to human beings.

If your OS is good, you will take it for granted. If it is bad, everything else will go bad and you'll be miserable.

[2GMario]

the os matters 100% in all situations

a: its usually the OS that has a problem, althow programs crash all the time, its the os that usually handles memory, hd access, etc...

u dont see many programs other than the os (which is a program in itself) that are written in assembly other than ur heavy graphics programs / games, or 3d / scientific programs

most programs people use ie: office, mail, browser, etc... probably have <150 combined lines of assembly, if that

if in regards to a web based application (sugarcrm, salesforce, etc...) the OS is still important, not so much so, but at the very least to maintain the tcpip / http connection, keep the web browser running, etc...

i dont think the os will ever be replaced by 100% web based apps, but i do think there are situations for it. salesforce is 1 example, huge crm system, accessible from ur home, office, europe, etc...

i write a web based app and my biggest concern is how will IE screw with my firefox optimized script.

or did i read the article and take it totally the wrong way

-Mario

[nagromme]

The article's using the question "Does the OS matter?" in a different way than we do, that's all.

What the article means by the question is, "Does WINDOWS matter anymore?" They're directing the question toward the majority to whom Windows IS the only OS choice they think about.

So when the article says that the OS doesn't matter, that's pro-Apple (in that it means it's OK to give up Windows). And the article warns about the ways the OS does matter, that means you should think twice about giving up Windows.

So when we Mac fans talk about the OS mattering, we mean that OS X is great and no other can substitute (no argument there). But THIS article talks about the OS mattering in the opposite sense: in terms of Windows being needed (or not) for compatibility.

[wdlove]

I don't think that the OS really matters to Windows users. They use whatever version that there company has.

[Cooknn]

If your OS is good, you will take it for granted. If it is bad, everything else will go bad and you'll be miserable.Agreed. Not really apples to apples here, but do you think anyone cares what OS is running on their iPod? Who's to say that Apple won't come up with some other consumer device that is all the rage - for whatever reason - and it's really just a redesigned Mac running OS X. It could even be the Mac mini as it takes the same path as the iPod. I'm thinking living room here ;)

[macnulty]

What is meant by "most applications offer a browser based interface"?

[shamino]

u dont see many programs other than the os (which is a program in itself) that are written in assembly other than ur heavy graphics programs / games, or 3d / scientific programs
Most OS code these days isn't written in assembly either.

Go download the Linux (or Darwin) kernel sources if you don't believe me.

Only those parts that absolutely have to be in assembly language actually are these days. For everything else, the maintainability of using C (or other languages, although C is the most popular) far outweighs the performance benefit of hand-tweaked assembly code.
most programs people use ie: office, mail, browser, etc... probably have <150 combined lines of assembly, if that
Most applications have none. Only things that have timing-critical elements, like games or audio/video plugins are likely to use any assembly language. As more and more of this kind of code is pushed into the OS (e.g. CoreImage and DirectX), you find less and less assembly language in applications.