The post that wouldnt die.
Oh I know it does. I've already been in a Mac store and loaded it up on a 1.25Ghz PowerMac under VPC to see how it runs. Obviously not as fast as on the PC but its acceptable. Its a given I would rather have native software on the Mac esp when dealing with GPS so for the time being, or more accurately when I get a Mac, I'm going to be stuck with VPN for use with MapPoint. *sighs*
*takes a deep breath*
As for Longhorn. Its a mixed bag. Everyone needs to keep in mind that, that eye candy as you call it was intended to keep the user preoccupied for the next 2 years. Sort of how you might give a dog a toy while you take him to the vet to be put to sleep. Poor dumb Windows bastards
I'm NOT going to discount Longhorn. Its still WAY too early. Any builds put out at this point is so far from final release its not even worth looking at. They could easily redesign the entire GUI by the time 2005 rolls around. At most its a blueprint of what is going to be released in 2005 not the final form.
Also as I've mentioned in other threads Longhorn is supposedly being written literally from the ground up. Whether or not MS makes a concerted effort to secure the OS remains to be seen but we already know that they do have the ability to make a stable OS, I point you at Windows 2000 as an example. What Microsoft IS doing to make Longhorn more stable is requiring drivers that pass an MS integrity check. Supposedly all drivers NEED to be signed in Longhorn. In 2K and XP this was optional. This no longer will be the case. Ive found that at least, rough guess ballpark here, 60%-80% of the crashes Ive eXPerienced in 2K and XP are related to hardware. By requiring hardware manufacturers to meet a certain specs it somewhat insures that any instability in Windows wont come from driver issues.
Then you get into software compatibility. This is where things get rather nasty for MS. The reason theyve never strayed far from the 9x or NT cores is because of software compatibility. Again as Ive mentioned in other threads MS has intentionally left vulnerabilities in Windows to allow certain functionality. (Security through obscurity.) This came to light during the MS anti-trust hearings when the states asked for the source code for Windows.
Does anyone here truly think MS purchased VPC because they just wanted to kill off Apple? Ive talked to several MS employees and there is high speculation that the 9x and NT (Maybe even DOS!!!) environments are going to be emulated in a sandboxed VPC sessions on Longhorn allowing full backwards compatibility. (Why do you think the release date for Longhorn was pushed back? Im betting they realized there was no surefire method of allowing backwards software compatibility while securing the system. So along comes VPC. Again pure speculation on my part but Im willing to bet the main reason was to use it on its server software to allow virtual servers to run but Im also quite certain soon after a light bulb went on over at MS that the same could be done to Longhorn. Yep you are probably thinking the same thing as me. Its a band-aid patch for the massive blunders MS made in the past with security but honestly it could work. That brings us to security in longhorn. As I mentioned longhorn is supposedly being rewritten from the ground up but MS has this nasty habit of recycling code. Why do you think the RPC hole exists in NT, 2K, XP, and 2003? Say it with me. Code recycling.
If Microsoft does this in Longhorn all bets are off on security. If not and they make a real, true effort to secure the system, *shrugs* who knows.
Also you have Palladium. Or as MS has renamed it: next-generation secure computing base (Because if you make it a long phrase that sounds high tech its going to make everyone love it. ) This **** gives me a headache. I honestly dont know what to make of it other then it scares the crap out of me. Ive heard so many rumors about it and Longhorn that I truly dont know what is going to happen. Heres what Ive heard:
1. That Longhorn is going to have the option of enabling it on install of the OS but by default its off.
2. There will be two flavors of Windows. One with it integrated and locked down by default and one that doesnt have it at all.
3. That there will be certain levels of Palladium that can be enabled on Longhorn.
4. That you will have no option but to use Palladium and Palladium compatible hardware.
Take your pick. It could be any or it might be something else altogether.
MS has never, AFAICR, pushed a project back by years. They know that this is going to hurt their bottom line badly. But they also know the massive security embarrassments that have been literally making front-page news is hurting them as well. So they really are stuck between a rock and a hard place. All I can do at this point is laugh my butt off. They made their bed and now..well you know the rest. Microsoft put themselves in this situation and they should feel a bit of pain over it. (God knows the rest of us have.) The question is are they feeling enough of that pain to do something about it? Microsoft has always been paranoid about their market share and anyone who might invade their turf. The funny thing is that Microsofts own worst enemy at this point IS Microsoft. I think they may be starting to realize this and may make appropriate changes however, that is only part of Microsofts problem.
The other half of the equation is their continuing, downright bizarre, arrogance in the face of growing competition. Admittedly small competition at this point, neither Linux nor OS X is going anywhere for a while but it is growing. Their arrogance has always been there but I really dont think it took off until Windows 2000 came out. There was a distinct change in their attitude. They knew they had something solid and reliable and acted like cock of the walk. Soon after you had new initiatives like .NET, playing around with what browser can access MS owned websites, product activation in XP, stricter business grade licensing, etc, etc, etc. When 2K came out I was so gung ho over it, it was pretty pathetic. I thought MS finally was cleaning up their act. Then the arrogance took over and my love hate relationship with that company started. At this point there isnt any love left. I hate Microsoft and with the exception of a few applications such as Eacarta DVD, and MapPoint (FYI-All of which were acquired.) MS can take their attitude and stuff it up Billy Boys rump.
I do believe that Longhorn has potential. A lot actually. But there are a series of things that need to happen with the software and with Microsoft to have it fly. Otherwise MS is going to have a half-dud on its hands. I say haft because a majority of its sales comes from preinstalled OEM versions. You order a Dell its not like you can get OS X or Linux installed on it.
Sorry. I turned my 1 paragraph comment into a book again.
Oh I know it does. I've already been in a Mac store and loaded it up on a 1.25Ghz PowerMac under VPC to see how it runs. Obviously not as fast as on the PC but its acceptable. Its a given I would rather have native software on the Mac esp when dealing with GPS so for the time being, or more accurately when I get a Mac, I'm going to be stuck with VPN for use with MapPoint. *sighs*
*takes a deep breath*
As for Longhorn. Its a mixed bag. Everyone needs to keep in mind that, that eye candy as you call it was intended to keep the user preoccupied for the next 2 years. Sort of how you might give a dog a toy while you take him to the vet to be put to sleep. Poor dumb Windows bastards
I'm NOT going to discount Longhorn. Its still WAY too early. Any builds put out at this point is so far from final release its not even worth looking at. They could easily redesign the entire GUI by the time 2005 rolls around. At most its a blueprint of what is going to be released in 2005 not the final form.
Also as I've mentioned in other threads Longhorn is supposedly being written literally from the ground up. Whether or not MS makes a concerted effort to secure the OS remains to be seen but we already know that they do have the ability to make a stable OS, I point you at Windows 2000 as an example. What Microsoft IS doing to make Longhorn more stable is requiring drivers that pass an MS integrity check. Supposedly all drivers NEED to be signed in Longhorn. In 2K and XP this was optional. This no longer will be the case. Ive found that at least, rough guess ballpark here, 60%-80% of the crashes Ive eXPerienced
in 2K and XP are related to hardware. By requiring hardware manufacturers to meet a certain specs it somewhat insures that any instability in Windows wont come from driver issues.Then you get into software compatibility. This is where things get rather nasty for MS. The reason theyve never strayed far from the 9x or NT cores is because of software compatibility. Again as Ive mentioned in other threads MS has intentionally left vulnerabilities in Windows to allow certain functionality. (Security through obscurity.) This came to light during the MS anti-trust hearings when the states asked for the source code for Windows.
Does anyone here truly think MS purchased VPC because they just wanted to kill off Apple? Ive talked to several MS employees and there is high speculation that the 9x and NT (Maybe even DOS!!!) environments are going to be emulated in a sandboxed VPC sessions on Longhorn allowing full backwards compatibility. (Why do you think the release date for Longhorn was pushed back? Im betting they realized there was no surefire method of allowing backwards software compatibility while securing the system. So along comes VPC. Again pure speculation on my part but Im willing to bet the main reason was to use it on its server software to allow virtual servers to run but Im also quite certain soon after a light bulb went on over at MS that the same could be done to Longhorn. Yep you are probably thinking the same thing as me. Its a band-aid patch for the massive blunders MS made in the past with security but honestly it could work. That brings us to security in longhorn. As I mentioned longhorn is supposedly being rewritten from the ground up but MS has this nasty habit of recycling code. Why do you think the RPC hole exists in NT, 2K, XP, and 2003? Say it with me. Code recycling.
If Microsoft does this in Longhorn all bets are off on security. If not and they make a real, true effort to secure the system, *shrugs* who knows.
Also you have Palladium. Or as MS has renamed it: next-generation secure computing base (Because if you make it a long phrase that sounds high tech its going to make everyone love it.
) This **** gives me a headache. I honestly dont know what to make of it other then it scares the crap out of me. Ive heard so many rumors about it and Longhorn that I truly dont know what is going to happen. Heres what Ive heard:1. That Longhorn is going to have the option of enabling it on install of the OS but by default its off.
2. There will be two flavors of Windows. One with it integrated and locked down by default and one that doesnt have it at all.
3. That there will be certain levels of Palladium that can be enabled on Longhorn.
4. That you will have no option but to use Palladium and Palladium compatible hardware.
Take your pick. It could be any or it might be something else altogether.
MS has never, AFAICR, pushed a project back by years. They know that this is going to hurt their bottom line badly. But they also know the massive security embarrassments that have been literally making front-page news is hurting them as well. So they really are stuck between a rock and a hard place. All I can do at this point is laugh my butt off. They made their bed and now..well you know the rest. Microsoft put themselves in this situation and they should feel a bit of pain over it. (God knows the rest of us have.) The question is are they feeling enough of that pain to do something about it? Microsoft has always been paranoid about their market share and anyone who might invade their turf. The funny thing is that Microsofts own worst enemy at this point IS Microsoft. I think they may be starting to realize this and may make appropriate changes however, that is only part of Microsofts problem.
The other half of the equation is their continuing, downright bizarre, arrogance in the face of growing competition. Admittedly small competition at this point, neither Linux nor OS X is going anywhere for a while but it is growing. Their arrogance has always been there but I really dont think it took off until Windows 2000 came out. There was a distinct change in their attitude. They knew they had something solid and reliable and acted like cock of the walk. Soon after you had new initiatives like .NET, playing around with what browser can access MS owned websites, product activation in XP, stricter business grade licensing, etc, etc, etc. When 2K came out I was so gung ho over it, it was pretty pathetic. I thought MS finally was cleaning up their act. Then the arrogance took over and my love hate relationship with that company started. At this point there isnt any love left. I hate Microsoft and with the exception of a few applications such as Eacarta DVD, and MapPoint (FYI-All of which were acquired.) MS can take their attitude and stuff it up Billy Boys rump.
I do believe that Longhorn has potential. A lot actually. But there are a series of things that need to happen with the software and with Microsoft to have it fly. Otherwise MS is going to have a half-dud on its hands. I say haft because a majority of its sales comes from preinstalled OEM versions. You order a Dell its not like you can get OS X or Linux installed on it.
Sorry. I turned my 1 paragraph comment into a book again.
