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Successor to Windows?

runplaysleeprun

runplaysleeprun

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 27, 2004
845
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Chicago, IL
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080729/tc_pcworld/149122
Microsoft Prepares for End of Windows With Midori
Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
Tue Jul 29, 7:30 PM ET
With the Internet increasingly taking on the role of the PC operating system and the growing prevalence of virtualization technologies, there will be a day when the Microsoft Windows client OS as it's been developed for the past 20-odd years becomes obsolete.

Microsoft seems to be preparing for that day with an incubation project code-named Midori, which seeks to create a componentized, non-Windows OS that will take advantage of technologies not available when Windows first was conceived, according to published reports.

Although Microsoft won't comment publicly on what Midori is, the company has confirmed that it exists. Several reports-- the most comprehensive to date published on Tuesday by Software Development Times-- have gone much further than that.

That report paints Midori as an Internet-centric OS, based on the idea of connected systems, that largely eliminates the dependencies between local applications and the hardware they run on that exist with a typical OS today.

The report claims Midori is an offshoot of Microsoft Research's Singularity OS, which creates "software-isolated processes" to reduce the dependencies between individual applications, and between the applications and the OS itself.

With the ability today to run an OS, applications-- and even an entire PC desktop of applications-- in a virtual container using a hypervisor, the need to have the OS and applications installed natively on a PC is becoming less and less, said Brian Madden, an independent technology analyst.

"Why do you need it?" he said. "Now we have hypervisors everywhere."

Madden suggested that a future OS could actually be a hypervisor itself, with virtual containers of applications running on top of it that can be transferred easily to other devices because they don't have client-side dependencies to each other.

And while he has no information about Midori beyond the published reports, he said descriptions of it as an Internet-centric system that provides an overall "connectedness" between applications and devices makes sense for the future of cloud computing and on-demand services. Microsoft likely recognizes the need for this even if the actual technology is still five or more years out, Madden said.

"They're preparing for the day when people realize we don't need Windows anymore" and thinking about what they will do to remain relevant, he said.

Indeed, Microsoft has been emphasizing its virtualization strategy, based on its new Hyper-V hypervisor, beyond merely virtualizing the server OS. The company also is moving full steam ahead with plans to virtualize applications and the desktop OS as well.

Using virtualization in these scenarios would eliminate the problems with application compatibility that are still giving headaches to Vista users, and that have made the OS a liability rather than a boon for some Windows power users and enterprise customers.

If Midori is close to what people think it is, it will represent a "major paradigm shift" for Windows users and be no easy task for Microsoft to pull off, said Andrew Brust, chief of new technology for the consulting firm Twentysix New York.

He said challenges to an OS like Midori would be both technological complexities and the "sobering compromises" that must be made when a product moves from being a research project into commercialization. "I would expect those in abundance with something of this scope and import," Brust said.

Though he has not been briefed by Microsoft on Midori, Brust said the idea makes sense because Microsoft needs to drastically update Windows to stay current with new business models and computing paradigms that exist today-- particularly to help the company compete against Google on the Web.

"Breaking with the legacy of a product that first shipped 23 years ago seems wholly necessary in terms of keeping the product manageable and in sync with computing's state of the art," Brust said. "If Midori isn't real, then I imagine something of this nature still must be in the works. It's absolutely as necessary, if not more so, to Microsoft's survival as their initiatives around Internet advertising, search and cloud computing offerings."
Click to expand...

also a blurb at engadget
 
Good to see Microsoft trying something new. I'm interested to see how this all turns out.

Thanks for the read.
 
Supplement Yes, Replacement No

Though cloud computing will likely become used by a lot of people. I can not see the internet making local applications, data storage and operating systems obsolete.

The internet is not available in 100% of locations and will not be for a very long time, even satellite coverage would be insufficient for heavily shielded locations. Plus many people would not like to depend on an internet connection for accessing there files nor keeping everything stored in such a public location.

What if one of these cloud companies had to give over all data to another company or the government. Like Google having to give Youtube logs to Viacom.

If the local system is ended I would only use old legacy non-cloud computers for my files and use a hand held for e-mail and navigation.

Personally I think cloud computing will be a supplement to today's computing rather than a replacement. I can see people storing photos and other info they want available anywhere. But very personal information like banking, medical or personal activities I think not.
 
velocityg4 said:
Personally I think cloud computing will be a supplement to today's computing rather than a replacement. I can see people storing photos and other info they want available anywhere. But very personal information like banking, medical or personal activities I think not.
Click to expand...

I agree, and things like Photos are more "irreplaceable" so the backup is important.
 
soberbrain said:
Good to see Microsoft trying something new. I'm interested to see how this all turns out.

Thanks for the read.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. I'm interested too.

Midori does look like it's the future.

I also wonder what Apple will do in response.

velocityg4 said:
Though cloud computing will likely become used by a lot of people. I can not see the internet making local applications, data storage and operating systems obsolete.
Click to expand...
I only see clouds being an addition to working physical devices. I don't see physical devices simply being windows into a cloud; they're part of it.
 
Competition is always a good thing, and I'm happy to see how it all plays out in the future. Whether or not we're destined to be online 24/7 remains to be seen, but I think local computing will hang on for a long time.
 
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