Slashdot Mirror
The Ideas Behind Longhorn
An anonymous reader writes: "Fortune magazine is carrying an interesting article on the new and improved Bill Gates, as well as some details on Longhorn: 'Because Gates' geeks are completely overhauling the operating system, they'll also have to redesign most of the company's other software products and services to take full advantage, including the MSN online service, its server applications, and especially Microsoft Office, the productivity suite that accounts for nearly a third of the company's sales and profits. If this enormous undertaking succeeds, it will make computers more personal than ever. Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier.'"
Wow, I can't believe how far we've come. Are there any plans to put these kind of features into Linux? I would love bash to know that I usually start the day with "pine; cd pron; ee *" and anticipate it for me.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Is that it won't play nice with samba anymore, office won't be compatible with openoffice anymore, linux and *bsd won't be able to read the filesystem anymore, wine will not be able to run MS applications anymore, and you are not compatible with privacy anymore.
...discussion about this on the Register.
--Kylus
Idiot-proof something, and Life will build a better Idiot.
My Linux box already does that.
Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier.
Weren't we just talking about that
?
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Why would you want to store all this info. Its only for the advertisers advantage.
As I am sure many people will post, do we really want the computer tracking everything we do and everyone we talk to? I am happy that Microsoft is aiming towards better security, but is this new method just leading towards more exploits? Also, one might wonder about compatibility issues if they are talking about redesigning all of their software in order to be more secure.
your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier
...to sell to spammers and identity thieves. Thanks, Microsoft!
--saint
"Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours-- making all those things easier.'"
yes, so microsoft can help themselves, other corps and the federal government keep track of what you have on your computer!
Slashdot Hypocrisy at work?
Pre-announcing a product and starting the hype five years before it's expected to be released...
Doesnt this just sound like an easy way for microsoft to collect information on your personal behaviours?
Sounds like an extreme invasion of privacy, and an easy way for microsoft to determine who would fit which ad the best!
Thank god for *BSD.
I haven't failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work -Thomas Edison
Its not only the phone-home capability of this software that's scary, its also the ability of any l337 h@x0r to compromise your system and discover scary shit about you.
And wait till the G starts to ask for records of what you have been up to on your computer.
George Orwell warned us about this
Live today. Tomorrow will cost a lot more!
BillyG is a Genius
Just My Opinion
This is a unifying technology! It will be fully endorsed by the SPA, RIAA, MPAA, FBI,
I would suspect that the Open-Source troops can beat 2005 for something similiar...
I am also curious that the article didn't seem bothered that MS broke the law to get to its current dominance.... and of course I couldn't really resist this:
"In 27 years he [B.G] claims he has never called in sick or missed work. Not even once."Certainly now its proven by science: THERE IS NO REST FOR THE WICKED!
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -Tom Waits
It still doesn't make french fries three different ways.
"Bill isn't afraid of taking long-term chances. He also understands that you have to try everything, because the real secret to innovation is failing fast."
-- RTFM:Slackware::Beer:Saturday
This "personal" stuff is just fluff for the real initiative - DRM chips in the HW. Read this article and see for yourselves Infoworld.com .
Sound waves should be free!
go away
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Yeah, often not for the better, either, but that's always implied, just like this little beauty was only driven by a little old lady on Sundays. But indirectly, due to my lost patience with the company, I will spend more time with Linux and Open Source, and for the great strides their ridiculous attitudes and poor quality have encouraged in the aforementioned, I do thank them.
The Hook -->> making all those things easier.' (It'll make it easier if it would just not crash and diagnostics agreed with what the system is actually doing, or not doing)
At 135 mph around Sears Point Raceway (soon to be renamed (ugh) Infineon raceway.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi. (Larry Wall)
we're a pretty damned big cult. stop bothering us.
Stop the brainwash
The company I work for requires us to get recertified on this crap. Training runs around $5,000. I should have just paid off my 2000 training when longhorn comes out.
Yea... IT SUCKS.
If the open source community has nothing like it, then lets point out all the flaws to make ourselves not feel so jealous.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
oh no! we failed again...
Hey brain, what do you want to do tomorrow?
Same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world!
Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours...
Your Visa Card Number, your politically incorrect jokes, your passwords, the contents of your bank account, your pr0n tastes and preferences...
Big Brother is Big Brother.
Zoober
Are they going to store this info on Microsoft servers? I wonder if Microsoft is going to require that you be always connected to a Microsoft server, using content approved by them and any friends they have in Hollywood.
Uh, if "those things" refer to getting the work done, I already have that down pat - once you're over the learning curve, it's done. Vi is vi is vi (unless it's vivivi - the editor of the beast!).
However, it sounds as if "those things" actually refers to something else, namely the ability for some other entity to complete erode my privacy, have unprecidented access to my system (it is mine, like it or not), and leaving me open to unheard of security issues.
Thank you, but I prefer that *I* keep track of how I work, who I talk to, what I look at, how I make *my* documents, and with whom *I* share them. It's not up to the system to decide which data belongs to me since to do so it must analyze my things. To insinuate oneself either personally, or impersonally through the operating system would be simply rude.
You wouldn't tolerate your officemate or the person in the next apartment or even Richard Stallman rifleing through your desk/sock/nightstand drawers. Why should you tolerate it from Microsoft (or Apple, or Sun, or RedHat)?
Does anybody who has a real choice, choose Windows(tm)?
I mean, surely 99% if not 100% of the people who are not using either Linux(tm), BSD(tm), or any other foobar-os, where foobar-os != Windows(tm), are using Windows(tm), because they need to use an application which only runs on Windows(tm).
In my opinion, it's just like saying, "I've got an 8-track tape player", somebody else saying "Why?", and me saying, "Because I want to listen to 8-track tapes".
In my opinion, completely changing Windows(tm), would remove the one reason why a lot of people buy it.
....GeeeeZZZZe...Just what the world needs- a phallic operating system...
Rien n'est plus beau que le creux du 0.
WHile I certainly appreciate the obvious utility of this. After all, don't we really want the computer to do all sorts of meaningless mundane crap. The potential for abuse is amazing.
Tailoring the pop up ads you are constantly annoyed with to your browsing tastes? Watching what you listen to. What games do you play etc. The return of "clippy" except in a new ub3r mode? ARGH!
Let alone what will happen when people crack it.
dewke
Oderint dum metuant
"Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier."
And that's supposed to be a good thing?!
I remember reading a memo from BG a while back, speaking about 'Trustworthy Computing'. Bill told everyone @ microsoft that the focus should not be on great user-friendly features, but on a trustworthy safe and reliable system.
The info about longhorn here once more speaks about features features and still some more features. The more user-friendly an OS is, the less the user (or administrator!) is going to care about securing his/her box. If the install is easy, flashy, and fully automated, the admin will be lured into a false sense of safety.
Flashy features and lots of wizards might turn on this OS like it did on its predecessors.
We get mad when any other company decides (for us) that our privacy is second to their ability and desire to take our money. How would you like an e-mail saying "Please send us a weeks wages so we can protect you from those strange letters some company has been sending your wife about the sites you may or may not have visited."
must have been paid well to write such bullshit, or maybe just one of those people "Duh! What is a computer?" kinda person. This article presents Bill as the savior of the world.
his new Bill is ... well, let him speak for himself, as he did in his office one day in June: "I've always liked multitasking (...)
Billy, Billy... you deserve a +1 funny there, but we all know that is not true :)
Engage!
http://www.3dwm.org/ (LGPL)
http://www.berlin-consortium.org/ (GPL)
There are a few more but their development speed is so-far not that impressive.
But with at least 5 years until Longhorn's release, I think we can count on the world changing so radically in the meantime that Longhorn and Palladium become completely irrelevant. Look at Microsoft Bob, their last "big-bang" approach to engineering a network computer architecture, and how the WWW made it completely irrelevant.
Certainly, the anti-M$ feeling here on slashdot is perhaps a little more energetic than is really necessary. But Microsoft didn't play fair and not only that but they are is such a position but they don't need to care that they did.
We are enthusiastic about speaking against the dreaded Blue-Screen-Of-Death, but with good reason. Take it with grain of salt. Absolutely, but remember just because they aren't really that bad doesn't mean that they are not wrong.
If M$ proves that it changed its ways to slashdotters, than and only then will I believe them
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -Tom Waits
that is if it is done right. This could get rid of a lot of the bloat that comes from making a product and slapping an addon here, and then there.....
Great Linux Site
your PC will keep track of how you work
...whom you talk to ...what sites you look at ...how you make documents and whom you share them with ...which data on the network are yours
"An issue has been found where a malicious hacker can execute VBScript code through our new IE7 parser with the special command:
Dim MyArray As String(100000)
This will cause the array to grow into our Longhorn WorkTrack System, where the hacker might access its address space and see what the user does."
Feel free to make up consequences of security holes in these systems:
-
-
-
-
It doesn't take much imagination, so anyone should be able to do it.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Well, that concerns me...its going to be pretty easy for hackers to can your information and be able to emulate a users behavior so that it would be pretty hard to track and defend oneself.
that federal agencies, governments will all have pretty nice access and complete detail on your personal behaviour, your complete life lies open infron of them in a digitally processable format....
have fun and be sure to backup your data so that fbi can come and collect it from your boxes....
.a$p komandeer tahoe/va lairy et al come closer & closer to being absorbed/indicted into the ill eagle borg's phony payper hanging machine, you will see more&more free ads for the gangsterious kingdumb's infactdead vapourware liesense scams. stay tuned.
Forgive me for being cynical, but considering Microsoft's previous histroy when reusing their past code, I'll believe it when I see it.
To quote Cormac McCarthy's Cities of the Plain "Hay parches sobre los parches" (There are patches on top of patches)
Craig Mundie: "It's like he's [Bill's] a pipe, and all kinds of stuff goes in at this end and a continuous output of optimized strategy comes out the other end."
:-)
Is it just me or does this explain an awful lot about the quality of MS products? Methinks he misspelt "crap" as "strategy".
Run screaming from the computer!
Or just don't take the fskcing "upgrade" path anymore
How is marketing-speak about a OS that is to be launched 4 year from now by a company that is famous for its vaporware, empty promises and slipping launch dates for buggy software "News that matters"?
Good form. All of your arguments are transparent enough to need little rebuttal, but I would add one thing:
Do you think trying to reverse-engineer MS's encrypted DRM-able filesystem will be branded as "interoperability" or "a federal crime" under the DMCA?
-Dave
We're on the road to Tycho.
It's been brought up before that the war on drugs might very well be funded by the drug lords so that the competition will always be non existant. If pot was legalized, they would be out of a job.
Now, what if the war on microsoft is actually funded by microsoft? If MS were to pay both sides to fight this out, but continue forever, MS would look like it's under constant stress from the DOJ and others that people begin to feel sorry for them.
It also explains why the judge seems to forgive Microsoft for their constant bullshitting in court, the way it presents itself, etc...
Just a thought...
back to pr0n.
where Microsoft (or M$, MicroShaft, Microsucks or whatever you kiddies want to call them) is ridiculed and made to be Satan incarnate? Look at the damn Microsoft topic icon on slashdot! MS as the Borg! har har.
/.
Someone modded this up as "insightful"? I don't think it takes much insight to realize that M$ "is ridiculed and made to be Satan incarnate" on
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Starting with the "Longhorn" release, Microsoft will unveil a new naming scheme to enhance the "Windows" brand name. No longer will versions numbers or years be tacked onto the Windows name, instead, Microsoft is shifting towards a more descriptive naming convention.
When Longhorn finally hits the shelves, it will come in 3 flavors, a 'personal' edition for home users, a 'corporate' edition for businesses and a government release.
Pricing has not been set but early speculation would indicate that licensing fees will be rolled into federal taxes to ensure everyone is paying for their license and not using a pirated copy.
"Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither!"
The name probably comes from Gates' patronizing view of pc-users - "it's like herding cattle".
Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier
I don't "making them easier" was the point you were aiming at here.
P.S. Did everyone get to download the OpenSSH patch?
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
I thought the whole idea of Longhorn was a really good steak.
Fillets With Flair!
It's going to be five (or more) years until the next major Windows upgrade? Well, that explains why they were pushing so hard to get corporate clients to sign up for subscription pricing for Windows. MS will be getting steady income for the next five years for minor point releases.
--Andy Hickmott
As if WinXP hasn't already driven me to the brink of insanity with its endless wizards. As if clippy wasn't already annoying enough, now he is gonna be taking steroids. As if my privacy wasn't already being invaded enough. As if Microsoft really needed more marketing data. As if Microsoft was trying really hard to make Windows resemble AOL's interface. As if developers really wanted to learn all new Microsoft APIs.(that never stabilize...) As if computers and their endless changing interfaces didn't annoy people to the point that they just don't try anymore. As if their software wasn't already proprietary enough. As if the rest of the world hadn't already wasted enough time trying to keep up with their ever-changing closed source APIs and protocols.
.NET. As if the world around MS, the endless dreamer on heroine, stopped and waited to see what MS would do next. As if I weren't waiting for them to file for chapter eleven protections in the near future...
As if people were really going to buy into this hook, line, and sinker. As if Longhorn really had a chance to be any more successful at making computers easier to use than any other attempt in history. As if this half-cocked idea will be any more successful than
Russian Russian Russian RussianDollSig DollSig DollSig DollSig
Notice on the first page how they put double-quotes around "industry standard" (read: "anti-competitive").
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
Gates will succeed, and Open Source fools will help him. All that hard work you put in on your projects will be stolen and the best stuff put into Longhorn. "Illegal" you say? In this country, legal is what you can pay for, especially in civil court. Our only hope is to put a Democrat back in the White House and keep him there for 8 years!
I remember the hoopla that surround the book "1984", when the actual year came around. Its nice to know that BillG has not forgotten the book after all these years. And now with this new initiative from Micro$oft and the chipmakers Intel and AMD, we can finally live out the promise of that story.
I know my first wish is to have Big Brother Gates and his M$ and BSA jack booted thugs knowing everything I do on my computer, not to mention any government agency that wishes it. I know I will be one of the first in line to put my rights in the shredder for a safer, cleaner, more wholesome society. It is nice to see the end of privacy finally arrive and we can finally get on to the business of business. Better late than never, as they say.
Hmmm. Where have I heard this before? Well, at least we can all hope by the time Longhorn is released, we'll have embedded Linux somewhere around our amygdala.
Its not only the phone-home capability of this software that's scary, its also the ability of any l337 h@x0r to compromise your system and discover scary shit about you.
Why? Isn't Microsoft a true warrior of data security? Don't they guard your data through the very best obscurity?
At first glance, looks like someone at M$ bought themselves a mouthpiece at Forbes. At second glance, there's a far more interesting lesson to be gleaned. Look at his management strategies -- he's obviously doing something right because he is *still* one of (if not the) richest men in the world. MS is still selling lots of software, in spite of antitrust cases and their so called lost profits from bootlegs. And while the quality is on average marginal, MS still has a lot of software the Open Source is *years* away from being able to compete with -- especially in terms of the cash cow applications like Office and SQLServer. I seriously doubt that the next Windows will break everything -- unless MS is planning on slitting their throats, they've got a substantial (although not nearly as substantial as they might have hoped) installed base of legacy users that are going to demand backward compatibility. Even if M$ is able to deliver on this vaporware, Open Source still has three years to beat M$ to the punchline -- especially if we're able to find the sort of leadership that M$ has.
"Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier.'"
Guarantees that I will never purchase or use this operating system on my computer and I will use every bit of my strength to ensure that none of my friends and relatives use it. This is a major invasion of privacy at the home level, first rooting of system and bam!
An optimist believes we live in the best world possible; a pessimist fears this is true.
I am really surprised that even after the company has been declared a monopoly and in violation of anti-trust laws, they have the nerve to come up with a design that would might probably make previous Windows versions incompatible and still integrate third-party features into the OS. It is almost as if they are Bill feels like he cannot be harmed, or he might may be he just threw more money to shutup the breucratic bastards in D.C. --- Down with the current ruling party. They suck
From the Fortune article:
"Last year Gates made $666,520 in salary and bonus"
Im wondering if there could be a bright side to spyware done by MS.
If their spyware gets to the stage where the data being send back is hogging up bandwidth, then perhaps it will help push bandwidth standards upward.. sort of like how their bloated OS do for puter speed.
An example of spyware bloat is a MS Word document.. if it gets edited back and forth between people, it starts growing really fat because it contains where it has been and who has been viewing and editing it.
... brought to you by the company that gave you Hotmail and Passport. Sign me up! Oh, and I'd like to make a down payment on that nice statue on Ellis Island.
rewind two years
This XP sounds like the answer to all our problems - a simple OS that helps me watch all that rich web content without all those old bugs in WindowsME. It's got a redesigned interface and makes working with a PC a safe and enjoyable XPerience - indeed I will be able to fly. Where do I sign up ?
rewind two years
This WindowsME sounds like tha answer to all our PC problems. It's got multimedia extensions built in and more user friendly software. Now I can handle all my media on the PC without fear of downloading any nasty software from the interweb. Where to I pay ?
rewind two years
This Windows98 really is the biz - it helps me handle all my PC jobs and lets me enjoy the interweb without any of that nasty netscape software. It can play media files and even games. Wow - where do I sign up ?
rewind two years
Oh yes - now this is cool Windows95 finally lets me enjoy the power of my 486. It's got a revolutionary new interface and even lets me enjoy the interweb. Where do I sign up ?
rewind two years
Holy smoke, this Windows3.1 really is the biz - I can use a mouse and just click the little pictures instead of having to touch the keyboard. Finally, I can use the PC with one hand.
fast forward to 2010
Wow - this new WindowsXXX really is the biz. I don't even have to type in my credit card details anymore - I can hire music instead of own it, and rent films instead of owning them - I don't have to lift a finger because all my data is held in the safe hands of MS. It even shows me the news when I turn it on - MSNBC really is a high class newsfeed. It tells me how nice those MS people are and how there are no bugs or security problems with Windows. One of my nasty friends tried using that Linux stuff last month, but we all just laughed at him - he's been taken away now for not supplying his social security details at the checkpoint. He was a communist and a theif. I love my happy world of the interweb - someone else has taken care of it all for me. All I have to do now is click a button to consume the lovely produce of our great society. Only terrorists would use anything else - why else would they want to keep their information secret ? I am finally free from all those confusing decisions.
'Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.' - George Gordon
There they are in court claiming it's beyond their means simply to come up with a modular version of Windows, and now here we see them about to rewrite the whole bloody thing.
In fact they'll probably get the court case(s) to drag on long enough for them to complete the project before any remedies are put in place, so that once it's released and everybody discovers that the built-in mind-sequestering technology is inseparable from the basic OS features it'll be too late and they'll be able to use the same argument.
From Page 2:
Last year Gates made $666,520 in salary
[insert joke about BG being evil here]
Synergy is your friend
Even the most die-hard /.ers have to admit...the guy is good. Good at what he does. He made Windows, and it wasn't luck. I don't know if his run is over, don't know whether Longhorn will succeed--but I wouldn't bet against it.
So "sometime after 2005" means, what, 2006 at the earliest? The big Software Assurance plan MS has been trying to force us into only provides upgrades for the first 3-1/2 years for client software, and four years for server software. But wait, this new version isn't coming out for at least 3-1/2 years, and that's just if all goes well. Like, if the XBox doesn't crash-and-burn, the courts decide that MS was right after all, virus writers get bored with Outlook, worm writers get bored with IIS, and there are no more terrorist attacks. Then, maybe Longhorn will be released just after this first software assurance period ends. Of course Service Pack 1 wouldn't come out for another five months (which addresses the "faulty product activation" vulnerability that refuses to authenticate your license on all versions), and by then MS will start calling them point releases, so we'll have to re-subscribe.
Yes, I know the plan covers other stuff like Office, but the other software tends to coincide with Windows releases (Win95 - Office for Win95, Win98 - Office97, WinME/2K - Office2K, WinXP - OfficeXP). I hope a lot of companies get pissed at MS for not releasing any new software during this first cycle of "Software Assurance."
I really hate signatures, but go to my website.
oh yeah, it is becasue MS has promised automation and simplification for years and have just come up with a pile of wizards and a disjointed interface.
True capitalism = lots of similar companies = jobs for everyone who wants one.
"it will make computers more personal than ever. Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours" --> and then tell M$ and anyone else with marketing money all of that info.
That was the biggest bunch of corporate ass kissing I have seen in a long time. The journalist comes off sounding like a little teenage girl talking about the boy band of the day rather than a reporter. Ugh, that was such crap I couldn't read much, especially after the claims the Bill Gates always knows and shapes the entire industry, and portraying the anti-trust case debauchery in a positive light... But then again Fortune is a publication dedicated to corporate ass-kissing, but this seems to go overboard even for them..
:)
Well, in any case, if Longhorn does do all this and do it successfully, it's good news for me. I mean, if so many people's personal information is made vulnerable in that way, then attacks against *my* personal information might go down. Kinda like Apache not getting as much attention because IIS is such a ripe target. That's not to say that Apache isn't more secure, but certainly the presence of IIS in the market draws dangerous attention from Apache
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I'm fine with my computer tracking what I do and working to anticipate my moves -- this kind of pattern matching is what computers are good for, and we're getting to the point that most of the time we've got the spare cycles lying around. But for any such system there better be two things about it:
Anyone care to lay odds on Microsoft giving me those two items?
As usual MS is trying to embed applications into the OS. There's absolutely no reason to mix web browsing, email, document tracking, etc. into an OS other than to try to extend their OS monopoly into applications. All this stuff can be accomplished with add-on application software. I see more anti-trust suits for them in the future.
Thank you for your generous offer of assistance. Sometimes, I do forget how I work, who I contact, which data is mine, and what sites I have visited. Many thanks for your help!
Gives AOL/Redhat/Netscape/Winamp/StarOffice 4 years to come up with a secure, free (or free with 1/2/3 year AOL subsciption) Linux solution that installs faster and easier than Windows and handles all NECESSARY functionality of Windows. You've got AOL for the internet services, Redhat for the OS/Admin tools, Netscape for the browser, Winamp 4 "could be" a MS Media Player killer if they wanted it to be, and Star Office 7 could be the MS Office killer.
Hell, I'd sign up for that.
Chris
1) The OS will keep detailed track of what you do.
2) The applications and files are lockable with DRM protections.
How long before the whole system is reporting to the Department of Security? And your system gets shutdown (DRM access controls) and agents dispatched to collect the system automatically when you do something funny, like look at source code or read slashdot?
What about XP? Before you can even think about
longhorn you have to get XP certified. Then you have
to get certified on 'whistler'.NET server.
Sounds like you are going to be busy.
Microsoft is quite a shepherd.
Let the fleecing begin.
That frightens me. Do you remember with the first version of Windows 95 what Microsoft done? Even the FBI had problem with this. When you where starting the MSN wizard connection, an image of all files and repertories where packed and sent silently to Microsoft.
Now with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at... Finally becoming an interesting db of all your personal information and behaviors. I know I sound paranoid, but you never know with them.
Of course, this "upgrade" will be ridiculously costly, and force users to buy new systems and new software.
Consider the latest Google zeitgeist. 46% of the visitors were still using Windows 98. People aren't upgrading like MS wants, they aren't buying new machines and a new $200 copy of Windows. They are using the system they bought a few years ago that still works. And they will continue to do so. Mind you, it's going to be a while before "Longhorn" is released, but what makes MS think people will start all over again when they wouldn't even shell out for XP and a new system?
There is a critical mass right now in the Windows world, with their latest offerings not giving much more functionality than their previous versions, but offering a larger price tag. If there was ever a time for Linux to catch up, this is it.
Actualy if they:
Remove the ten ton's of usless features and junk.
Cleaned up the API so it makes sense in spots.
Put an underlining system to monitor and protect the core from coruption.
And have it so you could start with a basic simple core and add on with out making too big of a mess.
This would litterly burn rubber even on a 800mhz system. Also it would keep the "Undocumented Features" down to a reasonable level.
Most of the people usualy use about 10% of the features in any given software package.
I fail to see what use this all is, aside from compromising your privacy. I mean how many people really want a operating system that'll change how it works everytime you do something differently? It'd drive youre average user nuts.
Anyone know of any old used Y2K bunkers that are up for sale?
Your Servant, B. Baggins
I really hope people will have their data managed, and they'll be checked, double-checked, controlled, sniffed, parsed, re-checked and managed again. I really hope The System will know who you have talked to, and when, and what you said. I really hope all the website someone checks will be saved.
:)
Then I want that everything blows up. I want every website, every file, every private information made public by a flaw in the system.
Since such a system is TOO complex not to have flaws (that's Chaos Theory, plain), even the smallest flaw could be exploited and will eventually crush the system.
And I want to see that.
Being a lawyer in that time will be like being a VC during the dot-com boom..
and the best part will be...? that microsoft windows 'longhorn' will be made illegal by the DMCA
have fun!
-- There are two kind of sysadmins: Paranoids and Losers. (adapted from D. Bach)
Didn't ReplayTV keep track of what we watched to "make our lives easier"?
Now, it's being used to spy on us. "More personal information" is something that we should have to remember. Would you tell some random guy on the street your SSN, so he could keep track of it for you? I don't think so. Closed source software is much like some random guy on the street, you never can know what it's gonna do with the info you give it.
-twb
"Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier."
I can do that all myself thank you very much, I don't need a machine to babysit me.
Have they given up on .NET allready ? Weren't we all going to have thin clients, connected to the big MS-server ? Why would we need an OS like longhorn ?
microsoft evil they are.
i guess the people who use 'old' windows products with have to downgrade their wallets if they want to 'take advantage' of a total 'rewrite' of windows 95 so that their actions can be totally tracked and used by ms for marketing and selling to marketing companies :)
Of course, if Mr. Gates would open the calendar portion of Exchange a little bit, other programs could access the calendar, maybe even between organizations. But that would require some kind of security. Maybe an Open-source calendar system would be better anyway. If Soccer Mom can't use Frontpage already, she shouldn't be allowed to make web pages at all. And do you really want little Tommy's appointment schedule on the Internet?? Um....can you say VPN and X-Windows/telnet?? I don't even understand this. I have downloaded books to my Palm, and I already use my computer to read Infoworld, Slashdot, et. al.
Come on Bill
You have to be trusted by the people you lie to -- Pink Floyd
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
"No sparrow falls, or even thinks about fallin, without him [bill gates] knowing about it." Um, how's this sparrow: windows XP sucks ASS on pentium III at 500mhz compared to MAC OSX on a G3 ? fucking hello?
"Other bands play, but Manowar KILLS"
I spent three frustrating hours yesterday just getting bullets to work properly in Word2000. The last bullets in the column would be larger for no reason. The were all the same character and they were all the same font size.
Now they claim they are going to alter the course of human history bla bla bla by rewriting their OS and Office to increase the personal experience??
They really should work on bullets!
You are offended by the MS icon? Read the article and see how Fortune gushes: Did you know that Mr. Gates takes singing lessons? Did you know that he has never missed a day of work in 27 years? I did not know that! = )
No, I will not participate in this Borgish cult because just because Fortune also beleives Mr. Gates to be visionary and well, amazing:
"I've always liked multitasking. But there are incredible limits to what I can do--like how much time there is in a day.."
Incredible is right. Incredible that Fortune prints this too.
It is my every day frustrations with things like bullets on Word that prove this wrong for me. Am I jealous or being childish? I don't think so. I think I'm being practical and realistic.
Sorry if that makes you unhappy.
-b
Yes, we've redesigned Microsoft Office! The product that we said would do all your things for you now, won't. Oh dear. You'll have to buy it again. Oh tough, we don't support Windows XP anymore you'll have to upgrade to Win 2010.
To both the PHBs who read slashdot - DONT DO IT!!!!
Baz
Isn't a Longhorn a large, dumb animal that consumes massive quantities of resources and turns most of them into shit?
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
Why do you people get so worked up over a press release? You do realize this article is just one big advertisment.
It was a rather good advert at that.
Someone modded this up as "insightful"? I don't think it takes much insight to realize that M$ "is ridiculed and made to be Satan incarnate" on /.
In addition the Microsoft apologist post you reply to ignores the singular fact that it only takes a few seconds of research to discover that Microsoft deserves the ridicule they get, and while they might not be Satan incarnate, they are certainly a Big Brother with aspirations to becomming Big Nannie, Big Daddy, perhaps even Big Goddy, with all of us beneath their Watchful Eye, joined perhaps by their pressing thumb.
Ob Microsoft's New Invasive Operating System: Everyone thought we'd lose our freedoms in the end because we were misled by some lofty, but misguided, (e.g. communism). Instead we're merely selling our freedoms and basic privacy to industry for a quarterly bit of profit on the one side (and defending it as innovation within the Holy Free Market(tm)) while begging the government to take those very same freedoms from us on the other so we can feel a trifle safer on the other side, despite knowing intellectually that this feeling of safety is illusary.
Think we'll even be capable of waking up after we've discovered there is no safety in a surveillance society, even after this quarter's earnings are spent and next quarter's remain as elusive as ever? Somehow I'm not so sure we will be.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
I agree wholeheartedly with you. I'm posting this as an AC because I don't want to loose karma again.
Slashdot regularly contains some gems, but you've got to withstand the jalousy regarding anything MS.
I keep wondering who these moderators are that mod you down for saying something pro-microsoft - even if it's obvious and true. I'm guessing just a bunch of kids.
Longhorn Colby s one of my favorite cheeses.
That is about as close as I hope to come to longhorn, to.
And since it is bound to be cheesey, is there a change we can get a trademark infringement case going here? Name dissolusion or something?
Mmmm, cheese. Now I am hungry.
...and all this new function will more than likely bog down the new 8 Ghz processors that the system will be built for.
Basil
One of the chief reasons they're developing Longhorn is to further integrate the operating system (and the applications that run on it) with their network services, MSN. You can see how they tested certain parts of this strategy in XP -- Windows Messenger, for example, or the streaming audio features in Media Player -- and they're going to continue the trend. This is where Windows is headed. It's going to be as much of a media outlet and a web portal as it will be an operating system.
This, in and of itself, is a wonderful idea. I always thought integrating the web browser with the desktop interface was a brilliant move, and I wish to God that Netscape had come up with a way to do it first. I have the same sort of feelings about Longhorn: it looks like it could be the next really big thing in the development of computing, but the fact that Microsoft is at the wheels makes me very nervous.
Microsoft is going to make it easier for 'a soccer mom to set up a simple website', for business users to 'arrange conference calls and online meetings', and so forth. The truth is, people can do all these things now -- but not through the operating system. They can only do it through a wide range of third-party vendors, which adds an extra level of complexity. But it's this level of complexity that allows for competition; once Windows allows you to automagically post web pages to MSN, where will Angelfire or Geocities go? When Windows lets you remotely control your PC without any technical know-how, what happens to PCanywhere? The list goes on, and as Microsoft tightens integration with MSN, a plethora of what used to be highly competitive industries will fall the same way Netscape did when IE became a bundled component.
This is the next step in Microsoft's strategy, and it's a very good strategy indeed. People are sick of having to install software, or browse the web, before they can do what they want to do. The average computer user wants to be able to do everything from one place, and Microsoft knows just what that place will be: your MSN-powered Longhorn desktop.
The saddest part is, I'll probably end up using it anyways.
Am I the only one who got a kick out of this quote?
"Bill's unique gift was always the way he does this complete and continuous synthesis. It's like he's a pipe, and all kinds of stuff goes in at this end and a continuous output of optimized strategy comes out the other end."
The metaphor just leads too all sorts of nifty stuff - potheads, pr0n, etc.
Its just too much...
unf.
What is wrong with this idea? It'll help me use my computer more effeciently. I'm willing to give up a little freedom(its only a computer) to make my life easier and safer. Bring it on!
"I'll give you the philosophy: Everything is just a document, whether it be music or video or e-mail or whatever. Each will have a name and a history, and every user will have his or her favorites."
Everything is just a file, eh? I mean, I'm a comparative newbie, but I thought under *nix that you could get most the information His Billness is proposing...
I didn't think the house band in Hell would play this badly.
Just a thought,
Doesn't this sound a bit like the spruce goose. Build the biggest greatest ever plane. Sure it flew but then what? It seems to me that an undertaking of this magnitude has the potential to become a money sucking vortex within MS.
Sure rewriting from scratch and redesigning the OS sounds great but in five years? Linux has taken 10 years to get to its current state. That includes havind 20 years of Unix development to learn from. I think 5 years is a dream. Especially if you are trying to rethink the whole thing and not build on the existing windows world.
There are a few outcomes from this plan.
1. MS develops the greates most user friendly OS and continues to dominate
2. Longhorn drags on for years and years and is eventually dropped. Collapsing under its own weight.
3. In order to release someting, Existing elements from the windows code base are integrated to make a ship date. Thus continuing the windows problems they would like to solve.
On another note: Does anyone else see the humor in BG going to the boss and saying that he wants to scrap it and rewrite from scratch? How many IT managers would accept that from the development staff? Would BG have accepted it prior to becoming "Chief Software Architect"?
Over and above the obvious concerns about privacy issues, it's looking to me that Microsoft may be cashing in eventhough you may not use their software. Think of it logically: MS talkes with Intel, AMD, etc to "enable" these features on their CPU and then leases the Longhorn code to them so they can produce the CPU. Intel et al in turn will charge a little extra for the "new and improved" CPU. Does anyone else see this or has my cold taken control of my brain?
What do you suppose Bill has in mind with these couple of statements?
...The file system should be more like e-mail archives, where you can search and sort by any of a number of criteria. And it's got to be snappy as heck.
I'll give you the philosophy: Everything is just a document, whether it be music or video or e-mail or whatever. Each will have a name and a history, and every user will have his or her favorites.
If we can get this nailed so that I can find my stuff no matter what device I'm using, I think Longhorn will become a real breakthrough. Everything beyond that is extra credit...
To me, he described putting the filesystem and the methods all of their new software will use to store data into a single, unified database. Hmmm, a single namespace for all types of documents and communications? A database filesystem? I think Bill just invented ReiserFS' vision...
Russian Russian Russian RussianDollSig DollSig DollSig DollSig
AHA!! The salary of the beast!
- sig? who is this sig of which you speak?
'Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier.'
When are you people going to realize that what you think is not what the majority of the average user thinks. For them this is good. If you don't like it, don't use it. At least they're trying to do something to fix windows. All everyone around here does is bitch about shit but nobody lifts a finger to do anything about it. I'm sorry to 0.5% of Slashdotters that to lift a finger.
It keeps track of all this stuff and then sends it to big brother (Microsoft)
First, I much prefer MS product over anything else for their ease of use, training, and deployment to the average user. Bitch about propriety or security all you want, but there is nothing on the market that can truely compete... at least yet.
These new 'features' of Longhorn really make me second think my software 'allegiance'. I can't imagine havine a computer keep track of everything I do, legal or questionable... I don't want it to do that nor would I buy one that does. That means I can never push an envelope or bend a rule since it's possible for 'big brother' to jump in and check out what you did or are doing... no thank you. It's heartening, if you can believe him, to see Gates and Co over in Redmond tackle security from teh ground up in design, but this kind of 'feature' is scary and not desired by many power users.
Gates' geeks overhauling the software. Why do that NOT fill me with confidence?
The day marketing takes a back seat to security in M$ is the day that their software will be secure. That'll happen the day after the legal department takes a back seat to the engineering department.
Long live Linux and OS X. Its gotta be better and safer than anything comes out of Redmond.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Tools need to be deterministic. A tool that works only 90% of the time is useless. Imagine a brake pedal that brakes only 90% of the time because it has somehow figured out that there have in the past been situations where you did not actually mean to brake.
A computer that is not deterministic is not a good tool. If you can only copy a file 90% of the time because of arbitrary restrictions, then it is no longer a reliable copying machine.
Of course it will be possible to buy a license that will allow you to operate a computer proper. Nobody will think this strange, after all, nearly all professional fields require some kind of certification. Nobody will stop to think that this is a lot like a scribe having to buy a license before he can buy a pen that will do a Mickey Mouse drawing.
Gates' scenarios usually take the form of surprisingly simple questions that customers might have. Here's a sampling from our interviews:
Why are my document files stored one way, my contacts another way, and my e-mail and instant-messaging buddy list still another, and why aren't they related to my calendar or to one another and easy to search en masse?
Because email was developed under Unix systems and ported over to Windows by one group, then because Instant Messaging was developed in Isreal and the US (Carnegie Mellon) as an open protocol, and ported over to Windows by another group, and Windows' groupware was a response to Lotus Notes developed by yet another group of "Bill's Geeks".
So all of a sudden, Microsoft got the religion that there aren't any more third party apps to ape/buy and maybe it's time to put their own house in order. Unfortunately it seems they are doing so in exactly the wrong manner, by having independent groups funneled through one "architect" rather than having a single (or a few) developers writing a core foundation for all this stuff and then porting the next generation of Outlook, MSN and Exchange over. Forget the mythical man-month, this is going to set records for waisted man-years of developer time.
Why can't my computer protect me from distractions by screening phone calls and e-mails, and why can't it track me down when I'm out of the office or forward things to me automatically?
Because us poor nonbillionaire working stiffs can't afford administrative assistants and aren't as hyperorganized as the chief drone of Microsoft. I for one am not looking forward to the day my work schedule is planned according to guidance from Redmond as implemented in LongshotBKSPBKSPBKSPBKSPhorn
Why can't our computers arrange conference calls and online meetings for us?
Because PBX's work well enough.
Why is it so hard for a soccer mom to set up a simple Website and e-mail group to keep people informed about who's driving and who's bringing treats?
Define "hard". Most people have a good idea of risk/reward and the time to put up a yahoo/msn/aol user group get everyone to check it and reschedule whenever plans change (little Jimmy is almost bound to get flu/chicken pox/strep etc. on the day you were responsible for treats) for a soccer season that lasts eight weeks and then do it again for baseball then again for swimming then again... It's not worth it, and it would be a pretty miraculous piece of software that was so easy to use it would replace phone chains for organizing short term ad hoc organizations.
Why can't I tap into all my stuff at home or at work from any device that's mine, and have it just be available because it knows I'm me?
Because Bill the Great never understood that the personal in a personal computer meant you could store data without bugging the IT department, not that you wished to lock all your data in a box you were replacing in 18 months anyway. That coupled with the marketing realities of replicating multiuser technology as implemented in MULTICS, Unix, MVS etc. 30 years ago without letting those OSes use that technology to replace Windows in workgroups (cough)SAMBA(cough) is why Windows has a problem with multiple users. Breaking Kerberos didn't help either. Since Apple went to OS X this is really only a problem for Windows (and Palm).
Why can't I read digital versions of magazines on my portable computer that look the way they're supposed to look?
Mac's work just fine. Maybe it's because except for gaming technology Windows' imaging solutions have been subpar. Although I will admit hardware variations in the Wintel world also cause imaging problems. Again, the Microsoft uber alles attitude at Redmond that prevents open standards like OpenGL or PDF or Postscript from working as first class citizens in the Windows world because someone else may get $0.10 of the $1.00 flowing to Microsoft is to blame also. Again, on most Unix systems (and Be) the was never a problem.
longhorn? wtf calls a product longhorn other than dirk diggler...
Regarding the upcoming user-tracking features of Longhorn, Phil Greenspun was already waving this flag in 1997 in this essay. I quote from one of Greenspun's techno-utopia scenarios:
[Jane's] desktop machine knows that she's sent a bunch of e-mail today to friends asking for tips on places to visit in California. It can listen to her phone line and figure out that she has called 10 numbers in California today. You'd think that her desktop machine could put all of this together to say, "Jane, you should probably check out http://photo.net/ca/. I also note that you've been typing at the keyboard on this machine for an average of 11 hours every day for the last two weeks. You ought to relax tonight. I notice from your calendar program that you don't have any appointments. I notice from your Quicken database that you don't have any money so you probably shouldn't be going to the theater. I notice that Naked Gun is on cable tonight. I don't see any payments in your Quicken database to a cable TV vendor so I assume you aren't a Cable Achiever. I remember seeing some e-mail from your friend David two months ago containing the words "invite" and "cable TV" so I assume that David has cable. I see from watching your phone line's incoming caller line ID that he has called you twice in the last week from his home phone so I assume he is in town. Call him up and invite yourself over."
There is it in a nutshell: useful user-tracking - as opposed to tracking user prefs for marketing purposes. Greenspun's ideas seem so simple and realizeable but only now we're beginning to look into this direction. Why? Perhaps because MS has throttled development with its uninnovative OSs; perhaps because such technologies seem to suit the consumer first and Big Business second.
I hope that with Longhorn, Bill has finally caught on to the idea that technology - by definition - should either simplify what we can already do or enable us to do stuff we couldn't before. And that's all.
---- scrm
Just a quick show of hands, how many of us keep personal information on our home computers? (me). Okay, how about how many of us have a linux router/firewall or some other conifgurable port filter? Good, now all you have to do is not allow the port/domain/IP combination that M$ uses to phone home to leave your network. One of the reasons that I got into firewalling w/ linux is to keep those damn programs (real player, windows media, piggy back softare du jour) to report that they've got yet another sucker. Now all we have to do is track down where Windows will want to report to and filter it out. If you're worried about your computer at work, you shouldn't be keeping sensitive personal info on it. Sensitive work info, however, is your boss's fault for using the new M$. :-)
your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours
This is Bad. This is not Good. This is not a Feature, this is an Invasion of Privacy. I don't want it. I wouldn't be surprised if the gub'ment had some ideas on what Longhorn ought to do.
...and they would profit from this how?
keep in mind, their customers are their shareholders, their users are their "revenue stream". whose interests do they value more?
Seriously according to Bill this is akin to designing a 747 and that they have 500 people on the wing alone.
There are 4000 programmers and managers working on this product in the long term , excluding testing and Q/A folks. Assuming a rate of 100 bugs per programmer (typical MS level) per year that need to be Q/A'd and squashed thats 400,000 bugs/year to tackle. And since this will be released in 2.5 years thats close to a Million bugs!
And what is more bothersome is that Bill mentions that the groups don't talk to each other (well it's difficult when you have 500 guys designing the 'wing') -- he says that the fuselage guys don't do lunch with the wing guys. This has always been a big problem in the 'Super star' driven MS culture, and will be exacerbated even more.
The problem with MS has historically not been one of talent, but one of culture and management. I don't see Bill addressing these issues. Perhaps, Bill needs to be introduced to some Software management gurus.
Frederic P. Brooks Jr. meet William Gates Jr. III
Ultimately, tightly knit groups of developers in close contact with the users has a better chance of delivering the goods. Look at BSD or GNU/Linux. They've come so far because of a close knit group. As long as we keep our eye on the ball we will do well. Tackle the issues one at a time and build on the foundation.
For instance, take the filesystem. MS is going after a database filesystem with 500 people on the code. Look at BeOS, 2-4 people worked on the team with Giampaolo at the lead. It wasn't a true Database FS but it did a remarkable job of looking and fucntioning as one. Want to bet that the MS DBFS is going to be top heavy and over engineered and buggy as hell? Or look at security, a tightly knit group of volunteers have made one of the most secure OS's in the world - OpenBSD. And here we have a giant struggling with years of accumulated bad practices- more holes than all of the cheeses in Switzerland. Or look at Quartz and Quartz Extreme from Apple. The core group is less than 15 people led by Mike Paquette have developed a graphics subsystem that has not been matched by the 100+ strong DirectX/3d team from MS.
Ultimately, what matters is a closely knit team which works on building software one step at a time. There are no giant leaps in software, only tiny steps that accumulate over time. This is core to what BSD/Linux has achieved. Apple under Avie Tevenien (sp?) also seems to understand the value of incremental code releases. Release early and release often. This is our biggest advantage. Let's stick to it.
Bill can continue to make his grandiose plans. Heck, let him even get a persian kitty but his plans will take its natural time to evolve. They may have the money but we have the resources.
In the end, it will be lack of good taste and good management which will make Longhorn a spectacularly mediocre release like all other MS products.
Now, what if the war on microsoft is actually funded by microsoft?
It already is. It's called "taxes." Both direct & indirect.
The pitfall being that by not trusting the State, anglo-saxons do the utmost to emasculate it's power, whereas the power vacuum left is promptly filled by private croporatitions who answer to nobody, certainly not the people, as the State doe.
As long as the anglo-saxons insist that the State be as small as possible, individual rights will be trampled by big croporations. Do not forget that a strong State is the best guardian of individual rights, simply by the virtue of ruling-in and checking the power of big croporations over the people.
For example, if you lose your job and can get 60% of yout former salary by virtue of the State's unemployment insurance, you can bet that companies don't push their workers around, as people simply quit and take the time to look for a proper job. And when the State provides you with medical insurance, people don't lose their jobs because the collective insurer doesn't threaten to withdraw coverage for all employees when one employees becomes unprofitably ill.
I defy anyone to refute this argument (communism not being of any relevance, it won't be accepted as an argument. A past example, maybe, but not an actual argument).
Sounds less like "more personal" and more like "more invasive", lets store as much info about people as possible on their PC's, then have shoddy security practices in place so that data gets stolen easier.... Screw privacy, who needs it right? Certainly not Corporations....
"The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
As usual, my initial reaction to this is, "how do I turn that off?" I've had enough of The Amazing Mutating Menus already, thank you. No other machine requires me to relearn its user interface every time I turn it on, so why would anyone think it's desirable for a computer to do this?
Fortunately as long as I have a choice of OSes I don't really have to worry.
"...a strong State is the best guardian of individual rights..."
Oh, like perhaps the decidedly NON-Anglo-Saxon Spanish Inquisition??
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
This current crop of ideas isn't worth the paper it is printed on. It is a jumble of futuristic notions with a lot of sweetener stirred in the mix and not a single concrete idea as to why people would want this or how it is going to be implemented.
Compare "videophone", "flying cars" and "household robot". Nothing but far-fetched imaginings to cover up for the lack of any real ideas, magic bullets for non-existant villains.
Microsoft makes dull, complicated productivity software. Longhorn will be dull, complicated productivity software. The emperor doesn't like his wardrobe.
"Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with..."
Wow. Sounds more like a spyware application than an operating system. Maybe Gates figured that instead of selling an operating system with application features, he should sell an application with operating system features. That's one way to side-step things.
Or is it just me who noticed it ?
... the Halloween documents - saying that Microsoft needed to 'innovate' the Windows platform, because of WinE yes? This is it.
"If this enormous undertaking succeeds, it will make computers more personal than ever. Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier."
So at what point will we be able to completely remove the user from the picture, and have the computer do everything for us?
My definition of "easier" is something that works the way I want it to, not the way a company wants it to. M$ can go defenestrate itself.
Karma: \Kar"ma\, n. [Skr.] (Buddhism) One's acts considered as fixing one's lot in the future existence.
And wait until it becomes illegal for you to fail to have said records available to turn over to the gov't. As a logical extension, it would be illegal to run any OS that doesn't keep said records.
What's really scary about Bill Gates, is that he seems to honestly believe he's doing all this for the benefit of mankind. That's the most scary kind of dictatorship -- where everything is predicated on "we're doing it for your own good".
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Yes! Let's all be born into the plastic world of Microsoft's Central Computer Core (that still needs rebooting every week) where Bill Gates and his gang of friendly clowns do all our thinking for us. We can get our brains removed and use the spaces inside our skulls to store our MicroSoft CDs... Hey, Gates!!! I don't want your crummy gang of crooks doing my thinking for me. I'll trust my information to myself using an OS I can rely on. You can stick LONGHORN up your LONGASS!
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Unfortunately, those nifty "know who you talk to, how you work, etc" features will STILL affect me because, sadly, the people I interact with will use Longhorn.
Similar to hotmail/passport - if you send a message to someone barely past the brainstem stage who's onboard hotmail/passport (wittingly or otherwise), YOUR thoughts also end up in that system.
(Gee, in such a situation it would be nice to use that DRM hardware crap mentioned recently to disallow manipulation or storage of my docs/messages by hotmail/passport.)
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
This sounds like the same marketing they did with Windows 95, when it was nothing more than Dos with an improved gui.
This Longhorn thing will probably be nothing more than Windows XP/NT with additional gui bits and pieces, preloaded Microsoft software to extend their control over the market, and a heap of broken APIs to smash competitors.
Honestly, does anyone just like the computer the way it is? I don't want my computer to assist me any more than being a transparent barrier to what I want. I want it to take dictation when I want to send a friend a note, and talk back to me when I am cooking dinner so I don't have to stare at it, and precious little else. I don't want it looking out for me. Why? Because I didn't fucking program it! Whoever's agenda programmed it, so therefore, it is not looking out for me.
/. But cmon. Stop selling me this shit.
This longhorn smacks of a full, legitimate, digital identity, and I am sorry, but at the end of the day it is just a dang box with wires people, not who you are. Count me out. You can't engineer happiness. The internet is a big, funny, stupid, sometimes dangerous, LIBRARY.
Yes, I play C-strike. YES, I play RtCW. And GTA3. And I like
I don't want to be a "cyber-citizen! (TM) (all rights reserved) (ASCAP) (BMI) (MPAA)"
What I've learned is that cities are a nice place to visit and live on the outskirts of. If the computers of the world start looking like New York on Yankee's Bat Day or Hong Kong on the Chinese New Year then count me out. Don't get me wrong. Cities are a wonderful place to visit. I live on the outskirts of one, and work in it. But the more people that you pack in and personalize in a personal network, the more it will look like a city and that means the more likely you are going to:
be stuck in a ridiculous beauracracy doing simple things
more likely the equivalent of you car stereo will be lifted (this just happened today)
the more equivalent that law or rules enforcement will be unevenly taken care of and care a lot less about you
the more you will be a number- already happened
the more the lowest denominator mob mentality rules you
the more you have to put up with the angry masses
and finally, the less sunshine you see because you will be spending all fucking day on the comp paying bills and renewing car licenses for fifty God damned hours a week because you can never get a hold of a person and ask them face to face- trust me, paying bills on-line will not EVER be as easy as they say
If you think the automated phone is a pain. Just wait. If you think waiting in line at fileplanet is a pain in the ass, this is going to really take the cake... cuz they are going to fire all the tellers and have just one engineer running the system.
Hell, we all might just get so lazy that we will just check to see how much they left in your account for all the fees and taxes one day. Then you REALLY are someoene else's property.
" I'll give you the philosophy: Everything is
just a document, whether it be music or video or
e-mail or whatever. Each will have a name and a
history, and every user will have his or her
favorites. "
Finally The Big Bill got the basic concept, that
everything must be a file. Next they will be
raving about how they invented the everything
is a file concept. Anybody remember how they
invented the soft link concept in WinXP.
-anand
that's really sad. that you had to have training to get the certification. you must be slow.
another clue is that you are working for a company that requires you to get recertified, but then doesn't help pay for your training. yes, i think it's likely you are quite retarded. but lucky for you, that means you can't receive the death penalty now if you go on a premeditated murderous rampage. so i guess that's good.
Call this a troll if you want, but consider: if it was a troll, I'd have done it anonymously...
/. is anti-MS in nearly every respect. I understand and accept that, in fact it's one of the reasons I visit here 100 times a day: I like seeing both sides of an argument before I reach my own conclusions.
.Net installed, Norton Antivirus, ActiveSync, eVC++, Seti@Home, Popup Killer, WinAmp, AOLIM and a PocketPC emulator... and this is pretty much what is always open). My machine is virtually never turned off and I have not seen a BSOD in well over a year, I virtually never experience problems whatsoever, and those that I do on those rare occassions are directly traceable to a misbehaving app, and the OS DOES NOT get taken down with the app.
I understand
But it seems to me that many of you (you meaning the open source community in general) are spreading just as much FUD as MS is, drapped in a cloak of supposed reality.
For instance: I constantly see posts saying how crash-prone MS OS's are and how you get 100 BSOD's a day on your work PC's (those of you that admit using an MS OS in the first place that is).
I'd be foolish to try and say that Win95, Win98, Win98SE or WinME aren't more crash-prone than just about any Linux distro, they are. But the FUD is in not being specific enough: Win2K and WinXP are quite stable. If you find it to be otherwise in your experience, let me point you in the right direction: It's not the OS! My work PC, a 2+ year-old Win2K PIII/500 Dell Optiplex GX1 with 512M RAM, on which I have over 20 gigs of various software installed, I have 10+ different things running at any given time (currently I have Windows Explorer, UltraEdit, CuteFTP, Apache Tomcat, IE, Lotus Notes R5, IIS with
If your Win2K or WinXP machine crashes all the time, perhaps I'm just that much better an admin than you are, but I doubt it. But, rather than be fair about it, you will be quick to bash MS and their "buggy" OS. Bull. Rag on any Win9x you want, I won't argue, but if your going to tell me Win2K or WinXP are crash-prone and buggy, you are wrong, absolutely. (WinNT by the way is somewhere in between in my experience... I have 5 NT servers, database and web servers, with heavy usage, none of them has had ANY unscheduled downtime in about two years, but I also had NT on my desktop for a while and it did blue screen on occassion, once every few months perhaps. Not terrible, but not great either).
How about the secure argument? Well, there's no denying that MS didn't place the emphasis on security that they should have all along. There are far too many buffer overruns in MS software to be sure. But the vast majority of viruses and trojans and other serious security problems are the result of good-old-fashioned social engineering, getting people to open attachments and such. Understand, having an application scriptable is not a bad thing, *IF* the user base is somewhat intelligent (there are exceptions of course, scripts should NEVER run without user authorization, and they of course can under some conditions in Outlook, that's MS's fault for sure). I'm not going to hammer them for giving us greater flexibility.
And what about the FUD? People claim Linux is less virus-prone than Windows. Of COURSE it is! Go out and iterview 100 virus writers and I guarantee you will find the majority hate MS and love Linux and the open-source movement. Which platform do you think they are going to target? DUH!
Windows sees more viruses because it is targeted more, plain and simple. Now, don't misunderstand me: I AM NOT blaming the open-source community for viruses, not in the least. And I am NOT saying that Windows is as secure as Linux, because it's not at a fundamental level. But simply because you see more viruses on Windows DOES NOT mean it is soo much more virus-prone than Linux. That's why I hope Linux does make it's way onto the desktop in good numbers. Let's see if this piece of FUD still stands up at that point. I very much suspect it won't.
Now, what about this Longhorn stuff? MS is trying to do something innovative (although not original) here... they are trying to give you ubiquitous access to any type of data from any location in a common fashion. What's wrong with that? Sounds like a fantastic idea to me. In fact, from a strictly forward-looking mentality, it's the logical evolution. I see so many paranoid statements about privacy, but come on folks, your smart enough to not go down that path! You know as well as I do that if MS is pulling anything fishy with privacy, it will be found out in short order. I mean, how hard is it to unplug your cable modem and throw a packet sniffer on the network to see what the OS is sending out? Geez, MS's worst move would be to do something like that because, and I say this in a positive way, you people will find it and scream it at the top of your virtual lungs faster than Bill Clinton goes down on an interm!
You say they never truly innovate. Then, when you hear about some potential innovation from them, you bash them for it!
It's one thing to be anti-MS, it's another thing to spread your own brand of FUD. It's also another thing to dismiss out of hand absolutely anything at all that comes from Redmond. If something is a good idea, it's a good idea regardless of where it comes from. The United States thought the atomic bomb was a good idea, even though the idea came from Germany (and try to not make the obvious "and Windows explodes just as bad as an atomic bomb!" jokes).
It's funny... I have always hated with a passion Bill Gates because he always struck me as an arrogant cheater who I just could not respect. Be better than that folks, make the community better than that... don't pull the same dirty tricks he has.
If a pion (n-) collides with a proton in the woods & noone is there to hear it, does lamdba decay into the source pa
Sounds like someone trying to shoove a electronic leash up my ass. Let's see where have you been, what have you done, who have you talked to, or who have you shared files with. Next they should just clip a node on my nuts so they can keep track of my sprem usage. Zomby
- Micro$oft sux!
- Micro$oft is like, you know, Big Brother!
- Micro$oft can't innovate like Linux!
- My computer will tell my wife/mom/minister/government that I look at pr0n!
- Bill Gates is going to read my email!
-jonRemember Amalek.
It seems to me that this is another Microsoft attemp to appeal to the least common denominator. Bill want every blue haired grandmother to effortlessly tackle computing problems. While I admit that this is a noble cause, it seems to me that with every release, Windows assumes the user is dumber and dumber (Hey, that paper clip thing really cares about me! I'm glad they made that cryptic fatal message a nice soothing color like blue!) If Windows really wanted to crush Linux, it would develop features for the power user. It is unfathomable to me how unconfigurable Windows is. Now this rightfully falls into thrid party products. God help us if Bill every gets around to addressing uber-geeks.
Why, o why must the sky fall when I've learned to fly?
Bill Clinton states "I've always been faithful to Hilary..."
Goeorge W Bush insists "I've always thought you can't read too many books..."
Linus Torvalds comments "Money, money, money, that's all that's ever mattered to me..."
Corporations and governments are interested in only power and money/money and power. Infringing on your privacy, stifling innovation, or otherwise degrading quality of life not directly related to more money and power for corporations and governments is but a small price to pay.
And I think you're an idiot for using bullet points in a document.
... that it'll look or act a lot like OS X? I'm thinking that perhaps M$ got a scare from Apple's new OS and the technology behind it (Quartz, darwin subsystem, etc) and thought "Hmm.."
I somehow envison a 'dock-like' thing in Longhorn, complete with bouncy icons and little poofs of smoke.
nothing will - this is obviously a booster piece for 'Fortune' hunters and other stakeholders who purchased Msft at > $75 + waiting to get their share of the pie back.
But does the mass market of preinstalled sw still trust this guy? Can the dream be re-illisioned after so many being largely burnt so far? I.e., is there still gold in them thar' hills?
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
With every article I see on the future of computing from Microsoft, the better an Apple looks.
...is because of the ultra-left-wing slant of the mods and editors of Slashdot. Just like that GWB stab a few days ago. Just like the constant rants against all religion.
Journalistic integrity? I think not.
Is Time-Warner reducing everything to the same level. Fortune sounds like "Entertainment Tonight" with fawning and drooling over CEOs instead of celebreties. Add just enough content to keep you from tossing the whole thing in disgust and you've got a four-page "article."
You'd think that a business magazine might attempt some analysis as to what is feasible, desirable, and what the competition (oops, forgot we were talking about Microsoft) might do in response.
...your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours...
Am I the only one who cringes at the thought of this? Who gets to look at that data? Surely it won't be kept private. Data like that is just too valuable for marketing divisions to ignore. I think there are some potentially serious privacy concerns here. Even if this data isn't shared with MS or whoever by default, given MS's track record on security I don't think it would take long before someone figured out how to get at it. Or heck, some 3rd party could just write some spyware designed to get it and transmit it somplace. This whole concept just makes me very uncomfortable.
We're going to make information free Mr. Anderson, whether you like it, or not.
Bill Gates might hear you
Someone said DRM, and I am inclined to agree.
The other hing that is hapening is what Gaytes always does. He sees the popular apps out there and tries to integrate them into his OS. He's trying to make filesharing easier and more trackable. Sounds very P2P to me.
He also looked and said "hmmm, once upon a time computers replaced the steno pool, now maybe they can replace the recptionist." Now when you call someone you'll have to answer a questionarre before you can speak to them. If you're all connected properly you'll just click a button on your contact list and it will schedule a meeting with a group of people for you. Which is functionality that exists in Lotus Notes.
He's gonna revamp the registry. Bloat it out some so now as well as keeping track of config settings and security info it wll also have info on EVERY document and media file in your computer. After that it'll simply be a matter of adding fields to the database structure to include prefrences and a mechanism to generate frequency of use stats. And it will all be searchable, taking up memory and processor resorces. Anyone remember quickstart?
I wonder if he'll be adding in voice recognition? Seems important at this point. And handwriting recognition.
He's approaching the same problems again, just adding a new generation of development to them. Sure, I hope it works, but I bet that like all MS products he will trade processing power, speed, memory, and storage for gains in functionality while ignoring user-friendliness.
I am really wondering if the set of hardware that Longhorn will run on is going to become even smaller. Will it be feasible to compare Macs and Windows machines on an even basis? Will Open Source stay competitive in the face of increased app;lication/OS integration?
my $.02
Hold on isn't this exactly what all the monopoly trials are about.
You Are Being Lied To.
AFAIK they had softlinks already in W2k. But haven't find a tool to use that yet.
Pre-announcing a product and starting the hype five years before it's expected to be released...
Slashdot's moderation mathematics at work again...
If you read the article, it said "AFTER 2005" which means 2006 or beyond.
The real issue here, for John Q. Sixpack, is convenience. Unfortunately, as always, Windows has been and will be targeted towards the masses that want simple and easy to use over security AND privacy.
------ What's sadder than realizing you've filtered out your own comments?
...or does the idea for the filesystem sound an aweful lot like the BeOS? Specifically, Gates says "The file system should be more like e-mail archives, where you can search and sort by any of a number of criteria. And it's got to be snappy as heck." Hmm, criteria eh? Kind of like attributes?. Snappy huh? Kind of like a dbms?
True believers seek redemption from the sin of death.
I was at a .NET seminar earlier this month and Paul D. Schafer (sp) said that M$ would never rewrite Office because it would be too big of a task. Something like 10 years to get to this point..
"It's not like your minds are as open as the source you love..." - Me to the majority of Slashdot.
Oh, come on. We expected that response.
big brotha be watchin you sucka
Honestly does anyone believe this is anything more than the usual 3 years early pre development hype? Software companies now take the tack that they talk about developing something before they try and then use the feedback as market research. It's a kind of reality check combined with mindshare.
Here's your friendly /. neighbourhood rhetoric wonk weighing in... I have to wonder what the semantics, grammar, and rhetoric of the Longhorn interface are going to be. In case you're wondering, the underlying ideational structures of the interface create its meaning, and make the difference between dumb and intelligent design, useful and frustrating, easy-to-learn and Adobe ;) and so on. So far I haven't been too impressed with much of anything MS, rhetoric-wise. Some pretty impressive people (not just weirdos like me) have also weighed in on the importance of this issue, like:
Terry Winograd
Joseph Goguen
Eben Moglen
Neil Randall
and a bunch of lesser lights including Neil Stephenson.
While I'm not against innovation, I have a hard time imagining that MS could actually come up with something more intelligent than these folks, all of whom, I notice, aren't working for MS. Even Neil Randall, who apparently took some money from MS to do a study works for the University of Waterloo (hi, Neil!).
Maybe I'm just a Jaded Cynic, but I have to wonder.
I'm not a geek, I'm just a clever script.
"your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier."
.....
Sounds to me like the only thing that will be easier is direct-marketing to me and keeping a file on me. Of course, this data will be anonymous, right?
This sounds like NURVE from that flop movie Antitrust. I wonder if they will be killing open source developers to steal their code.
Well, you do know/realize that your timeline coincides nicely with the fact that from 1984 until 1995 Microsoft was catching up to Mac OS?
And from 1995 until 2002 they've been trying to catch up to NeXTStep and OS 2?
NeXTStep was out in 1989. was rereleased in 2001 as OS X, and has set the bar for Longhorn to be released in 2007; check it out, OS X really is all that and a bucket of beans.
GPL Deconstructed
This could be the project that signals the
end of microsoft. It's like you know a company
is going to croak when they build/lease a
new huge building. Nobody really gives a flying
fuck about file system integration. Anything
they want to do they could do now. What they
are doing things is an internal rearchiteture
which is usually a similar sign of the end.
Any changes to the OS require the users to learn which is the single greatest cost of software as MS loves to point out when explaining why their solutions are cheaper overall than using open source.
MS programmers may do a helluva job, but if it's anything different from what exists, they create a real problem for themselves. They've got to convince the users that their new system is worth learning and to do that there has to be a motivation. Way back when, the motivation to learn Microsoft's new system was to save money over Macs. They are no longer the cheap fix that made them what they are today. Their only hope is to maintain the staus quo for as long as possible and avoid rocking the boat.
Besides, the desktop, file manager, media player, web browser combo that are what most users assocaiate with the operating software of a PC are mostly seventies ideas that have been done so many ways now it's hard to imagine that these geniuses are going to come up with something genuinely new that doesn't require a steep learning curve or become a major security problem or both.
And, if they're really got some super magic secret surprise it's only a matter of time before there are ten other version of it. Microsoft dug its own grave years ago.
My computer already knows who I talk to, where I go, and how I work. If it didn't, well, we'd all be using UDP instead of TCP, and I wouldn't be able to see what's on the screen
This is nonsense. Unless you computer is logging this information in a fairly exhaustive manner it doesn't know who you talk to, where you go, or how you work, any more than you know the contents of Elevator Inspection Form you glanced at while riding the lift up to your office.
The information is only known if it is kept around in a fashion that can be accessed, and presumably used against you, at a later time. For most non-invasive operating systems like OS X, FreeBSD, and GNU/Linux, this only amounts to a small amount of information, an amount which can be reduced to zero relatively easilly be turning off browser caching and proxy logging completely. Even in its default state these operating systems record relatively little about where you go and who you speak to, and generally nothing whatsoever about what music you listen to or what movies you watch, in contrast to todays Microsoft XP machines, and in stark contrast to the incredibly invasive features described in this rather gushingly pro-microsoft article.
Indeed, it says a lot about how horrific these features are, that a gushingly pro-microsoft article lauding such features can be so chilling, despite its bias. We should all be concerned about this, but I suspect humanity's ability to live in denial means we won't be until it is biting us in the ass directly, hard. At which point in time it will be far too late to do much about it.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Um... with personal privacy being a fairly hot topic nowadays, why would I want my PC keeping track of all of my personal computing habits? Especially when it's via software created by a company with a past history of sending information from peoples' PCs back to the corporate headquarters and imbedding traceable, unique IDs in all the Words documents they create?
Remember: ``Ctrl-Alt-Del helps keep your password secure.'' (Hee hee!) Will Microsoft now extend that bit of humor to all my personal information? God help us.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
We had similar stories about Lenin and Stalin (two greatest Russian dictators) - how great they were and how they were leading everybody forward, to communism victory, to the times when everybody will be happy. Poor M$ employees...
:)
(I Lenin velikiy nam put' ozaril...
Please. Nearly every recent abuse by corporations is possible only because the state has overstepped its power. You can blame Adobe for having Sklyarov arrested, but they could only have their desires enforced at gunpoint because Congress shredded our rights with the DMCA. No corporation can take your life, liberty, or property without my consent, unless they are backed up by government force.
For example, if you lose your job and can get 60% of yout former salary by virtue of the State's unemployment insurance, you can bet that companies don't push their workers around, as people simply quit and take the time to look for a proper job.
Are you serious? How many people would work at all if they could get 60% of their income by sitting on their butts? Basic economics: when you subsidize something, you get more of it. This is why European nations consistently have high unemployment.
I defy anyone to refute this argument (communism not being of any relevance
I'd say it's quite relevant that attempts to put your ideas into practice led to the murder of over 100 million people in the last century.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
I just think it will be funny to get a message from the Harware Abstraction Layer. "I'm afraid I can't let you send that document, Dave"
Hey! This is where Micro$oft jumps the shark. If Ted McGinley is brought in to replace Balmer it's certain!
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Not in MY country.
And that's why your country's economy sucks, and the standard of living is so much lower than the US.
It will be a great day for the world when everyone realizes the "workers" are NOT the people that get things done. It's the "organizers" of the workers that are the most valuable to society.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
Can't even automate user registration for hotmail. (Reg)
But I can find lots on Bush and Hitler!
If you mean security for the individual I don't think that will be their aim. I think security for the US may be what their real aim is. Imagine, a system that keeps track of what anyone who uses a MS computer does, what they like to use and so on... Put all that data into a big computer and analyze it to see who is likely to commit murder or be a terrorist and then arrest them for "conspiracy to commit murder"
"I'll give you the philosophy: Everything is just a document, whether it be music or video or e-mail or whatever. Each will have a name and a history, and every user will have his or her favorites."
Okay, anyone around here rememeber OpenDoc? That lovely technology that was developed by Apple, adopted by IBM for OS/2, languished in Novell's "we'll port it to Windows" black hole, then got dropped by everyone in 1997? Same deal: the document is just a container. There's a quick article here on what OpenDoc was and what developers thought when Apple killed it. Apple still has some developer docs available online here, which I'm guessing Bill has been reading up on recently.
I wonder if Microsoft will ever come up with an original idea that doesn't suck.
MacTacToe - for every problem, an elegant solution
I want to agree with you, but what about WWI and WWII? What about the Sovient Empire? And China?
Oh, I see you're arbitrarily ruling out all the lessons of history because they're just "past examples," not "actual arguments."
Blah blah blah.
But look at each of the OS's. For the most part, they were monumental leaps in GUI design. It seems obvious that M$ has a lot of dependence on their GUI design/research people. Look, they got a lot of idiots to shell out some major casholla for XP when they just two years ago did the same for Win2K. People like the pretty GUI. It's not a matter of "Do I need XYZ functionality" or "What are the privacy implications of ..." Most of the world already knows what M$ thinks of us; like all other major corporations, we eat products and shit money. So they give you a "candy-coated" GUI to make everything go down a little bit better.
Just my .02.
-Bob
Judging by the description of Longhorn, then its official release name should be Windows 1984 - the OS the KGB really wanted!
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
This reminds me of a Science-Fiction story I read many years ago. I apologise for not remembering the name, but I think it was by Piers Anthony. The gist of the story was a woman who bought a TOSTR, which was an all-encompasing robot companion. The woman finally resorted to erasing the robots system so that she could get it to make toast.
Do not confuse duty with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different.Duty is a debt you owe to yourself.
I don't want my computer to keep track of what I do! I've turned off as many "what you recently did" things as I can. Hell, I clear my browser cache every two days!
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
And thats all I've got to say.
One OS to find them
One OS to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
In the land of Redmond where the shadows lie.
The last time I check. Standard Oil can't force you to purchase their product. This applies to all corporations. Without customers they are nothing!
The problem is when the State and Corporations collaborate to create monopolies and then force you to purchase their products and services. Auto insurance would be a good example.
Is this a rhetorical question?
"Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier."
How is this a good thing? All thats needed after that is some software to feed an online database, and my computer can pump personal information to the highest bidder, and in a this day thats the federal goverment. So come on now everyone, it isn't good enough that you pay the feds to spy on you with your tax dollars, but now you can buy hardware/software to make their job easier!
RIP American Freedom
1776 - 2002
I have somewhere in the cellar at my parents a magazine from 1986 about "microcomputers" in which Billy Boy tells us how the next generation of word (that is thus word 2.0) will incorporate A.I. , self-adapting agents that learn our way of working and present an interface that is fitted to your own most productive ways of working.
Yeah yeah yeah. Talk about anounces and vaporware. And in the mean time, running the oneliner
main () { for (;;) printf (" F U D \t\b\b\b\b\b\b") ; }
still crashes that M$loosedose box.
Then they announced their latest and greatest, six months ahead of release. And everyone decided to wait and buy the new machine when it came out. And there was no more money to make Kaypros. And the business just folded up.
It sounds like Microsoft is spending a lot of money just to incorporate something like Sherlock into the operating system.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Surly you understood the comment,
The fist problem 1: related to bloat slowing down the system.
The second problem 2: related to the need for A DICTIONARY and GRAMMAR.. (open standards)
The next two points relate to DRM!!
An finally if you get it right then you can copy stuff
The general poor grammar and spelling errors, and failure to make the point obvious sum it all up.
only a fool would fail notice that,
and only an army of fools would mod them up.
And it's not like your American, Jesus that is this country coming to, bring back eugenics
The whole philosophy of MS software is to add features. The more features you can add to a product before the next release cycle means you can charge more for them. Just as long as they are 'stable enough.' They've been doing this for 27 years. Every product has more features then the last.
.net, programs that run completly in user space that have nothing to do with an 'operating system'.
This is their reaction to not being able to add more features to their OS. This is a trend that has been going on for many years, basically since Windows 95. Windows 95, if it was a quality implementation of win32 that didn't crash, had almost all the features that an operating system needed. Except for the hardware support that it would need today. It really had a lot. Since the internet they have been adding more and more features to their OS that are in no way related to the traditional defination of 'operating system'. Like the web browser, like
MS will never focus on making a product 'quality' because it's not exciting. Bill and Co want action, they want people to be excited about the next big thing. It's hard to get excited about something that exactly like what you've got, but will just last longer.
About one have of MSs proffits come from sales so one third of sales has to acount for less then 1/6th of proffits. Fortune magazine does it again.( I realy think they are owned by MS Press!)
You have all three?
I'm not sure whether I should envy or pity you.
But you're a troll because you're either a moron or willfully stupid, and it doesn't matter which.
For MS's "document-centric" vision, the first thing to do is toss tree-based file systems. The file system should be or resemble a relational or at least a set-based database:
http://www.geocities.com/tablizer/sets1.htm
(Probability estimatation for slash-dotting effect of this link: 46%)
I like the idea of integrating the phone and the PC. I see no reason why one cannot right-click on a name and have it dial. Phone interfaces are usually cryptic. I would like a GUI (virtual) phone.
I like this quote:
"Bill isn't afraid of taking long-term chances. He also understands that you have to try everything, because the real secret to innovation is failing fast."
.NET seems well on its way. I see its sales are in the dumps right now.
Table-ized A.I.
It looks like slave driver BillyGates has finally found a heart after forcing coders into "Contractor" positions and long work hours (kills the family life), if my memory of 60 Minutes is correct.
.Adds Support for PPP and Open Transport Offers Ease-of-Use and Improved Stability and Performance . ARA 3.0 Product Family . Two Types of Connections Possible . Completion of Three-phase Product Roadmap Plan . System Requirements .
? Why are my document files stored one way, my contacts another way, and my e-mail and instant-messaging buddy list still another, and why aren't they related to my calendar or to one another and easy to search en masse?
It exists and called Palm Desktop
? Why can't my computer protect me from distractions by screening phone calls and e-mails, and why can't it track me down when I'm out of the office or forward things to me automatically?
Verizon Call Forwarding
3rd Party Caller ID Boxes
? Why can't our computers arrange conference calls and online meetings for us?
I thought Outlook 2000/Office had conferencing?
? Why is it so hard for a soccer mom to set up a simple Website and e-mail group to keep people informed about who's driving and who's bringing treats?
(AOL Anywhere?)
? Why can't I tap into all my stuff at home or at work from any device that's mine, and have it just be available because it knows I'm me?
Summary : Apple Announces ARA 3.0
? Why can't I read digital versions of magazines on my portable computer that look the way they're supposed to look?
Adobe Acrobat Reader?
With all that money and resources, you would think Bill would find a way to finally get a deep voice, instead of that nerdy squeaky mouse voice.
Table-ized A.I.
Even the DMCA has provisions allowing reverse-engineering for interoperability purposes. The problem is that this is what legislators and lawyers like to call a "phantom exception" or a "bait exception."
DeCSS is an excellent example of the problem. DeCSS is required to decrypt DVD's so they can be watched on Linux. Of course, once the data's unencrypted, it's also possible to DivX it and put it on the internet.
Of course DeCSS's primary purpose is interoperability - this is the oldest story in open source operating systems; we have to reverse engineer proprietary systems that vendors have designed in order to keep us out (because they don't want to worry about competition). But the architects of both Europe's and America's IP-protectionism laws knew that when faced with the dilemma of deciding what a program's "significant use" was, the courts could easily be made to err on the side of "caution." Besides, how many private citizens can even afford the first round of the fight?
Hence, no free DVD players (and none at all on Linux), and programmers all over the world in jail, in court, or living in fear. Many of them in Europe. So please, if this issue concerns you, don't rest on your laurels, no matter which side of the pond you're on.
Write a letter or make a phone call to your elected representatives now. What we all need is to have the DMCA (and its European equivalents, if any) repealed, and the members of government who created these laws properly investigated for corruption.
We're on the road to Tycho.
But you should know, solid, logical, and well-spoken rebuttals only encourage them.
;)
-Dave
We're on the road to Tycho.
Bill Gates is the man, I have read both of his books. I hope his vision will come true.
Private corporations most certainly do answer to the people. We vote for them with our dollars. If we like them, we'll give them money. If we don't, we won't and the company will go away and die or have to come up with something better we do like. Contrast that to your beloved State. Anything the State does the people don't like, too bad. Ever see a federally funded program scaled back or disappear?
I am sure all the communists, fascists and nazis would agree with this or your beloved State would kill them. Oh wait, most of their countries have fallen so maybe they can disagree now. Actually, I can't believe that any rational person could take this position. A strong State will not guard individual rights, it will eliminate them. Don't think so? Check a little history: Soviet Union, China, any third world dictator you want. All extremely strong states.
...if you lose your job and can get 60% of yout former salary by virtue of the State's unemployment insurance, you can bet that companies don't push their workers around, as people simply quit and take the time to look for a proper job. And when the State provides you with medical insurance, people don't lose their jobs because the collective insurer doesn't threaten to withdraw coverage for all employees when one employees becomes unprofitably ill.
It's alarming that anyone could seriously propose this ideaology much less believe it.If most people could get more than half their salaries for doing nothing, they would take it! Why work when you can make a pretty good living just hanging around ahving fun all day? Still can't make ends meet? I'm sure your beloved State would step up and force stores to give to those that need from those that have.
The best way to insure your employer treats you well is a strong economy. During the dot com boom most of us jumped to a new job several times a year. Remember all the perks we could get? If a company knows a better paying job with more benefits can be had before the end of the day, they'll treat you like a king to make sure you stay. If they don't, take the other job and get the better deal anyway. If you think the State can mandate a strong economy, check your history again.
Actually, many of the things that your computer would 'know' have great possibilities. The caveat is that the information about you must be under your control.
I don't believe that I could ever feel that I had complete control over my information unless I had the complete source code to the OS and all supporting programs.
As with anything of 'great potential for good' this also has 'great potential for abuse'. I think an open source solution with the ability to turn it off (and know that has really been turned off) is a much better idea.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
What is the difference between a ``past example'' and an argument?
Do not forget that a strong State is the best guardian of individual rights, simply by the virtue of ruling-in and checking the power of big croporations over the people.
I think that you meant ``reigning in''. This is an interesting theory. Dead wrong, mind you, but interesting. The state perhaps can, and certainly should, be exactly that. In fact, of course, it never works out that way.
What does Anglo-Saxon have to do with this? What you call ``fear of the state'' has its roots in the writings of the Roman and Greek philosophers of 2000 years ago. They weren't anglo saxons. The human experience with strong states has been universally disasterous. The one thing which is unique to the western world (but not to anglo-saxons) is that we have some hope for limiting government, and thus safeguarding individual rights. We are still working out the details of how to protect individuals from non-government groups, but more than 5000 years of history tells us that strong government is a cure worse than any disease.
So Bill was the inspiration behind "Unbreakable". Yes, it all makes sense now...
...and who do you run to *when* the State embarks upon the same abuses?
"It isn't necessary to completely suppress the news; it is sufficient to delay the news until it no longer matters." - N
Yesterday I ordered a new Apple PowerBook G4, top of the line, the real deal. It's going to be my first Mac. I was having some buyer's remorse, but after reading this it looks like it was the best decision I've made in years!!
I agree with your Spruce Goose analogy. Longhorn will never get off the ground. The biggest problem in software is not how many features you can add but whether the features can work reliably. Longhorn sounds like a nightmare of complexity.
My prediction is that, unless there is breakthrough in software engineering soon, Longhorn will be so ladden with bugs (termites in the spruce) that it will just crumble into dust before it gets off the ground.
Rand contends that it is the absolute weakest of government that will allow for both the Jeffersonian form of freedom (life, liberty, etc.) and the Roosevelt form of freedom (prosperity, abscence of need, etc.). Her basic argument is that trade is the only true measure of value and by giving anything to anybody (ie taxes to welfare, corps to unemployment insurance, etc) reduces the inherent value of all trade. If I buy something from you for $1 then give you $1, then I have essentially paid $2 for the item, thereby devaluing my original $1. Since I work the same for each $1, my work value is cut in half wrt the item I purchased from you. As an example of this, farming is subsidized by the government of the US to protect various crops from countries more suited to grow them. Therefore, when I buy bread, I pay the $1 for the loaf and give another $1 to the farmer through subsidies for not growing a particular crop, poor weather, or whatever else the government wishes to pay out in subsidies to ``protect'' the farming industry.
While this is not directly on point with your argument, there are some conclusions that can be drawn that are. Still considering the farming industry, why are there protections? The protections are not there for Cargill or ADM--two of the largest industrial firms in the world. They are there for the family farmer. That is who is being protected--you know Paul Neuman and other multimillionaires with small farms raking in subsidies there to protect the industry from the power of ADM, Cargill, and other foreign countries.
Your example of unemployment insurance is another example of this sort of policy. Rand focuses precisely on alleged deleterious effects of such policies. In the end, a strong government will devalue currency implicitly--even though bread still costs a $1 at the store, it will cost substantially more in work.
As for the power vacuum you mention, Rand addresses this quite elegantly--the only power that can be taken from you is the power that you give away. Should you not like a particular companies practice, don't use the companies products. That simple. And simply because you feel they are bad does not mean that they are. Even if a majority feels that, it doesn't mean anything. For if you ask 100,000 people if they would like to have $1,000,000US free for the taking, no strings attached, 100% would say ``YES! GIMME GIMME!'' Does that mean that everyone should have $1,000,000US? If it does, then how much is $1,000,000US going to be worth once everyone has it?
Your fault: you believe that people cannot be trusted with power of their own. Her fault: she believes that public works projects can never be more efficient that private works. I can tell you that I am glad that I don't have to use Microsoft, eat ADM, or ship by FedEx. I would rather pay for choice then have a strong government regulate an industry in favor of what you or I or anybody else would like so that pork and other favors rule the day rather than quality. I also am glad that I can drive on a road and that road is guaranteed, roughly, to be in good repair regardless of how the finances of local road construction companies are doing.
If you think this argument doesn't apply to you, Ayn Rand predicted as much. She even explained why you might not think this argument is applicable or even sound.
"It's like he's a pipe, and all kinds of stuff goes in at this end and a continuous output of optimized strategy comes out the other end."
Bill Gates IS a pipe. The "all kinds of stuff" that goes into him is pizza, chicken, pasta, lobster, bread - the list goes on and on. I'm not sure I'd call what comes out the other end "optimized strategy" though.
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.
No one expects... oh, screw it.
The DOJ's hand-slap has them forced (with loopholes, of course) to release specs for 3 years.
So, you're not going to see anything new from Microsoft until they can obscure it and break compatibility with any competitive software that has emerged in that time frame.
And then things'll get worse even than today, and eventually the Bush ass-lickers will be gone, and there'll be another antitrust suit. and maybe -just maybe- you'll get some competition. Of course Sun will have long since given up on funding OpenOffice. RedHat might still be hanging on in the server space...
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
LOL! Bill hasn't changed. Really. Fortune may think this is something new, but it's the same dang thing he's been doing since Windows first saw the light of day; Absorbing everybody's 3rd party utilities as native OS support. Winzip? Winamp? Defrag? the list goes on. The comment "it will handle so many functions of computing that Oracle, Sun, AOL Time Warner, and Sony may find themselves with less to do." alone will tell you that. He's looking to make Windows the TV that cooks, cleans and serves breakfast in bed. Sure, they may need to redesign it from the ground up similar to what Jobs did with OS X and Apple, but the news itself isn't too big a surprise, expecially given his history. A word to Linux developers: I see their door of opportunity closing once more. It's still open, but if this hits and history is any indication, open source might have to wait a bit longer before it's next chance to gain a serious foothold on the consumer market. In reality (and I mean this with the best possible intentions), Linux should already be heading where gates is going.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Some of these have obvious security concerns (esp in a closed source environment and coming from microsoft), but in general, this is the sort of thinking that gives us the futuristic world we see in movies where everyone is connected to everything.
as a developer working for ms, i find that the thing that irritates me the most about these types of articles is the portrayal of billg as some sort of "grass-roots hero to the development masses". they continually repeat the myth that bill talks to and meets with "actual developers" and is in touch with everything that goes on at the company at a micro-level.
case in point: hillel cooperman, who is mentioned as a "developer" running a meeting with bill (and how great that is), is actually a "group manager", closer in the management chain to bill than to an actual "developer". they go as far as to say that there was only one "manager" present, whereas the truth would be that everyone present was a manager of some kind.
Today, we may still snicker at this. After all, we had a thriving, competitive PC industry without Microsoft: Commodore, Amiga, Atari, Exidy, Apple, and many others. Those systems were often way ahead of whatever Microsoft was selling at the same time. All of Microsoft's major successes were invented by others, then copied by Microsoft.
Rather than creating the modern computer industry, Gates single-handedly destroyed most of it. Gates' legacy in computer history is despicable. But the victors get to write history...
I can guarantee that you are in your early 20's. When you grow up, you will realize how Rand brainwashes people.
That's all folks.
First they track all your habbits, then with a little prediction...
"We're putting you under arrest for the future crime of software piracy".
This sounds way too much like E 17....Raster did you steal code again :)
It will be a great day for the world when everyone realizes the "workers" are NOT the people that get things done. It's the "organizers" of the workers that are the most valuable to society.
If all of us Code Jocks took off tomorrow, the managment could sit around and organize all they want, but nothing would get done.
On the other hand, if you simply throw a herd of code jocks at a problem of any real size, the development effort will likely fall apart.
We are starting to see real numbers indicating that proper managment actually makes employees more productive, but "proper" can be a sticky issue. I would claim that it will be a great day for the world when everyone realizes that the best result is obtained when the managers indicate what needs to be done to the people who know how to do it, and then get out of the way.
Thomas Galvin
The name Longhorn is appropriate. Bill Gates is finally admitting that he sold his soul long ago, and Microsoft is in the service of Satan.
Sending all this to Microsoft, which will use it to blackmail everyone.
Uhm, what exactly is a "linuxer?" Is it like a toaster?
And why bother "speaking out" (read: whining and saying "anti-trust" a lot? The whole point of OSSI is choice. You've made yours, it seems... why the need to bash (it's a pun) the competition?
... If this enormous undertaking succeeds, it will make computers more personal than ever. Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier.'"
Then they will upload all that information to their databases,then sell it to terrorists.
Then they will not only keep track of, but control how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours....
um, no thanks
For example, if you lose your job and can get 60% of yout former salary by virtue of the State's unemployment insurance, you can bet that companies don't push their workers around, as people simply quit and take the time to look for a proper job.
So, you want to be able to quit your job, and have me pay you money, so you can look for another one? What gives you the right to claim my income as your own? And what is the societal effect if we can all do that? Who pays the freight? The scheme isn't sustainable.
I defy anyone to refute this argument (communism not being of any relevance, it won't be accepted as an argument. A past example, maybe, but not an actual argument).
Well, you can't just declare things invalid; I don't really care what you'll "accept" as an argument. Communism was a great example of government-run economy. But if you want more examples, look at high-unemployment socialist countries today.
Your post got off on a good start. It was simple, somewhat insightful, but more importantly grabbed people's attention.
Then conclude it by pulling out the trite ol' dystopia bit, made references to communism, terrorism, alienating just about any reasonable individual, and subverted any rational explaination as to how Microsoft could exploit thier power in the future.
Try not being so dramatic next time, it sets off people's bullshit detectors.
"Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
I'd say BillG is on the pipe, shmokin' some sweet nor'western hydro...
Though I understand that this will bring a "smarter" desktop to the end user it still sounds like a huge invasion of privacy to me. Somebody would probably just be able to copy a userinfo database file, decrypt it, and learn a lot about you.
Longhorn sounds just like Microsoft's "Cairo" (aka "Information at your fingertips") project from the mid 1990s. It too was supposed to deliver an object-oriented database system with a new UI. Eventually, bits and pieces were released in IE, Windows 2000, and Active Directory, but the reality fell far short of the promises.
:)
btw, one rumor is that the "Windows XP" name is an homage to the Cario project because xp = "chi rho" in Greek letters.
cpeterso
We will see if Longhorn is any good or not. I have my doubts, but I will give Microsoft the benifit of my doubt.
Linux has taken 10 years and its still not suitable for the desktop. Its no more stable than that of Windows 2000 or Windows XP and yet it doesn't give you as many Applications and games and its got tons of bugs which are being fixed daily and thats a big thing that Linux users want to hide from.
There is a this big secret that Linux is not perfect, that its got security issues and totally bugridden, but you won't hear that message at all, no matter how bad the situation really is.
If Linux is where windows is right now, there would be nothing to hide, it would be out in the open with people that don't worship the OS everyday and then Linux would have a bunch of hackers attacking it and we would see the holes easier.
See, its all pretty simple. If you are not the big kahuna in charge, you are the little kahuna trying to waste your time defeating the big one.
Instead of focusing on an OS, focus on a better way to write software, otherwise you are just wasting your time.
CowboyNeal's panties in a knot over something that's years away.
Carpe diem, people.
As we speak, companies are trashing old and other operating systems for Linux-based boxes. Many of those being replaced, yes, are older Unices. We still win. More people coding on Linux = More people giving back to the community. Not to mention the fact that corporations seem to love flashy stuff, which catches the eye of the home user.
As we speak, the word 'Linux' is spreading across the world, and more and more people are at the least going online and trying to figure out just what exactly this Linux thing is.
As we speak, OSX is bringing the power of Unix to the masses of Apple lovers.
Five years? In five years, no one might even have a clue as to what you're talking about when you say the word 'Microsoft'. Why worry? We've problems to solve, we've bugs to fix, we've applications to develop, *now*.
W2K and Win98 crashed about 12 times per computer during the reporting period.
XP crashed about 24 times per computer during the reporting period.
What were you saying about stability and reliability?
I've been using W2K at work since its release, and I average 5 crashes per week. The IT staff does all they can to keep this barge afloat, but even 6 MSCE's aren't enough. That's why the 300 workstations here arn't going to XP.
What's more, take a look at the book Who Rules America, recently released in a third edition. The sociologist who wrote it found that the same people migrate between positions as government appointees, lobbyists, and corporate boardmembers.
A pox on both their houses. Concentrated power is dangerous, whether it's corporations or government. Decentralization is the path to freedom.
Nah, nobody expects the ... Ooops, here they come!!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
what makes MS think people will start all over again when they wouldn't even shell out for XP and a new system
cuz Longhorn apps will requite Longhorn's functionality to work. Like you said,
They are using the system they bought a few years ago that still works
so you can probably be damn sure M$ will make the older systems NOT work...when all else fails, use force.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Three short snippets, and then commentary...
...
> His new role plays to perhaps his greatest skill--that
> uncanny ability to foresee how emerging software
> technologies can be woven together and parlayed into
> must-have "industry standard" products, which, in turn,
> reinforce demand for other software from Microsoft
> If Longhorn really does turn out to be a Super Windows--a
> big if--it will handle so many functions of computing that
> Oracle, Sun, AOL Time Warner, and Sony may find themselves
> with less to do...
> Because Gates' geeks are completely overhauling the
> operating system, they'll also have to redesign most of
> the company's other software products and services to take
> full advantage, including the MSN online service, its
> server applications,
If I read that right, we're saying three things:
1. Bill Gates' job is to interweave (i.e., make
interdependent) previously distinct technologies
so that Microsoft products are must-have.
2. Oracle, Sun, AOL, and Sony are targeted for
takeover. We already know the database filesystem
will make life tough for Oracle. So, what is the
threat to Sun, AOL, or Sony? I think I can answer
about AOL (below).
3. Read that third quote again. And again. Does
that sound to you like the MSN internet service
will have to be changed in order to be compatible
with the new MS OS? Does that mean, then, that
_only_ (the revised) MSN will work as an internet
service for users of the new MS OS?
Remember what was said in the Holloween Documents
about decommoditizing protocols? This is it; either
I've misread something badly, or Bill Gates wants to
"decommoditize" internet service. We already know
MSN users have to use Outlook; in a 2006, users
of this OS will have to use MSN (and, of course,
Outlook).
Fortunately, 2006 may be too late. In 1998 Unix
was not ready for the desktop. In 2002, Unix *is*
ready for the desktop. By 2006, I expect Microsoft
to have lost some of that market share to Linux
and OS X. With any luck, Longhorn will be too
late to lock down the whole market for them.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Spot on. Thanks for the quote.
By coincidence, as I wait for the "at least 2 minutes between posts" thing to time out, I found myself reading this in Ed Foster's GripeLine (infoworld.com):
"Spammers appear to be taking to heart the Nazi propaganda dictum that more people will believe a big lie than a small one. The lies that spammers tell keep getting bigger, and the scariest part is that apparently some folks do indeed believe them."
Substitute "Microsoft" for "Spammers" and consider the whoppers they're telling us are the future of computing...
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Did you know OS X is based on Darwin, a GPL'ed platform? It's even ported to the Intel chip.
Yes, if you wanted to you could write your own OS X. What do you feel is stopping you? You'd have to re-write Quartz (hint: use HW accell to start with in your version!) but you have to expect a bit of work. Or, just run Linux on the PPC platform.
I disagree about us trading one dictator for another if Apple were to rise to power. Apple has been very open, and also VERY supportive of open technologies - they ship with Apache and SSL right out of the box!!! They build on top of thigns that are alerady fine, like the GUI overlying a number of network apps like netstat and nslookup.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Long Horn sounds like all the things Alan Cooper told MS they should do in 1995 when he wrote About Face. Designing an OS like "normal" people had to use it, Apple's been doing it for a while. This is MS attempt to clone what Apple's done with OS X.
Until our children are no longer molded into castrated sheep democracy remains a fake and a danger. -A. S. Neill
I told a friend of mine, who is *nix experienced, that Linux will be on 35% of desktops by 2005, based on what I had seen in the improvements. He flatly told me I was, "High on crack. Linux is too hard for the sheep to use."
After playing with 2k and XP, I would have to say M$ stuff and Linux are equal in terms of complexity.
I see M$ going one way, and 'real' computer users going another. Bill has no idea where real computing is going in the future. He thinks he can watch consumers and give them what they want, entertainment crap, he calls this innovation. Meanwhile, people with intelligence, will come up with a new paradigm, the sheep will be suitably impressed, switch, and M$ is stuck with a row boat.
This longhorn security stuff is crap. As long as the OS controls the security, it'll always be highly vulnurable. A single point of entry will always be available, fuck that I say.
Real security would be to have every app run in its own space (like mini-kernels), and share "sets" of data, instead of actual data. The OS would go back to being the hardware cop, and the apps can deal with security in their own terms. One app gets compromised, so what, the system is still safe. Kinda like client-server internet transactions...something like CGI.
I know shit about kernel programming...so flame me if you must.
So you can ssh in when there's a problem, and when there isn't your Grandma can use Netscape and IE and Word?
GPL Deconstructed
MS hires all the top talent that they can get ahold of. unfortunatly they keep all those people locked in the MS world of more features and not in reality where normal people need software that works today. People really didn't need a grammer checker for MS word that highlights their errors as they type, what they needed was a stable program that would never lose their work. Does it look good when all you have to advertise about a new product is how it fixes all the problems with the last one? It is not sexy to say, "BUY Word 2005, it won't lose your work like Word 2000!" Not at all sexy, and software has to be sexy and cool to sell.
The problem is when the State and Corporations collaborate to create monopolies and then force you to purchase their products and services. Auto insurance would be a good example.
How so? I don't have insurance.
.
.
.
Granted, I don't have a car or even a driver's license (I'm old enough to get one if that's what you were thinking).
You could argue the same thing about gasoline. "Oh, horror, the oil industry is trying to gouge me and kill my family! Look at the prices they charge for gas!" Who exactly forced you to buy a car?
There are quite a few alternatives, such as public transit and riding a bicycle (or even a Segway). You got yourself into this "conspiracy" and if you don't like it, vote with your wallet.
Er, anyone remember Microsoft's Cairo? The object-oriented development of NT that was originally to appear (IIRC) around 1996.
Is the project still going?
Well since I'm afraid of my computer knowing this much about me and my habits I guess I'll skip Longhorn and go to Linux land.
Congrats. You made a convert!
Does anyone think for a moment that this article is about MS developments? Didn't you get this warm fuzzy feeling about what a down to earth and all around good guy Bill is.
To me it just sounds like propaganda intended to introduce the real, unmythical, Bill to everyone. "See there's really nothing to be afraid of!"
Kinda reminded me of Theodore Roosevelts "fireside chats" intended to bring the impersonal president into people's livingrooms and show that he was really a man of the people.
That's my take anyway.
Let's hope the hardware encryption is as robust as the XBox (or any other encryption hardware for that matter)
Xix.
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
File management seems to be the one proposed by the delayed and nevermore DR E 17. I wonder if Raster has been spending way to much on things that will never be...
Well, until the system becomes ubiquitous, and required for authorization to do anything outside of the confines of your little box. See this article at The Register for some interesting thoughts on this.
Your Servant, B. Baggins
And if the US has a stronger State, there is a good chance that no plane would have been flown into buildings, because everybody would see as a matter of course that plane security should not be entrusted to untrained minimum-wage workers with criminal records, but, instead to highly-skilled professionnals.
History shows plainly that the economy doesn't give a flying fuck about people having enough to eat. It also doesn't care whether people are housed decently. It could not care less if people can have medical care or not. It could not be bothered whether people can enjoy political rights or not. It even doesn't give a shit if the houses are properly built following strictly-enforced building codes in hurricane/earthquaque zones; hell, it even likes it better when there is a natural disaster: the reconstruction efforts make the gross national product grow!!!In short, the economy cares less about people than you care about all the e. coli bacteria you just shitted last time you had a dump!!! The economy is important, for sure, but it is not the only thing in life!!!
Billions of people worldwide believe it strongly, and have fought epic battles to have it implemented. They certainly can't be wrong!!!It's even more alarming that someone would be so blind as to parrot the big croporation rhetoric that wants to eradicate the power of States as much as possible in order to occupy it...
"Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours-- making all those things easier."
...it's Windows 1984.
Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
The only safe system is one that is NOT connected to the internet. That also makes it substantially more useless.
But anyhow...
Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours-- Just what I need. A trojan named Longhorn on my system.
You assume that that poster's country has a bad economy when the poster didn't even specify which country it was?
You certainly are a true believer in hard-core capitalist economics.
heh... in todays day and age, if the employer doesn't FIRE you then it's a good day.
Or do they call it corporate downsizing still? =)
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
my point is that Word shouldn't ever crash. I mean is a Word processor really so complex that it's impossiable to create one that doesn't crash? I program software for a living and I must say that building software that has specific boundrys isn't that hard.
I think that Word crashes because it does too much, tries to be things it's not. It's like, word should be word processing, not word processing, page layout , excel , a drawing program, a 3-d text tool, image editor and god knows what else they try to make it today. Swiss army vs good knife. Anyone who has tried to use word as a page layout tool realizes that it sucks, anyone who uses it as a draw program must realize that there are better products out there.
The features that Gates is talking about are features that require AI, which never work well. It says that Loghorn will screen phone calls and e-mails automatically and track down a person when he is out of the office, etc. all extreamly sophisisticated features which require the software to make intellegent descisions. Software has never been good at this, for example in Word there is an Auto-format feature, which uses AI to decide how to best format your letter. It works sometimes, but 10% of the time it screws up your docuement completely, which effectively means it is completely useless. The features that Gates is trying to introduce are also going to be like this.
If Gates really wanted to improve Windows he would better off providing more mundane features which are still missing. For example, OSX has print preview built in to the OS - if you write a program that has a print function, print pre-view is provided by the OS automatically. There are tonnes of features like this which are missing, which would make writing Windows apps easier, they will never get added though, because they aren't considered "flashy" enough.
I have a collection of 'creatures' that run around an 'environment',
to extend the system, i need to extend the environment and the functions the animals can perform.
the problem is to create a way to make a universal system that can be extended.
so, instead of an environment and creatures i model a set of AI's, the interactions between the AI's are also AI's and the whole model it's self is an AI.
the AI's are a set of components linked up using neural nets, stats, HMM etc...
If you apply this to a computer system network, the components become, text editors, buttons, spell checkers, GDI's, protocols other machines etc...
the 4-5 years is very on and off. around 5 years ago I wrote a component based system where components expressed datatypes and functions, and the system would find the components to make the application work. The application was basicly a set of links between the components.
I also wrote a creature/environment simulation but gave up because of the starting block/extensibility problem.
A year or so ago, I realized that both problems were the same i.e. each creature and the environment could be complete components so long as there was a communication mechanism in place.
extending on that each creature can be a set of components etc.....
infact the communication mechanism can be a component/collection of components.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
It's not exactly a stretch considering ALL the socialist countries in the world presently have bad economies, labor strife and overall bad standard of livings.
Read the post, moron, s/he said Rand was an idiot.