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Microsoft Plans WinXP "Reloaded"
An anonymous reader writes "Looks like Microsoft changed their minds and are planning a new OS release before Longhorn. They are calling it XP Reloaded."
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I Googled "XP Reloaded" just for kicks.
Based on the results page, I think they really do need another release -- nearly every single query result was a question about how to reload the operating system because a bunch of shit just stopped working!
Once XP Reloaded comes out, I can't wait to query for "XP Reloaded Reloaded" and see if the number of results returned decreases at all, or if the MS tards just add more bugs with every "bug fix". Hahahaha!
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
Is this a fortelling of things to come? Did the Oracle prophetize these events? Is it fate that the next two versions of windows are doomed to be over hyped and inferior to the original in nearly every way shape and form?
Warner Bros takes Billy to court over using the name Reloaded.
Actually what I'm thrilled about (even if others say its horribly inefficient) is the 3D accelerated desktop that is supposed to be in Longhorn, and doing away with 2D acceleration. The Mac has it, why can't we?
Though I doubt Reloaded will have it as it would take away the Longhorn hype
Candle burns its brightest in the dark
XP Rebooted?
This reminds me of a phrase posted here on slashdot about the movie " How about I give you the finger and you give me my 10 dollars back!"
how long until
Somehow, this seems like a sequel nobody wants to see...
Remember what happened when XP missed its deadline... Microsoft ended up shipping WindowsMe which in most circles stands for "Mistake Edition".
We know the real reason they're putting this out. It's not for the innovation value, but that sales of the XP Update have started to tail off, and this will convince some people who already have XP to buy the upgrade...
Do they know how many times I've "reloaded" XP for friends and family members? Seriously.
Not much difference from what they did with 98SE or 95B (or 95C).
Says the latest virus to XP.
Well, XP Reloaded won't be a sequel to something as good as the original Matrix film, so the expectations won't be quite as high.
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
Well, all the bugs are real. There is no escape.
I think I'll save my money until XP Revolutions comes out.
Jesus. That's so lame.
That's like in high school when you'd be hanging out at your friend's house and his dad would be one of those guys who thought he was cool but he was actually terribly out of touch. You know, the kind of guy who would come downstairs in like 1998 and say something like, "What are you guys doing? Listening to Nirvana?" in a desperate attempt to seem cool and "with it."
-- atomly
if this OS will have full 64bit compatiablity? As if it doesn't it could seriously slow down 64bit sales, as I for one was waiting for Longhorn to upgrade to 64bit, and I know a lot of my friends were.
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
It WILL boot up, but the boot-up sequence will be 150 copies of Clippy fighting the Windows logo.
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
I hope it's not another Windows ME style dead-end branch of the Windows tree. US customers need to get the rumored stripped-down Windows that the EU may be getting. Windows, without all the unwanted crap, would be interesting to see. BN
...with Duke Nukem: Forever will be particularly popular.
AC comments get piped to
Gives new meaning to "a glitch in the matrix", doesn't it?
*crickets*
sorry.
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
Yeah, today's bits just don't seem to age as gracefully as the bits o' yore. I blame it on the advent of antivirus software. Software doesn't get the chance to build up a natural immunity anymore...
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
And delayed. Point is, to me this indicates that Longhorn's release date just became slightly more tentative than it was before. Which is a good thing for alternative operating systems like the growing and ever-improving GNU/Linux.
And in the short term it's a good thing for Microsoft, as some people are likely to fork over the $100 (or whatever) upgrade.
How about XP Unplugged? Now that I'd pay money for.
Yeah it already came with XP Preloaded.
Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you install Linux, you won't have to.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Anyway, I read the article, and I loved this quote from Window's lead project manager:
"We are exploring ways to add value to Windows XP."
To me, that sounds like newspeak for "We are exploring ways to get existing XP users to pony up extra cash."
What's funny about all this is the article talks all about the prospect for this new XP release, without mentioning even one feature Reloaded would contain. Go figure.
Here's some wild speculation: Longhorn development is running into problems that are further delaying development, so Microsoft is responding with a stopgap operating system. Maybe they should call it OS9 instead of Reloaded.
Anyway, from a Linux advocate's perspective, anything that pushes back Longhorn has to be considered a good thing. Longhorn will no doubt come with some compelling features that will make Linux a harder sell. So the longer it takes to be released, the more time Linux has to establish its foothold.
Note that I'm not saying that Longhorn will be a product I'd want to have. Every new release of Windows seems to be more restrictive than the last, and what little I understand about .NET terrifies me. Still, there's no denying that some users will view Longhorn as sort of the OSX release of Windows.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
You mean Hippocrates as in the Hippocratic oath? Part of which reads:
I will follow that system or regimen which, according to my ability and judgement, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous.
I don't think Microsoft could ever be credibly accused of being a bunch of hippocrites.
In theory, practice and theory are the same. In practice, they're not.
... that Longhorn will be even more delayed. As others in the thread have noted, this is exactly what happened with 95 (B and C) and 98SE and ME's entire reason for existance.
Today we have learned that "new intermediate version" means "omigod, I am up to my eyeballs in delays, and I don't want to look like an ass to my users^W customers"
The previous sig has been removed due to
Which would you prefer? "WinXP 2: Electric Boogaloo?"
sulli
RTFJ.
How about...
"Ok, so what do you need, besides a license?"
"Hardware. Lots of Hardware."
As per the article, this is its "internally referred to name", probably a nickname given to it by the developers. I would bet real money that this has never been intended to be used outside the developers group, much less MS itself. Watch out for something like WinXP SE.
Note that the only MS person quoted in the article is never quoted as calling it XP Reloaded, its only implied ("Sullivan said that the possible release of XP Reloaded does not indicate a delay for Longhorn." is not a quote, but sounds more like something Cnet bodged together out of the info it had to hand), but an external analysist did, clear indication that this is a pet name for the project and not its official title.
All it takes is a glance at the imdb.
I think "you got served" is a pretty good candidate myself.
One you missed.
It's really quite funny.
According to the article, the Reloaded name is an internal name they are using, like a codename, not the actual product name the public will see. Besides, you're comparing apples to oranges. One is an OS that sounds like another OS, the other is an OS that sounds like a movie. Which one do you think may cause confusion?
"Here comes Desktop Agent Clippy Smith! 'It looks like you're trying to type a letter, Mister Anderson...'"
Welcome back, Mr. Idiot User. We've missed you.
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
a patched up version to keep the income stream happening. Which doesn't mean it won't have some interesting stuff, but the MS history is that it will wind up as another dead end.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Then they installed some "free" program. It installed spyway/malware/hijackware on their system. They have 20 processes in the background that they do not even know is running. The machine is crawling along, and then their 90 days of anti-virus updates ends. Now a month later, the next big virus is out, they are using outlook express (with default) settings. Now they have at least one virus on their system.
The person of average intelligence who does not spend several hours a month keeping up on firewall, antivirus, malware, adware and other security/performace issues, will soon have a constantly rebooting, locks often, won't shut down box.
Not a blue screen, but just about the same thing, The big lie microsoft has always told, just plug a computer in with windows and start working, everthing will work find and stay working fine.
vi +
Had to say it
Intel givith and Microsoft taketh away
Well, it's better than Windows XP: A New Hope.
Or, as someone else said, Windows XP: Return of the King.
Maybe a better name would be Windows XP: The Phantom Menace.
Or Windows XP 2: 2 Farked 2 Frivolous.
Mr. Balmer,
I am not an idiot. The company that I work for is not populated by idiots, either.
It has become increasingly apparent in the past few years that Microsoft is clearly more interested in Microsoft's business and less and less interested in ours. Your penchant for adding meaningless and often useless features to your software while ratcheting up the "Draconian" knob on your license amplifier is blatent, obvious and conveys a serious lack of respect for your customers.
Now go away before I taunt you a second time.
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency
Maybe it's time to stop adding value and start subtracting crappiness.
Love, Masque.
P.S. Please open the enclosed attachment.
You're thinking about this in the wrong way. When they say 3d accelerated they don't necessairly mean that the desktop is in 3d. What they mean is they are going to use features of the video card to make things render faster. For example if one window hides another the video card will know from it's z-buffer that it doesn't need to render the window on bottom.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
"What good is a keyboard, Mr. Anderson, ... when you can't boot?"
Who doesn't like free music?
Smith: "One of these opertaing systems has a future. The other does not."
Neo (looking confused and stupid as always): "I know my rights. You can't scare me with this XP crap."
Smith: "And how are you going to tell anyone about Linux if our search engine returns no results."
Microsoft SmithX Agent
A small utility which greatly speeds and simplifies implementation of dos copy command as well as FileCopy API function.
Microsoft Oracle SQL
A complete replacement for Oracle Oracle, Microsoft Oracle is a database engine with Stupid Query Language. Now, You can give simple questions as "Uh?" or "Eh?" to your OLAP data cube.
Microsoft Architect
New antivirus tool. In case of vrus or worm detection, it completely wipes out anything from your hard disk and keeps your computer clean and safe, reinstalling a pure initial version of XP reloaded without your intervention.
There you are, staring at me again.
From the article: "A company executive confirmed to CNET News.com on Thursday that Microsoft is now discussing a product internally referred to as "Windows XP Reloaded."
/. ppl spew forth with sad jokes about the lameness of MS' internal code name and the fact that they are a greedy corporate behemoth. 500 posts! All that time and energy taken away from making Linux's star shine even brighter! So if MS does come out with "XP Unloaded", by all means, DON'T UPGRADE. Use Linux, make it better. But PLEASE Slashdot editors: Stop seeding the site with these MS-related "stories". And Slashdot posters: Enough with the masterbatory carping over how STOOPID Microsoft is. We GET IT. NEXT!
So MS is DISCUSSING the POSSIBILITY of an XP re-release. Yup. If MS can add code and apps that they percieve will add value for a significant number of customers, they may package it up and sell it:
* Make software
* Package it
* Sell it
* Support it
* Profit
What a concept! That's what they do. Perhaps the extra revenue will come in handy since it looks like Longhorn will be delayed even longer. But look what happens when story is posted? 500+
Is this sig nificant?
A couple thoughts --
I've gotten used to using ALT-TAB to switch between apps, as in browser to word processor, so for me, tabs are great. Sure, I can bundle like app windows under Windows or Linux, but that just doesn't fit my personal style. Go figure.
On the other hand, by using tabbed browsing, you lose about 50% of your screen to tabs for all the windows you have open, right? I value my real estate more than most people then.
I hear you about screen real estate. But then you have me confused; what browser do you use that takes up half the screen just for the tabs? Does Opera do that? I haven't messed with it in a while, as Opera had problems rendering Japanese. Firefox uses barely a pinky's-width, about as much as the URL bar. Maybe as much as 1/8 of the screen for the app bar, menu bar, URL bar, tab bar, and status bar together.
If you rely on your web browser for window management then your operating system is lacking or you are not using it correctly. Which is why tabbed browsing is abhorrent.
I smell a stylistic issue here. Your response nicely showed that my points were partly based on my ignorance of your experience. Forgive me for that. However, "you are not using (your OS) correctly" seems to carry things a bit too far -- part of any good system is the flexibility to use it in many different ways, no? If I choose to group my browser windows in the browser, I fail to see what sin lies in that.
Ahh and the inevitable personal attack,
Actually, a fine point, but I think I was attacking your comments to the effect that *nix systems don't manage windows well. Nothing ad hominem in that.
I use Redhat 9.0 when I'm not using Windows, but I've used several different distros and window managers in the past. The high level of fragmentation in Linux makes window management even more difficult, as one method for management will work fine on one desktop, but it won't on another without configuring it the same way first.
By "desktop" I assume you mean either "windows manager" or "linux distro", rather than the various virtual desktops provided in a single X session. If this is correct, your statement is quite similar to "window management doesn't work the same on several different OSes.
Um, yes. Windows and the Windows window manager are inseparable; the OS and the desktop are one and the same. Swapping desktop managers under linux is effectively similar to changing the complete userland OS under the Windows monolithic paradigm. To exaggerate a little, your comment is a little like "it doesn't work the same on Mac as it does on Windows". Or for the linux savvy, "Gnome and KDE are different." No surprises there.
I'll grant you that a greater level of standardization would be lovely, not just for the end user but for developers as well. I think that's what the Freedesktop.org project is all about, so this is in the works.
Windows tends to act very predictably no matter where you find it, however.
You bring up a good point here -- Windows, through its hegemony, offers a common user experience. There is something of value in this, and the OSS community would be unwise to sneer. Thankfully, many seem wise enough to save the baby from the bathwater, and are putting in the effort to find what works in Windows.
To hearken back to your earlier posting:
Everything in MS applications looks and feels the same, this is what has enabled MS to keep the desktop, and it's a key point of failure for linux on the desktop.
A good point -- the Principle of Least Surprise plays in here. Users expect a particular look and feel, in terms of where menu items are if not necessarily the specific widget set. Straying from this de facto standard of expectations will almost inevitably make a program less popular. Ask anyone who's used Adobe graphics products versus, say,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."