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Longhorn Preview

prostoalex writes "News.com has up a preview of Microsoft's current build of Longhorn operating system, from Jim Allchin, Microsoft group vice president. The timing is not coincidental with Apple's Tiger release, as Allchin pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS: 'High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.'" Update: 04/15 21:24 GMT by Z : Thomashawk wrote in to provide links to less formal looks at the Allchin preview, one at his site, and one at Evan William's site.

605 comments

  1. Amazing! by daveschroeder · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Wow, a Longhorn "review" from Microsoft itself?

    High on the list of features are security enhancements

    ...

    Ok, so, to bring Longhorn anywhere near the fundamental security that Mac OS X already intrinsically has?

    To say nothing of the irony of this statement..."security enhancements"? Over what? Microsoft's previous already-dismal general track record in this area?

    improved desktop searching and organizing

    Which Apple is already shipping in Tiger, and even Paul Thurrott acknowledges as "exceedingly cool"?

    Perhaps this line from the article says it all on this topic:

    "In both look and form, the search mechanism is similar to the Spotlight feature in Apple Computer's Mac OS X Tiger, which goes on sale later this month."

    and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.

    ...that I can already seamlessly do with Mac OS X's automatic detection of saved wireless network settings, rolling prioritized detection of available network interfaces, and quick switching of locations?

    And it goes on like this, mostly as justifications for how Longhorn is really different from Tiger. (No. Really.) The most relevant excerpt is likely "[Longhorn] bears plenty of similarities to Tiger [...]"

    Except that one is, you know, shipping this month.

    To say nothing of the full-fledged UNIX and X11 environment I have with Mac OS X.

    *Yawn*

    1. Re:Amazing! by aklix · · Score: 1

      improved desktop searching and organizing

      I really hope it's not based on the "New MSN Search!" Atleast the current search program finds what your looking for.

    2. Re:Amazing! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

      Security enchancements can only mean one thing:

      Preinstalled spyware, so you don't have to risk going out onto the internet to find your own.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    3. Re:Amazing! by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Informative
      I liked this one:
      But while the OS bears plenty of similarities to Tiger, Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself. The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file.
      Some new ground. Both KDE and Gnome have had this feature for a good while.
    4. Re:Amazing! by lowe0 · · Score: 1

      Translation: You don't have to switch to get all these features. We'll have them ready for you next year. (Except for Dashboard - MS would be smart to buy Konfabulator if Dashboard really takes off.)

      This is a standard compare/contrast between MS' and Apple's products, nothing more. I'd hardly even consider it newsworthy.

      Of course, I use both Windows and OS X, so I could care less if they copy features from one another - in fact, I benefit from it.

    5. Re:Amazing! by rnelsonee · · Score: 1

      OS X, too. I guess by saying "Microsoft has broken new ground" it just means it's the first time Microsoft has done it with their OS. Out of the 3 major desktop OSes (OS X, any new Linux window manager, Windows), they're dead last. Eek... I'm becoming a Mac fanboy (I just got my first Mac, sorry).

    6. Re:Amazing! by Mr.+No+Skills · · Score: 1

      Uh, I remember that one from OS/2.

      Nice to know their IBM partnership fed into the development of Windows. I guess it does take years for code to find its way out the door.

      --
      Sleep is for the Weak
    7. Re:Amazing! by killjoe · · Score: 5, Funny

      Last year at WWDC Apple had huge posters that said things like "Mac OS X, introducing longhorn" and "Redmond start your photocopiers".

      I thought it was cute, now I know it was prophetic.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    8. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      With open...

      never mind.

    9. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0



      My god do you people realize just how obnoxious and annoying you Apple Fanboi's are?

      .

    10. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey get a clue

      1) XP and all NT series have had the same security stuff that OS X has. People running as Admins is not a lack of OS features but a philosophical design issues.

      2) Desktop searching is here with windows go download MSN search or Google search or any other great free search programs out there.

      3)Windows does allow switching from one wrireless network to another automatically.

      4) If you believe you can do more just because of Macs unix core, well snap out of it....Windows has had a better development environment for a whilte now.

      Your pr the mods lack of knowledge is not an excuse, learn

    11. Re:Amazing! by Enrique1218 · · Score: 1

      I thought I saw something like that before in another OS. In fact, doesn't XP show the actual picture in a jpeg for instance. Now, printing the first page on a Word Document is pretty silly given that I won't be read the text from the icom unless there is a lot graphics.

      --
      You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
    12. Re:Amazing! by halleluja · · Score: 2, Funny
      and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.

      ...that I can already seamlessly do with Mac OS X's automatic detection of saved wireless network settings, rolling prioritized detection of available network interfaces, and quick switching of locations?

      Pff, using Windows(*) I can automatically login wirelessly without saving settings.

      (*) I do not use Windows but many entry points do and accept my request without authorization :-)

    13. Re:Amazing! by x_codingmonkey_x · · Score: 1

      Man I should learn how to type faster...

    14. Re:Amazing! by venicebeach · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and don't forget this one:

      In the category of making sure things "just work," Allchin cited enhancements such as making sure that a laptop that connects to a projector displays correctly without having to press any keys. In addition, he said, are settings tailored for specific tasks, such as watching a DVD. The computer will just assume that the user doesn't want the movie muted and probably wants to watch it full-screen

      It's kinda too bad actually. I go to a lot of scientific talks and I always enjoy watching Windows users tapping all sorts of keys, restarting, etc. just to get their presentation to show up on the projector screen.

    15. Re:Amazing! by Durandal64 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That particular feature seemed like a stupid idea, to me. Why would I want to see the first page of any Word document in a 128x128 pixel frame? All that tells me is that it's a document containing text of some sort, not necessarily that it's a Word document. It doesn't make identifying the document easier and it blurs distinctions among other similar types. What's so great about it again?

    16. Re:Amazing! by llamaluvr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...that I can already seamlessly do with Mac OS X's automatic detection of saved wireless network settings, rolling prioritized detection of available network interfaces, and quick switching of locations?

      I think my laptop With XP SP2 does that already (in fact, it did just about all of that with SP1), so I'm guessing they're talking of improving the process even more. Certainly you can't say that your Macintosh does this absolutely perfectly every single time in every concievable situation? Just like with searching- I'm sure Spotlight isn't perfect, and the article even says that MS is going to add features that go beyond Spotlight. And it's pretty much a given that by 2007 Apple will have improved on Spotlight, too.

      It's OK if the features of two different OSes overlap features, and it's OK if they don't all come out at the same time. The end goal for both systems is essentially the same, so we should expect some redundancy. Searching and finding wireless hotspots are two very common functions, and they don't have a whole lot of leeway in their functionality or interfaces. Everybody wants searching to be faster, to cover more fields, to interpret user input better, etc.

      --
      Insightful: 76, Off-Topic: 379, Flamebait: 24, Funny: 152, Interesting: 201, Underrated: 55, Troll: 9, Total: 896
    17. Re:Amazing! by Otter · · Score: 1, Redundant
      Both KDE and Gnome have had this feature for a good while.

      Yup, I've been turning that feature off in KDE since, what, 1998? (I think it originated in Konqueror, not KFM.)

      That sort of preview can be helpful for graphic files but I find it hard to see how it's useful for documents more than four words long.

    18. Re:Amazing! by x_codingmonkey_x · · Score: 1
      Allchin said that Longhorn also goes further than Tiger when it comes to what one can do with search results, saying it offers new ways to organize and view the information. While the look of the OS hasn't been finalized, the translucent windows and other graphics tricks are expected to find their way into the finished software.

      Hmm translucent windows... also very ground breaking (XOrg has had this since 6.8)...

    19. Re:Amazing! by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      Not only that but does this only work with word? Or every time you create or edit a document will the system have to call on the app that it belongs too to render it?
      Or will longhorn call on the app to render it everytime it gets a directory!
      Seems pretty usless to me to be honest.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    20. Re:Amazing! by myov · · Score: 1

      Hmm... thumbnails. Revolutionary.

      MS is throwing more and more UI concepts out the window.
      It's one thing to make a thumbnail of a graphic, but of a word document that nobody will be able to read? I can tell the difference between an icon with a big W and other types. But a bunch of white documents with various black lines?
      Give me better metadata anyday.

      Not to mention the performance hit that's going to take to render each word document.

      --
      I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
    21. Re:Amazing! by Val314 · · Score: 1

      128x128 Icons?

      most Windows Icons are 16x16 (Explorers List View) or 32x32 (Icon View).

    22. Re:Amazing! by tehshen · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Some links for the interested:

      Introducing Longhorn.
      Redmond, start your photocopiers.
      This should keep Redmond busy.
      Redmond, we have a problem.

      Not only was it cute, it was a big "We'll always be one step ahead" from Apple.

      --
      Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
    23. Re:Amazing! by Jason+Earl · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why do you think it has taken Microsoft so long to come out with Longhorn. Microsoft had to wait for Apple and the Free Software community to come up with enough ideas worth stealing to make Longhorn worth its customers time.

    24. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You were doing pretty badly up until about here:
      Your pr the mods lack of knowledge is not an excuse, learn
      at which point you took a turn for the worse and ended up making one of the stupidest posts of all time. It's cute that you're defending Microsoft, though :)
    25. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      c:\\if\\there\\was\\ever\\a\\homosexual\\design\\c hoice\\it\\was\\perverting\\the\\escape\\character \\for\\use\\as\\a\\path\\separator.

    26. Re:Amazing! by thanasakis · · Score: 1

      What a pile of horseshit. This capability has been there since windows 98 if memory serves. I can remember photoshop images appearing as miniature thumbnails in explorer. Has this guy Allchin actually ever used windows? Because from the sound of it he might as well be writing his stupid article on a Mac.

    27. Re:Amazing! by Durandal64 · · Score: 1

      Well, I imagine that (similar to what Apple is doing with meta-data indexing in Tiger) Microsoft will do it through a plug-in architecture. So the OS will call a plug-in which uses Word's renderer to create an icon preview. I would also imagine that they'll provide an SDK so that other app developers (like Adobe or Macromedia) can create plug-ins to render their custom document formats in the form they think is best.

    28. Re:Amazing! by Durandal64 · · Score: 1

      Won't Longhorn have support for larger icons? And doesn't XP have support for 64x64 icons anyway?

      While they're ripping off Tiger (which I believe features a max icon size of 256x256, whereas it was formerly 128x128), maybe they could glean some features from 10.0, as well. ;)

    29. Re:Amazing! by tehshen · · Score: 1

      I hope this isn't going to have to call up an instance of Word to render it. Either it will, wasting memory and causing Word to become a requirement, or by bundling parts of Word into the system (please do not let this happen, please)

      I remember when the <input type crash> bug was in IE - I created a test document, and navigated to the folder it was in with Windows Explorer. Explorer tried to use IE to display the thumbnail, which didn't work, crashing it along with Windows.

      Besides, text is pretty unreadable at such low sizes, and what will happen to embedded media or ActiveX controls? As useless features they are, people do use them.

      Hooray for Microsoft features.

      --
      Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
    30. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      But it really begs for a /. poll:
      What is the most gay design choice in windows?

      conflating logical and physical partitions (c:\what I mean)

      the aformentioned path separator debacle

      balkanized low-level model, when everything really wants to be a file

      that turkish prison some call the Registry

      that 32 feet of static head called a command interpreter, and the homesick abortion of a scripting language that arrived therewith
      You decide.

    31. Re:Amazing! by Axe · · Score: 1, Insightful
      The one reason that Mac prospers is that they actually do have a port of Microsoft Office and most of Adobe products available. Just a thought.

      Office is actually one very functional product, when used properly - only I wish they bind C# to it instead of VBA.

      MS is evil, all right, but some products of them do work quite fine (Server 2003 and Office for one, and XBox).

      And God save us from animated icons.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    32. Re:Amazing! by Gentlewhisper · · Score: 1

      Some new ground. Both KDE and Gnome have had this feature for a good while.

      In fact it is a shame that the FSF didn't apply patents for those IDEAS.. bite the 900 pound gorilla where it hurts! Its gonads!

    33. Re:Amazing! by lheal · · Score: 1

      >"High on the list of features are security enhancements...."

      To Microsoft, security is a feature rather than an integral part of any program. You can't patch on security; either it's there by design or it's not.

      Sadly, most people will see that they've added "security features" and be impressed. Reading that makes me cringe, knowing that I'll have to wade through a glittering morass of GUI checkboxes to turn off another paperclip.

      --
      Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
    34. Re:Amazing! by svara · · Score: 1

      Indeed. The GNOME/KDE folks should have patented it;)

    35. Re:Amazing! by Axe · · Score: 1
      I vote for 1) path I would not use the word gay though, as it has another meaning impying joy. Lets be less PC - it is downright faggoty. 2) drive letters 3) shell (but that is easily fixable with Cygwin - but then you run into 1 and 2...)

      Registry.. mmm. Not sure - at least the intention is reasonable. I like a DB better then a shitload of config files, but at least files are easier to track and clean. If only Registry was better partitioned for different apps it would be not completely bad.

      Linux will benefit from a centrilized configuration/administration point - it just needs to be properly designed I guess.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    36. Re:Amazing! by rapidweather · · Score: 2
      For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself.


      Using Konqueror, even if in the iceWM environment, or Fluxbox, the icons have a tooltip, if you can call it that, that shows the image and text files. The image ones are really big, and easily seen, the text ones are actually readable, the first page as said.

      Almost everything one would like to know about the file is also given, very detailed. I have not tried it, but don't the sound files also run as a preview? All of this is very helpful to the user, whether in KDE, or in Mac or Windows OS's. Help one get some work done, and be sure of what you have in that folder. This is what I have using KDE 3.2, which became available in February 2004. The latest probably has more features.

      Would hope that the Windows version does not disappoint.

    37. Re:Amazing! by smittyoneeach · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I guess /etc is more...coagulated than designed.
      Furthermore, some XML in there might actually be useful...

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    38. Re:Amazing! by phoenix-gb · · Score: 1

      Probably just being nitpicky here, but isn't X11 a downloadable add-on from Apple? There are X Servers available for Windows, too, both free and commercial. For example, the current Cygwin server, which I believe is a port of x.org, supports OS managed windows in a similar manner to Apple's, in addition to "rootless" mode and "traditional" mode with a root window, and even provides an experimental hardware accelerated (if supported by the OS and available hardware) Open GL server.

      Whilst UNIX support is, of course, not directly possible with Windows, may UNIX tools and applications can, and have, been ported to Cygwin for Windows.

      Of course, neither of these options really beats an X Server with direct access to the hardware on a dedicated *NIX box instead of having to emulate X through another display layer :)

    39. Re:Amazing! by kz45 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      It's kinda too bad actually. I go to a lot of scientific talks and I always enjoy watching Windows users tapping all sorts of keys, restarting, etc. just to get their presentation to show up on the projector screen.

      too bad the reason many users' systems are slow isn't because of Microsoft. It's because of spyware. I have XP running on all of my computers and 2003 standard edition on my server. The 2003 machine has been running smooth for over a year now, I haven't even had to reboot it once. I have also used my XP machine (which is a laptop) for many presentations, and I have never had a problem.

      rebooting and BSODs due to Microsoft issues are a thing of the past.

      linux may not require reboots due to spyware, but that's only because it's not popular enough for the spyware companies to write software for it.

    40. Re:Amazing! by mattkinabrewmindspri · · Score: 1
      I couldn't have put it better myself. Some images look like text documents. Some websites look like text documents. Some websites look like images. If icons are just previews, it will be hard to tell them apart. It's a good thing to be able to quickly distinguish "This application created this file, and this application created that file."

      Microsoft seems to be taking a step backward here.

    41. Re:Amazing! by tirnacopu · · Score: 1

      Because usability from a (sane) user's point of view means you don't need to know the make, model, bugs or vendor of an application (file extensions are an even greater offense). You need to identify quickly the file's content type - image, text, audio etc. and let the bloody computer handle its representation on the screen/printer. Apple's idea of "text" files which can very well be Unicode RTF and printing everything as PDF is very cool.

    42. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention the worst user interface I have ever worked in. I mean, seriously... you expect me to ever switch to a Mac when they still insist on their "one menu bar, period" philosophy?

    43. Re:Amazing! by dfj225 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I was thinking the same thing. For documents, this seems pretty much useless. For images it works well, but XP already does this. What approach I really like is the one Mac OS X takes where you can click on an icon and (in pane view anyway) get a preview of it to the right. This makes more sense because the preview is larger than the icon, and I only see it if I want to see it.

      --
      SIGFAULT
    44. Re:Amazing! by mmeister · · Score: 1

      This only goes to provide that just because you can do a feature from a technical standpoint doesn't mean you use do a feature (from a user standpoint).

    45. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It looks more like you couldn't find any points to dispute, since he's completely correct about every point he made.

      It's cute that you're getting worked up about spelling and grammar errors, though :)

    46. Re:Amazing! by MartinB · · Score: 1

      Um didn't Jakob/Tog/someone already show that that was pretty piss poor usability wise?

      --

      The only thing you can accurately describe as "Scotch" is a sticky tape made by 3M. And it's

    47. Re:Amazing! by tehcrazybob · · Score: 1

      By the sound of it, you have been using a Mac since well before Windows 98.

      Windows XP and I assume 2000 allows you to view image icons in this fashion. Windows 98 couldn't do anything more impressive than show a preview of the image in the bottom left corner of the explorer window.

      Now, if Longhorn is also going to display thumbnails, I imagine they will put an 'off' option in there. There are a lot of people who like image thumbnails but aren't going to be all that impressed with white icons with black lines of varying length running horizontally across them.

      --
      Computers need to explode more often.
    48. Re:Amazing! by bheer · · Score: 2, Informative

      > Not only that but does this only work with word?

      Heh. This is Windows' shell feature since Windows 2000-- I have _no_ idea why this is being touted as a Longhorn feature. Install Adobe Acrobat 7 and view a PDF in Thumbnail view, you'll see what I mean. Or on XP, view bitmaps/movie files.

      The way it works is that apps can register a Preview Renderer to the shell. The entire app needn't (and should not be, in fact) loaded.

    49. Re:Amazing! by Espen · · Score: 1

      You think it does this already? It would be much better if it actually did do this. We have (certainly until SP2) had the hardest time to get XP to even remember the encryption keys to a single wireless network without problems.

    50. Re:Amazing! by nukem996 · · Score: 1

      I attended a conference last summer were Microsoft spoke. I asked them what there response was to people claiming that Microsoft copies other peoples ideas, especially from open source projects. There response... talk to our legal department.

    51. Re:Amazing! by rookworm · · Score: 1
      This sort of move aknowledges that MS is the standard and measure of other products. By pretending that MS lives up to their standards, they tacitly acknowledge that just the opposite is the norm, cementing their status of "Other". The humour of the taglines is derived from just this sense. I would be more impressed if they defined themselves as the standard, without reference to the real standard.

      Note I am not saying MS is better by any means, but it is undeniable that through its ubiquity that other OS's must inevitably be compared to Widows.

      --
      The toad can't burp - and for some reason can't fart either, so it swells up and eventually explodes. --Anonymous Coward
    52. Re:Amazing! by ciroknight · · Score: 1

      but WHY??? You can't possibly read the text of those little icons....

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
    53. Re:Amazing! by nxtw · · Score: 1
      Hmm translucent windows... also very ground breaking (XOrg has had this since 6.8)...

      If you want to talk about the windowing system, Windows has had supported this feature since 5.0. (That's Windows 2000, which was released in 2000.)

    54. Re:Amazing! by nxtw · · Score: 1
      Of course, neither of these options really beats an X Server with direct access to the hardware on a dedicated *NIX box instead of having to emulate X through another display layer :)

      It's not really emulating X. It's an X server running on a separate layer.

      Whilst UNIX support is, of course, not directly possible with Windows

      Actually, it is, with addon software. Microsoft Windows Services for Unix includes a POSIX subsystem called Interix. Partially based on BSD and GNU software, Interix runs as a separate subsystem in the Windows NT kernel, alongside Win32. It provides a much more UNIX-like system than POSIX. You may want to see my previous post for more information on this topic.

    55. Re:Amazing! by rookworm · · Score: 1
      Introducing Longhorn.

      But.... tigers don't have horns!

      --
      The toad can't burp - and for some reason can't fart either, so it swells up and eventually explodes. --Anonymous Coward
    56. Re:Amazing! by peasleer · · Score: 1

      Actually, I'm suprised they called this groundbreaking for another reason. When browsing in certain modes in Windows, PDFs, image, and video files all show a preview of the file contents.

      I guess 'expanded on a feature' isn't the same as 'new feature,' though.

      --
      Mythos : Logos :: Slashdot : Intelligence
    57. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Must be fun, being a literate troll.

    58. Re:Amazing! by BrainSurgeon · · Score: 1

      To say nothing of the irony of this statement..."security enhancements"?

      Actually there is no irony with this statement. In Longhorn the permissions model is being drastically changed to least privileged to prevent at of lazy developers from requiring their app to run as admin. See http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,1203 14,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp. This is HUGE for Windows security. This now eliminates the attack surface that these lazy developers create with their apps. Yea, yea, Unix and Linux have always done this..blah..blah..blah. Well, I'm glad that MS is starting to do it too. It's about time!

      So to simply dismiss these "enhancements" due to MS's past track record with security would be a mistake. They know the track record was poor! THAT'S WHY THESE CHANGES ARE BEING MADE! !

      --
      "It's not rocket science, Smithers! It's only brain surgery!" --Mr. Burns
    59. Re:Amazing! by podperson · · Score: 1

      Content thumbnail icons have been in Mac OS since ... um System 7, I believe.

    60. Re:Amazing! by JohnsonWax · · Score: 1

      Certainly you can't say that your Macintosh does this absolutely perfectly every single time in every concievable situation?

      Uh, I can. My powerbook routinely roams across no fewer than a dozen 11.b or 11.g networks - sometimes encountering both simultaneously - as well as the times when I need full 100T and plug in the cable. With a surprisingly minimal amount of effort, it knows which interfaces and networks to select first. It even knows when to connect via Firewire on the odd occassions when I do that. I don't use Bluetooth to connect, so that might be less smooth, but I can't recall a time in several years that it didn't connect to the network I needed.

    61. Re:Amazing! by iminplaya · · Score: 1

      The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file.

      Cool. I won't have to buy Word or photoshop. I can just use a screen magnifier. Just make sure all your docs are only one page.

      --
      What?
    62. Re:Amazing! by j79 · · Score: 1

      I have to agree! I've never had an issue when connecting to a wireless network with my PowerBook. I live in an apartment complex filled with college students. I can walk around with my Powerbook and watch as it jumps onto "open" networks when I walk out of the coverage area of the router I was connected to... All seamlessly, with no interaction by me.

    63. Re:Amazing! by Whatchamacallit · · Score: 1

      Certainly you can't say that your Macintosh does this absolutely perfectly every single time in every concievable situation?



      Ahhh... Yes, I do say that OS X (Tiger) does switch seamlessly between remembered wireless networks without a single problem Ever! (at least for me and I switch between 5 different wireless networks all the time) It also has improved Locations support. Two clicks and I can switch from DHCP to a static address, etc.



      Spotlight works extremely well. Plus it's soooo damn fast! Once you've initially indexed your files the first time... Email searches alone are worth the upgrade! gMail is the only competition. I doubt the Longhorn embedded mini-MS-SQL will be able to truly compete.

    64. Re:Amazing! by d34thm0nk3y · · Score: 1

      You can get at COM with the win32all package for Python. I automate word and excel all the time with it.

    65. Re:Amazing! by klui · · Score: 1

      Most of the time, thumbnail view of movies is a black screen, not very useful either. Film clips, on the other hand are more useful. I remember in OS 9 you can modify what frame the thumbnail picture is for QuickTime movies. Not sure how to do that for AVI/WMA files.

    66. Re:Amazing! by dbIII · · Score: 1
      Ok, so, to bring Longhorn anywhere near the fundamental security that Mac OS X already intrinsically has?
      Yes, but nothing is as secure as an OS that you actually cannot get hold of! Vapour is inherently better in every way it appears to something that can be purchased this year or next.

      If Longhorn is so much better - why isn't it ready for release within the next two calender years?

    67. Re:Amazing! by mollymoo · · Score: 1
      You can download Apple's X11 server, or you can just install the version that's right there on the CD (just next to OS 9 and the developers tools).

      Apple's X11 is a hardware accelerated X server running on a *nix box.

      --
      Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
    68. Re:Amazing! by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And what did Apple introduce?

      Spotlight (clone of MS Index Server, 1998)
      Dashboard (clone of MS ActiveDesktop, 1997)

      Maybe they ment "Introducing NT4.0 Option Pack" instead :)

      Of course, the Apple versions have a much prettier and very likely more user-friendly implementation.

      The big "We'll always be one step ahead" from Apple is a central part of their "Preaching to the Converted" marketing, but that doesn't mean it's always true. But it's very important that Mac users believe it to be true, or they may be tempted by the latest $350 Dell.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
    69. Re:Amazing! by Squozen · · Score: 1

      I certainly can say that. Several people in my office run WinXP laptops, and I've had many comments about how beautifully my PowerBook handles multiple wireless networks.

      I have two main networking profiles under OS X, one for home (which has my proxy specified, and switches seamlessly between two wireless access points in the house) and one for work (which uses one AP without a proxy). Changing between them takes two mouse clicks. Doing the same thing on a Windows machine takes around a minute. If you're lucky.

    70. Re:Amazing! by Nik13 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Security enchancements can only mean one thing:

      I thought you were gonna say "because it just couldn't be worse than before, no matter how hard they try".

      My guess is:

      -LH will still ship with IE which will have a LOT of holes and more will be found over time. "Their" antispyware may not be too bad, but it's like fixing a flat tire everyday... Why not make IE secure instead? ... (Can't see ActiveX support beign removed, either)

      -(Home) Users will still run as admin for everyday stuff. You know what follows... Mind you, even if they "fixed" that, the users wouldd quickly learn to make themselves admin again (not knowing what it is or means, why, the consequences, risks or anything) just so their software runs. Too much soft requires users to be admin for trivial stuff.

      It won't educate users about risks either, and hey'll keep doing the same old stuff.

      This list could go on and on...

      And they say it's going to be more secure, when they really have fixed none of the main problems. Ok, it may be more secrure, but that doesn't mean as secure as you would hope, or as secure as OS X... I still see tons of XP SP2 PCs with tons of viruses and spyware.

      (And that's coming from someone who mostly uses Windows)

      --
      ///<sig />
    71. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i wonder if your a microsoft worker....

    72. Re:Amazing! by rokzy · · Score: 1

      this is very funny. as a new mac convert I thought the "mac just works" was a bit of an exaggeration, but at a physics conference recently, over 50% of the laptops were macs. and with those that weren't, most had at least one problem with an image or animation that wouldn't work with the local projection system.

      this is, of course, just yet another anecdote for all of you reading this, but for me it's complete confirmation that mac is best (even with the non-mac PCs, most were running linux).

      I wasn't surprised that macs worked better, but was surprised just how much better they worked in general.

      you guys reading this can take what you want from this, I'm happy and convinced, and nothing you do or say will change that.

    73. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bah, I scripted all that stuff on my laptop myself; If microsoft is trying to catch up to me, it is a sad sad day.

    74. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Security for who? As part of "Trustworthy Computing", it is security for media corporations who want do decide how you use the content that you own. Who wants parts of their operating system encrypted so even the administrator can't see what his computer is REALLY doing.Also, it is reported to have mandatory "security" updates, which are really new rules on how you can and can't use your computer.

    75. Re:Amazing! by Axe · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but that's a bit heavy. I am not a professional Excel user, and mostly need to record a Macro or two. The build in editor and packaging is quite nice except for this abomination of a language that should be taken out to the shed and shot in the face with a shotgun.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    76. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I'm becoming a Mac fanboy (I just got my first Mac, sorry).

      No I'm sorry.

    77. Re:Amazing! by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      In what way is a db better than config files? The registry is one of the worst mistakes Microsoft ever made in developing Windows. It is essentially impossible to do housekeeping with it, as no one knows what most of the values belong to. And over time it just becomes bigger and bigger, slowing the computer down to an eventual crawl. Far better to have application or driver configuration files named appropriately for the application or driver. Then all the crap can be cleaned out at the same time as an application is deleted. Windows should have stuck to the .ini files. Linux has got it right with it's config files, and OS X with .plist files.

    78. Re:Amazing! by killjoe · · Score: 1

      MS index server was an abomination that never worked. It was a prime example of how MS can take something in unix (locate) and the implement it so poorly that it became a laughing stock of the IT world.

      Same with Active desktop. Have you ever seen anybody who was running active desktop? I haven't and there is a reason for that. It sucked camel balls.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    79. Re:Amazing! by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      Your right. I forgot about that function since my program does not use it. Good grief is the thumbnail view going to be the default now. Yuck. It can be pretty slow with a big directory.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    80. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Annoying. Yes the article compares it to Tiger, but funnily enough Linux had these things way before Tiger came out (Beagle/Dashboard, file previews in folders, etc). Wonder where Tiger got them from? :P

    81. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Windows has had supported this feature since 5.0."

      Too bad they never used it for anything. I'm certain I've never seen it in use.

    82. Re:Amazing! by hawk · · Score: 1

      >For images it works well, but XP already does this.

      It took until XP to copy a system 7 feature???

      hawk

    83. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It has nothing to do with rendering thumbnails of images, it's Word files they're previewing... though it's certainly not groundbreaking as Linux has previewed text documents and the like for a long time now.

    84. Re:Amazing! by hawk · · Score: 1

      The one reason that Mac prospers is that they actually do have a port of Microsoft Office and most of Adobe products available. Just a thought.

      The one reason office prospers is that it had the mac version to keep it alive until they were able to included it on many shipping machines when hard drives got big enough and cd's were standard . . . since the windows versions of excel and word werer distant thirds in their markets until they got shipped cheap that way . . .

      hawk

    85. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know how the implementation will be in Windows, but you can most certainly read the document preview in Linux.

    86. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "But a bunch of white documents with various black lines?"

      You've obviously not seen an implementation of this idea in Linux (where it's been a standard feature for years). The document previews are quite readable, and cause no noticable slowdown (well, no more than icon mode vs list view). Then again, this IS M$ we're talking about here. I'm not expecting much.

    87. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My God, this is so infantile. When Linux was behind on features present in Windows did you repeat this silly mantra?

      Yes, YES! OS X is great. Must the world stop with Tiger? Many people are not interested in OS X for any number of reasons. No small reason is the relative lack of software when compared to Windows.

      Like that title of the book, OS X we are just not into you.

    88. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try it with KDE and see what you have to say AFTER you used it. As of now, you still haven't a clue.

      I found it interesting. Perhaps not always useful, but certainly never a hindrance.

    89. Re:Amazing! by Axe · · Score: 1

      Quite true, but whatever is history, here we are...

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    90. Re:Amazing! by Kesh · · Score: 1

      Actually, Dashboard is Apple ripping itself off. They're just Desk Accessories, little mini-apps, which Apple had back in System 6 (maybe earlier).

      The only difference now is that they're using XHTML/Javascript and leveraging modern graphics.

    91. Re:Amazing! by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 1

      "Last year at WWDC Apple had huge posters that said things like "Mac OS X, introducing longhorn" and "Redmond start your photocopiers".

      I thought it was cute, now I know it was prophetic."

      Beacuse, as we know, Apple invented fast searching.

      Oh, you mean the BeOS had it? And that Microsoft announced the feature for Longhorn in 2003? And that Google already shipped a product that does it for Windows?

      But this is Slashdot. Microsoft *must* be copying Apple.

    92. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Whats more amazing is how Apple comes out with yet another point release and gets away with passing it off as a new version.

      Enjoy spending $200 for your Mac service pack, suckaz!

    93. Re:Amazing! by jmcd02 · · Score: 1

      This is going to be a big deal," Jim Allchin, Microsoft group vice president, told CNET News.com on Thursday. While he acknowledged that Microsoft is unlikely to get throngs of people to show up outside retail stores on launch day as happened with Windows 95, he did say the company expects Longhorn to drive PC sales. "This product has something for everybody."....IE(pun intended)mo' of the same old bloatware!

    94. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amazing what? OS X hasn't changed all that much in the "features" department since Panther and it still beats Longhorn hands down in usablility. And why why why does Microsoft insist on continually bringing up "better security" as a feature when compared to OS X - a rather flank-flank insinuation that OS X has security issues? Not. I'll bet they're just waiting for Tiger's release so they can start reverse-engineering...

    95. Re:Amazing! by SmittyTheBold · · Score: 1

      In all fairness, System 7 supported custom icons, but it took the document's creator app to actually implement the functionality. The first programs I saw that actually took advantage of it were GraphicConverter and Photoshop; saving a JPEG from your Netscape Navigator 2.1 browser left you with the Netscape-document icon.

      --
      ± 29 dB
    96. Re:Amazing! by GroovBird · · Score: 1

      That's a load of crap you're telling.

      First of all, the Registry was in its day far better than INI files. And to me it is perfectly clear. I'm sure that Joe Average won't find his way in it, but he's not supposed to either. And Linux got it right? Linux's use of configuration files is VERY limited. I think /etc/fstab, /etc/users, /etc/groups and maye a bit more but it's just a kernel. The other software (Apache, mail, whatever) use all kinds of configuration files in all kinds of formats with different rules. Try finding your way in that.

      Also, your claim that a bigger registry file makes a computer slower, (to a CRAWL even?) is false. If the registry got bigger, it's because of all the junk you installed, all the shell handlers and all the startup apps.

    97. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pure ENVY and only ENVY. Why Linux and Apple think that printing shit like this will attract more users? Why to attack Microsoft and their products? The answer is: Linux and Apple die of ENVY.
      Get new users for your merits, not attacking others. If you talk about your competence there are two options: One is that you don't have a bit of ethic and the other one is that you have lot of ENVY.

    98. Re:Amazing! by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 1

      Under System 6 and earlier, the term "Desk Accessory" described a particular hack for a non-multitasking OS. With System 7, DAs were just small applications. I guess you could say that Dashboard is a snazzy replacement for the Apple Menu UI under the old OS, but it's not like Apple invented calculator and clock applets.

      XHTML/Javascript bindings to local objects is a straight copy of MS's "HTA" and ActiveX technology. MS even had a Calculator HTA as an example, but it was rather ugly and not all sexy, rounded and orange.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
    99. Re:Amazing! by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 1

      Well, Index Server worked well enough, but it was packaged as a developer component rather than an end user feature to sell a retail OS. Although the fact that you would compared either Index Server or Spotlight to 'locate' just shows you don't really know of what you speak.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
    100. Re:Amazing! by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Microsoft's 'security enhancements' primarily means securing the computer against the owner. It means Trusted Computing and DRM support and forcing down software patches and in general preventing the owner from 'tampering' with anything. Sure there are some actual security fixes rolled in to benefit of the owner, but the new talk of security is primarily anti-owner.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    101. Re:Amazing! by Tibe · · Score: 1

      "Fortunately, Apple fans have always proven themselves to be suckers for the latest and greatest: I expect millions of Mac users to upgrade immediately to Tiger. Ka-ching." - Paul Thurrott

      "Persuading users to upgrade is Microsoft's focus," said Chris Le Tocq, an analyst at research firm Gartner Group Inc.

      Hey, ya think they might be onto something?

    102. Re:Amazing! by elbobo · · Score: 1

      The fact remains that both the MS technologies you claim Apple is ripping off were flops for MS, but will be resounding successes for Apple.

      Oh and Dashboard *is* Apple ripping themselves off. It's not the programming/markup language underneath that defines the feature, it's the user visible functionality. Dashboard's functionality is very close to Desk Accessories but not very close to Active Desktop at all.

      And Spotlight isn't about indexing, it's about the user visible functionality, again. There's been plenty of indexing systems over the years, but they're not important -- it's the way the user interacts with them that's important.

    103. Re:Amazing! by BasilBrush · · Score: 1
      Why is the registry better? Make your case. I've made mine, the registry DOES get bigger the longer you have a computer, and that DOES slow it down. Sure, a lot of that is due to trying out various applications, but few of them I try out are for trivial purposes, far less junk. It's MY computer, why shouldn't I be allowed to install and uninstall programs without it negatively affecting the general speed of my computer. I can on a Mac.

      The very fact that you are blaming me for the problem rather that the OS is apologism. You've just got so used to the problems with your computer, you just see them as inevitable.

      I agree though that linux isn't perfect in it's use of text config files. The .plist files on the Mac and the old .ini system is/was better and more consistent. But any system of application/driver/system based discrete config files are better than the dump bin of a registry, as they provide more obvious partitioning between concern domains, and are more likely to be got rid of when they become redundant - say when the application is uninstalled.

    104. Re:Amazing! by Val314 · · Score: 1

      maybe, but even on my mac i dont look at 128x128 Icons. they are allways downsampled.

      just think about looking at those large icons, you could only have 10 or so on screen... not really usable

    105. Re:Amazing! by jonadab · · Score: 2, Funny

      > And God save us from animated icons.

      Animated icons? How about animated filenames? Why should filenames be static? It's bad enough filenames can only have certain characters, that they cannot, for instance, contain paragraph breaks. What if I want a three-paragraph-long filename? And why should they be text-only? What is this, 1980? In the modern era, our filenames should be fully liberated to include markup, images, animation, scripts, ...

      (No, I'm not serious. I don't even like filenames with spaces in them.)

      --
      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
    106. Re:Amazing! by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 1

      I agree 100% -- Apple's implementation of these technologies will assuredly be far superior for the end user. Microsoft treated this stuff as nothing more than faceless developer components.

      But the fact is that those signs appeared at the Apple developer conference, and were aimed at developers. So pointing out technology is relevant to this discussion. It's one thing to tell end users that Tiger is ahead of Windows in UI functionality (true), quite another to get up and do what Jobs did and tell developers that unsandboxed javascript apps and content indexing puts Tiger ahead of Windows (false).

      (BTW, HTAs/unsandboxed javascript/ActiveDesktop was the most retarded thing Microsoft ever did security-wise, and a primary source of virus/spyware infection. I hope to god that Apple really was aware that MS did it first so they don't make the same mistakes.)

      ----------

      As for desk accessories, the cool part about Dashboard is the translucent launcher, not the calculator the rest of the old hat applets. Much like the Apple Menu, I could see using this thing as my primary UI to launch Safari and Word and ignoring the DAs.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
    107. Re:Amazing! by killjoe · · Score: 1

      No wasn't comparing them. You see locate worked, so does spotlight. The MS indexing service never really worked. I don't think it's fair to compare working systems in production to botched abortions.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    108. Re:Amazing! by GroovBird · · Score: 1

      I don't have the time to go into details, but I'll give you a hint: roaming profiles.

    109. Re:Amazing! by BasilBrush · · Score: 1
      You mean you won't give many details because you don't have much of a clue.

      Roaming profiles - the ability to use any PC on the network as if it were your own, with user settings following you about.

      There is absolutely nothing about this that requires the use of registries, indeed registries just complicate the system. Unix type systems have been doing this for donkey's years. I used to do this at university in the 1980s. It's quite simple. The user configuration files sit in the users home directory on the server. Exactly the same effect as "roaming profiles", but far simpler to set up.

    110. Re:Amazing! by drsmithy · · Score: 3, Funny
      Microsoft's 'security enhancements' primarily means securing the computer against the owner. It means Trusted Computing and DRM support and forcing down software patches and in general preventing the owner from 'tampering' with anything. Sure there are some actual security fixes rolled in to benefit of the owner, but the new talk of security is primarily anti-owner.

      Makes sense, given the biggest security hole in the entire system is the person using it.

    111. Re:Amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What people always miss is that Microsoft don't care about home users, but company users, because they buy the most licenses. Most companies never push an OS, and most business users use loads of files across a number of file servers, email etc. Every platform has holes, it's just that virus writers go for the big easy targets. Look at FireFox vs Internet Explorer. Whilst I agree IE is rubbish and I prefer to use Firefox, since it's rise in popularity, mainstream viruses have come to the forefront. Again, security vulnerabilities have started to ramp up on Linux, particularly SUSE and Red Hat - the 2 most popular industry level platforms for Linux. No one has been able to prove that Windows is more wide open than Linux and vice versa, everyone has an agenda and a point to prove, therefore everything gets skewed.
      I work at a place that uses Windows, Linux and UNIX, each has it's own strength. UNIX is used for heavy duty apps that perform intensive processing, Linux used because it takes advantage of cheap hardware and Windows because apps are easy to develop and generally easy to maintain.
      Mac will never have huge sales because no business will build a large scale network based on Macs and Windows works on cheap hardware, which is all that companies care about, the bottom line.
      From a gamer point of view, do I really want to wait at least a year to get a game? And then for it to be old technology and something better to already be out? Besides, most games companies can't be bothered to make a Mac version. I won't change from XP, but if games become readily available on Linux, then I will go to Mandrake. Why, mainly because it's free (the bottom dollar...)

  2. Is it worth it? by Flywheels+of+Fire · · Score: 4, Insightful
    In an earlier article, Mr. Billy said:

    By the time Longhorn ships, according to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, PCs will have 4GHz to 6GHz processors, more than 2GB of memory, at least a terabyte of storage, and graphics accelerators three times more powerful than those offered by ATI and Nvidia today. He says that Longhorn is designed to take advantage of all this muscle, and nowhere is that more evident than in the rich, three-dimensional interface known as Aero.

    Points to ponder:

    1. People don't even want to move to SP2, do you think people will buy all this muscle for Longhorn?

    2. What exactly is a 3D interface? Would we need to wear 3D goggles to use it?

    3. Longhorn is built around three major advances--a new graphics and presentation engine known as Avalon, a new communications architecture known as Indigo, and a new file system known as WinFS that borrows from Microsoft's relational database technology. Avalon and Indigo are catchy names, but are we going to have loads of compatibility issues?

    4. How much MORE is Longhorn going to cost? Is it going to be subscription based?

    5. How many software patents are MS going to secure for this?

    1. Re:Is it worth it? by Kingofearth · · Score: 3, Funny

      By the time Longhorn ships, according to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, PCs will have 4GHz to 6GHz processors, more than 2GB of memory, at least a terabyte of storage, and graphics accelerators three times more powerful than those offered by ATI and Nvidia today. He says that Longhorn is designed to take advantage of all this muscle, and nowhere is that more evident than in the rich, three-dimensional interface known as Aero.

      We'll have much better computers than that by time Longhorn finally ships.
    2. Re:Is it worth it? by nine-times · · Score: 4, Insightful
      He says that Longhorn is designed to take advantage of all this muscle, and nowhere is that more evident than in the rich, three-dimensional interface known as Aero.

      6. When we have all this muscle, do we really want it all to be spent on more complicated drop-shadows in the OS?

    3. Re:Is it worth it? by RealityMogul · · Score: 1

      The real test of performance will be running DIR at a command prompt and seeing if it is finally as fast as a 486 running DOS 5.0 was.

    4. Re:Is it worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Duh, do you want a graphics adapter just sitting there, or do you want some extra eyecandy for free? (seeing how it's just sitting there, doing nothing, it might as well make the "user experience" prettier)

    5. Re:Is it worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Duh, do you want a graphics adapter just sitting there, or do you want some extra eyecandy for free?

      Some of us are heterosexual and do not like all that fruity eyecandy that you precious mac zealots seem to enjoy. So yes, unless I am playing a video game, I do want that graphics adapter just sitting there.

    6. Re:Is it worth it? by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sounds to me like Longhorn will be a big contributor to the need to upgrade the electrical grid.

    7. Re:Is it worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a point, but it can probably be turned off (so the UI is rendered in directx or whatever, but it will still look like a completly static 2D interface).

      However, complaining about spent resources is a dead end. (Which was the point of my post.)

      (Yes, same AC as gp)

    8. Re:Is it worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > We'll have much better computers than that by time Longhorn finally ships.

      Curiously, I would say the opposite : If they're waiting PCs to have those specs to ship Longhorn, it's still a long time befor it ships :

      - The MHz race is comming to an end : we will have 8 cores cpu each core being 5-threaded at 3.9GHz before a cpu at 6GHz

      - terabyte of storage : that's in three years I guess (I mean, for the average Joe). Longhorn is supposed to ship before...

    9. Re:Is it worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes!!!

      -- KDE user

    10. Re:Is it worth it? by Surt · · Score: 1

      Can you run that dir command on a system with a terabyte hard disk? Did that filesystem have security and recovery features?

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    11. Re:Is it worth it? by ILikeRed · · Score: 1
      I agree, I want my OS to:
      • be reliable
      • be secure
      • obey me and no one else
      • generally stay out of my way
      A lot of these things would not be so annoying to me if I could just opt out.
      e.g. - I really feel sorry for people running Windows that have to install 2 or 3 TSR programs just to install their shitty $100 printer... It makes CUPS look wonderful in comparison.
      --
      I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress -J Adams
    12. Re:Is it worth it? by Shag · · Score: 1
      By the time Longhorn ships, according to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, PCs will have 4GHz to 6GHz processors, more than 2GB of memory, at least a terabyte of storage, and graphics accelerators three times more powerful than those offered by ATI and Nvidia today.
      In 1993, my Mac had a pair of PPC970 chips, each about as fast as a 3GHz Xeon, for an amount of processing power that would certainly compare to a "4GHz to 6GHz" processor on the PC side. It had the capacity for 8GB of RAM (16GB once folks got around to making 2GB modules of the appropriate speed, etc.) It came with only 500GB of storage, but I suppose I could have hung a good bit more off it on FireWire 800... At that point in time, Microsoft was forecasting that a 128MB video card would be necessary. The Mac had one of those, too.
      --
      Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    13. Re:Is it worth it? by myov · · Score: 3, Funny

      Apple vs MS:

      Apple - Apple is a hardware company so they want to sell boxes, not software, yet each release of OS X is faster than the previous one. Tiger is expected to continue this trend.

      Microsoft is a software company so they want to sell software, not boxes, yet each release of Windows is far slower than the last one.

      There's a reason why I can still use a 6 year old mac with the current OS.

      --
      I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
    14. Re:Is it worth it? by tehshen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I use drop shadows (using YzShadow for windows at the moment) and it actually makes the windows stand out more without looking ugly - you can see the active window much more clearly. Don't dismiss it as just another user-interface tweak, please.

      --
      Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
    15. Re:Is it worth it? by smittyoneeach · · Score: 1

      IOW, as humble as the wee BIOS, no?

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    16. Re:Is it worth it? by atriusofbricia · · Score: 1

      I work for a large (17.5 billion USD) company, and they balk at ordering me a new keyboard and mouse because then everyone could ask for it. Now, if they won't spend the money on a keyboard and mouse, why in the world would they give Joe/Jane Secretary a machine with a 4GHz proc and over a TB of storage? When they are finding it hard to fill their little 80GB hard drive and not using half of their 2.0GHz proc. And forget the 2GB of ram, it's more like 512MB and why do we have so much?

      --
      I was raised on the command line, bitch

      "Nemo me impune lacesset"

    17. Re:Is it worth it? by pherthyl · · Score: 1

      More importantly, why would the requirements be so high? So far, there have been no major features announced for Longhorn that aren't already in OS X. OS X can run on something as crappy as this 500MHz iBook that I have beside me (not fast, but it's usable).

      So what exactly is Longhorn going to be doing with all that processing power? I'm genuinely curious here, not trolling. I suspect Microsoft is going to pull a major, unannounced feature out of their sleeves at the last minute.

    18. Re:Is it worth it? by ColMustard · · Score: 1

      I wish I had a computer like that in 1993...

      --
      Moof.
    19. Re:Is it worth it? by dioscaido · · Score: 1

      There's a reason why I can still use a 6 year old mac with the current OS.

      XP runs just fine on the PIII 300mhz machines we have lying around.

      As always, people misunderstand aero. Longhorn will have the classic interface for those with older machines. If the machine has muscle, it will scale UP to the aero interface. Is it going to be slow and bloated? Only time will tell, for now it's all conjecture.

    20. Re:Is it worth it? by orin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There's a reason why I can still use a 6 year old mac with the current OS. I got to 10.3 on a DV iMac (350Mhz, 192 MB ram) which I purchased when 10.0 came out. The experience wasn't all that great, so I shifted to Ubuntu. Linux runs great on an older iMac - the newer versions of OSX do not.

    21. Re:Is it worth it? by mooniejohnson · · Score: 1

      192 MB of RAM just isn't enough to have a good experience. 256 is the bare minimum I'd run OS X with. 512 is better.

      --

      Elmo knows where you live!

    22. Re:Is it worth it? by orin · · Score: 1

      I agree that 192 MB of RAM isn't enough for run the latter versions of OSX (though it was tolerable enough for 10.0-10.2 for me). Given the choice of paying for more RAM or running Ubuntu without having to change anything, I opted for Ubuntu.

    23. Re:Is it worth it? by mooniejohnson · · Score: 1

      Fair enough. And Ubuntu is definitely a respectable OS. I boot it off of a second hard drive, so, nice choice.

      --

      Elmo knows where you live!

    24. Re:Is it worth it? by Shag · · Score: 1

      Dangit! I've been having that problem a lot lately. I get the "3" right, but then type "199" instead of "200." And it's always when I'm talking about the G5. Maybe I'm subconsciously trying to make myself feel like it's in my past.

      --
      Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    25. Re:Is it worth it? by orin · · Score: 1

      I tried two versions of Yellowdog Linux, and found that there were issues with X on a DV iMac. For a Mac specific version of Linux, I think that's just odd. Googling found that many other DV iMac owners have experienced the same problem - but there doesn't seem to be any silver bullet solution. Ubuntu works on a DV iMac straight off the install. Yellowdog might be chasing the Mac-Mini crowd, but someone has done the legwork to ensure that Ubuntu works on the RAGE 128 that ships with the older iMacs.

    26. Re:Is it worth it? by myov · · Score: 1

      In a stock configuration the X won't be great. You'll want to bump the ram at minimum as X is very ram hungry.

      My machine is a Beige G3 with a G4 upgrade card and a lot of ram (the parts were cheap, so why not?). Thanks to XPostFacto it's running 10.3 even though it's not supported. The machine handles its regular load well - in fact better than my powerbook which outspecs it, but carries a much heavier load (ram doesn't go far when each app tries to claim 100 mb). When my powerbook is down the difference is noticeable though.

      However, my mom uses a second generation iMac (266 Mhz G3). All I've done is bump the ram. It runs 10.3 just fine and handles email and web. There's no point in upgrading as it won't run any of her tasks faster.

      --
      I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
    27. Re:Is it worth it? by myov · · Score: 1

      My point was more that for a hardware company, Apple tends to push a lot of software upgrades. You would expect that Apple would be pushing hardware instead. My G3 (over 6 years old) was only dropped last year. It was upgraded from 8.0 to 8.1 to 8.5 to 8.6 to 9.0 to 9.1 to 9.2 to 10.0 to 10.1 to 10.2 and now 10.3 (unofficially). 10.3 runs better on that machine than any of the X releases before it. If Apple wants me to give up that machine and sell me an upgrade, they need to try harder (although my primary machine is now a Tibook). I can't think of anyone using an out of date OS on a mac.

      In many cases, people won't upgrade a Windows box. Either it sticks with what OS it came with (many of my clients won't move off Win98) or they will replace the whole box to get the OS upgrade. I just haven't come across upgraded machines.

      --
      I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
    28. Re:Is it worth it? by the+pickle · · Score: 1

      No offence -- and this is coming from someone who has spent years convincing people that System 7.5 on anything short of a Power Mac is a bad idea, so I know of what you speak with regard to newer OSes on ancient hardware -- but that iMac would be doing a lot better if you weren't choking it to death with practically no RAM.

      My old Wallstreet does just fine with 10.2.x, notwithstanding the very slow 4 MB Rage II graphics chipset it has. Of course, it has twice as much RAM as that iMac.

      p

    29. Re:Is it worth it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it'll be fast. If they chose to use GPU acceleration for everything. And it is possible it will use something more low-level than Direct3D (I think a new, specific driver API)?

    30. Re:Is it worth it? by nine-times · · Score: 1
      Oh, I'm not complaining about drop shadows or 3D acceleration in UIs in general. I use OSX, and like the effects and how they're used. I was partially joking, but mostly commenting on the sentiment of, "Well, since there'll be 4Ghz processors, we'd better make the UI use all that extra processor up."

      I mean, first of all, if that's the approach they're taking, it'll probably end up with lots of effects that don't help the UI, because they'd be forcing lots visual effects just because they can. I'm inclined to believe that things should be worked in gradually, made to fit in and work well with the UI instead of an arbitrary add-ons. Setting out to make complex effects sounds like adding lens flare to every photoshop you work on.

      Second, I think I'd like to hear that they're trying to make the effects efficient, not using more power than they need. The effects in OSX, for example, don't require the most advanced video cards and processors from three years from now to work. So why are Microsoft's predicted system requirements so high?

      And to those who say, "Why not? You want your video card to sit idle?" Well, maybe. Like for a notebook, it'd be nice to have lower power requirements. Also, if the new accelerated UI will be really good, then it'd be nice if it worked on slower systems. If it's not that good, and it's just useless eyecandy, then I'd rather save the power for other developers who can do something useful with it.

  3. Right by anonicon · · Score: 4, Funny

    "High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another."

    And you'll see all this and more when it's released in 2007.

    Honest. :-)

    1. Re:Right by mgpeter · · Score: 1
      And you'll see all this and more when it's released in 2007.

      Exactly ....

      DOJ restrictions went into effect Nov 2002 with a 5 year limit ....

      Fast forward to Nov 2007, Longhorn is released bypassing all of DOJ restrictions. MS has a big enough monopoly that they will rather wait until restrictions are over instead of abide by them.

  4. The Longhorn advantage? by It+doesn't+come+easy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The fact that Microsoft has had to work hard to try and catch up to OSX's level of security is a Longhorn advantage? Wonder if they made it yet....

    Made me laugh: "...document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself." Now there's a security enhancement. The user will have no clue as to what it will do when they double-click the icon...(not that they ever worried about it anyway).

    "As with Windows XP Service Pack 2, security remains at the forefront of Microsoft's development efforts." Right. And it's been proven, after 5 years, how rock solid XP security is...

    So, anyone want to bet on how many "critical" system compromising security issues will be found before Longhorn SP1 comes out?

    --
    The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
    1. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Made me laugh: "...document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself." Now there's a security enhancement. The user will have no clue as to what it will do when they double-click the icon...(not that they ever worried about it anyway).

      Not really. Everyone else already does this (GNOME, KDE, OS X, etc.). This is mostly for media types. Obviously a preview of an executable doesn't make any sense so you can clearly see what is what.

    2. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by x_codingmonkey_x · · Score: 2, Informative
      ...Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself. The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file. Folders, too, show glimpses of what's inside. Such images can be rather small, but they offer a visual cue that aids in the searching process, Allchin said.

      New ground?! This feature has been around in KDE* (and in Gnome* can't remember though) for at least the past year that I've been using it. I give them a little credit for the folders part but give me a break! It really seems like M$ has been doing a lot of ground breaking work by looking and implementing what the competition has had for a long time now and then claiming that they are being innovative.



      * on SuSE 9.1 and 9.2

    3. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by It+doesn't+come+easy · · Score: 1

      Yes, I know it really doesn't make a difference, especially when you can already replace the file's default icon with a custom icon and make it look like anything you want...the statement just tickled my laugh spot after all the talk about security.

      --
      The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
    4. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by oyenstikker · · Score: 1

      This would really piss me off. Take MS Office for example: they latest icons are brilliant. The simple letter-based monochromatic logo for each application over a light indication as to the function of the document aids to quickly identify and distinguish and upon further investigation, gives more clues about the program. To replace that with a picture of the page, with text that I won't be able to read anyway, will be completely useless.

      Of course, I use detail view for everything anyways. . .

      --
      The masses are the crack whores of religion.
    5. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by buysse · · Score: 2, Insightful
      The really interesting part of using a preview of the file's contents to create an icon? Malicious contents.

      Now, we don't even need to open the file for Word to be loaded as an OLE^H^H^H ActiveX^H^H^W COM component and exploited. Excellent.

      You know that's how they'll do it -- by using components. That's the traditional Microsoft way, and why else would you need a few gigs of RAM and a 4Ghz proc to make it look shiny? If Intel's going to keep pushing your crap, well, you've got to push people to buy theirs.

      --
      -30-
    6. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > OLE^H^H^H ActiveX^H^H^W COM component

      I suppose you meant .NET ? :)

    7. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by puiahappy · · Score: 1

      This is also true for suse 9.0 released in 2003.

      --
      Think like a hacker, act like a hacker, but never become a hacker !
    8. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You deserve a 5:Funny

    9. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      MS's new security push happend fter XP was designed. I don't like them, but form the people I know that work there, they are taking security far more serious now, then ever.

      will there approach pay uot in the end? beatrs me, have to wait for longhorn.

      I am just saying this to be fair, I have my share of MS frustration.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    10. Re:The Longhorn advantage? by theAedileDecimus · · Score: 1
      The fact that Microsoft has had to work hard to try and catch up to OSX's level of security is a Longhorn advantage? Wonder if they made it yet.... ... "As with Windows XP Service Pack 2, security remains at the forefront of Microsoft's development efforts." Right. And it's been proven, after 5 years, how rock solid XP security is...

      So, anyone want to bet on how many "critical" system compromising security issues will be found before Longhorn SP1 comes out?
      Not a Longhorn advantage, but it will make it an XP advantage. Windows is the most common OS and is therefore the most commonly targeted OS, and Microsoft is recognizing that, and trying to make it better. What doesn't kill Windows entirely just makes it stronger.

      Made me laugh: "...document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself." Now there's a security enhancement. The user will have no clue as to what it will do when they double-click the icon...(not that they ever worried about it anyway).
      Yeah, just like in KDE, Gnome, OS X, and media files in Windows XP. Stupid Linux, Mac, and Windows users, they'll never understand what it'll do when they double click on it...

  5. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    404 File Not Found
    The requested URL (it/05/04/15/1918208.shtml?tid=109&tid=201&tid=218 ) was not found.

    If you feel like it, mail the url, and where ya came from to pater@slashdot.org.

  6. some advantages that Microsoft has over Apple's OS by deuist · · Score: 0, Redundant
    High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.

    None of which we'll see until 2006.

  7. "Enhanced" security by slobber · · Score: 2, Insightful

    High on the list of features are security enhancements Generally speaking, it is much easier to "enhance" security of something which is not all that secure to begin with, so in itself it could hardly be touted as an advantage compared to other OSes.

    --
    "You mortals are so obtuse." -Q
    1. Re:"Enhanced" security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering that OSX and Linux have had an equal number of security problems over the last couple of years, then yes, it could be an advantage in the future if Linux and Apple don't also start to get their shit togeather.

      P.S. You ARE up to date on the latest Firefox patches right?!?!?

  8. Heh by Skiron · · Score: 3, Funny

    'High on the list of features are security enhancements.

    'Enhancements'? How can you 'enhance' no security to start with? 0 +0 = 0.

    1. Re:Heh by Punboy · · Score: 1

      Here's some python code for ya.

      class Windows:
      def __init__(self):
      self.securitylevel = 0
      def enhanceSecurity(self):
      self.secuitylevel +=1

      win32 = Windows()
      win32.ehanceSecurity()
      print win32.securitylevel

      Make sense? Enhancing adds to it. Even if it started at 0.

      --
      If you like what I've said here, and want to read more, go to http://www.krillrblog.com
    2. Re:Heh by selderrr · · Score: 3, Funny

      ladies and gentlemen, worship this new math genius !


      How about 0+x = x ????

    3. Re:Heh by aklix · · Score: 1

      That's why what they are saying is true.

    4. Re:Heh by k4_pacific · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, I find Microsoft security comes in handy whenever I forget the punchline to a joke.

      Knock knock.
      Who's there?
      Uhhh... Microsoft Security!

      See? It's automatically funny, no matter what the context.

      --
      Unknown host pong.
    5. Re:Heh by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 2, Funny

      'Enhancements'? How can you 'enhance' no security to start with? 0 +0 = 0.

      Maybe they could get away with saying things like "Now with ten times the security!"

      --
      "Now with 20% more synergy."

    6. Re:Heh by Surt · · Score: 1

      That would be addition, not enhancement. If microsoft wanted to express that they would need to say: "Longhorn: now with security!"

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    7. Re:Heh by AkaXakA · · Score: 1

      I, for one, welcome our new mathimatical genius overlords!

      How can they not rule us with their 0+0point energy?

    8. Re:Heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      the original plan was for -x = 0 - x


      but marketing thought it was too negative. Budmtsh.
      Thank you, I'll be here all week.

    9. Re:Heh by Captain+DaFt · · Score: 1

      I Agree. and so does this: http://www.kevinandkell.com/2005/kk0415.html
      (Ser iously, is there ANYONE outside of Redmond that doesn't think "Microsoft Security" is just the punchline for a setup?)

      --
      The U.S. really needs an English to Wisdom dictionary.
  9. I'd be willing to wait until 2007... by Teja · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Heh, personally I couldnt care if MS releases longhorn in 2007, I would like to see a windows version that isnt half assed up. Id like to (for once) not worry so much about security too much. Id be willing to wait a few months/a year or two for MS to really make LH as good as they can.

    --
    - Teja
    1. Re:I'd be willing to wait until 2007... by It+doesn't+come+easy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I understand the wish but don't hold your breath...Longhorn is about boosting sales above all else, just like every other Windows version that has ever been published. Just look at this "interview"...

      "the search mechanism is similar to the Spotlight feature in Apple Computer's Mac OS X Tiger, which goes on sale later this month"

      "Microsoft would delay Longhorn over quality concerns, but is unlikely to let individual features hold up its release. That could mean some further trimming around the edges if things fall behind."

      "...he did say the company expects Longhorn to drive PC sales. "This product has something for everybody."

      In the end, guess what comes first, security or sales?

      --
      The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
    2. Re:I'd be willing to wait until 2007... by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 2, Informative

      Oh, it's far worse than that. Microsoft's #1 selling point for Longhorn is security. "Buy this product because it's more secure than the product we sold you last year." They've been doing that for a while now. They're getting good at it. Ship a product that's known to be flawed, then charge for a product that's known to be flawed slightly less, and advertise it as a big improvement.

      Microsoft ought to change their slogan to "We're doing the best we can." Nobody would believe them, but it would at least be slightly closer to the truth.

  10. Security... by Theaetetus · · Score: 2, Funny
    High on the list of features are security enhancements

    Wow! I sure need that, since my OSX installs are all so virus-prone!

  11. PCMagazine by elid · · Score: 3, Informative
    1. Re:PCMagazine by matth1jd · · Score: 1, Troll

      One of the bullet points in the PCMag article was that they want Longhorn to be the OS for the next 10 years.

      The same OS for 10 years? Maybe that's how long they think it will take them to roll out all the updates?

      Seriously though - in 10 years what if we have 128 bit processors? Is Microsoft going to update the code to support those? I'd like to see them try.

    2. Re:PCMagazine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you actually read the article, you'd notice that they said it would build the basis for an OS for the next 10 years. The same way Windows NT laid the base for the 10 next years (3.51-XP). Posting anonymously so that I can mod you a troll.

  12. Deja vu? by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 0, Redundant

    From the article:

    ...document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself. The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file.


    I'm not trying to be an anti-Microsoft troll here...honest, I'm not (look how I even refrained from referring to them as "M$"), but in all seriousness, hasn't Linux been doing this sort of thing for a while now?

    And yet, Microsoft peddles this as some sort of brand-new,major cutting-edge innovation.
    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:Deja vu? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I remember that "new feature" with image files created by some program on a Mac LCII..

    2. Re:Deja vu? by Stevyn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, if by Linux you mean DEs like KDE. I already have this feature, but I don't use it because I prefer the detailed list. It does make browsing through pictures easier.

      I'm still trying to figure out what innovation we're seeing here. So far it just looks like a collection of eye candy taken from OSX and KDE. As for security? They should go require one root account and regular user accounts. They have enough time to let other software companies know the details so if their software won't function properly they can fix it.

      I mean if they want to simply copy features left and right, then I don't really care so much. But they shouldn't act like these are important innovations.

  13. That's just quality Slashcode at work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Basically it's the same shitpile of Perl that has runned this website for years is showing it's age (and suckitude). I hear by the year 2009 Slashcode may actually start generating compliant HTML!

  14. Oh, come on by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 2, Interesting
    OK - so I can deal with the timing not being coindidental. (Yeah. Right.)

    But this part made me go whaaaa?:

    The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file. Folders, too, show glimpses of what's inside. Such images can be rather small, but they offer a visual cue that aids in the searching process, Allchin said.


    Oh, no, thank you very much. First, I don't want those system resources wasted trying to figure out what the icon should look like every time I update or save the file, let along when I move stuff into and out of the folder. Individual icons for items? Sure! But why are we wasting all the extra time that could be used making the OS faster.

    And I loved this part:


    Allchin said that Longhorn also goes further than Tiger when it comes to what one can do with search results, saying it offers new ways to organize and view the information. While the look of the OS hasn't been finalized, the translucent windows and other graphics tricks are expected to find their way into the finished software.


    Oh, for joy. It's not enough just to find what I want, but I need to sort it by things like "date" and "creator" and "file type". Oh, wait - Spotlight will do that too!

    The whole presentation sounds a lot like "Hm - another product is coming out now, we need to have a good reason for people to delay. Institute standard plan #2: Convince people that our stuff will be better 'When it's done', so don't buy that other stuff now!"

    The question is, with Longhorn at least a year out, will it work any better this time?
    1. Re:Oh, come on by El · · Score: 1

      The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file. Folders, too, show glimpses of what's inside. Such images can be rather small, but they offer a visual cue that aids in the searching process, Allchin said. Can I turn this feature off? It's going to make it a LOT harder to hide my porn collection!

      --

      "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

    2. Re:Oh, come on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's going to make it a LOT harder to hide my porn collection!
      Thats what Windows file system encryption is for. 10 bit effective key length should be enough for you right?

    3. Re:Oh, come on by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

      Oh, no, thank you very much. First, I don't want those system resources wasted trying to figure out what the icon should look like every time I update or save the file, let along when I move stuff into and out of the folder. Individual icons for items? Sure! But why are we wasting all the extra time that could be used making the OS faster.

      I use a similar feature on Konqueror, and think it is very usefull (mostly for images, not so much for text). And it just makes the system slower when loading the icons, with the konqueror window recently open. I can deal with this very short time window.

    4. Re:Oh, come on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > OK - so I can deal with the timing not being coindidental. (Yeah. Right.)
      Coindi dental? What the fuck is that? I thought that the right spelling was the only thing that kept people / human race from falling apart / to agree on. Nowadays, drones on /. don't give a fuck about anything, natural language - wise. It's been all artificial "its / it's / it is" (same), "they're / their / there / they are / there are / etc. / and who the fuck cares / tell me it aint so..." (same). So, why the fuck the language matter? Anyway, ./'s a futcha ov humeneti n' ho ze fck cz? ho, wy? Go fk uslf, u, mthfk, fking sun ov a btch? capish, fershtein, u, fkn mrn? /., FU, big time!

    5. Re:Oh, come on by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

      Actually, the timing is not coincidental because they are not happening at the same time: Tiger releases on April 29.

      But it is also not a coincidence in that the timing is not accidental but rather deliberate.

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  15. Processor speeds by deuist · · Score: 2, Informative

    I sure hope that users have fast CPU's and a butt-load of memory. With the new icon "feature" that gives a mini preview of each document in a folder, I can only imagine how long simple navigation will take. And I thought viewing My Pictures in thumbnail mode was slow.

    1. Re:Processor speeds by 0racle · · Score: 2, Informative

      How long does it take on KDE with a P2? Oh wait, its not that long.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    2. Re:Processor speeds by OhPlz · · Score: 1

      Now imagine people browsing a large folder over a busy network.

      Does anyone actually need a feature like this? It's eye candy for the sake of eye candy, same thing KDE has been doing.

    3. Re:Processor speeds by Punboy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, its a quite speedy thing to do. the KDE project on linux has been doing this for quite some time now, and I've found the Explorer in WinXP actually lists files SLOWER than konqueror, even though it doesn't do previews of any files. Also, Konqueror displays the filetype icon first, then replaces said icons withe previews as it loads them. And, thanks to the thread scheduling and priority handling in Linux and other POSIX-compliant OS's, the thread that processes the threads is put on hold when another program/process needs the power its using.

      --
      If you like what I've said here, and want to read more, go to http://www.krillrblog.com
    4. Re:Processor speeds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      KDE 2 on my Cyrix P150+ already had previews on many document types. Didn't slow anything down as I remember. Ok, Microsoft did not program that ;-)

    5. Re:Processor speeds by ssj_195 · · Score: 1
      They're cached, so it's not really an issue. I just wandered into a folder with 40 .pdfs in Konqueror, and it thumbnailed about 3 per second (Athlon 2800, here). The whole time, it was fully responsive and I could navigate in and out with ease. Now they're all done, I can navigate back in and the thumbnails are shown instantly.

      Of course, rousing the colossal beast that is OpenOffice each time you want to thumbnail a Word doc might be another story ;)

    6. Re:Processor speeds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Windows NT is also POSIX compliant.

    7. Re:Processor speeds by GweeDo · · Score: 1

      You can tell KDE to disable this over network storage (I have it disabled for smb://, ftp://, ect) . If you mount the network storage you can tell KDE to disable it for a certain dir and its sub dirs. So no...it really isn't a problem. Also, the data is cached in KDE so once the thumbs are built they aren't build again unless the doc changes (taht goes for all users accessing that folder)

    8. Re:Processor speeds by Punboy · · Score: 1

      the thread manipulation and regulation in NT is far from being truly POSIX compliant. i know this from experience

      --
      If you like what I've said here, and want to read more, go to http://www.krillrblog.com
  16. In other news.. by PaxTech · · Score: 5, Funny
    Duke Nukem Forever will make Half Life 2 look like a piece of crap. Someday.

    It's the same story Microsoft has told for years.. "Yeah, those other guys might have some cool shit, but the stuff we're working on is WAY better. Don't buy their stuff, wait for our new thing to come out. It'll be available Real Soon Now."

    Apple will be releasing Mac OS X Ocelot by the time Longhorn hits the market.

    --
    All movements for social change begin as missions, evolve into businesses, and end up as rackets.
    1. Re:In other news.. by menace3society · · Score: 1, Insightful
      This has been MS SOP for decades. Say, "Oh, don't buy x. We're working on (x+5) product, in a few months it will be out and beat the pants off of x. It will be so smart and so fast it will do all your work before you even start the app!" Then as time goes by, they promise fewer features and say it will release later, on an on, until something half-assed shows up, or not at all.

      That's basically the textbook account of what they did to Lotus 1-2-3, isn't it? And people call MS developer-friendly.

    2. Re:In other news.. by sapped · · Score: 1

      Apple will be releasing Mac OS X Ocelot by the time Longhorn hits the market

      Pft. Wow are you out of the loop or what. Ocelot will be an interim release only. By the time Longhorn hits, Apple will have sewn up the Movie market and they will commemorate this achievement with the simultaneous release of ... OS X Pink Panther.

    3. Re:In other news.. by dustmite · · Score: 1

      Pity you got -1 redundant, because you've summed it up better than any other post on this thread I've read so far .. you hit the nail on the head exactly. Yes, MS are experts and old hands at this tactic.

    4. Re:In other news.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm, that's the SOP for every company that sells software. You don't think Lotus did the same thing?

    5. Re:In other news.. by menace3society · · Score: 1

      Eh, it happens. Somedays you win 'em, other days you lose 'em. Anyhow, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out against Apple, whom people are more likely to have faith in as far putting out a competitive product.

  17. Wasn't there a public BETA? by Svippy · · Score: 0

    An early peek at Longhorn

    Is it me or did a lot of people lie to me at the same time, but I've heard that you could download the beta some time ago ( don't know if you still can ).

    I don't know, one just told me he ran his server on Longhorn, I was like, "why?"... never got a reply. :(

    --
    Clicked pie.
    1. Re:Wasn't there a public BETA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Their was a Longhorn preview for select companies that was leaked on the Internet. It really is just a fraction of what the final product is. I installed it on my computer and removed it the same day. It looked like a fancy version of XP. Running it as a server, or even desktop, though is completely retarded as the version that is out is worse than XP.

    2. Re:Wasn't there a public BETA? by Shag · · Score: 2, Funny
      I don't know, one just told me he ran his server on Longhorn, I was like, "why?"... never got a reply. :(
      It was a beta. Did you seriously expect Microsoft to have implemented complex functionality like a "reply" button in a beta? ;)
      --
      Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
  18. Do I Dare Say? by fwice · · Score: 1, Redundant

    In both look and form, the search mechanism is similar to the Spotlight feature in Apple Computer's Mac OS X Tiger...


    M$ Longhorn Strategy
    1) Develop Operating System
    2) Steal aspects of other operating systems
    3) ???????
    4) Profit!

    1. Re:Do I Dare Say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3) Steal more aspects from other o/s.

    2. Re:Do I Dare Say? by Shag · · Score: 1

      Actually, if you look closely, you can see that "Longhorn" was written in on that strategy document after something else was erased... I think it says something about "NT"... no, wait, there was something else... "Windows 95"... no, wait, "Windows 3.0"... but I see some other letters too... what's that? MS-DOS 6? Goodness. That strategy seems to have served them very well over the years.

      --
      Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    3. Re:Do I Dare Say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Waitaminit... Microsoft actually developed an operating system? I thought they just skipped straight to step 2.

    4. Re:Do I Dare Say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course, I can think of a few desktop environments that, given proper theming, might appear to be largely based upon MS-developed operating systems. With proper education, they appear even more profoundly influenced by certain MS-promoted ideas (COM, etc). It's a continuous play of ideas, which is why software patents are so disastrous. It slows (destroys?) this give and take of ideas, leading to better products for everyone. Don't grouse about Microsoft stealing this or that, praise them for jumping on the bandwagon and improving things for the users. Certainly nothing to complain about...

    5. Re:Do I Dare Say? by nsayer · · Score: 1
      1) Develop Operating System

      At least this is an improvement on their past behavior.

    6. Re:Do I Dare Say? by sharkey · · Score: 1

      You need to relax, dude. Once Cairo comes out, everything will be OK.

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  19. Who gives a fuck? by ravenspear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS

    I've lost count of the number of articles, comparisons, and reviews of Longhorn I've come across in the last two years that tout some *advantage* over another OS (usually OS X).

    What possible relevance does that have to me (or anyone else) right now considering no one will be able to buy copy for the next two years, if then? Meanwhile in the last two years OS X has served me very well, certainly better than a nonexistent OS could have.

    At this point, continuing to sing Longhorn's praises to the consumer is about as logical as advertising the fact that Duke Nukem Forever will support the ability to fire 10 guns at once. If software companies never deliver the product, the feature set it has couldn't really be more irrelevant.

    1. Re:Who gives a fuck? by argent · · Score: 1

      I've lost count of the number of articles, comparisons, and reviews of Longhorn I've come across in the last two years that tout some *advantage* over another OS (usually OS X).

      Really? I haven't seen one advantage actually listed. Maybe you can help me figure out what they are supposed to be... I'm pretty much lost at sea here.

    2. Re:Who gives a fuck? by ravenspear · · Score: 1

      That's why I offset "advantage." I wouldn't really consider them to be either, but the person(s) writing the articles obviously did.

    3. Re:Who gives a fuck? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ten guns at once? Screw the other FPS games, I'm saving my money for DNForever!

  20. No no you've got it all wrong... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ""We are moving features around," he said."

    Look!! They are moving features around people! Let's celebrate. Tell the world !

    Features! Moving ! Around !

  21. Maybe.... by Captain+Nick · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We'll see OSX on an intel platform by then... but then again, prolly not. Been discussed before, but wouldn't it sweet to see side-by-side comparisons, on the same hardware, etc, of MacOS and Windows?

    1. Re:Maybe.... by Narchie+Troll · · Score: 1

      Not if you want Apple to continue existing.

    2. Re:Maybe.... by Lobo_Louie · · Score: 0

      Obligatory Linux reference: Ya mean like Linux does?

  22. Advantages of Apple's OS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Allchin pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS"

    Is it fair to say that an OS that will be released 2 years after another OS has "advantages"? :-)

    1. Re:Advantages of Apple's OS? by Shag · · Score: 1

      Almost. He just got the verb tense wrong. I think he meant to say that Longhorn will have advantages over Tiger. Hmm. Maybe not, since most of the things he listed will be in Tiger first. Maybe he meant to say it would have advantages over Panther. Or Jaguar. Or Puma. Or Cheetah?

      --
      Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
  23. Secret Longhorn install screen here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  24. fan boys on parade by ucsckevin · · Score: 2, Funny

    So as a fanboy with nothing to do on a friday afternoon with no class I must take issue with the whole easier to roam from network to network thing... As a student at a private California university (not ucsc as per my name), we have different wifi networks all over the place. I'm using a PBg4 with airport express and mac os 10.3.8. Whenever and wherever I open up my laptop, it automatically connects me to the best (or predetermined) network available, and it usually takes 5 seconds. The only time i've had to open up my Network connection system prefence is when i failed to realize that my airport express base was unplugged!

    1. Re:fan boys on parade by mr+i+want+to+go+home · · Score: 1
      So true, so true.

      And it does all this without an annoying "pop" sound and that ridiculous speech bubble popping out of the taskbar, interrupting whatever you might actually be doing at the time - because, God forbid, you might actually be using the computer for something productive rather than waiting for the OS to tell you it's done something clever.

      IMHO that's the one thing that will likely never be addressed in Longhorn - sensible, intuitive, and unobtrusive user space. Microsoft seem determined to make it more and more intrusive with each update.

      Longhorn: Twice as many Little Yellow Speech Bubbles and Talking Question Marks!

    2. Re:fan boys on parade by Bob+The+Cowboy · · Score: 1

      Well there you go!

      Longhorn will reintroduce Clippy!

      "I'm having trouble finding a wireless network...
      Would you like to:

      a) Just keep trying and hope for the best?
      b) Just enter the damn info manually?
      c) Check to make sure the router is plugged in?

    3. Re:fan boys on parade by Lovejoy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      AMEN. You have unused icons on your desktop.

      Would you like me to continue to annoy the !@#!##%! out of you?

  25. Advantages? by jhealy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Allchin pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS:
    -features are security enhancements

    OS X, unix-based since 10.0: Got it already!

    -improved desktop searching and organizing
    Spotlight... got it!

    better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another
    Location Manager... Got it since OS 8!!

    SOOOOO good!

    1. Re:Advantages? by yabos · · Score: 1

      Well, you could really go back to the 50s or whenever when BSD was being developed!

  26. Ohhhh boy... by mrbrown1602 · · Score: 0, Troll

    High on the list of features are security enhancements
    Wow! Security enhancements... that counts as a feature now? Last time I checked, Mac OS X was pretty secure and didn't need enhancements.

    improved desktop searching and organizing
    Spotlight. Thank you & shut up, Jim.

  27. Wrong equation by dannytaggart · · Score: 2, Informative

    I think they mean -1 + 1 = 0 .

    --
    PimpMyMazda.com - Crazy mods to a 2002 Mazda Protege DX.
  28. Great Idea for a /. poll... by jbrader · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How many people trashed tis article over at osnews and are now over here trashing it again?

    --
    You are so boring that when I see you my feet go to sleep.
  29. Shades of Wang Freestyle (circa 1991) by dpbsmith · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself"

    Wang was doing this circa 1991 on AT-class hardware.

    I didn't think it was all that cool at the time and I don't think it's a particularly good idea now.

    1. Re:Shades of Wang Freestyle (circa 1991) by Shag · · Score: 1

      I could see this being remotely useful if the flow of text (in the thumbnail) made it easy to tell what kind of file it was - for example, the text flows differently in a resume than in an article (or, well, it had better!) - and one had no other way of figuring things out.

      So if, for example, the user has a habit of naming all their files things like AAAAAAAA.DOC, AAAAAAAB.DOC and so on (which, honestly, some Windows user out there is probably crazy enough to do) they'll think this is great.

      This is hardly a replacement for a well-implemented desktop search with the ability to look for words within common document formats, though.

      --
      Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    2. Re:Shades of Wang Freestyle (circa 1991) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      So if, for example, the user has a habit of naming all their files things like AAAAAAAA.DOC, AAAAAAAB.DOC and so on (which, honestly, some Windows user out there is probably crazy enough to do) they'll think this is great.
      Windows, hell, I had a quicky contract automating something like this for a large Unix site. Of course, human eyes never set on the files themselves, but they did on the contents...
    3. Re:Shades of Wang Freestyle (circa 1991) by geekoid · · Score: 1

      why not? Sounds useful to me.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:Shades of Wang Freestyle (circa 1991) by Narchie+Troll · · Score: 1

      Because an icon signifying type and a descriptive name is a damn sight more useful than a few scraps of text or a tiny pixelated snapshot of a document.

      Image thumbnailing is great, but few other types of data are so visual that a thumbnail is useful.

  30. Intresting... by TerminaMorte · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ...document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself

    My Ubuntu Linux system already does this.

    Video files in nautilus don't have a boring Xine icon, but show a frame of the movie.

    Picture icons show a thumbnail of the image.

    Text files... well that's really pointless. Text is too small.

    Nice to see Microsoft stealing from linux, and calling it inovation.

    1. Re:Intresting... by cbiffle · · Score: 1

      Linux does do a damn good job of file icon previews (when it's a file that your file manager recognizes), but it's not really an original feature.

      Mac OS has had per-file icons, typically used by apps to define a preview, since at least System 7 (my first experiences). It's generally only used by image apps, however; turns out the name and a nice icon representing the file type is frequently more informative.

      Next thing you know, there'll be a hot new innovation -- resource forks! *grin*

    2. Re:Intresting... by Shag · · Score: 2, Insightful

      OS X has image thumbnail icons as well, although the feature can be turned off. (When you're working with 12,000-pixel-wide panoramic images, thumbnails just aren't that helpful.)

      --
      Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    3. Re:Intresting... by kraiger · · Score: 1

      The only thing that Longhorn is is Windows attempt to try and catch up to all the other OSes out there that are better. It's *trying* to become more stable, but I'll hold my breath on that one. It's creating easier searching, but Tiger is doing that. It's providing file previews, woopty doo, multiple other OSes can do that. Nothing here is innovative, new, or otherwise. It's exactly what everyone else does, except needing a lot more RAM and CPU power.

    4. Re:Intresting... by DCMonkey · · Score: 1

      Windows 95 had the capability to do per file icons too (so yes System 7 would have had them beat by a few years). There just weren't any icon handlers bundled in. I do remember some 3rd party ones for images files being available around the same time as the Win95 launch.

      --
      DCMonkey
  31. Good for Longhorn by CSMastermind · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now I'll admit I'm a happy windows user. I have Knoppix and Ubuntu close by but for the most part I use windows...because it works for me. I does what I want it to do and does it at an acceptable level. I for one am both excited and disappointed about Longhorn here's why:

    Longhorn is a big update for Microsoft, they're planning big changes, many of them multimedia. I like the 3D enviroment and Avalon graphics (Though I still want animated program icons :-( ...maybe that's just me). I enjoy the concept of steaming video to any window and think that eliminating the difference between web and desktop apps is great. I didn't like what they pulled with WinFS but if it means the final product is better, than I say fine by me.

    1. Re:Good for Longhorn by stalefries · · Score: 0

      >>I enjoy the concept of steaming video to any window

      Wouldn't that just make it hard to see through the window?

      --
      -stalefries
    2. Re:Good for Longhorn by Dareth · · Score: 1

      ...think that eliminating the difference between web and desktop apps is great.

      So how do they keep web apps running when a person's intenet access goes down?

      Or is that difference still there?

      --

      I only look human.
      My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
    3. Re:Good for Longhorn by CSMastermind · · Score: 1

      No you're right you'd still need an internet connection but what the change will do is make web apps better able to use native computer resources. You may very well disagree but I feel webpages today fall short in many areas namly design and graphics. The way Longhorn is *supposed* to be setup, will be to treat each webpage as if it were an application. This should allow web developers more freedom to expand their sites.

    4. Re:Good for Longhorn by nsayer · · Score: 1
      [...]what the change will do is make web apps better able to use native computer resources

      Hmm. Something about the prospect of Microsoft making it easier for web apps to use local resources is downright horrifying.

    5. Re:Good for Longhorn by lurch_mojoff · · Score: 1

      Oh, give me a break! Better Web apps? More access to local resources? Developpers with more freedom to expand their sites?

      Microsoft don't want to implement someting as simple as CSS2 in their next version of IE and you honestly believe they will be willing (or able for that matter) to make Windows a good, robust Web app platform. Besides, with their history of extremely *stable and secure* software, giving more power to remote apps is just a cry for being bitchsplapped with the next generation of malware.

      Beware, 'cause this may turn out to be a big flop like Active Desktop!

    6. Re:Good for Longhorn by SpooForBrains · · Score: 3, Funny

      I enjoy the concept of steaming video

      Don't we all, mate, don't we all ...

      --
      "The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
    7. Re:Good for Longhorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the hell was this modded funny instead of insightful?

    8. Re:Good for Longhorn by mollymoo · · Score: 2, Funny
      Beware, 'cause this may turn out to be a big flop like Active Desktop!

      Hey! Active Desktop was great. Before that came along I actually had to start an application to crash my PC.

      --
      Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
    9. Re:Good for Longhorn by Jussi+K.+Kojootti · · Score: 1
      Though I still want animated program icons :-( ...maybe that's just me)
      Well CSMastermind, you got that right. It's definitely just you.
  32. Is that a sexual euphemism? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 2, Funny

    "designed to take advantage of all this muscle"

    Y'know, like "to fuck with", "to shag" etc?

    I never can tell with MS, after all they have redefined the meaning of so many words and terms; innovation, secure, reliable, scalable etc etc.

    --
    Deleted
    1. Re:Is that a sexual euphemism? by Flywheels+of+Fire · · Score: 1, Funny

      Micro soft gets a long horn. Wife still not happy.

  33. Sys Req by killermookie · · Score: 1

    "After months of keeping its prized cow in the barn..."

    In keeping with the analogy, this OS is truely a hefer.

  34. Icons as a preview of the file by nickyandthefuture · · Score: 1

    THIS is what they're touting as the stand-out feature in their new operating system? You could do this on a Mac since System 7, but pretty much nobody bothered except for image files since a thumbnail of a text document is next to worthless. You could even do it for bitmaps in Windows 95 if you didn't mind your computer grinding to a halt every so often.

    It's something that could easily be implemented on a program-by-program basis in OS X. If they think its so great, they could do it in Office X today instead of waiting for Longhorn. Hopefully they'll let you turn it off.

    1. Re:Icons as a preview of the file by amliebsch · · Score: 1

      They must be referring specifically to Office documents or something, because WinXP has had thumbnail views for pictures and movies since the beginning.

      --
      If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
  35. Billy at it again... by Palal · · Score: 1

    This is the same thing I heard when Billy visited Berkeley last semester! WTF? Why are they stalling?

    --
    -Palal
  36. timing not coincidental with Tiger? by rifftide · · Score: 1

    This is standard Microsoft marketing procedure, coming out with stuff on their forthcoming product just when a competitor is making a major release. It's a technique to muffle the media impact made by the competition. So instead of featuring Tiger on the cover, newspapers and magazines will play "Tiger vs. Longhorn: which will win?", ignoring the fact that one of them is just an announcement.

    1. Re:timing not coincidental with Tiger? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is standard marketing procedure, period.

    2. Re:timing not coincidental with Tiger? by amliebsch · · Score: 1

      What's funny is it seems that this is exactly what Sony is going to do to Microsoft in the console market. What goes around, comes around, I guess.

      --
      If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
  37. appearance? by rayde · · Score: 2, Insightful
    what i want to know is if Longhorn will offer a better looking default UI than XP... I *HATED* the green and blue look it has by default. And the available themes were almost as bad. sure it could be customized with stylesXP or whatever, but that's a pain. and since i deal with support of other people's systems alot, they usually stick with that horrid default setup. bah!

    i really love the default setup for Mac OS X, and while I understand XP can be made to look like just about anything, i truly hope they get some better design people in there by the time Longhorn is actually released.

    sure it's petty... but to those who have to look at it all day, it's important.

    1. Re:appearance? by cowscows · · Score: 1

      Silence, slave! MS headhunters had to promise the world to lure those designers over from Fisher-Price. How dare a tiny peon like you question the visual gifts that Redmond was good enough to bestow upon you? Hang your ungrateful head in shame!

      It's not petty at all. It's the UI, it totally matters. When Apple first showed of Aqua, a whole new industry, centered around bitching about it, was created. If we can complain about a halfway decent interface on an operating system running on a niche OS, we can certainly have issues with Windows behi

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    2. Re:appearance? by Narchie+Troll · · Score: 1

      Frankly, I think it's better to have a very gaudy theme that can be changed than a somewhat gaudy theme that cannot.

  38. From the makers of by FidelCatsro · · Score: 2, Funny

    From the makers of "Free ,as in costs money" we have "advatage, as in Same thing later".
    I have to ask which dictionary they are using ..
    Seriously i know marketing people are usualy full of crap , but normaly they try to avoid silly statments that are near out and out lies

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  39. There are other differences... by NYTrojan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The most important of which is compatibility. Windows will run on an endless combination of different vendor's processors, motherboards, etc etc. Windows has the whole PC thing going for it. With Tiger you are locked into Apple hardware.

    now before you dismiss this as a simple scoff, I am (attempting) to make a valid point here. What is the number one reason people stay away from Mac? I submit that it is price. Not price of the OS Tiger, but price of "The Comptuer" you have to buy. Imagine the ability to have something as solid, feature rich, and protected as Tiger, that you can run on a relatively powerful system you made from parts you bought off of newegg for $600. Personally, I believe that's worth waiting for.

    Basically what I'm saying, I guess, is if Longhorn can be ALMOST as good as Tiger it will be:
    1. A vast vast VAST improvement over the windows we currently have
    and 2. Will be more appealing due to the cost factor.

    I don't use it now, but I'd run OSX in a heartbeat if I could do it on a PC.

    1. Re:There are other differences... by tillemetry · · Score: 1

      I bill myself out at $50 an hour. With drivers, installation, spyware and other BS? Rather just open the Apple box.

      But thats just me.

    2. Re:There are other differences... by Attitude+Adjuster · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Imagine the ability to have something as solid, feature rich, and protected as Tiger, that you can run on a relatively powerful system you made from parts you bought off of newegg for $600. Personally, I believe that's worth waiting for.

      Imagine? I've been using an OS like that for years on machines made from newegg parts --- it is called Linux (or GNU/Linux, whatever...). Certainly I'm hoping Tiger is finally a fully 64 bit version of OSX (as I'll be playing around with a G5 soon), but Linux has been working in 64 bits for years too.

    3. Re:There are other differences... by mihalis · · Score: 4, Informative

      What is the number one reason people stay away from Mac? I submit that it is price. Not price of the OS Tiger, but price of "The Comptuer" you have to buy. Imagine the ability to have something as solid, feature rich, and protected as Tiger, that you can run on a relatively powerful system you made from parts you bought off of newegg for $600. Personally, I believe that's worth waiting for.

      The Mac Mini starts at $500 and it's a bit nicer than a home-brew $600 system would be, since it's very small, cool and quiet.

      I do take your point that the $600 homebrew PC you mention would likely have a bit more oomph in the CPU and graphics card, however you should also bear in mind that Mac OS X is really quite efficient at many things, for example Apple really gets the most performance possible out of its carefully chosen components, so things like video editing are surprisingly good on "weak" PowerPC G4 cpus. I have done about 10 DVD projects on my powerbook which has significantly less raw compute and pixel-pushing power than a Mac Mini.

      Depending on your actual needs, the Mac Mini could really meet your needs and budget well (I would recommend simply giving one a try in a shop, ideally running the applications you would want touse).

    4. Re:There are other differences... by mrchaotica · · Score: 1
      Certainly I'm hoping Tiger is finally a fully 64 bit version of OSX
      WHY?! G5s are NOT like Athlon 64s. The Athlon is only faster in 64 bit mode because there are a bunch of extra registers. The PowerPC already has those registers available even in 32 bit mode, so the only advantage of running 64 bit on a G5 is the ability to address more memory. In all other cases, 32 bit code is faster because you're not wasting your cache with an extra 32 bits worth of pointers that you don't need.
      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    5. Re:There are other differences... by Mancat · · Score: 1

      Imagine the ability to have something as solid, feature rich, and protected as Tiger, that you can run on a relatively powerful system you made from parts you bought off of newegg for $600. Personally, I believe that's worth waiting for.

      It's already here. Unfortunately, Slashbots insist on continuing to use unpatched versions of Windows NT logged in as an Administrator-level user, and then they wonder why buggy applications are able to damage the system.

      --
      hello dear sirs my name is jamesh i are india (bihar) can u guide me install red had linux 9?
    6. Re:There are other differences... by goMac2500 · · Score: 1

      Yeah! All those processors it runs on! You have your x86 compatible processors and... oh wait...

      Ummmm.. Windows only runs on x86 processors. Mac OS runs on PowerPC processors. PowerPC's are made by IBM and Freescale. They are used by Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Apple, and IBM themselves.

      If you want something to blame, don't blame variety of hardware. Apple is already using processors from two different manufacturers. Blame Apple's markup, which is much higher than the industry norm.

      FYI, I use both platforms. I built my own 3.6 ghz P4 for $700. My Powerbook running Tiger runs circles around XP on my PC, and I have the feeling it will run circles around Longhorn too. I had intended on using my PC for many tasks, but I've found Windows is not powerful enough to do anything besides games, and on Windows they charge you an arm and a leg for stuff Apple gives away for free.

      Longhorn won't be as feature rich as Tiger. Not until it has a UNIX command line, free developer tools, and a rich programming environment like Cocoa (which is still better than .Net).

    7. Re:There are other differences... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I don't think you know what 64 bits means, or what benefit it might have for you.

      Pointing out that Linux has 64 bits "for years" and Mac Os X only right now with Tiger shows you have no clue for what one would need/use 64 bits.

      I doubt there are more than probably 10 areas (or applications even) where 64 bit is usefull and also utilized under linux. Very large video maniplation, probably, is one. Databases where a single recordset is bigger than 32 bits address space is another.

      Also claiming: "I've been using an OS like that ..." is very missleading also. If you count as OS only the kernel and the utility programs. Granted, no much diffeence between Linux and OS X. However for a Customer buying some CDs with "an operation system" on them, the over all desktop experiance counts.

      Linux is probably 10 years behind Windows and Windows probably 10 years behind OS X ... exception might be KDE which is somewhat in between Windows and OS X. Closer to Windows though in my opinion.
      (Some month ago a friend who has running KDE and I wanted to configure the local network to allow that my powerbook can access his machine .... no way to figure how to do it. Its pretty simple under Windows to open every dialog which "might be the right one" and read all configs and descide what to do. Same for OS X, just open *one* dialog and you pretty easy see what to do. Luckyly we could use FTP and raw IP numbers to access my machine ...)

      angel'o'sphere

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    8. Re:There are other differences... by AliasMoze · · Score: 1

      The post your responding too is still essentially true IMO. Price, at least, is the biggest reason this user hasn't switched to Apple. I've been considering a mini to run Final Cut Pro, but the mini, though well under a thousand bucks, is basically a laptop without a screen, down to the slow drives, and is not very upgradeable. And, of course, Apple's big machines are outrageously priced.

      Now, when the Mac OS was competing with Windows 3.1.1 back 1994, I'd have shelled out the difference. Back then the Mac OS was light years ahead of Windows. Today, however, the Mac OS and Windows XP are so close in stability and functionality (both being pretty good) that paying extra is something many people will do only if they have to, as in my case - wanting to run a specific Mac-only program.

      Note: After starting on someone else's Mac, I bought a PC in the early 90's. Why? Because I couldn't afford a Mac.

    9. Re:There are other differences... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mac-mini... and once you get used to the interface, you'll start noticing how much more productive you are now that you aren't struggling with bad design, poor 3rd party drivers, and 99% of the available malware.

    10. Re:There are other differences... by Narchie+Troll · · Score: 1

      You might want to add the cost of the monitor and peripherals to that Mac Mini number.

  40. How is this different from OS X? by Palal · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file. Folders, too, show glimpses of what's inside. Such images can be rather small, but they offer a visual cue that aids in the searching process, Allchin said.

    The second part is already implemented in XP.

    The first part is already a part of OS X.

    AND THIS IS NEW???

    --
    -Palal
  41. Re:some advantages that Microsoft has over Apple's by El · · Score: 1

    2006?!? Try 2007!

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  42. I want animated program icons by CSMastermind · · Score: 0, Troll

    Most other platforms do have many features that microsoft takes and uses and vice versa but you can't blame anyone for that. If you don't like the fact microsoft is behind in some areas, don't use their products (I know you proablly don't already) and try to explain to your boss/freinds why using windows might be bad as well. Either that or if you're able help write a better operating system to replace it. If there was a clearly better OS out there then why are people still using windows?

    1. Re:I want animated program icons by geomon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If there was a clearly better OS out there then why are people still using windows?

      Lack of education about alternatives and Microsoft FUD.

      That would be just two reasons. I haven't even started with the predatory monopolistic practices.

      --
      "Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
    2. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      If there was a clearly better OS out there then why are people still using windows?
      Very good question. My inital guess is investement in time/money in windows. Change is feared by many and sometimes costly up front.
    3. Re:I want animated program icons by darkstar949 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because just because something is technologically better doesn't mean that it's (a) easier to use, and (b) marketed more.

      In the case of OSX part of the problem is that it is for only one platform and that platform is expensive compared to the cheap internet computers you can buy at Wal-Mart. As such Joe L-User only has real experience with the basics of Windows and they know that it "looks pretty" and "does what they need it to do", once you add in the fact that they hear that "Linux is hard to use" and you have word of mouth working against other OSes.

      Long story short, Linux is always going to have problems getting major wide spread appeal as long entry level computers come loaded with Windows - if they were pre-loaded and pre-configured to run Linux in a desktop environment then odds are the word-of-mouth appeal of Linux would start to change and more people would start using it.

      However, in the mean time people want "pretty" desktops that they can use to send baby pictures to Gramma with, and the hardware companies want Microsoft to come out with bloated OSes so that people have to upgrade their computer every two years.

    4. Re:I want animated program icons by picklepuss · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you missed the point. There isn't really an issue with Microsoft copying the feature from elsewhere... it's the fact that they are claiming that they are breaking new ground by doing it.

    5. Re:I want animated program icons by Txiasaeia · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Puh-leese. I've extensively used both Linux (Mandrake, Red Hat) and OS X (Panther), and frankly I enjoy using XP much, much more. I could care less what Microsoft says about their products, and could care less what reviewers say about them - XP is snappy, looks good (once you replace the default shell), and is easy to use.

      Believe it or not, people educated about the alternatives *still* use XP.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    6. Re:I want animated program icons by Surt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What do you replace the default shell with?

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    7. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 0, Troll
      ...cheap internet computers you can buy at Wal-Mart

      Didn't those use to run a variant of Linux? Lindows, or whatever it is called now...

      On the topic of Microsoft - I really like that they follow UI inventions pioneered in Gnome, KDE, Mac or elsewhere. As I REALLY hate all those pseudo cool doodads. Starting with Windows server 2003 Windows interface is mature, useful and fairly consistent. It is a good interface. No need for the funky shit.

      And my server 2003 is still to crash. Unlike Linux boxes I used and keep using for 10 years now. (Though Linux improved remarkably, Windows improved as well. I htink there no no gap now, though I wish for a better shell in Win.)

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    8. Re:I want animated program icons by jacksonj04 · · Score: 1

      I agree with you on this - the Windows interface does what it needs to without irritating doodads. If I wanted my screen to be full of gagues, monitors, icons, times, weather notifiers, scales, buttons, fish, alerts and text inputs then I'd use Linux. As it is, I quite like my XP shell. It has minimise, fullscreen/restore and close buttons for each window, a bar of running programs, some handy links, a 'main menu', and the time.

      --
      How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
    9. Re:I want animated program icons by ChairmanMeow · · Score: 1

      Well, WinXP still has Progman.exe, if you like that kind of thing...

      --
    10. Re:I want animated program icons by geomon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Believe it or not, people educated about the alternatives *still* use XP.

      My commments were not intended to be exclusive, but there is a body of evidence in the form of user polls that indicates that Microsoft users are largely unaware of any alternatives to IE. Given that users will not explore alternatives beyond a simple browser, it makes my case a bit more strong that they will also not investigate alternative OSs.

      Simply put, most folks will not venture out beyond the OS that came pre-installed in their first computer. That leads into a discussion on predatory pricing and strong-arm monopolistic practices by Microsoft.

      Care to argue against court transcripts?

      --
      "Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
    11. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1
      Cygwin. It is actually usable nowdays. Now if not for those assbackwards filepaths in Win it would be quite good.

      Eclipse runs well, and recent version of C++ environment is usable, and integrates with Cygwin GDB, make and GCC nicely. So dev environment is covered.

      XP Pro and server 2003, with no frills interface - as a loo-ong time Linux user I do actually prefer to work in Windows nowdays. And I worked on them (almost) all, from PDP11 and CP/M to NextStep and OS X and KDE 3 and what not...

      Whatever.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    12. Re:I want animated program icons by geomon · · Score: 1

      XP Pro and server 2003, with no frills interface - as a loo-ong time Linux user I do actually prefer to work in Windows nowdays.

      Which means that it is mainly a discussion of preference. No doubt that is the case with all OSs.

      I use Linux and other FOSS software because my life is already complicated enough without having to track and manage licenses for every workstation in my house. I've given up on the idea that I must orient my life and work around the demands of Microsoft and Adobe.

      --
      "Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
    13. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you're what, 70 and have decided to use Windows?

    14. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I could care less what Microsoft says about their products,

      And I *couldn't* care less about someone's post when they can't even use a simple phrase correctly.

    15. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smells like bullcrap to me. No way you have used all those systems, and especially NeXtStep, and still claim Windows is superior. Its a single user operating system with a horrible look to it out of the box (that default XP look). Long timeLinux user? I don't think so, more like long time reader of a lot of computing information who has never actually used anything but Microsoft products.
      Eclipse has shit to do with the "shell" of an operating system, btw.

    16. Re:I want animated program icons by atriusofbricia · · Score: 1

      Well that's simple. The same reason someone told me the other day that to get on the Internet you had to use Internet Explorer. And you do, right?

      --
      I was raised on the command line, bitch

      "Nemo me impune lacesset"

    17. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1
      Not quite, but old enough to worry about supporting (absolutely unreasonable, if you ask) needs of my family and having work done.

      I guess that is why I have just spent half an hour on Slashdot. But I do have an excuse (meeting). :)

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    18. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 0, Troll
      Bull. Win2003 is NOT a single user system. Its default look is NOT XP home edition. Shell is not "of operating system", and I mentioned Cygwin's bash in this regard. Eclipse is a nice graphical IDE if you do not know.

      Before spewing bull, at least be careful to educate yourself a bit. Oh you just sound like a moron.

      I was coding before Microsoft came out with an OS. And you have probably are using industry standards with my name on it, Anonymous moron.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    19. Re:I want animated program icons by Txiasaeia · · Score: 5, Interesting
      That's what I love about Slashdot - if you have anything good to say about Microsoft, you get modded down to troll. So I guess I'll have to spend a few more minutes explaining why I like XP more, and how I mod it to make it even better.

      First, even without a default shell, you can use either a hacked uxtheme.dll (free) or StyleXP (not so free) to replace the theme. Head over to customize.org to witness what you can *really* do with XP.

      Second, explorer.exe isn't bad, but litestep is even better - makes it a lot more fun to use. google "litestep xp" to see what I mean.

      Third, I don't personally enjoy using the start bar, so I use a freeware program I found someplace on the net to hide it (still accessable with the Windows button) and use a dock like yzdock. YzDock is free, quick, and fairly bug-free, but is no longer in development (as it was shut down by Apple). So much more convenient to group togther ten or so commonly-used programs, a restart/shutdown button, clock, mail checker, and weather report into an aesthetically-pleasing package. The result? No icons on desktop. Interesting theme that replaces the Tonka Truck default. Using Litestep makes your comp that much faster. Add in the other advantages of XP (more games, apps, cheaper hardware over Apple, wider peripheral support than Linux) and in my opinion you've got a winner.

      The problem is that you have to pay for XP, which makes it more expensive than Linux, but it ultimately costs less than a comparable OS X box (hardware is cheaper, software is roughly the same). It also takes some time to set this up, but once you've done it a few times, it takes probably 10-15 minutes after a fresh install.

      So no, this post and the parent is *not* a troll - I'm simply expressing an opinion. Microsoft has monopolistic tendencies, yes, but in terms of ease of use, I think that they release pretty good products. Viruses and malware? Comes with being the most popular OS - if everybody had Macs, the situation would be reversed.

      Anyway, that's the joy of being in a free market; I get to pick the OS that I want to use, and others can use Linux or OS X if they feel that those products are better.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    20. Re:I want animated program icons by Txiasaeia · · Score: 1

      Hell, I forgot to mention in my reply below that I use Opera instead of IE. I know that a lot of alternative users like Firefox, but I'm used to Opera after using it for so many years, and I can't stand the thought of going back to IE. I really don't care about the people who head to Best Buy and buy a computer with XP pre-loaded; I build my own comps and still purchase an XP licence. Yes, most users are ignorant of alternatives, but to be honest the main reason that Microsoft is so popular is because it's bundled, not because it's necessarily better.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    21. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try letting 5 users login remotely and compile on that system, and we'll see if it isn't single-user.
      As for Eclipse, I use it at work, and I know well what it is.
      As for industry standards you wrote, I doubt it. Most standards aren't developed by individual but by committee.
      I never sound like a moron, but I just looked through a lot of your past posts, and you do. I post anonymously when at work. Don't chcken out and try to hide behind that shield. Just answer the criticism and be on your way.

    22. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aston?
      Talisman?

    23. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a rather simple view of the situation. Linux is about choices. You can have a far more minimized interface that does what it needs to without irritating doodads if you want, or if you like all the pretty eye candy which most people do you can have them. So I don't think you make a fair analysis of what the various Linux distro's offer.

    24. Re:I want animated program icons by nxtw · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Cygwin. It is actually usable nowdays. Now if not for those assbackwards filepaths in Win it would be quite good.

      If you like Cygwin -- you may also enjoy Microsoft Windows Services for Unix. In my opinion, it's much closer to Unix than Cygwin. It uses BSD code and some GPL (it includes GCC and friends.) It's not as usable as a default install of Cygwin is, but there's some precompiled software availbale for it. Programs in/compiled with SFU run in an actual kernel-level POSIX subsystem called Interix, instead of Cygwin's Unix-like layer that runs under Win32. Unix permissions are emulated (I believe) and programs don't have .exe on the end. GCC is supported, and in general (as someone who is used to using BSD/Linux) is much cleaner and nicer than Cygwin.

      $ ls /; uname -a; who; gcc -v
      admin common docs help log opt tmp var
      bin dev etc lib net proc usr
      Interix eclipse 3.5 SP-8.0.1969.1 x86 AMD Athlon/Duron
      matt ttyn00 Apr 15 18:19
      Reading specs from /opt/gcc.3.3/lib/gcc-lib/i586-pc-interix3/3.3/spec s
      Configured with: : (reconfigured) : (reconfigured) /dev/fs/C/gnu2.intel/egcs.s
      ource//configure --verbose --prefix=/opt/gcc.3.3 --disable-shared --with-stabs -
      -enable-nls --with-local-prefix=/opt/gcc.3.3 --with-gnu-as --with-gnu-ld --enabl
      e-targets=i586-pc-interix3 --enable-threads=posix
      Thread model: posix
      gcc version 3.3
      I'd guess that more programs would compile unmodified in SFU compared to Cygwin (assuming you're using GCC), but I have no evidence/experience to back this up.
    25. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Service pack 2 disables progman.exe. I am not kidding. I set progman.exe as the default shell for our marketing people and when we installed service pack 2 it killed it. Google it if you don't believe me.

      BTW. I hate our marketing dept so I convinced the dept head that using progman.exe would keep them from getting spyware and he agreed! lollerskates!!!!

    26. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe the other anon was talking about a Windows system without Terminal Services. Fair enough, I think, as only with Terminal Services do you achieve any multi-user capabilities. It still isn't as elegant as the way Unix has done it for years. They have some work to do on true multi-user.
      And if you were coding before MS had an OS, I am about your age. I still don't like MS, so I don't know how you do it. :D

    27. Re:I want animated program icons by nxtw · · Score: 1
      Smells like bullcrap to me. No way you have used all those systems, and especially NeXtStep, and still claim Windows is superior.

      Why not? What about Windows makes it inherently inferior?

      Its a single user operating system

      Windows NT (which includes 2000, XP, and 2003) are multi-user operating systems. While a lot of software makes stupid assumptions, the operating systems themselves are fully multi-user. On my Windows XP Professional box, I can have multiple users using the system via various methods: SSH (via Services for Unix), remote desktop (as many people as I allow can log in simultaneously and can perform as many tasks as the system can handle), and the local console. The NTFS filesystem supports ACLs and ownership, something beloved Mac OS X hasn't done until Tiger and some other operating systems still don't support by default/on all versions/on the default filesystems. Processes belong to certain users, which have permissions allowing or disallowing them to do different things. Windows does a lot of things in a more advanced way than UNIX and its clones/derivatives.

      with a horrible look to it out of the box (that default XP look).

      Some of the defualt Linux distribution themes look equally poor. I don't have much of a problem with it; on my own computer, I'll change it to classic mode, but otherwise, I don't complain and it doesn't bother me. Windows gives you the ability to change the look out of the box (Luna and Classic) -- in Mac OS X, Aqua is your only choice -- and I'm not a huge fan of Aqua. Plus, it's really easy to just *change* the damn thing. If you're so inclined, you can use nLite to make a customized install disc with that feature disabled.

    28. Re:I want animated program icons by nxtw · · Score: 1
      but to be honest the main reason that Microsoft is so popular is because it's bundled, not because it's necessarily better.

      What IS better? I can make a long list of reasons why Windows is better for my use than Linux (it's much longer than the list of things Linux can do that Windows cannot.) I have yet to try to use it, but Mac OS X may have a chance.

      For many tasks, Linux is simply not the easiest choice. Linux may work just fine for some people or some uses for desktop users; but Mac OS X and Windows are the only operating systems I would ever use on a desktop system.

    29. Re:I want animated program icons by needacoolnickname · · Score: 1

      Without those irritating doodads?

      I turned on a laptop today where a pop up comes up telling me that I had unused icons and would I like to remove them. I click the x. Two minutes later the same pop up comes up.

      Then there was the wireless network is now available pop up.

      Then the tie into passport pop up.

      These computers are used by people learning how to use computers and to be set up like they would be set up at home when they get them and these to me are irritating doodads. What's next - a pop up telling me that the computer is on?

      I am sure they can be stopped. I don't have the energy to go figure out how or to do it. Ran the security and anti-virus updates, locked the computers back up and happily sat down in front of my Mac to do the rest of my work for the day.

    30. Re:I want animated program icons by geekoid · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So, if you completly basterdize it with free 3rd party abilities, it's worth a damn.

      great.

      "Viruses and malware? Comes with being the most popular OS - if everybody had Macs, the situation would be reversed."

      Myth.

      You may have the same amount of people trying, but that doesn't mean you have the same number of success.

      The virus writer that writes a good spreading virus for OSX would get huge points in the community. so people are trying to get into it.

      There are several site that have in depth articles on why your statement is false. I suggest you read them.

      "Anyway, that's the joy of being in a free market; I get to pick the OS that I want to use, and others can use Linux or OS X if they feel that those products are better."
      you choice of companies to support lies to manipulate the 'free market'. Just a thought.

      and you should not have been modded a troll. That annoies me as well, even if I disagree with the poster.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    31. Re:I want animated program icons by ChairmanMeow · · Score: 1

      Those bastards! Yet another reason to not install SP2.

      --
    32. Re:I want animated program icons by bigman2003 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I read a copy of MacWorld the other day...

      That magazine was filled with so much FUD it was sick.

      90% of the magazine was filled with ridiculous comparisons between PC & Mac. For instance, their retarded article comparing the Mac Mini to a Dell. The Mac is $499, and the Dell they used was $450. The first thing they did was discount the fact that the Dell came with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I think they took off about $93 for that. So really, they were were comparing a $500 computer to a $350 computer (less actually, the keyboard, mouse and monitor were going to cost more than $93 for the Mac Mini) and they of course went on to find that the Mac was a better computer.

      I'm not saying that the Mac Mini isn't a good deal, or that it is not competitive. But, their method of comparison was so horribly skewed it was sick. But if I was a real 'Mac-ie' I wouldn't have looked at the logic, I would have just thought 'Macs are better, and now they are CHEAPER!'

      Then of course I came to the 'games' section of the magazine. Oh my freakin' lord. What a load of crap they were spewing there. When they were saying that the Mac was the BEST gaming platform (It has Doom 3!!!) I knew they were completely off their rocker.

      My wife (the Mac-ie in the family) didn't understand why I was yelling "this is a load of SHIT!" when I threw the magazine. She just wanted to look at the selection of iPod accessories they were highlighting...

      --
      No reason to lie.
    33. Re:I want animated program icons by Moofie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "but in terms of ease of use, I think that they release pretty good products"

      What makes you say that? It seems to me that you had to replace the entire UI to get something satisfactory.

      Use what you like. If that's XP, great! Knock yourself out. But you haven't defended your contention that Microsoft makes easy-to-use products. By your argument, you have to go experiment with a bunch of third party hacks to get the OS to not suck.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    34. Re:I want animated program icons by CSMastermind · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes :-). Look here's why I think that people use windows. It's because the average user is misinformed and has no reason to change that. There's nothing they care about that linux can do that windows can't that makes it worth the switch. They don't use Macs because the industry strongly encourages them not to. There are too many hardware vendors out there who don't have mac to gain a large market share. All I'm saying is that if nobody steps up to the plate and truly gives the masses a reason to switch to their platform they aren't going to no matter how much the technology gurus (who are very small in number) tell them to.

    35. Re:I want animated program icons by Surt · · Score: 1

      I am shocked, shocked to receive a helpful reply from AC. Thanks.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    36. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny, my Linux desktop has 2 icons on it, both of which I put there.

    37. Re:I want animated program icons by theAedileDecimus · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It's just disgusting that the parent was modded down as a troll for expressing their views, telling a personal story, and explaining why they liked XP more. That kind of stuff shouldn't get modded down just because you think you know better than the person him/herself. Reserve troll mods for goatse.

    38. Re:I want animated program icons by dalutong · · Score: 1

      I think that they release pretty good products.

      Then why did you change it so much?

      And rebuttals to your points:

      1) You can use themes in gnu/linux too. (i'm sure you can with OSX, too, but I've been exclusively linux since 1997 so I don't know.)
      2) linux has a hell of a lot of nice browsers. Some are lightweight, some are heavier. I don't know a lot about litestep, but I doubt that something very similar doesn't exist in the linux world
      3) XFCE has a dock. GNOME can have a dock. A bunch of other WMs/DEs can have docks.
      4) It's free

      You haven't said how windows is better, only that is has "more games and apps." That's a valid argument -- if you have some device that isn't supported in linux, or some game/app that only runs in windows then the choice is yours. But you didn't list any of those.

      --

      What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
    39. Re:I want animated program icons by leecn · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Head over to customize.org to witness what you can *really* do with XP

      With Linux or BSD you can run pretty much any server you want, use any desktop/WM you want, program in any language (with some exceptions), it costs nothing and the source is freely available, and one can modify anything. With XP you can customize the UI. That is not an advantage.

      So I guess I'll have to spend a few more minutes explaining why I like XP more

      So, why do you like it more?

    40. Re:I want animated program icons by Tim+C · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There are several site that have in depth articles on why your statement is false. I suggest you read them.

      I suggest you link to them.

      Perhaps I'm missing something, but what is there that prevents a blackhat from writing a trojan for OS X? I'm not talking about something that spreads automatically via a remote exploit or even a local exploit, but an honest-to-God old-fashioned trojan. Promise the user free porn, or cool mouse cursors or a free stock ticker or something, and people will install it. What prevents it from giving them the free porn or weather forecast or whatever, *and* turning their machine into a spam relay?

    41. Re:I want animated program icons by Reaperducer · · Score: 5, Funny

      I was yelling "this is a load of SHIT!" when I threw the magazine.

      Dude, you should invest in some anger management classes. Or maybe spend a relaxing weekend debugging your registry and flushing your system of spyware.

      --
      -- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
    42. Re:I want animated program icons by Txiasaeia · · Score: 1
      It's easy to use because, for the most part, installing a hacked uxtheme.dll is as simple as copying it to the system32 folder. You can then download as many themes as you want and they will just plain work. Litestep or Cygwin comes with an installer. Add YzDock to your start folder and it starts automatically. It's not like I'm cracking the registry and changing anything there; these are all "hacks" that anybody with zero level of computing experience can do. It's just that easy.

      Installing fluxbox on gentoo, on the other hand, was a complete bitch the last time I attempted it. I know that there's a certain level of familiarity that's lacking for me in Linux, but if I'm comfortable to manually install programs without a package manager, I think I should be able to put it in a freaking directory, tweak some config files, and get it running. I eventually did, but man, was it ever a pain.

      Office 2003 works out of the box with no tweaking required (you have to download patches, of course, but it's 2005 - that kind of thing is expected). I'm extremely happy with both Word and Outlook - Thunderbird (when I last tried it) is clunky and anti-intuitive, and OO.org was just plain slow.

      I'm not trying to argue that Microsoft r8l3z! and teh lunix and mac os x sucks. The fact of the matter is that, for me, it just plain works. I know, I know, you probably saw that on a Mac switcher commercial, but honestly, to me, it's true.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    43. Re:I want animated program icons by TheoGB · · Score: 0

      Hang on, there's a big difference between a 'pretty good product' and one that is 'better'.

      Personally I would say Microsoft make a good product. Not on some geeky OTT level maybe, but on a functional, "does what 90% of the population needs" level.

      Linux is brutally powerful but equally would be a total nightmare to set up for (say) my mother.

      A mac would be even easier than windows for her but would cost a fuck load more.

      Regardless of 'fixing', if Microsoft were consistently as shit as people want to make out it wouldn't matter how much marketing muscle they had because people wouldn't WANT their software on their machines.

    44. Re:I want animated program icons by Txiasaeia · · Score: 0

      Word and Outlook are worth every penny. Yes, you can get that on OS X too, but comparable x386 components are cheaper, and I get to build my own box (which I would *much* rather do than just customising it online).

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    45. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot to mention the process of battling with System File Protection to get it to stop overwriting the dll with a good version.

      And then the problems you'll have once a hotfix or service pack are released and the dll needs to be replaced again.

    46. Re:I want animated program icons by AliasMoze · · Score: 1

      I'm gonna have to go ahead and...disagree with you there.

      See, I don't think that's the problem. I think it's pure partisanship. There's nothing Microsoft could do or not do to bulwark complaints from some users (especially Apple users). It's fair to say Apple routinely makes rather large claims about its products (iCal, its usefullness, and its potential impact on the future of the western world comes to mind), but since they are essentially only an 800-gram gorilla (vs. Microsoft's, well, you know), they get away with it.

      For some, Microsoft is evil, and that's the end of it. I don't disagree with that part; I just think they are all a bit evil.

    47. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As for industry standards you wrote, I doubt it. Most standards aren't developed by individual but by committee.

      That's shows your ignorance. The phrase "that have my name on" means that he was on the freaking comittee. Hence, his name was on the top or the bottom of the standards sheet.

    48. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure that litestep was an X-windows WM before it got moved over to Windows. I remember really liking it under X, but feeling that it just doesn't fit right under Windows. But then again I really haven't run X in like... 6 years maybe.

    49. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Outlook worth every penny? Wow. That's a laugh. You ever tried any alternatives? I'll give you that Word is a world class word processor, but I really have many many problems with it's autoformatting, and have you actually seen the price of Office? That's a lot of pennies.

    50. Re:I want animated program icons by Txiasaeia · · Score: 1

      lol... you mean copying it to the prefetch folder while in safe mode? I'd hardly call this a battle.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    51. Re:I want animated program icons by dalutong · · Score: 1

      agreed -- if it was shit ppl wouldn't want it. not exactly the market-leaders-leads-due-to-product-superiority, but better than every-product-is-better-than-the-market-leader.

      i want to say though, that i doubt my mother could set up windows XP. i don't know anything about the OSX install, so i can't speak to that. but my mother _uses_ a already setup ubuntu box. so it is at least usable once it is set up.

      but i'd also say that it would take quite a shitty product for people to leave what they know. i mean, the virus management on windows is a nightmare. but interoperability and familiarity (and cost) are keeping then with what they know.

      that's why firefox has taken off but other competing products can't -- it is basically 100% interoperable, mostly familiar, and better.

      unfortunately, linux doesn't get the same chance -- the popular web standards are largely open. the popular desktop standards aren't.

      --

      What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
    52. Re:I want animated program icons by dbIII · · Score: 1
      why I like XP more ... It also takes some time to set this up, but once you've done it a few times, it takes probably 10-15 minutes after a fresh install.
      You certainly get good at that, since restoring from a clean backup rarely works entirely. How may programs do you want to reinstall after a complete restore from backup with microsofts own tools today? XP is certainly improved from 98, but it's still a home computer OS with a lot of features piled on to try to offset some fundamental flaws. There's a lot of NT4 and win2k boxes still out there for good reasons.

      The really important thing however, is the software - if the software you use to do your job only runs on a paticular platform, that's what you use. Most decent recent stuff is cross-platform anyway, and at the high end of town the client software to those big packages is a web browser.

    53. Re:I want animated program icons by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 1

      You're absolutely right.
      I am a big Mac fan, and that's no secret, but I think some of those articles were written by highschool kids with nothing better to do.

      Mac gaming pretty much sucks, but it is getting better. Enemy Territory just came out (and it's sweet), and Close Combat: first to fight is coming out about a week before the windows version, but anyone trying to prove that a Mac is a viable gaming platform, is, in my opinion, wrong.

      --
      If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    54. Re:I want animated program icons by iONiUM · · Score: 1

      Okay, good point, except that now you've had to replace the core GUI which Microsoft worked so hard on, the "revolutionary" start bar/button which prompted windows 95 to be different from windows 3.1, and added a MacOSX dock clone. Not only that, you want to add a skinning interface to change the look completely.

      Furthermore, it's still at risk for malware/viruses. Regardless of the fact that it's the most popular, this is still something that isn't pleasant.

      All this, to not buy a Mac? Good work. Personally, I'd rather just buy the computer and be able to use it without having to do a shit load of stuff, and be at risk for spyware/malware/shitware.

    55. Re:I want animated program icons by EggyToast · · Score: 2, Informative
      First of all, on a default setup (which most people have), installing anything that starts automatically and runs in the background requires the user to plop in their password -- in a box that only appears when they're installing software, and is visually distinct from browser popups and the like.

      So it can't just install itself from a user visiting a site, or clicking "OK." They would need to visit the site, have the pop up come up, then type in their password when it says "ADCrazy is trying to install BlahBlahBlah. Type in your Administrator password to continue."

      Secondly, it can't hide in a registry and alter how your other apps work. Sure it can play with some plist files to make some changes, but OS X makes it quite hard for a program to run in such a way as to make it completely invisible to the user and hard to quit.

      I'm not the grandparent and I'm not going to link them as it's not really worth either of our time, but there are distinct reasons why being "the biggest" doesn't make you the most vulnerable. Apache and IIS have rather equivalent marketshare, so to speak, yet IIS servers are the ones with bugs, problems, and security flaws.

      Finally, outside of web-based trojans, OS X doesn't have the low-level integration of Safari and Mail, meaning that a virus written for those applications don't have nearly full-access to a system with permission to change other files/programs on the computer.

      I will say this, though -- Longhorn and, to some degree SP2, will probably be all the evidence you need against this FUD of "the biggest programs have the biggest problems." I fully expect Longhorn to be relatively free from many of the malware problems that plague past Windows OS's, and it will very likely be on an exceedingly large number of computers. What will the argument be then, when one of the OS's with the largest marketshares proves the statement incorrect?

    56. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1
      Yep.

      I love when people violently argue without having a clue.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    57. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1
      Not only Terminal services. You may run processes as multiple users on a single console session. Useful somewhat.

      As for liking MS - happens. After installing Server 2003 and seeing blank desktop, and poking around how it is setup, i grew to like it. Gets the job done without distractions and with best application support out there. (And kudos to Cygwin and Eclipse developers).

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    58. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1
      Try letting 5 users login remotely and compile on that system, and we'll see if it isn't single-user. Certified moron.

      Yes, you can easily do that.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    59. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I haven't even started with the predatory monopolistic practices.

      Not very many people who express anti-capitalist sentiment link to the Cato Institute.

    60. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "And you have probably are using industry standards with my name on it"

      Let us hope, for your sake, that your coding is better than your grammar.

    61. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "First of all, on a default setup (which most people have), installing anything that starts automatically and runs in the background requires the user to plop in their password -- in a box that only appears when they're installing software"

      Yeah, and? They're installing their free porn portal right? That requires their password dontcha know? When that box pops up, what do you think Joe Sixpack will do? That right boys and girls, he's gonna type in his root password like a good drone so he can install his pron machine. Then guess what? He's owned. It's just that easy.

      "I fully expect Longhorn to be relatively free from many of the malware problems that plague past Windows OS's"

      Wow.. why, because M$ says so? I sure don't. I expect the guys that are good at finding the holes to find a WHOLE lot of them in Longhorn, as we all know that for the first year or more of any M$ OS release everybody using it is being used as beta testers. My prediction? Business as usual. Virus's and trojans will (I think) hit a new high soon after LH's release.

    62. Re:I want animated program icons by Moofie · · Score: 1

      Yeah, you know what? I've been maintaining Windows for as long as there has been Windows, and I have never had to copy something to the prefetch folder while in safe mode. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that there are a couple of other people on Earth who are in the same boat as I am.

      If you need to copy things to a prefetch folder while you're in safe mode to make your OS stop sucking, your OS sucks.

      There are reasons to use Windows. This is not one of the good ones.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    63. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I know that there's a certain level of familiarity that's lacking for me in Linux, but if I'm comfortable to manually install programs without a package manager, I think I should be able to put it in a freaking directory, tweak some config files, and get it running. I eventually did, but man, was it ever a pain."

      This says all that needs to be said about your familiarity with Linux. NOT using the distro's preferred method of installing files means you're fighting it, not working with it. To install anything on my machine is as easy as checking the box of the window manager (application, library, whatever), hitting apply, letting *IT* do all the work (isn't that what a computer is supposed to be for anyway?), then USING whatever it is I just installed. It really just works, and it is that easy.

      Gentoo is probably not the best argument for Linux usability (giggle).

    64. Re:I want animated program icons by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      In addition to what the other guy said: Most people use Windows as Administrator, because a lot of software assumes it and doesn't run if logged in as a standard user. People don't run OS X that way. They run it as a normal user, and there are no applications that won't run that way. A Trojan could therefore mess with user files of the person that ran it (as they could with any OS), but not damage system files.

      And then again there's the good old lack of ActiveX, which is of course God's gift to malware authors on Windows, but doesn't exist on Macs.

      The concept that the number of viruses and malware on Windows is purely a function of it's popularity is Redmond FUD, and you've swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

    65. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've used, extensively, *all* the software you mention (litestep, styleXP, YzDock, etc). Yes, it makes XP look almost as good as Linux can, but at the end of the day, it's still XP, and the only advantage it holds is games and platform specific apps (note that those are quite legit reasons to use the OS, but do not in any way shape or form make the OS itself technically "better"). Trust me that you're not going to convince anyone here that XP supports more hardware than Linux, newer maybe, but not more.. I'll chalk that up to ignorance on your part though.

    66. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Irritating doodads... oh you mean like that mile long string of unintuitive icons that will be in the tray of 90% of winduhs lusers.. eating up their resources and causing random crashes?

      Clue for you.. most of the eyecandy you see in Linux screenshots are there for just that, eyecandy for the screenshots. Nobody I know actually *uses* their machines with those resource hogs running... unlike all my friends that can't see past XP.. and won't let me get rid of the crap in their tray no matter how badly their machine is running.

    67. Re:I want animated program icons by hawk · · Score: 1
      That's what I love about Slashdot - if you have anything good to say about Microsoft, you get modded down to troll.

      Kind of goes with the way that posts complaining about being modded as a troll for liking microsoft get modded to +5 . . .

      :)

      hawk

    68. Re:I want animated program icons by Txiasaeia · · Score: 1
      "All this, to not buy a Mac? Good work. Personally, I'd rather just buy the computer and be able to use it without having to do a shit load of stuff, and be at risk for spyware/malware/shitware."

      The thing is, even though Mac OS X has it down for user friendliness, it can't touch the sheer amount of programs available for it. Plus x386 hardware is *much* cheaper. So, even though it takes a little more time to set up, it costs less and I can use more programs. The tradeoff is worth it to me.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    69. Re:I want animated program icons by hawk · · Score: 1

      >Believe it or not, people educated about the alternatives *still* use XP.

      They also smoke, use crack, engage in risky sexual behavior, use XP--oh, wait, that's where we started :)

      hawk

    70. Re:I want animated program icons by doku_hebi_ryu · · Score: 0

      I think that everyone here who gets into the primary arguement about Mac vs. PC hasn't paid for a windows operating system in their entire lives. Word to the wise, Windows is EXTREMELY expensive, legally. From newegg.com (only place to shop really) Windows XP Retail is $267.95, which is $67.96 more expensive than FIVE RETAIL LICENSES OF MAC OS X. Sure those five computers have to be in one house legally, but I have three Macs and two PCs in my house. To keep both of my PCs running the newest version of Windows, legally, I can get two upgrade CDs for $400, or two retail packs (which just seems to work better) for $530, while every Mac in my house is one $200 bill, LEGAL. Buying an OEM piece of software for an already purchased computer is a crime. Furthermore, even in the OEM market Windows XP costs more. The full blown version of Mac OS X comes with every Mac, while XP PRO is generally a $50-$100 upgrade on most "home" computers sold by the big boys. While you may have an arguement that you prefer XP Pro (modded to look like a mac) over Mac OS X (the real thing), I would prefer cheap brain surgery over having to use XP Home in my everyday life. (just my opinion)

      Let's look at this in another light: as a business, if I want a server OS that is going to be infinately expandable on users. This is literally impossible with Microsoft. Like their Professional desktop OS, their Server OS is twice as expensive as the Mac counterpart, and only seats 25 computers (Windows 2003 Enterprise vs. Mac OS X Server Tiger Unlimited) The fiscal sense here is obvious!

      I'm not even going to talk hardware here. It's too big an arguement.

      Really though. To people who argue for PC superiority, really ask yourself when the last time you had to go down to a real store and actually put down good money for that OS you hold in such high regard. Especially during the 95, 95b, 98, 98SE, ME, 2000Pro, XP "rehash" cycle.

      Doku

    71. Re:I want animated program icons by (1+-sqrt(5))*(2**-1) · · Score: 1
      Well, WinXP still has Progman.exe [...].
      Back before I switched to Linux, my startup ritual consisted of killing explorer.exe and starting Program Manager; it was a throwback to 3.1, without the need to roll your own sockets.
    72. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1
      It is quite better, thank you. Though I got out of coding trenches by now. I am not a native speaker. And a physicist by education. So you can take your linguistic superiority and stick it up wherever your people traditionally crams things

      Worst is taking meeting minutes over phone.

      Oh well, enough internet flaming for today.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    73. Re:I want animated program icons by DaEMoN128 · · Score: 1

      It is cheaper to buy programs for
      XP???? Please explain.
      OSX - ~$70
      XP - ~$300
      MS Office is about the same (I wont use it, I use OO.org)
      games - more selection for MS
      Firewall
      OSX - free (iptables)
      XP - 40ish (Mcafee or Norton are the most common)

      By the looks of it, XP still is more expensive for me. Ill stick with Linux or OSX.

      Thank you for your troll.
      (if you have to dl a ton of software in order to make the os usable, why not just go get a good distro and have it usable out of the box). Linux -90ish for Novell full edititon. XP 300, you can even go any buy a better graphics card for what you save.

      --
      Stop signs are only Suggestions
    74. Re:I want animated program icons by opqdonut · · Score: 1

      How exactly were you trying to install fluxbox on gentoo? Is

      emerge fluxbox

      or

      ./configure && make && make install

      Too difficult? The thing about XP I find irritating is the registry, removing a program cleanly can be hell on XP.

      --
      yes > /dev/dsp
    75. Re:I want animated program icons by Txiasaeia · · Score: 1

      Read my post again. Where did I say that it was cheaper to buy software for XP? I said it was cheaper to buy *hardware* for x386, which applies equally to XP or Linux. The total cost of ownership is higher with OS X, because if you compare apples to apples (no pun intended), Apple hardware is more expensive than x386 hardware. Next time, please read what I'm saying a bit more carefully.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    76. Re:I want animated program icons by DaEMoN128 · · Score: 1

      My bad, I missed the very last part (cheaper hardware, but software is about the same).

      The hardware is getting compararable in price now as well.

      --
      Stop signs are only Suggestions
    77. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People run OS X as adminitrator using the default install, which only sets up an administrator account. You have to manually create standard UNIX user accounts, and I'm willing to bet that most Joe Sixpack users don't bother (in fact, it's unlikely that the majority of them are aware of the fact that one can create other accounts, or for that matter why anybody would want to).

      IMO this is a big potential security hole in OS X, because once a user with administrator-level access has supplied their password to a trojan, it can "sudo" to create a root account (Apple wisely don't enable root accounts in the default install), and then install a root kit. The fact that this hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't happen, but we'll probably have to wait until some exploits appear before Apple change their installation routines to (1) create two accounts (admin and standard user, with the latter being the default login), and (2) turn the OS X firewall on by default.

    78. Re:I want animated program icons by ignavus · · Score: 1

      And user INERTIA (and related fear of the, gasp, UNKNOWN).

      Most people won't change from a familiar environment unless they are seriously upset and angry at it. It is too easy to just sigh and keep on using the same ole thing. Present costs (learning a new OS) tend to trump future benefits (better OS, once learned).

      But impulse buying a Mac Mini, or an OS switch at their workplace, might bring about a change in inertia and FOTU ...

      --
      I am anarch of all I survey.
    79. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow! A Mac magazine has articles written by paid shills with agandas -- best steer clear of Macs then. Stick with the Wintel platform, where journalists are never paid to favourably review some new piece of hardware, and scientific studies proving that Windows has better ROI / security / everything else than all other operating systems since the dawn of time are truly independent because MS doesn't need to sponsor FUD campaigns.

      I'm really glad you told me about how biased the Mac press is. It's obviously no better than the Linux press, which is also plagued with blatant fanatics. Good thing the Wintel world is blessed with fiercely objective, truthful people like Laura Didio and Ken Brown, who never spread FUD, and are not paid anything to say all those nice things about Microsoft.

    80. Re:I want animated program icons by TheoGB · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I wasn't exactly meaning that my mum would set the shit up! It was more (and I admit it's been a long time since I used Suse 6.2) that setting up Linux was a pain and the result was a machine whose focus was utterly different to Windows: i.e. it suited my computer programmer type use much more than my mum's use a mail program and browse.

      My point about the Mac was that it was even nicer to use. While Linux wasn't likely to have a benny, it's not (or not in my day) really designed for the casual user.

      Like I say, for the bog-standard person, XP with SP2 and constant MS updates is good and does its job. It's not hard because so many people really do use a PC for so little...

      Linux is fundamentally a better OS, without a doubt, but it's not better for me as I have loads of software (music, games, etc.) that I can only run on a Windows environment, and I don't actually have any issues with it. And I'm a webby, programmery sort of guy! :-D

    81. Re:I want animated program icons by silverdr · · Score: 1

      Believe it or not, people educated about the alternatives *still* use XP.

      Very few of those and mostly those who are either not educated/trained equally well on all the choices or (they think they) have that special Windows app they can't live without

      --
      Now, mod me down freely. My karma can't get any worse...
    82. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "So, if you completly basterdize it with free 3rd party abilities, it's worth a damn."

      Yes. Just like Linux.

    83. Re:I want animated program icons by elbobo · · Score: 1

      Uhh, so the reasons why you like XP are because you have stopped using the majority of the XP shell and replaced it with third party parts?

      Am I alone in seeing the logical disconnect here? Anyone?

    84. Re:I want animated program icons by dalutong · · Score: 1

      Hey -- i'm not trying knock ya. Just saying maybe things have changed. you should try the new ubuntu liveCD so you can poke around. I've been using debian since 1997. I switch to Ubuntu when warty came out. It is based on debian sid (so it is very up to date) and is very end-user oriented.

      It is still being polished up, but it is good enough for my very un-tech savvy parents. Especially when, like you say, they don't do much with it. I have a "web browser" link on the desktop, a "email" icon, and a "word processor" icon. And, to convert my mother, who loves Spider (the MS version,) I installed the firefox extension. hehe.

      --

      What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
    85. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2003 is, but 2000 and XP aren't.

    86. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Means he's a liar, and he probably likes to hog the credit.
      Any time someone starts off with a phrase appraoching "you know nothing, I wrote the standard on...", you should know they're probably a Cobol programmer who wishes they had.

    87. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you can't. You certainly can't on any XP edition, and I have Pro as well as Home on a laptop.

    88. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about accepting Microsoft's EULA? No matter how good their software may be that EULA brings it down. You like your rights given to you through the Fair Use Act trampled all over? Do you like the lock-in/lock-out design? Do you like supporting a convicted monopolist? And do you like supporting a company that speaks out both sides of its mouth when it comes to IP theft? Do you like not owning your own box? I guess all that doesn't matter if it looks pretty.

    89. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ./configure && make && make install

      Too difficult?

      most things are easy when you already know how.

    90. Re:I want animated program icons by ChairmanMeow · · Score: 1

      You can set progman.exe as your default shell. There's a registry key (I don't remember exactly where it is, though) that has the setting for the startup shell. It was easier to set, though, when it was just a setting in win.ini...

      --
    91. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cheap, Powerful, Easy

      Pick two.

    92. Re:I want animated program icons by TheoGB · · Score: 0

      Precisely. Cheap and easy fulfils most people's requirements.

    93. Re:I want animated program icons by nxtw · · Score: 1

      2003 is? 2003 is what? A multi-user operating system? So are 2000 and XP. Windows XP is of course designed for workstation use, but they are still fully multi user operating systems. There are more versions of 2000 than Professional; they are all multi-user operating systems.

    94. Re:I want animated program icons by jacksonj04 · · Score: 1

      Ah, now crap in the tray I *can* agree with you on. Mine has all of 8 icons (on a double-width bar) which leaves plenty of space for the rest.

      If I wanted something which just looked damn good, I'd want a Mac. If I want something to be simple, I'd go CLI.

      XP does what I need, and does it well. Sorry linux fanboys, but I've tried all three systems and XP wins for my needs (gaming/workstation). The server downstairs runs Fedora (And gets admin over SSH with Putty), and we don't have a Mac (But a mini is on order...)

      --
      How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
    95. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1
      Yes you can. Also notice that I was talking about 2003. But all are fully multiuser systems with all capabilities of a modern OS.

      Get a clue.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    96. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      XP Pro with Terminal Services, yes. Without it, no you can't! Even MS lists this on their web site.

    97. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're lying, and you know it.

      The only reason you use Microsoft is because they've locked you into their monopoly. You NEED Microsoft Word to handle their proprietary format. You have no choice at Work but to use Microsoft, because that's what they mandate. You have no choice at home because your video games, toys (gps unit perhaps), or other software you've just grown accustomed to, all work solely on Microsoft.

      Above all else, Microsoft Windows is the only thing you've really used, and you haven't reached the frustration level with Microsoft yet (maybe you only use the computer occasionally) to put forth the time and effort to learn a new OS. Especially Linux, which certainly has a learning curve for someone who's used Microsoft for years.

      Not only that, but apparently you have some major mental problems that cause you to think anyone else cares that you're too lazy to learn a better system.

      Oh, and btw, LOL: "XP is snappy, looks good (once you replace the default shell), and is easy to use."

      Great, so once you replace XP with something that ISNT XP, it becomes snappier, better looking, and easier to use. So much better than just starting off with a good operating system, isnt it?

    98. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, you have some MAJOR anger management issues. You throw magazines because they do what they advertise on the cover? Did you think MacWorld was going to tell you how a cheap POS Celeron Dell is better than a Mac? Did you think they were going to act like the mac is useless for games, even though most major games are released for the Mac, and Macs actually come with decent graphics cards by default? Of course they're going to talk about the positive aspects of their product. You weren't looking at Consumer Reports or "Computer Shopper" or anything that anyone would expect to be completely balanced.

    99. Re:I want animated program icons by MLopat · · Score: 1

      I totally agree with the mac approach if that's the interface you want. As I've seen, the emulator can run a whole variety of windows programs that you maybe interested in, and as for the core functionality (browsing, spreadsheet, word processor) the mac apps are as good or better than their Windows counterparts.

    100. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1

      Sure. You also can not login in with 5 users into a Linux box unless they have an account there. Does it make Linux a single-user system like this idiot claimed?

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    101. Re:I want animated program icons by Axe · · Score: 1

      No I am not a liar, and you are a complete looser who does not know shit.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    102. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Completely different issue. Multi-user is built into all unix style operating systems, whereas with MS you have to have an additional piece of software running to create it. Means the original post is correct.
      I don't like the fact that you call someone an idiot because they have a different opinion from you. Reduce that and maybe you're posts will be more effective.

    103. Re:I want animated program icons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is spelled loser.
      Also, all of your posts here have a little too much animosity and not enough substance.

  43. Broken ground or just broken? by dan2550 · · Score: 1
    But while the OS bears plenty of similarities to Tiger, Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself.
    This isnt new; KDE has had this feature for ages.
    1. Re:Broken ground or just broken? by nsayer · · Score: 1

      Panther has it too. Just select the "jail bars" column view in a finder window and click on a file. A preview will, for most types, show up in the right-most column.

    2. Re:Broken ground or just broken? by Guy+Harris · · Score: 1
      Panther has it too. Just select the "jail bars" column view in a finder window and click on a file. A preview will, for most types, show up in the right-most column.

      ...although, for RTF (and probably other) documents, it's not a preview, just an icon (my document doesn't begin with "A boy once lived in..."), so it's not quite what Allchin mentioned (not that I care - I can't even read the text in the icon for RTF documents, and can just barely read some of the text in the bigger preview icon for them).

  44. Windows release model is the problem by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 1
    Except that one is, you know, shipping this month.

    Which, unless you're looking to switch computers now, is irrelevant. Either you own a Mac (I do) and you're stoked (or underwhelmed) by Tiger, or you don't. If you don't own a Mac, Tiger's irrelevant. For those poor souls, I imagine Longhorn SP1 can't come soon enough (I'm pretty much assuming you don't want whatever ships first). XP was a dated OS when it first shipped.

    I don't understand the compare/contrast thing. None of these features are truly new anyway, so it's really not MS copying Apple. Apple's main advantage is being able to get them to market faster.

    If anything, the lesson is that the whole "We're going to release an OS you'll use for the next 10 years" thing is an increasingly bad idea. It means the OS is obsolete before it goes beta. Apple's model seems to work well, particularly if you buy maybe every other update. Wouldn't it be better to get the framework of a working OS out there, then sell feature add ons? Otherwise, SPs are just bug fixes. Seems to me the only part that really needs to be part of the core OS at release is probably WinFS, but..

    1. Re:Windows release model is the problem by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 1
      For a system used to actually do work, something that is thought out and stable is a long overdue concept. OS needs to be stable.

      Those of us who don't still use a PDP realize that features and stability aren't mutually exclusive. Macs have stability and features. QED.

      That means that they finally came to their senses and do not try to please gay geeks like you with the latest bells and whistles. "Ooooo my icons zoom and have little dancing faggots in them"

      And what's with the homophobia there pal?

    2. Re:Windows release model is the problem by Axe · · Score: 1
      Macs have stability and features. QED.

      Stability? Win32 API are much more stable then Mac ones. Just look what happened with transition to OS X.

      Windows do have quite more features then Mac anyway. And they are quite stable. If they lack dancing faggots - good.

      And what's with the homophobia there pal?

      Still better then beeing politically correct.

      --
      <^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
    3. Re:Windows release model is the problem by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 1
      Stability? Win32 API are much more stable then Mac ones. Just look what happened with transition to OS X.

      Yeah, every once in while it's a good idea to actually dump all the crap and use something better.

      Windows do have quite more features then Mac anyway

      Like? The BSOD?

      And they are quite stable

      The API might be stable because they never update the OS but the machines themselves aren't.

      Still better then beeing politically correct.

      They still lynch people with dark skin where you're from?

  45. Broken ground or just broken? by dan2550 · · Score: 1
    Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself. The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file.
    This isnt new; KDE has had this feature for ages Folders, too, show glimpses of what's inside. Such images can be rather small, but they offer a visual cue that aids in the searching process, Allchin said.
    This isnt new either! XP has this feature
  46. Ship it! by RacerZero · · Score: 1

    "... as Allchin pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS: ..."
    If it has so many advantages then ship it!

  47. Re:The point of Longhorn by CSMastermind · · Score: 1

    Sadly you're right, the bloat is terrible in the modern versions of windows. Longhorn might not take years to be accepted if we can do one thing. Find something that you need longhorn to do that lots of people/companies will want. Maybe that should be what microsoft puts it's R&D into.

  48. Icon Security by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Funny

    Made me laugh: "...document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself." Now there's a security enhancement.

    I think that files with viruses in them show a little icon of you reintsalling the OS, as a portent of the future you might have by opening it. So I guess that's security related. By default it ships with an icon of Balmer doing the installation unless you have a USB camera hooked up, then it automatically detects an install and takes a snap while you're in hour two for best effect!

    Who says Microsoft cant innovate.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Icon Security by szo · · Score: 1

      you think you're joking, but i remember an exploit in some picture decoding library. Add this to automatically opening the files and decoding the picture when _opening the directory that holds it_, whoa, there is perspective!

      Szo

      --
      Red Leader Standing By!
  49. Drive Letters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only thing that I really want to know is if they got rid of drive letters. To me, this is one of the stupidest ideas ever concieved. There are so many problems with this system it is unbelieveable! You can't use two flash drives at once to transfer files between (both drive E), you have no idea what the drive is from the name (A,B,C doesn't give any clue), and you can't even change the names to help remind you.

    1. Re:Drive Letters by VoidWraith · · Score: 1

      You can change the names pretty easily, but it doesn't carry over beyond My Computer and highly Windows programs. I am able to remember five letters of drives... its simpler than remembering that I haven't mounted /boot where I think I have, or knowing everything deeper than x directory is on a different partition. I've grown up using drive letters, its exceedingly simple. And I have had no trouble with removable media, it just finds the first available letter and sticks it there.

    2. Re:Drive Letters by JohnnyGTO · · Score: 1

      Your being humorous right? Or have you only worked Dos and Windows?

      On a Mac each device appears on the desktop as its mounted, I believe linux windows managers can do the same.

      You want to copy from one flash device to another, just drag the contents.

      If you need to more direct control of the device you could just pop open a terminal window and work directly with the mounting points but that would be rare.

      --
      Si vis pacem, para bellum! For evil to succeed good men need only do nothing!
    3. Re:Drive Letters by Enrique1218 · · Score: 1

      I agree. Windows should really drop the A,B,C naming scheme and rely on Volumes Names like OSX. Think GUI as well by design unique icons for the different type of media because pictures are more intuitive

      --
      You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
    4. Re:Drive Letters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you have no idea what the drive is from the name (A,B,C doesn't give any clue), and you can't even change the names to help remind you.

      You can change the drive letter, or mount it as a directory (like a Unix mountpoint) from the same dialog. If everything is mounted under one drive letter (likely C:), you should be able to omit the letter when referring to a file (like \floppy\file, or maybe even /floppy/file depending on the application).

    5. Re:Drive Letters by JohnnyGTO · · Score: 1

      Crap sorry just re-read parent. Pneumonia and the drugs that go with it real take their toll on /. replies. oops sorry.

      --
      Si vis pacem, para bellum! For evil to succeed good men need only do nothing!
    6. Re:Drive Letters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Drive letters haven't been necessary for 5 years (except really for the boot drive). For example, I boot off of D: and have my flash drives mounted as D:\Flash\Lexar and D:\Flash\SanDisk, and my photo volume is mounted under D:\Photos. However, it's far more convenient to access the photos as P:, my flash drives as F: and G:, etc.

      As a matter of fact, I would call the SUBST command chroot done right. It's now almost impossible to use chroot nowadays for security reasons due to shared libraries and such, but wouldn't it be handy if you could create your own roots? That way you could make ~/foo work in any program, not just your shell.

      dom

  50. Who wants to search the desktop? by klubar · · Score: 1

    Other than for home users, what's the point of powerful desktop searching tools? In most corporate environments, all of the files are kept on the file server. None of these "desktop" search tools extend the powerful search capabilities to the terabytes of storage on the file server. The search tools (and index) should reside on the server with a desktop-like interface on the desktop. Every user should not be indexing the server.

  51. Shades of Blues Brothers by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Funny

    Allchin said that Longhorn also goes further than Tiger when it comes to what one can do with search results, saying it offers new ways to organize and view the information.

    "We got both kinds of search views. We sort by date OR time!"

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Shades of Blues Brothers by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Heay heay, be fair now. They can also do those sorts in ascending OR decending order.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  52. You must mean 2004... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After all, the moronic tool who plaigarized this ass-kissing 'review' thinks Windows XP was released 5 years ago.

    Here's a hint, motherfucker: it wasn't. It wasn't released four years ago either. You'll have to wait another EIGHTEEN FUCKING MONTHS for the 5 year anniversary of the release of Windows XP.

    Therefore, he probably thinks that Longhorn already WAS released. You know, from the moment that MicroSoft started using the word in the press. Never mind that you can't BUY the damn thing anywhere, they said the word!! Bow before Bill Gates!!!

    Bah. Such blatant and pathetic syncophancy makes me nauseous.

  53. Re:some advantages that Microsoft has over Apple's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He said "we'll see". That could quite easily mean screenshots.

    Go and buy a clue, you stupid fucking cunt-mongering cock-jockey.

  54. Re:Wow...competition by thuh+Freak · · Score: 1

    When was the last time a Windows release felt any pressure from a competitor?

    When did Apple first start development on the Macintosh?

    --
    I wish that I was a catfish.
  55. Re:some advantages that Microsoft has over Apple's by Shag · · Score: 0
    High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.

    None of which we'll see until 2006.


    *ponders* Dunno, most of that stuff sounds like OS X 10.3 Panther to me, and I think that came out in 2003. Maybe there are eddies in the time-space continuum or something.
    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
  56. Contrary view by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I would like to see a windows version that isnt half assed up.

    To the contrary - I have yet to encounter a Windows release that was not complete ass.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  57. General Public by Stibidor · · Score: 1

    True, true. This "ground-breaking" feature is only ground-breaking as far as the Windows family is concerned. However, the Windows family of operating systems is the only family most people are familiar with. Sure, my grandma's heard of Linux, but she hasn't heard of KDE or Gnome, and she has never before seen an icon that shows the contents of her crossword puzzle. It's people like my grandma that Microsoft cares about because there are millions of grandmas out there.

    This is MS's way of leading the masses to believe they are cool.

  58. subject goes WHERE? by CloudDrakken · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It's ridiculous how windows is continually the worst operating system of choice and everyone I know uses it.

    Microsoft keeps rubbing backs and wins $$$ (real cashmonies), it's not a software company, it's just a business.

    Funny that although unix developers can't buy the old USSR because of funds they can still dish out a better OS than Gates can. Personally, I'm kinda worried that he might have died in a fire 10 years ago and they're really just giving Americans bad software while they've already mastered cloning and human-like robot manufacturing.

    If he'd just burn up 80% of his fortune already our dollar might gain some value for when I go to Europe again so I can actually afford things.

    "Who's more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?"

    By that token, Star Wars was a big Windows commercial.

    1. Re:subject goes WHERE? by The+Bungi · · Score: 1

      I was looking for the "take me to your leader" line towards the end of your post and I couldn't find it. Phew!

  59. The first real nail in the coffin? by JohnnyGTO · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I mean who needs these features in a typical office enviroment not to mention mom and pop user. The only real power users out there today are the Gamers and they aren't going to be happy to give up cycles just to have some cool 3D in their OS.

    Could it be that MS has finally pushed to far and bet too much?

    Are we going to be FORCED to use this OS by some self serving argument that it will "MAKE AMERICA SAFER, and whiten teeth"tm ?

    You may feel I'm being a bit anti Microsoft here but they really have gambled a bit, as have the hardware companies or are they looking for this to create more demand (quick answer OF COURSE), and they are going to create an OS that 99% of us do not need.

    What I want is an OS thats fast and doesn't get in the way of me working with graphics, fiddlin with creating movies, playing music or blowing things up in Unreal. Longhorn?, don't thinks so, not from what I've been reading.

    Its like the OS IS the experience and everything your doing and that high powered machine you bought to do it on be dambed cause we know you want your 3D interface!!

    Microsoft needs to hire about 200 Russian coders, stick em on an island with nothing but PII 450's and 20GB of total hard drive space and tell them they get paid when Longhorn runs on their machines!!

    --
    Si vis pacem, para bellum! For evil to succeed good men need only do nothing!
    1. Re:The first real nail in the coffin? by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      What I want is an OS thats fast and doesn't get in the way of me working with graphics, fiddlin with creating movies, playing music or blowing things up in Unreal. Longhorn?, don't thinks so, not from what I've been reading.

      Yeah, the only reason I can see for them shipping it is the bug fixes and making us buy more hardware, so far as I can tell, and chip in a few thousand for software and license upgrades.

      I just don't get why anyone would want what they're pushing as the features of Longhorn. I'm severely underwhelmed.

      --
      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  60. Sidenote -11 guns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At this point, continuing to sing Longhorn's praises to the consumer is about as logical as advertising the fact that Duke Nukem Forever will support the ability to fire 10 guns at once.

    Actually it will support up to 11 guns at once. But you really don't want to know how you trigger the 11th.

    Lets just say it fits in quite well with the Duke Nukem character.

  61. Ocelot? by Shag · · Score: 1

    Aren't those small and non-ferocious? I suppose ocelots could nibble at the remains of the cow after the tiger's had its fill.

    Maybe we need a product named "Jackal" or "Vulture."

    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    1. Re:Ocelot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, it will be coded by Apple's elite "Ocelot Unit"... ...Then it will shoot the pants out of Longhorn!

  62. Intrinsic security? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/17/ 1646216&tid=179&tid=172&tid=3

    That 'intrinsic security' is leaving critical (remote arbitrary code execution) vulnerabilities unpatched for 3 months?

  63. Re:Wow...competition by miller701 · · Score: 1
    They're actually competing. When was the last time a Windows release felt any pressure from a competitor?

    I'me sure OS/2 Warp delayed Win95. Workplaceshell is still a better interface than XP is even today, IMHO.

    Of course, the market felt differently.

  64. Re:The point of Longhorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would've modded you up if it weren't for that last paragraph. I think it's an interesting theory that software (when in a monopoly position) can drive hardware sales if the makers want it too (and hardware producers probably like MS for that reason, thus giving MS more influence).

    But I don't think Longhorn will take years to get accepted. It will take time, but not years. They'll probably find a way to force it on to people. Users with a clue are a scarce minority after all.

    A what the heck.

  65. Re:Wow...competition by Shag · · Score: 1

    I love how their search is somehow better simply because you can "organize and view the results" in different ways.


    Well, obviously.

    Different things are better. For example:

    Linux is better than Windows or Mac, because it's different.
    Mac is better than Windows or Linux, because it's different.
    Windows is better than Linux or Mac, because it's different.

    Arby's is different. Different is good.
    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
  66. The sad part is... by wandazulu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I mentioned that Longhorn would show a "preview" as the document icon to a family member who is less than computer savvy and she thought it was the greatest idea ever. She really did say "that's why windows is great..they're always improving the way things work." When I told her the mac had this for ages, she shrugged and said 'I never used a mac.'

    People like my sister-in-law are the perfect audience for microsoft...she doesn't know anything different from windows at all, thinks that everything they do was their own original creation, and after cleaning her machine of netsky and some random spyware programs, shrugs again and asks if she lost anything. Doesn't care, isn't curious, does what she's told. The worst thing is that she's totally comfortable with this state of affairs because she figures that's the way things are, that's the way it'll be.

    Aaarrrgghh!!

    1. Re:The sad part is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Welcome to America!!

    2. Re:The sad part is... by What+me+a+Coward · · Score: 1

      Wait till she see's what kind of machine she'll need for many of the longhorn features.

      3.0 gig proc and hardware accel graphics supporting directx9.0 to have all of longhorns goodie features in play.

      It's downhill from their.

      But hey if you got the power it could be a flashy pc os. :D

      --
      Coward? Coward! Thems fighten words!!
    3. Re:The sad part is... by ssj_195 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wish I had mod points; you hit the nail right on the head, there. I know people - "IT professionals" who are well-paid - who are utterly convinced that Microsoft are the source of every innovation the computing world has seen, and have their best interests at heart, little knowing of the DRM-infested nightmare Microsoft would like to ensnare them in. It's astonishing, disheartening, and apparently uncurable - people don't seem to even want to be convinced otherwise. These are the same people who appear to be thrilled to bits at every setback the Free Software movement suffers and will gloat over it endlessly, even though the Free Software pioneers are more likely to want what's best for them than Microsoft. A real shame.

    4. Re:The sad part is... by mrchaotica · · Score: 2, Insightful
      When I told her the mac had this for ages, she shrugged and said 'I never used a mac.'
      That's the worst part: the cognitive dissonance. When you point out the irrefutable fact that reality is the opposite of what they believed, they just ignore you. It's maddening!
      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    5. Re:The sad part is... by dustmite · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Microsoft have a clever strategy here - they "invite stupid people in". They make a point of marketing specifically to those people who fall usually no more than, say, half a standard deviation to the right of the mean on the IQ bell curve, people who would never otherwise amount to anything, and tell them "look, you can be somebody 'clever', you can be a 'computer wizard', and have people look up to you" (notice their latest "make a name for yourself with MS server" ad campaign? precisely this strategy in action ... it's these insecure people who delight at the notion that they finally have an opportunity to 'make a name for themselves' "thanks" to MS) ... so these people love MS because they then feel like MS has allowed them to be 'compooter experts', something they could only have dreamed of just years before. And these people form a larger base of Windows pseudo-experts running around than if Microsoft had tried to attract the brightest of the bright .. moreover MS knows they can't attract the smartest people because the smarter people are capable of evaluating OSs on a technical level. Look at Linux on the other hand, which "markets" itself only to the smartest people, but alienates most people further to the left of the bell curve (like C++) by promoting it's powerful but arcane complexity. So of course these people don't like Linux - from their perspective, it makes them "feel stupid". It's something they feel they can't understand, it reminds them they're not that smart. There's a lot of psychology behind choosing OSs .. the OSS guys should take advantage of it, and try to change their image. The general (buying) public can't tell the difference between real computer experts and the so-called "IT professionals" you mention ... so by having lots of these morons running around making ignorant statements about Microsoft inventing everything, they spread the lies to the public, who then buy into it.

      Funnily enough, on a purely technical level, Apple, with its good design in OS X, could really cater for the full range of the IQ bell curve, but is mostly marketed to the left side (for the public) and marketed slightly to the extreme right (e.g. actual experts, many of whom like the UNIX aspect) ... they don't seem to aim much for the middle, which seems odd to me as this is the bulk of the market and where MS pitches their stuff. MS avoid the extreme left (or vice versa) because Windows is not very user-friendly, and the extreme right avoid Windows automatically because they know better. (I mean left/right of the IQ curve, not the political spectrum).

    6. Re:The sad part is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The world is full of stupid people - that is why MS will always enjoy a larger market share - they cater for the masses.

    7. Re:The sad part is... by objekt · · Score: 1

      Mac user, here. I have Photoshop documents with preview icons. What other Mac programs do this? It's not universal, or I'm seriously missing something.

      --
      -- Boycott Shell
    8. Re:The sad part is... by fafalone · · Score: 1

      Just because people are more intelligent doesn't mean they don't care about things like ease of use, compatability range, etc. I'm a few std. devs above the mean myself (z=3.19 (s was 16, professionally administered, normalized, test), or the top 99.93 percentile). I know how to use UNIX/Linux (and obviously apple), and I prefer to use Windows. Windows can be adequately secured by people even 1 s above the mean if they make an honest attempt. Windows is actually very powerful, although tapping into its full power is not easy. This provides the most efficient way to have ease of use in day to day personal uses, yet having power on tap for those who can program well enough to take advantage of it. Now if I was running a server, I'd choose Linux; but for alot of tasks Linux simply doesn't offer enough of an advantage, and in others, such as gaming, is a disadvantage.
      I really don't know how you got off talking about normal curves and standard deviation, but while I'd agree that an F-test would reveal the difference in IQs is statistically significant, I'd also contend the mean of IQs of Windows choosers would not be negatively skewed to a significant level, because as I explained high intelligence does not alone imply choosing a non-Windows OS, and in fact because I'd further claim the deficit isn't until at least 2 s's, because because that's really the cutoff between mediocrity and giftedness, making that curve even more normal.

    9. Re:The sad part is... by dustmite · · Score: 1

      Well, of course I was speaking in general, and I'm sure there are exceptions all along the curve. I think it would be most interesting to be able to see the true distribution of OS choice along the IQ curve though, I suspect there would be some degree of truth to what I suspect, although without any data I'm really just hypothesising. I often ponder in general if there are correlations between IQ and various day-to-day things.

      Myself, I use Linux, Windows and Mac, although I use Linux less these days since I started with Mac. Most of my Windows usage is because we develop software products mainly for Windows (simply because that is what most of our clients use, same reason as almost any other ISV). As far as IQ goes I'm in the same percentile as you.

      Windows is actually very powerful, although tapping into its full power is not easy.

      This is generally true, but funnily I say the same thing rather about Mac. I do get a lot of out my Windows systems myself (especially if one installs e.g. UnixUtils, ImageMagick etc. and all the other UNIX 'favorites' that help you automate things and so on). But thanks to the fact that Mac is UNIX, it is also very powerful, I would say more powerful than Windows, especially if you know a bit of UNIX and can do some scripting, because it's "easier" to get that full power out of it than for Windows. And it's also got far fewer of the hundreds of irritating quirks and little bugs that make Windows annoying to use. "Little" things that probably don't bother most people, but reflect the low quality 'under the hood', e.g. the flickery interface of all aspects of Windows Explorer, but I could literally name dozens of things. I guess some people inherently aren't bothered by such things. Mac/Linux systems also always seem to perform far far better using VNC, Windows is very sluggish, thanks to architectural differences, and since I often use VNC to access my various systems, this is important to me. I guess it also all depends on what you need/want to get out of a system.

      I don't really play games anymore, so gaming support is simply not a factor to me at all. As a programmer though, quality of APIs is important, as I have to use them very often, and Windows APIs are generally shockingly bad - one wastes so much of one's own time because they are so inconsistent, so illogically designed, and the documentation frequently blatantly lies (I say "lies" rather than "is outright incorrect" because I have this theory that MS do it on purpose, but that's a rant for another day).

    10. Re:The sad part is... by edstromp · · Score: 1

      Dude. Stop fixing her computer. Tell her to buy a Mac. ... or charge her to fix it, and use the $$ to buy one for her later.

    11. Re:The sad part is... by sad_ · · Score: 1

      indeed, some om my colleagues in the 'windows' side of our dept. have the same attitude as his sister. i realy don't understand those guys. keep using IE, don't care for spy/adware and just reinstall every x months because all is too slow. when asking them why they don't use this or that for protection they say - hey, i can't be bothered with all that, and plainly i don't care, what is the problem with reinstalling anyway?

      --
      On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
  67. Is it just me, or does Longhorn sound boring? by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Seriously, I read the review and I was so underwhelmed I almost fell asleep.

    Don't get me wrong - on my 2004 tax return there's a line item for $1099 for Microsoft software, I'm just saying the feature list was the kind of thing that made my eyes glaze over.

    Where's the killer ap? Or should we all just give up and switch to Linux/BSD/Apple?

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:Is it just me, or does Longhorn sound boring? by General_Crespin · · Score: 1

      I think the closer we get to release the more information will be released... that's what's generally done, anyway. I agree with you right now though- so far, all their hyped features sound not-that-great.

      --
      "The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn."
  68. Worth it? It's the futur!! by zkn · · Score: 1

    Drop shadow? cmon. I want Transparency, 3D transparency with live wobble effects.
    Advanced physics rendering(Timedilation is on the top of that) groundbreakting 4D sound and cute livelike figures telling me where to click.
    I want to be able to see 2 movies fullscreen at 70% transparency and have word crashing beneath it all, while I'm searching for the cach of my lost documents with the all new and inovative desktopsearch.

    Sure it ain't productive but if I wanted to be productive I wouldn't have an internetconnection.

    1. Re:Worth it? It's the futur!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, Linux is likely to get it sooner than windows (if it will ship in 2007). Xgl should be ready in a year, while cairo is ready now (and will be implemented in GTK, maybe QT too).

  69. My favorite quote by drakethegreat · · Score: 1

    "In a brief demonstration, Allchin showed off several key features that make the new OS stand out from prior versions. A "quick search pane," for example, allows users to type queries and instantly see matching files." So I guess years after linux and unix based systems microsoft boasts about the feature everyone else already has! Hey why not, some idiot will think its never been done before and buy it just for that! Ignorance all the way!

  70. Vaporware vs. real product by Pecisk · · Score: 1

    Microsoft PR and Marketing dep. should be very desperate because all press raves about Apple products - iPod, MacMini and now THIS!? Of coarse, they should do something.

    But this something, in the light of delayed release date (about which fact I hadn't doubt about even before Microsoft SWORE that it will be released in 2006), is actually pure example of BAD marketing, because Microsoft usually somehow be more 'cool' about itself. As someone poster pointed out - Microsoft is forced to compete. And as we see, they simply can't handle so much heat.

    --
    user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
  71. Re:The point of Longhorn by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

    Actually, the only reason I bought another hardware platform was to get a laptop, and Mac OS X. Why wait for Longhorn, and another 6 years before laptop technology can drive it when I can get a Powerbook that works better for most things than a Windows desktop today?

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  72. Too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We just moved to Debian. Farewell to Microsoft and its insecure and overpriced OS.

  73. Re:Wow...competition by Malacon · · Score: 1

    They're actually competing. When was the last time a Windows release felt any pressure from a competitor?


    That is pretty impressive. Seriously, when was the last time Coke mentioned Pepsi? Usually the dominating brand just ignores the little guy, from their POV they aren't competing, they are barely playing in the same sandbox. The fact that MS is trying to justify their system is better (and not 2 weeks from shipping) shows that Apple, at least to some degree, has them worried about losing sales.

  74. Windows HS: Homeland inSecurity version (Longhorn) by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    In reading the PC Magazine review (parent above), my major impression was that Longhorn is really trying to capitalize on all the FUD that America is in, kind of a Homeland Insecurity version of Windows to make it safer.

    Guess their marketing people think most consumers are very very scared, is all I can say.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  75. Quote of the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Troll time...

    "While he acknowledged that Microsoft is unlikely to get throngs of people to show up outside retail stores on launch day as happened with Windows 95, he did say the company expects Longhorn to drive PC sales"

    Duh... Nothing current is going to be fast enough to run it.

  76. Computer making assumptions? by Inkieminstrel · · Score: 1

    The computer will just assume that the user doesn't want the movie muted and probably wants to watch it full-screen.
    I hate it when my computer makes these kinds of assumptions.

  77. Wait... by the+pickle · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lemme get this straight.

    Microsoft: "We don't have Longhorn ready yet, but Tiger, that OS from that other company, is shipping in 14 days if you want a 99% approximation of our OS that will ship in two years."

    Apple: "Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger': Even Microsoft Says It's Good."

    Isn't Rule Number One of advertising never to mention the "leading brand" by name? Sheesh, you'd think M$ would have learned by now.

    p

    1. Re:Wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Isn't Rule Number One of advertising never to mention the "leading brand" by name?

      I was thinking along these lines too, and I'm not sure which is the right choice

      a) MS comparing Longhorn to Tiger means they think Apple is really a threat.

      or

      b) They're really worried about Linux and hence ignore it to attack the small market share Apple.

    2. Re:Wait... by Senzei · · Score: 1
      Isn't Rule Number One of advertising never to mention the "leading brand" by name?


      Leading brand? I am not sure that slashdot reader's who zealously tout a commercial OS is a strong enough demographic to really worry about it.

      --
      Slashdot: Where anecdotes and generalizations can be freely substituted for facts, logic, or intelligence
    3. Re:Wait... by the+pickle · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Since you brought it up...

      "Reader" is pluralised by adding an "s" to the end. This is standard English convention, and has been for hundreds of years.

      Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to denote plurals!

      Now to address your real point: why do you think I put "leading brand" in quotes? The "leading brand" in commercials is almost never really the brand with the most market share. It's simply one or more high-profile competitors. Geesh. Lighten up a notch or two, and enjoy your weekly dose of Thurrott. Slashdot is obviously too sophisticated for you.

      p

    4. Re:Wait... by Senzei · · Score: 1
      Silly me thinking they put in a +1 funny mod option so people could joke around here.

      Evidently having anything good to say about MS puts me in with the thurrott crowd. I suppose black and white thinking makes advocacy easier. My question is if apple is such a high profile competitor why is their market share A)Listed in relation to hardware vendors, and B) only around 2.88% in the US and that is the larger number.

      I suppose if you compare them to the number of computers sold by MS they are in a huge lead, but that is about it.

      Feel free to correct my grammar then try to refute my arguments with your own definitions.

      --
      Slashdot: Where anecdotes and generalizations can be freely substituted for facts, logic, or intelligence
  78. Share music files by Pascal+Sartoretti · · Score: 3, Funny

    From TFA:

    For example, a PC with Longhorn might show all the music files together, whether they are on the local PC or another machine on the network.

    I'm surprised, this already works on my WinXP machine. The application is named iTunes.

    Oh wait...

  79. I dont know what step 3 is by astro-g · · Score: 1

    But I know it isnt "Release"

    (im fairly certain its not "Sell OS" either)

  80. Whatever? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Whatever"?! RMS's head just exploded.

  81. OS X from above, Linux from below. by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    Tough times ahead for MS.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  82. I just need to post my comments. by Sithik · · Score: 1

    Ok, I just have to have my say about this.

    Personally Ive never bought any MS windows product, hell Ive never bought ANY MS product, besides maybe a few games. What I love is how everyone would jump all over MS simply because they feel they need to defend what it is they "use", whether its OSX, Linux, whatever. I personaly since windows 98, have never seen a blue screen. Never have I been hacked. Never have I gotten a virus. Of course I may have gotten ad-ware/spyware, but when your the biggest player in the market these virus/adware/spyware writers are going to target your product. If OSX was as big as Windows is, there would be just as many problems.

    People always complain about how incompatable Windows is, well, again when your the big dog and your not running on a "set" hardware platform (read Apple), there will be compatability issues. People always complain about how insecure (read spyware/adware/virus's), well tbh a computer/software is only as good as its user. If a user thinks they can buy a world-wide, huge market piece of product and simply plug it in and be totally secure, your sadly mistaken. If you dont have a firewall, its your fault, not the OS. They TRIED to fix that problem by making a firewall. To be honest, I would much rather them spend the time improving other aspects, then trying to make thier product foolproof. Of course, by TRYING to make thier product foolproof, its just making them more money, so im all for it I guess.

    I know im going to get flamed, but it really pisses me off when people complain and complain about windows, yet I bet almost 75% of them are compaining about it, on a windows machine. If you dont like windows, dont use it, dont bitch about it. Your statement of simply not using it is more then enough.

    For the record I also use Linux, so dont think im a windows freak. Personally I would NEVER think about Apple OS's due to the simple fact there is no reason for me to.

    1. Re:I just need to post my comments. by What+me+a+Coward · · Score: 1

      Im waiting for the public beta to test it out and decide if i wanna go with winxp 64 bit or wait for longhorn 64 bit. Or how knows linux may come out with a version that finally is easy to use and can run my windows programs and games in wine by then.

      But im not holding my breath for that.

      Kinda reminds me i need to take a look at linux again to see how it's changed.

      --
      Coward? Coward! Thems fighten words!!
    2. Re:I just need to post my comments. by lurch_mojoff · · Score: 1
      I know im going to get flamed, but it really pisses me off when people complain and complain about windows, yet I bet almost 75% of them are compaining about it, on a windows machine. If you dont like windows, dont use it, dont bitch about it. Your statement of simply not using it is more then enough.
      I, for one, most certainly am (on a windows machine) and most certainly will (switch to another OS, namely Mac OS X). But you saying all this that you said is just as pointless and redundant as me saying I don't really like Windows.

      BTW there are some flaws i your arguments:
      If a user thinks they can buy a world-wide, huge market piece of product and simply plug it in and be totally secure, your sadly mistaken. If you dont have a firewall, its your fault, not the OS.
      You are terribly wrong here. Linux and *BSD (including Mac OS X) do come with a firewall integrated in their kernels. In most (sadly not all) cases they also come with a pretty good, robust and secure configuration for the firewall OUT OF THE BOX. And those are minor players, with niche markets. If you are a "world-wide, huge market piece of product" you can definitely expect to be a target of attacks and so, if you value your customers, you should make sure they get the best security OUT OF THE BOX. Microsoft didn't.
      Of course I may have gotten ad-ware/spyware, but when your the biggest player in the market these virus/adware/spyware writers are going to target your product. If OSX was as big as Windows is, there would be just as many problems.
      People don't write viruses and malware for *NIX because it is dificult enough not to be worth the effort. On the contrary, Windows is like leaving your front door open, throwing the keys on the front lawn, and putting all your valuable possessions on a trolley in front of the garage. And all this when Microsoft KNOWS they are the biggest player on the market and WILL most probably be the prime target!

      I know you'll be happy using Windows and I'm fine with it. I also know I'll be happily using Mac OS X and I'm fine with it. But please, DO NOT THROW AROUND THE USUAL MIROSOFT FUD AS A FACT. It is not! And there are others that may be influenced in their decisions by that.
    3. Re:I just need to post my comments. by Steve+Cowan · · Score: 1

      From a previous article, you really should read this comment.

    4. Re:I just need to post my comments. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      it really pisses me off when people complain and complain about windows, yet I bet almost 75% of them are compaining about it, on a windows machine. If you dont like windows, dont use it,

      You must be new here.

      Hello, new user, and welcome to Slashdot! Most Slashdot users are enthusiasts of "alternative" operating systems. This includes Linux, the BSD's (including Apple's OS X), and even many non POSIX environments. Many Slashdot readers have been using computers since before Microsoft existed. I would like to recommend to you the Wikipedia article on Slashdot. It includes a useful summary of its' history and culture, and is an excellent read. I'm sure that once you get your bearings around here, the quality of your arguments will improve. Until then, go in peace, my new friend!

    5. Re:I just need to post my comments. by Sithik · · Score: 1

      ok reading that really quick, i snip out this: Quite simply, Microsoft's operating systems and applications are unique within the industry -- no, not just the industry, but almost unique in post-1989 history itself -- in the careless way they treat data as code. Nobody else would have deployed ActiveX, or deliberately made executing a mail attachment as easy as clicking on it. therefore, its the users fault, not windows itself. :) if you dont understand what im referring to, read: Nobody else would have deployed ActiveX, or deliberately made executing a mail attachment as easy as clicking on it. Granted, the technologies they implemented had "the better good" in mind, being its such widley-used, people try to exploit what the masses use.

    6. Re:I just need to post my comments. by Sithik · · Score: 1

      I really dont see the point in your post, your mainly saying (along with everyone else, that windows is WIDE OPEN), if you really feel that its making you that insecure, simply dont use it. You also say that: If you are a "world-wide, huge market piece of product" you can definitely expect to be a target of attacks and so, if you value your customers, you should make sure they get the best security OUT OF THE BOX. Microsoft didn't. Lets say Microsoft DOESNT value thier customers, why do so many people buy Microsoft products? Simply because its pretty much the "standard" and they obviously didnt get there by having all of these systems getting infected, etc. My stance is still: its ALWAYS the end users choices that make up how "well" ("well", for any situation you would put my statement into, cars, etc) a product will perform. Like I said, if windows was this wide open/problematic, how come since the RC of 2000, I have never seen a bluescreen/crash/virus/etc. Maybe im simply not "pushing"/"using" my computer for the things others are. I simply dont get it, maybe im just not thinking straight or something...

    7. Re:I just need to post my comments. by Sithik · · Score: 1

      Well, Linux (depending on what distro) is easy to use, sadly natively it wont run any of the apps I need it to run without tinkering. Like I said, I dont condone other choices, since we use RHEL for our servers. Apple would never appeal to me though.

  83. Err, why not just buy a mac then? by Paradox · · Score: 1
    Everything you're excited about is allready here:
    I like the 3D enviroment and Avalon graphics (Though I still want animated program icons :-( ...maybe that's just me).
    Got it. 3d accelerated environment, beautiful effects and useful effects(expose).
    enjoy the concept of steaming video to any window
    Allready got it. Developers use the standard Quicktime libraries and they can set hardware-accelerated video to be displayed on any window. They can also do crazy things lke rotate and composite the video. No one does it because it's not terribly useful to do.
    and think that eliminating the difference between web and desktop apps is great.
    What do you think Dashboard is trying to do? You make desktop applets with web technologies. Heck, OSX has been working this angle for a long time with Sherlock/Watson.
    I didn't like what they pulled with WinFS but if it means the final product is better, than I say fine by me.
    How can a product be made better by removing one of the premiere features of the product? This is also going to impact their desktop search stuff. WinFS was part of that movement and now it's cut off (yet again).

    Seriously man. The grass is pretty green over here, and gets greener all the time. This isn't an idle boast or even zealous mactivism. Everything you're mentioning is literally in Panther or about to be released in Tiger.

    If Longhorn really is 2 years out, it's possible we'll see OS 10.5 by the time it comes out. Think about the position Apple is in. They've beaten Longhorn to market on a whole slew of features, and done so with at least a year (if not more!) to spare. 10.5 can continue to push forward and serve as a feature bulwark against any surprises that Microsoft might be able to come up with for the Longhorn release.

    Are you really going to wait another 12-24 months for a product that's going to be released in less than one?

    --
    Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
  84. you mean your UBUNTU GNU/LINUX SYSTEM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    bla bla

  85. At what point... by slack_justyb · · Score: 1

    At what point did we not see this comming? Microsoft copy something apple did? No?! I think Microsoft should just stick to ripping ideas from the open source group. That way it's less obivious when they do take something (ie. files are shown as a graphical preview 'kde/gnome')

  86. Delays Delays... by UlfGabe · · Score: 1

    Oh woe is microsoft.

    They have found out that rewriting an entire operating system to clean up bad code and faulty processes because of undocumented bugs, and other Big Business Corporate Manhandling problems is a HUGE waste of time. Apple writes good code that can be reused and reused! No need to throw things into the mislabled Recycling Bin, you can keep and improve them.

    Too bad for Microsoft, even those 5 years of operating expenses saved up cannot help that much.

    --
    Check journal for info on Anti-TextBook, an idea by me.
  87. where's the changelist? by Khashishi · · Score: 1

    where's the changelist?

  88. w00t by ErZo · · Score: 1

    Oh boy.. Not ANOTHER operating system.. And I'm already FED up with cleaning spyware.. oh my .. oh my..

    --
    In the Soviet Union, signatures writes you!
  89. Jim Allchin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't forget that Jim Allchin is the person who, at the Microsoft anti-trust trial, testified (under oath) that Microsoft could not possibly open up any of its protocols or other information that would make it easier for competitors to interoperate with Windows, because there were flaws in the code so grave that to reveal them would be to undermine US national security by, for example, endangering the lives of US servicemen in Afghanistan.

    A couple of years later, in response to growing pressure from Linux, Microsoft created its "Shared Source" program under which it shows that very same Windows source code to the Chinese government and other organizations that are not exactly renown for their devotion to US national security.

  90. 64 bit? by Heisenbug · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Did you see the /. post from an Apple dev a few days ago, saying that putting the windowing interface in 64 bit actually slows it down due to longer pointers, and doesn't have any benefit? The claim was that, if they created 64 bit versions of the interface code, they would then have had to tell their developers not to use them. In the meantime, all of the proc-intensive tasks that would benefit from 64 bit are already using it, and the proc is designed such that using whichever is appropriate doesn't impose a performance penalty ...

    I guess my real question is, do you know something I don't (most people do), or are you just "hoping Tiger is finally a fully 64 bit version" because 64 is twice as much?

    1. Re:64 bit? by Attitude+Adjuster · · Score: 1
      Nope, missed that. I'll look it up, thanks for the pointer (ha ha... sorry).

      I don't care 'bout the UI. Just interested in compiling and running cpu and very memory intensive (> 2GB) codes. If thats possible already then thats great.

    2. Re:64 bit? by Guy+Harris · · Score: 1
      Just interested in compiling and running cpu and very memory intensive (> 2GB) codes. If thats possible already then thats great.

      Not possible already on OS X unless you're reading this message on April 29, 2005, or later. Panther doesn't support pointers longer than 32 bits.

    3. Re:64 bit? by Heisenbug · · Score: 1

      Hmm, I found it:

      http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=145810&c id=12211776

      It's a long discussion, and looks like it's kind of a mixed bag: all apps (which choose to use it) benefit from 64bit math, all UI code benefits from *not* being 64bit, but if you want 64bit pointers, you have to spawn a separate process for them. I can see how it would be annoying, or even a dealbreaker, if you had lots of existing 64bit code that couldn't compile because it needed contradictory libs ... for the vast majority of us, though, this seems like a pretty reasonable compromise.

      Of course, this is definitely where we reach the limit of my understanding, so who knows ...

    4. Re:64 bit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's pure stupid. Noone notices if the GUI calls take 10% as long since the GUI already runs thousands of time faster than you interact with it. However everyone notices when the math is slower (including the math that does the compositing for the GUI, which would be the slowest part but is probably offloaded to the graphics card anyway). It's basically the kind of claptrap you'd expect them to pull out of their ass when called on their lack of real 64 bit support.

      Michael

    5. Re:64 bit? by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 1

      all UI code benefits from *not* being 64bit, but if you want 64bit pointers, you have to spawn a separate process for them.

      Your analysis convienently ignores that 99.999% of Mac applications do not spawn a seperate process for the UI. Plus, it's most likely not reasonable to do so because the apps were designed as *Mac* apps and not "the unix way".

      I think most users who need more than 4GB of application data could live with a sightly slower UI, so this all seems more like an justification than a reason. Wouldn't suprise me a bit if 10.5 had 64-bit UI code.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
    6. Re:64 bit? by Heisenbug · · Score: 1

      Spawning a separate process for the UI is irrelevant. The point is 99.999% of Mac applications have no reason to ever need more than 4 GB of RAM. For those, only one thread is needed -- they're all set. For the remaining group, it should be doable, though annoying, to put the RAM intensive processing in a separate thread.

      I agree that having 64bit versions of the UI code would be convenient -- the point of the Apple dev in the linked discussion was that, since it wouldn't be useful for any app that needs less than that much RAM, and since that's almost all of them, it wasn't a top priority. From that perspective, I agree -- it's not.

    7. Re:64 bit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      pricewatch shows memory price is at $106 per 1G ddrams (4200 speed). Exceeding 4G and working on files of that size isn't all that far off.

    8. Re:64 bit? by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 1

      Apple made a lot of noise about their 64-bit "personal computer" hardware, including falsely claiming that the G5 was the first. Sad that claim turned out to be 99.999% marketing hot air.

      I'm biting my tongue to not bring up the 640K quote, but the fact is that the mainstream PC market is going 64-bit in 2006 with or without Apple.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
  91. Shorthorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They have "trimmed" it so much, it might as well be called shorthorn. WTF has made it into Longhorn? oh yeah a "cool" new UI, that will be to XP what XP was to 2000. F*ck windows, I'm off to Mac and Linux for good.

  92. Office Windows is the Port by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The one reason that Mac prospers is that they actually do have a port of Microsoft Office...

    For the sake of accuracy, it should be pointed out that Office for Windows is the ported version -- Office originated on the Mac and the Mac version still has some features the Windows version doesn't.

    1. Re:Office Windows is the Port by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More accurately, it was ported to Windows and then ported back to the Mac with version 4.2 (1994) and subsquently forked with Office 98.

      Mac Office tends to have unique consumer/student features, and Win Office has unique corporate/groupware stuff.

  93. Re:Wow...competition by cowscows · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but when did MS finally get around to making something functionally comparable? Windows 95 maybe? That's over a decade. I don't think MS had engineers so incompetent that it took them 10+ years to figure it out. They just weren't in any hurry.

    Of course, the fact that Apple was making plenty of mistakes in the 90's didn't put any extra pressure on MS.

    --

    One time I threw a brick at a duck.

  94. Here's what I really want in an OS. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    A lot of the comments on this are about how these features of Longhorn already exist elsewhere, how there's nothing worth buying in it, etc.

    Here's what I REALLY want in an OS. I'm posting anonymously because I'm a weenie:

    • Porn not easily stumbled upon by spouse
    • Porn automatically sorted by model. I.e., 101_100.jpg is scanned and identified as Aria Giovani, and dumped into the Aria subdirectory.
    • Porn programs quickly hidden by special keystroke - and suspended - so that if spouse walks in and wants to use the computer for a minute they aren't suspicious of the chugging HD, slowed cpu, slowed internet connection.
    • No stupid effects like animated menus, vanishing windows.
    • No stupid characters like the search dog in XP, or clippy.
    • No stupid unnecessary services turned on by default, like DHCP client, Remote Registry Bitch, etc.
    • A virus scanning system that consists of only ONE service and/or running process, not the 1/2 dozen that come with Norton.
    • No stupid browsers that expose the core operating system to the world for simply visiting a webpage
    • No hidden file extensions or files
    • No Fisher-Price GUI

    That's about all I can think of right now.


  95. Review-Schmiview. by triso · · Score: 1

    Hah, some review. Not even close--it was a retyping of the Microsoft PR sheet. How do I know--look at the "similar" articles from the other sites.

  96. Re:The point of Longhorn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft may end up (via XP) being its own biggest competitor in the short term. In the longer term it is possible (if risking opprobium) to get content providers to provide content that only Longhorn-based DRM systems can unscramble, or using hardware platforms to require installation of Longhorn but not XP. Both of those would be risky strategies, both in terms of the technical requirements, economics, and issues of competition versus monopoly.

  97. Is Windows all that bad? by cBrewer · · Score: 1

    Maybe it is just me, but I never ran any anti-virus with Windows until this last year (I didn't require it, but I just wanted to be sure). Every OS update I have ever had has never broken anything I do. I do no manual system maintenance besides upgrading drivers and updates. I have never had any issues with security. The first firewall I ran was with SP2. By the way, I leave my machine on 24/7 connected to the internet. I guess me having some training in networking and system administration (and keeping windows up to date) makes my computer inpenetrable... What I am looking for in an OS is not some pretty crap that is really nice but more expensive and lacking in what I want or a 'free' OS that takes all my time to configure and run the ~150 games and programs (480GB and almost full :/) I have no problems running in Windows. I spent $200 for Windows XP Pro back in 2001 (price is WinXP OEM with a 512MB stick of DDR). Why isn't everyone here wanting to see Longhorn in all its glory before crying foul at MS. This isn't Windows 95, 98 or Me (yes they were all crap).

    1. Re:Is Windows all that bad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are correct in that WinXP is actually quite good and relatively low maintenance. However, it is still much higher maintenance than Linux or OS X. As for only running a firewall since SP2 - I don't believe that - you are probably using a little blue box from Netgear or some such which contains a Linux firewall. WinXP alone, with only its SW firewall enabled, lasts about 3 months on the net, then it is full of spyware and crap, causing the machine to stop working completely.

    2. Re:Is Windows all that bad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      windows is evil, M$ is evil. why do people insist on suporting something evil?

  98. towering under the competition? by Zareste · · Score: 1

    Allchin pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS

    Which consist of being able to save search results, and a huge customer base of suckers.

    --
    I am NOT a number! I am a - oh wait, I'm number 761710. Look! 761710!
  99. What did they eat...? by introvertSoul · · Score: 1

    I want to know what they had for dinner! Microsoft is for sure paying, so I want to know where the money of the people buying Windows and Office go!! I demand an answer. :-))

    1. Re:What did they eat...? by Steve+Cowan · · Score: 1

      I dunno what they ate, but they sure drank the Kool-Aid.

    2. Re:What did they eat...? by Thomas+Hawk · · Score: 1

      We had chicken. It was tasty.

    3. Re:What did they eat...? by Thomas+Hawk · · Score: 2, Funny

      No Kool-Aid but a nice medium bodied chardonnay before dinner accompanied by a nice fruity pinot with the chicken.

    4. Re:What did they eat...? by zecg · · Score: 1

      Allow me to commend you on some fine journalism devoid of homophobia, on your blog, Thomas.

      And let me quote:
      - Jim Allchin is a very senior person
      - for someone of Jim's rank to take the time and openly discuss Longhorn and Microsoft strategy with us was amazing
      - I thank Jim for taking his time
      - And certainly bloggers typically do not get the type of opportunity to suggest features to someone at Jim's level.
      - So on to the dinner. I wrote Wow, with regards to Jim actually meeting with us
      - Best of all was Jim's reaction when I expressed my delight
      - Jim reacted strongly and said that
      - if what Jim suggested about further speed improvements
      - Jim asked questions about some
      - the most rewarding was the ability to talk to Jim specifically
      - Jim confirmed that there would be
      - Jim and Microsoft are very excited
      - Jim suggested that
      - Jim said that by not requiring
      - Jim said that you are going to see
      - Jim said that although Microsoft could
      - Jim suggested that Microsoft has a firm grasp
      - Jim did acknowledge that
      - Jim said that they are working on many of these issues
      - I was able to ask Jim about when we might
      - I asked Jim if we would see
      - One of the primary purposes for Jim getting together with us
      - Jim seemed very concerned with how we all
      - Jim seemed very receptive
      - It was fun to be able to share with Jim
      - Jim seemed to feel that this is a bigger
      - Jim agreed that giving people
      - I suggested to Jim
      - It was weird feeling the déjà vu as I left the dinner last night after spending a few hours with Jim. I was reminded again of that old dream

      Third-grade writing style a new vogue among bloggers, or simply someone infatuated with... Jim?

      --
      .i lu doi ringos.star. xu do puku'aroroi dunli dopecaku leni virnu li'u
    5. Re:What did they eat...? by Thomas+Hawk · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The debate between what is journalism and what is blogging will go on for a long long time. As a journalist, and I have a journalism background, there are basically two kinds of news, hard news and op/ed. With hard news it is important for the journalist to remove him or her self in every way from the story. It's important to avoid personal bias (although some might suggest that in the end this can never truly be perfected). I've written thousands of words of hard news in the past. It is something that is really important and hard news absolutely should be guarded and protected even among bloggers.

      Certainly the types of comments that I blogged about the dinner were not hard news, nor did I hold my article out to be hard news. If you wanted hard news, CNET reported on a similar demo with Allchin the day before. I even linked to it in my article.

      In terms of op/ed, my blog post is still nothing that even remotely resembled op/ed.

      Hunter Thompson broke the mold of journalism when back in the 60s he began to place himself in his stories. He wrote fantastic tales of drug induced frenzies, the Hells Angels, presidential politics and whatever else was on his mind while simultaneously placing every kind of bias and opinion imaginable in his writing.

      When people read Thompson did they realize that his biases were in his stories? Of course. Does that mean that Thompson should not have been allowed to print his work? Of course not. In fact, some could argue that much of what Hunter wrote was oftentimes far more pertinent, relevant and important than either hard news or op/ed.

      Shortly before his death, Thompson wrote, "Did you see Bush on TV, trying to debate? Jesus, he talked like a donkey with no brains at all. The tide turned early, in Coral Gables, when Bush went belly up less than halfway through his first bout with Kerry, who hammered poor George into jelly. It was pitiful. . . . I almost felt sorry for him, until I heard someone call him "Mister President," and then I felt ashamed."

      Was this hard news? No. Op/ed? Not even that. Was this completely biased personal opinion? Whatever it was, Thompson felt that he had something important to say.

      Although many at the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal might argue that news ought to be either hard news or op/ed and clearly labeled as such, I would suspect that many of these same individuals just might look at the work that Thompson did and somehow be ok with it - and even admire it - even as it clearly was a bastardization of perhaps everything that they were ever taught in journalism school from day one.

      And in many ways blogging today is something similar. While the debate rages over whether bloggers are journalists and professionals fret over the lack of even the most basic standards that many bloggers do not appear to posses, bloggers are coming back with perhaps the same type of response Thompson may have given more than a few editors. Only this time the blogger is the one with the control.

      While I do not hold myself out to be anywhere near the caliber of Thompson, one of my great all time heroes, I do feel that there is room in the world of journalism for hard news, op/ed and yes, openly biased writing where the blogger places him or her self as a participant in the news itself.

      Was I thrilled to be having dinner with Allchin? Of course. I'm a huge Microsoft enthusiast. I have been an advocate of the digital home for many years and I think that Microsoft may represent our best chance possible of making the digital home of the future a reality.

      Was I really enthused about Longhorn? Absolutely. From what I saw it was really was amazing. I spend hundreds of hours every year organizing digital media in front of all five of my Windows PCs. The technology that I saw will save me hundreds of hours of work going forward. This is really exciting to me at a personal level.

      Could Apple or Linux provide me a similar e

  100. Speed holes. by Colol · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's the Type-R obsession back to harass us all again. People, apparently including the parent to your post, have this silly notion that everything has to be "fully 64-bit" even when it serves no damn purpose (and even when it slows things down!).

    64-bit is not a panacea. 64-bit is useful where it is useful, but that's not everywhere. Just like you don't ride around in a U-Haul truck around 365 days a year because it has a lot of room, you don't need 64-bit support in, say, TextEdit or the window manager.

    What are you going to do with 64-bit addressing in a simple text editor or the window manager? Nothing. Nothing at all.

    I drive a Jeep. It's got four wheel drive. I'm not going around complaining about how all the roads immediately around me are paved -- they don't diminish my ability to use my four-wheel drive when appropriate. So it is with 64-bit processors. Not everything needs to be optimized for them. Some applications won't see any benefit, and some may even see a performance decrease (kind of like how tooling around town in 4Lo just because you can will leave you without a drivetrain).

    Do anyone really want a 64-bit version of TextEdit just so you can say your OS is completely 64-bit optimized? Give me a break.

    1. Re:Speed holes. by FatherOfONe · · Score: 1

      I believe some of the issues are.

      If you have a 64bit OS then you are no longer tied to 4GB of RAM limitation. Yes you can use some tricks to get around this, but you don't have that limit in a 64bit world. Now if your text program needs to work in an address space above 4GB and it was never designed to be ran that way, will it still work? Probably because the OS will handle the memory management for you. Perhaps not. It probably won't work well if you start to paste in some huge graphics and perhaps a video in to your document. People don't think about that now, but a few years ago people didn't think about putting graphics in documents.

      From my limited understanding, 64 bit should be as fast as 32bit "if" the program + libraries are all compiled for 64bit and the compilers are equal. If I add an int 2 + and int 2, it should be the same speed if it is 8, 16, 32, 64, or 128 bit computer (assuming everything else is equal).

      Now you asked what am I going to do with a 64bit Window Manager? Perhaps a good 3D destkop? We have some now, but they are limited.

      Also understand that it shouldn't be that hard to take TextEdit and re-compile it to 64bit. The issue I see with 64bit for Windows is that the hardware companies will have to come out with two sets of drivers. That is going to confuse the crap out of Microsoft customers.

      Lastly, I also drive a Jeep :-) My Wrangler has the ability to go under water (non salt) for a while and come out, dry off and then run again without damage. Kinda cool.... Now I don't want to "test" it, just to find out that my CD player isn't included in that "ability" and for some reason 20% of my electrical isn't covered just because someone thought it wasn't worth the extra few seconds of work.

      --
      The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
    2. Re:Speed holes. by Jerf · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think you're partially misidentifying the problem, or at least leaving off one gigantic source of confusion. The AMD64 instruction set, from what I've heard, runs about 30% faster than the same code compiled in 32-bit mode, and the latter probably has better optimizations, too. (It takes years for compilers to fully optimize for an architecture; I believe 5 years was an old rule of thumb but I think the lead time has been building since multi-pipelining procs came out.)

      But that's not because the processor is 64-bit, it's despite it. The real cause is that the AMD64 has more registers available, so anything not written in assembler directly can benefit, a lot.

      I think this leads to a lot of confusion. The fact is, given an operation that fits in X bits, the fastest possible processor for that operation will be one that runs with X bits natively; going higher will incur penalties of size, power, and speed (caused by the greater size and other issues that come up), going lower will incur massive penalties as the operations rapidly become much more complex. (A 64-bit proc can't do anything a 32-bit proc can't in the math department, but it'll run 64-bit math a lot faster; look at the algorithm just to multiply two 64-bin nums on a 32-bit machine.)

      The reason it seems otherwise to anybody is that with x86, we've never had "the fastest possible processor". See: Pareto optimality (although that does not draw the larger conclusions that logic directly leads to in a number of fields).

  101. They're not 128x128 by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I also saw Allchin's roadshow. The icons scale on the fly, like desktop icons in Mac OS X. You can work a slider to bump them up to a fairly large size.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
    1. Re:They're not 128x128 by sharkey · · Score: 2, Funny
      You can work a slider to bump them up to a fairly large size.

      Sounds nasty. Does it come with a box of Kleenex?

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  102. Re:Wow...competition by ad0gg · · Score: 1
    "Tiger's release for Apple to ready another OS X release in time for 2006."

    Another $129 to spend on some minor features additions and bugfixes. God I love apple.

    --

    Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

  103. Security enhancements - I spoke to Allchin by PCM2 · · Score: 1

    I also saw Allchin's roadshow. When talking about security and stability enhancements, he had a few things to say.

    1. NX (No eXecute) will be native to the OS in both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

    2. Running as a pure 64-bit OS requires all 64-bit drivers, which means all your device drivers will need to be rewritten. This is good, however, because Microsoft is also taking steps to streamline the driver creation process, provide cleaner templates, and do more to certify device drivers from third parties. Most of the crashes you experience on XP today, he said, are the result of bad device drivers.

    3. Some of the malicious code out there right now works by installing itself as a device driver, meaning it has access to virtually anything. Allchin said he believes changes they are making to Windows would prevent even those device-driver Trojans from doing damage in the future.

    4. Internet Explorer will run in some kind of "sandbox mode" that will prevent malicious code from damaging other parts of the system. How locked down IE will be will depend on which Zone you're browsing; as is the case now, the intranet zone might less secure than the Internet zone. I asked him if this sandboxing was being done through Connectix technology and he said no, it's not virtualization, it's something else. He credited it to integration with the core OS, though -- he said that this version of IE would definitely not be available for XP or any other version of Windows.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  104. Security Enhancements... ha! by Eric_Cartman_South_P · · Score: 1

    Yeah, if by "security enhancements" microsoft means longhorn is just XP Pro + Pear PC + Mac OS X 10.4 then yeah, it's secure.

  105. On Competition -- I spoke to Allchin by PCM2 · · Score: 1

    Believe it or not, while most of Allchin's talk focused on client-side stuff (the UI, desktop search, etc.) he opened with an overview of the Windows market in general. When discussing the server, he characterized the two leaders as Windows and Linux.

    Linux, he said, is "expected to be the winner with its lineage from Unix, but we're happy because we're winning market share."

    On a stack of Bibles, that is from the horse's mouth.

    Where the client side is concerned, however, he pointed to charts showing Windows desktop growth year-over-year being somewhere in the realm of 10 percent, and said, "our growth is bigger than the whole Mac installed base."

    For what it's worth.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  106. Mac OS X Ocelot by 503 · · Score: 1

    How do you titillate an ocelot?

    Oscillate its tit a lot.

    1. Re:Mac OS X Ocelot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK OK I have seen this retarded joke in every Mac OS X related article

  107. win 98 by maxama10 · · Score: 1

    wait a minute, my school is still using win98se....as if anyone wants longhorn

  108. over OS X? by hammeredpeon · · Score: 1

    as Allchin pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS: 'High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.'" how is that something that microsoft has "over apple"? maybe apple doesn't have to boast "security enhancements" because it doesn't get hacked once a month. apple has improved desktop searching and organizing, too (spotlight). i don't know about the better network changing capabilities, but they have a far way to go to compete with os x (seeing how wireless is 10x harder to get working in windows. i got it working on debian much more intuitively). i do own an apple, but i also use windows a lot and appreciate some of the things it can do. security and searching, at the end of this month, will come standard with OS X. they won't come standard with windows until middle of next year, and even then it's arguable that it will actually be secure.

    --
    best college pickem site ever: pickem.terrbear.org
  109. Competition rears it's ugly head. by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1
    It's interesting that MS is having to show how Longhorn will be better if not equal to Tiger. They haven't had to compete in years with another desktop especially when Linux was not well known.

    While reading the whole thing, it seems to me that MS is trying to make every single feature so important. When there were competing with themselves, everything was an evolutionary, stupdendous advancement. Now, if they tried that, there would be lots of people to correct them. No, OS X already has that. That's been a part of Linux for a year.

    The other thing about the comments of some of the "features". Some of them are improvements. Some of them are merely eye candy. But many of the improvements they mention that actually add to the functionality of Windows users will be in OS X next month.

    Apple's campaign at least tries to relate why the feature is important to your average Aunt Sally. For example, Core Image. It's listed as a feature. At a first glance, it's under the better imaging area. If you're interested, you can find out that it seems to be a low level API interface for video cards. At the high level, it succinctly implies that CoreImage will enhance your images.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  110. One Thing... by Silas+is+back · · Score: 1

    There is one Thing in Longhorn I'd like to see in OS X. It was rumored before the release of Panther, but it was only a rumor: Stacks. IMHO it`s nice to arrange all the files via a single click after various aspects like filesize, filetype or modification date.

    Umh, okay, perhaps I`ll discover this functionality in Tiger when it finally arrives in 2 weeks...

    --
    this sig is useless
  111. Funny how you can change the meaning... by LionMage · · Score: 1
    It's really funny how you can change the meaning of something just by making subtle choices of language or juxtaposition. Consider the following from the Slashdot article:
    The timing is not coincidental with Apple's Tiger release, as Allchin pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS: 'High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.'

    The way this is written implies that this is a list of features that Longhorn has which Tiger does not have.

    If you read the actual C|Net article, it's not written quite so slanted. First off, nowhere in the article is security said to be an improvement over OS X (any version), but rather, over previous versions of Windows. Allchin does state his belief that Longhorn's searching is better than Tiger's Spotlight feature -- mainly in ways you can do useful things with search results. (Then again, Tiger is due out this month, a full year before Longhorn, and no doubt Apple will offer incremental updates to the feature set via Software Update.)

    Laptops doing network roaming is something that's been well-supported in OS X for quite some time now, so again, this isn't something Microsoft can claim as an advantage. Certainly anything is an improvement over WiFi support in XP (though I'm told SP2 fixes some of the worst problems).

    The icons representing actual file contents (or folder contents, for folder icons) sounds great at first -- but this is the kind of feature that, if poorly implemented, could really kill performance. There's a reason that icons traditionally are an abstracted representation of the type of file data or the application to which the file belongs.

    If Microsoft implemented this feature right, it wouldn't be too much of a performance hit -- basically, they'd only have to cache a thumbnail image of the file's contents (or the first page of the file's contents), and only update the cache when the timestamp on the file is newer than the timestamp on the thumbnail. But judging from past Microsoft coding efforts, I sincerely doubt that they coded this feature anywhere near that efficiently.

    My real objection to the new icon rendering paradigm in Longhorn is the same objection I have to Microsoft UI gaffes like dynamically hiding lesser-used menu items, and it has to do with interface consistency. Bruce Tognazzini has expounded on this at length, so I won't repeat the things that he's said. But he's written some excellent articles on how Microsoft has repeatedly broken the menu bar paradigm with this and other misfeatures. (He explains why putting a menu bar at the top of the screen is far better than attaching a menu bar to the application window, as well.)

    Then again, Microsoft can't be bothered to do real usability testing and hire real human factors experts. If they did, their UI wouldn't have so much brain damage. But it seems that Microsoft is doing what it always does -- they look at the competition, and they duplicate the eye candy without putting thought into duplicating the features that actually make something work right. (It's as though Steve Jobs ran amuck without any usability or human factors considerations to keep him in check.) And Tog isn't a Windows-basher. He wrote an article citing 10 reasons why the OS X dock sucks, though at least one of those reasons can be negated if you pin the dock to the right hand side of the bottom of the screen. (Hint, doing this keeps the trash can in a consistent location so you can rely on muscle memory.)

    At least Longhorn will give you the option of using an interface minus all the eye candy; if only Microsoft gave you the power to permanently disable the hiding of menu items that are seldom used. (Having menu items that appear and disappear sabotages your ability to rely on the order that items appear in a menu. Furthermore, hidden items are more likely to be entirely forgotten by users, even experienced users.)
  112. Re: DAMNING EVIDENCE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "In addition, he said, are settings tailored for specific tasks, such as watching a DVD. The computer will just assume that the user doesn't want the movie muted and probably wants to watch it full-screen."

    wow. this is revolutionary. Longhorn will assume that the DVD viewer doesn't want the movie muted.

    also it's funny that the MS PR guy said "This will be a big deal." it's weird how in modern times, PR people make direct reference to the public sensation of something, rather than the actual features/benefits (of the product) that will FUEL any public sensation.

    "this will be a big deal!"

    sounds pretty desperate as a marketing line. pretty pathetic really. it's like even a few notches down from the generic "XYZ will revolutionize your computing experience!"

  113. State of Windows by nate+nice · · Score: 0

    This reminds me a lot of where MAc OS was in the early 90's compared to where Windows was at the time. MS 3.1 was total trash compared to OS 6 and 7 if I recall. With what Apples Tiger is going to have in it, and the maturity of OS X by the time Longhorn comes out, MS has a lot of ground to make up in terms of being a superior OS, or even comparable. Then again, being better doesn't seem to matter much in terms of MS's adoption.

    --
    "If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer ..."
  114. The only relevant thing in the interview by theolein · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While it's pretty obvious that Allchin would tout the features of Longhorn, but the real importance of Allchin giving an interview right now, after Tiger's announcement, and then basically spending half the interview comparing Longhorn favourably to Tiger lies in exactly that: Tiger. I have no idea just how insecure OSX and Apple make Microsoft feel, but, given that it is usually suicide to mention a competitor in an interview, and the timimng make me think that Microsoft is beginning to feel afraid that they might lose one or two marketshare percent yet another OS apart from Linux.

    And that sadly, is really what has defined Microsoft from the very days of Billy G being clever enough to license the OS to IBM across Microsoft's threats against Apple's Basic back in the 80s to the Netscape killing in the 90s. Microsoft has always and always will exist mostly as a company that defines itself by its competition. The last time Microsoft really was innovative was in the early to mid 90s with WinNT and Win95, and even those were made to compete with Mac OS7 and Unix respectively.

    Microsoft, facing a lack of competitors, always almost stalls and starts comming up with insane batshit like Software Assurance.

    Note the before OSX Tiger and after OSX Tiger screenshots of Longhorn and how much Microsoft has done to copy Tigers featureset. It's actually sad.

    Thankfully, Microsoft also did this with WinXP (the Luna scheme) to counter OSX 10.0, and it did nothing to stop OSX adoption. I doubt, seeing that Longhorn won't be here until next year, that it will hinder the adoption of OSX Tiger in any way.

    1. Re:The only relevant thing in the interview by michaeldot · · Score: 1

      Good points, but as to the "fear" Microsoft has of OS X, I'd opine that it's almost non-existent.

      Microsoft "owns" the PC market. It is the OEM OS which every PC maker from Dell to Jim-the-garage-white-box-maker MUST install for people to buy the hardware.

      Do you really think they care about a single vendor with less than a 2% marketshare, selling proprietary hardware, who is always going to be fighting the "it's stylish but far too overpriced" meme that has been established for Apple.

      If they fear anything, Microsoft may fear Linux, because it is an OS which Dell, HP and Jim in his garage can install on the commodity hardware INSTEAD of theirs. Some parts of enterprise market are already doing this. Once the business and home markets start doing it, Microsoft will start quaking in their boots.

      I prophesize that Apple will remain exactly where it is: a small niche used by those willing to go against the groupthink and seek an alternative to the Microsoft monoculture, by simple folk who like the packaging, and by tech connoisseurswho appreciate innovation.

      However, that's not to say the Microsoft doesn't OBSERVE Apple: it is their R&D lab after all...

  115. Which is better..... by Jiggily · · Score: 1

    So which os is really better at surfing pr0n? I mean come on, lets stick to whats important here!

    --
    Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for the are subtle and quick to anger.
  116. Re:Amazing! (search this) by mrklin · · Score: 1
    "[Spotlight] Which Apple is already shipping in Tiger"

    Please. Apple has only been talking about Spotlight for the last 12 months? While the feature is in Tiger, the product is not on the shelf at this moment which to me makes it virtually the same status as Longhorn (albeit it will be untrue in 14 days but I have a point and am getting to it).

    In the last 12 months, there have been numerous advances in the field of desktop search (disclaimer: I am in the search field). Lookout was acquired by Microsoft and now part of MSN. Google released its Desktop Search beta. X1's technology was licensed by Yahoo. Quicksilver ws the de facto champ in search for OS X prior to Spotlight and does a great job. Numerous start-ups and search engines are coming up with promising and powerful ideas.

    So if anything, Apple is not an innovator in this game but is late to it as well.

  117. man fans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    its amazing how even though mac users are a small % compared to PC users, every post on /. is from mac fanboys bashing any windows article with the same complaints. It makes me wonder if any mac users actually have real lives? Comon people we really dont need 30 post saying the same things, one "M$ is an evil monopoly... i think Mac and OSX is better" post will do.

  118. About C# and Office: four letters by geekoid · · Score: 1

    VSTO

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  119. Re:Wow...competition by dustmite · · Score: 1

    Firstly, how is that different from MS? Secondly, if you already have OS X you can get Tiger for under $10 ... by what math do you figure that that comes to "$129"? Thirdly, there are more than just a few 'minor features additions and bugfixes' - inform yourself.

  120. Nautilus rip-offs? by lux55 · · Score: 1

    But while the OS bears plenty of similarities to Tiger, Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself. The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file. Folders, too, show glimpses of what's inside. Such images can be rather small, but they offer a visual cue that aids in the searching process, Allchin said.

    Didn't this first appear in Nautilus (the file manager for the Gnome Desktop)? I remember it because it rendered Nautilus so painfully slow as to be completely unusable.

  121. The Icon Preview Thing by jeff_grimshaw · · Score: 1
    I think people are missing the point of a snapshot appearing as the icon for the file (which isn't surprising because TFA didn't mention the punch line). The real value of this "icon preview" feature is that you can zoom it in real time using the mouse wheel and see what's in the file. That's the real feature. You can see what's in the file easily, in the Find... um, I mean.. Explorer, without "opening" the file. Thomashawk's review mentions this.

    It sounds like MS took a page from Jef Raskins bag of tricks.

  122. Those Microsoft people are really clever by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1
    The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file
    So my PhD thesis will look like a little white rectangle with tiny black lines across it, while my Xmas list will instead look like a little white rectangle with black lines across it. Never again will I accidentally send Xmas cards to the Riemann theta function.
    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  123. Re:Wow...competition by CrawlingEvil · · Score: 1

    Uh, Apple's already doing this in Tiger. I quote from their web page:

    Organically Organized

    Thanks to the speed and flexibility of Spotlight, you will discover countless new ways to organize your files. Take the results of a search and save it as a Smart Folder that automatically updates as you add or remove documents from your Mac. Smart Folders contain files grouped together based on search criteria instead of physical location, so the same file can appear in multiple Smart Folders without moving from its original saved location on your system. No need to duplicate, shift or update files: Spotlight Smart Folders keep everything organized for you.

    This is in addition to being able to organize the search results by things like file types, various attributes, icon (thumbnail), etc...

    So what does Longhorn's search do that Spotlight doesn't?

  124. No news here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No news here.....

    Longhorn = Microsoft = No Security = Viruses = Spyware = Inherent Design Flaws = Crap

    Square wheels = square wheels = square wheels with lumps missing.

    Come on. The basic design of Windoze is wrong it's not going to change because the marketroids don't care..... it's crap but it sells.

    Microsoft = Shit.

    One day you'll understand this, on that day you'll run some other operating system, you'll not look back.

  125. and more? by commodoresloat · · Score: 1
    And you'll see all this and more when it's released in 2007.

    So it's true? Longhorn will be bundled with Duke Nukem Forever?

    1. Re:and more? by sharkey · · Score: 1

      Yer missin' a zero there, buckaroo.

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  126. So we have a new one by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    There is free as in speech, free as in beer, and now free as in Longhorn.

  127. Re:Wow...competition by Moofie · · Score: 3, Funny

    "So what does Longhorn's search do that Spotlight doesn't?"

    Ship more than a year from now. : )

    --
    Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
  128. Copying Apple.... Again by Seanasy · · Score: 1

    C'mon, everybody knows Apple was first with the mouse, trackpad and fanboys. Now after years of trying to play catch-up, MS has some sycophants with blogs. Please, that's so 2003. I suppose if you want to piss the MS fanboys off, there's two buttons you can press. They call that innovation?

    1. Re:Copying Apple.... Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First with the mouse? Hardly. Apple copied Xerox, who had improved on a 7-year old research project. On the other hand, if you want to cry copycat, how about "IBM-compatible" PC users stop using the mouse if Apple users stop using hard drives? >;)

      Really... the whole "OMG, copycat!" argument is getting old, and Apple's not one who can take the moral high ground on it, especially after both the layout and internal workings of OSX.

  129. Re:Wow...competition by ZildjianKX · · Score: 1

    I'm a hardcore mac user, but you're making us look bad.

    The $10 upgrade is for people who JUST bought a mac, not everyone. Each OS is $129 upgrade, but an educational discount is only $69.

  130. Re:Wow...competition by ad0gg · · Score: 1
    You're funny or illiterate. Maybe a little of both?

    Customers who purchase a qualifying new Macintosh computer on or after April 12th, 2005 that does not have Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" included can upgrade to Tiger.

    Check out these Wonderful new features I have to pay $129 for.

    • Battery System Menu Easily change power management settings directly from the system menu.
    • JPEG 2000 Support Open files in the next generation JPEG2000 image format using the Apple Preview application.
    • QuickTime 7
    • Inline PDF Viewing View PDF documents directly in a Safari browser window -- no other application required.
    • Improved RAID Use disk utility for software RAID, now including mirrored, striped, concatenated, auto mirror rebuild and block size settings.
    • Smooth Scrolling Enjoy more elegant scrolling when navigating long documents, web sites or email messages using a keyboard or mouse scroll wheel.
    • Equalizer Control the audio in the DVD player with a powerful equalizer, including 10 individual sliders and four presets.
    • Network Diagnostics Take advantage of the new network diagnostic tool that can help track down and resolve networking problems.
    • Bluetooth 1.2 Specification Support Enjoy integrated compatibility with the Bluetooth version 1.2 specification.
    • About This Mac View the name of the startup disk in the enhanced About This Mac menu
    • Bluetooth File Transfer Securely share files and folders with other devices that use Bluetooth (requires Mac with built-in Bluetooth). So this didn't work on macs before tiger? Sure sounds like a bugfix.
    But my personal favorites.
    • GCC 4.0 Take advantage of the latest version of the GCC compiler, featuring support for 64-bit code generation.
    • Korn Shell More easily run scripts written for Sun Solaris or similar systems now that AT&T's ksh is now bundled with Mac OS X.
    --

    Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

  131. My mistake by dustmite · · Score: 1

    OK, my mistake, I rushed that one out without proper research indeed.

    Yes, perhaps $129 is rather high, especially for e.g. a 10.4 user there is really not nearly enough incentive to fork that over. They should offer more graded options relative to the difference in value over one's current system, e.g. I would probably pay maybe $40 max for Tiger.

  132. TextEdit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You picked a bad example there. It is nice to be able to open large files in TextEdit. This reads like another case of '64k is enough for anyone' syndrome.

    Michael

    1. Re:TextEdit by Watts+Martin · · Score: 1
      You picked a bad example there. It is nice to be able to open large files in TextEdit. This reads like another case of '64k is enough for anyone' syndrome.

      This is a common misconception around here, I think--the number of bits the processor can handle simultaneously has no direct bearing on a lot of common operations.

      32-bit addressing has a cap of 4 gigabytes that are directly addressable, but we've known how to do memory/file paging for a very, very long time. 16-bit addressing (which most 8-bit CPUs like the Z80 used!) only directly let you handle 64K of RAM, but WordStar could edit files of up to 128K or so even on a machine with 32K of RAM.

      On Macs, HFS+ already has a maximum file size based on 64 bits. The only advantage 64 bits for memory addressing gets you is that, if your text editor loads the whole file into memory at once and you have more than 4G of RAM in your system, the CPU won't have to do any paging of memory. And I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that for a text editor, you're probably not going to be noticing a whole lot of lag in page switching between memory banks anyway.

    2. Re:TextEdit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now you have to remember that TextEdit uses a Cocoa class to represent the text as a textarea (with rich font/kerning manipulation, etc. but all this is built into the respective Cocoa class). therefore, TextEdit can only open/display such a file that Cocoa pointers can point - and if they are 32 bit, there's no way you can load more than 4 gigabytes of text into textedit.

      it's right now not a limitation, but it IS nevertheless a limitation.

      also, my emacs21 uses mmap() to map a visited file into an emacs buffer. there we go again, 4 gigabytes is the maximum file size.

      there are a lot of things that going to 64-bit pointers will allow us to do. if this entails a 5% speed hit, i'm ready to swallow that (if only gcc created better code for the ppc)...

    3. Re:TextEdit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      This would require that your applications are written to work around the tiny file size to begin with, which is sort of the same problem as writing them to fork off a separate process to do everything except the GUI. It's a pain in the ass to do simply because Apple won't get off their ass and release the 64bit clean GUI code. As a result your applications aren't going to work very well when you excede your 2G of USERSPACE RAM (the kernel hoards a sizeable chunk of ram for it's own purposes).

      Michael

  133. Re:Wow...competition by ColMustard · · Score: 1

    Umm, these are actually minor features. There are obviously a lot neater features than that. I guess you tried to list the minor features to try to emphasize what you're paying for is overpriced, except by doing so, you are ignoring what it is you are paying for.

    But the point I want to make is that you don't have to upgrade. Unlike Windows, system upgrades for Mac OS X do not break your installed software or files. If you feel that the upgrade isn't worth it, then your course of action is quite simple: don't upgrade! Pretty simple...

    --
    Moof.
  134. Re:Wow...competition by imroy · · Score: 1
    When was the last time a Windows release felt any pressure from a competitor?

    There was a rumour that NT5 was delayed and became Win2K because of the "sudden" competition from Linux around that time. I can't remember where I heard the rumour and I don't know how true it is, but it at least sounds plausible to me. It's nice to see Microsoft finally on the backfoot on so many products/issues : Apple and OS X on the desktop and some server, Linux on the server and some desktop, Mozilla/Firefox and Safari vs IE, and all the rest of the F/OSS software (Apache, Samba, etc) that's slowly eroding Microsofts' monopoly position from many points. It's becoming clear that Microsofts' peak is now behind them.

  135. Whats in a Name? by Noraa · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apple's OSX releases are named after sleek, powerfull, and exotic jungle cats. Microsoft's new OS is name after, well....a cow. Hmmm. I think that says a lot.

    1. Re:Whats in a Name? by mshmgi · · Score: 1

      This is a big iprovement, as I see it. M$ has been using a bug (butterfly) as their "mascot" for years.

  136. Longhorn Pron by mpapet · · Score: 1

    Longhorn Demo:
    Microsoft: "Thanks for coming to eat free food. Check out Longhorn."
    (Porn music to play behind the OS demo.)
    Microsoft: "Check out the translucent windows! You know we invented them..."
    (few grunts, skin slaps and music continues)
    Microsoft: "Check out these icons made from the *actual first page* of the document! AmAAAZziing huh?"
    (groans mixed into porn music followed by climax noises)
    Microsoft fanboys will blow a load, go home and blog "Longhorn is the best OS EVER!

    I'm already tired of it.

    --
    http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
    1. Re:Longhorn Pron by michaeldot · · Score: 1

      The ROTFLOL acronym has gone out of fashion but I am seriously doing that at this. Your account is exactly the impression I got reading the blogs.

      Why you're sitting at 1 and haven't been modded +5 something is beyond me!

    2. Re:Longhorn Pron by phillymjs · · Score: 1

      Microsoft: "Check out these icons made from the *actual first page* of the document! AmAAAZziing huh?"

      This has to be the biggest waste of CPU/GPU cycles Microsoft have exhibited since their "windows that can flap like a flag in the breeze" demo.

      They were clearly trying to improve upon the informative aspect of some of OS X's Dock icons-- e.g. iCal's, which shows the current date when iCal is running; Mail.app's, which shows the number of new messages; or Activity Monitor's, which can put many different kinds of useful info into its Dock icon, to name three. As usual, though, they completely miss the point-- and in their zeal to copy while giving the appearance of innovating, they make laughable decisions-- like the ugly WinXP GUI, which was a blatant response to OS X's Aqua but turned out to be an ugly, Fisher-Price-looking mess that is the first thing I shut off on my Windows XP boxes at home and work, and any others I use regularly.

      While Apple's "dynamic" icons are a practical means of gleaning often-wanted information at a quick dockward glance, who the hell is going to pick a document out of a directory by squinting at the iconized rendering of its first page rather than, oh I don't know, reading the filename? Furthermore, if search is going to be such a major part of Longhorn, why will anyone need an iconized representation of a document's content when they can instruct the computer to search for that content?

      ~Philly

  137. They can do that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How did this not get them sued?

  138. lovely title by LiquidMind · · Score: 1

    i read "longporn heview"

    ...sometimes suffering from spoonerism isn't such a bad thing

    --
    This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
  139. Oh, my by avocade · · Score: 1
    http://thomashawk.com/2005/04/my-dinner-with-micro softs-jim-allchin.html
    "One of the most impressive aspects about Longhorn is the speed with which it catalogs, organizes and searches your PC. In addition to great new views (you can see a physical representation of every file on your PC that can be magnified as you move the scroll wheel of your mouse), the speed at which Longhorn renders the views was spectacular. Best of all was Jim's reaction when I expressed my delight at how quickly views were rendered. Jim reacted strongly and said that the speed that we were seeing was unacceptable and that over the course of the next year the system will get even faster."

    Ok, that's just sad. Or hilarious. Take your pick(s).
    --
    avocade.com
    In a free and open internet, who needs Windows
  140. It's the Kernel by Commykilla · · Score: 1

    The issue is not usually with user apps taking up gigs and gigs of virtual address space: it's that everything on the system is at the mercy of the kernel's single address space. 64-bit opens up kernel-mode code such as device drivers to use a lot more virtual address space.

    Before I get flamed -- note that I said *virtual* address space. This does not mean that all the virtual addresses necessarily map to physical memory or that all the memory is always paged-in. But, everything running in the system context -- ie, kernel mode -- shares one address space and it can be a limiting factor.

    --
    Communism was just a red herring.
  141. "Features" they do not speak of? by invchrist · · Score: 1

    Microsoft obviously doesn't say a word about some of the only true "innovative" features which Longhorn will be shipping, such as intrusive (?) DRM-managment.

    Anyway, I think Longhorn is bound to be less than a success than Microsoft probably hopes it will be.

    There must be some moment in time where a lot of people start to realise they don't need to buy new hardware every x years to type a letter and browse the web.. I think now might be that time.

  142. Comparing Apples to apples by skingers6894 · · Score: 1

    Let's be fair guys, Longhorn and Tiger are completely different! It's like trying to compare Apples with um.....some....er..... other fruit.... that is trying to look like an apple.

  143. BeOS had it right... by jonr · · Score: 1

    I'm just glad to see BeFS 'instant-search' reappear in Tiger (Apple hired the brain behind BeFS) and copied in Longhorn, it really revolutionizes the way you organize your work.
    Now, if only somebody would come up with a replacement of those stupid, annoying little file save/open dialog boxes!

  144. Re:Wow...competition by ad0gg · · Score: 1

    But what if wanted my blue tooth to work? As stated in the features that tiger adds file transfer over blue tooth. Paying for bugfixes.

    --

    Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

  145. In summary: by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 1

    so in summary of your own posting:

    first: change the way it looks
    second: change the browser
    third: get a new dock

    blah, blah, blah

    I agree that you're not trolling, but I fail to see how you're defending XP.

    I won't even touch the viruses and malware = popularity. It has to do with security and permissions, not popularity.

    You can't really defend a system by stating that it needs to be changed.

    For example, I could say:

    First: In OS X you don't need to change the shell. The OS doesn't look like it was designed by FisherPrice

    Second: Safari is awesome, but you can also use Firefox

    Thirdly: Dock keeps your applications handy.

    Fourthly: BSD, Apache, Xcode, BSD, and let's not forget BSD are all free, included, and easy to use. (Takes one click to start a secure, popular webserver.)

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
  146. Deja vu all over again by b-baggins · · Score: 0
    The timing is not coincidental with Apple's Tiger release,

    That's what they said when they previewed Longhorn with Panther's release. I suspect they'll say the same thing when they preview Longhorn with Lynx's release.

    --
    You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
  147. Re:Wow...competition by tarth · · Score: 1

    Before you go bashing an operating system you've never used-- Bluetooth file transfer works flawlessly, and I've used it many times. The keyword in the feature you mentioned is securely--I'm guessing it encrypts all of your files while they are beamed over the air. This is hardly a 'bug fix' but an important new feature.

  148. It's not like XP doesn't already do this for ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    certain file types. Namely most image formats, and most video formats as well. Just set your folder view to Thumbnail. The newer versions of Acrobat show a document preview in Thumbnail view.

  149. and WIN95 still in use! by bach37 · · Score: 1

    An insurance company I worked for for 7 months used windows 95 for their entire office (20 stations)! Original Pentium, 16MB ram. So I bet there's lots of schools/companies still using win95/98 who will keep on until they see a reason to upgrade. It runs their one company program fine, that's all they need.

  150. Re:Windows mountpoints by Bambi+Dee · · Score: 1

    I've tried that for a while, but could not delete subdirectories on any of the drives mounted as directories except
    (a) when referring to them by their original drive letters,
    or
    (b) by circumventing the recycle bin, i.e. from the command line or by configuring Explorer to delete stuff directly.

    Doesn't seem right to me. Is that normal? Perhaps the recycle bin is "broken"? I've asked around but got no answers (except some repeating the workarounds mentioned above. I wanted a solution though, not workarounds.)

  151. Nobody expects . . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Nobody expects...The Microsoft Marketers!

    our chief weapon is ignorance . . . ignorance and FUDs, FUDs and ignorance.... Our two, two chief weapons are ignorance and FUDs ... and backwards incompatibility. Our *three* chief weapons are ignorance, FUDs and backwards incomparability and an almost fanatical devotion to the Market....

    1. Re:Nobody expects . . . . by geomon · · Score: 1

      Nicely played. ;)

      --
      "Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
  152. hmmm raining on tigers parade? by mike518 · · Score: 0

    I just think its interesting after months of microsoft distancing itself from the existance of Longhorn (seeing as they are too busy working on XP) they release a preview the same week as tigers release? Very odd. I believe this may be some behind the scenes maneurving to remind people a new windows is in the work and not to switch now. just my two cents.

    --
    Mike
    I heart the RIAA & MPAA, im sure its mutual...
  153. Foghorn Longhorn? by pipingguy · · Score: 1


    Somehow I am always reminded of this character when I hear about MS's next OS naming system.

  154. Re:Wow...competition by ColMustard · · Score: 1

    Umm, bluetooth does work, so there is no bugfix... Bugs and security problems will also be backported to at least Panther. So again, if you don't want to upgrade, then don't. I know many people still happily using Jaguar. Many people like to update every other major version that comes out, and some don't upgrade at all. Again, entirely the user's choice.

    --
    Moof.
  155. But... by Lillesvin · · Score: 0, Troll

    Does it run on Linux? :-p

    --
    "Live free or don't."
    1. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why's parent modded down? It's obviously a joke - not a particularly good one, but still...

  156. Sorting Results by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Spotlight isn't only meant for searching.

    You can create on the fly "Smart Folders," akin to iTunes Smart Playlists, which adjust their contents based on criteria. Say, your documents folder is a collection of excel, word, and Pages files across the file system.

    Apple has been moving in a direction AWAY from the user interacting with the file system; directories are becomming less emphasized. The File System is just a place to deposit junk, it shouldn't be a rigid means of organizing your stuff.

    Why should a person have to think of where their song is located or their download, when they can just pull it up using criteria in spotlight or click a Smart Folder icon on the Dock.

  157. Slashdot whining by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The funny thing about all this whining and bitching is that 90% of the people complaining will be using Longhorn when it is released.

  158. Re:Amazing! Come again ... by kabz · · Score: 1

    More UNIX than POSIX ? Isn't that like saying more Windows like than Win32 ? My next computer is a 12in Powerbook. Actually, Cygwin on Windows rocks. I keep it on a USB key and install it on any Windows machine I use for more than half an hour. I have an X term up now that's running over secure shell, displaying the progress of a video encoding on my home machine about 50 miles away. In other windows, iTunes is running, and this is being typed into Firefox. Apart from Windows itself, there isn't a Windows app in use on this machine at the moment. It's like Scott McNealy says, "The network is the computer ..." or translated "Windows, OSX, GNU/Linux, none of that matters that much nowadays" or translated again... "It's the apps stupid."

    --
    -- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
  159. Another nice feature - preview OFF by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    One bad thing that can happen with preview is that if you get a file with a codec the finder (well, QT) does not understand it takes a bit before it figures that out. So it's handy to be able to turn the preview off as needed.

    Of course, that would also be helped by better threading support. Yeah Finder, I'm lookin' at you! I was kidn of hoping Tiger would be better in that regard but I have no idea.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  160. New slogan by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Microsoft - the Hummer of Operating Systems.

    For when you absolutley must have the most bloating and bling-filled OS possible.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  161. Well, ther is one time it's not funny... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Knock knock.
    Who's there?
    Uhhh... Microsoft Security!


    Not so funny when you're "busy" in a closet with an intern!

    Well, OK, perhaps that is funny after all.

  162. Think different by macwise77 · · Score: 1
    Hmmm....

    Can I just say, 20 or more apps running at once. No problems. What does the color blue look like again? It's been so long.... Whether you have stability issues/security problems with your particular box or not is not the issue. The fact is that most Mac users are so well converted and at times over eager because they love their computers, and can't believe they are actually using a computer that just does what it is supposed to do.

    Oh, and it is not just a simpleton that is saying this, as I run my own websites on a Linux box, and go to the far reaches of my OS's and harness the real power of *NIX in even my everyday activities. All this from a guy who started out knowing nothing of web programming or command line. Even my wife is now "computer literate", and can do some pretty amazing things with a computer that impresses even me.

    It's ironic that windows users say that Macs are made for idiots that need a fool-proof child-safe computer, because it seems that it takes an idiot savant NOT to blow it with a windows box.

    Windows users all talk like windows availability on a gazillion different pieces of hardware is a good thing, and that Apples stability because of it's OS's singularity is only worth the curse of the damned. In reality, Mac OS X's stability is not from the fact that nobody cares about it. It is from the careful, uncompromised, and consistent planning of a rock solid core foundation, and full control of everything built above it.

    Alternatively, you can choose windows, an OS that is well compared to the whore of the computer industry. Sure, she gets around. But is that a good thing? There is really no such thing as "safe sex", nor is there "safe windows use". I mean, spyware, viruses, security holes so big that the if compared to polka-dotted drapes, the "security" would be represented by the "dots"?

    I am the first to admit that no OS is perfect. Do I pray to OS X? Certainly not. But does it satisfy my needs as a tech savvy computer user, who is making a living doing what I need completely without the crutch of microsoft? In more ways than I can count.

    Listen, to each their own. I simply find it funny that so many people can defend something, even to the extent of deriding the alternative, when they know NOTHING about it for themselves. Windows, for the average user, is NOT better than OS X. Mac's, for the average user, are NOT more expensive than the standard windows box. Mac's hold their value much better, and run generally longer. And on the professional level, don't even get me started. Windows is more popular because it is more widely invested in. That, unfortunately, is the only requisite some individuals have when determining value.

    So, I repeat. 20 or more apps running at once.

    Final Cut Pro HD
    Photoshop CS
    InDesign
    Safari
    Mail
    Preview
    Dreamweaver
    PhotoDesk
    iChat
    msn messenger
    Toast
    iTunes
    Quicktime Pro
    Terminal
    Sherlock
    Fontbook
    Calculator
    Wor d (program really sucks)
    Candy Crisis (Personal favorite)
    Deskshade
    windows media player (funny how much it sucks too)
    real player (not much better)
    FireFox
    internet explorer
    System Preferences
    <blink>
    No Crashie! : )
    --
    Don't you hate people who always repeat themselves and are long-winded and overly redundant and talk too much?
    1. Re:Think different by AliasMoze · · Score: 1

      "Listen, to each their own. I simply find it funny that so many people can defend something, even to the extent of deriding the alternative, when they know NOTHING about it for themselves."

      Well, stating a simple and well-recognized fact is not what I'd call "deriding the alternative". In fact, I have nothing against OS X, as suggested in my post. And I've owned Macs here and there in the past, always for specific applications, so I'm also not totally ignorant to its vices and virtues.

      "Windows, for the average user, is NOT better than OS X. Mac's, for the average user, are NOT more expensive than the standard windows box."

      Here's where we differ. Assuming a Mac is cheaper for the "average user", whoever he is, that has nothing to do with me.

      "Mac's hold their value much better, and run generally longer. And on the professional level, don't even get me started. Windows is more popular because it is more widely invested in. That, unfortunately, is the only requisite some individuals have when determining value."

      Lots of assumptions in there and frankly most of them are filled with comtempt. Sounds a bit zealous to me.

      I repeat: I haven't switched mainly because of the Mac's high price.

  163. Advance look at the next version of LINUX!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Wow!!! It... um... was... a lot like the last one...

    Um.. oh yeah!!! They got, like, USB working, right, or something... um, and HEY! YEAH!! We can use WinModems now!

    Uhhh, I think they also had, like, some SATA support or something? Cant remember.

    LUNIX IS LIEK SO GUNNA PWN MS!!!! LUNIX ON TEH DESKTOP, YO!

    1. Re:Advance look at the next version of LINUX!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Oh, I forgot to mention, there were, like, something it did to install programs... think they made a new installer or something?

      They also tried to get network cards and video cards to, like, set up at install or some mad crazy shit like that, dont know if it was working just yet? But if you had the network card and video work when you installed, why the heck should you use linux then? I can use WinBlows if I wanted that. That part of the presentation was kind of stupid.

      Me out.

  164. OSX or Linux TABLET PC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Windows not innovative?

    Where is the OSX tablet PC? I would possibly switch to OSX if they offered a good tablet PC equivalent and a good EMR (electronic medical records).

    Can linux fill this nich?

    As long as my EMR and tablet PCs are windows based, all other computers I own are going to be as well.

    Does apple make a PDA or phone software?

    All my computers (XP), PDAs (windows mobile), and phone (MS smartphone) all integrate with each other and outlook effortlessly.

    I'm not trying to troll, but can OSX and linux offer me the same thing?

  165. Longhorn sluggish and resorce hungry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The big problem Longhorn is facing is that for everyone who doesn't have the recommended Pentium 4 3.4 GHz and 2 GB of RAM it would be a very sluggish experience. I rather stick to Linux which runs blazing fast on my on my P4 2.0GHz and you don't have all those viruses and spyware problems, security holes, unfixed bugs, crashes, reboots, DLL and registry hell, etc. etc.

  166. Bad Idea by robinjo · · Score: 1

    So Longhorn will open the docs and render a small picture of the document? It just blows my mind that MS didn't realise that it's a security hole begging to be abused.

    Preview is as dangerous as opening a file. If the preview code has security issues, you only have to get a malicious file saved on the computer. Next time the user browses his/her files, it gets opened.

  167. Its a FAP!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fap fap fap fap fap fap!@!

  168. Re:Wow...competition by Lobo_Louie · · Score: 0

    Ob Simpsons reference: "I'm so hungy, I could eat at Arby's".

  169. But Tiger is shipping and UNIX... by Your+Average+Joe · · Score: 1

    Tiger is now shipping and WILL be in stores. When will longhorn be here?

    Tiger runs existing applications. What will longhorn run?

    64 bit windows will be great when it is everywhere. 64 bit xp and server 2003 should be good enough for a LONG time. Customers are in need of a fixed OS, not one that is so different they have to change everything.

    DEC had 64 bit Alpha machines in the early 90's and they hauled ass. It is 15 or so years later and Microsoft is still lagging behind!

    I would say Microsoft could just buy the source for VMS and hire all the engineers to work at Microsoft. They could make a win32 layer for VMS and have Windows apps running on a real OS. It could cost less and be a thing where Microsoft says that COTS helped them reduce costs to deliver a product...

    It might be that Microsoft is trying to have all of Longhorn written in India...

    --
    Your Average Joe
  170. You forgot one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tiger is now shipping and WILL be in stores. When will longhorn be here?

    Tiger runs existing applications. What will longhorn run?


    Tiger will run on existing Macs. A machine to meet Longhorn's recommended system requirements doesn't exist yet.

  171. Not a "preview" so much as a Preread. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There arent any screenies of the os. Merely an endless stream of text.

    BORING!

  172. So, uh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can anyone explain why this post is modded down as "Troll?"

    wtf?