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New MS Shell Will Not Be In Longhorn

sootman writes "Remember that new Windows shell? Looks like it'll be yet another technology that won't make it into Longhorn. 'It will take three to five years to fully develop and deliver,' said Microsoft Senior Vice President Bob Muglia this week at Tech Ed 2005. However, it's not dead yet--despite not shipping in Longhorn in 2006 or Longhorn Server in 2007, the article says 'Exchange 12 administration functions will be built atop Monad, which would enable users to do everything from the command line that can be done from the graphical interface.'"

63 of 449 comments (clear)

  1. Inquiring minds want to know! by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So the question on everyone's minds at this point is: What *will* Longhorn actually have in it? Avalon, Indigo, and WinFX are all being backported to XP/2003, WinFS has been dropped for the release, and now Monad (I love that name) is being cut. I'm not quite sure how Microsoft plans to sell the OS on such exciting features as "Better DRM!" and "We've got the security thing right this time. Promise!"

    "It will take three to five years to fully develop and deliver," said Microsoft Senior Vice President Bob Muglia this week at Tech Ed 2005.

    *Jaw hits the floor*

    Five years? Whoa. Five years ago, Windows 2000 was brand new. Five years ago, Mac users were still stuck with OS 9. Five years ago, the tech boom was still on. Five years ago, Bill Clinton was still President. Even worse is that Win32 is only ten years old!

    If it takes Microsoft five years to get something out the door, I think they will soon find themselves becoming irrelevant in the desktop market. Confidence can be a good thing, but over-confidence can mean disaster. The bright side to this is that users will win when Microsoft is forced to go back to being an applications vendor instead of an OS vendor. Maybe they'll even get around to making another BASIC that doesn't suck. ;-)

    On a slightly different topic, I really think that Microsoft is really on the wrong track with their combined Desktop/Server codebase bent. As technology marches on, Microsoft will quickly find that their competitors are taking advantage of technological solutions that only make sense on one side of the fence. I have to wonder if some of the delay that we're seeing isn't caused by Microsoft attempting to make all of their technology work in both arenas.

    1. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Microsoft Barbie says "Writing Operating Systems is HARD!"

    2. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by ackthpt · · Score: 2, Funny
      So the question on everyone's minds at this point is: What *will* Longhorn actually have in it? Avalon, Indigo, and WinFX are all being backported to XP/2003, WinFS has been dropped for the release, and now Monad (I love that name) is being cut. I'm not quite sure how Microsoft plans to sell the OS on such exciting features as "Better DRM!" and "We've got the security thing right this time. Promise!"

      The code, mind you it's still very much beta... void main()
      {
      printf("Hello wolrd");
      }

      Windows Longhorn? How about some other names:

      • Windows Forever
      • Windows 3, the search for Windows 2
      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    3. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by pete6677 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Longhorn will be to XP what Win 98 was to Win 95: prettier screen effects and no real differences that can't be obtained through service packs, and stability will likely suffer. But people will buy it just because it's newer and supposedly better.

    4. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by tomjen · · Score: 3, Interesting

      True, but the problem is that in GNU/Linux most programs are designed to work on the commandline.

      In Microsoft Windows, they are designed to work with the GUI. So they have to code a CLI, and add to all the apps. Plus Microsoft are beeing threaten on thiere two main incomes (office and windows) and facing a humilation on browser area.

      --
      Freedom or George Bush
    5. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by leonard_chung · · Score: 2, Informative
      If you're interested in downloading a copy of Monad, visit http://beta.microsoft.com

      The invite code is "mshPDC".


      The Monad team is working on a new version as well and will have the new version available by the 21st of June.

    6. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by Jugalator · · Score: 2, Informative

      So the question on everyone's minds at this point is: What *will* Longhorn actually have in it?

      Did you try checking Microsoft.com for this information?

      It takes some wading through marketing speak, but if you go through the trouble of checking out the info, you'll probably get a better figure of what's in it and not backported or delayed.

      Here: About Windows Longhorn security, information management, Avalon/Indigo/Aero (yeah, parts of those are backported, but not all of these technologies).

      If it takes Microsoft five years to get something out the door, I think they will soon find themselves becoming irrelevant in the desktop market.

      Hmm, that could be debated since what you're talking about taking 5 years to get out is hardly something given a high priority for the desktop market you speak of, and probably why it's taking them 5 years as well. It's more for the server market. I don't even think Monad will ever be part of the Longhorn Client, just the server editions in a future. I'm actually surprised Microsoft is making a new shell at all -- I thought they were moving away from it.

      On a slightly different topic, I really think that Microsoft is really on the wrong track with their combined Desktop/Server codebase bent. As technology marches on, Microsoft will quickly find that their competitors are taking advantage of technological solutions that only make sense on one side of the fence. I have to wonder if some of the delay that we're seeing isn't caused by Microsoft attempting to make all of their technology work in both arenas.

      Well, Microsoft *is* going to "componentize" Longhorn much more than earlier versions. Not necessarily for the end users to customize their installs (although it might happen to as a result; I don't know), but for their own sake to easier be able to create Windows builds for the specific tasks they're aimed for. I thought even Windows Server 2003 showed significant progress here although there seemed to be some work to still do, yes.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    7. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by Alien54 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Microsoft Barbie says "Writing Operating Systems is HARD!"

      Indeed. But writing command line shells? *jaw hits the floor again*

      You need to understand. They are trying to do for the command line whta they did for the GUI.

      This might not be a good thing. And can you imagine the complexity of the syntax?

      On the otherhand, maybe they are just trying to clone bash?

      --
      "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
    8. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by Ravnen · · Score: 3, Interesting
      They're trying to create an object-oriented shell, where all system components are accessible as objects. This is naturally much more complex than a shell and command-line tools based on manipulation of text streams, but includes a lot of theoretical advantages, if it works.

      In general, I like the 'keep it simple' philosophy of traditional UNIX, but I'll try MSH, when it gets to a more mature stage, before deciding whether or not Microsoft have come up with a better CLI than the simple UNIX model.

    9. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by Ucklak · · Score: 4, Funny

      XP was to Win2K what Win98 was to Win95.

      I'm thinking WinME = Longhorn.

      --
      if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
    10. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Because there are a lot of tasks that require a good, programmable shell. WMI sucks big time and the primitive batch file methods of CMD.EXE are barely any better than the COMMAND.COM batch files of fifteen years ago. I gave the example a day or two ago of how easy it is to extract parts of the system date in Bash, which is really great when you've got automated scripts to move logs and put timestamp in the file name. It can be done in CMD.EXE batch files, but with the very odd FOR command.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    11. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by TCM · · Score: 4, Informative

      But what is bash without /bin/*, /sbin/*, /usr/bin/*, /usr/sbin/* and so on? Just a nice frontend.

      The main reason why a shell for Windows 1) takes insanely long to develop 2) will suck anyway is that the whole system beneath it is completely rotten, non-elegant and a pain to use.

      Take the 'ipv6' command for example, if you installed the IPv6 stack on XP. They use dash options (-p), where most of the "DOS" tools use slash options (which AFAIK are the reason they have backslashes instead of slashes in paths). The notion of an 'interface' with that ipv6 command is completely awkward. Since their real identifiers are nicely hidden away below the shiny Network control panel, you have to use 'ipv6 if' to retrieve an integer that corresponds to the desired interface.

      Examples of the current CLI sucking are:

      1) a tab-complete in the middle of the line destroys the rest of the line
      2) why does 'cd..' without a space even work?
      3) as in 2), a 'cd...' or 'cd....' works as well in that it returns no error, it just doesn't do anything!
      4) 'UNC' paths (\\server\path) are 'not supported' as the current directory. However, they are supported as args for commands (all commands?).

      These are examples that lead me to believe that there actually is no structure below the surface of Windows and the tools it offers. I believe that Microsoft developers look at something and go implement it in a quick and dirty way, without ever having a bigger design goal in mind and without ever changing something once it has been hacked into place.

      --
      Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
    12. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by Ravnen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think AppleScript is more like the existing Windows Scripting technologies. The difference with MSH is that it's an attempt to merge that sort of thing into an interactive command-line environment, and include every aspect of the system that the GUI can manage. (I don't know if AppleScript covers every aspect of the system that is accessible from the GUI, but I know Windows Scripting doesn't.)

    13. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by Guy+LeDouche · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's odd how many windows users can't figure that one out. /never/ right clicked just to see what happens?

      Isn't it also odd how that completely defeats the purpose of a command line interface? I'd love to be able to press Control+V and not print ^V.

    14. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by man_of_mr_e · · Score: 3, Informative

      Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance, Shadow Copy Service, WebDAV (Web Client) Support, Concurrent Console Users (Fast User Switching), Camera and scanning wizard, System Restore Points, Driver Rollback, Side by Side DLL support, Windows Firewall, DualView (ability to have the display on both the screen and a projector or TV), Synchronization Manager, Automatic Update (this was later added to Win2k), and a bunch of other stuff I can't think of right now.

    15. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by NutscrapeSucks · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Attn Mac Zealots:

      None of these AppleScript features are unique or interesting, so please stop telling us about them. Maybe they were in 1994, but the world has moved on.

      Also, AppleScript itself is the worst programming language ever invented. Please don't damage your brain by using it.

      --
      Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
    16. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by st1d · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's not that odd, once you understand the MS indoctrination program. See, MS believes fear is the best control device. Teach the user that computers are scary, dangerous things, and the users will not attempt "complicated" manuevers like you suggest.

      My guess is that most users, upon hitting the right click button (via bumping their mouse against their cappacino cups early in the morning), fly into a panic, slam the power button, and grab the phone to call their favorite guru. The guru (if a hired hand), carefully crafted in the spirit of "reinstall, reinstall, reinstall," reinstalls the software, and "fixes the problem."

      Until the next latte...

      --
      Microsoft has just released their much anticipated hands-free cordless mouse. Warning, it may hurt a little at first.
    17. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2, Funny

      That'll get fixed in a service pack.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    18. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by jcr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      None of these AppleScript features are unique or interesting, so please stop telling us about them. Maybe they were in 1994, but the world has moved on.

      Applescript has moved on, too.. Maybe you should check it out again.

      Also, AppleScript itself is the worst programming language ever invented. Please don't damage your brain by using it.

      If AppleScript is the worst language you've ever seen, you've lived a sheltered life indeed.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    19. Re:Inquiring minds want to know! by wtmcgee · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think that blanket statement is a bit incorrect. Granted, Applescripting isn't exactly the most powerful language, but it does what it's supposed to do, and very well. It adds small functionality to programs that are not included with the software. As a "programming language" yes, it's lacking.

      I find myself using applescript all the time on my computer. I think you just have to understand what it's used for.

      --
      *** For a better tommorow, change your life today ***
  2. What will? by udderly · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe MS could just make it easier by letting us know what actually *will* make it into Longhorn...

    1. Re:What will? by One+Louder · · Score: 5, Funny


      My understanding is that Longhorn is no longer in Longhorn.

    2. Re:What will? by ch-chuck · · Score: 2, Funny

      Longhorn will contain innovative new features that enable vertical organizations to synergize forward looking customer relationships and exploit next-generation functionalities.

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    3. Re:What will? by grolschie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Longhorn will simply be Windows XP SP2 with a modified skin. All new actual features and enhancements have been canned. You will of course pay substantially for this new OS. ;-)

    4. Re:What will? by vsprintf · · Score: 2, Funny

      My understanding is that Longhorn is no longer in Longhorn.

      Then that would leave . . . an empty shell. So why would it take five years to build it?

  3. Split reality by ProfaneBaby · · Score: 4, Interesting
    While the standard DOS shell is nearly useless, WMI is still pretty damn powerful. It has problems (most people in production lock it down, which will break a lot of the truly useful uses for it), but it makes this statement:


    Microsoft Watch reports that Exchange 12 administration functions will be built atop Monad, which would enable users to do everything from the command line that can be done from the graphical interface.


    Almost redundant. You can already write scripts with WMI that will let you do MOST of the things in Exchange that you would want to do from the command line, and once it's in the script, it's at least semi-permanent.

    Even in UNIX, I tend to write scripts when there's more than 5 commands (even if the commands are all piped together into a single command) - I may know it well enough not to see it later, but my assistant tends to find the scripts very useful for his learning and library.
    --
    Video Phone Blogs send video messages straight to the web.
  4. This just in! by ClownsScareMe · · Score: 3, Funny

    Redmond, WA

    Microsoft (TM) announced to day that it's new graphical user interface, code-named Avalon (TM) will not ship with Longhorn (TM), it's next operating system. However, Avalon with be an integral part of Windows 2010.

    --
    I read Slashdot for the articles
  5. Chicken shits! I *knew* it! by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Funny


    Microsoft just doesn't have the Monads...

    ^_^

    --
    ____

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

  6. I for one, by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

    welcome our new longhorn overl - what? Oh nevermind, they're not here yet.

  7. MS Innovation.... by truckaxle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Monad, which would enable users to do everything from the command line that can be done from the graphical interface

    Yet another innovation from microsoft? first borrow the windows paradigm and now the cli paradigm.

  8. Re:What will be will be... by Skiron · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe MS could just make it easier by letting us know what actually *will* make it into Longhorn...

    The usual... trojans, worms, clippy...

  9. 1st thought: Good that it is comming... by Spoing · · Score: 5, Interesting
    'Exchange 12 administration functions will be built atop Monad, which would enable users to do everything from the command line that can be done from the graphical interface.'

    2nd: The more time goes on, the more Windows takes on the features of unix.

    3rd: Most every OS is some form of unix at this point except for Windows.

    4th: Even Windows has a POSIX layer and unix-style command utilities for free as an add-on.

    --
    A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    1. Re:1st thought: Good that it is comming... by mrmojo · · Score: 2, Funny
      What is it they say - "Those who don't understand unix are doomed to reinvent it, poorly."

      I say this somewhat tongue in cheek.

  10. I'd put up even money now... by xanderwilson · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...That Longhorn updates won't come out nearly as regularly after Longhorn's release as they do now.

  11. Wow... by shadowmatter · · Score: 4, Funny

    With all the features being removed, and the release date getting pushed farther and farther back, Longhorn will end up as nothing more than an expansion pack for Duke Nukem Forever!

    - shadowmatter

  12. Re:So... by Tweak232 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The RSOD ;-)

  13. Re:Linux better than Windows by starnix · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What the fuck are you talking about? Do you listen to yourself when you talk or do you just drift in and out? Exactly what "bug" are you talking about. My LINUX box would like to know since it must be out of the loop because it's been running without reboot for over 4 months. I've heard of this bug existing in WinNT but not in LINUX.

  14. I'm just waiting for this headline: by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Funny
    "Today Microsoft announced that it's new operation system, Longhorn, will not contain Longhorn."

    What the hell is still in Longhorn?

  15. Longhorn will offer precisely... what? by ShatteredDream · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It seems like every feature that was supposed to be cool except for the 3d-accelerated desktop is going to be either taken out of Longhorn or is going to be backported to XP to promote developers' use of it (like Avalon). Does anyone else see how this could end up with Microsoft effectively having no good reason for the average person to leave XP unless they buy a new PC? Why would a business want to move to Longhorn if it is a warmed over rehash of Windows XP?

    So many people went to Windows XP because even those who used Windows 2000 saw a lot of good benefits in it. Despite what some people may say, Windows XP can be a lot faster than Windows 2000 on things like disk I/O. I remember ripping a DVD under Win2k and then doing it again under WinXP when I got XP and seeing significant performance gains to the tune of going from about 4000kb/sec to about 7500-8000kb/sec under XP. Then there were other enhancements, but we all truthfully know that XP was a big jump for the average user of Windows.

    But why should people who like XP leave it for Longhorn? Unless Microsoft follows Be's upgrade path for BeOS and charges only $25-$50 for XP upgrade CDs, why should people switch? What does it do for them that can't be done just as easily with XP and which isn't negated by more hardware needs?

  16. Re:what *are* they putting in Longhorn? by punkrockguy318 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I hate to say that your mistaken. Microsoft is dropping the "My" from "My computer". This is a revolution of operation system technology.

  17. What's next? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The next thing that Microsoft will announce is that Longhorn won't run on the new Mac-Intel machines.

  18. 5 years? by trime · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Don't give up hope just yet. It may still be ready for the Longhorn release!

  19. Re:Well.. by someguy456 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "which would enable users to do everything from the command line that can be done from the graphical interface"

    I'll belive it when I see it

    Sure, see it here, now

  20. No Kernel by MarcoPon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Soon to be announced: the Kernel will not make it on the first incarnation of Longhorn, and will be released in a subsequent version..

    --

    SeqBox
  21. Re:Where by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Informative


    OK...here's a quote from the BetaNews article referenced in the summary:


    Monad was slated to replace the command line in Windows with an object-oriented technology that rivals shells found on Unix systems. Beta versions of the software have been available to testers since early Longhorn alpha releases, but now Microsoft is looking further down the road with Monad.


    You know, if you would just RTFA, things would be a lot clearer...
    --
    ____

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

  22. Monad the name? by Dasein · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Okay, so it's called Monad -- I've only heard this name in one other context, and that's Haskell (http://www.haskell.org./ The interesting thing is that Simon Peyton Jones went to MSR a few years ago.

    So, it seems that, either the name is unrealated, and that would suck. Or, that somehow, this is related. *IF* it is realated, I'm not sure how adoption will go. Functional Programming can be a little odd.

    Anyone know?

    --
    You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake -- but you could be if you got off your ass.
    1. Re:Monad the name? by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm glad you asked so I can finally get my money's worth out of a philosophy class I once took.

      The name comes from the philosopher Gottfried Leibniz. He had this idea that existence was made up of these atomic building blocks of experience. They link together and form all that we know about the world around us. These Monads make up the composite of possibilities that form our "best of all possible worlds."

    2. Re:Monad the name? by Bambi+Dee · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The word's ancient (and Greek) and does not imply functional programming. The Monad shell follows an object oriented approach. The Wikipedia article on MSH explains this. There's an external link to what might just be a video I've seen before: a developer demos Monad and the way objects, rather than plain text, are piped between commands... or whatever; I'm not the one to explain this.

  23. Five years... food for thought by sterno · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yup, five years. So what I'm lead to wonder is which we'll see first:

    1) A good command line for Windows
    2) A good GUI for Linux

    I also have to wonder if Microsoft would be putting an ounce of effort into developing a command line if that wasn't something beneficial in Linux.

    --
    This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
  24. Why? by wertarbyte · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why does it take so long to compile Cygwin and Bash for Windows?

    --
    Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh.
  25. Enough already! by freeweed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Dude. It was funny the first time. Made me smile the second.

    It's long since stopped being funny, and just makes stories on Slashdot annoying as hell to read as we scroll past your 8 pages of the same joke.

    Remember, breveity is the essence of wit.

    --
    Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
  26. Also... by DigitlDud · · Score: 2, Informative

    Look at the Longhorn driver development page for insight as to what's going on:
    http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/WDK/default.m spx

  27. Let's try making a list! by rbarreira · · Score: 5, Funny

    People, let's try making a list of that which we do know that (for now at least) will be in Longhorn. Each person who replies just has to copy paste the previous list and add his content :P

    Let me start with:

    * RSOD (red screens of death)
    * Dropping the prefix "My" from "My computer", "My network places", etc

    --

    The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    1. Re:Let's try making a list! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      People, let's try making a list of that which we do know that (for now at least) will be in Longhorn. Each person who replies just has to copy paste the previous list and add his content :P

      Let me start with:

      * RSOD (red screens of death)
      * Dropping the prefix "My" from "My computer", "My network places", etc


      I'll try my best:

      * Avalon: a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML, .NET, and vector graphics.
      * Indigo: a service-oriented messaging system to allow programs to interoperate as part of the .NET framework.
      * WinFX: a new API replacing the current Win32 API (there's of course still Win32 + Win64)
      * .NET framework 2.0 (the foundation for Longhorn)
      * WGF - Windows Graphic Foundations
      * DirectX 10 which will further merge pixel and vertex shaders and introduce new technologies for 3D rendering.
      * Lower user privileges (IE 7 will run in these on Longhorn)
      * Included compiler (msbuild)
      * New driver model and improved kernel/driver loading (drivers get "unloaded" in realtime if they become unstable) - also drivers get loaded quicker in the boot process so you can enjoy higher res/color depth while booting - also improved is boot speed and install time.
      * New MS Installer
      * New document format competitive to PDF
      * An application deployment engine ("ClickOnce")
      * Improvements in the ClearType font rendering technology + new system fonts
      * New desktop search capabillities
      * Improved security through lower privileged accounts and services
      * Full support for the "NX" (No-Execute) feature of processors.
      * New graphic user interface (Aero) using vector graphics for rendering.

      That's everything I could come up and google within 10 minutes. Those are pretty much the biggest improvements that we know about. Then there are of course a lot of improvements on the device drivers, the way Windows handles drivers, wireless conectivity etc. The main code branch is built upon Windows Server 2003 SP1.

      This is still 2 years away from release so I'm sure they can come up with more stuff. Hell, AFAIK Monad and WinFS will be available as free add-ons later on (SP probably).

  28. Monad -- See Deleuze and Leibniz by Will+Shaw · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Here's where else you might've heard "monad" before.

    See Gottfried Leibniz's "Monadology" - here, and with
    background info here.

    Then check out Gilles Delezue's The Fold -- here. Deleuze is a total nutjob, like so many other French "theorists" or "literary theorists" (whatever that means), but he writes almost cogently about Leibniz.

    I assure you that Haskell is not the "one other context" for the concept of a "monad."

    --
    "Interesting side note: as a head without a body, I envy the dead."
  29. It was bound to happen by GomezAdams · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Little Billy Gates has to have all the world's attention focused on him and him alone and by doing that he is sinking his company. Look at what he is trying to do.
    • Become the only operating system for desktops and servers.
    • Become the only or most major game console and games provider.
    • Become the most major search engine provider
    • Become the only or most major embedded OS provider.
    • Become the only offices productivity tools provider.
    • Become the only or prevalent music download provider.
    • Become the most major e-books provider.
    • Become a major hardware provider for peripherals - keyboards and pointers.
    • Become the most major progran development tool provider.
    • Become the most major publishing tool provider.
    • Become the most major browser provider.
    • Become the most major media player provider.
    • Become the most major media editor provider.
    And this is just the list my poor tired old brain can come up with on short notice. I'm sure there's more. And all of it must be tied into the OS so he can claim "it's embedded and I can't get it removed with damaging my product".
    Gates is spreading his resources out to the breaking point to cover every blasted computing use on the planet and to smother all his competition. Just like a rubber band that's streached too far, it will snap and get ugly quickly when the end comes.
    --
    Too lazy to create a sig...
  30. Why reinvent the wheel ? by TractorBarry · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ho hum...

    In direct contrast to Apple (who had the sense to realise a good thing when they saw it by using *BSD as the basis of OSX) Microsofts new mission statement seems to be to prove the adage:

    "Those who don't understand UNIX are doomed to reinvent it, poorly."
    --Henry Spencer

    (apologies if the quote is attributed to the wrong person but I'm drunk and simply Googled for the first result...)

    And I'm not saying humanity can't do better than *nix but, currently, it's still a hell of a good start (mind you I've worked on ICLs, now Fujitsus, VME which is simply a pure pleasure... a pure pleasure... File generations... Mmmm... recover that file from 10 edits ago before you made a complete balls up of everything...)

    --
    Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
    1. Re:Why reinvent the wheel ? by TractorBarry · · Score: 2, Informative

      Bugger... I meant to add the URL where I found the quote as it's a good read...

      Unix Utilities Part 4

      --
      Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
  31. Re:Well.. by vsprintf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is not necessarily a bad thing that you can't configure everything from the command-line.

    Yes, it is. *nix users have understood that for decades. And that's why the "Windows" response to a problem is to reinstall the OS.

  32. The Emperor's New OS by lullabud · · Score: 2, Funny

    Longhorn is going to be packed with golden goodies which are so wonderful that nobody will be able to see them. It will take the few years following for their opacity to set in.

  33. Let's summarize for a minute, shall we? by ChaoticLimbs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1. Microsoft is looking at implementing a subscription model instead of standard box sales in the near future.

    2. Microsoft takes, on average, 5 years plus between major revisions of their operating system.

    3. Microsoft's next operating system will not have the cool whiz-bang features they promised us, in spite of its six year lead time.

    4. Microsoft's Windows operating system does not come bundled with any useful applications. Their video editing application has a featureset close to zero, and MSPaint is simply unchanged since 1990, having not so much as a smudge tool. WordPad is a completely inferior word processor compared to ANY other currently available.

    5. Microsoft's operating systems cost a minimum of 99 US dollars, double that for anything useful in a business or network.

    In conclusion, Microsoft's "option" will cost you a yearly cost for a product that is improved minimally every five years, with a smaller feature set than you were promised, and you have to buy any applications separately if you'd like to do anything WITH your computer.

    Oh, Microsoft stock? SIGN ME UP!

  34. Why don't they just copy VMS? by Christian+Engstrom · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Yup, five years.
    Leaving aside the fact that there is really no excuse why they didn't put together a decent command line shell 20 years ago.

    Why didn't they just look at what was available elsewhere, and copy the VMS shell (which Digital released for the VAX machines in 1978)? Clean, simple, and with command and option names that are actually possible to remember.

    One of the most advertised aspects when Windows NT came out was that it was "designed by the people who wrote VMS". If this was true, does anyone know why they forgot to include the only part of VMS that's actually visible to normal users?

    Sorry for ranting. I really loved the VMS command line. :-)

    --
    Christian Engström, Former Member of the European Parliament 2009-2014 for The Pirate Party, Sweden
  35. How about a shorter list? by argent · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How about a shorter list... features that aren't going to end up in XP anyway, and features that actually have value.

    Avalon: a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML, .NET, and vector graphics.

    Which will also be available for XP. Scratch one.

    WinFX: a new API replacing the current Win32 API (there's of course still Win32 + Win64) .NET framework 2.0 (the foundation for Longhorn)

    That's two (or is it three) new APIs. New APIs by themselves have negative value. What can you do with them... that's the important bit.

    Lower user privileges (IE 7 will run in these on Longhorn)

    Fixing the wrong problem. The only reason to run IE in some kind of sandbox is because of its broken active content model. Instead they should fix IE by backing that out and split off a local HTML scripting environment (like Dashboard, but without the stupid UI), and making IE into a normal browser... a purely web aplication that has no ability to download applets and automatically* run them with full local rights.

    Included compiler (msbuild)

    Ah, finally catching on to what every UNIX vendor figured out by the early '90s. Even SCO ecentually "got" that. Of course you can download SFU and get an included compiler AND a decent shell, RIGHT NOW... so this is also available for XP and Windows 2000.

    New document format competitive to PDF

    Something else with negative value.

    An application deployment engine ("ClickOnce")

    Sounds Linspired. I hope they've actually thought about security this time.

    New desktop search capabillities

    Already available for XP, not a Longhorn feature.

    Improved security through lower privileged accounts and services

    You're repeating yourself.

    * popping up a routine dialog box that people are used to clicking OK on is hardly better than running it with no warning.