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Looking Beyond Vista To Fiji and Vienna
Vinit wrote in with an article that describes Microsoft's strategy for future versions of Windows. It begins: "As we all know that Microsoft Vista was originally scheduled to be released in 2003, after two years of Windows XP, but it got delayed by over five years due to various reasons. Definitely, Vista is very very improved OS over the previous versions, but the delayed in the launch has cost Microsoft, billions of dollars. Now the question at the moment is, what exactly after Vista? Microsoft can't afford to wait another five years for an operating system. People are becoming more aware of the choices they have, and Linux is no longer a hobbyist OS, and that day isn't far away when it becomes simple enough to be a viable alternative to Windows. The competition is fierce. That is why, to stay at the top, Microsoft has planned a 'Vista R2', codenamed 'Fiji' which will be released some time in 2008. And after Fiji, there will be Windows 'Vienna'. Windows Fiji, will not be a totally different OS from Vista; but it will be an add-on. Whereas Vienna will be totally different from Vista."
is because it is a bit different from Windows.
That's not true. It's because in Linux, you have to go back to the 1980's, when you had to memorize esoteric commands in order to get your computer to do what any 4 year old can do now in Windows with a mouse. Well, you don't literally go back in time, but the functionality is reminiscent of the 1980's. Ugh. You might as say, "punch cards are just a bit different".
As a user of applications, there's no reason why any of the applications that I use could not run beautifully and likely faster and leaner on older generations of Windows. In fact, if they M$ had simply focused on updating core systems (interfacing with new graphics hardware is a good example) things would be good. I had to migrate to a new OS several times just because of DirectX compatibility. "We just couldn't make DirectX 9 work on WinXX! Bullshit. Fix your architecture to anticipate changes. Highly payed software architects can do that. I do that. Why can't you?"
And of course, instead of focusing on continuing to polish and upgrade the OS in a simple fashion, M$ takes the approach of complete overhaul every time, lately in the interest of security. Well, news flash for the company that can afford to pay security "experts" hundreds of thousands a year: a really bad way to secure something is to completely rewrite it again and again. If you cannot make progressive refinements to a system, it has extremely poor design and you need to bite the bullet, own up to that, and fix that.
Just look at evolution. It is an interative approach with progressive refinements that are responses to the environment (e.g. the human body's response to pathogens from generation to generation). There is a very good reason for this approach in nature. The notion of generating radically different (i.e. screw inheritance and your body gets a random set of DNA) genetic sequences from generation to generation would be genocide. It's STUPID on a universal scale.
But that is M$ and Windows for you. Oh, yes. We'll come to terms with it because the OS is still largely monopolized. Yes there is light at the end of that tunnel thanks to Linux and MacOS reaching a greater consumer base, but the fact is that M$ approach to OS development is an evolutionary screw up which must eventually give way to a saner approach. The only reason it exists is because of what can be seen as an extinction or genesis event where it was the only show in town (PC). It was there initially in the absence of competition, but the "proprietary" approach will collapse under the weight of its own inability to adapt and interoperate. It's like a town that only permits marriage within the town. Eventually, you end up with fatal problems because the genetic sequences are adapting slower than pathogens and environmental factors that have no problems whatsoever with moving all over the place and sharing information.
See M$? You and proprietary software are retarded. I just proved it by reduction to evolution. Take your new OS and shove it.
because in Linux, you have to go back to the 1980's, when you had to memorize esoteric commands in order to get your computer to do what any 4 year old can do now in Windows with a mouse
You are talking about the shell which is basically using a programming language to give the computer instructions in a structured, flexible and precise manner and being able to plug programs together even when those programs wern't specifically designed to be plugged together.
I defy you (or anyone over the age of 4) to do that sort of thing in Windows with a mouse.
But honestly, if the shell is something you complain about then you probably are better off with microsoft products. Small-minded software for small-minded users.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Yes, we all know about that Vienna. Do try to keep up with the entire thread, genius.
XML causes global warming.