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Microsoft To Release Cloud-Oriented Windows OS
CWmike writes "Within a month, Microsoft will unveil what CEO Steve Ballmer called 'Windows Cloud.' The operating system, which will likely have a different name, is intended for developers writing cloud-computing applications, said Ballmer, who spoke to an auditorium of IT managers at a Microsoft-sponsored conference in London. Ballmer was short on details, saying more information would spoil the announcement. Windows Cloud is a separate project from Windows 7, the operating system that Microsoft is developing to succeed Windows Vista."
Causes Rainy Day
This sounds like vapourware to me.
they have an HTML version of the Blue Screen Of Death.
It seems so obvious now.
Is this a web-based back end for hosting apps on a server? Is it an online platform of application infrastructure? Is it a toolkit/API for writing apps like Ruby-on-Rails?
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
I don't even know if that was sarcasm.
Our bugs are smarter than your test scripts.
Somehow, putting the word "vista" in the same sentence as "succeed", for whatever reason, just seems plain wrong.
My web domain.
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/30/2146250
sounds like Airborne viruses.
as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in labored puns about windows and clouds and nobody had the sense to silence them.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
It's a marketing phrase, designed to encourage you to offload your computing to the Cloud. The Cloud is where someone else controls your information, not you. Stallman says it's a trap. I'm inclined to believe him. When MicroHard starts promoting it? All the more reason to be leery of it.
I haven't been following this stuff.
Is it safe to assume that some competitor has just released a working toolkit for developing cloud applications that works pretty well? And that Ballmer needs to get the pointy-haired boss to stop Dilbert from using that toolkit, and redesign the mission-critical project around Windows Cloud?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
I am so excited about $NEXT_VERSION of Windows. It will go beyond just solving all of the problems with $CURRENT_VERSION, it will be an entirely new paradigm. Forget about security problems, those are all fixed in $NEXT_VERSION. And they're finally ridding themselves of $ANCIENT_LEGACY_STUFF.
Also, there'll be $DATABASE_FILESYSTEM. It'll be awesome!
I wonder how $NEXT_VERSION will compare to $NEXT_NEXT_VERSION.
("Windows Cloud"? Good freakin' gosh, what do they have for a marketing department?)
http://rocknerd.co.uk
He's saying that in a month they're going to announce (not ship) something, but he can't talk about it now? So he's telling us that he's not telling us something, but sometime later he will? Why doesn't he just, like, not say anything?
The whole point of cloud computing is to run your server apps on whatever is available to run it. These apps do not, should not, and typically CANNOT do any configuration or long-term storage on any individual instance they run on, so everything they do is compartmentalized through specialized IO and shared storage APIs, which can be reimplemented on pretty much anything.
Sure, on the desktop everybody supports Windows, because they've got the drivers, Office is popular, etc etc. But going to any from-scratch model like cloud computing, Microsoft carries absolutely zero advantage or momentum from their other market saturations.
No, the Falling Blue Sky Of Death.
Mod me down for being a little jaded against ideas like this, but I just had to say something...
Ok, so, it still requires the client to boot some sort of OS stub, right? It still needs a method to connect to the Internet...and it sure isn't going to be BOOTP or PXE. You'll still have to have a local OS, but will apps/games run on it?
How is this going to benefit anyone except the corporate coffers? Of course $mega_corps love this idea! They don't care about your experience, they care about taking your money, and remaining in control.
If cloud computing grabs hold of us, we'll have to pay per month. Even just $20/month over 5 years = $1200...heh, yeah, sounds like a superdeal for everybody! Oh, and of course they will charge more per accessible app...and don't expect to use the same app for years, you'll be pushed forward to new apps without your consent.
Do I stream my data, like movies too?
What about bandwidth caps? How about your throttle?
What happens when my Internet connection goes down?
What happens when THEIR Internet connection goes down?
What happens when their SERVER goes down? Subverted? If someone doesn't notice?
What happens when I need custom apps installed? What if they aren't "approved"?
Who do I call when an app doesn't work/crashes?
Will my printers work? How about the rest of my attached devices? Legacy devices?
What happens if I want access to my stuff while I'm not near an Internet connection?
Who gets to look at my operating log?
Are advertisements banned?
Imagine how convoluted the simple task of inserting a scanned image will be.
A modern OS needs to be local, all this will be is just an in-browser-web-app, OR some virtual desktop a la Terminal Services.
It won't happen. /rant
Good Call, Microsoft. With five editions of Vista competing with three editions of XP and nine editions of Server 2008 (including three that are just the regular versions without the hypervisor software), plus separate 64-bit versions of everything, the Windows product line wasn't nearly diffuse enough.
Windows Vista that doesn't accept being offline and can store apps in a proprietary XML like format that you can display with 'the advanced and intergrated new exiting underlining technology MS has developed and maybe patented' *cough*aka IE8 extension for offline pages*cough*.
Sounds like something even I could have made by adding and removing some stuff in Ubuntu and remaster the image...
Here be signatures
Project/Code Name?
Candidates:
Tacoma
Wincoma
GLAUcoma
Cloudy
Misty
TearDrop
Charmin
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
that RMS was just railing against the cloud on Monday?
/...
It's not new and it's not vaporware, it's also not Windows on the cloud. It's called Microsoft Mesh. It's been in used for many months, although only the first few services are available. Right now you get PC to PC and PC to Web synchronization of data. It's pretty much the best document remote access / sharing solution right now.
MS wants to add applications too, which many people compare with Google Docs but it's not that at all. It's basically a way that people will be able to use the same app from anywhere, have multiple people use the same application thru this mesh. How it will end up working is.. as of yet unknown.
The upcoming PDC conference in October will be all about Mesh, which is what Balmer is referring to.
...lacks silver lining.
Project/Code Name?
Since this is Slashdot, how about...
"Insensitive Cloud"
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
Clouds ARE insensitive, you clo .... (struck by lightening, vaporized...)
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Unlike some people, Microsoft knows what "OS" means, and it's an OS: process management, drivers, the entire party.
Surely you're mistaken. If I recall correctly, several years ago Microsoft testified that their web browser was an integral part of the O/S during an anti-trust hearing or some other little nuisance distraction. Or maybe I'm just imagining that.
"Blue screens, shinning on me.......Nothing but blues screens do I see....."
Be gone from my sight or prepare to feel my flaming wraith!
Because it will take at least seven standard PCs to boot the next version of Windows.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
This windows cloud computing stuff is already used to send millions of emails a day and so on. The product itself really isn't news, the only news is that Ballmer is finally giving it a product name so we can talk about it more effectively in the media.
For a list of computers participating in the Windows Cloud, go here and request an rsync feed for the XBL.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
No, it has one
I would have voted for "Windows Nimbus."
This should be the next poll.
I think there was a preview in the 98 start up screen. Windows on a cloud and everything. If they are bringing it back it will be more amazing than the massive hint they gave in the XP default background.
Windows Cloud OS??? This is bull excrement. I want to OWN my programs (like Word 2000), not have to keep renting it "off the net" year after year after year.
Hmmm. Looks like I'll still be using XP 'til the year 2020.
I refuse to touch Vista and Cloud sounds like garbage too.
The government is not your daddy. Its purpose is not to raid middle-class neighbors' wallets and give it to you.
Cloud computing OS, jumpin' jehosaphat, vapour ware becomes a reality, the mind boggles, a vapour OS, to run vapour ware applications all on vapour ware hardware ;D.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen