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Windows 8 To Natively Support ISO and VHD Mounting
MrSeb writes "With a masterful nail in the optical disc coffin, Microsoft has announced that its new operating system will natively mount ISO disc images. On the slightly more enterprisesque side of the equation, VHD files will also be supported by Windows 8. Both new features will be smoothly integrated into Windows 8 Explorer's ribbon menu, and mounting an ISO or VHD is as simple as double clicking the file. This is obviously an important addition with Windows 8 being available on tablets — and in a year or two, it wouldn't be surprising if all software is made available as an ISO on a USB drive which can be read by tablet and PC alike."
Linux will still be there, but how many developers will devote resources to Linux development when Apple and MS can pretty much guarantee them a locked-down, piracy-free platform (even if they do take a cut of the action)?
The same people that do it now - for the same cut they take now. Mostly because people working on such products don't want restricted platforms. They enjoy the ability to install what *they* want too. This crap about protecting me from myself and not letting me install {mal,crap,free,whatever}ware is preposterous and an idea I'd happily see put in the bin.
You're using the term "third-party software" in a difference sense than bigstrat2003 was. You mean it in the sense of "anything other than the kernel". He/she meant it in the sense of "anything that didn't come with your distro". Big difference. And in this case your definition isn't as accurate, since from the user's perspective the question is "can I mount ISOs after installing the operating system without having to acquire any other tools?" And until this announcement the answer for Linux was yes, while for Windows it was no.
Read my blog.
You know, I have to give Linux all these props, but once again they set the standard only to have Apple copy them and claim innovation. Linux boxes have been mounting ISO images and other image files for well over a decade now.
The real litigious bastards...
At some point you have to ask yourself _why_ people have so much "junk" installed on their computers. I'd wager at least part of it is due to the users wanting to install anything they want yet not knowing how to weed out the bad from the good. Saying that the solution (and the one the user wants) is to take that freedom away just seems, silly. If the solution to my family not installing malware/viruses/etc is to totally wall up a garden and only allow them to install pre-approved apps.. you can count my family out, and I'd guess a lot more users as well.
There are times I like to just install small apps that help out with little things (mythtv remote, vlc remote, stock ticker, etc) on my phone. That's fine. Heck, I don't even want to do much more than trivial things on my phone and that works great. But to suggest that that is the only experience I, or even most users want from all computing devices, including their PC?
Sure, many tasks might be replaced by a tablet, or even a phone or console. But for everything else, there is a PC. Unfortunately, with great power comes great responsibility. The PC tool can do a lot and a lot can be done to it (maliciously even) and you have to be educated enough to use it, at least properly. But ok, for those that have no need for one and don't really care about what's going on in the wonderful world of software, a walled garden, Angry Birds experience can also be had.
But I would agree there are quite a few people I know that _should_ be in a walled garden _all_ the time. They simply can't be trusted to not click every single pop-up that says they won something, etc.