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Windows Server 8 Is A Radical Departure From Previous Releases
Julie188 writes "While the world is distracted with the Window 8 client, Microsoft is simultaneously working on Windows Server 8. At BUILD, Microsoft unveiled its next-generation server OS under heavy secrecy to a room full of analysts and product testers. WS8 is radically different than its predecessors. There's an argument to make that it's not actually Windows. The code they saw was pre-beta and an obvious attempt to put an arrow in the heart of former-softie-turned-VMware-CEO Paul Maritz. Windows 8 Server editions are to be run in Server Core format (the GUI will be optional). PowerShell has gotten an overhaul and its command list will exceed 2,300 native commandlets in Windows Server 8. Hyper-V has also been revamped and will become massively scalable in the number of VMs supported and in the size of each VM."
In related news, it appears that Java now runs on Microsoft's Azure platform.
Microsoft isn't saying anything about linux, however this is a direct attack against linux and unix in general
Its real competition, not "an attack". This is a good thing.
These just sound like incremental improvements. I'm not complaining but adding extra commandlets and features isn't a "radical departure". Plus, the GUI is optional on the current version of Windows Server.
C'mon, Bill, do you really expect us to fall for that AGAIN?
(Of course, some will... I'm depressed now...)
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I just don't understand why Microsoft can't just make a good BASH variant for Windows, so us folks who administrate heterogeneous networks can create a common stock of admin scripts, and a common scripting language to do them in. Microsoft still can't get over the fact that it isn't the only boy in town in the server world, and making proper integration tools, as opposed to trying to force itself on us at every turn, should take precedence.
Yes, I know there's Cygwin, but it's huge and a major pain in the ass and I consider the ugliest of hacks.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Personally, I think PowerShell is a lot closer to the ideal shell for today than Bash is (and I'm typing this on Linux). PS is kind of maddening to use because of some things like the tab completion differences (I've tried to give it a fair shot, but I really don't like it) and the god-awful "terminal emulator" that it runs in.
But I strongly feel that if the Linux folks would take a step back and acknowledge that it's no longer 1970, they'd see that have programs set up to pass objects around instead of text can be hugely beneficial.
(I'm open to some textual serialization of objects, such as JSON or similar.)
Visual Studio is great, but Eclipse is just as good as a platform. For some reason, every time I say this, I get modded down.
Yes, there is. UNIX shell and command line in my opinion is the best development environment ever made. And it's been around for a long time. The usual arguments given why this isn't so all boil down to it takes average developer too long to learn it. But nothing can ever come to the level of productivity you get when you finally do. After you do, IDEs and Visual Studio in particular start being impediments rather than productivity boosters.
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
Regularly work with millions of lines of code. My tools scale perfectly well, and for dozens of languages too, not just like VS which works OK for C#, but absolutely sucks for C++ or say Perl, or Eclipse which is good for Java, but sucks for C++ or Haskell for example.
I think before you make judgement on this, perhaps you owe it to yourself to learn it first, or at least watch someone who knows what they are doing (if you can find someone).
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
Worse than that: They're copying OS/2, which they helped write. (OS/2 could boot to a non-GUI text console for servers and ATMs.)
Heck, they're copying one of their own SAFE MODE boots.
Or maybe, They're copying DOS.
Depends on the library. Most libraries I use are open source, reading documentation is reading code and comments. It's really fast to navigate code for about 550 languages that my tools are aware of (VIM with ctags, cscope, clang etc). But if I don't have the source, then reading documentation can also be done quite fast inside the shell, together with editor. I never understood people who hit . or -> in their IDE and then scroll through the list and choose what method they think they want to call. How are you ever going to learn like that. I'm not saying that good tools like VIM/emacs don't have the ability to complete code, by syntax (parse trees for some languages) or by textual analysis on other cases, but this is TYPING aid, not code writing aid.
If you can't open a notepad and write a simple program (let's say a dialog with a panel, a few text boxes and buttons) without an IDE in a language of your choice, then how good a programmer are you?
Get rid of mental clutches and start using your brain is my advice. You'd be surprised how much you can learn if your tool doesn't stifle you.
But this is just the first step. Learning more advanced things, how to search effectively, bend and transform code or text in general to your will, create mini reports of things you are interested in (some of the most basic things like class outline, or call hierarchy are dedicated views in most IDEs, but there are other things you might be interested in that are not) and are all learning aids. And the best thing is this knowledge and tools are applicable and transferable to any kind of programming task, whereas most IDE users would not even consider learning or programming a language their IDE does not support.
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
50% is a made up number.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems
You won't find 50% here for MS, except the revenue counting channel, which doesn't count OS' properly that you don't have to buy.
The same is true of any set of tools. Someone who takes the time to learn their IDE of choice will be more productive in it than in other environments. Your tools of choice consist of UNIX shell and the command line. This doesn't mean they're better tools, just that they're better tools for you, because you've learned to be productive in them.
Software development is mostly thinking with a bit of typing thrown in. Tools can help productivity if you're familiar with them, but ultimately what interface a tool uses (ie. CLI vs GUI) is irrelevant. What's relevant in a tool is functionality. What's relevant in a developer is skill and knowledge of their chosen tools.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
Coz if they did MS would sue, sue and sue again.
Pure FUD. The PowerShell specification was released under the Community Promise specifically so it could be implemented on other platforms.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
Linux shells still pass data as text, when passing objects would make so much more sense and give a lot more options
Sorry, but no, passing data as objects sucks.
Text is the one and only universal interface. Passing data as objects limits you to one system. If you have powershell objects you need a powershell environment to use them.
When I want to get data from a website into my database text is the only format that both sides understand. Putting it into more general terms, when I want to get data from X to put it into Y text is the only format that both sides understand.
I can scan and OCR text from old books and newspapers. I can print text. I can edit text in any machine from a PDP-11 to a smart phone. When I'm limited to a slow and/or high latency connection text is the only format that works. I can use vi to edit a data file in a remote Unix system using a 300 bps modem if I need to. I can speak text on a phone for someone else to type it at the other end.
When I'm managing an important system that *must* keep running under emergency situations only text will do.
Object oriented system administration is bullshit.
You're lucky -- this is the first time in two weeks I don't have mod points. Are you Ballmer's grandson or something? Do you even know what an "object" is? MS's poo-pooing of text is one of the worst things about MS and one reason so many of us stay away. Text is human-readable, binary is not. If you're passing "objects" as text and your code goes kerflooey you can examine what was passed and easily figure out what went wrong. Not so with binary blobs. Mind explaining why you think passing binary makes more sense and gives more options?
Have you ever used a single program that didn't come from Redmond? Your posts all make it sound like MS is the best thing since sliced bread, when most of us are fond of saying "the day MS makes a product that doesn't suck is the day they start making vaccuum cleaners" (Well, personally I think Excel is the best spreadsheet and MS mice weren't too bad, and I'd take an Xbox over a Sony any day).
BTW, freeAVG just told me to reboot (I haven't got Linux on this box yet). Ironically, I don't mind rebooting Linux because it comes back exactly like I left it, but I never have to reboot. If I reboot Windows I have to restart every open program, yet I have to reboot every few days because something needed updating. Tell your dad to fix this, OK? And tell him to get rid of that God damned registry!
MS is easy to use if you don't know what you're doing. Those of us who have been computing for decades find MS products maddeningly annoying -- the "Redmond way or no way" syndrome.
I don't like Gnome, but IMO KDE is a far superior interface than Windows.
Now I have to brush my teeth after biting that shilly troll. Ugh!
Free Martian Whores!
Get rid of mental clutches and start using your brain is my advice.
Because memorizing API's is what makes a good programmer? Spare me.