But you bought an off-the-shelf PC in 1998 with standard components. I'm talking about a (mythical) fridge with unique components, unique software, unique drivers, etc. Sorry, but an IoT device will likely never run more than a "+ 0.1" version higher of an underlying OS & related software ("+ 0.2" for Linux)--given track records of manufacturers working on old products. They won't open source everything for fear competitors would use it competitively against them. To add, even if they did open source the whole IoT fridge, you're assuming that someone would actively pick up the project... Simply open sourcing something & dumping it on the Internet doesn't mean anyone's actively interested & working on that project.
I agree with you, in theory. In practice, however, nobody is fixing bugs/security holes in obsolete platforms. Let's say the IoT existed in 1994 & you bought a new Kenmore IoT fridge running Linux 1.x. Fast forward to 2014--who today is doing anything with the Linux 1.x kernel? Nobody--including Kenmore support engineers. Your fridge was pwned probably 15 years ago...
It's not a question about warranty or even availability of replacement parts, it's a question about opening themselves up to extremely long support schedules, something they have never had to do before. If I call an appliance repairman for a 40 year old fridge, he'll likely be able to find the right replacement part... But that model no longer holds true in IoT. Look at cars (at least in the US)... Auto manufacturers have taken on the responsibility that all of their past models could face a recall, even 15+ years after the fact. (NHTSA still opens cases for cars sold in the '90s). The same would have to be said about Internet-connected devices--specifically household appliances.
The problem is that we're talking about operating systems, web hosting software, network stacks, databases, device drivers, etc., that would need to be supported for, easily, 20+ years. Think back to 1994--what software that existed then is supported now??? NONE. So, imagine you buy in 2014 an IoT refrigerator full of the latest & greatest Android 4.4.x and/or Linux 3.13.x FOSS software--what sort of support would you expect for any of that in 2034??? Would you expect Amana, GE, Kitchenaid, Electrolux, Miele, Kenmore, etc., engineers to be fixing Linux 3.13.x kernel security holes in their 20-year old appliances? FOSS or not, as a consumer, I would expect that appliance to continue to work & not get bricked by malware that was deposited remotely...
I seriously doubt that Belkin will put out firmware updates for all the old $50 Linksys router models they inherited support for--instead opting to push users to buy replacement models they otherwise wouldn't need. The likely answer is NO--even with a class-action lawsuit. (In all actuality, a 2006-era 2.4GHz 802.11G WPA2 router is still more than plenty for the crappy broadband speeds available in North America...)
This is what scares me about the Internet of Things when it comes to long-life appliances that you could own/use for decades... How long will manufacturers (many of whom have 0 experience so far with connecting their products to anything but a power cable) continue to support these devices? Ultimately, government regulation may be required in this space. God knows I wouldn't want my IoT refrigerator to get "bricked" (a really heavy, big brick!) after 20 years because the manufacturer went under & the fridge couldn't phone home... Or worse, because someone found a backdoor that had been in place for all models in use for 9 years before my model was developed...
Not to sound like I'm a crotchety old man telling kids to "stay off my lawn" and eschewing technology, but the Internet of Things really is opening Pandora's box... Currently, manufacturers tend to make a product, find bugs/get user complaints & make a new product. They might produce a few bug/security fixes--but then ignore that product in very short order. But the IoT really changes things, and not for the better...
Here's an example... Walk around your house and figure out the age of all of your appliances. You probably have a few items (e.g. refrigerator) that are pushing 20 years old??? Now, imagine you buy a few shiny new IoT appliances & they're all connected to the Internet--15+ years from now. Seriously, this is a disaster waiting to happen & a hacker's wet dream... Imagine what support will exist 15 years from now for current versions of Android 4.x, Linux 3.x, Apache, PHP, MySQL, etc. Or better yet, what 1999-era software still receives even security patches or bug fixes? (Win9x--nope. Linux 2.2--nope. IIS4--nope. W2K--nope. SQL Server 7--nope... You get my point...)
Ultimately, with the IoT, we're trusting that companies will be willing to support their products, including OS kernel patching on FOSS platforms that were long-abandoned by their progenitors, 25-odd years??? Dream on... I don't intend to replace my fridge or washer in a few years because it got "bricked" because of a security hole the manufacturer chose to ignore...
One thing that nobody seems to talk about is what is Metro doing behind the scenes? I really haven't seen any articles and we (I believe) incorrectly believe that the Metro "apps" aren't running unless they're explicitly executed... Two big concerns for me...
1) How is my machine being slowed down (CPU cycles, disk I/O, etc.) and how much bandwidth is being wasted (especially if I don't get unlimited data) by Metro apps that are running "in the background"? This is really important at the server level--why do I need any apps running on a server--especially if it's running in a VM???
2) What information is being sent out the door about my usage to Microsoft and other entities (spyware), especially if those apps came preloaded with Windows 8.x / Server 2012 (base/R2)??? Again, servers are especially of concern--why should Microsoft or anyone else know how I'm using my server?
Numerous articles have said that Windows 8.x runs better/faster than Windows 7 on all kinds of hardware (even using less memory), but I can't see how this is possible given the concerns above...
Renewables may have scaled up already too much in some countries... In January, wholesale prices for electricity in Germany & Nordic countries were negative for a brief period when the January storms sent wind & hydro production up... http://www.reuters.com/article...
Nuclear needs to be a "backup option", but it needs to be always on. What do you do, however, when renewables (solar, wind, etc.) are flooding the grid, but with production that could disappear completely with a weather change in a region within 1 hour?
Let's see... Microsoft has only themselves to blame for this problem. They stopped supporting their non-standard features in newer versions, and made the stupid decision to not make newer versions of IE to try to "nudge their OS choices". In mixed OS environments, even if only temporary, the version of IE used ends up being the least common denominator. So, in a shop that ran a mix of XP, W2K, and 98, you standardized on IE6. Currently, if you're running a mix of XP and Win7, you're likely using IE8...
Obviously, this plan backfired on Microsoft. What other browser vendor supports 6 major versions of their browser? Oh, and if you thought that IE6 would fall off with the demise of WinXP, think again--it came with Windows Server 2003, so IE6 is already supported until 7/2015, just shy of 14 years after it was introduced!!! (And that's not assuming that XP doesn't continue to get support fixes beyond 4/2014 or even 7/2015...)
Most buildings are tall, not wide. The square footage of a standard downtown office building's roof (let's say 0.5 block^2) might be enough to put up solar panels to power the lobby--lighting (after converting to LED, of course), air circulation (not the actual heat or A/C), the front desk, and the pretty fountain; but definitely not even one office floor full of PCs, equipment, lighting, HVAC, etc. So, if the lobby is 1% of the building's electrical use, you start asking yourself "what's the point of going through all this effort to go solar?" (unless you're really adamant about being environmental & saving every last kW).
No, the version of Windows 3.1x that included networking was called "Windows for Workgroups". In all actuality, there were 4 editions of "Windows 3.1" (in order of release): Windows 3.1 (4/1992), Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (10/1992), Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (11/1993), and Windows 3.11 (1/1994).
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was radical in that it removed Standard Mode (only had 386 Enhanced Mode). Windows 3.11 (vs. "3.10") included a handful of bugfixes but continued to include Standard Mode with a minimum requirement of an 80286.
Yeah, except that many of the things you talk about are "public things you show off"--your car, your clothes, how often you go to Starbucks, a fancy restaurant, movies, golf, etc. Unless you're a student or a road warrior, your computer, even if it's a laptop, probably sits on a desk in some room and never moves. You don't take it out in public--it just sits there doing its thing, and it does it well enough to not need to replace it. Add the fact that most people are now afraid to replace it because they'll likely end up getting Windows 8.x...
Of course, this same saturation problem will happen soon enough with tablets. I mean, we've already hit an innovation wall with tablets--what new innovative features have tablets come out with in the past ~2 years? Denser screens, faster CPUs, an improved camera, etc. BFD! My 2 year-old Android 4.0 tablet runs current versions of Chrome & Firefox, I can run current apps on it, etc. (Apple not allowing alternate browsers on iOS is either genius or evil--I can't decide)...
And let's not forget that browsers have improved--both becoming more optimized & more feature-laden. The Javascript, DOM, CSS, etc. optimizations, even without using the GPU as a coprocessor, are light years ahead of where they were 10 years ago. Just try to run Firefox 2 or 3 nowadays--it's painful!
So, you have browsers that are more optimized than they've ever been, fewer people using fully-installed "desktop" applications (excluding the browsers themselves, and excluding gamers & enthusiasts that need raw computing power), and a schizophrenic Windows 8.x experience, and you have a perfect storm...
Why buy a new PC when Firefox/Chrome/IE/Safari/Opera just put out a new version with a major optimization?
...I dislike Microsoft and Windows with a passion, but at least they don't arbitrarily decide that your PC is too old to run their latest operating system.
Microsoft just did this... Windows 8.1 64-bit has a requirement that your CPU (and BIOS) support the "CMPXCHG16b" instruction, which does not exist on all AMD64 processors, especially early AMD models, and some Intel ones where the manufacturer has (for some reason) disabled the instruction via BIOS--often without an explicit option to turn it on. So, those people are stuck on Windows 8.0 64-bit or need to "up/downgrade" to Windows 8.1 32-bit, which doesn't require the instruction.
Of course, Microsoft is setting themselves up for a lawsuit since they went on record giving Windows 8.0 a 10-year support lifecycle, which has now been changed to a ~3 years, and don't offer a free license to go from 64-bit Windows to 32-bit... Ironically, Windows Server 2012 R2 (which is 64-bit only) does not require this instruction, so there's some real confusion as to what has been gained by this requirement change...
So unless Google, Facebook, and the like are no longer going to be US-based companies (which I doubt will happen, especially given that they are publicly traded), and decide to shut down all operations in the US, things like the Patriot Act & wiretapping laws would still compel these companies to hand over data, despite the data center sitting on Canadian soil--or anywhere else in the world... Remember that Microsoft refused to answer questions about whether law enforcement had backdoors into Skype calls, after M$ picked up Skype. Pre-takeover, when Skype was an Estonian company, US-required backdoors didn't exist & couldn't be compelled, so the NSA had to hack to get the data...
I'll be the first to feign ignorance with Windows networking, but do tell me how I "Obtain an IP address automatically" without automatically getting the gateway? Or am I now setting up a static IP in the virtualization software network settings, then hardcoding that static IP and a false gateway in the client VM network settings? (Yes, it's easy for me as a computer geek, not so easy for others...)
You just proved my point. Most people won't want to set up a "non-bridged LAN between VMs" (then try to get that bridged LAN talking to their real LAN), they want their VM to connect to their actual LAN. If I'm a small office running an old-school Workgroup, a HomeGroup, or even a small domain, how do I get my XP (or W2K or Win9x) VM to be able to connect & access those internal networked resources without going out to the Internet--without jumping through serious hoops. Adding a 2nd NIC & wiring then configuring--to every machine that could host a VM? Are you f-ing kidding me???
The virtualization software should make it easy to do this, yet none of the ones I mentioned do. So, with NAT, I get everything internal & external, but all I want is for the virtualization host to sandbox the networking in the VM... (I guess I could install a firewall in the VM that disallows Internet access, but we're talking about really old OSes, so really old & unsupported firewalls--and I'd feel safer if that could be done by the virtual network stack. Something like a simple slider in the VM settings with 3 options: "Allow Internet & LAN access", "Allow LAN access only (no Internet)", "Allow no network access"...)
While a novel concept, I don't care to see what's happening "from the bouncy ball's point of view". Plus, unless you're in the Stellarcartography room from "Star Trek: Generations", you're only going to see a sliver of what's around you (given the limited nature of human vision), which will look like an even more dizzying version of the movie "Gravity"...
I'm sorry, but tell me an easy way for a non-technical business (e.g. a dentist's office) to shut off Internet access in most consumer-grade VMs (VMWare Player, Hyper-V, Win7's VirtualPC, etc.) while keeping network access alive. Yes, there's things like fiddling with hosts files and the like, but no consumer-level VM offers a "keep networking but disallow Internet access" switch. (Sure, you can disable NAT, but then your VM can't network, so what's the point???)
Also, Microsoft's Win32 application compatibility via the Windows 6.x kernel is decent for 32-bit and weak for 64-bit (WoW). To add, there's so much 16-bit code floating out there in businesses, written during the Win9x era, especially from vendors that no longer exist. Even trying to get some Microsoft programs working is a chore--e.g. Visual FoxPro 9 SP2. (I don't give a shit how "old" it is, it's still used and doesn't work well with Win7 x64). Microsoft has the R&D resources to figure out how to run 16-bit code on 64-bit Windows (e.g. NTVDM running on WoW--essentially a VM within a VM), and we'd be fully in the 64-bit OS era...
While there was much excitement & media hype to the Win95 launch, Windows 3.1 (1992) is definitely a better candidate for this list--it had all the foundations including advanced font support, multimedia, mouse access, networking (Windows for Workgroups) and even 32-bit application support (Win32s)--all for personal consumers. By 1995, everyone who was buying Win95 already had Win3.1 (except DOS-only holdouts) and even the DOS-only folks were using their mice to interact with their PCs. (I would argue for Windows 3.0 over 3.1, but 1991 was his starting point...)
To add, I'd say that Microsoft Office would have been a better choice than the Apple Newton. Around 1992-1994 was when companies dropped, en masse, their DOS-based WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and Harvard Graphics installations for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. So why does that count for "personal" uses? Because now, MANY households, almost all students (including those on Macs), and almost all businesses use it. Home users used to pirate copies of Office, and Microsoft now gives it away for less than $150 for non-commercial use. Back in the '90s, Microsoft was trying to foist Microsoft Works on consumers, with Office having a $400+ price point. Word and Excel file formats are ubiquitous now... (And while I applaud & appreciate "office" FOSS, they only exist because of MS-Office's successes & intentionally maintain compatibility with MS-Office file formats).
Slashdot needs to add a trigger that deletes any post from "Anonymous Coward" with a negative rating. Without fail, they are either "me too!" posts, uninformed, or are absolutely puerile attempts at witty retorts.
The reason Firefox and Chrome will continue to support XP is because they want to support Windows Server 2003, which has an End-of-Life of 14-Jul-2015. Since Win2003 (and XP Pro x64) use the NT 5.2 kernel and they don't want to lose that marketshare, by default supporting it on the NT 5.1 kernel (e.g. XP 32-bit) would be a trivial affair. That's why they chose "at least 2015"...
"Perhaps sooner"? Well, you had VHS tapes that were only playable in certain parts of the world. (Although many PAL players can play NTSC VHS tapes, but that was a more recent development). You also had NES and Sega Genesis games that would only play in the "authorized" part of the world the cartridge was made for...
So, does this family use an average "PC clone" (e.g. the crappy and incompatible AT&T 6300) from the era, which would be a turbo XT with CGA graphics, or do they splurge and run the best 386 Compaq Deskpro with EGA graphics that they could find? (Of course, both computers now cost the same on the secondary market, while the Deskpro would have cost 10x as much as the XT in 1986...)
Slashdot Mirror
But you bought an off-the-shelf PC in 1998 with standard components. I'm talking about a (mythical) fridge with unique components, unique software, unique drivers, etc. Sorry, but an IoT device will likely never run more than a "+ 0.1" version higher of an underlying OS & related software ("+ 0.2" for Linux)--given track records of manufacturers working on old products. They won't open source everything for fear competitors would use it competitively against them. To add, even if they did open source the whole IoT fridge, you're assuming that someone would actively pick up the project... Simply open sourcing something & dumping it on the Internet doesn't mean anyone's actively interested & working on that project.
I agree with you, in theory. In practice, however, nobody is fixing bugs/security holes in obsolete platforms. Let's say the IoT existed in 1994 & you bought a new Kenmore IoT fridge running Linux 1.x. Fast forward to 2014--who today is doing anything with the Linux 1.x kernel? Nobody--including Kenmore support engineers. Your fridge was pwned probably 15 years ago...
It's not a question about warranty or even availability of replacement parts, it's a question about opening themselves up to extremely long support schedules, something they have never had to do before. If I call an appliance repairman for a 40 year old fridge, he'll likely be able to find the right replacement part... But that model no longer holds true in IoT. Look at cars (at least in the US)... Auto manufacturers have taken on the responsibility that all of their past models could face a recall, even 15+ years after the fact. (NHTSA still opens cases for cars sold in the '90s). The same would have to be said about Internet-connected devices--specifically household appliances.
The problem is that we're talking about operating systems, web hosting software, network stacks, databases, device drivers, etc., that would need to be supported for, easily, 20+ years. Think back to 1994--what software that existed then is supported now??? NONE. So, imagine you buy in 2014 an IoT refrigerator full of the latest & greatest Android 4.4.x and/or Linux 3.13.x FOSS software--what sort of support would you expect for any of that in 2034??? Would you expect Amana, GE, Kitchenaid, Electrolux, Miele, Kenmore, etc., engineers to be fixing Linux 3.13.x kernel security holes in their 20-year old appliances? FOSS or not, as a consumer, I would expect that appliance to continue to work & not get bricked by malware that was deposited remotely...
I seriously doubt that Belkin will put out firmware updates for all the old $50 Linksys router models they inherited support for--instead opting to push users to buy replacement models they otherwise wouldn't need. The likely answer is NO--even with a class-action lawsuit. (In all actuality, a 2006-era 2.4GHz 802.11G WPA2 router is still more than plenty for the crappy broadband speeds available in North America...)
This is what scares me about the Internet of Things when it comes to long-life appliances that you could own/use for decades... How long will manufacturers (many of whom have 0 experience so far with connecting their products to anything but a power cable) continue to support these devices? Ultimately, government regulation may be required in this space. God knows I wouldn't want my IoT refrigerator to get "bricked" (a really heavy, big brick!) after 20 years because the manufacturer went under & the fridge couldn't phone home... Or worse, because someone found a backdoor that had been in place for all models in use for 9 years before my model was developed...
Not to sound like I'm a crotchety old man telling kids to "stay off my lawn" and eschewing technology, but the Internet of Things really is opening Pandora's box... Currently, manufacturers tend to make a product, find bugs/get user complaints & make a new product. They might produce a few bug/security fixes--but then ignore that product in very short order. But the IoT really changes things, and not for the better...
Here's an example... Walk around your house and figure out the age of all of your appliances. You probably have a few items (e.g. refrigerator) that are pushing 20 years old??? Now, imagine you buy a few shiny new IoT appliances & they're all connected to the Internet--15+ years from now. Seriously, this is a disaster waiting to happen & a hacker's wet dream... Imagine what support will exist 15 years from now for current versions of Android 4.x, Linux 3.x, Apache, PHP, MySQL, etc. Or better yet, what 1999-era software still receives even security patches or bug fixes? (Win9x--nope. Linux 2.2--nope. IIS4--nope. W2K--nope. SQL Server 7--nope... You get my point...)
Ultimately, with the IoT, we're trusting that companies will be willing to support their products, including OS kernel patching on FOSS platforms that were long-abandoned by their progenitors, 25-odd years??? Dream on... I don't intend to replace my fridge or washer in a few years because it got "bricked" because of a security hole the manufacturer chose to ignore...
Belkin's problems are only the beginning...
One thing that nobody seems to talk about is what is Metro doing behind the scenes? I really haven't seen any articles and we (I believe) incorrectly believe that the Metro "apps" aren't running unless they're explicitly executed... Two big concerns for me...
1) How is my machine being slowed down (CPU cycles, disk I/O, etc.) and how much bandwidth is being wasted (especially if I don't get unlimited data) by Metro apps that are running "in the background"? This is really important at the server level--why do I need any apps running on a server--especially if it's running in a VM???
2) What information is being sent out the door about my usage to Microsoft and other entities (spyware), especially if those apps came preloaded with Windows 8.x / Server 2012 (base/R2)??? Again, servers are especially of concern--why should Microsoft or anyone else know how I'm using my server?
Numerous articles have said that Windows 8.x runs better/faster than Windows 7 on all kinds of hardware (even using less memory), but I can't see how this is possible given the concerns above...
The DPRK definition of "router".
Renewables may have scaled up already too much in some countries... In January, wholesale prices for electricity in Germany & Nordic countries were negative for a brief period when the January storms sent wind & hydro production up... http://www.reuters.com/article...
Nuclear needs to be a "backup option", but it needs to be always on. What do you do, however, when renewables (solar, wind, etc.) are flooding the grid, but with production that could disappear completely with a weather change in a region within 1 hour?
Let's see... Microsoft has only themselves to blame for this problem. They stopped supporting their non-standard features in newer versions, and made the stupid decision to not make newer versions of IE to try to "nudge their OS choices". In mixed OS environments, even if only temporary, the version of IE used ends up being the least common denominator. So, in a shop that ran a mix of XP, W2K, and 98, you standardized on IE6. Currently, if you're running a mix of XP and Win7, you're likely using IE8...
Obviously, this plan backfired on Microsoft. What other browser vendor supports 6 major versions of their browser? Oh, and if you thought that IE6 would fall off with the demise of WinXP, think again--it came with Windows Server 2003, so IE6 is already supported until 7/2015, just shy of 14 years after it was introduced!!! (And that's not assuming that XP doesn't continue to get support fixes beyond 4/2014 or even 7/2015...)
Most buildings are tall, not wide. The square footage of a standard downtown office building's roof (let's say 0.5 block^2) might be enough to put up solar panels to power the lobby--lighting (after converting to LED, of course), air circulation (not the actual heat or A/C), the front desk, and the pretty fountain; but definitely not even one office floor full of PCs, equipment, lighting, HVAC, etc. So, if the lobby is 1% of the building's electrical use, you start asking yourself "what's the point of going through all this effort to go solar?" (unless you're really adamant about being environmental & saving every last kW).
No, the version of Windows 3.1x that included networking was called "Windows for Workgroups". In all actuality, there were 4 editions of "Windows 3.1" (in order of release): Windows 3.1 (4/1992), Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (10/1992), Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (11/1993), and Windows 3.11 (1/1994).
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was radical in that it removed Standard Mode (only had 386 Enhanced Mode). Windows 3.11 (vs. "3.10") included a handful of bugfixes but continued to include Standard Mode with a minimum requirement of an 80286.
Yeah, except that many of the things you talk about are "public things you show off"--your car, your clothes, how often you go to Starbucks, a fancy restaurant, movies, golf, etc. Unless you're a student or a road warrior, your computer, even if it's a laptop, probably sits on a desk in some room and never moves. You don't take it out in public--it just sits there doing its thing, and it does it well enough to not need to replace it. Add the fact that most people are now afraid to replace it because they'll likely end up getting Windows 8.x...
Of course, this same saturation problem will happen soon enough with tablets. I mean, we've already hit an innovation wall with tablets--what new innovative features have tablets come out with in the past ~2 years? Denser screens, faster CPUs, an improved camera, etc. BFD! My 2 year-old Android 4.0 tablet runs current versions of Chrome & Firefox, I can run current apps on it, etc. (Apple not allowing alternate browsers on iOS is either genius or evil--I can't decide)...
And let's not forget that browsers have improved--both becoming more optimized & more feature-laden. The Javascript, DOM, CSS, etc. optimizations, even without using the GPU as a coprocessor, are light years ahead of where they were 10 years ago. Just try to run Firefox 2 or 3 nowadays--it's painful!
So, you have browsers that are more optimized than they've ever been, fewer people using fully-installed "desktop" applications (excluding the browsers themselves, and excluding gamers & enthusiasts that need raw computing power), and a schizophrenic Windows 8.x experience, and you have a perfect storm...
Why buy a new PC when Firefox/Chrome/IE/Safari/Opera just put out a new version with a major optimization?
...I dislike Microsoft and Windows with a passion, but at least they don't arbitrarily decide that your PC is too old to run their latest operating system.
Microsoft just did this... Windows 8.1 64-bit has a requirement that your CPU (and BIOS) support the "CMPXCHG16b" instruction, which does not exist on all AMD64 processors, especially early AMD models, and some Intel ones where the manufacturer has (for some reason) disabled the instruction via BIOS--often without an explicit option to turn it on. So, those people are stuck on Windows 8.0 64-bit or need to "up/downgrade" to Windows 8.1 32-bit, which doesn't require the instruction.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2058683/new-windows-8-1-requirements-strand-some-users-on-windows-8.html
Of course, Microsoft is setting themselves up for a lawsuit since they went on record giving Windows 8.0 a 10-year support lifecycle, which has now been changed to a ~3 years, and don't offer a free license to go from 64-bit Windows to 32-bit... Ironically, Windows Server 2012 R2 (which is 64-bit only) does not require this instruction, so there's some real confusion as to what has been gained by this requirement change...
So unless Google, Facebook, and the like are no longer going to be US-based companies (which I doubt will happen, especially given that they are publicly traded), and decide to shut down all operations in the US, things like the Patriot Act & wiretapping laws would still compel these companies to hand over data, despite the data center sitting on Canadian soil--or anywhere else in the world... Remember that Microsoft refused to answer questions about whether law enforcement had backdoors into Skype calls, after M$ picked up Skype. Pre-takeover, when Skype was an Estonian company, US-required backdoors didn't exist & couldn't be compelled, so the NSA had to hack to get the data...
I'll be the first to feign ignorance with Windows networking, but do tell me how I "Obtain an IP address automatically" without automatically getting the gateway? Or am I now setting up a static IP in the virtualization software network settings, then hardcoding that static IP and a false gateway in the client VM network settings? (Yes, it's easy for me as a computer geek, not so easy for others...)
You just proved my point. Most people won't want to set up a "non-bridged LAN between VMs" (then try to get that bridged LAN talking to their real LAN), they want their VM to connect to their actual LAN. If I'm a small office running an old-school Workgroup, a HomeGroup, or even a small domain, how do I get my XP (or W2K or Win9x) VM to be able to connect & access those internal networked resources without going out to the Internet--without jumping through serious hoops. Adding a 2nd NIC & wiring then configuring--to every machine that could host a VM? Are you f-ing kidding me???
The virtualization software should make it easy to do this, yet none of the ones I mentioned do. So, with NAT, I get everything internal & external, but all I want is for the virtualization host to sandbox the networking in the VM... (I guess I could install a firewall in the VM that disallows Internet access, but we're talking about really old OSes, so really old & unsupported firewalls--and I'd feel safer if that could be done by the virtual network stack. Something like a simple slider in the VM settings with 3 options: "Allow Internet & LAN access", "Allow LAN access only (no Internet)", "Allow no network access"...)
While a novel concept, I don't care to see what's happening "from the bouncy ball's point of view". Plus, unless you're in the Stellarcartography room from "Star Trek: Generations", you're only going to see a sliver of what's around you (given the limited nature of human vision), which will look like an even more dizzying version of the movie "Gravity"...
I'm sorry, but tell me an easy way for a non-technical business (e.g. a dentist's office) to shut off Internet access in most consumer-grade VMs (VMWare Player, Hyper-V, Win7's VirtualPC, etc.) while keeping network access alive. Yes, there's things like fiddling with hosts files and the like, but no consumer-level VM offers a "keep networking but disallow Internet access" switch. (Sure, you can disable NAT, but then your VM can't network, so what's the point???)
Also, Microsoft's Win32 application compatibility via the Windows 6.x kernel is decent for 32-bit and weak for 64-bit (WoW). To add, there's so much 16-bit code floating out there in businesses, written during the Win9x era, especially from vendors that no longer exist. Even trying to get some Microsoft programs working is a chore--e.g. Visual FoxPro 9 SP2. (I don't give a shit how "old" it is, it's still used and doesn't work well with Win7 x64). Microsoft has the R&D resources to figure out how to run 16-bit code on 64-bit Windows (e.g. NTVDM running on WoW--essentially a VM within a VM), and we'd be fully in the 64-bit OS era...
While there was much excitement & media hype to the Win95 launch, Windows 3.1 (1992) is definitely a better candidate for this list--it had all the foundations including advanced font support, multimedia, mouse access, networking (Windows for Workgroups) and even 32-bit application support (Win32s)--all for personal consumers. By 1995, everyone who was buying Win95 already had Win3.1 (except DOS-only holdouts) and even the DOS-only folks were using their mice to interact with their PCs. (I would argue for Windows 3.0 over 3.1, but 1991 was his starting point...)
To add, I'd say that Microsoft Office would have been a better choice than the Apple Newton. Around 1992-1994 was when companies dropped, en masse, their DOS-based WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and Harvard Graphics installations for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. So why does that count for "personal" uses? Because now, MANY households, almost all students (including those on Macs), and almost all businesses use it. Home users used to pirate copies of Office, and Microsoft now gives it away for less than $150 for non-commercial use. Back in the '90s, Microsoft was trying to foist Microsoft Works on consumers, with Office having a $400+ price point. Word and Excel file formats are ubiquitous now... (And while I applaud & appreciate "office" FOSS, they only exist because of MS-Office's successes & intentionally maintain compatibility with MS-Office file formats).
Slashdot needs to add a trigger that deletes any post from "Anonymous Coward" with a negative rating. Without fail, they are either "me too!" posts, uninformed, or are absolutely puerile attempts at witty retorts.
The reason Firefox and Chrome will continue to support XP is because they want to support Windows Server 2003, which has an End-of-Life of 14-Jul-2015. Since Win2003 (and XP Pro x64) use the NT 5.2 kernel and they don't want to lose that marketshare, by default supporting it on the NT 5.1 kernel (e.g. XP 32-bit) would be a trivial affair. That's why they chose "at least 2015"...
It will keep my computer from 2002 on the Inter-webs via dial-up...
"Perhaps sooner"? Well, you had VHS tapes that were only playable in certain parts of the world. (Although many PAL players can play NTSC VHS tapes, but that was a more recent development). You also had NES and Sega Genesis games that would only play in the "authorized" part of the world the cartridge was made for...
So, does this family use an average "PC clone" (e.g. the crappy and incompatible AT&T 6300) from the era, which would be a turbo XT with CGA graphics, or do they splurge and run the best 386 Compaq Deskpro with EGA graphics that they could find? (Of course, both computers now cost the same on the secondary market, while the Deskpro would have cost 10x as much as the XT in 1986...)