First and most obvious: a single set of consistent APIs whether it be for a mobile phone or a 32 core server. There are differences of course but the TCO of developing apps drop dramatically when you only have one kernel to worry about. Also: consistent user experience. If you can navigate an Xbox, you can navigate any PC, tablet, phone, whatever. There are differences of course but the feel is the same.
That should do it. If you don't see value in the above you are a fool IMO.
No, this site is about what people with an anti-Microsoft bias tend to think. To be honest I don't know why I'm complaining; I might as well ask Fox News to write about something good Obama's done.
As for the rest of your post; I read it, but yet couldn't find any actual information. Yes, I think that about best describes it.
I mean there are some people that actually like it and have written so but you wouldn't know it coming here. That is unless we're only interested in hearing bad news.....oh right....
There's plenty of people on Win8 already. It does work, it is different (faster for one), people don't like change, and Windows has changed of course. If you don't like the metro UI don't use it. Where's the news here?
I wonder, given many people here are convinced it's a dying product, why a story like this makes the front-page? Either IE is popular so news like this is important, or IE is a side-lined product that has no relevance...it seems that narrative changes depending on if the news is good or bad.
I find it curious we rarely hear about new major product releases from MS, but the second there's a vulnerability it's the top story. Are we interested in IT or just IT that isn't MSFT tech? There's a difference.
Meh, what am I saying. This place is unashamedly like the Fox News of IT - interested in a narrative only, not reality. Flame away.
Article is misleading. DNT is enabled if you setup Windows 8 with express settings, at which point it actively states DNT will be set 'on'. Until that point there is no configured values. This is Apache caving into advertiser pressure, pure & simple IMO.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is exactly why Slashdot posted this article. Every company with a serious product is obviously going to be developing future versions, this really isn't news, but there's nothing like trying to amplify the message and pretend it's journalism anyway.
This opinion will be about as popular as a kick in the teeth here I know, but I don't care either way, sometimes you have to go against the group-think....
-Windows Servers are coming into it's own; WinServer 2012 is getting some rave reviews for the new virtualization stuff especially, and it's not even out yet. SQL Server is going from strength-to-strength, not to mention the bizapps servers (SharePoint, Exchange, Lync) have never sold so many ever more than now. -Windows in general is finally becoming consumer & tablet friendly, some even say at the expense of the power-users, but it'll ultimately broaden it's appeal to grandmas & Joe Sixpack's alike. Metro, love it or hate it, is what grandma wants; simple, shiny, easy to use. This of course is not what everyone wants but there's always the classic UI too - which leads me to my next point.... -Product integration/commonality across a huge range of hardware; the same code & UI works on XBox, WinPhone, Windows tablet (RT), and Windows normal. Windows phone 8 will level out the platform field even further and expect this to be something that improves continually, meaning even more ROI on code over time. -Office365 is a great product; small business in particular love it as they don't have to run IT anymore (and shouldn't have to) and they get access to enterprise-scale services like Exchange for a mere pitance every month. -SkyDrive is also taking off; I never thought I'd see the day when Google released an inferior competing product that had less space than the MS offering. -Finally, finally MS aren't leaving to OEMs to actually give Apple a run for their money. Apple have great toys they spend a lot of time engineering them to be "just right" and have sold bucket-loads of devices because of it. Yes this might wind up the OEMs but this is the kick up the ass they needed, and the Surface should be it. -XBox is still selling loads even being years old now. It's also proof MS can enter consumer markets if the product's done right.
Not everything's perfect of course; there are plenty of risks as slashdotters like pointing out; Win8 is still an unknown to some extent, Apple are hammering MS on all fronts right now for the consumer space, but there's plenty of action & big descisions going on that I think might just work. On the cloud side Amazon are hammering MS too, but it's all to play for still.
But these are exciting times; competition is a good & needed thing, and so far at least on the consumer side, Apple is quickly becoming the dominant player in this space - let's hope they don't go unanswered. Microsoft are as far as I see willing to stake big bets on some big changes, and that's why I'm excited to see how this all plays out - I think it might just work, personally. Never before has IT been such a competitive & interesting place to be in.
OK, I've accidently said a positive thing about Microsoft. Forgive me slashdot; you may flame away.
You've pretty much demonstrated why I rarely bother even taking up this subject anymore. Simular thing with republicans when they start comparing democrats to nazis - it blows any chance of reasonable debate out of the water and there's just no point continuing.
So let me get this right; he should stop doing anything humanitarian, saving & improving some of the most impoverished lives on the planet with his own money because Microsoft have a less than perfect business ethics record?
I'm glad to see you have your priorities straight.
Interestingly Google have declined to allow anyone to independently verify this fact; this is just Google saying so, so hardly the most reliable of sources.
....ah sod it, I'm calling BS on this. Back in the days of IE6 & 7, maintaining cross-browser compatability was a nightmare. Now not really - IE renders as well as any other browser, and there's not a single one that doesn't have it's own quirks in some form or other.
10 years ago Windows was cesspool of malware on unmanaged PCs (home users) - yes there's always room to improve here, but Windows 7/8 is markedly more hardened to attack than XP RTM was, MSFT profits came from 100% Windows & Office, Windows Servers were a joke, and the XBox was laughed at like Windows Phone is by some today.
I'm happy with the direction MSFT is going; Windows Servers especially now are serious contenders in the enterprise (and bring in serious cash now), Office is moving in many directions at once (Office 365, iOS, Metro), the online services are growing too (Bing, albeit slowly, SkyDrive - making Google look out of date), and the XBox has come into its' own. Not everything's perfect of course; WP7 has the most room here, but the reviews of people using it are generally very positive and the Nokia effect has yet to be fully realised. Not to mention Windows 8 will unify 1 OS across many many device-types & form-factors (although again, to what extent this will be successful is as yet unclear - the direction is a good one IMO). There're some real assets in MSFT, despite what you might hear on slashdot.
Anyway, I know this is a unpopular opinion here and I fully expect to be patronised with snarky replies because of it, but honestly I think Ballmer has done some good things for MSFT. Not perfect, and he'll never have the cult-like status Jobs or even Gates did but people underestimate him IMO. That's just my 2cents.
I still remember GMail offering 1-2Gb when the competition had a maximum of 50mb (or thereabouts). GMail blew away the competition back in the day.
Fast-forward to today, G+ is several years too late to the market, and Google Drive offers less space than the 25Gb SkyDrive users have had for years and hardly anything worth even mentioning functionality wise. And don't get me started on the Ts&Cs about data privacy - there's a reason you'll never see a private cloud solution from Google - they want _all_ your data or they're not interested.
Google has a great search engine and have done some great web-apps before (gmail, google maps) but everything else just seems a bit "meh" at best at the moment.
Your post is full of fail. You want Microsoft to die, at least you're honest about it but it highlights everything that's wrong with the slashdot crowd - blind religious beliefs parroted over and over again for anything that's anti-Microsoft that don't have much place in the real world. The reality is people pay Microsoft large amounts of cash for their software; it might not be the best for every situation ever, but there's a lot of value there too. Oh no wait, sorry, I'm wrong - you're clearly much smarter than every paying customer....it actually all sucks and it must all go away. My bad.
Windows phone 7 is full of interesting and good ideas with poor execution and little polish.
Sounds like every Microsoft product ever.
Wow, a blatantly trolling comment and it gets +5 insightful. Slashdot really is the Fox News of news sites - keep the group-think alive people, what's the worst that can happen!
The site schema? Custom web-parts? Masterpages? Data? Everything?
You could create a site definition that contained as much or as little or as much as your site as you wanted; wrap it up in a Visual Studio solution/WSP and then people could deploy an instance of your site with all of the above pre-previsioned. At that point it's just a SharePoint extension so would be no different to open-sourcing an Office extension. Even better, site templates are largely just XML files so it's even less "complicated" than custom-code - it's all just parsed by the core product.
Oh sorry, is your definition of not being not evil "not asking to be paid when it's due"? Notice how many companies have refuted the patent claims? That's right, not many. Not even Google; you'd think mother-hen would protect the eggs if it were such an outrageous claim, but the silence is deafening. Hmmm.
Now we can talk about whether or not the patent system makes any sense in it's current form, but that's another discussion.
Slashdot Mirror
First and most obvious: a single set of consistent APIs whether it be for a mobile phone or a 32 core server. There are differences of course but the TCO of developing apps drop dramatically when you only have one kernel to worry about.
Also: consistent user experience. If you can navigate an Xbox, you can navigate any PC, tablet, phone, whatever. There are differences of course but the feel is the same.
That should do it. If you don't see value in the above you are a fool IMO.
Lot's of people kept using Program Manager anyway because they didn't like it. I wonder how many people still do now?
The comments are informative, even to MS supporters the best part about Windows* for productivity is that you can turn it off.
The best part for MS is they can turn it off.
...so improved performance, battery life, security etc aren't worth mentioning then?
No, this site is about what people with an anti-Microsoft bias tend to think. To be honest I don't know why I'm complaining; I might as well ask Fox News to write about something good Obama's done.
As for the rest of your post; I read it, but yet couldn't find any actual information. Yes, I think that about best describes it.
I mean there are some people that actually like it and have written so but you wouldn't know it coming here. That is unless we're only interested in hearing bad news.....oh right....
There's plenty of people on Win8 already. It does work, it is different (faster for one), people don't like change, and Windows has changed of course. If you don't like the metro UI don't use it. Where's the news here?
I wonder, given many people here are convinced it's a dying product, why a story like this makes the front-page? Either IE is popular so news like this is important, or IE is a side-lined product that has no relevance...it seems that narrative changes depending on if the news is good or bad.
I find it curious we rarely hear about new major product releases from MS, but the second there's a vulnerability it's the top story. Are we interested in IT or just IT that isn't MSFT tech? There's a difference.
Meh, what am I saying. This place is unashamedly like the Fox News of IT - interested in a narrative only, not reality. Flame away.
Article is misleading. DNT is enabled if you setup Windows 8 with express settings, at which point it actively states DNT will be set 'on'. Until that point there is no configured values. This is Apache caving into advertiser pressure, pure & simple IMO.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is exactly why Slashdot posted this article. Every company with a serious product is obviously going to be developing future versions, this really isn't news, but there's nothing like trying to amplify the message and pretend it's journalism anyway.
This opinion will be about as popular as a kick in the teeth here I know, but I don't care either way, sometimes you have to go against the group-think....
-Windows Servers are coming into it's own; WinServer 2012 is getting some rave reviews for the new virtualization stuff especially, and it's not even out yet. SQL Server is going from strength-to-strength, not to mention the bizapps servers (SharePoint, Exchange, Lync) have never sold so many ever more than now.
-Windows in general is finally becoming consumer & tablet friendly, some even say at the expense of the power-users, but it'll ultimately broaden it's appeal to grandmas & Joe Sixpack's alike. Metro, love it or hate it, is what grandma wants; simple, shiny, easy to use. This of course is not what everyone wants but there's always the classic UI too - which leads me to my next point....
-Product integration/commonality across a huge range of hardware; the same code & UI works on XBox, WinPhone, Windows tablet (RT), and Windows normal. Windows phone 8 will level out the platform field even further and expect this to be something that improves continually, meaning even more ROI on code over time.
-Office365 is a great product; small business in particular love it as they don't have to run IT anymore (and shouldn't have to) and they get access to enterprise-scale services like Exchange for a mere pitance every month.
-SkyDrive is also taking off; I never thought I'd see the day when Google released an inferior competing product that had less space than the MS offering.
-Finally, finally MS aren't leaving to OEMs to actually give Apple a run for their money. Apple have great toys they spend a lot of time engineering them to be "just right" and have sold bucket-loads of devices because of it. Yes this might wind up the OEMs but this is the kick up the ass they needed, and the Surface should be it.
-XBox is still selling loads even being years old now. It's also proof MS can enter consumer markets if the product's done right.
Not everything's perfect of course; there are plenty of risks as slashdotters like pointing out; Win8 is still an unknown to some extent, Apple are hammering MS on all fronts right now for the consumer space, but there's plenty of action & big descisions going on that I think might just work. On the cloud side Amazon are hammering MS too, but it's all to play for still.
But these are exciting times; competition is a good & needed thing, and so far at least on the consumer side, Apple is quickly becoming the dominant player in this space - let's hope they don't go unanswered. Microsoft are as far as I see willing to stake big bets on some big changes, and that's why I'm excited to see how this all plays out - I think it might just work, personally. Never before has IT been such a competitive & interesting place to be in.
OK, I've accidently said a positive thing about Microsoft. Forgive me slashdot; you may flame away.
No difference at all, right, the two are completely comparable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone#Saint_Valentine.27s_Day_Massacre
You've pretty much demonstrated why I rarely bother even taking up this subject anymore. Simular thing with republicans when they start comparing democrats to nazis - it blows any chance of reasonable debate out of the water and there's just no point continuing.
Citation needed.
So let me get this right; he should stop doing anything humanitarian, saving & improving some of the most impoverished lives on the planet with his own money because Microsoft have a less than perfect business ethics record?
I'm glad to see you have your priorities straight.
To prove the Bill & Melinda Foundation isn't perfectly run? To suggest it's a sinister organisation perhaps?
There's no love for billg here that's for sure but poo-pooing his attempts (however imperfect) at doing good in the world is just petty.
So I can upgrade from Windows to Ubuntu keeping all my existing apps & settings unmodified? Impressive.
Interestingly Google have declined to allow anyone to independently verify this fact; this is just Google saying so, so hardly the most reliable of sources.
The migration to Windows 7 hit a wall when something in bean-counter land did not want to play nice.
That's exactly what XP mode was built for; so you can run XP in Windows 7.
....ah sod it, I'm calling BS on this. Back in the days of IE6 & 7, maintaining cross-browser compatability was a nightmare. Now not really - IE renders as well as any other browser, and there's not a single one that doesn't have it's own quirks in some form or other.
10 years ago Windows was cesspool of malware on unmanaged PCs (home users) - yes there's always room to improve here, but Windows 7/8 is markedly more hardened to attack than XP RTM was, MSFT profits came from 100% Windows & Office, Windows Servers were a joke, and the XBox was laughed at like Windows Phone is by some today.
I'm happy with the direction MSFT is going; Windows Servers especially now are serious contenders in the enterprise (and bring in serious cash now), Office is moving in many directions at once (Office 365, iOS, Metro), the online services are growing too (Bing, albeit slowly, SkyDrive - making Google look out of date), and the XBox has come into its' own. Not everything's perfect of course; WP7 has the most room here, but the reviews of people using it are generally very positive and the Nokia effect has yet to be fully realised. Not to mention Windows 8 will unify 1 OS across many many device-types & form-factors (although again, to what extent this will be successful is as yet unclear - the direction is a good one IMO). There're some real assets in MSFT, despite what you might hear on slashdot.
Anyway, I know this is a unpopular opinion here and I fully expect to be patronised with snarky replies because of it, but honestly I think Ballmer has done some good things for MSFT. Not perfect, and he'll never have the cult-like status Jobs or even Gates did but people underestimate him IMO. That's just my 2cents.
I still remember GMail offering 1-2Gb when the competition had a maximum of 50mb (or thereabouts). GMail blew away the competition back in the day.
Fast-forward to today, G+ is several years too late to the market, and Google Drive offers less space than the 25Gb SkyDrive users have had for years and hardly anything worth even mentioning functionality wise. And don't get me started on the Ts&Cs about data privacy - there's a reason you'll never see a private cloud solution from Google - they want _all_ your data or they're not interested.
Google has a great search engine and have done some great web-apps before (gmail, google maps) but everything else just seems a bit "meh" at best at the moment.
Your post is full of fail. You want Microsoft to die, at least you're honest about it but it highlights everything that's wrong with the slashdot crowd - blind religious beliefs parroted over and over again for anything that's anti-Microsoft that don't have much place in the real world.
The reality is people pay Microsoft large amounts of cash for their software; it might not be the best for every situation ever, but there's a lot of value there too. Oh no wait, sorry, I'm wrong - you're clearly much smarter than every paying customer....it actually all sucks and it must all go away. My bad.
Windows phone 7 is full of interesting and good ideas with poor execution and little polish.
Sounds like every Microsoft product ever.
Wow, a blatantly trolling comment and it gets +5 insightful. Slashdot really is the Fox News of news sites - keep the group-think alive people, what's the worst that can happen!
The site schema? Custom web-parts? Masterpages? Data? Everything?
You could create a site definition that contained as much or as little or as much as your site as you wanted; wrap it up in a Visual Studio solution/WSP and then people could deploy an instance of your site with all of the above pre-previsioned. At that point it's just a SharePoint extension so would be no different to open-sourcing an Office extension. Even better, site templates are largely just XML files so it's even less "complicated" than custom-code - it's all just parsed by the core product.
Oh sorry, is your definition of not being not evil "not asking to be paid when it's due"? Notice how many companies have refuted the patent claims? That's right, not many. Not even Google; you'd think mother-hen would protect the eggs if it were such an outrageous claim, but the silence is deafening. Hmmm.
Now we can talk about whether or not the patent system makes any sense in it's current form, but that's another discussion.
'Microsoft's biggest miss was allowing the world to finally see the truth behind the big lie — they were not needed to get real work done.
Only on slashdot is Microsoft Office dying or not needed any more. Back in the real world; the place many here I'm sure must forget exists or something, Office 2010 is selling better than any other MS Office suite before - http://www.techspot.com/news/44268-microsoft-office-2010-turns-one-is-the-fastest-selling-version-ever.html.
MSFT aren't the evil machine they used to be, kids. Move on.....move on......