Dapper Drake cannot compete with Vista

[linbetwin]

... for the simple reason that there might not be any Vista to compete with after all! At least not any time soon.

It appears (I repeat: it APPEARS!) that 60% of the Vista code has to be rewritten (again!)
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Computing/Platforms?Article=/Computing/Platforms/R7G5G6U4

And if you aren't laughing yet, read the following from Forbes. I never thought a Forbes article about Microsoft can be so funny:
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/03/22/vista-microsoft-ballmer_cz_dl_0322microsoft.html

[Master Shake]

Meanwhile, 500 tech buyers sat there in the dark, their eyes glazing over from the sheer mind-numbing pointlessness of most of this stuff. The audience laughed out loud when the Microsoft guy showed off a kludgey system that lets you fetch Outlook e-mail messages using voice commands from a cell phone.

:lol: :lol:

[briancurtin]

Instead, we got a demo that was about as compelling as a root canal followed by a 15-minute press conference with Ballmer, the Microsoft chief executive who seems incapable of speaking at any level softer than a bellow.
this article rules

[Havoc]

Well, even if I only believe half the things I've heard these last days about Microsoft and Vista, it's all good for GNU/Linux, and for competition in general.

We just have to take advantage of this delay AND STOP REMOVING FEATURES FROM GNOME for chrissakes.

:cool:

[John.Michael.Kane]

"Given Microsoft's delays I can't believe open-source stuff still hasn't caught on for desktop computers. It's amazing, but people will wait months and months for products that are so complicated that no ordinary person can figure out how to use them." http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/03/22/vista-microsoft-ballmer_cz_dl_0322microsoft.html


More like Years, and Years!!!

[sal]

i like the Tommy Hilfiger statement, it's meaningles.

[fuscia]

i like the Tommy Hilfiger statement, it's meaningles.

fashion is meaningless. what did you expect?

[JeffS]

As crazy as it sounds, I think Microsoft will eventually ditch it's own kernel development, and either use BSD, license Solaris from Sun, or even License from Red Hat.

The reason I say this is because NT/2000/XP/Server2003/Vista is a huge, huge, huge, huge, extremely complex code base, and it is very evident that MS, in spite of having over 20,000 highly skilled developers on their payroll, just can't get out with a a decent feature set, without constant delays, and constant problems, and constanly dropping previously billed features.

In short, the Windows code base seems to have grown to being an unmanagable beast. Otherwise, Vista would have come out in 2004, with a full feature set.

Compare the problems MS is having getting Vista out the door to frequent releases of the Linux kernel and Linux distros (every 6 months for Ubuntu). The Linux kernel itself is a relatively small code base, then there are all of the modules. Plus everything in Unix/Linux design is meant to small and simple and modular, which ultimately makes the system more managable.

Thus, I can really see MS eventually just say "screw it", it's much more cost effective to base our stuff on a *nix kernel, then add Win32, WinFS, Avalon, .Net, etc etc on top of it.

And ultimately, such a move would make Windows a much much much better product - more stable and secure, more features, more frequent releases, less developer hours to put out.

But until MS decides to make such a move, Linux (Ubuntu, Kanotix, pure Debian) is my OS of choice most of the time.:cool:

[mips]

If I was a corporate I would go the BSD way. The license caters nicely for it. GPL will not work in a capitalist/profit based company as you would have to plough the source back into the community which means you are giving the OS away fro free.

[aysiu]

Hey, Apple did it. Why not?

[KiwiNZ]

I think these rumors are similar to those about the Earth being flat ,Elvis is alive and living in the Chatham Islands and the tooth fairy.

But it at least it keeps www errrr ummm Journalists (for want of a better title) happy and writting their fiction ooops I mean extensively researched and validated stories.:rolleyes:

As for MS using Open Source Kernels , well I did see a flock of pigs fly past my window this morning:p

[mips]

I think these rumors are similar to those about the Earth being flat ,Elvis is alive and living in the Chatham Islands ...

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but Elvis is alive and he works in my local pub, no jokes...

But then again he is not the same Elvis as the one from Memphis ;)

[KiwiNZ]

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but Elvis is alive and he works in my local pub, no jokes...

But then again he is not the same Elvis as the one from Memphis ;)

Noooo thats my reality shot to heck :)

[mstlyevil]

I think these rumors are similar to those about the Earth being flat ,Elvis is alive and living in the Chatham Islands and the tooth fairy.

But it at least it keeps www errrr ummm Journalists (for want of a better title) happy and writting their fiction ooops I mean extensively researched and validated stories.:rolleyes:

As for MS using Open Source Kernels , well I did see a flock of pigs fly past my window this morning:p

My exact thoughts.

[Kernel Sanders]

I loved that article! :mrgreen:

One thing is for certain though..... Microsoft is in big big trouble!

[BoyOfDestiny]

If I was a corporate I would go the BSD way. The license caters nicely for it. GPL will not work in a capitalist/profit based company as you would have to plough the source back into the community which means you are giving the OS away fro free.

Actually, the GPL can be perfect for that purpose. It depends on the business model. If you sell hardware or services, the GPL can be your best friend. If you sell only software, yeah then good luck, you need to hoard code and make it an "industry secret". :P

As for the 60% thing, MS claims it's BS.

EDIT: Actually the more I think about it, you could do a bounty (as in pay $$ and have xx feature implemented) based company... Don't know how practical it could be, but in theory you could run it from a basement... Haha...

[Qrk]

I loved that article! :mrgreen:

One thing is for certain though..... Microsoft is in big big trouble!

Not really. Whats going to happen? Down to an 80% market share? (in our wildest dreams, perhaps)

Microsoft has a loong way to fall before they get into "trouble."

I don't mind that though. If Microsoft's market share declines by 5% Linux's will nearly double. (on the desktop, assuming Macs stay expensive)

[tikal26]

ohh I think that it is strating to affect hem. Some people take the article in forbes alittle bit more serius. Also, in school there a re many people changin to apple because they are tire of the whole windows thing and some of them have even ventured to try ubuntu's live CD and even SUSE so there is people out there that are definetly getting tired of the wait and the security issues. I mean really everymonth there seesm to be a EI security explit. I have showe some of my classmates some stuff on linux and they were impress so they are willing to try it even if its just to play around.

[BoyOfDestiny]

ohh I think that it is strating to affect hem. Some people take the article in forbes alittle bit more serius. Also, in school there a re many people changin to apple because they are tire of the whole windows thing and some of them have even ventured to try ubuntu's live CD and even SUSE so there is people out there that are definetly getting tired of the wait and the security issues. I mean really everymonth there seesm to be a EI security explit. I have showe some of my classmates some stuff on linux and they were impress so they are willing to try it even if its just to play around.

Every month an exploit... Try 2 exploits :)

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/3/23/3314

Nothing is bullet proof though. Some people go ha ha firefox has a flaw too etc... At least we don't have to wait wide open :P
Seriously though, I don't mind exploits being found, especially in open source software. It gets fixed and released much more quickly (no special day per month like with MS) and leaves the software "stronger". In the sense of a strong immune system.