“After months of speculation, Microsoft has released XP Service Pack 2 in order to fix problems in its operating system. Amid reports of problems and some successes, I recommend prudent users continue to wait before deploying this service pack. It has security holes and its own set of problems. Meanwhile, the company is pulling features from its next operating system, code-named Longhorn, in an effort to get it on the street by 2006,” Charlie Paschal reports for The State.
The Register has reported, “Two mainstays of Windows Longhorn will be ‘decoupled’ from the 2006 release, with Microsoft dropping the WinFS storage and query system. Originally intended to be a full-blown replacement for the NTFS file system that put a database at the heart of Windows, WinFS will now be available as an add-on no sooner than 2007 for Longhorn, XP and Windows 2003. Or to be more precise – and here is another new piece of jargon for Redmond watchers – WinFS will be released as an ‘out-of-band add-on pack.’ Got that?”
“A cut-down version of Avalon, minus the compositor and the new device driver model will be backported to Windows XP too. Microsoft had already pledged to backport the next generation of middleware APIs, code named Indigo, to XP. All of which has left developers questioning the necessity of a ‘big bang.’ ‘If WinFX (including Avalon and Indigo) are going to be available for WinXP and Win2003.
Thanks smithy – OS 9 is indeed dead and buried for most Mac users.
To be honest, I welcome Microsoft’s Longhorn, as I want to see how great or otherwise it really will be (aside from the hype I mean).
I haven’t used XP to the same extent as NT, 95 or 2000, but I do know it isn’t as easy to use as it was hyped to be (or could have been). But it is clearly MS’s best effort thus far.
OS X by comparison is elegant and possibly bordering on a work of art as the interface is exceedingly well designed.
Stuff works because there is a lack of choice – setting up wireless is a relatively painless experience, but trying to get it setup on a PC is a nightmare (well, at least the one PC I’ve dealt with – it took us two late evenings and a support call to get my wife’s work laptop to stay online to our new D-624 router. Much too much time. My TiPB was online and working after 30 seconds.)
Microsoft & 3rd party software suffers from a couple of interesting “points”:
– too much choice, esp. control panels, leading to unnecessary complexity (largly unnecessary I say)
– too many clicks on menus in many apps cf iMovie with MovieMaker – again, making it harder to use than it needs to be
– continually changing (maybe evolution?) where apps are stored in the “Start” menu and in particular MS continually change the control panels. Sure, I don’t disagree with the enhancements, but if they made it fairly logical in the first place, they wouldn’t need to change things around so much.
I’m cynical enough to think MS do this to justify new MCSE courses, since that must be a nice little revenue stream for them as well.
So, will Longhorn be any easier to use or setup? Probably better than XP, but not a patch on OS X.
Bring it on Microsoft.
BM, while you are right about 9 and previous versions, I fail to see what that has to do with this discussion. The bottom line is, MS touted all these revolutionary improvements that would be included in Longhorn, and one by one they’ve been lopped off. That’s not opinion or conjecture, it’s fact. And it really has nothing to do with how good now-obsolete versions of the Mac OS were.
What’s all this trash about comparing Longwait (haha, that’s the funniest one, Longwait….) — to Mac OS X Tiger? Or even Panther?
You cannot compare pre-release software to existing software.
Longwait must be compared to Mac OS X 10.5 or beyond, but that’s impossible because apple releases no information about that.
Only XP can be compared to Panther and Tiger. (Yes, Tiger is virtually ready to go, all the features in Tiger are almost finished.)
So this whole discussion forum is flawed.
Compare XP to OS X.
Compare Longhorn to nothing.
Isn’t it funny how this is an article about the future of OS development, and we have been comparing OS 9 to XP.
Coincidence? Hardly.
OS 9 Sucks Balls, Big SHLonghorn Balls.
You people think that Microsoft products are crappy, but 600 million users worldwide seem to think they are great, and cheap compared to OS X, which only focuses on aesthetics rather than solving real world problems and scenarios. I don�t think the Dock is either evolutionary or revolutionary, it�s just desperate and that�s the entire theme of Mac OS X since March 2001. Not everyone has the money to buy an average computer from Apple, (PowerMac G5), or an over priced desk lamp (I-Mac). Users want sophisticated software on reasonable but very powerful machines and Longhorn solves that issue. It bridges the gap and blurs the line between who can afford the best and who can only settle for average, those are the things you need to realize. Current Windows users must understand that continuing to be a Windows user will reward them with great new experiences before and after Longhorn is released, I mentioned them throughout this comment. Longhorn will be exploiting the advances in hardware; areas such as GPU will be utilized more efficiently and become more useful to the user rather than just for games. Presenting information in a new visual style that�s intelligent and logical, giving users a breath of fresh air when it comes to visualizing, manipulating and controlling data.
The same applies to all Linux distributions. Linux is not built on fundamentals; it is built upon anger, desperation, immaturity, hype and misunderstandings. Linux is an operating that will continue to grow at a significantly slow pace mainly because it is not focused like Windows. Linux cannot be embraced by the Industry; it has no common ground, architecture or authority. Linux is about confusing users rather than guiding them. PC Manufacturers need to understand clearly that Linux is about suppressing the Industry rather than adding value. PC Manufacturers need to think about the strategy behind Linux, which is mainly to devalue the price of software and computers. I am 100% sure that no major PC Manufacturer wants to be selling computers for $200, it will bring the entire Industry down while limiting the possibilities and potential that can be realized with Windows on the PC. If the Industry were to migrate to Linux, it would take at least 20 years to recover and gain new ground. Linux has been around for the past 13 years but still can�t develop a stable driver model that is comparable to the one on Windows, it�s just ridiculous.
Linux can be compared to a cheap $200 computer that will only last 5 to 6 months compared to a $1,600 PC that will last you a good 5 to 6 years
SnagglePuss,
Quit typin’ your shit and read below:
OS X – $119.95
XP Pro – $289.95
eMac – $799 (without educational discount)
So your argument is completely torn apart.
Later, cheapskate.
No serious sw runs on Windows. And no, corporate and financial sw and FPS games are not serious software.
I see no Windows applications running in the scientific world, genome research, high energy physics, nuclear blast simulation, supercomputers. None of these fields use Windows applications: they all run on Unix, Linux and now OS X.
Windows is commodity computing. It is the Burger King and McDonald 1$ meal that allowed everyone believe they can go dine at at restaurant.
It is pee allowing Windows users believe they drink champagne just because it is yellowish, have bubbles and tastes funny. Just like champagne.
Snaggle: you deserve your flute of pee and 1$ meal.
Your rant is the highest level of idiocy I have ever read anywhere from Windows apologists.
“rather than solving real problems or scenario”. Give me a break, what a frigging idiot ignorant slug. Does not sucks big time to be as stupid as this troll?
Longhorn solves what now that it has been neutered? In IT there is lots of backpedaling and Microsoft will notice it in no more than a couple years. Only this month the lab have fought agains 168k virus attacks and 134 PCs got infected even with all the firewalls and network manicure involved. It is striking a cord. Longhorn with no balls carry no interest in IT. Microsoft is getting so low notes even SP2 is blocked here because ineffective and causing chaos.
Where do you live? Still in a Windows-only low rate college dorm? PC manufacturers are starting to put Linux already instead of Windows: haven’t you noticed?
You really have no clue.
Microsoft is the biggest liability in all PC industry. If it was not for Linux and OpenSource developers and for independent companies like Apple we will still be punching cards, have a GUI based on F keys and carry around floppies.
Oh wait: I bet you DO still carry around floppies.
Some people really deserve Windows.
“Linux cannot be embraced by the Industry; it has no common ground, architecture or authority”
HILARIOUS! ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!
Smithy: nope, that was one of the highest peak of IDIOCY from the troll. The idiot must not even know what GNU is and Free Software Foundation is.
Idiots like this one must believe OpenSource and FSF is like “free beer”.
Pathetic.
” Linux is an operating that will continue to grow at a significantly slow pace mainly because it is not focused like Windows”
ROFLMAO
By the time Windows moved from W2k to WXP Linux got what? 6 new versions?
Since XP froze RH moved up at least 3 version and now there is Scientific Linux, Fedora and Enterprise Linux.
slow, SLOW? it flies circles around the XP dyno it is ridiculous.
LOL
The jury conveyed and states that SnagglePussy is to be elected to troll of the month.
Congratulation Pussy, you are Troll of the Month for September.
You may cut & paste your nomination and frame it – if on the crappy PeeCee you have you know how to do it without crashing that is.
Have to take a leak: SnagglePussy, get a glass ready I’ll fill it up for you.
Seahawk and Smithy: Very nice.
Snaggletooth: Put down the crack pipe and walk away from the Billucination. Please.
JV – I have used Longhorn! Now that they have taken so much out it is called XP.
Re:SnagglePuss
“You people think that Microsoft products are crappy, but 600 million users worldwide seem to think they are great…”
6000 billion flies can’t be wrong, eat shit… Sorry, doesn’t work that way.
Obvously, you have never used MacOSX more than blipping around with it at some exhibiton for more than 5 minutes, if ever. Find another forum for your thoughts, somewhere where someone cares and pays attention.
Shorthorn will solve nothing for you or any of your 600 million friends [sic], since it is not a re-write of a OS with more holes than a sieve, but instead a patchwork again… sigh!
Why, oh, why did not M$ go with something proven when squeezing out NT, instead of re-inveting the wheel (and every security hole in exstence (and then some)). That’s your suffering, not mine – I go with BSD (OS X), where enough time has been spent to plug the holes. Have fun…
BTW:
“Linux can be compared to a cheap $200 computer that will only last 5 to 6 months compared to a $1,600 PC that will last you a good 5 to 6 years”
Same hardware, same life time. However, LLINUX will be free during this time, while M$ will cost you enough to forsake tat second car. And to a greater pain. Oh, car? Sorry, you’ll know about cars in a couple of years…
However, you snaged me into writing this, congratulatons!
I think it’s amazing Microsoft is struggling to get it’s new search technology off the ground and Apple just makes it seem like butter.
It’s also amazing people still stick with Microsoft. Too scared to switch. People that are too scared fall behind and the people that take the leap reap the benfits.
Snagglepuss “Linux is an operating that will continue to grow at a significantly slow pace mainly because it is not focused like Windows.”
OH MY GOD, are you kidding me? Windows focused? The whole story is about Longhorn cutting features. Did you actually read it? It took Windows 10 YEARS to get a version out that didn’t crash several times a day. Microsoft is STILL working on security and compatibility issues AFTER Service Pack 2. You call that FOCUSED?
Thanks for making my day. It’s people like you that make me feel smarter than most people.
“OS X – $119.95
XP Pro – $289.95″
Use Froogle (http://www.froogle.com)
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
$109.95
I’ll assume you knew that XP has dropped in price since it came out, and you momentarily forgot.
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“Only this month the lab have fought agains 168k virus attacks and 134 PCs got infected even with all the firewalls and network manicure involved. It is striking a cord. Longhorn with no balls carry no interest in IT. Microsoft is getting so low notes even SP2 is blocked here because ineffective and causing chaos.”
Is that “cord” striking sound something like “You need to get a new IT staff?”
If you cann’t handle a simple XP upgrade , I’d hate to see a KDE migration.
My point is that many of you guys are very one-eyed supporters of Apple. That’s cool, but you have to know that like many things, there are two sides.
Apple wasn’t and isn’t perfect, but they’re products are a lot closer to perfection than MS stuff. Great!
But I would give MS some credit for their work, rather than just trashing everything they do. Longhorn promises to be a pretty good OS I think, maybe not as good as Mac OS X, but hey, this isn’t the Olympics, it’s business, and I think the company goals are very different, which is why things are the way they are.
I admire Bill Gates for being the richest c*nt in the world, but despise how he got there (destroying competition). And I admire Microsoft for having so many millionaire employees, yes despise the average software so many of them produce.
I admire Apple for having the best desktop OS out there, but despise their apparent arrogance, and especially their “we listened to our customers…” spin (if they did, we’d have a cheapish headless iMac for example, and most likely better graphics cards options in iMacs.)
At the end of the day, they’re both just companies – one happens to do the best they can to make their products the best they can and make a fair amount of money on the side. The other just tries to make as much money as it can from it’s products – it creates products as good as they need to be to achieve that goal.
Until these opinions change, I think Apple’s gear will always be great, and MS’s stuff will always sound better than it actually is.
Sorry I got that info from XP Vs OS X, must be pretty old.
It’s still $109.95 too much! And shows how much M$ cream off the lemmings who are first to try their new flavour of DOS
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“It’s still $109.95 too much! “
I’d say its priced about right, when you consider its competitors are around that amount.
“And shows how much M$ cream off the lemmings who are first to try their new flavour of DOS
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />”
WinXP has a DOS emulator, and does not run off of it.
What it really shows is that MS reacts to market pressure, and lowers its price in response. When XP first came out, there was not the level of competition there is today.
I’d say Apple not offering Quicktime Pro for free with a new mac is an example of price gouging by Apple, especially, when you consider VideoLAN (multi-platform), Xine (*nix), Windows Media Player, and others all play full screen without any charges. It works both ways.
Quicktime will play full screen. Either write an Applescript, or search the web.
I wouldn’t call it price gouging though. When you pay the thirty bucks you do get more than just full screen. What I am not sure, because I wrote an Applescript.
Ever watch “Seabiscuit”? Early scene in the movie:
While 2 jockeys joust each other, another 3rd horse takes the lead and wins the race.
IBM may just happen to be that 3rd horse. They made a mistake in the 80s when they trusted Bill Gates instead of writing their own OS for the masses. MS owes its success to that, added to the millions who bought PCs because that’s what they used at work.
But it looks like, with Linux, IBM may just catch up and surpass everyone while we quibble, and end up again being the Big Brother they were in 1984.
Check this out:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2004/tc20040510_2149_tc024.htm
With their own operating system, even a simple idiot-proof, dumbed down version that most office workers need, IBM may just surpass everyone while we quibble, including Apple.