Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 25th Jul 2008 22:55 UTC, submitted by Chavez
While Microsoft has only just begun fighting the perception problems surrounding Windows Vista, the company is already thinking and planning way beyond its latest operating system. We all know that Windows 7 will build on top of the foundations laid by Vista, and that it will include a fancy multitouch framework (and a mysterious new taskbar). According to Microsoft, Windows 7 is still on track for January 2010, and in a memo to his employees, CEO Steve Ballmer outlined some interesting new approaches the company might try with Windows 7 - including being just a little more like Apple.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
The eighties was full of companies creating totally incompatible proprietary software, and hardware as well. It will probably take the next ten years, but open source software creates an environment where OEMs can drive down the cost of software and create a market where players are small enough to have to worry about interoperability - and where they have the source code that gives them it for free.
In what way? The eee is a somewhat different device to a normal computer or laptop you would buy from an OEM, and has a pretty simply mobile phone type tabbed interface with all the software and links to web sites and services people generally need when they're out and about. The Open Office that is on there will still be able to open and save documents others can read. I'm afraid only geeks that want to install an operating system so they can sit for a couple of hours installing the software and links they need will go through with that. It may be limited for you, but not for what it was intended.
In the future, and over the next few years, we will see more such devices that will diverge from a normal PC bought from an OEM. At the moment, Microsoft seems to have been able to head Asus and the eee off by doing some discounting and subsidising, but I'm afraid they're not going to be able to do that with every manufacturer who brings a device out over the next ten years who is not a traditional PC OEM. The economies of scale of using open source software are just too great and undeniable.