Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 23rd Oct 2010 22:23 UTC
"Windows 7 might be a massive commercial success and an undeniably rock solid piece of software, but Microsoft is apparently unwilling to rest on those soft and cozy laurels. Asked about the riskiest product bet the Redmond crew is currently developing, its fearless leader Steve Ballmer took no time in answering 'the next release of Windows'." Also of note in this same video interview thing: Ballmer states that Silverlight is now pretty much strictly a client, non-cross platform thing, while explicitly stating that when it comes to doing something universal, "the world's gone HTML5".
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Member since:2005-07-06
What has frustrated me most about HTML5 is the length of time it is taking to get things moving along - we have to wait till 2020 before it is finalised? why not do a piecemeal standardisation rather than trying to do it all at once in a single monolithic standard? Given the work Microsoft is doing with hardware acceleration, Apple is working on bringing QuartzGL to Webkit, Google adding it to Chrome, and Firefox with OpenGL accelerated layers (Direct2D/DirectWrite on Windows) the claim of superiority that Flash once had will wane pretty quickly.
It's possible that what will happen is the major players (MS, Apple, Google) will just move ahead with implementing the most obvious features and perhaps a few they WISH would be standardized on... creating some schisms but at least providing most of the functionality even before the standard is finalized.
Member since:2005-07-06
It's possible that what will happen is the major players (MS, Apple, Google) will just move ahead with implementing the most obvious features and perhaps a few they WISH would be standardized on... creating some schisms but at least providing most of the functionality even before the standard is finalized.
Hopefully that is the case because fucked if I know why there are non-browser vendors in W3C who keep holding up stuff - Adobe blocking any sort of standardisation because it would undermine their near monopoly status. Personally they need to develop a body that only has browser vendors and excludes everyone else - the browser vendors agree on something then everyone else has to catch up to those standards.
Member since:2005-07-11
Within a single presentation Steve Jobs has done a fine job convincing at least one person (me) that Mac OS X doesn't have a future in his grand plans.
I am a big OS X fan and have been for ages (well, since the beta) so read this with a grain of salt...
I also thought the presentation for Lion was unimpressive to say the least, but I think there is going to be a lot more to Lion than a UI update. I think you'll find a lot of very interesting additions to it. Maybe I'm just hoping, but I think the name gives away a lot of what they are doing.
Lions are traditionally the "King" of the jungle, so to create a mediocre release and call it Lion is not something they would do. I base this on the fact that Snow Leopard didn't offer than much new, so they basically said it was still Leopard, but with a bit of snow thrown in for good measure :-)
I think for a start it will use the cores under the hood much more efficiently, ie. all the work they did for Snow Leopard will start to pay off.
I think Finder will finally be updated to a modern tab based thing with access to the cloud (I hate that term) and so on (maybe cut will be added to copy when moving files, but I won't hold my breath - LOL).
I think the OS will also support flash memory a lot better than it currently does.
And so on...
I think Jobs did the simple presentation just to let us know that something is coming and to give it a name and a launch date. Other than that, there wasn't that much to show. I do like the new launcher though, kind of iPad meets OS X, very nice. I thought the swipping between full screens was nice, but didn't seem to work that well on the mouse - LOL...
However, this is about Ballmer. I have not been a fan of Ballmer since forever, I find him to be as technically sound as most of the bosses I have ever worked for, which is not saying much ;-)
But... This is one of the first times I have been encouraged by what he is saying. Basically, Silverlight won't continue to be pushed as an alternative to HTML (just as Flash is also losing interest). The fact that Ballmer sees HTML in a similar way as Jobs and others do is very encouraging. Maybe there is hope for MS after all!
I'm sure as I am writing this, Ballmer is off somewhere being quoted saying something mind numbingly stupid again (as is his want) - LOL...
RE[2]: Comment by kaiwai
by Neolander on Sun 24th Oct 2010 07:03
in reply to "RE: Comment by kaiwai"
Member since:2010-03-08
RE[2]: Comment by kaiwai
by vodoomoth on Sun 24th Oct 2010 14:18
in reply to "RE: Comment by kaiwai"
Member since:2010-03-30
Maybe I'm just hoping, but I think the name gives away a lot of what they are doing.
Lions are traditionally the "King" of the jungle, so to create a mediocre release and call it Lion is not something they would do. I base this on the fact that Snow Leopard didn't offer than much new, so they basically said it was still Leopard, but with a bit of snow thrown in for good measure :-)
Lions are traditionally the "King" of the jungle, so to create a mediocre release and call it Lion is not something they would do. I base this on the fact that Snow Leopard didn't offer than much new, so they basically said it was still Leopard, but with a bit of snow thrown in for good measure :-)
Are you not giving too much importance to the name?
Member since:2006-10-10
I have to admit given the lackluster Lion presentation that showed off pointless gimicky crap, Windows is becoming a more viable alternative each day. Within a single presentation Steve Jobs has done a fine job convincing at least one person (me) that Mac OS X doesn't have a future in his grand plans.
lol....and here I thought it was just me. Lion apparently is just fanboy filler.
Member since:2005-08-12
"
I have to admit given the lackluster Lion presentation that showed off pointless gimicky crap, Windows is becoming a more viable alternative each day. Within a single presentation Steve Jobs has done a fine job convincing at least one person (me) that Mac OS X doesn't have a future in his grand plans.
I have to admit given the lackluster Lion presentation that showed off pointless gimicky crap, Windows is becoming a more viable alternative each day. Within a single presentation Steve Jobs has done a fine job convincing at least one person (me) that Mac OS X doesn't have a future in his grand plans.
lol....and here I thought it was just me. Lion apparently is just fanboy filler. "
Well, for people who just like to dislike Apple, I guess you would think that way, but as usual, MS will now be struggling to try and match the feature set, and overdo it.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2005-07-06
It's great to see Steve in a more casual setting joking around with people - god knows people have turned business into an institution where fun is the forbidden word.
As for the future, Windows 8 will be a big gamble from the point of view that it will include new features but many of those features will be reliant on the cloud. It will be a challenge therefore for Microsoft to sell Windows 8 if selling the idea of cloud computing doesn't catch on. With that being said I do think it is an over statement to claim that it is a really big gamble given the worse case scenario is they'll still have a very good OS even without linking into the cloud.
As for Silverlight, I think the dice was already rolled a while ago when they allowed access to native code a while back. My guess is that Silverlight is being setup as the replacement to Visual Basic and other languages used for quick 'n dirty applications - the attempt to create a 'Flash competitor' has given way to supporting HTML5. Silverlight has a place and for everything else there is HTML5.
What has frustrated me most about HTML5 is the length of time it is taking to get things moving along - we have to wait till 2020 before it is finalised? why not do a piecemeal standardisation rather than trying to do it all at once in a single monolithic standard? Given the work Microsoft is doing with hardware acceleration, Apple is working on bringing QuartzGL to Webkit, Google adding it to Chrome, and Firefox with OpenGL accelerated layers (Direct2D/DirectWrite on Windows) the claim of superiority that Flash once had will wane pretty quickly.
It is good to see a re-invigorated Microsoft because competition ultimately results in a better experience for all users. I have to admit given the lackluster Lion presentation that showed off pointless gimicky crap, Windows is becoming a more viable alternative each day. Within a single presentation Steve Jobs has done a fine job convincing at least one person (me) that Mac OS X doesn't have a future in his grand plans. In the case of Windows, at least Microsoft can chew chewing gun and walk at the same time - launch a top notch mobile operating system whilst taking care of its core customer base.