I'm not 100% sure this is actually word-for-word, but alas. "In a presentation at Ubuntu Developer Summit currently going on in Denmark, Drew Bliss from Valve said that Linux is more viable than Windows 8 for gaming. Windows 8 ships with its own app store and it is moving away from an open platform model." I feel like a broken record by now but here we go again: keep an eye on Valve, even if you're not into games. This is the company pushing NVIDIA and AMD to improve their Linux support, with enough clout and name to actually get stuff done. Valve doesn't mess around.
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Member since:2008-08-15
I can understand your viewpoint then, but I suppose the point on which we disagree is whether or not they can get away with it. I, for one, don't think they can even if they tried. As I've mentioned, they tried with the .NET Framework to move the world to a managed code world. It failed. Microsoft fails at many things.
They failed to move the world to Windows as quickly as they wanted. The industry only moved to Windows when the industry itself said it was ready. If it was up to Microsoft, we would've moved to Windows at 1.0. It took until Windows 98SE to get where most the PC industry moved to a pure Windows model and moved away from DOS.
If it was up to Microsoft, Vista would have been a success and all applications would have been programmed in WPF. That did not happen, devs stuck with Win32 and many people stayed with Windows XP -- against Microsoft wishes. It took Windows 7 to bring that larger move over, a move in which Microsoft themselves updated their built-in Win32 apps (like Paint and WordPad).
In the many failed initiatives Microsoft had, the industry kept Microsoft honest by just continuing to use technology they felt was best. If that technology wasn't Mircosoft's latest and greatest, then so be it. That has always been the pattern. Microsoft responds by trying again, until it finds something that WE accept.
The same is going to be true today, whether it be Metro or some sort abandonment of the desktop. If we don't like the taste of the next version of Windows, it won't get eaten and it won't get sold (look at the downgrades that happened with Vista for XP). Right now, the desktop is alive and ready in Windows 8. If Windows 9 closes the desktop, the industry will just say with Windows 8. If Windows 9 doesn't do it, but MS does it in Windows 10. Then the industry will stay with Windows 9. See Microsoft's predicament?
I'm not underestimating the allure of money and total control, but I do think you're underestimating the market's ability and real power to vote with their wallet. And THAT is what will affect Microsoft the most, just as it always has. Like I said, Microsoft won't abandon the desktop and it's distribution model until WE, as a collective industry, say so.
Edited 2012-10-31 18:18 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!
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Member since:
2006-01-25
Im not being paranoid. I don't believe Microsoft will end up doing that. But it is a completely realistic scenario. I believe it is naive to pretend that something like this couldn't happen, it could - quite easily actually.
You didn't read what I posted. If they wanted to they could make a whitelist of popular apps and allow them to run unsigned... Sure, they can't include everything obviously, but they could more than likely include enough to make the vast majority of users not notice. They could even forego the whitelist and just go the "bug the user with a warning" route indefinitely - i.e. never really "break" the apps, just make it a pain to run them if they are not signed...
The result is the same either way - it herds developers to their distribution model, and they make more $$$. Don't underestimate the power of $$$.
1. That Microsoft is willing to throw away all of their backwards compatibility that they worked so hard to preserve the past few decades.
2. That Microsoft even WANTS to get rid of the desktop.
3. That Microsoft even CAN get rid of the desktop.
Your absolutely right. The thing is nobody but Microsoft knows the answer to 1 and 2. But 3 is definitely true, pretending its not isn't terribly useful.
I think you are underestimating the allure of having total control of distribution on the platform... Again, I don't think Microsoft will go this route - but at the same time I don't for a second believe they wouldn't do to if they felt they could get away with it.
I just want to keep them honest. I think demanding a roadmap for win32 development going forward is not too much to ask.
Edited 2012-10-31 17:02 UTC