If you thought that Service Pack 2 for Windows XP was the last of the big updates, think again. Speaking yesterday at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that a number of important security initiatives were underway for Windows, some of which would be part of a pre-Longhorn “Release 2” for Windows XP.
Being Beta tester for XP and SP2, Update 6.1, I did not have any information or e-mail from MS about a future beta for XP Release 2….
So if they want to realse something, should they beta test it before??? If so, when? Is it going to be a rush to manufacturing like Millenium?
It makes me sick. They are just after some poor idiot’s money with no real value in Release 2 and to show that they are doing something besides Longhorn. Those who paid for that controversial new licence (v6?) got ripped off.
Two threads already and still nobody noticed that R2 is actually “Windows Server 2003 R2”, Ballmer wasn’t talking about XP.
http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/44263/44263.html
>It makes me sick
Why? This is their first consumer OS version after 2002. Red Hat and OSX had a gazillion versions since then. I suggest you be a bit more objective on your judgement. Just because it is called still “XP”, doesn’t mean it will be the same thing.
and microsoft once again proves they have a monopoly….
on silly names
sure, others have tried to enter the field on occasion, but they never got anywhere. mainly due to vendor lock in (even though some shills claim they merely try to give the people what they want in the name of “innovation”)
mark my words… the computer industry will be much better off when anyone can just compile their own silly names!
next thing you know they will be applying for a patent on ” a method to generate silly names for a computer software product”
then they will try to incorporate DSNRM into every computer sold “Digital Silly Names Rights Management”
and then their conquest of the silly names world will be complete!
Kent Beck is publishing the second edition of his XP (eXtreme Programming) book, so Microsoft has to publish a second edition of his operating system.
That seems to be the Microsoft mantra. For 25 years we’ve heard this line from Microsoft…
It’s never “check out our (currentp product), we think it’s great!”
Herm go longhorn …. WinFS is the only reason I was going to buy longhorn…. OH well they miss out on $600AU
Windows XP (both Home and Professional) are two years old; the only operating systems from MS with short refresh times are the Tablet and Media Center Editions (both of which are refreshed annually). The problem MS faces is, that unlike Linux, they cannot afford to ship a completely new product for the vast majority of desktops annually anymore.
Also, there is Media Center Edition 2005. While MCE 2004 was rightly scoffed at for being a niche OS, MCE 2005 isn’t. Unlike MCE 2004, the new MCE is a *true superset* of corporate-strength XP Professional Edition. It runs all of XP Professional’s application base, runs on most of the same hardware, but has media tricks present in no other operating system (from Microsoft or anybody else). The buzz I had been hearing at MCE’s launch was that *this* is the new base for what to expect from Microsoft. And from looking at the WinHEC build of Longhorn, and after running MCE 2005, while Longhorn was delayed, I think they have a point.
Don’t be surprised if there is a great deal of MCE hidden in R2.
Also, Microsoft is used to a heavy cash flow coming in from operating system upgrades and application upgrades. The problem there of course is, they are by and large *overkill* for what users do typically. And as far as why MS has never simply waited out and simply pushed their *current* OS, look at how hard we as consumers have been pushing at MS for Longhorn (until MS said that it would be delayed). We wanted what we wanted, and we want it *yesterday*. Part of the hype surrounding *Linux* is that a new kernel major version pops out on an annual basis as regularly as clockwork (we as consumers seem to love *new*, even if it is mostly re-engineered *old*).
Me? I’m going to be hawking MCE 2005 over the months until R2 appears, because it’s basically XP Professional Plus, for less than XP Professional.
regarding XP MCE:
“but has media tricks present in no other operating system (from Microsoft or anybody else).”
ooh, do please elaborate.
“…Why? This is their first consumer OS version after 2002. Red Hat and OSX had a gazillion versions since then. I suggest you be a bit more objective on your judgement….”
Difference being that Microsoft forces people to upgrade by breaking compatibility — just enough… Office is nutorious for this — every new version breaks compatibility with previous versions.
Redhat/Suse/Mandrake/etc… or for that case most open source tools (ie: OpenOffice.org) say upgrade at your own pace.
well, except that old versions stop being supported (i.e., having vital security bugs fixed) in a rather short timeframe.
When Longhorn started being delayed, a few years ago, I guessed that they’d do an intermediary release. But oh, no, try getting the Windows publicity folks, aka PC magazines and websites, to see that was impossible.
Damien
why cant they just be nice and release a new os every like 10 years for like 150 bucks then every year after that you can get an upgrade for 25 bucks and the full version for 75 bucks so ya know then even if people didnt update the first year by the second release it would only be half the original price and they could add one piller at a time if it was longhorn for example
Difference being that Microsoft forces people to upgrade by breaking compatibility — just enough… Office is nutorious for this — every new version breaks compatibility with previous versions.
Every version of Office has been able to read and write files compatible w/ previous versions. What did you think the “Compatibility” tab in the options screen is for? Office can still read and write Word for DOS files. It’ll still do WordPerfect 5.x files if you really want to get ancient and arcane with it.
I get resumes and other documents in Word format all the time and never have to worry about whether they are compatible with the version of Word I have. It is never an issue. The files just work. Every time.
You can blindly repeat the tired, and entirely incorrect, FUD that Microsoft changes file formats each version, but it’s just not true. The file formats for Office have actually been stable for quite some time.
Microsoft employs entire teams of people to ensure that Windows is extremely backwards compatible. You can still run DOS and Win3.1 programs on XP. Try to get the very first version of MacWrite or MacPaint running on OS X.
It’s usually prudent to know some facts about the topic you are trying to debate.
Microsoft should release more OSs. Like one or two a year. So when it comes time to fix your slow bloated NT based OS you have a fresh new CD with new drivers to upgrade with. They should ship them to everyone’s door like AOL CDs. Maybe partner with AOL, since they already do anyhow, and have AOL ship fresh MS OSs to everyone’s door. Because people will just steal them anyway. This way if you subscribe for $25 a month you get free AOL/MSN/TW net access, OS subscription and cellphone service with 10 free mp3 downloads a month and 100MB of network backup, email and picture storage.
Plus if you act now and promise to watch 5 full length advertisements with each download you could get 10 free AOLTW movies and access to the best news and sports highlights and shopping. Maybe they could even stream the home shopping network so you could shop from home on your computer! Wouldn’t that be awesome!
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Dear Santa,
I wish I could get a free MSNAOLTW computer, preloaded with all the goodies any consumer could ever ask for, for christmas.
Love,
hmmm
I have been useing MS Office from its conception in my everyday work. With every new version you loose compatibility with older versions, i know cause i use it everyday, files you had with older versions you can no longer use with the new version. And the files that you can view are changed in a way so that you have to rewrite them.
I believe this is a ploy by Microsoft to force you into buying new or upgrading every other year, to keep there muti-billion dollar a year business alive.
I get resumes and other documents in Word format all the time and never have to worry about whether they are compatible with the version of Word I have. It is never an issue. The files just work. Every time.
Try telling that to someone who wants to use an Access XP file with Office 2000. Or a word 2003 doc in office xp. I believe the original post was refferring to that sort of thing.
vondur: It’s quite simple, it just asks if you want to convert the database over, which it does well, and then, all of a sudden, you have your Access 10 or 11 database running on Access 2000, just don’t expect any new features that you may have utilized to work.
You simple can NOT have a 100% backwards compatable system if you want to see new features in the newer version (what a concept! New features in a newer version? That’s insane!)