On Thu, 2005-03-10 at 05:49, Chad Smith wrote:[...]
Bigger, better, faster, newer.... That's how Bill Gates got rich.
Bigger and newer, yes, but I noticed in 1993 that Bill's applications were getting neither better nor faster. And while there is a certain amount of leeway in the interpretation of better, I think his software has gotten more difficult and problematic. And it's certainly a matter of record that his programs/systems have gotten slower, thus the Wintel upgrade treadmill.
As far has getting rich, it's also a matter of record that he piggybacked QDOS^H^H^HMS-DOS onto the IBM desktop monopoly and everything since then has been merely leveraging that monopoly to cut out competitors through anti-competitive and occasionally illegal means. The fake error messages to cut DR-DOS out of MS-Windows is one. Getting the OEMs to cut BeOS out of the boot loaders was another. Strong arming OEMs to keep linux down is yet another. A simple bullet list of the major actions would be several pages.
Ian's right, the world is changing. Things started in 1998.
As far a Bill forcing new hardware to sell new copies of MS-Windows, even the slowest of the slow have now figured out the Wintel treadmill and are now wishing for a way off, even if they're not looking or moving off. However, the deals that MS has with Intel (La Grande) and with Pheonix BIOS and HPs deals regarding DRM'd hard drives suggest to me that Shorthorn will only boot on a system with DRM'd BIOS, CPU, and hard drive -- which in turn allow only Shorthorn to boot. That's what the dumb architecture in the Xbox experiment seems to be about.
Those foolish enough to get caught in the next Wintel cycle will pay big time. A lot of MS' infamous TCO rhetoric is based on a five year lifecycle for both the hardware, the applications, and the OS. Yet at the same time MS is insisting on new, enterprise-wide purchases every three years or less.
Shorthorn will end up as a liability if it ever congeals, but right now it is merely vaporware.
-Lars
Lars Nooden ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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