"Dr. Yasha Karant" wrote:
> Thus, one is forced to use MS Windows applications. These
> applications can run under three environments: MS Windows native (in
> control of the platform), MS Windows in a sandbox (Plex86, VMWare,
> SoftPC), or MS Windows ABI emulation (the Wine/Wabi approach).
> Given that Mr. Gates keeps enough of the real ABI secret, and
> changes it often enough, only the first two are viable, [...]
I don't believe that... I believe that the Wine approach is viable
(and that Wine is getting close to solving the 90% use case). As
for MS keeping the ABI secret and changing it often enough... they
are losing their flexibility in that regard. Secrets are short
lived and although they'd love to keep it a moving target, the
simple fact is that they can't keep forcing people to upgrade.
The pace of change of PC hardware is slowing. Not yet so much
because Moore's law is hitting the limits of physics (that will
happen over the next decade, after which /really/ different
tech will start to pick it up again) but simply because the
typical PC is already so rediculously powerful that the software
industry is having a hard time coming up with new applications
to soak up all that power. MS has been making a valiant
attempt to fill the spare capacity with bloat, but let's be
honest... the only thing that's been driving more power on the
desktop has been games, and even those are now at a level where
the hardware is up to just about anything the game designers
can come up with.
If people don't upgrade their hardware they won't upgrade their
OS. If they don't upgrade their OS, MS can't change the ABI or
they'd be fragmenting their own market. That's why they're so
eager to move to subscription models and time-limited licenses,
but the public is not going for it. Neither Joe Gamer nor
Jim CIO are that stupid!
In short, the Windows ABIs as a target may still be moving, but
quite slowly now. And we've learned how to keep up.
Don't get me wrong... I think Plex86 is a great project and
VERY important. But not for running Windows applications on
my Linux box. It's important because virtualization has a
hundred uses.
:J.B/2001.10
--
J�rgen Botz | While differing widely in the various
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | little bits we know, in our infinite
| ignorance we are all equal. -Karl Popper
