i think i missed a memo

[songokussm]

the single floppy os is a competition that has been going on ever year since 1990. Including this and last and the previous years. Using this year as an example this 1.38mb os can serf the net, burn a dvd, has a few games, read ntfs/fat filesystems, and has a version of kde on it. that's a ton of crap! it was just an example and was meant to compare and not really anything else.

I've got my question answered. that answer was - VISTA is more like a stepping stone. it is introducing new programming technologies and maybe even new software technologies that we will have to wait until they actually get used. Ex the new file system.

thanks everyone! Even though its not the OS i was hoping for, as i still believe in ingenuity and true change (everyone likes new), but in the future vista SP1 could become it.

 

[JasonCoder]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
Sort of stayed out of this because of your initial statement in your OP about "ever hear of the single floppy OS." I mean, if that's your view you're all the way back to DOS 5.x. Have fun with that . Nobody who has installed a Windows operating system since 1989 gives a crap about having a micro-OS to play with.

As a software engineer I can tell you there are some pretty significant changes to Vista all around. Some of them are in the kernel, some in the way the UI is organized and driven (for example, the whole presentation layer is built on DirectX now instead of GDI+, and it is much more efficient), some in the .Net layer (where MS has deployed what are frankly some of the coolest new Windows development technologies in ten years).

I find Vista pretty compelling, and I have no doubt that the people who get it bundled in with their new machines will feel the same way. In terms of development, you can do things in .Net 3.0 that are just slick as hell, with less coding than ever before. I'll go out on a limb and say that within a year after public release this will be considered the best version of the Windows operating system ever.

I couldn't agree more. I'm a bit miffed about the WinFX parts that got cut and there's a bit of curve to learning WPF but overall it's a solid platform.

I think the main thing people have to keep in mind is that for msft to release an OS upgrade to the masses it is several orders of magnitude tougher than for Apple simply because of the breadth of hardware. I think msft took some pretty big steps in the UI, fairly brave imo.

 

[Markbnj]

the single floppy os is a competition that has been going on ever year since 1990. Including this and last and the previous years.

I understand, but that context is just not relevant. What is relevant is the direction enterprise and personal desktops are heading, and comparing that direction and the evolution of those systems to a single-floppy O/S just doesn't make any point that is meaningful. Yes, Vista has more features and takes more of the computing platform's resources (in most areas) than any previous version of Windows, but assuming we all reverted back to a minimal O/S tomorrow, just what would all those CPU cycles be doing on most people's desktops? They aren't all just waiting breathlessly for the chance to run SETI@Home. Microsoft's vision of a complete and tightly coupled platform has been steadily improving the end-user experience for the average owner and enterprise, and that's the only thing that counts.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

(Sticking to his Windows XP O/S still)