[mdlug] Interesting information about Windows "7"

[Robert Adkins]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mdlug-bounces at mdlug.org 
> [mailto:mdlug-bounces at mdlug.org] On Behalf Of Ingles, Raymond
> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 1:31 PM
> To: MDLUG's Main discussion list
> Subject: Re: [mdlug] Interesting information about Windows "7"
> 
> > From: Robert Adkins
> 
> > 	You haven't been reading much about Windows "7". They intend on 
> > making it considerably more modular. As I understand it, the OS is 
> > being designed to be quite tweakable and modularized 
> specifically to 
> > make it faster to put together as well as easier to tweak 
> for specific purposes.
> 
>  That'll be a major cultural shift, then. I'm not sure they 
> can pull *that* off, either, in that kind of timeframe. If 
> they do manage to do so, well, it'll be welcome competition - 
> but I'm still minded of Henry Spencer's famous line, "hose 
> who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, 
> poorly." Sounds like they are taking pages from "The Art Of 
> Unix Programming". It took Unix quite a while to get 
> everything right, even by copying the playbook I'm not 
> convinced MS can turn around that fast.
> 

	From some of the stuff I have been reading, when they initially
started talking about the existence of a Windows "7" design team and product
plan, the whole modular thing has been an express element of the design from
day one of the next Windows OS. I believe at that time, they had already had
a good year, two or more in the bag on this next OS.

	The article I linked said they already released a preliminary
version (Milestone 1 or M1) and plan on releasing 3 more of these before
hitting the presses for the "Gold" release. The articles suggests that this
is well within their timeline. 

	If anything in this article comes really close to correct, I have
some concern for the potential growth in desktop marketshare for Linux this
next year. If any of it is true, this is a crucial year for Linux to make
significant inroads, since the window of opportunity could shrink
considerably.

	-Rob