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You may think Yes Minister is a comedy. I know it's a documentary - Peter Lilley
And so farewell then, Billy G
SO BILLY GATES stuffs his trousers full of paper clips today, secretes his Tippex-customised stapler about his person somehow, and wanders out of the Volish bunker for the last time as an employee. Well almost. He remains as chairman, which is perhaps a less onerous task than saving the world from poverty and AIDS.
We need not worry about his future too much. He'll have enough headaches trying to spend 40-odd billion dollars between now and the time he shuffles off this mortal coil. We wish him well.
The firm he leaves behind is another matter. Complacent, you might say, having lassoed the PC operating system market and branded it its own, the outfit probably thought that giving Windows a 3D polish and bunging it up with DRM would be enough to make it content king of the Interweb. Not so. The Vista backlash is steadily growing rather than abating and the wired landscape is changing. The cash cow is under threat. It may have already generated enough dosh for the Vole to buy itself into any new market that comes along, but when you're used to sitting back and watching the wonga flow into your coffers and your main preoccupation is figuring out how to spend it all, you're bound to get a bit sweaty if it begins to taper off.
The next version of Windows is critical. The firm will persist with its DRM tactic, which most consumers won't notice until our Charlie tells them about it, but other than making Windows prettier, is there anything Microsoft can plug into it that will make it compelling? We think not.
As we well know, Vista is battling against XP as much as anything. The web-box/MID/Interwibble device market is a great place for Linux to thrive and grow. Limited storage and memory means Vista on these cut-down PCs runs like a three-legged dog. Storage capacity is significant because after a couple of weeks of Microsoft updates there will barely be room left for anything else on your small hard disk or even smaller flash drive. Microsoft's ditching of support for XP will hardly hit hard here. No more updates? Yippdoo! No technical support? Yeah, like we can afford to call up a Volish call centre in the first place. More vulnerabilities? Like we're worried. We'll keep our data offline. Or indeed online but where someone else (Google?) can worry about how secure it is.
Virtualisation? Thin clients? Networked, low-power, low-spec boxes linked to a central server on which all data is kept secure? Bring it on. Do we need a cumbersome Windows OS on these wee boxes? No ta.
And then there's the Mac OS. What's the difference between a MacInteltosh and a PC? Well, one comes in pretty plastic and does as its told - at a price. The other is cobbled together from a variety of components either in someone's back yard or by Dell. You may or may not be able to get under the hood and customise the thing will-nilly. But then you have drivers to pin down, bleeding thumbs or fingers and the inevitability that it won't all fit back together as it should.
And the Wintel axis is waning. Intel loves Apple now. The chip maker may cite business reasons for not deploying Vista, but the PR ramifications of dissing the OS so publicly have dealt it yet another severe body blow. Expect more of this.
Make no bones about it Microsoft is under siege. It'll come out fighting. It always does. But what it really needs to do is get back to the drawing board and deliver some smart code. If it wants a pointer, it can look at what Intel is up to. The chip maker, having sold its main products based on the power and speed they claim to possess, was forced to bite a low-powered bullet and deliver the Atom chip to address a market that might otherwise pass it by.
Microsoft likewise now needs different flavours of OS to address the different flavours of "PC" popping up left right and centre. And what it sorely needs is a low-power, low-footprint tightly-coded OS . We're not talking Wi ndows Mobile or CE here, but a mainstream OS that bucks the upgrade trend that feeds an entire, utterly wasteful industry. We've even thought of a name for it: DOS. µ
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First off I want to flame the poster, quote, "What's the difference between a MacInteltosh and a PC? Well, one comes in pretty plastic" Come on now have you been in a cave, Half of all Macs are made from aluminum and no other computer company can boast that one. The ones that are plastic are very nice too if you've ever handled a Macbook you would know what I am talking about! OK on to the Gman. Ever since the US Federal government dropped it's charges against MS years ago MS has been in the pocket of the FEDS. Why do you think it took so long to develop Millennium II. It was because they were working closely with their FED buddies to make sure the backdoors and such were to their liking. I know I'm right on this one too.
After telling US, Williams No Good, contradicted by fact: Richest Man in Area, article drools on about nothing to do will retiring Mr. Gates(Off Topic). Mr. Gates was perfect combo of desire & lack of FEAR. Having RUN into sacred WINDOWS componet of Cobol,When peoples like Boleen would devaste those that did any work in Screen Coordinate System field, Bill was clever in buying Out Ones Enemies. Offering Legal Freeware & encouraging others to be HenchMen. Adding Machines did better job than Eniac, Colossus could translate, at least beginnings, Telcos where Sacred Cows, ALL Seemingly impossible Task to Conquer. Yet with Draft, Sacrifices became inbred in Humans & Screaming Editors don't carry Much Weight, At least legally, where Fight Begins(Too Valurable). Todays NEW World for Computing, Its PUBLICS' Domain NOW. I THANK ULTIE TOM FOR INVENTING IT. Sir William drashek HahahahehehohohoSheishs'Hesish kaboob....Really Paul, If You Could have Beaten System, Instead of Beating Up Person, Maybe it'd be worth reading.
How much do mac service packs(ie.. 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 ect) cost each? Oh and if you want to game on a computer, you will be very limited on mac/linux.
Can anyone answer this: Why doesn't Apple make OS X for the PC? Since they use the same hardware and all of their computers are made in CHINA as all the other PCs.? We all then can stop using this Micro$hit of Vista that is forced on US all. I know we seap the hard drive and install some other gother gratis OS such as Linux, PC-BSD, etc. but at least this O$ won't be forced in our u.ss all and future generations, and we would not have to give our money to M$ for gratis so that they continue ruling the World + Gov. as if we all are slav.s.kers. How can this Dictatorship continue? or are we computer users MaXXXoquist? Can the consumer or someone @ theinquirer ask Apple for it or an explanation of it? or is M$ still buying Apple$es so that OSXs are never sold outside of the Comp@ny? What the Hell.....
Huh... what? Are you suggesting that Microsoft should release Windows 9x products again?
How can an article about Bill Gates leaving his normal roles at Microsoft somehow turn into a bashing article about the company itself??? The INQ is turning into some kind of jealous hate fest of a website. If you can even call it a website anymore. This website is like a bunch of highschool girls crying over the cheerleaders who look good and have all the popularity. GOD DAMN you all!
DOS is such a common name. How about CP/M instead?
a bunch of hateful,,," whatever it was. Keep it up. I love you!
I don't want to be alone with Uncle Fester.
MS needs to find the balls to drop the albatross of legacy code. They were so proud of their "Minwin" kernal: It's minimalistic! It's stripped down! It's lean and mean! It's the same fricking code from 15 years ago! Seriously, make the guys working on "Singularity" the core OS team and start from scratch. Amaze us.
is a Youtube video of Bill Gates singing "Don't cry for me Argentina." No offense intended, Fernando. We would have all beeh better off without Paul Allen and Bill Gates. They didn't do anything that more competent software designers couldn't have done and done much better. What they did do, joined by Bill's other friend Steve, was recognize a great opportunity when it fell in their collective lap and then defended their prize like a determined pack of pit bulls. That's the Microsoft legacy, so far at least. I'm still hopeful that we will one day get a true operating system other than Unix or a derivative thereof to run on the fairly nice hardware which has been provided through it all by the likes Intel, AMD, et al.
This website is getting stupid. Alot of the articles seem to have the central theme of just microsoft bashing.
Commentos Two on subject here is simply link to fairly long reflection on Microsoft from Hon. Sir William Gates III. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#25408564 Enjoy. Thomas von Drashek M.D.
The man is a genius, he made his company into a superpower, and he is now off to fight a humanitarian war against death and disease. Standing ovations are in order. News Flash for Mac freaks: BILL GATES ATE YOUR LUNCH FOR THE PAST FEW DECADES. You are still scrambling for a tenth of the market share, and it is only a few Microsoft missteps that have given you that. News Flash for LINUX freaks: Your OS is going to be relegated to set top boxes and print servers for the rest of your natural life. Have fun Micro$oft bashing while you stand out in the cold. News Flash for The Inq: The only pleasure I am getting out of this site is the double entendres in the headlines. Apparently McGee was the only thing holding this rag together.
I did not grasp a single word out of all this. A masterpiece! Can anyone translate this for me? This sounds like 5 hours Gorbachev's speech. Citing it again just to save for centuries. Nothing personal "Bash,Bash,Bosh. After telling US, Williams No Good, contradicted by fact: Richest Man in Area, article drools on about nothing to do will retiring Mr. Gates(Off Topic). Mr. Gates was perfect combo of desire & lack of FEAR. Having RUN into sacred WINDOWS componet of Cobol,When peoples like Boleen would devaste those that did any work in Screen Coordinate System field, Bill was clever in buying Out Ones Enemies. Offering Legal Freeware & encouraging others to be HenchMen. Adding Machines did better job than Eniac, Colossus could translate, at least beginnings, Telcos where Sacred Cows, ALL Seemingly impossible Task to Conquer. Yet with Draft, Sacrifices became inbred in Humans & Screaming Editors don't carry Much Weight, At least legally, where Fight Begins(Too Valurable). Todays NEW World for Computing, Its PUBLICS' Domain NOW. I THANK ULTIE TOM FOR INVENTING IT. Sir William drashek HahahahehehohohoSheishs'Hesish kaboob....Really Paul, If You Could have Beaten System, Instead of Beating Up Person, Maybe it'd be worth reading."
With the possible exception of Windows 2000 and XP, every OS that organisation has developed has been an unreliable, quirky (and in the case of vister, overbloated) piece of crap. If you actually think back to the 90s, running 95, 98 or ME, anyone would have to admit that the stability of those systems was extremely poor. And yet we bought them. And we accepted that that's how it's meant to be! and we're doing the same with vister - it's just XP with fancy graphics, DRM fussiness and unreliability thrown in. In the same way that ME tried to be what XP was going to be but running on basically a DOS platform, Vista is like XP trying to be MacOS but still basically running 15-year old code. It needs a complete overhaul. And to the guy who wondered why Apple don't just sell OSX for the PC - I've always wondered that too. What a brilliant idea that would be. Then we'd have a choice of two operating systems: Techie types can choose linux, everyone else can choose OSX. How about that? OSX - the *simple* reliable way to run your PC. Microsoft needs to be driven into the ground for foisting this crap on us for all these years!
Balmer is already going, "Bill, who?" Either that or, "Took him long enough to leave."
Dear Bill, on your last day at work I want to say thank you for many good systems from DOS 5, Win3.1x, W98 (First), NT4, W2K and XP. All those systems has been worked (are working) very good and nearly stable in the beginning, and later on after some patches more stable and better and better, of home computing under really small systems like an CPU 80286/287 with 8 Mhz and 1MB of memory (and after years on more faster hardware). In the beginning of home/company computing under DOS 5 and Windows 3.1x every part in a computer was very expensive and so your idea from a small system on a small hardware was a good and working idea. After many years of software development some OS from you goes for many users not in that way what many user are has dreamt (many other programmers with many other ideas), but that's Evolution and the "problem" of thousand of meanings! I would say it was a good time to start with DOS and Windows 3.1x (also with UNIX and APPLE OS), it was a good time for learning, it was sometimes a bit bad to have in the beginning only a 300baud or 14,4Kb modem, but if I think that Evolution means "Living and learning on earth to make it all a bit better" (you know, down from the trees), then it was very good for to create for a small hardware a good working OS. Many people around the world have learned from each other and some idea of a software was better as an other and so everybody could make her own system and found a new idea or a new way for to make a thing on an other way a bit better. Better or not, it was and it is a good time for learning. Best wishes Frank By the way: Don't forget on Windows 7 that we have thousands of really bad Hackers around the world and every year millions of new computer users who can have an 16MB DSL line. It would be fine if the new Windows would work on a lower power consumption and if the next Windows would come with an stronger system firewall and with an good spamfilter and an more secure browser and mail client it would be fine too. An new computer user behind an 1MB to 16MB DSL line has no chance in the today's criminal internet!
Vista this and Vista that.... THERE IS ONE PROBLEM with Vista. Microsoft thought itself mighty, and thought it can dictate what OS we have to like, and love. They didn't ask what we wanted. They dictated it! It's only natural that we don't like it. WHAT DO WE WANT? let me quote: "And what it sorely needs is a low-power, low-footprint tightly-coded OS ." Let me guess: a safe system that runs faster, and operates the office programs? YES, I AM GONNA LIKE IT. But it is no coincidence i didnt mention DRM here... Let me predict: If Microsoft's next OS is going to have DRM in it, Microsoft is not only going to hit the wall this time, it will come away with a bloody forehead.... CadilLAC
Why would we want our OS on PCs? If you want a Mac, buy one. We are quite happy to pay more and have less AOLers on our kits. We don't want the same problems PCs have, so we are VERY content with the way Steve makes computers. They are computers that work, are fun to use, and simply are a Ferrari compared to PCs. I say NO to cross platform OS X! (._.)
People keep forgetting, at the end of the day Apple's a **HARDWARE** company. They've been fairly brilliant at making the kit desirable with well-done software driving it, but the bottom line is based on moving iron and etched silicon out the door, folks. Putting OSX on generic PCs would give them the same problems with hardware compatibilities, drivers, etc. as the Monopolist, and gut their business. The smartest thing Jobs did on returning was scuttling the Mac clone business Sculley had sanctioned.