Microsoft confirms Windows will merge into one operating system

[captaincranky]

I don't see it as a case of being scared of change more a case of people being more cynical the older they get. Youngsters are often duped by the tech messiahs into believing all that is new is better. For instance where I live the train service was electrified in the 1960's. The first generation of trains only had a top speed of 90 mph. The new trains introduced in this century have a top speed of 100 mph so you would expect the train service to be quicker. Would you be surprised to know that the service is far slower now than in the 1960s! Part of the reason is because the trains now spend more time in the stations as it takes longer for the passengers to get on and off and to dispatch the train.

Yeah well, there are worse traffic jams by virtue of the fact there are more cars on the same roads.

So let's place some of the blame for the slow down in rail travel on the increase in number of passengers.

Besides, I'm pretty sure over the years, railway speed limits have had to be reduced in numerous places, by virtue of proximity to new development, prior accidents, OHSA, and God knows what else.

 

[pmshah]

" Certainty of death, *small* chance of success... What are we waiting for? "

I don't see the major issue, if they keep with a unified OS. The thing is keeping the sub-OS so to speak, to it's own devices and not merge ideas from one onto another. IE: Touch oriented OS from phone / tablet onto desktop. It's basically a variant of the OS, while still keeping some things intact.

if they do that, it can work. Its just they dont exactly have a good track record with seperating mobile/touch concepts from desktop concepts.

I just played with the latest Acer laptop with touchscreen that my niece brought for my sister in law. From hands on experience it simply felt like an oversized tablet. The 2-3 applications that uses don't feel any different from my Android smartphone. These are Skype, Gmail and Viber. It done properly I am sure it will work. BTW Mr Nadella, who is of Indian origin, has also inherited the genetic reasoning power of Indian to think 10 steps ahead for logical consequences of any action. I am confident he will put it to good use and guide coders to hammer out all possible problems before them happen.

 

[captaincranky]

BTW Mr Nadella, who is of Indian origin, has also inherited the genetic reasoning power of Indian to think 10 steps ahead for logical consequences of any action. I am confident he will put it to good use and guide coders to hammer out all possible problems before them happen.

Oh please, spare us.

 

[Railman]

So let's place some of the blame for the slow down in rail travel on the increase in number of passengers

Some stations yes but others no. I have not noticed a significant increase in passengers on the trains. Part of the reason is the introduction of a new high speed route from a station down the line in the country direction so some customers have been siphoned off.

Besides, I'm pretty sure over the years, railway speed limits have had to be reduced in numerous places, by virtue of proximity to new development, prior accidents, OHSA, and God knows what else.

Not a problem on my line. In fact the line was heavily upgraded just over 20 years ago for the Channel Tunnel trains which have been switched to the high speed line. One major factor is that considerable padding has been added to the timetable to give them more recovery time in the event of a delay. For example a train running 3 minutes late from a previous station will often arrive on time. The downside of the padding is that trains often spend quite a while sitting in stations which in turn reduces the capacity of the line.

 

[DAOWAce]

Better merge 32 and 64 bit versions into one.

Force the industry to completely move to 64; the fact 32bit is STILL alive is terrible.

 

[avoidz]

Well they better try something different because Windows 8 wasn't well received and I don't see a lot to give me much confidence in Microsoft, post-XP/7.

@JC713: "People just complain because they are scared of change." That is such a tired excuse for poor reception of something new which is flawed. Clearly something is wrong and needs improving.

 

[captaincranky]

I'm actually surprised that we're responding to this, "leak", with the vigor we are.

So what if there's only one version of Windows. Unless they force a subscription model, M$ will shoot itself in the foot, especially toward desktop and business users. Up to now, we've had the "opportunity", to select which "version" of "the same OS", would serve us best.

Isn't "Home Premium", a crippled version of "Windows Pro", which in turn, offers less to brag about than being the proud owner of, "Windows Ultimate"? They either have to dumb down the OS altogether, or offer selections of feature packages, as per now.

What on earth are you going to do the "Windows 9 Ultimate" on a "Winnie the Pooh" tablet?

Besides, nobody is likely to be buying a retail copy of Windows for the phone they're going to build in their basement.

IMHO, this CEO is the same as all the others, as he can talk out his a**, and make you believe he's singing you a love song....

 

[Guest]

Please tell me why it is terrible "the fact 32bit is STILL alive is terrible.".

I dont know if u dont understand but there are MANY schools who cant afford better Computers with more ram and run 64 Bit.
It will be COMPLETELY RETARTED to merge then the fact that schools who are already poor will need to buy better Computers.

(even my school Computers are with 32 bit and I live in Norway the most rich country in the world(no offense to anyone and im not saying that other country's poor))

 

[SNGX1275]

Please tell me why it is terrible "the fact 32bit is STILL alive is terrible.".

I dont know if u dont understand but there are MANY schools who cant afford better Computers with more ram and run 64 Bit.
It will be COMPLETELY RETARTED to merge then the fact that schools who are already poor will need to buy better Computers.

(even my school Computers are with 32 bit and I live in Norway the most rich country in the world(no offense to anyone and im not saying that other country's poor))

By 2006 just about any CPU made for desktop use was 64bit. A computer any older than that may or may not be 64bit, but if it is older it shouldn't really be running anything other than XP (for Windows). XP support is out, so there really is no reason to have 32bit support at all. When the computer dies, which it eventually will, it will be replaced with something new (even if new doesn't mean high end components) and they will support 64bit. No reason for the next Windows to have any 32bit support at all.

 

[oldikes]

Please tell me why it is terrible "the fact 32bit is STILL alive is terrible.".

I dont know if u dont understand but there are MANY schools who cant afford better Computers with more ram and run 64 Bit.
It will be COMPLETELY RETARTED to merge then the fact that schools who are already poor will need to buy better Computers.

(even my school Computers are with 32 bit and I live in Norway the most rich country in the world(no offense to anyone and im not saying that other country's poor))

if your school has old computers then you dont need to be upgrading windows anyway. any new computer from here on will easily be able to handle 64 bit though.

 

[DelJo63]

"Merging" is no favor to the user, but to the stockholders. Opting for a single code base will reduce the software development and maintenance requirements(ie staff) and as was recently announced - - staff layoffs.

 

[Railman]

Please tell me why it is terrible "the fact 32bit is STILL alive is terrible.".

I dont know if u dont understand but there are MANY schools who cant afford better Computers with more ram and run 64 Bit.
It will be COMPLETELY RETARTED to merge then the fact that schools who are already poor will need to buy better Computers.

(even my school Computers are with 32 bit and I live in Norway the most rich country in the world(no offense to anyone and im not saying that other country's poor))

By 2006 just about any CPU made for desktop use was 64bit. A computer any older than that may or may not be 64bit, but if it is older it shouldn't really be running anything other than XP (for Windows). XP support is out, so there really is no reason to have 32bit support at all. When the computer dies, which it eventually will, it will be replaced with something new (even if new doesn't mean high end components) and they will support 64bit. No reason for the next Windows to have any 32bit support at all.

Backwards compatibility. There are a number of programs that are still only available in 32 bit versions.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Backwards compatibility. There are a number of programs that are still only available in 32 bit versions.

I'm fairly certain @SNGX1275 was referring to hardware support. An OS being built for 32bit hardware is a bit different than 64bit OS supporting 32bit software. While I see a need in keeping 32bit software compatibility a while longer, I see no need in keeping a 32bit OS. Anything pre-32bit that a 64bit machine no longer supports, can likely be done within a Virtual Machine. And in rare cases where that is not true, it is time to upgrade (loose the dependency) or keep the older machine and OS.

 

[captaincranky]

Backwards compatibility. There are a number of programs that are still only available in 32 bit versions.

And that's why, boys and girls, every 64 bit copy of Windows 7, has a x86 program folder, for exactly that contingency.

Please note that while Win 7 will run 32 bit programs in a process that has come to be known as "WoW", (Windows on Windows), there may be a general incompatibility due to differences in the OS' filing system folders or elsewhere. Windows 7 inserts "fake" file paths to lead an XP program, "to believe", it is running in an XP file schema..

M$ addressed more complete incompatibility as well, with a free download which allowed you to run 32 bit XP Pro, in a virtual machine environment. (on top of Win 7, obviously).

(With respect to the x-86 folder, I'm pretty sure the same should be true for Vista, XP Pro 64 bit, and well, Windows 8. Which BTW, I care not the slightest whether Win 8 does it or not).

Here is the M$ "KB" update number for the virtual machine itself: WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe

Although Clifford has partially explained hardware insufficiency by virtue of of being 32 bit in and of itself, keep in mind in that doesn't present as a problem either partially, or completely, unless prior to Intel 915 desktop chipsets circa 2005 and prior.

(915 may have had a 32 bit BIOS in part of its production. The release of the P-4 Extreme Edition, necessitated 64 bit support. (As did the final P-4 incarnation codenamed, "Cedar Mill".)

 

[SNGX1275]

I'm fairly certain @SNGX1275 was referring to hardware support...

Thats a part of it... to my original post, was in response to the outrage someone suggested 32-bit doesn't need to be in further versions of Windows. I can see how that maybe there could be come confusion between a 32-bit version of Windows 9 or totally dropping 32-bit support. I am supporting the dropping of a 32-bit version of Windows.

There was discussion about how the Norwegian schools use old computers that need 32-bit, which is totally fine, but my post was saying when those die, and they will, you don't need a 32-bit OS anymore, because there is almost nothing (outside of ARM) that you would realistically replace them with that isn't 64-bit.

 

[Railman]

I'm fairly certain @SNGX1275 was referring to hardware support...

Thats a part of it... to my original post, was in response to the outrage someone suggested 32-bit doesn't need to be in further versions of Windows. I can see how that maybe there could be come confusion between a 32-bit version of Windows 9 or totally dropping 32-bit support. I am supporting the dropping of a 32-bit version of Windows.

There was discussion about how the Norwegian schools use old computers that need 32-bit, which is totally fine, but my post was saying when those die, and they will, you don't need a 32-bit OS anymore, because there is almost nothing (outside of ARM) that you would realistically replace them with that isn't 64-bit.

Fair point I stand corrected.

 

[Guest]

I kind of like it when a company self-destructs.

 

[tonylukac]

I would have thought that it would only need to analyse your set up during install?

What about plug and play? An install doesn't "gen" the os like on a mainfraime.