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Piecing together Windows Vista
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Jim Allchin, the chief Microsoft engineering manager behind Windows Vista, has issued a call to arms to software developers, urging them to build new applications for the desktop operating system.
In an open letter posted on Microsoft's developer portal on Friday, Allchin said that Vista offered third-party developers opportunities to build applications that are "visually stunning, connected, workflow-enabled, and secure."
Jim Allchin
Allchin, the co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services group, reiterated the company's Vista schedule, saying that the software will be done by the end of the year and available to consumers in January, barring any bugs around "data corruption, resiliency or security."
"People will flock to software that is new, compelling, and 'cool.' You have GOT to be ready for this opportunity," Allchin wrote to developers.
Availability of third-party applications on Windows has been an important reason for Microsoft's success since the early days of its operating system. With Vista, the company has created several tools to make it easier for developers to tap into the features of Vista.
Developers can get a preview of Orcas, the upcoming edition of Visual Studio programming tool which is optimized for writing Vista applications.
Microsoft is also releasing Expression-branded tools aimed at Web designers and graphic artists to exploit the new user interface, animation and other graphics capabilities.
In addition, Microsoft is offering technical documentation for its application programming interfaces and ways to check compatibility of existing Windows applications with Vista.
Allchin said that both large independent software companies and smaller outfits can build innovative applications that highlight Vista features.
"People will just love these applications--from new DX10 games to cool Sidebar gadgets to new rich visual enterprise applications. Some of these apps are mind-bogglingly cool," Allchin wrote.
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Jim Allchin, Microsoft Windows Vista, developer, app, Microsoft Corp.
to cool Sidebar gadgets to new rich visual enterprise
applications. Some of these apps are mind-bogglingly cool,"
Allchin wrote."
Yeah, I'll bet. Especially because that's all they could manage to
ship after working on Vista for over five years, several schedule
slips, and dozens of "left behind" features.
"People will just love these applications--from new quartz-
enables graphics, to cool Widgets, to rich visual enterprise
applications. Some of these apps are mind-bogglingly cool,"
Jobs said, five years ago..
http://www.teckmagazine.com/content/view/631/43/
and the billions of hackers out there.
site only to be told that they don't support my browser.
So apparently Microsoft feels it is more important to dictate which
browser they use than to disseminate their information.
How much confidence can we have in Vista if Microsoft can't even
make a standards-based website?
make Vista sound cool? I'll try it for the sake that its an upgrade
from XP.
But its too bad he won't be around for the Vista aftermath. Fixing
the glitches and holes he left behind.
The guy is retiring isn't he? What a joke. I do hope he sticks to his
word and let please let it be Ballmer next..
As for DirectX 10 - yet another thing that needs new hardware! And I turned off the Sidebar almost immediately in Vista (takes up too much screen estate and also comes with a *second* huge analogue clock [the first one being on the task bar where it is on XP - why do I need 2?!]) and I suspect many other people will, so Sidebar progs are already heading towards Pointless City...
Basically, Allchin is just desperate to drum up support for third-party Vista programs because MS is trying to avoid a chicken-and-egg situtation that hit them hard with Windows XP 64-bit version (namely - no software for the OS = no users for the OS = no software etc. etc.). With the move from XP to Vista possibly being the slowest *ever* between versions of Windows, MS is panicking somewhat that without Vista-only apps, people will see no need to move to Vista. Needless to say, lazy journos at C|Net didn't cover this angle and yet again just reworded the press release on this.
and yet again just reworded the press release on this."
Because it needs to be said again.
C|Net - rewriting our biggest advertisers' press releases with
aplomb since 1996!
What I wouldn't do for some insightful technical journalism. How
about comparing Vista to Linux and Mac OS X? How about
asking Allchin some tough questions about why it's taken so
long?
Worried about losing ad revenue? Why doesn't C|Net actually do
some analysis every now and then?
Dashboard, which just kinda pops into view and has USEFUL
widgets.
The point is that for major applications they need to start developing for Vista *now* because by the time the application is ready for release most consumers will have Vista. Even for smaller applications MS starts the drumbeat early because even if the current version of an application still needs to work on the current main versions the developer needs to be thinking about what they made need to do in order to use the new features in a later version of the software. They'll need to be sure they don't make decisions now that'll mean more work later.
Failure to heed these warnings is what cost Lotus 123 and Wordperfect their marketshare, they waited until Windows 3.1 was an obvious commercial success and then started writing for it but by the time they were ready to market their Windows versions of their applications the market had already moved on. They were simply too late to market.
Applications (esp games) are the ONLY reason a number of Linux users hold onto their Windows partition.
Windows-only applications and vendor lock-in is what keeps them alive, but FOSS is slowly eroding at this which will force Windows to have to become competative!
This is a good thing because when Microsoft has to compete, they do a pretty good job and after years of their monopoly it will be good to see them work off some of that flab around the middle.
It must be a slow day. I actually read the article.
others.
Visual appeal wears thin very quickly. Vista may
be good, and even some products for it might be
good, but when it comes right down to it you'd
do better to make something you want to sell be
simple, useful, and reliable -- not
"mind-boggling".
When developers start realising that stable functionality is far more relevant to consumers than eye candy we might start getting software that runs efficiently and doesn't require the resources of your average supercomputer to perform basic tasks like writing a letter or editing a photo.
My rule of thumb is if an OS actually slows my computer down I don't want it - no matter how "cool" it looks.
The only time I want to be forced to upgrade hardware is if I get something new from the deal. Forcing me to buy a new computer to do the exact same thing my old one could, but in a prettier way, is not going to get me to buy Vista.
However as usual people and corporates are sheep - and believe whatever ever crap the slick computer illiterate salesmen pushing Vista capable PCs tell them.
Yes I need to spend another $1000 because Vista can play movies with sparkles and write letters with a animated doggy asking if it can help me apply for a job.
MS is becomming IBM, OLDsmobile, etc. Sorry MSGuys, but this isn't 1995, MS isn't "cool" anymore. Any "coolness" was strangled by endlesss EULAS, high costs, concerns about privacy and countless "updates" to plug gaping security holes which have cost consumers and businesses billions of dollars in downtime due to lost productivity.
I read a news article where Mac vulnerabilities can now be exploited with Hacks, new viruses, Trojans, malware and get around the security...Fair is fair!
Let's face it, Jobs turned down the opportunity, and Bill Gates took advantage. Windows will never go away and the people have spoken, 94% to 95% use Windows to Mac's 5% market share in PC's sold each year. What is not Cool is a Mac and it's users, they are a hateful bunch who actually think Mac's are better... Even the new Mac Ads on TV are annoying to the point to where potential Mac buyers are turned off.
MS Windows are like Republicans, they protect us from terrorists, help people, have a Great economy, cut Taxes for all.
Mac's are like Democrats (and the Media), never do anything good or honest, and never tell both sides of the story, also want to raise taxes on the middle class, reinstate the Death Tax, Marriage Penalty, Gift Tax, Inheritance Tax, gave the West Coast Ports to be controlled by the Chinese and trust me many others.
The Dems who use Mac's are the ones who want to allow the 12 million illegals to stay In the US and use our Tax Dollars for Schools, Medical Care, activist Judges who let pedophiles get off or get off easy.
Even ipods are crap, they sound tinney and very low volume compared to most any others made. The one given to me as a gift is now a paperweight and doodle on it with Sharpies.
I am using Vista RC1 and yes it is VERY impressive.
I'll put my Intel Core 2 E6800 Extreme, Chipset nVidia for Intel, Quad SLI 590 GeForce 7950 GTX's up agianst any Mac anytime.
Of course you can disagree with me, but it doesn't change my bad experiences with MAC
Does C|Net ever stop fluffing Microsoft?
After reading this I feel Microsoft is out of touch with what I want as a consumer. And I'm pretty sure their 3rd party developers are preparing for damage control with Vista rather than wasting time trying to be "cool."
What it probably means is that the software industry is less than enthusiatic about Vista - with the idiotic prices M$ intend to charge for it who would buy it anyway?
invented cool.
Oh, and put the dang menus back. How is anybody going to support users on the phone when the menus aren't even there until you hit Alt?
I'm sure someone will do something right to make people feel something is "mind-boggling"
the new iTunes update. I updated mine and everything is
working fine. I really like the fact that I can now put recorded TV
show under the TV shows label now since before that wasn't
possible.
But enough about iTunes, the main problem is MS has done
nothing but play catch-up with OS-X, everything they are adding
as "new" came from OS-X. But of course stealing is what MS
does best because they don't know how to innovate and come
up with their own new ideas.
The amount of software isn't nearly as important as the QUALITY of the apps that's important.
Vista-5 year old tech today(actually sometime tomorrow), minus a bunch of 10 year year old tech we couldn't get to work, all with system requirements that are at least 3x as much as they should be.
- Bloat
- by pentium4forever September 19, 2006 4:41 PM PDT
- Why does Vista have to be so bloated to be good? It's got a lot of extras, the interface is pretty but overall performance is a better thing to have than ease of use or user-friendliness. There's other programs not just Microsoft Windows OS's that are becoming more user-friendly and bloated. One example is McAfee VirusScan. From using v6 and v7, going to v8 the whole thing was changed, bloated and took far more resources on my system. It was at that moment that I switched to AVG Antivirus. Download Accelerator Plus is another example. Although it has some nifty extras, the interface is slower to shut down than version 5.3 which I still actually use. I like Firefox the way it is, no more bloat I hope won't be added. It's pretty bloat-free. ZoneAlarm is another example. I could keep going too. Bottom line: Products don't always have to get more user friendlier because that often results in more clutter, more junk in the way.
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