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- sirhomer, on 08/18/2008, -4/+30The whole netbook & cloud computing movement really caught Microsoft off guard. In many ways one of the best things to happen to Linux adoption (especially in these laptops) was the release of Windows Vista.
But I still wouldn't take Microsoft lightly... Microsoft is still a $200+ billion dollar conglomerate with a history of being able to dominate almost any industry or niche they lay eyes on, even when they are often very late to the party. They have tons of money on hand to buy their way out of stupid business mistakes. - jdollah, on 08/18/2008, -4/+25So they made wake-on-lan routable and Dell has a BIOS that can play DVDs? Yeah. Looks like Microsoft is losing out big time.
- andyduncan, on 08/18/2008, -11/+27Microsoft has been holding back hardware developers, businesses, consumers, and really, the entire computerized world for the last 15 years. The lack of innovation, and therefore the lack of follow-on innovation, productivity improvements and new business opportunities that are a result of Microsoft's monopoly will be viewed as one of the single most expensive ***** of the post-industrial age.
Windows is everywhere, it affects everything, the stagnancy of Microsoft products like Windows, IE and Office affects everything from commodities to aerospace. I'm pretty certain we'll look back on the period of 2000-2010 as the dark ages of technology. - TheSilentNumber, on 08/18/2008, -10/+21Next technology breakthrough: Linux on more machines! :O
http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/72962/Put_Ub ... - SealandRes1, on 08/18/2008, -6/+16The difference between linux and windows is that linux is not only generally technically superior, but it's also very scalable. Linux solutions are being adopted anywhere from home routers/billy bass to supercomputers, while windows is incapable of spanning all of these products because it's simply to bloated and was not designed to scale as well as linux. This is why the recent emergence of netbooks really boosted publicity of linux because while windows has solution designed for embedded devices and desktop computers, they don't have a solution that spans between the 2.
The only reason why windows dominates in spite of being technically inferior is because of the investments (in the millions, possibly billions) their third-party software/hardware makers has committed to windows, without them, windows would not have a chance of surviving. If linux can gain a significant amount of market share, and convince third-party software/hardware makers to invest in the linux platform (imagine all your windows software runs natively on linux, will you switch?), the growth of linux will be unstoppable. - gilbes, on 08/18/2008, -9/+18Another disingenuous MS bashing article.
Dell didn't create this idea. Asus has had it for years now. And they could have gone with an embedded version of Windows for the functionality. They chose to go with Linux. And that is OK. So now is every choice to embed Linux in some hardware related to MS?
And Intel made improvements to Wake On Lan (or Wireless) functionality and didn't ask MS for help. Is the expectation now that MS has to do everything and its a miracle Intel did something without them?
Do vendors consult MS for every ***** diecision they make about everything? No!
The article implies that MS is stopping new technologies or just isn't good enough to do it. The truth is MS can and does do embedded OSes and really doesn't need to hold Intel's had when they want to add new or improved hardware functionality. - Dumbledorito, on 08/18/2008, -5/+13Wasn't this on the front page, already?
Also, what happened to that Windows technology (I can't recall the name at the moment) that was supposed to so something like this? If I remember correctly, laptops, for example, would have a window on the lid that displayed some basic info and provided some functionality to e-mail, clocks, calculators and so forth without booting the main PC or opening the lid. Did that die already, or is it just not in wide use? - computershack, on 08/18/2008, -1/+9Considering Wake on Lan and Mediadirect (and clones) has been around for years, nowhere.
- bdbr, on 08/18/2008, -0/+7Dell laptops have come with MediaDirect to boot up and play media (without booting Windows) for years. I don't know anyone who actually uses it.
Now you can boot up and check e-mail and a few other things.That's nice. Basically it just sounds like dual-boot with a fast but crippled version of Linux. - Stonekeeper, on 08/18/2008, -2/+9If it JUST WORKS then why do people keep hassling me to fix their windows boxes? You've never installed windows obviously.
- Stonekeeper, on 08/18/2008, -3/+10you obviously have no idea where this is leading.
- bdbr, on 08/18/2008, -0/+6That technology was called "Sideshow". Its mentioned in the article. It seems like it failed because hardware vendors weren't putting the little screens on the outside of laptops.
- Travydigg, on 08/18/2008, -4/+10I used to think Linux=bad, but Ubuntu changed all of that. I think the best config is a XP or Vista dual boot with Ubuntu.
It's a fun OS for me and does almost every single thing I need to do. - puppyfox, on 08/18/2008, -0/+5From my experience, it seems like you are actually telling it to go to sleep without you knowing... they changed the default behavior of the button that allegedly should turn it off (very lame). Anyway, I just open the menu next to it and specifically say "Shut Down", and it shuts down.
- andyduncan, on 08/18/2008, -0/+5Cerebral Implants? No, I would have settled for some concrete work on IE to fix the glaring bugs and inconsistencies that have cost businesses millions upon millions of dollars and slowed progress on the web to a crawl until Firefox and KDE/Apple drug Microsoft, kicking and screaming, back to their desks to resume coding.
Instead, they disbanded the IE team.
Disbanded. "it's good enough" they said. They completely stopped working on a piece of software that underlies the systems on which BILLIONS of dollars of commerce and communication happen every year.
Even if you want to talk about how feature sets should remain stable, at least they could have fixed the ***** bugs.
The same thing applies to Windows, not only did they not innovate, they didn't even bother to fix the stuff that was broken in the first place.
They acted like a Monopoly, that's what Monopolies do, and it's why they should have been punished more effectively or broken up completely. Not to bring this back to politics, but remember it was the current administration, that upon taking office, decided to drop the anti trust case against them. Good job. - bdbr, on 08/18/2008, -1/+5"The second technology enables an Internet-based message to wake a Windows PC from sleep mode."
And how is it that waking a Windows PC leaves Microsoft out of the picture? - freebird09, on 08/18/2008, -2/+6"this is an industry problem, not a Microsoft problem."
Microsoft basically IS the industry. - inactive, on 08/18/2008, -6/+10You know what i like about linux? the fact that when i install things i don't have to restart the computer 10 times, or get told " windows is restarting " and you hit later, and then it does it anyway!
- EntropyFan, on 08/18/2008, -1/+5The truly sad part is folks like you shouting about 'overwhelming monopoly' and the assorted ***** that goes along with it. Always blame MS for their own failings.
You know what the folks over at FireFox did? They stopped the BS and built a better product.
They have had the success that brings. - jnordb, on 08/18/2008, -0/+4@e2superman, you are an angry little man...part of me wants to feel sorry for you, but in the end I'll just digg you down for being obnoxious.
- Chiefster, on 08/18/2008, -1/+5Remote Wake though seems like it would be pretty open to hackers - I wonder how it works exactly
- Dumbledorito, on 08/18/2008, -1/+4I'd read the first part, realized that one very much like it had already been on Digg, and moved on with my life. Thanks for the concern, though.
- iofthestorm, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3Sideshow, it pretty much was never used. I don't know why though, the idea was pretty good. I think there is or there will be a way to use a WinMo powered phone/PDA as a Sideshow display, but other than that not much has happened on that front. I'd forgotten about that, thanks for reminding me. I don't know why Microsoft seems to have abandoned it, it was probably one of the more interesting features of Vista. I guess in the end hardware manufacturers have the final say and they didn't want to waste money on something not everyone would use.
- FredFredrickson, on 08/18/2008, -2/+5From XP on, most installs on Windows don't require a restart either (save for important system updates, which lo and behold, Linux needs to restart for as well).
- inactive, on 08/19/2008, -0/+3Why am I being dugg down? Windows requires restarts for driver updates, major registry changes, and win32 api flavored updates.
Linux only requires a reboot for Kernel updates and only for drivers if they were built as part of the kernel and not as a module.
- JigoroKano, on 08/18/2008, -4/+7The idea of booting into another OS just to get some fast work done would seem completely ridiculous if I didn't know how painful Vista is on the average laptop.
MS needs to do something because it is really unacceptable. - Junior612, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3And I'm sure he uses "Linux" for his tons and tons of "supercomputer". Oh and apparently this "supercomputer" requires a graphics card driver....
- jnordb, on 08/18/2008, -0/+3Wow...the 80s weren't good to you computing-wise, were they?
- spidrw, on 08/18/2008, -1/+4Actually, MediaDirect IS Windows. Just look at the scroll bar when it's booting.
It's a trimmed down version, but it still takes forever to boot and shut-down. I was surprised when I realized it wasn't a variation of Linux. The worst thing about it is it's complete lack of networking. Everything you access in there seems to have to come from your hard drive. - FredFredrickson, on 08/18/2008, -1/+3Stagnancy? I'm sorry, but people resonate with products that don't change every other day. Familiarity isn't exactly a bad thing though - it ensures that people know how to use your OS.
- Atomic1fire, on 08/18/2008, -1/+3*linux
there are several different desktop managers for linux based os's so any gui issues is normally the design of the desktop manager, unless its a x11 issue. Make a better desktop manager then... - philhatesyou, on 08/18/2008, -1/+2Then maybe they should keep the product the same and make us pay for "upgrades" every ***** year, eh?
- FredFredrickson, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1I run Linux as a secondary OS on one of my home computers. I just don't see what a hardware configuration like this has to do with the OS. The OS doesn't even need to be on the hard drive for the hardware to allow you to access it when the computer is off.
- andyduncan, on 08/18/2008, -1/+2The Amish are very familiar with their plows.
- inactive, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1they keep hasslin you because you don´t know how to install it
advice: stay away from computers - ethana2, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1They actually have hot kernel restarts, but it's like experimental or something.
- bigpook, on 08/18/2008, -1/+2The horse is out of the barn, baby!
It is too late to close that door..... - whisperedlie, on 08/18/2008, -2/+3that's funny, i think it's hardware manufacturers (ok more particularly peripheral vendors), and microsoft's obligation to large customers (particularly corporate customers) and a huge install based that have been holding back the computerized world (at least from the perspective of MS's products). technology changes extremely fast, and people change so comparatively slowly. when apple makes significant changes, for the most part they shoot first and ask questions later (though they have made decent progress in this area lately, with a few notable successes such as the x86 port). hardware vendors on the other hand, spend a lot of time bickering and deliberating over standards, APIs, etc. Then you got the peripheral vendors in their pumping out ***** parts with ***** drivers with only the bare minimum attention to standards and requirements set forth by microsoft. apple, they set the rules and the vendors must follow. apple benefits from their small install base (and iphones/ipods barely count, and that market is all gravy for them) by having to answer to so few and choosing who's components work and how the drivers/software are done. as apple increases in size, they're going to be faced with similar problems. they'll have the benefit of being able to learn from microsoft's mistakes, and i hope they do so successfully.
no innovation in the past 15 years? give me a break. without microsoft, *nix and apple wouldn't be in the same state that they are (for better or for worse, and if you say worse than i would say you're blaming the wrong people for that lack of innovation... if MS sucks so bad and there's no innovation, then the competition is even worse). and vise versa! what were you looking for, cerebral implants and holodecks? wah, wah. - ethana2, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1...what?
- inactive, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1dickbreath... your name says it all
- init100, on 08/20/2008, -0/+1"For, if not for Linux and Mac, Windows would still be gray and uninspiring."
And without Firefox, they would still be using IE6. Oh wait, most still are. :) - SealandRes1, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1IE became irrelevant when Microsoft decided to stop development on it, causing IE to not have any minor or major feature/UI change. Microsoft didn't even brother making IE competitive by adding innovations that were common with opera and Netscape at the time. (tabbed browsing is an example) It's also important to remember that Microsoft stopped development on IE at a time when IE was dominating the browser market, and Mozilla was very vulnerable with the release of Netscape 6. (The last major release under the name "Netscape", it was also a huge disappointment)
The point is Microsoft could have squashed Mozilla by introducing new/innovative/standard features found in other browsers for IE at a time when Mozilla was vulnerable, but they didn't and that's why IE lost its relevance. - cquinnd, on 08/18/2008, -1/+2Press Start, and then the right arrow on the keyboard three times.
That takes you to the menu that has the actual shut down and restart options. Otherwise you can go into "power options" and click on "Choose what the power buttons do" to tell Vista what default behaviour you want when you click on the power button. - Atomic1fire, on 08/18/2008, -0/+1Most people get the habbit of turning them off when not in use anyway. and with the problem of things like thunderstorms, you need to make sure the computer is off, better safe then sorry.
- FredFredrickson, on 08/18/2008, -3/+4This article doesn't even make sense. How is it the responsibility of Microsoft to worry about what users do with the data on their hard-drives, or the physical properties of the laptop that allow it to remote boot?
News flash: Microsoft makes operating systems, not hardware. If the computer isn't on, the operating system doesn't do *****. When there's no power, it's not responsible for waking up your laptop remotely, and it doesn't do a god damned thing to your hard drive.
How does this undermine what Microsoft does, or what it is responsible for, in any way?
If Dell and Intel create new hardware that does this stuff, it can be taken advantage of via the OS, not the other way around. MS isn't going to write a bunch of ***** into their OS for hardware capabilities that don't exist yet. What a stupid article. - kipmarlowe, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1At least you're not defending IE. I use and applaud Firefox. Perhaps you didn't fully pigeonhole me, after all . . .
And forget who's to blame. I don't care — at all. Let it be the competition that's to blame for the MS monopoly, fine. You're putting words into my keyboard that just do not exist because all I know is that everybody wins when a monopoly loses. Even Microsoft might benefit from some losses; perhaps end up selling more hardware, less OS.
All I know, in this thoroughly complicated argument in which people yell from each side of the issue, is that successful maneuvering on the part of the competition, including Firefox, make the tech world far more interesting. Go ahead and use, and even defend Microsoft Windows. I'll try my hardest not to be too zealous a Mac and Linux user (I use both) — just don't denigrate Linux and Mac users for what really and truly is a sensible choice. - knight666, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1Digg up if you skipped Vista and went with Ubuntu instead.
- init100, on 08/20/2008, -0/+1"***** you linux for making me HATE to do my job."
Maybe you should get a new job? Obviously, you would prefer playing with Visual Basic instead. - whisperedlie, on 08/19/2008, -0/+1your ambiguous complaints about fixing existing bugs have little to do with innovation. it sounds like you're changing your argument.
the IE team is on the job, and IE8 is in beta. i suppose i vaguely remember hearing they were thinking of canning it, but clearly that isn't the case.
as a side note, i don't think it would be unconscionable for, after all of these years, for microsoft to admit that the project has become unmanageable or has lost relevancy and let the competition win so they can focus on more important things. that has little to do with innovation. -
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