The importance of extending Longhorn

Reaction to PDC day 3 summary

from JoeUser Forums

Over as OSNews.com they linked to my article on the PDC.  OSNews.com is one of my favorite sites but it tends to have more than its fair share of "Wannabes". That is, developers who are probably pretty good but exceed their reach by making software development judges beyond their experience.

Linux users in particular fall prey to this. But it's not that specific to a platform. What amazes me is how Linux/Apple advocates try to put down what Microsoft is trying to do with Longhorn because other concepts have been tried or implemented on other platforms. Who the hell cares? I got my start on OS/2. OS/2 introduced all kinds of cool stuff that later appeared in BeOS, Linux, MacOS, etc.  But so what? The point is that Longhorn is going to have cool stuff. 

I mean, heck, a lot of the visual stuff seen in Avalon's demos we do today with WindowFX. Right now. Shadows, morphing windows, transitions, you name it. If you have an ATI or nVidia card you can do that right now with WindowFX.  Does that make Avalon any less cool in my opinion? No.  Will it make WindowFX less useful in 2006? Absolutely if we sit on our asses for 3 years not doing anything. Each new version of Windows provides no opportunities. Developers who sit on their laurels get creamed in the long term -- which is how it should be.

On particular troll writes:

It appears that the author is disgruntled by the fact that he will find it harder to push his hype-ware/snake-oil to the clueless end users. It would be like Symantec complaining that because Windows XP SP2 will include an enhanced firewall, the can no longer justify charging the exorbinant amount they do now.

Stop complaining and look for a new market. That is the ONE problem with alot of Windows developers, instead of looking at developing applications that benefit they user, they're more concerned with creating tweakers and so-called "optimisers" to work around Windows deficiencies that they know will be fixed in the next release.

When this next release rolls around the corner we have whiners like Draginol complain that his snake-oil can now no longer "hook" into an API. Cry me a river Draginol and look for a new market

There are so many things wrong with this statement that it's hard to begin. First, his analogy is completely wrong. It would not be like Symantec complaining because SP2 includes a firewall.  Instead, it would be like Microsoft making SP2 not only NOT include a firewall but making it impossible for anyone to create a firewall. I think people would definitely object to that, don't you think?

The second paragraph is a self-contradiction. "Instead of developing things that benefit the user they make things that work around Windows deficiencies."  Well how does that not help the user? Yes, that's what Object Desktop does -- it extends Windows so that it has new features that enable users to do a lot more with it and do it their own way. How is that not benfitting the users?

One might argue that the entire reason Linux has any significant following at all is because "snake oil" people like myself charging an "exorbinant" amount ($20 is apparently a lot of money if you're a semi-literate college student) haven't been able to write software that gets around Windows deficiencies fast enough.

That's one of the advantages of Open Source. On Windows, it's closed source but historically developers have been able to add their own features to the base OS using API hooks. We're not talking sub-classing an existing thing on a per program basis here, we're talking about being able to do wholesale change.

The only ones who will suffer will be users. Developers can always write drivers that reintroduce a missing feature but the average freeware or shareware developer won't know how to do that.

And people LIKE being able to control how Windows functions for them. WinCustomize.com gets over 2 million unique visitors per month. And there are other sites of similar popularity.

Not everyone is comfortable with the idea that one big company, be it Apple or IBM or Microsoft should decide exactly how you should use your computer.
 

14,805 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Nice to see you've quoted what I have said. Btw, if I were a troll, I certainly wouldn't be a long time reader and poster on osnews.com. A troll would be a person who comes into a forum, stirs some muck and see what floats to the surface. I didn't stir muck and laugh by face off when I saw your remark.

The fact remains that the market YOU'RE focusing in so-ultra small it doesn't matter a tinkers-cuss in the grand scheme of things. Why should Microsoft cater for the ultra niche market when their main market is Joe and Jane User.

Joe and Jane User don't tweak, modify and "over drive" their computer. They have Windows running, maybe Works Suite - If they're lucky, Office, and maybe a few other sundry applications and games.

People who tweak their computers can be placed into the same group of people who build their own computers, over clock their CPU or Video card or setup some elaborate refrigeration system with a pump and some freon (which is a CFC and now has been replaced with some of non-CFC gas).

Before moved to the PC I was programming for years using COBOL, AMOS (Amiga), BBC BASIC and Amiga BASIC. I then moved to Java and in a few months I pay even look into C# maybe managed C++. Like everything else in the computing industry, things move and change. You either adapt to the change or made obsolete. If the price of moving to WinFX is a few disgruntle coders peived that their tweakware no longer works but results in superior system stability and easier to understand APIs then I say the price is worth it.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Your ignorance is impressive.

Were you aware that the userbase of WindowBlinds alone (around 7 million users) is about the same as MacOS X's? Perhaps slightly larger? So if our market is "so ultra small" then what point is there in even discussing Linux on the desktop or MacOS?

It's called the law of percentages. Only a few percent of people do enhance their computers in interesting ways. But a few percent of a few hundred million people adds up.

Your second mistake is in assuming that only "tweakers" make use of this kind of thing. I have seen Windows used in ways that few people would imagine. Running blast furnaces in steel plants, specialized telophony applications. And in almost all cases, some pretty crazy "hack-like" stuff was done to get it to be seamless enough for customer use.

It would probably help your cause, in the future, if you knew what you were talking about.
Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
The only problem with this article is the spelling of the word "alot." I want everyone who thinks this is the correct spelling to go a dictionary, and look up the word "alot." If you find it please let me know what dictionary it was you used. The proper spelling is "a lot." There is no such word as "alot."

So if that is a direct quote then someone needs to go back as far as the fourth grade, and retake spelling classes.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ah, nitpicking spelling, the last refuge of the on-line scoundrel. ;)

BTW, it wasn't me who spelled a lot "alot" that was the part I quoted.