I’m incredibly impressed by the new Microsoft R2 releases.
For those of you that haven’t heard (a year long vacation?), R2 is a new concept being championed by Microsoft wherein a series of huge and important updates, new features, and practically new software ships in.
I fortunately had the oppurtunity to be in the R2 Beta for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Server, and here are my thoughts, more or less in the order they occurred:
- To me it seems like R2 is something that could have easily been shipped as Windows Server 2005.
- It looks like R2 is basically a new OS, minus the price tag..
- So why would Microsoft do this??
I mean, its true, Microsoft could have easily released this as a new OS, and every big corporation likes to keep up to date with server technology, after all, it is the core of the network. Microsoft is due to release Vista within a year (or so they say), and with it comes a new Server OS. So WHY???
I mean, everyone has been asking why Microsoft is releasing all of these supposed Vista-Only features to XP, but they are all coming individually as far as I can tell. R2 is packed to the brim (of the CD ;) with features that replace 2rd party softtware, save companies money, and make MS proud. Just now I am talking about the new backup system in R2.. I have used it, and it is absoloutely invaluable.
This all makes a man (or a robot, I guess) wonder, where is MS taking this? The obvious answer is what those happy-go-lucky liberals have been shouting all along “Microsoft is going Shareware!”
For some reason however I doubt it. At any rate, any claim that Windows is going to be an “Ad-Supported” OS is bull. But one cannot deny that the new “trial” versions of Windows for Server 2003 and XP x64 sure does look like it. But as far as subscription based software, I cannot see any other way around it.
Microsoft is working on Vista, the epitome of programming, ease-of-use, and power, all in one package. Once a thing is so refined, all you can do is make it better, but not replace it. It wil be hard to convince people to leave Vista. While people are saying that about XP now, it was obvious from the very beginning that XP was the beginning of a revolution, but by no means the end. But Vista is different.
I really liked R2, I liked it more than a new OS as well, because it was a gesture of better things to come, a free upgrade, and most importantly: hassle-free.
I would not mind paying sixty dollars a year for Windows, and?I would actually prefer it to $200 every three or four years, not because $200 is too much (its one time fee guys!) but because it means I have to wait the three or four years for new technology. Its why I stopped using Internet Explorer 6, its why?I stopped liking XP as much: it does not evolve. Hopefully R2 means that this cycle is over, that we can come to expect constantly updated and upgraded code….
If only!
Do you work for MS’s marketing department? Vista is “the epitome of programming, ease-of-use, and power…”?? and “Once a thing is so refined, all you can do is make it better…”???
I’m trying to think if I’ve ever heard more bullshit from somebody who isn’t a politician. Though Vista will be better (upgrades usually are) than XP, what makes you think it won’t suffer from security holes and bugs just like EVERY operating system release has? You credibility went down the toilet with all of your bullshit in this article.
As for the R2 releases, the last thing that I want is for MS to turn into a company like Autodesk that charges it’s users out of the ass for subscription and has minor pointless releases every year. We need to encourage innovation, not programming for the bottom line.
About the vista thing: I guess I wan’t clear enough: As fas as Microsoft is concerned; Vista is….
What you’re not seeing is; XP came out at a time when security did not matter. Don’t take that the wrong way; I mean of course security always mattered, but the public was not looking for security; XP was mainly Windows 2000 + A purty GUI + A bit of enhanced Kernel
Vista is being written from the bottom up with security in mind. Every OS has bugs and holes, but for example, did you know that Windows Server 2k3’s ISS 6.0 has had two holes in its life??? Neither of which were serious either. Compare that to Apache. IIS was written with security in Mind… And now so is Vista……….
If you had read the article above, you would have seen that my argument was yearly subscriptions will give you quality programming, while releases like Microsoft was doing before, are aiming for the bottom dollar.
I hope this cleared things up.