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Microsoft Submits Windows 7 for Antitrust Review
Posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Mar 12, 2008 07:32 PM
from the check-it-out dept.
from the check-it-out dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has submitted the follow-up to Windows Vista to the committee that oversees its US antitrust compliance, to ensure the operating system is meeting the terms of the company's agreement with the government. According to last week's status report on the US antitrust case, Microsoft "recently supplied" the Technical Committee (TC) with a build of the OS, code-named Windows 7, and the TC will "conduct middleware-related tests on future builds" of the software. The move was revealed in papers filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Those on the TC so far are the only ones privy to what the follow-up to Vista will look like, and Microsoft is mum on details of the software. But recent company moves and revelations hint at what can be expected from the software, which is due for release in late 2009 or early 2010. Lets hope Microsoft learns some lessons from the "Vista Capable" dilemma!!"
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Submission: Microsoft submits Windows 7 for Antitrust review by Anonymous Coward
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dupe (Score:5, Informative)
Re:dupe (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Since, you RTFD maybe you can save us some time... (Score:3, Funny)
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Re:dupe (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:dupe (Score:5, Funny)
There would be no dupes (auto-check on urls within stories)
There would be no obvious spelling mistakes (auto-spell check)
There would be no annoying and inflammatory 'commentary' attached to stories.
Unless of course they were shell scripts cleverly designed to appear human, like me.
Parent
Leak? (Score:2)
Re:Leak? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Leak? (Score:4, Interesting)
ya, can't imagine how that doesn't happen more often.
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Plus, who the fsck actually wants to run Windows 7 anyway? I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, just like I never tried any betas of Vista..
Re:Leak? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Leak? (Score:5, Funny)
"Microsoft Beta" is a double negative, but I wouldn't count on the end result being positive...
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Re:Leak? (Score:4, Interesting)
This is not a sarcastic statement.
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Re:Leak? (Score:4, Funny)
Hey, could you email with the name of the medication you're taking? I'd like to give it a try. It seems to work a lot better than the stuff my therapist gives me.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You mean, the way they did with XP? And 2000?
I haven't installed Vista, but XP did still have tons of Microsoft propaganda -- I mean, informative tips -- while you waited, telling you all the great things about the OS you're installing. So let me guess: You feel that Windows 7 will be "faster, more secure, more fun," etc? You know, the way XP was?
And this is a sarcastic
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Lots of people are hoping that Vista was just a stopgap and windows 7 will have all the cool stuff promised (virtual registry, WinFS and other stuff I'm sure other people can remember)
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I think they've already got a solution worked out. (Score:5, Funny)
"Supports windows 7" means that if you put the software box on top of the hardware, the hardware will not physically crumble to the ground.
--
http://vancouvercondo.info [vancouvercondo.info]
Re:I think they've already got a solution worked o (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:I think they've already got a solution worked o (Score:4, Funny)
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Oblig. (Score:4, Funny)
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Vista? They learned from ME but so did we. (Score:2, Insightful)
As usual, M$'s software lags hardware by five to seven years. Expect a continued messy transition to 64 bit computing that will favor Intel, the other monopoly laggart.
This is a lot like the transition from 95 to XP. How many times did Bill Gates declare the "death of DOS" or "16 bit computing"? The messy steps between included 98, NT, ME and W2K. It took that long to marginalize competing software vendors but the real cost should be measured in intentionally wasted hardware. Non free and free softwar
Re:Vista? They learned from ME but so did we. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Vista? They learned from ME but so did we. (Score:5, Funny)
No, no Skynet risk from Office or Visual Studio.
If they every become self-aware they will surely commit suicide.
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Re:Vista? They learned from ME but so did we. (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Vista? They learned from ME but so did we. (Score:4, Interesting)
No, in the real world people count on their Windows apps to run their daily business. In your dream world, who is creating the everyday business apps to compete with the Windows counterparts that run nearly every business in the US?
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>>Expect a continued messy transition to 64 bit computing that will favor Intel, the other monopoly laggart.
Vista and XP both shipped with 64 bit versions, specifically x86-64, which was developed originally by.....drumroll.....AMD! How exactly is ignoring IA64 for x86-64 favoring Intel?
>>Some nonsense about 32 bit computing
Windows 95 was 32 bit software. Maybe you mean using a protected memory model and pre-emptive multitasking(whi
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It's a nice manifesto, but it's more about how you'd like the world to be than how it actually is or will be anytime soon.
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Is this the kind of machine you need to run Vista decently ?
On that kind of hardware I could install Kubuntu then Asterisk and build a PBX for an office of at least 300 agents, put a TV card in and install MythTV so I can watch shows on MY schedule, configure Samba to act as the domain controller with roaming profiles for the agent's desktop machines (if they are running Windows), s
Microsoft's revenue schedule (Score:5, Funny)
Windows Vista was released Q1 2007,
Windows 7 is scheduled for Q4 2009,
Windows 8 is scheduled for Q1 2011,
Windows 9 is scheduled for Q4 2011,
Windows 10 is scheduled for Q1 2012.
Windows 11 and 12 are scheduled for Q2 2012,
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Re:Microsoft's revenue schedule (Score:5, Funny)
By Q1 2014 Windows will be on version 791.
1 week later Windows Update will begin a constant update process that never ends.
It will continue to consume all resources and hardware added to all nearby hardware until it achieves critical mass.
These individual Windows 'Mersenne' installations will because of gravity begin to drift towards each other, merging
into one giant super-bloat. This will become the next version of windows nicknamed 'Neutron'. This will slowly begin
to assimilate all matter on Earth followed by the rest of the solar system (except Mercury... Steve 'Sweaty' Ballmer needs
somewhere Hell-like to vacation) and then the Orion Arm. The final version of Windows will be a super-massive black hole
know as Singularity. Unfortunately Singularity will never get past beta status as anyone attempting to use it's UI (known
as Hawking Radiation) will be sucked in. Around this time, the EU will finally get around to fining Microsoft $11 billion
for monopoly violations and destroying the planet and its competition.
Linux will continue to exist and evolve into a single particle of anti-matter floating through space until it crashes into Vger.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There's no incentive now. Releasing Windows 7 won't change that.
Vista is Microsoft's secret antitrust rev weapon (Score:2, Funny)
how will they test 3rd party apps behaviour? (Score:5, Insightful)
If windows media player is able to achieve better performance through some type of black magic that other media players don't have access to, how will this be tested on a pre-release secret platform? Same with browsers, office suites, or any other MS application.
Have these copies been distributed with the complete source code so secrets can be uncovered? Even if that was the case, who would pay for the man hours to sift through millions of lines of code? Even with a full source code audit, the released binaries could be completely different anyhow.
I think the only solution to restore fair competition is massive fines that go directly to marketing and development of competing platforms. Paying consumers who have been locked into the MS trap still leaves them trapped.
Does it matter any more? (Score:4, Interesting)
So one wonders if this will all become moot at some point, as the invisible hand of the marketplace chooses a wiser solution.
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Yup, market will choose a better solution. But it takes sooooooooo looooooooong. :/
You keep using that word (Score:3, Insightful)
Code Names? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Code Names? (Score:5, Funny)
It's either the sad descent of a formerly energized company into a plodding circle of despair, or... an ominous hint of sinister plans to take over and rename a major city.
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What about the scheduled slip date? (Score:3, Insightful)
So why worry about Windows 7 now? It's years away - and it'll be essentially stillborn when it finally does arrive. By then, other better alternatives will be readily available for a far, far lower price.
2009/2010? (Score:5, Insightful)
Great. (Score:5, Funny)
Vista Capable is irrelevant (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure, Vista is a slow, bloated operating system that offers very few tangible improvements over its predecessor.
However, the "Vista Capable" debacle grew out of the fact that Microsoft's marketing droids decided to vastly overstate Vista's ability to run over slow hardware.
Had Microsoft been a bit more conservative with their estimates (subtly admitting that their operating system is a cow), there never would have been a legal issue. Vista on its own isn't a great product, although its faults do not constitute a breach of the law (had the product been absurdly unstable or insecure, that might have been the case, although by most accounts, Vista either holds the line or improves over XP in these regards).
TFA discusses the possible engineering & design decisions that are being put into Windows 7 as new features. Odds are that many of these features haven't even been coded. Likewise, given that the design document has *just* been finalized, I can't imagine that the marketing guys have had much (if any) time to figure out how to spin the new product.
Here's a hint: Look at the features that were dropped from Vista (some of them were actually quite innovative).
Personally, I hope that Windows 7 is a decent, solid operating system, and corrects for Vista's faults. Microsoft has had a tendency to appropriately compensate if one of their products flops. NT4 spawned into a beautiful desktop-ready os with the release of Win2k, and after destroying all evidence that Windows Me! ever existed, Microsoft launched XP, which is arguably the most successful desktop operating system to date.
Also, Apple needs a kick in the pants. They're getting complacent, and the Quality Control on the last few releases of OS X have been abysmal by their former standards.
Here's your clean bill of health, Mr. Monopolist! (Score:3, Interesting)
this annoys me... (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing with Vista is; what it does well, it's really really good at. Windows Explorer finally does what I want it to do, and the audio mixing panel is a boon from the gods... it's just that all this is overshadowed by the stuff it doesn't do well, which is arguably not entirely Microsoft's fault.
I'd like to see what Vista would have been like if everybody kept their noses out of it during development.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
...and I'm sure I'm going to have half of slashdot jumping down my throat, calling me a Microsoft Sympathiser for saying this, but... ...shit like third parties having their way with Windows is probably a very big reason why Vista isn't as great as it could be.
I understand your argument and it does make sense. I even agree that some of the new features in Vista are better than what is offered by the competition (I submitted feature requests to both Kubuntu and OS X and Windows asking for those types of audio controls years ago). I think where we disagree is that you seem to have some sort of an idea that antitrust regulation is supposed to be hurting MS and making their products worse or something.
The point of antitrust actions is to force a company to compe
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