Microsoft Longhorn: HOLY SYSTEM SPECS

[Alrindel]

No operating systems require a monthly bill. This sounds like a total bald-faced lie though. I'm sure this is only for corporate sales and it also includes on-site support and whatnot.

Uh, it's no secret that this has been Microsoft's announced long-term strategic end goal for many years now.  Everything they have done since December 1995 should be looked at in that light: integration of Internet connectivity into every level of the OS and core apps, the Windows Update technology, the .NET/passport architecture, the "system activation" restrictions in recent versions of Windows and Office - Bill Gates has been moving to transform Microsoft into a utility for nearly ten years now.  And no, it's not just for corporate licenses - he wants every home in the world connected to electricity, water, cable, telephone and Microsoft.

When you understand this, it also shines a lot of light on why Microsoft hates the open source movement so bitterly at the corporate level.  Linux and company aren't simply a minor annoyance nibbling away at MS's software sales - they represent a massive obstacle in their strategic path.  How can you convince the world that an operating system is a utility that you should pay a subscription for when there's a large group of influential people who believe the exact opposite, that operating systems and core applications should be free and in the public domain?

[Murgos]

...snipped a lot of stuff about RedHat Enterprise...

What's Fedora then?  It sure looks like a Free RedHat Linux OS to me...

Don't let the 'not a supported product of RedHat' fool you they just mean you can't call them for tech support.  Try calling Microsoft for tech support for your version of WinXP Home and see how 'supported' it is.

edit: snipped from thier FAQ -

Q:     What is the errata policy for The Fedora Project?

A:
   

Security updates, bugfix updates, and new feature updates will all be available, through Red Hat and third parties. Updates may be staged (first made available for public qualification, then later for general consumption) when appropriate. In drastic cases, we may remove a package from The Fedora Project if we judge that a necessary security update is too problematic/disruptive to the larger goals of the project. Availability of updates should not be misconstrued as support for anything other than continued development and innovation of the code base. Updates will be available for two to three months after the release of the subsequent version; that is, updates for Fedora Core 1 will be provided for two to three months after the release of Fedora Core 2, and so forth.

Red Hat will not be providing an SLA (Service Level Agreement) for resolution times for updates for The Fedora Project. Security updates will take priority. For packages maintained by external parties, Red Hat may respond to security holes by deprecating packages if the external maintainers do not provide updates in a reasonable time. Users who want support, or maintenance according to an SLA, may purchase the appropriate Red Hat Enterprise Linux product for their use.

If you don't like the money your paying for your service agreement check out Fedora.  They do provide continuous updates on all the software packages they just aren't guaranteeing to continuously support outdated versions.  So yes you have to keep your core updated to stay inthe errata fixes.  Big Deal.

[Soukyan]

...snipped a lot of stuff about RedHat Enterprise...

What's Fedora then?  It sure looks like a Free RedHat Linux OS to me...

Don't let the 'not a supported product of RedHat' fool you they just mean you can't call them for tech support.  Try calling Microsoft for tech support for your version of WinXP Home and see how 'supported' it is.

Oh, right. Fedora. Full of bugs and missing a ton of software from the regular RedHat version because of licensing fees. Yet another free distro that lacks what I need, although it is damn close and I have been keeping an eye on it. It'll still be another year or so before it does everything I need it to do. But I'm not arguing the fact that I have a choice between paying and getting a free distro. I think your average end user wouldn't know where to begin with a free distro of Linux so it's a non-issue.

As to Windows XP Home, I have two licenses for it. I have had to call MS all of two times for issues relating to the OS. Both issues turned out to be hardware problems on my end. The great thing about it was that for both support calls (which were covered by my license purchase), Microsoft had spent several hours with me. Instead of taking away those support calls, since their OS was not at fault for the problem, they "refunded" my support calls as it were, so I still had them available to me for any future issues. I thought that was a rather nice gesture on their part and was very pleased at it.

This is not to say they have better tech support than other companies. When you purchase their OS, you get two tech support calls and unlimited installation support. After that, you're looking at $35 per tech support call. Other OS makers, such as RedHat, give you unlimited 24/7 tech support. When they are as widely used as Windows, that will change. Even with outsourcing, tech support costs companies a lot of money and they will cut costs wherever they can.

[HaemishM]

Yes, you WILL be paying a monthly subscription for OSes. And software. This is the vision of the future Microsoft has.

You don't get a CD. You don't run the Microsoft Office locally. All the software you run or own is run remotely, through a web/Net connection and you either pay a per use charge, a per document charge, or you pay a monthly subscription fee for unlimited uses and constant updates to the software. Since you aren't running the software locally, you are always running the latest version of the software.

Now granted, this is the model of 5-10 years in the future, but it IS a model they would love to move to. Yes, Word will be an MMOG. I don't know of too many MMOG's that are pirated.

Welcome to the .NET world.

[Soukyan]

Yes, you WILL be paying a monthly subscription for OSes. And software. This is the vision of the future Microsoft has.

Yes. But it's not just Microsoft. IBM will be announcing web-based applications sometime this week. I must look up more details on that, but the short of it is that Bill Gates is not the only capitalistic mind pushing for this model. Get over the MS hatred and learn to hate all capitalistic software developers equally, or you could embrace the capitalism and make some astute investments to become one of those rich guys. How's the saying go? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. ;)

[edit]
It was announced today apparently. IBM is releasing web-based desktop office applications to compete with Microsoft Office. The IBM offering, since it will be web-based, will be usable by any platform.

As to the cost:

The company plans to charge customers $2 per user per month for access to the software, plus the cost of server software, such as IBM?s WebSphere, that's needed to make the system work. IBM intends to make the bulk of its revenue from the new plan on sales of the server software.

[/edit]

[Alrindel]

I don't know of too many MMOG's that are pirated.

I do.

[schild]

Heh, Alrindel beat me too it, there are tons of MMO's pirated. At one point, I had folders with freeshard software in them for:

AC
DAoC
EQ
NWN
RO
Subspace
UO

Ahem, people are getting dangerously close to WoW, SWG, and a few other games as well.

[TripleDES]

Microsoft ditched any subscription plans it had somewhen shortly after the release of WinXP. The reason was Linsux. If MS was to raise subscription fees over their OS, people would run over in masses. They're well aware of it.

The only subscription like stuff you'll ever encounter (if at all) in Longhorn will be these shitty MSN(-like) services, just bound into Longhorn itself with means of sidebar tiles and shit like that. Nothing someone would miss if not subscribed to.

[HaemishM]

I don't know of too many MMOG's that are pirated.

I do.

I do not consider MMOG Emulators to be pirated in the sense that no matter how much of the client software you steal or the server software you emulate, you can never play with the paying customers. Most of the human world does not and will not ever know or give a shit about emulators, mainly because of the pain in the ass it is to actually run one as a user, much less as a server admin.

However, that changes when the emulated software isn't an online multiplayer game and doesn't require other people to make it worthwhile. Emulations in this scenario would have to be attacked with an RIAA-style fervor.

Not that Microsoft is averse to that. Hell, where do you think the RIAA learned it from?