longhorn
Latest
Bill Gates: "security guys break the Mac every single day"
I'm all for competition in the marketplace. I'm even for friendly puns between rival competitors and the camps that follow them, especially since you have to have a sense of humor about them in the first place. But don't we also need a sense of reality?In a Vista-pimping interview with Newsweek yesterday, Bill Gates appears to be taking off the gloves with an all-out attack on the Mac. When questioned about accusations of copying Mac OS X features, Bill began accusing Apple of the exact opposite, and he also postulated that "maybe we shouldn't have showed so publicly the stuff we were doing." While he is of course referring to the 2003 demonstration of Longhorn, this isn't even the half of it. Bill also tried to turn their reputation for swiss-cheese security around on Apple, claiming: "Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." I'm sorry: "Total exploit?" Did anyone else see something from the rear end of a bull just fly over their shoulder? I'm no security fanboy for the Mac, but perhaps Bill got the wrong impression of how (not so) widespread the exploits from MOAB - the Month of Apple Bugs - actually became. Or perhaps he forgot that it's Microsoft who has had to set up regular patch release schedules to help throttle the damage. All things considered, however, I can understand if Bill lost track; regularity can sometimes numb the pain, breeding forgetfulness in the process.Check out the rest of the, uh... 'interesting' interview for some other great zingers from the big G-man. If you ask me, he sure is shaping up to retire with a bang in 2008.
Microsoft sez "all done" on Vista
It's been a long hard road for Vista, beginning in 2001 -- before Windows XP was even released -- as the bright-eyed bushy-tailed "Longhorn," and finally getting out the door more than 5 years later looking a little bit worse for wear, but still lumbering on. Today Microsoft announced that Vista has been released to begin manufacturing copies of the OS, putting it right on track for its November 30th release to big businesses customers, and the January 30th release to consumers. Of course, the job of an OS developer is never finished, and we're sure Microsoft is already gearing up to patch day one vulnerabilities, but we suppose the developers can have a few hours in between to crack open a cold one, plop down for a bit of Gears of War, and celebrate this monumental achievement -- at around 50 million lines of code, they sure seem to have earned it.
The elephant in the room: Apple pulls a Microsoft, delays Leopard past original promise
The first bell that rung in my ear when Steve announced Mac OS X 10.5's ship date of Spring 2007 was: "Apple just pulled a Microsoft". I know, I know: those words might be nails on the chalkboard in your head, but it's true. Leopard was originally promised for Fall 2006, and now it's been bumped back to 2007.Now don't get me wrong, if they need the time to work on it and bang out all the new features (including those secret ones they couldn't even show today) then by all means the company should take their time. I'm simply interested in the ramifications, if any, of a delay like this.Microsoft has received boatloads of criticism from every media outlet imaginable for continually delaying Longhorn Vista for the last 4 years. Some have postulated that today's modern and feature-packed OSes might be getting too big for their britches. Even those recent prominent un-switchers in the media also cited buggy software and wonky Mac OS X problems as part of their reasoning for jumping ship.I'm not trying to Pull a Dvorak™ and invent some crisis here or anything, but could some of these complications be making their way into the Apple side of the fence? Each new version of Mac OS X has brought incredible innovation with it (and these 10 new Leopard features are no exception), but also slightly more instability and 'growing pains' as well. Mail.app is widely harped on for a good number of reasons, namely instability and flakiness. GarageBand rocks, but only until you try to use the fancy podcast recording features. Even the cutting-edge new Spotlight is a great concept with a decent implementation, but it too suffers problems of inaccuracy, sluggish performance (even on recent machines like my MBP) and over-activity.What do you TUAW readers think though? Is the new Leopard ship date cause for alarm? Do you think you'll pick up the 1.0 release, or wait for initial reports and the subsequent updates? Sound off![UPDATE: For clarification, many reports since the introduction of Leopard have changed their tune for a release of 'late 2006/early 2007', but plenty of them, at least around the original announcement, specified Fall 2006.]
Microsoft plans update to "misleading" Vista Upgrade Advisor
If you've been frustrated because Microsoft's Vista Upgrade Advisor gave your blazing-fast, three-month-old, $10,000, gaming monster PC a bad rating, you're not alone. In addition to consumers, chipmakers such as VIA and AMD have commented to Microsoft about the program's deficiencies. Now, Microsoft, admitting that the results can be "misleading," plans to revise the tool, including changes to the user interface to make information more accessible, and possibly fine-tuning the results so that they're more in line with standard industry benchmarks. So, if your PC flunked the test, your best bet is to wait a while before splurging on upgrades -- besides, it's not like you don't have plenty of time before you'll need to be Vista-compatible.
Windows Vista delayed again ... maybe
We have to admit to occasionally sharing in some of the schadenfreude that surfaces on the internets every time Microsoft announces yet another Windows Vista delay. However, this time we're willing to cut them a little slack. While headlines have been screaming about a new delay all day today, most of them seem to be based on some fairly ambiguous comments by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Speaking with NEC execs in Japan, Ballmer commented that "We think we are on track for shipping early in [2007]. We've talked about the month, but we get a chance to critically assess all of the feedback we'll get from this beta release then confirm or move [the launch date] a few weeks." Ballmer also commented that he was looking forward to feedback from "hardware partners" about "when would they really like it." Now, a cynical take on Ballmer's comments would be that he's using the recently announced second beta of Vista, along with possible requests from hardware vendors, as an excuse to set the stage for a forthcoming announcement that Vista will indeed be delayed beyond January 2007. However, we'll look at the glass as half-full this time: Ballmer is truly interested in hearing from the beta testers and computer manufacturers, and really wants to factor their findings and needs into Vista's launch date. Besides, the thing is so late already; what's a few more weeks between friends, right?
Microsoft launches "Get Ready" program for Vista upgrades
Microsoft has officially launched its Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, as part of a new "Get Ready" program designed to convince consumers to rush out and buy new hardware and keep the PC industry afloat, er, we mean, help consumers prepare for Vista before it arrives early next year. If you run the program on any recently purchased PC, chances are you'll get a thumbs up for basic Vista functions. But be forewarned: if your graphics card isn't up to snuff, you'll probably get a warning that you'll need to upgrade if you want that fresh Aero look. And forget about getting advice from Microsoft about upgrading peripherals; just about everything connected to your PC is likely to be met with a suggestion that you "contact the manufacturer." Not that we're worried; chances are that by the time Vista is finally released, we'll have gone through at least a couple of upgrade cycles on our desktop, and should be ready to run whatever it is that Microsoft finally throws at us.[Via CNET]
Windows Vista to be delayed yet again?
Given Microsoft's recent woes -- the company seems to be under attack by everyone from Wall Street analysts to Google -- the last thing the company needs is a rumor that Windows Vista won't be available by its recently revised January launch date. But that's what Redmond is getting hit with today, in the form of a research note from Gartner, which predicts a delay until at least June for the consumer version of the program. According to Gartner, the new OS is "too complex" to be ready by January. Microsoft has responded by saying that Vista is on target to make the launch. Gartner also says that a delay until the spring is "nowhere as bad" as the slip from fall to January, which will result in a Vista-free holiday season. Somehow, we suspect that beleaguered PC makers hoping for a sales bump from Vista upgrades might have a little trouble taking solace from that argument.
Stop copying me!
Microsoft and Apple have a long history of saying one is copying the other (I think you can figure out where we at TUAW stand on this issue). The most recent example of this comes from His Steveness himself, at the recent shareholder's meeting. Flush from all those profits he couldn't resist take a few shots at Microsoft.Jobs said that Microsoft is busy copying Apple's innovations, but that they 'can't even copy fast,' referring to Longhorn (the next version of Windows) ever changing ship date.
