As the decades passed by, the codename Cairo changed to the brand name Vista, which would have three primary features, as stated by Microsoft eleven years later, in 2003:
1. Fix Windows' security problems with code access security in .NET.
2. Merge the Internet and the desktop through XAML-hosted browsers. (Eh? I thought the two were united when billg made IE part of WE in XP.)
3. Un-tie data from applications through the WinFS object-oriented file system.
Eighteen years later, none of these are in 7. Instead, 7 is all about bright baubles and fewer free apps.
And I am glad the three are missing. As is usually the case with Microsoftian concepts, these three are idiotic. Here's why:
1. Code access security would create a mess for applications and users alike. UAC (user access control) was just a small hint of how bad it would be. Software firms would have to completely rewrite their apps to work with Windows. Might as well rewrite them to an operating system that was designed to be secure from the beginning -- Unix-based Linux and the Unix-based Mac.
2. Merging the Internet and the desktop creates a security nightmare. The desktop is secure; the Internet is not. billg never understood that.
3. WinFS [Windows file system] was to turn all data into objects, so that any app could work with any data, in theory. In practice, of course, nonesense. The master idea was to have all of Microsoft's software work with "all" data, driving other vendors out of business, as Microsoft nearly managed to do in the transition from DOS to Windows.
In a couple of years time, Microsoft itself will tell us that 7 was a failure. It need will need the excuse to resell us to the software, this time numbered Eight.
Media Hostility
What is especially fascinating is the general media's skepticism of Microsoft, in interviews granted in the days leading up to today. Even downright hostility. Kind of like they were dealing with a Republican president.
For its part, Microsoft continues to mislead. When asked by the National Post about the many variants of Windows 7, the Microsoft Canada rep claimed there were just 2 -- and then partly corrected herself: 3. There are 7 base versions, and then more than 20 others (upgrades, family packs, student versions -- this week's Best Buy flyer is ugly with details). Still thinking like a monopolist, still thinking they can fool the people.
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