Microsoft Busting Its Own Browser+OS Myth 204
An anonymous reader writes "Longtime Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley used her Redmond magazine column this month to point out that after years of arguing that the browser is 'inextricably linked' to the operating system, the company's current push to get users to drop IE 6 for newer versions, plus IE's separate release schedule, are disproving its own argument. From the article: 'Microsoft has insisted that its browser is part of Windows, and, ironically, that's coming back to haunt the company. Customers can mix and match different versions of IE with different versions of Windows. ... But Microsoft has done very little to get this message out there. I'd argue this is because it makes plain the absurdity of the company's claims that IE is part of Windows.'"
Re:Why should they care now? (Score:5, Funny)
It's almost like there's some kind of Application Programming Interface layer there. Wouldn't that be new and interesting?
New and interesting, you say? You should apply for a patent!
Re:Nobody believed it at the time (Score:3, Funny)
Just wait until Google says it can't unbundle Chrome from the Chrome OS...
Re:When is a line not a line? (Score:3, Funny)
The operating system manages the hardware, and provides an interface between the hardware and applications. Everything else is an application (including most libraries, since they're just reusable parts of applications).
br/?
That's the definition of a microkernel. But that is irrelevant in a discussion about Windows, which is a monolithic kernel and does other things like incorporating a TCP/IP stack, file systems, virtual memory, etc -- none of which fit your definition of what an OS should do. So the GP's point is well taken - there is no single agreed-upon definition of what should be in the operating system, and what should be left to user-space; different operating systems do it differently.
Re:Why should they care now? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm afraid geology and deep web isn't something I have experience in, so any pointers would be helpful.
0x3859FA23 0xDE29018E 0xB538DD86 0x76A1FFFF
You're welcome.
Re:Nobody believed it at the time (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why should they care now? (Score:1, Funny)
You must be a computer support professional, your answer is simultaneously completely correct and totally useless.