Microsoft Signals Renewed Interest In Windows With Latest Reshuffle (theverge.com) 57
Microsoft is making some significant changes to the way it runs its Windows organization this week, signaling a renewed focus on the operating system that made its name. The Verge reports: The software giant placed Surface chief Panos Panay in charge of Windows earlier this year, and is now reshuffling parts of that team. It follows Microsoft's decision to slice Windows into two parts more than two years ago after the departure of former Windows chief Terry Myerson. Microsoft moved core Windows development to a cloud and AI team (Azure), and created a new group to work on Windows 10 "experiences" like apps, the Start menu, and new features.
Now, Microsoft is moving parts of Windows development back under Panos Panay's control. Specifically, that means the Windows fundamentals and developer experience teams have been returned to what we traditionally call the Windows team. It's an admission that the big Windows split didn't work quite as planned. [...] Thurrott.com has obtained an internal memo from Panos Panay that goes into detail on the changes being made here. While some core parts of Windows, particularly the engineering side, will stay with the Azure division, Microsoft's reshuffle is focused on cleaning up Windows to ship and update it reliably. The changes also align Microsoft's Project Reunion app work, bringing win32 and UWP apps closer together, with the Windows team.
Now, Microsoft is moving parts of Windows development back under Panos Panay's control. Specifically, that means the Windows fundamentals and developer experience teams have been returned to what we traditionally call the Windows team. It's an admission that the big Windows split didn't work quite as planned. [...] Thurrott.com has obtained an internal memo from Panos Panay that goes into detail on the changes being made here. While some core parts of Windows, particularly the engineering side, will stay with the Azure division, Microsoft's reshuffle is focused on cleaning up Windows to ship and update it reliably. The changes also align Microsoft's Project Reunion app work, bringing win32 and UWP apps closer together, with the Windows team.
Developers! (Score:1)
Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers ...... !!
To this day I can still see his pit sweat. My beard is grey now.
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Also, he's not saying "Developers", he's saying "The Ballot Burst".
Now try unhearing that next time you see the video...
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Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers ...... !!
To this day I can still see his pit sweat. My beard is grey now.
How embarrassing for Microsoft that Windows was much better under that raging ape than it is now. At least Ballmer didn't try to spy on you or force software changes or tell you that you couldn't control your own computer. He also released Windows 7, the best version of Windows that there ever was.
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While the Windows "internals" have been steadily improving, the User Interface and other parts have been in steady decline since Windows 2000. The Fisher-Price version of Windows (XP/2003) was the "cusp" version that could be configured as if it were a "computer" (classic mode) or left in the new Useless Interface mode and subsequently Windows has been engaged in a race to the bottom of the computing pile.
Windows 7 (and Vista) were the first versions supporting the new Useless Interface (UI) as the only op
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There is no real reason to operate Windows in the cloud - except maybe to host Windows-specific desktop applications via Citrix. Any traditional web-based cloud apps are better off being built and deployed on Linux - even in Microsoft's cloud. Microsoft has essentially acknowledged that by porting their server-based tools to Linux. So host your cloud apps on Azure if you must - but do it on Linux so you're not at Microsoft's mercy.
As far as fixing desktop Windows goes - well, sure, updates ought not to c
Windows 10 taught me to love (Score:5, Insightful)
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade
on my "headless" system
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Re:Windows 10 taught me to love (Score:5, Informative)
Microsoft has doesn't have the anti-open source zeal that it once had. Back then, it was personal. Now, open source is embraced only if it makes dollars and cents.
LOL because they now have DRM in the os, their embrace, extend, extingusih strategy worked largely because the public is stupid. Now all apps are client server (aka stolen) you no longer own your PC if you don't control honest binaries that execute on them. That was the whole point of UWP, to get rid of win 32 binaries and move to encrypted computing where Microsoft and app developers have full control over your PC.
The whole plan is to lock down the PC and it first began with the PC game industry in the mid 90' with mmo's, since they were a scam on the myopic public to steal PC RPG's by simply rebranding them and rejiggering the network code client server to get rid of game ownership. Which lead to steam in 2004. So they've sucessfully stolen everything and gotten away with it.
So the idea that Microsoft is pro open-ness is laughable when you look at the DRM in the OS and UWP and their papers on encrypted computing.
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The "kernel" ain't the problem. The problem is the UI (Useless Interface). Changing the "internals" will make absolutely zero difference if the Useless Interface remains the same (see Edge for an example).
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if there's one thing that windows 10 has improved over past windows versions, are OS upgrades. not counting the release that had the critical bug, you download one big update from windows update, install and reboot and you can almost forget you just installed something
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if there's one thing that windows 10 has improved over past windows versions, are OS upgrades.
Horseshit. They're forcing upgrades and reboots on people at inconvenient times. At least Windows 7 didn't do that. It might nag you forever and ever amen until you updated and/or rebooted, but that's far and away less harmful. I've seen dozens of people complain here on Slashdot alone that Windows 10 rebooted without asking and caused them to lose work.
There's also been more than one show-stopping update failure in Windows 10, too.
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to be fair, i did mention OS upgrades (meaning, upgrading the major version of the OS, not patches)
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Except of course that it takes 10x longer to think about getting ready top think about downloading that one patch than it used to take to download and install a bunch of individual patches.
The most unimproved thing in Windows 10 is the UI (the Useless Interface). Next is the update process. Then comes the built-in spyware and malice.
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Would be great if resulted in a "windows lite" (Score:4, Interesting)
A windows without the store, ads, cortana, general spying, just the bare minimum to run Windows executables with the lastest drivers.
But it's like expecting a volcano to spill ice at this point.
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Go back to the Windows 7 UI experience that still was usable. With Win 8 and Win 10 there appeared a market for classic shell and open shell to reclaim lost functionality.
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And junk all the telemetry.
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Just enable LTSC mode in Windows 10. It will remove all of that.
Re: Would be great if resulted in a "windows lite" (Score:2)
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It's pretty easy to get. If you want a niche product you may need to put some effort in, sure.
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I find it odd that you claim it's easy but you still haven't you explained how to "enable LTSC mode".
Re: Would be great if resulted in a "windows lite" (Score:3)
https://getblackbird.net/ [getblackbird.net]
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Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
it doesn't matter what meaningless shuffling goes on behind the scenes. Windows 10 is still a stinking, steaming mountain of rent-seeking, privacy-destroying, ad-riddled shit. Nothing short of Nadella admitting that and mandating a change will make it any better.
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it doesn't matter what meaningless shuffling goes on behind the scenes. Windows 10 is still a stinking, steaming mountain of rent-seeking, privacy-destroying, ad-riddled shit. Nothing short of Nadella admitting that and mandating a change will make it any better.
It's pretty much over, everything we worried about in the late 90's to mid 2000's came true due to the general public getting internet. First with mmo's and steam getting the stupid public to literally buy fraudulently client-server coded software to undermine control of customers PC's. Which lead to steam in 2004 and then another decade goes and we get uplay and origin.
The software companies greatest gift was getting internet and the computer illiterate masses online. Windows 10 is fully drm'd os and w
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Ah yes. We live in eternal September.
Everyone knew this would be the outcome. Thankfully we are not much longer for this world. It will be left to the eternal Septemberites who will continue to run everything into the ground for it is their way.
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Everyone here should care (Score:2)
it doesn't matter what meaningless shuffling goes on behind the scenes.
The shuffling behind the scenes previously pointed towards Microsoft abandoning Windows as an OS strategy. There were plenty of predictions that the focus on WSL was pushing towards a future where Windows didn't exist as an OS anymore than a userland which sits upon an open kernel. This would very much have improved your biggest complaint: that Windows even exists.
You should care about this.
They remembered they developed Windows (Score:2)
The operating system that made its name? (Score:5, Insightful)
Gates had a stranglehold on PC operating systems long before Windows was created.
Now get off my lawn.
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Gates had a stranglehold on PC operating systems long before Windows was created.
What is a PC? You're technically right, but the MS-DOS days I remember were days where every school kid's first computer was a Macintosh, every creative's computer was a Macintosh, to say nothing of the borderline non-existent presence in the corporate side until it made a deal with Novell. It wasn't until NT4 that MS even really seriously took on their market.
Microsoft completely dominating the entire consumer and corporate computer landscape didn't really come until Windows.
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You're technically right, but the MS-DOS days I remember were days where every school kid's first computer was a Macintosh, every creative's computer was a Macintosh, to say nothing of the borderline non-existent presence in the corporate side until it made a deal with Novell.
Revisionist history. IBM's PCs ruled the business world for the first half of the '80s. After that it was the clones. What computers do you even claim the business people were running? The Apple III?
The dominance of DOS pre-dates the announcement of the Macintosh. Sure, schools had been on the Apple II for several years, but public schools never had more than one Mac in the '80s.
And although Microsoft had a product named Windows in the '80s, their second OS came out under that name in 1993, years after Micr
The cool kids had Amigas (Score:3)
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In grammar school we had Texas Instruments TI-99 computers. In junior high school we had Apple IIGS computers. In high school we had IBM compatible computers, mostly 386 and 486 systems running MS-DOS and Windows 3.x.
Almost everyone I knew who had a computer growing up had an IBM compatible at home. One kid had an Amiga, another had a C64 and another had an Atari XE, but all of the others had XT and AT PCs. Nobody had or wanted a Mac (we all looked down on Macs because, at the time, they were only for compu
cleaning up Windows to ship and update it reliably (Score:2)
Paul Thurrott said... (Score:1)