Unbundling Microsoft Windows

[Freston]

Hardware and software sold separately. It has been discussed before, but now it's getting serious: A European think tank proposes the unbundling of Microsoft Windows. Read here


Do you think it's a good idea?


Add:
I opened this thread because I'm seriously interested. If the mods think the subject violates the Forum rules, I will understand. The subject is 'sensitive'. Be nice

[oz]

I think it should at least be offered as an option for buying a computer.

[zoanon]

My opinion is that the trend is to unbundle functions from the pc desktop entirely, both hw & sw. By this I mean that our Ipods, Iphones, PMP's and other gadgets now represent functionality that used to be either on the desktop or other large stationary electronics devices.

As these little devices become ever richer in functionality we will be weaned away from needing the pc for everyday functions and they will divert back to being used for storage and offline processing of multimedia files.

The age of PC dominance is over and the age of communicating highly portable devices has just begun. And in that arena, other OS's like Linux are competing well with MS offerings. The new Iphones have an embedded version of OSX running them for instance.

Just some thoughts.

[carlosponti]

should be an option not mandated.

ps portable devices will add to our world not knock the pc into retirement. pc will always be here in some form.

[techieMoe]

My opinion is that the trend is to unbundle functions from the pc desktop entirely, both hw & sw. By this I mean that our Ipods, Iphones, PMP's and other gadgets now represent functionality that used to be either on the desktop or other large stationary electronics devices.

There are those who like their all-in-one gadgets, but for every one of those, there are two who prefer separate single-task gadgets. I for instance just want a phone that is a phone. I like my iPod for playing music and my Gameboy for playing games.

As these little devices become ever richer in functionality we will be weaned away from needing the pc for everyday functions and they will divert back to being used for storage and offline processing of multimedia files.

PCs are of course useful for things like this, but I don't see the vast majority of folks who were raised on PCs (see everyone born in the mid-to-late 1980s) giving them up entirely in favor of all-in-one gadgets.

The age of PC dominance is over and the age of communicating highly portable devices has just begun.

Many said in the 1990s that the age of the mainframe computer was over. They said COBOL was a dead language and distributed computing was the future. Thousands of lines of COBOL code are still in use today, and IBM's big iron mainframes still sell well, although they are increasingly being powered by Linux rather than proprietary UNIX. All the major US banks use mainframes.

Now we see the increasing trend of more and more common computer tasks and applications being run by a central server. Full office suites are being offered by Microsoft and Google. The days of dumb terminal computers that simply plug into a network jack may be returning.

History is cyclical. I'm sure there will be some great advancement in personal computers in the future that will shift the trend back toward standalone computer systems. Gadgets are no exception. They will eventually reach a point where manufacturers try to cram too many features into one device and you end up with something that does many different things but none of them well. (See the flailing PDA market.)

Would I mind seeing Linux on any of the systems I mentioned above? Of course not. In fact, as mentioned before, Linux is already on most of them and will only continue to grow.

[carlosponti]

dont know if many people know this but you can compile cobol in the .net framework somehow. its supported anyhow. i too just like a phone to be a phone and i dont need to be that connected to everything.

[techieMoe]

dont know if many people know this but you can compile cobol in the .net framework somehow. its supported anyhow.

A mainframe coworker of mine (who formerly worked for BMC Software) said that there are a few things in the computer world that could clearly be called "abominations." One of those was object-oriented COBOL.

[carlosponti]

ha ha. it was one of the languages i had to learn for my degree. Cobol Basic C Java Visual Basic and even Assembly. Took C++ as an elective. but cobol was fun and a pretty direct programming language. plus there were those who tried making it an event driven programming language like basic did for visual basic.

[techieMoe]

ha ha. it was one of the languages i had to learn for my degree. Cobol Basic C Java Visual Basic and even Assembly. Took C++ as an elective. but cobol was fun and a pretty direct programming language. plus there were those who tried making it an event driven programming language like basic did for visual basic.

You had a much wider curriculum than my plan. We had C, C++ and X86 Assembly. Java was only available as an elective. I can't say I missed not having to plow through Visual Basic (though I did anyway as a hobby).

[LegionZero]

Hardware and Software sold separately, this is a good idea, bad idea situation.

Firstly, I have practically always built my own systems (except my first 286 AT) and then installed software on them and after I work out all the bugs and kinks it all runs smooth, however, there exists hardware that only plays 'nice' with certain software and therein lies the problem. In my years of system support I have encountered with many bundled systems that don't work well and major fiddling is required, I have seen this on Compaq (before they were bought) and HP systems. So, if this happens to bundled systems, what happens when you un-bundle?

I do believe the buyer should be given a choice as to what OS to put on your PC (lately I have been busy un-installing Vista and installing XP on many computers) however this choice has to be given on tried and tested systems. It becomes a moot point to offer vista, xp, debian and FreeBSD if the system (and all its little features) will only work at 100% with Vista.