Microsoft is in turmoil. Besides being vigorously pursued by the government for its monopolistic practices, MS is also still playing catch-up in the Internet world, and in general its revenue base seems threatened. The future direction it takes with its Windows Operating System will impact us all. What is going on?
To start the discussion: What is an Operating System (OS)? Very simply, it is the programming in a computer which is central to its operation, and which permits programmers to write application programs easily, accurately, and with compatibility to other programs. The OS provides "services", which programmers use. Services are, for example, writing to the screen, reading the keyboard, handling the hard drives and diskettes, modem communications, networking, etc. Using common services makes programs reliable and consistent.
In the early 80's when the first IBM PCs came out, the Operating System (OS) was MS-DOS. This OS provided a very minimal set of services to the programmer. As a consequence, programs were developed that all worked differently, had no consistency of keyboard or mouse usage, and often did not interoperate with each other. Your DOS-based PC generally ran one program at a time, and you had to learn every new program from the ground up.
MS Windows provided a much richer set of services and also imposed very important restrictions on programmers. The result is an environment in which you can run many programs at the same time, the programs can interact with each other competently, and installing new programs is a breeze. Windows programs look and act the same, making it very easy to learn each new program.
One issue with computers today is "Ease of Use". Most people consider PCs hard to use, and they are probably correct. In the guise of improving "ease of use", MS is now altering the future direction of Windows. Right now, there are a number of versions of Windows being sold and its getting confusing. MS has always had two different Windows platforms - one for home / small office, and one for business. The most common home version is Windows 98 SE, which is fairly stable and usable. However, the version shipping is now Windows 98ME. ME added some new features and improved reliability and system recovery. The current business OS is Windows 2000, but this has client and server variations.
Microsoft has always contended that it would converge both operating systems in the future. They have now announced something called Windows XP (there seems to be disagreement about what XP stands for). Theoretically, this will be the converged OS.
But I think not. I do not believe there will be a converged product for a long time - and here is why. The business OS needs to be stable and reliable. On the other hand, home and individual users want an OS that supports all the latest hardware and software toys and goodies. You just can't have an OS supporting the latest bleeding edge devices, and have it be stable. It just can't happen.
Now, when MS realizes that it still has to support two OS types, the "ease of use" factor will again become important. This will move MS to make the home OS "dumber" in the theory that "dumber" is "easier to use". So, in the future, your choice will be "dumb" OS or the stable business OS that doesn't support the latest devices and software. The "dumb" OS will limit function and tend to just be a platform to generate more revenue. Don't be surprised when ads start appearing on your screen directly from Windows - not just within some (usually free) applications. Stay tuned...
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).