http://it.slashdot.org/it/05/04/22/1848206.shtml?tid=201&tid=187&tid=218
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fastforward/0,15704,1052600,00.html
Microsoft's New Mantra - It Just Works
Windows
Businesses
IT
Posted by Zonk on Friday April 22, @03:47PM
from the we'll-see-when-we-see dept.
bonch writes "Fortune has a story about Microsoft's new philosophy--'It just works.' Jim Allchin details various planned Longhorn features to meet this goal, such as auto-defragmenting in the background, the ability to have files in more than one folder simultaneously, and the new ad campaign Microsoft is running to get people excited about Windows. Mentions are also made of the competition from Linux, OS X Tiger, and Google."
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fastforward/0,15704,1052600,00.html
DAVID KIRKPATRICK
Microsoft's New Mantra: 'It Just Works'
Windows guru Jim Allchin talks to FORTUNE about Microsoft's next version of its operating system, Longhorn, revealing some of its features for the first time.
FORTUNE
Thursday, April 21, 2005
By David Kirkpatrick
Jim Allchin, Microsoft's group vice president for platforms, looked at my Apple PowerBook and smugly pointed out that the number of copies of Windows sold this year will be more than all the Macintosh computers used worldwide. By the end of 2005, he proudly noted, over 730 million people will be using Windows. Business is good, he said, as he began to quickly page through his elaborate PowerPoint presentation. For the next hour and a half, in a stuffy Manhattan hotel room last week, Allchin gave me a fast-paced, enthusiastic lecture on Windows' latest updates, which will be released later this month, and on its next major versionLonghorn, which won't be released until the end of 2006.
Allchin, a wiry-built 54-year-old who has been in charge of Windows for almost a decade, is admirably blunt about his own frustrations using the current operating system. It annoys him, for example, that the adjustments necessary to move a laptop from a work to a home network aren't obvious. Longhorn, he said, will make that process easy, along with many other common tasks. If you want a Longhorn machine to automatically configure itself so you can work in a coffee shop, it will. If you put in a DVD, the volume will automatically adjust and the video will just start playing full screen. You shouldnt have to spend a lot of time struggling with things, Allchin said, adding that the number one design goal for Longhorn has been: It just works.
As Allchin detailed Longhorns many features, publicly disclosing some for the first time, he noted that many will be under the covers. Which means, for example, Longhorn will automatically clean up, or defragment, your hard drive, if it is required. You wont even know its happening. There will be lots of little goodies for home and work, he added. Many of which will be focused on security.
Much has been made in the computer press recently of the surprising similarities between Longhorn and Apple's upcoming new Macintosh operating system, Tiger. (See Peter Lewis's recent column, Apple's 'Tiger' to Stalk Rivals April 29.) The bottom line is that both will make finding items in our ever-increasing digital stores of information and entertainment much easier. Longhorn doesnt just show you an icon for a document, for example, but rather an itsy-bitsy picture of the first page. If you have a really good monitorand eyesightyou could even read the numbers in that spreadsheet. You also will be able to put files simultaneously in different folders, and find the one you want with much more ease than you can today. Microsofts research shows that the average corporate employee spends about 20% of her time on the PC simply looking for items. Were trying to go beyond search into what we call visualization and organization, said Allchin.
But Longhorn won't be released for another year and a half. In the meantime, Microsoft has to contend with Apple's Tiger as well as with Linux's open-source operating system. Linux is making significant inroads into Microsofts markets, especially on servers. And many people, including me, consider Apple to have a superior operating system. But Allchin doesn't seem to be worried. He didnt even show much concern over Google's incredible rise, even though, as my colleague Fred Vogelstein describes in his cover story in the current FORTUNE, Gates vs. Google: Search and Destroy, Bill Gates is increasingly troubled about that companys inroads into software territory that Microsoft has historically owned.
Allchin did have a lot a lot to say about a major change that is coming to Windows this month. Rather than running just on computers that process 32 bits of data at a time, the new version will run on chips that process 64 bits. For Allchin, this is a very big deal for businesses and individuals. The reasons are technical, but the bottom line is that 64-bit computers will be much faster. They should also be more secure. With Intel and AMD, the world's major chip suppliers, moving to 64 bit, Allchin predicted that by the end of the year all chips sold to computer companies for servers will be 64 bit as will about half of all chips for desktop and laptop PCs. By the end of 2006, he said, it will be hard to find even laptops that arent 64-bit enabled. Longhorn will work on 64- and 32-bit computers.
A major ad campaign slated to start in coming weeks will trumpet the notion that you can do many great things using Windows. Allchin called it a celebration. But the company will launch an even bigger campaign next year in support of Longhorn. Well put massive emphasis on this in terms of marketing and dollars, Allchin told me.
Windows is only getting started, as far as Allchin is concerned. As Internet-connected devices proliferate, the software will become even more pervasive, going well beyond its historic roots on the PC. If its got arithmetic logic on it, then I think our software should be targeting it, he said confidently. By that definition, theres barely a digital device thats excluded.
For all the advances that Microsoft and other computer companies have made in recent years, and despite the fact that PCs are central to many of our lives, its still hard to use them. So it was reassuring to hear the main guy responsible for making their software predict that the situation will improve soon. I hope that he's right when he says that future systems will "just work."
In next week's column, Ill take a look at Microsoft Office's trajectory. I talked to Jeff Raikes, who is responsible for that ubiquitous piece of software.
And finally, a clarification: In last week's column, I didnt sufficiently emphasize that the key to protecting your home wireless network is to use a password. My own problems only began when I sneaked onto a neighbors unprotected network.
Questions? Comments? E-mail them to me at dkirkpatrick@fortunemail.com
