You would think that computing vendors would know the rules of the end game by now. Its Interoperability, Interoperability, Interoperability, Stupid!! No, major players like Intel have to go off on their Itanium proprietary stunts – and then get reeled in by AMDs Opteron which preserves the huge, immense investment in the X86 architecture while moving to the 64bit world. So now get this – Intel is copying the AMD instruction set with its new Nocona line.
Ditto for Microsoft with Longhorn. A new WinAPI, new all different device drivers, and a new WinFS filesystem. Meanwhile security is turned over to a magic chip. And then the need to deliver on software assurance while giving users time to upgrade to XP means that Longhorn suddenly become GodKnowsWhatItWillBeHorn. The splintered scripting, multiflagellant GUI forms frameworks, split CLR-managed-versus-unmanaged code personality, the great Pollution of a Registry, the great GordianKnot of proprietarily coupled Window desktop to server applications – hit the WindowsNextgeneration Pinada with a stick – and damn if anybody from Redmond can tell you right now what “Surprise Surprise” will fall out. Now thats what I call planning.
OEMs and ISVs should know better. The end game of n-tier, distributed processing is going on. RIP to rip and replace. Organizations want backward compatibility, preservation of existing valuable IT system assets as much as possible, IT systems integration – I spell that Interoperability, Interoperability, Interoperability.
No Steve, it is no longer Developers, Developers, Developers – you have Black Widow Spider stung too many of them. Its Interoperability, Interoperability, Interoperability, Stupid.