This is an exciting year for the OS wars. With Gutsy Gibbon just released last 18th of October, the Mac OS X Leopard being released today, and the dust over over Windows Vista not having settled yet, I think things are looking up for the OS horizon. We are back in the glory of the 80s, folks, when OS competition was healthy, with the freedom of choice at an all-time high, and enthusiasm for computers and software on an unparalleled level.
It’s just that today, this enthusiasm is magnified, to levels that “exponential” doesn’t even cover.
You don’t need to look too far to see that even youngsters are affected with this phenomenon. I found this video on YouTube the other day, as I was looking through HappySlip’s favorites:
At that age, I was being royally harassed by my Turbo Pascal programming subject. And this kid, at 14, is conducting his own “speed test” run between Vista and OS X. 🙂 Nice. Well, there isn’t much of brain surgery involved in this, anyway, but then I just really appreciate his interest in computers.Before I go on, I would just like to say that it’s funny how, on my “monthsary” with my fiance, Steve Jobs releases the Leopard. Nice coincidence.Anyway, to move on, I would also like to state that Microsoft Windows developers are answering the Intarwebs-wide criticism of the Windows kernel. In this article by Mary Jo Foley, she reports that Windows developers are actually working on stripping down the core of Windows, removing the dependencies, so that they can finally understand it again, then build new OS’s on top of it.
Well, that’s as far as I can understand geek talk. I told you, I’m a dummyGEEKgurl. :p
Anyhow, in as much as I will forever hate Steve Ballmer and wish that someone like Jim Allchin was at the helm instead, I can just content myself with standing at the sidelines and watch the OS giants and their generals (Steve Jobs, Mark Shuttleworth, and Steve Ballmer) duke it out on their playing field.
Just lemme go grab some pop corn, nachos, pancakes, choco syrup, maple syrup, ice cream, potato chips and muesli (for health-conscious effect). This is gonna be one long game. :p