Posts Tagged ‘Windows 9’

Caveat: I’ve been sitting on the information contained in this post for quite a while now, but it has finally perturbed me enough to put it out there for all of you (and myself, for that matter). If you would be so kind as to help spread the word, that would be great as the lie has spread like wildfire and taken on various forms, such as sites now reporting that Windows 8 will be 128-bit (ridiculous). Not only that, but the perpetrator that started this mess needs to be called out with fair warning given to all. What you choose to believe by the end of this post will be up to you, but my intentions here are to help sift out the garbage in a community full of journalists who – like me – truly bust their butts to bring you solid, unique, and honest content.

Most of you may recall the “exclusive” I posted on this almost 2 months ago now. As most of you may also recall, I’m no stranger to the LinkedIn profile browsing. Well, when I found Mr. Robert Morgan’s profile, I got WAY too excited for my own good. I whipped up that post as soon as I could, then took a step back to see if anyone else had found it. Well, as it had turned out, sometime like a week earlier, it had been, “found” by eightforums (I’ve linked the Google cached page for that link just in case they try to delete it and play none-the-wiser, as you can already compare it to the post on their page today to see that they deleted my comments calling them out on the issue). I say “found” because – as it turns out – it wasn’t really found at all. It was fabricated. Everything on that profile was garbage, and when you read back at what his job description said, it does indeed look like something a “journalist” would write so as to create one hell of a scoop. Check it out again:

Experience
Senior Research & Development Microsoft
Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry

 

January 2002 – Present (7 years 10 months)

 

Working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and longterm projects. Research & Development projects including 128bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan. Forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP and IBM.

Let’s critique this, shall we? First off, “working in a high-security department for research and development” is something that no employee working in those conditions would -in their right mind – write in their profile. I’ve seen some pretty amazing things pop up in people’s job profiles, but nothing so blatant. Second, Research and Development isn’t the Windows team. Each is its own department with its own funding and its own projects. At BEST, Windows 9 MIGHT be accurate here (as in, Research and Development is working on technologies that may make it into Windows much later), but it’s not. If anyone is going to be working on a 128-bit kernel for Windows, it’s going to be the architecture side of the Windows core team (David Cutler’s crew, etc.); not MSR.

I don’t think 128-bit is in the scope of anyone for the next 7-10 years. After all, 64-bit is rarely properly utilized these days – nevermind dropping 128-bit into the laps of devs and consumers! And that brings up another point… at best, 128-bit would exist only for very select industries that could truly use it right now. AMD’s Bulldozer project is real, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Windows 8 or, I would imagine, Windows 9, either.

Alright, so… let’s assume that profile was indeed real. eightforums was certainly enjoying the traffic off of their initial “find.” As a matter of fact, they somehow managed to land an exclusive interview with the guy afterwards! Once again, I’ve linked to the Google cached page for the same reason I did a few paragraphs ago. So… whatever happened with that interview, anyway? What happened with it is that it was one great big old pile of BS, that’s what happened with it! It was a big, fat lie (along with the cake, of course).

Yes, your supposedly down-right and honest Windows 8 market-cornering buddies over at eightforums managed to pull the wool over the eyes of almost every major news site out there. Unfortunately, enough minor details lined up enough for those like me to jump the gun and post what we did, when we did and without ever verifying if this guy was even an employee in the first place. This stuff happens sometimes and, well, I don’t take too kindly to it. Especially considering how much time and effort I know I put into bringing you all the content that I do – nevermind how much time and effort the countless other real journalists around the community put in! Not only that, but stuff like this makes a mockery of the credibility of the sites you know and trust. We’re as human as you are, though, so I’m one who is fully willing to say, “hey, this guy fooled me and I’m sorry he ended up fooling you, too, vicariously through my post.”

Now, a couple of days or so after all of this stuff went global, I noticed a couple of my respected peers make some comments on this story that started to make me take a second look at it all. First, Paul Thurrott said the following:

Windows 8 To Be 128-bit Only? LOL

 

Wow. I have to admit, the most amazing thing about this rumor is that anyone believed it. I won’t single anyone out, but spare me. It’s completely and utterly bogus. Obviously.

The fact that this all got around to him in the form that Windows 8 was going to be *ONLY* was baffling enough for me, never mind seeing the next hit being doled out by one Steven Bink of bink.nu:

Bink says: Sorry but this is BS so to say. We are still in the transition to 64bit, That Morgan guy does not exits at MS

By that time, I immediately thought back to the crap I had already called out the eightforums people on and then… it all just made too much sense that they would be the ones to fabricate garbage like this. At this point, I have now also verified (thanks to two kind Microsoft folks for checking for me) that Robert Morgan is/was nowhere to be found in the employee database. It was all just a load of crap created by a site desperate for traffic and attention. They throw up frivolous posts just to somehow meander Windows 8 into the text to boost their rank in search engines for the keyword. Not only that, but their forum is littered with garbage posts that – once again – only exist so as to skyrocket their keyword density.

So, now we’re at this juncture ONCE AGAIN with eightforums. First, it was stealing content from my site (which, I hope I’ve made clear will not be tolerated any longer) and now, one big lie heard ’round the net. And to top it off, dishonest means obviously get you somewhere since this guy was apparently at PDC 2009 as press! How he got in, I have no idea but at this point, I wouldn’t doubt it if he really wasn’t there and his PDC coverage was also a big, fat lie. Everything he wrote could have been discerned from watching the keynotes streaming online. Not to mention, out of all his blabber about, “I wonder if we will hear about Windows 8,” he produced a whole lot of NOTHING! My favorite line of his from PDC comes from his PDC Day 1 blog entry:

What can we dig up about Windows 8? I see tons of wannabe journalists and some actually talented bloggers, how will we be different then all the others? We’ll bring you the dirt!!, we’ll interview the top minds at the conference in the next few days to get all the best information. Like always, members of the Windows 8 forums will get the stuff we just can’t post here, all that leaked information, we try to get all our members to say things off record and sneak them into the underground circles of Windows 8 Forums, only members can see!

“Wannabe journalists,” huh? LOL! Oh, the irony. Lot of top minds he interviewed there, huh? Lot of Windows 8 information they were able to dig up, huh? And leave it to this guy to not only pull the wool over everyone’s eyes a couple of times, but his loyal followers by creating a paid membership for his website as well! He’s actually going to charge people for his lies. Man, if you’re a glutton for being ripped off, by all means, whip out that Paypal account… but if you’re AT ALL wise – even if you’re a member on that forum and see me as the bad guy because I’m taking shots at your “leader” – you’ll take a good look at the big picture here and see that this guy has provided absolutely NOTHING of substance for his readers or for this community. Nothing. Just a bunch of empty promises and cliffhangers. Where’s the PDC 2009 Windows 8 info you were going to dig up? Where are the interviews with the “top minds” about Windows 8? Where’s that Robert Morgan interview exclusive you supposedly had? I mean, to see just how bad it is, take a look at his latest ENLIGHTENING post:

Seriously? You’re *that* desperate to throw Windows 8 (and italicize it, none-the-less) into a story? lol. Oh, the humanity…

So, at this point, I can’t spell it out much clearer for everyone. For some reason, though, I can’t help but wonder who you’re going to believe: Some nobody site trying to corner the Windows 8 market by littering their site with pointless references to Windows 8, or tried-and-true individuals who have been in this community for countless years reporting the good with the bad and truly busting their butts to bring you content with REAL substance? I certainly hope the latter, as people like me calling out sites like eightforums serves me no purpose other than wasting my time and creating drama that I would rather not have to deal with. In cases like this, though, it’s totally worth it.

Update: Be sure to go to his site to catch him poking fun at the frequency of road maps I post. Even I laughed at it; nothing like a good bit of roasting every once in a while.

Update 2: I’ve decided to remove the antagonizing comment about awaiting negative comments from eightforums and disable comments for this post. End of discussion. If you have something to say, feel free to email me. Thanks to those of you who left supportive comments initially. I really do appreciate it.

-Stephen
http://www.msftkitchen.com

As noted previously here on Microsoft Kitchen, Windows 8’s user interface seems to be a fairly major focus. Though I have seen some odds-and-ends mentions on the web of folks who are working on the Windows 8 UI, the following profile I just stumbled across is a bit more telling than just someone working on the UI:

Manager of Windows 8 User Interface Designers at Microsoft

Managing and Improving software usability for over 10 years, designing, researching, and developing multi-tier distributed applications for Windows 8 focusing on customers using ecommerce, general consumers, and banking companies.

Again, while it is no surprised whatsoever that Microsoft is updating their UI in Windows 8, focusing on the UI in relation to such a broad userbase all in one release (and with the mention of multi-tier distributed applications), I stand firm in my belief that Windows 8 is shaping up to be one heck of a release. What do you think?

UPDATE:Google has an interesting cache of the LinkedIn profile I linked to above which adds details not previously listed when I originally stumbled upon it. It reflects what seems to be a close link between Windows 8 and Windows 9, based on how often I’m seeing the two mentioned together. To quote:

I work with other User Experience Directors and User Experience Designers deciding on successful feature possibilities by analyzing competing operating systems (Mac and Linux). Research customer reactions to these features in Windows 8 themes and planning for long-term products such as Windows 9 User Interfacing.

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

UPDATE 12/2/2009: It has been discovered that the information once contained in this article is false! It was a lie based off of a convincing fake profile created by eightforums.com. You can read all about it here: 128-Bit Kernel Support in Windows 8 and Windows 9: A Big, Fat Lie

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

One of my personal hobbies that I have the most fun with is keeping up with the future of Windows. Typically, whenever I run across a roadmap or some part in a presentation that makes me feel all warm and tingly, I post it here. Well, putting my nose to the grindstone and digging for Windows 8 information today (since it seems to be popping – up – all – over – recently), I actually ran across a mention of Windows 9. Now, I’m certainly no stranger to running into mentions of future versions of Windows:

November 2007: http://uxevangelist.blogspot.com/2007/11/windows-7-and-windows-8-wealth-of.html
July 2008: http://uxevangelist.blogspot.com/2008/07/windows-8-confirmed.html
August 2008: http://uxevangelist.blogspot.com/2008/08/windows-server-7-and-8-oh-and-9-too-yep.html

(Shameless self-pat-on-the-back there, hehehe)

Aside from that roadmap, the only mention I’ve heard of Windows 9 out of Microsoft was from an interview Mark Russinovich gave last year when he said, “…what are the important things Windows should be addressing in the next five years…and…so, looking further out past Windows 7 into Windows 8, Windows 9…” You can hear it here (@ 2:42). (And though I ran across this myself, Marius Oiaga of Softpedia apparently did a write-up about it back in September 2008, so I want to be fair and mention it)

Well, now I’ve run across a semi-dated presentation given March 11, 2009 by Dave Probert, Architect, Windows Kernel Group. It’s a short ‘n sweet mention, but he lists, “working on Windows 8 and Windows 9, including manycore, services, and core facilities” as his day job. No mention of Windows 7 there, so we can assume these guys must be well on their way developing for Windows 8… well, since March 11, at least.

That oh-so-casual mentioning of Windows 8 and Windows 9 has my noodle turning a bit more than is probably necessary. First, since he mentioned both Windows 8 AND Windows 9, does this mean they’re working on technology that will go into Windows 8 and – thus – into Windows 9, or does it mean they’re working on technologies for BOTH Windows 8 and Windows 9, respectively? If the latter, it makes me question if Windows 9 is going to be the introduction to everything that’s going into Midori or if it’s still going to be NT-based. Likewise, I wonder if Microsoft is going to keep the Windows name when they switch the underlying technology to whatever’s going into Midori – much like they did when dumping 9X and making NT the kernel for both their client and server operating systems – or if Windows will indeed be retired in lieu of a new name (heck, I wonder if THEY even know yet… My brain’s just wandering here, so nevermind me. lol).

Either way, Windows 8 and Windows 9 had might as well leave room for us to assume there to eventually be a Windows 10, 11, 12 et al, but I don’t like to assume these things… especially in light of such a small detail that leaves a lot to be read into (isn’t that part of the fun in all of this, though?). What do you think? Oh, and please can the, “oh, wow, it’s Windows 8; who would’ve ever guessed” comments. If you don’t care, then don’t waste your time and ours by letting us know; because we don’t care that you don’t care. lol.

Lastly, some of you may have missed a conversation back in February where Mark Russinovich set the record straight about the version number of Windows 7 and how they’re going to go forward with versioning. This pretty much sums it up right here:

Mark Russinovich: “And one comment about the version number, the version number change is actually one of the biggest impacts on application compatibility. When we moved to Windows Vista from XP going from a version number of 5.1 to 6, actually breaks lots of apps that check for the major version number. So a lot of people look at the version number and try to read something into it. Like, .1, well that’s now a major upgrade or rev over what we had previously, and actually it’s totally meaningless from that perspective. It’s just simply saying, this is a different version of the OS, and we are actually going to just rev the minor version number so that we don’t break those apps that are checking the major version number. If you follow that logic you can figure out the version number for Windows 8. Right, Mark?”

Mark Minasi: “So version 18 will be 6.1.1.1.1.1…”

Mark Russinovich: “Exactly.”

A little bit of comedy for you at the end there, but at least we can gauge more accurately the meaning of the version number from here forward (although I don’t know if Windows 8 is going to be 6.1.1 or 6.2, lol). Anyway, that’s it for now! More on Windows 8 and Windows 9 when I dig it up!

Resources:

Dave Probert’s Presentation: Download Here (Page 2 is the mention of Windows 8 and Windows 9)
Mark Russinovich’s Conversation: Download Here (Page 6 is where I’m referencing)

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Being a firm believer of following through and in an effort to once and for all clear the air with the whole “Windows 7 Server was always planned to be Windows Server 2008 R2,” I’ve decided to cook up a timeline of screenshots in chronological order from presentations found right on Microsoft’s servers. This basically shows the shift in timing where Windows 7 Server went from being planned as a major release to an update release (or R2, if you will). A few of these shots are new and a couple of them are already being used in a couple of previous Windows 7 Server posts of mine. If you’re a fairly new reader and haven’t seen those previous posts, then get up out of your chair, stand in it, and (very carefully) proceed to jump up ‘n down for joy while saying, “sinOFsky!” as if you’ve sneezed until someone says “gesundheit!” and asks you why you’re jumping up ‘n down. Show them my site and tell them to spread the word using the exact same method above. hehehe. Anyway, check it out:

What Was: Windows Server 2008 (Codename Longhorn Server) -> Windows Server 2008 R2 (Codename Longhorn Server R2) -> Codename Windows Blackcomb Server (Blackcomb became Vienna and Vienna became 7, so it was thought Windows 7 Server would indeed be what was to be Windows Blackcomb Server)

What Is: Windows Server 2008 (Codename Longhorn Server) -> Windows Server 2008 R2 (Codename: Windows 7 Server) -> Codename Windows 8 Server

2004 – 2005 (Windows Blackcomb Server): In presentations related to Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2, these roadmaps had Blackcomb Server coming after Longhorn R2. (Codename Longhorn Server became Windows Server 2008, so, Longhorn R2 would have been Windows Server 2008 R2 by these roadmaps).

2006 – Part of 2007 (Windows Vienna Server): In this release cycle/roadmap, Windows Server 2008 R2 is no longer defined as its codename (Longhorn Server) and is absolutely differentiated from Vienna Server (which was previously codenamed Blackcomb).

Part of 2007 – Present (Windows 8 Server): As we see here, the shift was made back in 2007 where the codename for Windows Server 2008 R2 becomes Windows Server 7 and officially breaks off from the traditional codename relationship between client and server and aligns both the major and minor server releases with the client release cycle.

If you think about it, this shift makes sense. With major client releases scheduled to happen alongside both major and minor server releases, the codenames for both server and client will constantly be one in the same. So, basically, instead of them working on Windows 7 Client and Windows Longhorn Server R2 (with the next server codename being Windows 7 Server), they’re now working on Windows 7 Client and Server. When they release both, if Sinofsky (aka Anti-Codename Guy) is still running the Windows show, then we’ll have Windows 8 Client and Server and so on and so forth.

While the stereotypical apologetic view of “well, things change internally” certainly applies, as was the case in my previous related posts, my main point is to show even furthermore why many people around the community were quite confused when it was announced that “Windows 7 Server” was in fact scheduled to be an updated server release as opposed to a major release (which, as you can see by the timeline above, we all weren’t crazy for thinking as such).

To all who cared, there ya go. To everyone who thinks this is pointless, I probably would, too, if I were you, so… lol. Until next time…

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

If you’ve been a viewer of my blog for a while, you know that I love posting these “future vision” videos that Microsoft shows at conferences and meetings. True to form, I’ve managed to somehow get a hold of yet another one. This one boasts some pretty far-out ideas that I doubt I’ll ever see the fruition of in MY lifetime, but this is cool stuff (see: manipulating a 3D model in mid-air, a giant conference table that acts like Surface with tablet PC’s that interface with just about everything, and the chick with the legs at approximately 0:39), none-the-less. I was going to post some screen caps but it’s a short watch (and definitely entertaining). So, without any further adieu, SOUND THE TRUMPETS! *DUN, DUN, DUHHHHHHHHNNNN!*

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

So, the latest buzz I’ve picked up on lately is this craze going around about an OS secretly being developed within Microsoft with the codename “Midori.” Unfortunately, there are people getting the facts (of which there only exists a couple of at the moment) confused with fiction and such a reaction has prompted me to go ahead and straighten out the myths/rumors/facts about this new OS before this perpetuates into something ridiculous and just plain wrong.

The Great Misconception: Codename “Midori” is Windows 8 and ultimately the new code base for each subsequent Windows release thereafter.

The Facts:

- Codename Midori has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Windows at this time. Yes, that means Windows 8 (which has actually been *rumored* to have the codenames “Orient” or “Mystic,” which I first mentioned here) and 9.

- Codename Midori IS tied heavily to Singularity, in that it is an OS written in managed code.

Q: So, where has Microsoft mentioned this supposed OS that you’re obtaining your facts from, Stephen?

A: At the time of this writing, you can download the following document straight from Microsoft’s servers: Download Search for the word “Midori” to see where it is located in the document.

Now, what started this whole “Midori” fiasco is Mary Jo Foley originally writing that “Midori” will supposedly supersede Windows and is in some sort of “incubation state,” meaning it’s supposedly closer to being marketed than other Microsoft Research projects typically are. Now, regardless of what the plans are internally for “Midori” NOW, history should denote the fact that plans change… and sometimes drastically. Basically, to assume Midori to be ANY version of Windows at this time is to jump the gun in a MAJOR way. Now, don’t confuse assumption for theorizing.

“Midori” may very well end up superseding Windows but lets not get all up in arms about it yet! I’ve seen everything from people blaming Microsoft and assuming that “Midori’s” existence means that Windows 7 efforts are going to be lazy to the aforementioned assumption that “Midori” is indeed the codename for Windows 8; nevermind the ridiculous and completely unmerited mention of Windows 9! (Someone trying to generate website traffic much, hmm?) lol.

Codename “Midori”: Windows 8? Not at this time. The future Windows? Perhaps.

-Stephen