Joe says,
"With Windows 7, Media Center will get a modest makeover, primarily about content access across the network, the Net and devices.".........

Most likely this means more DRM in Windows Seven by the control freaks at MSFT which want to charge for the ability of playing any media file, if they could.

You mean "SQL Server 2005 SP3 Beta", not SP2.

Windows 7 and Office Web! Focus on it continuely!

"Biggest developer news"?

What have they actually delivered? A blog and some overdue controls for Silverlight.

One thing you should have noted about Windows Server 2008 R2 BETA delivered to attendees, its 64-bit only. This shows that Microsoft is dead serious about moving Windows Server and a lot of the Microsoft server apps to this platform only and permanently.

Don't you think its a little strange that this conference is all about the cloud and the internet, yet there is no mention of IE8 which was supposed to be released soon?

If everyone is going to be a web developer in the future, then shouldn't they fix IE first? The current web developers are not happy at all about IE8 which seems to be very buggy and still not standards compliant where it matters.

@billybob

Ultimately the browser is a buggywhip. It's a container for all the interaction between users and the internet that's been (to present) considered a necessary component for interface.

Given the ability of an operating system (or baremetal) to employ client-side micro-servers to interoperate with remote servers and other clients, there's no real reason to have a browser.

The browser is one of Microsoft's biggest vulnerabilities and should be left behind when moving to the cloud for anything other than an initial contact.

If they're smart, they'll give the entire browser world the heave ho and outfit the cloud with secure interfaces hackers won't be able to obtain. They will be able to sidestep any further monopoly charges and they will gain a much more secure framework.

That's IF they're smart.

I don't support the idea Microsoft management will pull off the smarts their engineers have. That's Microsoft's weakness and perhaps the strongest case shareholders have for breaking the company up into smaller profitable and innovative units and selling off the dead weight.

Whether the cloud announcements Microsoft is making this week are actually pulled off all depends on how much hold Oz and Gates have on the business side of MSFT and how much Ballmer has been reigned in from driving MSFT as his own personal bumper car in his games of industrial chicken.

Hey, will Windows Seven be the most "secure windows ever?" ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing)

As I don't see any new security features in Seven, from your list. Strange as internet malware and its variants, are projected to double every year.

@ Carl

As I was saying, the browser is the unsecure element to Windows. Same problem with any operating system until the OS is removed from the client machine and transposed over the framework instead of concentrated at user points.

Microsoft has no connection between traditional Windows and the internet without the browser. That's been their problem all along in security and anti-trust.

If they know what they're doing (again, I don't give management much credit for knowing what the age demands) they will phaseout the browser until it's a buffered electronic magazine holder and they will build client-side interfaces users can use as needed attached to a massively affiliated community.

Anyone not a part of the community is excluded from contact. Anyone abusing the privileges of the community is excluded from contact. Security becomes intrinsic.

You might notice, however, Yahoo has introduced their own YOS development system. Like I've said months ago, Yahoo has something that Microsoft wanted badly and something that emboldened their board and management to stand off the MSFT advance in the spring of this year.

Microsoft won't be the only kid on the block to have use of this massively affiliated development community concept. Microsoft just wants to act like it does and journalists are too clueless to figure out what is happening and they buy into the "invented at Microsoft" tag until they learn the truth.

Ho hummm.

MS is hurring?
Microsoft saved some of the biggest developer news....Things were moving so fast....

It is understandable
Ubuntu does it again
http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1916&tag=nl.e539
Quote;
It’s one thing to fiddle with a computer at home; it’s quite another to fiddle with 30 computers in a lab. I briefly flirted with the idea of just giving her Vista Business (an upgrade to Home Premium, at least), but then I couldn’t resist pulling out the Ubuntu CD I had used for my oldest son’s computer last night. 45 minutes later, Ubuntu was installed and updates were flying down. A quick restart and Ubuntu was telling me that proprietary drivers were available for a Broadcom wireless card. Enable the drivers, restart, and presto! Ubuntu did it again. Everything just worked.

When Linux can do that too (and Ubuntu brings us pretty close), it makes it ever harder to justify licensing Windows. Now if the educational software vendors can just become platform agnostic, I’ll be a happy camper.

Asustek to launch Android handset in 1H09
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20081029PD215.htm
Asustek Computer plans to launch its first Android-based Google phone in the first half of 2009, according to company sources. Asustek may initially sell the Android-powered handsets under its own brand in the Taiwan market before also launching customized models for overseas clients, said market sources close to the company.

NVIDIA Delivers Beta OpenGL 3.0 Linux Driver
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_linux_ogl3&num=1
The NVIDIA 177.61.02 is the version of this first beta driver that adds OpenGL 3.0 and OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) 1.30 support. NVIDIA's Aaron Plattner has stated this driver is aimed at developers
who wish to start using the new OpenGL features. The 177.61.02 driver implements all OpenGL 3.0 and GLSL 1.30 functionality except for one-channel (RED) and two-channel (RG) textures, the Clearbuffer API, windowless rendering support, forward-compatible context, and the debug context. These support limitations are the same as what was found with the initial Windows ForceWare 180 Beta driver.

MS is hurring?
Yes and we all know why.

Quote Portuno "The browser is one of Microsoft's biggest vulnerabilities and should be left behind when moving to the cloud for anything other than an initial contact."

I find myself agreeing (to my shock) completely with that part. I dont think MS really have much of the choice though as users seem to be wanting to use alternatives anyway. That being said (aslong as this isnt some other poster using your name) it appears I am in agreement with much of what you have said (in both posts)

I certainly think this subject will be an interesting one, its just personally I cannot see MS pulling off all its claims. Breaking up MS into smaller "units" may be a good idea, I have always said "jack of all trades" "master of none" and so I again find myself in agreement.

Joe says,
"Too much Windows 7 talk could hurt Vista sales".....

You think? Why would that be Joe? Businesses have already shunned it, they will not being buying Vista in droves. Common users get Vista only when they pay a new computer with it already on. In fact, Vista's boxed sales, are now worse than the intial 20% when it started. This figure is terrible, for Microsoft compared to the mix of box sales to OEM sales, of XP.

In point of fact, too much talk of 7, will only help Microsoft, and they are starting to realize, just that. Vista is the dead walking.

portuno_diamo : They already tried the 'safe' sealed off internet with only allowed MS software allowed to connect. It was called the MicroSoft Network and it was not very popular once people realised it was not the real internet.

Since the cloud is actually a big web server - it would make sense that they would have a browser to go along with it. Standalone Silverlight has no chance of replacing HTML and web browsers. The whole point of cloud computing is that it all runs in a browser. Imagine a Microsoft internet where every site requires its own client install, or websites are tied to individual OS's. It wouldn't work...