Too Much of a Good (Windows) Thing?
|
The Windows team likes to pride itself on holding its cards close to the vest. But sometimes, that strategy backfires, as it did this week on the Longhorn front. Microsoft execs have been making a concerted effort not to talk publicly about Longhorn. But that hasn't stopped others from doing so. And this week, there were lots of conflicting Longhorn leaks: So, which of these, if any, is true? The Windows client team won't say. Officials are clinging to the tired line that "it's too early to talk yet about packaging plans for Longhorn." But wouldn't you like to hear more about good old Windows XP instead? Our sources say that the truth lies at the intersection of all of these reports. We hear Microsoft is thinking about more Windows releases, not fewer — the same way that the Office team and the Visual Studio teams are thinking about ways to broaden their products' appeal by rolling out more variants. The "uber" Longhorn release mentioned above — that allegedly will include all of the features from the Home, Premium, Pro, Small Business, and Tablet PC Editions — is Microsoft's trial balloon, our tipsters say.
Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that it is highly likely to add more of its Tablet PC operating system features to the base Windows platform, going forward. And it's leaning toward doing the same with Media Center.
In fact, the core Windows team is constantly re-examining which features from these two SKUs (Tablet and Media Center) Microsoft should fold into the base-level platform. If a certain market heats up sooner than Microsoft might have anticipated (say, digital photography), Microsoft will be more likely to incorporate Media Center's digital-photo-handling functionality into the core Windows platform, the Windows client team has said. At this point in the cycle, Microsoft should have a pretty good idea of what Longhorn will look like, at least if the company is still expecting to ship the final Longhorn product(s) next year. (Our sources say 2006 is still the due date, most likely Q3.) We're not optimistic we'll see a Longhorn beta much before the Professional Developers Conference in October, but maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. The Windows team has worked itself into a corner. It has come under fire for over-hyping Longhorn too early. And now it's being criticized for failing to be clear about its directions, with developers calling for the company to make good on its commitment to "greater transparency." Our advice? Don't let the Windows team go the way of Apple Computer, which seems to value secrecy above sanity. Instead, encourage more of the Windows team to start blogging. Solicit more feedback publicly, like the developer division is doing with the MSDN Product Feedback Center. Do you have ideas for the Windows team? Would you be interested in more/different Windows SKUs? If so, which ones? Or are there already too many Windows SKUs to keep track of? (If and when we are granted an audience with the Windows team, we'll be sure to let them know your input.) Talk back below, or write me at mswatch@ziffdavis.com and |
