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It doesn't seem out of the question. You can run Linux on Azure and Office on iPads now. Microsoft hasn't really been closed and insular for a long time. It go

It doesn't seem out of the question. You can run Linux on Azure and Office on iPads now. Microsoft hasn't really been closed and insular for a long time. It goes to show you how long strong emotional impressions can last. I once worked with a guy who proudly proclaimed that he hadn't used Windows in over ten years. "So that makes you an expert on it, then?"

shmerl 13y ago
MS lock-in tactics may be have weakened lately, but didn't disappear completely yet. And I wouldn't call that a long time. They got a lot of pressure on legal front for interoperability, so some things were forced on them and didn't come from their goodwill. Also, competition forces them to reconsider. > I once worked with a guy who proudly proclaimed that he hadn't used Windows in over ten years. "So that makes you an expert on it, then?" I personally don't use Windows for a while either and see no need to, but it doesn't prevent one from keeping track of MS behavior.
pgeorgi 13y ago
They really changed - until now you were free to run your own applications on your own computer without Microsoft having a say in it. Now you have to get a signature to run your own Modern UI Apps.
- Spearchucker 13y ago
  You are still free to run your own apps on your own computer. I suspect you're referring to Surface RT which, technically, is a tablet (it runs Windows RT, and not Windows) and thus no different to IOS and OSX.
  - slavik81 13y ago
    He was saying that Modern UI (Metro) applications require APIs that come with certain restrictions. Those restrictions hold regardless of whether the apps are being run on Windows RT tablets or Windows desktops. It was a little scarier when it looked like Microsoft was positioning the Modern UI as a replacement for the traditional desktop Windows paradigm. If Metro:Windows as Windows:DOS, the restrictions on Metro apps would have been really bad.
    - Spearchucker 13y ago
      "...require APIs that come with certain restrictions..." What restrictions? I've written a number of WinRT/Metro apps and the API is not .Net but has no restrictions. Sure, there's no database support for example, but there's nothing stopping you from using SqLite or writing your own. There are also UI constraints, but that's true for any hardware.
      - slavik81 13y ago
        The restrictions I'd been referring to are legal, not technical. The requirements that Metro apps be certified by Microsoft and distributed through the Microsoft store are particularly troubling to me.
      - pgeorgi 13y ago
        Compile a WinRT app, copy it to another Windows 8 system (not Windows RT, but those work as well for this demonstration), try to execute it. Or compile an app, wait for your vstudio developer certificate to expire, try to execute the old binary. This is a power grab targetting their developers. Not sure Microsoft pulled off something like that before.
jbuzbee 13y ago
How long emotional impressions last? I'm sure there are good folks at Microsoft, but the company hasn't changed. Like those awful, nasty political campaign ads? Microsoft haired one of the main practitioners to promote Windows: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/technology/microsoft-battles-google-by-hiring-political-brawler-mark-penn.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/technology/microsoft-battl... Or how about Microsoft's extortion techniques being used against Android manufacturers: http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/28/microsoft-samsung-extortion-google/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/28/microsoft-samsung-extortion... Thanks, but I'll keep staying away and encourage others to do so as well.
- outside1234 13y ago
  we'll see how long Mark Penn lasts now the new regime. he just got demoted, so I'd guess not very long.

shmerl 13y ago

MS lock-in tactics may be have weakened lately, but didn't disappear completely yet. And I wouldn't call that a long time. They got a lot of pressure on legal front for interoperability, so some things were forced on them and didn't come from their goodwill. Also, competition forces them to reconsider. > I once worked with a guy who proudly proclaimed that he hadn't used Windows in over ten years. "So that makes you an expert on it, then?" I personally don't use Windows for a while either and see no need to, but it doesn't prevent one from keeping track of MS behavior.

pgeorgi 13y ago

They really changed - until now you were free to run your own applications on your own computer without Microsoft having a say in it. Now you have to get a signature to run your own Modern UI Apps.

Spearchucker 13y ago
You are still free to run your own apps on your own computer. I suspect you're referring to Surface RT which, technically, is a tablet (it runs Windows RT, and not Windows) and thus no different to IOS and OSX.
- slavik81 13y ago
  He was saying that Modern UI (Metro) applications require APIs that come with certain restrictions. Those restrictions hold regardless of whether the apps are being run on Windows RT tablets or Windows desktops. It was a little scarier when it looked like Microsoft was positioning the Modern UI as a replacement for the traditional desktop Windows paradigm. If Metro:Windows as Windows:DOS, the restrictions on Metro apps would have been really bad.
  - Spearchucker 13y ago
    "...require APIs that come with certain restrictions..." What restrictions? I've written a number of WinRT/Metro apps and the API is not .Net but has no restrictions. Sure, there's no database support for example, but there's nothing stopping you from using SqLite or writing your own. There are also UI constraints, but that's true for any hardware.
    - slavik81 13y ago
      The restrictions I'd been referring to are legal, not technical. The requirements that Metro apps be certified by Microsoft and distributed through the Microsoft store are particularly troubling to me.
    - pgeorgi 13y ago
      Compile a WinRT app, copy it to another Windows 8 system (not Windows RT, but those work as well for this demonstration), try to execute it. Or compile an app, wait for your vstudio developer certificate to expire, try to execute the old binary. This is a power grab targetting their developers. Not sure Microsoft pulled off something like that before.

jbuzbee 13y ago

How long emotional impressions last? I'm sure there are good folks at Microsoft, but the company hasn't changed. Like those awful, nasty political campaign ads? Microsoft haired one of the main practitioners to promote Windows: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/technology/microsoft-battles-google-by-hiring-political-brawler-mark-penn.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/technology/microsoft-battl... Or how about Microsoft's extortion techniques being used against Android manufacturers: http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/28/microsoft-samsung-extortion-google/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/28/microsoft-samsung-extortion... Thanks, but I'll keep staying away and encourage others to do so as well.

outside1234 13y ago
we'll see how long Mark Penn lasts now the new regime. he just got demoted, so I'd guess not very long.