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News Microsoft unveils Project HomeOS

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by brumgrunt, 5 Apr 2012.

  1. brumgrunt

    brumgrunt What's a Dremel?

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  2. azrael-

    azrael- I'm special...

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    Codename "Windows 8" aka "Bob2"...
     
  3. badders

    badders Neuken in de Keuken

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    Isn't Project Bob what spawned Comic Sans? and where Melinda met Bill?

    Lets hope no silly fonts come of this.
     
  4. yuusou

    yuusou Multimodder

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    Oh my uncle had this on his Windows 95. I though it was so cool back then.
     
  5. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag What's a Dremel?

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    Maybe I just need to see this in person but this sounds like the most pointless thing MS has ever released, and I'm getting the impression it is going to be VERY expensive to set up, regardless of the software being free.
     
  6. Guinevere

    Guinevere Mega Mom

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    It's just a research program guys. This isn't a "Product" it's not on sale. It's a prototype for academic research.

    It is not (or claimed to be) an operating system that's easy to use for home users

    It's an "OS" (Read application and hacked driver package) for managing a network attached home, from turning on the lights to more advanced stuff.

    Microsoft have 697 other research projects on the Microsoft Research website. Don't go thinking this is anything special or the next big thing.
     
  7. PlayedStation

    PlayedStation Possessed like an apostrophe

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    my johnson is the next big thing.




    This could be interesting, depending on what people much more intelligent than I can do with it.
     
  8. yougotkicked

    yougotkicked A.K.A. YGKtech

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    I don't think there are many people out there who are so technically inept that they need a paperclip to tell them what to do, and have extensively networked homes. just saying.

    other than that, I do support the spirit of the project, making advanced windows settings easier to understand and access is definitely a good idea, "non-technical types" is a shrinking demographic, but windows settings are so hard to work with some times it baffles the best of us. I know how to program in assembly, but it took me a whole day to get a home network set up right. If M$ can actually make this a helpful feature instead of just another unwanted abstraction barrier, it could be quite nice for everyone.
     
  9. jimmyjj

    jimmyjj Minimodder

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    :)
     
  10. ----jimbo----

    ----jimbo---- What's a Dremel?

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    Microsoft have home server, media center, MC extenders, Xbox. All great platforms but a dedicated platform to tie it all together would be welcome.

    However, as Microsoft constantly make a balls up of tying together their existing platforms I'm not convinced they could pull this off.
     
  11. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag What's a Dremel?

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    Really? Unless you have non-windows machines or are mixing windows 7 with XP then I suppose I understand your difficulty with that. But setting up home networks is one of the only things I prefer to do in windows rather than linux due to how much easier and straight-forward it is. I'd say there are some things that Windows does to make changing settings a little tedious or confusing (in Vista an 7 since they have a bajillion separated control panel options), but none of it is really difficult.
     
  12. rogerrabbits

    rogerrabbits What's a Dremel?

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    About time! Microsoft are soooo slow, and so behind the times, and always so busy playing catch up that they are never able to actually be in the lead. Apple have totally wiped the floor with them when it comes to making a noob friendly OS. Say what you want about ipads and iphones but anyone can use it because they are so easy and they require no maintenance either. If Microsoft had a slim OS like that sooner, maybe they could have taken the wind out of Apple's sails earlier.

    They really could do with a few good solid OS's before someone kicks them where it hurts. Have MsOs1, a bottom of the ladder, extremely basic OS which does little more than run a browser. People could use it to surf the web and use google apps, and that would make it ideal for netbooks and HTPC's and home office PC's, and that could be their iPad/iOs competition. It could also compete with Google's OS. You could put it on a 64gig SSD and it would hardly use up any room etc.

    Then they should have a bigger version of it with more support for codex and dvd drives and stuff, for use in laptops and more full on HTPC's.

    And the MsOs3 which is the full OS like windows7/8. And all of them should be easily controlled by a mouse or touch. And if they can't design a UI that is great for touch and mouse then they are in the wrong business.
     
  13. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag What's a Dremel?

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    You've got a nice idea but I don't think you understand how MS and apple work - Apple targets "elitists" and people who don't care to learn about computers. MS targets the general public and they're notorious for being anticompetitive, meaning, they don't want you using anybody's products except their own. There's a reason they make crappy software like IE and Movie Maker, there's a reason they make services like Hotmail and Bing, there's a reason they make things like Zune or Xbox, and there's a reason they buy out companies like Bungee and Skype Ltd. When you own every major market, you can put your products on every sub-product you have and vice versa, to the point where anything anyone buys is always going to have everything they need all from the same company. MS is like their own ecosystem. Apple today WANTS to be like that but they're assholes toward hardware companies and they're expensive, so they'll never get to that point. MS doesn't need to be mean to companies, because companies know that they'll profit from them, they'll get bought out if they disagree, or if neither happens they're likely to go out of business.
     
  14. Fizzban

    Fizzban Man of Many Typos

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    Am I the only one who read that as "Microsoft unveils project Homo's" ?
     
  15. fluxtatic

    fluxtatic What's a Dremel?

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    Erm, no. Not quite to this degree, but we've already got that - Home, Pro, Ultimate. If their licensing wasn't so utterly retarded, maybe. About the only thing I'll concede a bit of admiration to Apple for is their OS upgrade model - it's what, $30 to go from Snow Leopard to Lion (or whatever the last gen and current gen are) Yet I get stuck for $200 because they won't let me upgrade from XP Home to Win7 Pro? (Not that that happened to me, but the point remains.)

    Flatten it out - one version of the OS, and make "modes" - default to brain-dead retarded mode for my granny, but make it easy for me to switch to Ultimate mode (and hard for my granny so she doesn't do it accidentally.) While they're at it, don't stick me for more than, say, $50, on an upgrade...while I'm fondly wishing, let that upgrade extend back to XP (which still has a ridiculous amount of market share.) $100 flat on a brand new retail license, so I don't have to cheat by building and selling (to myself) a box using a system-builder license. Given how much of their revenue is still Windows, it'll never happen, but I can dream.
     
  16. Gradius

    Gradius IT Consultant

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    Keep in mind those costs are related to software only, if hardware "cannot keep it anymore" you also need to spend on it.
     
  17. Reconnec7ed

    Reconnec7ed What's a Dremel?

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    Yes.
     
  18. rogerrabbits

    rogerrabbits What's a Dremel?

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    That's the same OS with stuff chopped out. I'm talking about something so simple it rivals iOS and google's OS. If they don't do it asap, Apple or Google (or someone else) is going to end up taking the casual market AND the serious OS market too. MS are letting them have it at the moment and that's just bad for them. Their phone is too little too late and their none mobile OS's are the same.
     
  19. mdshann

    mdshann What's a Dremel?

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    Yes, actually there are. They have something that is called "money". They use this "money" to pay people like me to set up their extensively networked homes. A lot of people don't care to learn how it works, they just want it to work. just sayin'
     
  20. OleJ

    OleJ Me!

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    Nope. Seeing it written like "homeos" only made it worse :-D
     
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