[Cialug] Windows 8

[Prescott Kulow]

I'm glad to see that this hasn't degenerated into a juvenile "M$ 
SuXX0rZ" shouting match.  Since I am new to the list I was kind of 
watching this thread to see if that would happen.

A lot of the major Windows apps such as SQL Server and IIS do have some 
really nice APIs and when combined with Powershell it can really be 
quite a potent combination for automation.  I've seen some people that 
are used to Bash complain about Powershell before, but it requires a 
slightly different mindset.  It is more like programming in a 
non-scripting language in that you pass around objects instead of just 
text.  They both work, just require some different thought processes.

And yes, it's good to see Microsoft innovating again, even though it may 
very well backfire on them if they break compatibility with anything in 
the slightest.






On 9/13/2011 1:53 PM, Matthew Nuzum wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 12:30 PM, Todd Walton <tdwalton at gmail.com 
> <mailto:tdwalton at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I'm watching the Microsoft Build Conference keynote right now.
>     They're poring over the upcoming Windows 8.  All in all, it really is
>     an improvement over Windows 7.  (Well, I really haven't used Windows 7
>     very much.  But, the point being, there's lots of improvements.)
>
>
> The part that concerned me was showing off the UFFI boot. It will 
> refuse to boot unsigned boot partitions. That might make it a bit hard 
> to replace Windows on new PCs.
>
>     The main speaker said something that made me very angry.  He said,
>     (roughly), "in the new world of computing apps must not be siloes and
>     must communicate with other apps through more than just a narrow
>     channel."  I know he's supposed to be 'oh wow' and 'gee whiz', but you
>     know... the only reason Windows apps have been so siloed and greedy is
>     because Microsoft has legislated and incentivized it for so long.  I
>     learned Linux administration long before Windows, and when I came to
>     Windows administration 5 years ago or so, this was one of the things
>     that infuriated me so much.  Every little thing I'd want to do used
>     it's own app, hidden away in its own place, using its own interface.
>     And you could never take the output of one app and give it to another.
>      Agh!
>
>
> I don't know that this is a Windows fault, per se. The problem isn't 
> exactly that Windows locks up data. As a matter of fact, many of the 
> canonical Windows programs have been examples of how to expose the 
> apps data and functionality as a service. You could write a shell 
> script (VBScript for example) that could completely control MS Word or 
> Adobe Photoshop. In some cases there were APIs available to scripts 
> that were very hard to get to in the UI (like Photoshop's batch 
> conversion stuff).
>
> It's different from UNIX's pipes or course, but it does let you do 
> some pretty cool stuff. As a matter of fact, Windows took a sheet from 
> the UNIX play book with Power Shell. I've not used this capability, 
> but as I understand it, you can pipe "objects" so that instead of 
> having to parse plain text you get an actual object, with it's data 
> and methods. That sounds pretty cool.
>
> Now it just so happens that few application developers go through the 
> trouble of exposing their API in such a way. These then become silos.
>
> The demo was quite impressive. I'm glad to see MS innovating again. 
> From mobile and from Apple they're getting some serious competition 
> and they're having to really push the limits. I've said it before and 
> I'll say it again, competition is great.
>
> (oh, and yes, I saw several things that have been around for a while 
> on Linux - for example, application developers can sync their 
> services' data using Windows Live. Sounds a bit like Ubuntu One...)
>
> -- 
> Matthew Nuzum
> newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin and twitter
>
> ? You're never fully dressed without a smile! ?
>
>
>
>
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