Microsoft Touts Vistas Restart Manager Feature - ' Constant Change ' (
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But 360is Risicato did not agree that that a world of continuous updating awaits us not too far into the future; he said PCs and servers need to become more like appliances and less like bleeding-edge widgets.
"The operation of the hardware-software environment must evolve to more stability, less volatility in order to allow IT staff/operations/consumers to spend their time creating value for organizations. Our digital world will be predicated on the deft manipulation of information/data, and every minute spent on managing and updating hardware is time stolen from productivity," he said, suggesting that if computers operated like phones or refrigerators or televisions, then users could spend all of their time using the device rather than working on it.
"Thats the future I want to see companies like Microsoft striving for. Constant change is only good for the people initiating the changes. For everyone else, its disruptive, risky and labor intensive. In 2005, people are excited about their equipment if it doesnt crash for a month or two in a row. If only my computer equipment was as reliable as my 3-year-old car," he said.
Earlier this week, Microsoft said it had pushed back the release of the second beta for Windows Vista into next year.
But, at the same time, it has accelerated the development of the feature-set for that operating system, which should be mostly complete by the end of December and integrated into the product early next year.
Amitabh Srivastava, Microsofts corporate vice president for Windows core operating system development, stressed that the beta two pushback will have no impact on the final release schedule for Windows Vista, which is still on track for release in the second half of 2006.
Microsoft will also release a CTP (Community Technology preview) before the December holidays, which will include a number of new features, he said, declining to give details on those.
"But these changes will result in testers getting a feature-complete version of Vista earlier than for any other Windows product," he said last week.
Click here to read more about how Microsoft has revamped the Vista preview system.
CTPs are interim pre-release versions of a product that are not beta quality and represent a snapshot of a product under development at a given time.
Microsoft has decided to move away from its policy of issuing monthly CTPs for Windows Vista, and will now release these based on when they achieve quality milestones, Srivastava said.
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