Welcome, XXX.com readers, but I bet youve surfed to the wrong place: Despite the racy headline, were talking Monad (with an “m,” not a “g”).
So whats with the spanking reference? Some Microsoft advocates over on the Channel 9 Web site seem to think thats what I deserve for telling the truth about whats happening with Longhorn. (Note to Mr. ManicKernel on Channel 9: You are the one who needs a spanking. And then to be put to bed with some warm milk and a pacifier. All IMHO, of course.)
I wont even broach the issue of whether anyone would suggest a male columnist be “spanked” for daring to rage against the Microsoft marketing machine. Thats the subject for another column. Or 20. Or 50.
I am talking about much more mundane and family-friendly topics in this column. Specifically, the .Net Framework 2.0 and “Monad,” the scripting shell that was supposed to debut with Longhorn, the next version of Windows.
I recently had the audacity to point out that Microsoft is talking about Longhorn very differently from how it tackled the subject at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in 2003.
A number of folks — including (but not exclusively) yours truly — believed until recently that Microsoft was proposing to make WinFX the programming model in Longhorn. WinFX ultimately will be the successor to Win32. It turns out that at the PDC 2003, Microsoft omitted a key word (“ultimately”) in describing WinFX.
In a similar vein, Microsoft also led a number of PDC 2003 attendees to believe that the .Net Framework 2.0 would be the plumbing upon which all of Longhorn would reside.