Microsoft is Changing

Let’s play a game. I will list a quote and you guess who said it.

Quote: RSS has the potential to be the “UNIX pipe of the internet”

If you don’t know what a unix pipe is, its a techie term. Part of the real power behind unix and one of the things that gave it the lift that propelled it to be the underpinnings of most modern operating systems is the concept of redirection. The output (result) of any unix command can also be used as the input of almost any other unix command. The pipe enhances this and allows you to chain together multiple commands processing the same information.

So from the title of the article you have a clue on who made that statement, but if it surprises you that such a quote comes from a Microsoft guy then you really need to start paying attention to what’s been going on at Microsoft lately. Not just any Microsoft guy, but Ray Ozzie, heir to the Microsoft Kingdom.

Its been a while since I’ve made a seemingly bold tech predicition, but I have one for you. What Microsoft is currently calling Windows Vista is the last operating system that they will release.

“Is this man crazy?!”

Let me lend some definition to my statement. The real catch is the word operating system. With flash storage becoming more advanced and more capable I believe you will see a trend again to do as much solid state as possible. What this means to computers is that the line that you think of now between BIOS and OS is going to blur greatly. Companies like Microsoft will release frameworks that support workflow and applications. The specific hardware that you are running on will be increasingly less relevant to the framework and application layer. You will be able to run multiple frameworks simultaneously to take advantage of different applications, and the applications will interoprate cross-framework via evolved standards like the current RSS.

Sounds far off? Look at how long its taken Microsoft to come out with Vista. You are looking at 2013 before they would come out with another one. Frameworks aren’t a new concept. Microsoft, Apple, Sun - they all have been putting out frameworks already. Interoperability isn’t 50% there yet but people know what they have to do and good standards are out there and starting to evolve.