Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

shark47 — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:55:28 GMT

"Most of them have no idea that they can record TV using Windows Media Center, let alone use a beta of IPTV."

True. Lot of my friends were surprised to see Vista Media Center being used to watch TV. My colleagues and my co-workers think I'm a freaking tech geek and come to me for advice about iPods (docks etc.) and Windows. I was surprised that so many of my colleagues had heard about VMWare, though.

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

tayme — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:28:33 GMT

@Doc - Oh, yeah...I love the "cloud". Live Mesh rocks for keeping important files sync'd and stored offline. But ask any of your non-geek friends about the "cloud"...the response will likely be something like "Oh, yeah, that cumulonimbus to the west looks like an anvil". Most of the non-geeks that I know don't even know how to put their 360, Wii, or PS3 on a home network...or even that you could. Most of them don't know how to download a song to put on an iPod. Most of them have no idea that they can record TV using Windows Media Center, let alone use a beta of IPTV. So, yeah...for us geeks on sites like this...we get it, but Joe Six-Pack don't.

--tayme

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

Waethorn — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:43:41 GMT

I would say that Google is "Godzirra" here. For a company that is trying to stomp on the competition with their shear size, they seem to be doing so at a very clunky rate. I mean, have you really seen Android?! Icky poo!

Functionality and UX just flew out the window when they came up with that one.

Ballmer is wrong. It's not a 1.0 product at all - it's not even as feature replete as the original iPhwn.

And honestly, who really wants to sign their intellectual property, nay their entire online life, away to Google, by using Chrome??!

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

shark47 — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:11:59 GMT

O/T:

BTW, doc, my Exchange mail does not work on the iTouch because we use VPN to connect. GMail and Yahoo work. I really hoped Live Mail would work too.

The remote application is awesome. I wish someone would make a (free) app to control Vista MCE.

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

shark47 — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:59:28 GMT

Ahh, Top Gear. :-) My friend is a huge fan and I've watched a few shows. He kept showing me videos when the WiFi on the Bolt bus worked during our trip to NYC.

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

DRWAM — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:23:30 GMT

Yep tayme, hospitals are not known for being great employers. They can be a good first job or stepping stone in a career. They seem to heading straight for the cloud. But don't some of our personal practices as well, such as on line gaming or even on line picture storage, processing and printing services? Entertainment perhaps, since we can DL movies to rent and buy? Are these examples of the cloud use in personal life as well?

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

tayme — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:24:47 GMT

godzirra...did you say GODZIRRA?!?!?! AHHHHHH!!!!

I love Bob and Tom!!!

Go Cubbies!!!

--tayme

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

gorath — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:19:54 GMT

Lol, the car alarm thing reminded me of an episode of an UK car/talk show called "top gear", where the main host was telling of his misadventures with his new Ford GT.

He was driving it to work, when all of a sudden it died on him, and he got a call from Ford, alerting him that his car had been stolen - He even had a hard time convincing them that he really was the owner of the car, and that he was sat in it right now, trying to get to the BBC studios!

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

Waethorn — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:11:34 GMT

"Does that 'Onstar' do it?"

It can. It depends what kind of plan you have though.

Business security systems can also do the same. There are even WiFi security cams that allow you to remotely monitor your premises. Logitech has a system that even supports Windows Mobile smartphones:

www.logitech.com/.../&cl=us,en

I've been looking at the possibility of using those for my own shop. The biggest issue is that it doesn't support Windows Vista 64-bit though, which is kind of a drag.

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

Waethorn — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:05:19 GMT

@gorath:

You've pretty much got it right. As bandwidth and coverage becomes increasingly closer to infinite, syncing will become less and less relevant. For now, it's a real world problem that affects still a wide array of internet users. Syncing makes sense now though.

Also, Microsoft's plans are to still provide internet-connected rich applications on the desktop, not just within the web browser. That's where the "*software*+services" part comes in, in comparison to "software-as-a-service". As I mentioned, over time, bandwidth (and programming languages) will allow much richer web applications to become available through a thin client. Microsoft is more sensible in addressing bandwidth issues and development obstacles by still relying on the client OS now though. It's baby steps - but very carefully calculated steps, not "Godzilla stomping aimlessly on Tokyo" steps.

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

DRWAM — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:54:41 GMT

I was just thinking yesterday of how useful it would be to have some capabilities in your own car, including the ability to alert your cell phone when your car alarm is activated, catching the criminal in the act [then running ouitside and lifting up by his throat to watch his eyes pop out. That would be cool]. I guess that WiFi would not work over long distances and through some thick walls, but I guess that the car could call someone or alert a company through satellite. Does that 'Onstar' do it?

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

subzerohitman721 — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:40:31 GMT

While I'm fascinated by the concept of a cloud specific Windows, I also have to agree with some of the skeptics here. Especially here in the U.S. where broadband still has a long ways to go in terms of both availability, dependability, and consistency. I'm fortunate to live in the suburb of a major metropolitan area where DSL, Cable, Fiber Optic, Satelite, and Mobile 3G(Soon 4G) is available. We now have a slew of hotspots available. Just head 45 minutes from Dallas up to Denton, Texas and its a whole another world up there. I will grant, because of the two major and minor universities, Denton is more hooked up than some small towns like Commerce, Texas. Compared to Japan and South Korea, the U.S. broadband is spotty and sluggish.

I wouldn't want to be dependent our existing networks for extensive apps coming off the net. How easily servers can be brought down, if enough people are demanding bandwidth. For example: The U.S. House server easily became overloaded when a huge segment of voters weighed in on the bailout. Imagine if a bunch of people are using a service that requires lots of bandwidth. Yet many of the main ISP's like Time Warner and Comcast are switching to tiered GB services. (I hope that people are switching off Time Warner Roadrunner and Comcast High Speed, until they give up on tiered access.) Its ideas like a cloud based Windows, media like YouTube and iTunes, the eventual merging of live television and the Internet, and everything else out there that makes me question both tiered access and Software as a Service.

Something will have to give here and getting ISP's to give up their cash cows will be like trying to break into Fort Knox. They are looking to nickel and dime everyone to make profit and pay those expensive CEO and chief financial officers salaries. So unless we see a major change here, I'm not sure how a cloud based Windows is to suceed in the short term. However, if the Internet evolves as many are theorizing, it could be highly successful. Who knows? Perhaps in 15 to 20 years, this Windows Cloud could be what 2000, XP, and Vista are today. Household names.

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

gorath — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:12:22 GMT

Oh I realise that most of that stuff is a pipedream for now, trust me my location makes me more than aware of bandwidth problems!

But, the slingbox, and streaming to your car are again, different to the solution proposed by MS.

I was suggesting that your car player had storage, so that it synced with your pc, not that it streamed it directly.

Again, with the slingbox, that transmits video over the internet, it doesn't make that video available if you go offline.

The MS solution (as I understand it) is that everything is synced, so that once your car, for example, has synced with your home pc (or mac, of course, hopefully, but I tend to use the term PC, to mean a home computer, running windows, nix, or osx), that music is now available anywhere you go in your car, because it has a local copy of it.

All devices would synchronise when a connection was available, and the local copy would be available for playback afterwards if, or more likely when, you lose internet connectivity along the way.

Do you understand what I'm trying to explain? (I'm not the most articulated of people, I must admit!) it's not streaming, it's syncing. You don;t need connectivity to use what is already synced.

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

Sevenmack — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:49:12 GMT

There are already some versions of the MSOFT idea such as Sling Media's "Slingbox" offerings. It isn't even a new idea; it's been talked about in one form or another throughout this decade. And it's a great idea.

But one of the problems I have mentioned earlier -- scattershot broadband -- still remains a problem. Although you can find WiFi hotspots in even the poorest urban neighborhoods, the systems are often locked to outside users. Even seemingly unsecured systems may not be; think T-Mobile or AT&T hotspots, which are technically open, but you must pay for in order to access the 'net. If you, say, try to stream music files from home through your car stereo, you may not get reception for miles.

This could change in urban areas if Wi-Max becomes widely available. But even then, you still have thousands of miles of suburban and rural areas that are sparsely populated; there won't be a lot of WiMax spots available. The roll-out of 3G also makes the concept promising; but, again, the value of the concept will depend on the level of roll-out. Given the credit crisis, which will restrain the ability of cellphone operators to borrow in order to complete capital projects, this may take another few years.

Again, it's a great idea and hopefully, MSOFT will pull that version off; the Google version -- which is nothing more than high-concept timesharing -- has a number of flaws. But, again, there are obstacles to making it work. And ultimately, by the time cloud becomes fully functional in either form, time may have already passed it by.

re: Windows Cloud OS … And some new Office Live stuff

Sevenmack — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:48:42 GMT