Kemble
From a email I received.I wonder what if any consequences for DELL?:
Windows Event Horizon - An 'Internet Windows'?
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This isn't news, in fact, it's based mostly on vague innuendo and
educated inference. But the thing that most intrigued me about
Microsoft's announcement on January 13 about Gates stepping down
as CEO of Microsoft was a quiet comment or two concerning what
Gates is planning to do instead. The point widely publicized was
that he's picking up the role of "Chief Software Architect," a
thought that probably has the full attention of lead developers
and program managers all over Microsoft. But that isn't the part
I want to talk about.
Gates and Microsoft are focused on something new CEO Steve
Ballmer called NGWS, for Next Generation Windows Services, in a
speech made with Gates that day:
microsoft.com
For starters, think of NGWS as an Internet-based Windows.
According to a Microsoft press release:
"Microsoft plans ... to assemble the first Internet-based
platform of Next Generation Windows, which will incorporate such
features and capabilities as a new user interface, natural-
language processing, application development approach, schema and
new file system -- all of which have been in development. ... A
key set of NGWS will be hosted on the Internet and will be
infused into future versions of Windows. ... NGWS ... is the
foundation of the company's software services strategy."
That MS Press Release:
microsoft.com
Those two words, "software services," are the current Microsoft
mantra. But when Microsoft talks about them, I think it means
more than you might think. This is Microsoft's transitional
marketing phrase that positions it as the likely candidate to
harness the tsunami of Internet- and wireless-delivered business-
to-business and business-to-consumer services that are the
promise driving what Wall Street calls the "New Economy."
This isn't about PCs, per se -- although they're a part of it.
This is the beginning of the battle royale for control of what
has also been called Pervasive Computing. Microsoft is very
ambitiously planning to Windows-ify the Internet, wireless
devices of all types, handhelds, and set-top boxes -- with the
hope that its infrastructure will, as Ballmer says, "ignite
opportunities for literally thousands of partners and customers
around the world." In other words, they want to provide the
enabling technologies and software that become the de facto
standard for transforming the Internet and the devices that
access it into the world's largest goods and services
marketplace, and communications medium. It's a huge undertaking,
and one I'm not sure any one company can dominate. But, as usual,
you have to admire Microsoft's moxie.
In January, Ballmer alluded to a major NGWS strategy day he
called "Forum 2000." Sources tell me that currently June is the
internal target for that event. You can be sure Winmag.com and
Windows Insider will be following NGWS developments very closely. |
