back to article Open-source attack dog enters Ballmer's inner ring

The head of Microsoft’s research has quietly stepped aside ahead of his retirement next year to join CEO Steve Ballmer's inner circle. Craig Mundie, a 20-year Microsoft veteran, is now a senior advisor to Ballmer after six years as the company's chief research and strategy officer. Mundie took that role as Microsoft co-founder …

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  1. Bill Neal
    Linux

    Libre/Open Office?

    It may not be a mass market, but I would call it powerful, easy-to-use software broadly accessible to consumers. I use it in my own office daily, and can't think of a reason to go back to Microsoft.

    1. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
      FAIL

      Re: Libre/Open Office?

      As long as interoperability is not a concern, I can see that approach working and in fact, I use Open Office (actually Libre Office) at home. However, as soon as I need to open documents I've received from external sources or send documents to recipients elsewhere, I've found Open/Libre Office isn't up to the task. In fact, just today I sent an Open Office spreadsheet saved in Microsoft xlsx format to a coworker using MS Office, and yet again it wasn't handled well. MS Office claimed the document was corrupt (but could attempt to repair it), and once opened the fonts and other formatting were different. I get the same types of issues with Word and Excel, in both directions.

      Yes, I know a lot of the fault can be laid at MS feet for not publishing the file spec for their document files, but that doesn't change the end result.

      Oh, and the UI is garbage. MS Office UI was better 10 years ago than what Open/Liubre Office has today.

      1. Test Man
        FAIL

        Re: Libre/Open Office?

        "Yes, I know a lot of the fault can be laid at MS feet for not publishing the file spec for their document files, but that doesn't change the end result."

        ...?

        Except they did? Internally Office Open XML files are just a load of XML files, with other bits and pieces, zipped up. The specs are standardised by three bodies.

        1. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
          Alert

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          I did not know that. In that case, the fault would apper to lie directly at the feet of the Open/Libre Office developers.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          Microsoft did publish a spec alright but they do not plan to implement it fully until this year or next. What Office uses and produces now is an intermediate file format which was never _fully_ specced as the intermediate spec allowed for binary blobs for which only MS Office knew how to handle.

          Most likely once MS Office conforms to their own full ISO standard that Libre Office xlsx spreadsheet will open perfectly fine in MS Office.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          "Except they did? Internally Office Open XML files are just a load of XML files, with other bits and pieces, zipped up. The specs are standardised by three bodies."

          Hmmmm. I seem to remember a big old bun fight when this got pushed through. I seem to remember that no one, not even Microsoft, could pick up the standard and write software that could actually use the standard. Having said that, things might have moved on since it was introduced and the whole thing has been tidied up, but I doubt it.

        4. David Hicks
          FAIL

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          "Except they did? Internally Office Open XML files are just a load of XML files, with other bits and pieces, zipped up. The specs are standardised by three bodies."

          Pffft.

          MS crippled ISO in their haste to push this through, they stuffed the voting committees full of single issue voters and forced OOXML through as a standard, just so they could say they had one. The voters then stopped turning up, and ISO basically broke down due to non-attendance of a high proportion of members. Meanwhile the standard as published wasn't even supported by MS *and* contained many things that were ill defined so only MS could support them.

          ODF is an open standard OOXML is a trap, and a deliberately confusingly named one.

        5. ZAM
          FAIL

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          Yes they published just wonderful specs that included gems like format as done in Word 2000. Really helpful, NOT! If you actually look at the history of the standardization process for Office Open XML you will see how screwed up the process was. There was nothing standard about the process of getting the approval. MS abused a process that was not designed to protect against the likes of MS.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Libre/Open Office?

        > Oh, and the UI is garbage. MS Office UI was better 10 years ago than what Open/Liubre Office has today.

        Actually MS Office UI was better 10 years ago than what MS Office has today, too...

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
          Trollface

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          > MS Office UI was better 10 years ago than what Open/Liubre Office has today.

          LOLNO

          Also, learn2spell

          1. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
            Thumb Up

            Re: Also, learn2spell

            I spell just fine, it's the typing that gets me.

          2. RAMChYLD
            Boffin

            Re: Libre/Open Office?

            You tell me how is it that Ribbon is better than the old UI. It's extremely unintuitive and makes looking for something even harder. What I could previously find almost instantly now takes seconds to find.

        2. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
          Thumb Up

          Re: Actually MS Office UI was better 10 years ago than what MS Office has today, too...

          I agree. Never did like that ribbon UI.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Actually MS Office UI was better 10 years ago than what MS Office has today, too...

            I didn't like the ribbon, then I used it for a year or so, still not a big fan of it, until our company was bought and the guys who bought us used office 2003, I now know that I really like the ribbon in comparison.

      3. Smudge@mcr

        Re: Libre/Open Office?

        i used to enjoy debate on the reg forums but now all there is ,is Microsoft funded trolls. How much do you get paid per post for rubbishing FOSS. Hint you are obvious despite yourselves.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          "i used to enjoy debate on the reg forums but now all there is ,is Microsoft funded trolls. How much do you get paid per post for rubbishing FOSS. Hint you are obvious despite yourselves."

          To be fair and balanced, which you were not, it's possible that Microsoft shills are hereabouts. But - and this stands true for anyone throwing the much overused by some 'shill' accusation - if you are willing to cast that aspersion you should be willing to present the evidence to support it or stop boring us with it.

          I am no particular fan of Microsoft, being primarily a BSD user, but I would call you on your aspersion asking for something other than bias, prejudice and here-say to back your assertion. (I have yet to see anyone throwing such accusations actually be able to support their argument - although I may be persuaded make an exception to the rule for 'RICHTO').

          Back in the real world, those of us not on an ideological technology jihad, just get on with our work quietly and try not to espouse personal bias wrapped in shill accusations.

          Back in April you stated, "Lets ban the word Freetard from The Reg". Cool. But let's be grown up and ban 'shill' and and the words "Microsoft funded trolls" too eh?

          1. Fatman

            Re: ban 'shill' and and the words "Microsoft funded trolls"

            OK, then, I will just substitute "Microsoft funded (delusional) evangelists" then.

            Better?

        3. kissingthecarpet
          Linux

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          The disturbing thing is they're probably doing it off their own bat, without any MS involvement whatsoever. Its like football fans who get into extreme fights with other teams' fans - no-one pays them to do that either, or Republican wingnuts in the US.You don't have to pay fanatics - real MS shills would be more pro-PR types than this bunch of knee-jerk nutcases.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Libre/Open Office?

            @Kissinghtecarpet - Can you not see that there is a far more shoutey Linux/FOSS representative here than MS fans? Just because someone likes something you don't, doesn't mean that they're out to get you or that they're fanatics.

            Personally I like Windows, Linux, UNIX, Tandem, z/OS and many others, it's the rabid, unthinking fanboys that get to me, ironically they're actually the worst thing about OSes and the worst advert for their communities.

      4. Tyrion
        Trollface

        Re: Libre/Open Office?

        Except that you don't need to save documents in Microsoft proprietary formats these days. Recent versions of Microsoft Office can open ODF files, as can Google Docs, Libre Office, Lotus Notes, and pretty much any office software worth its weight in salt. You see, you're stuck in the old formats paradigm where everything has to be sent in Microsoft Office formats. It's simply not the case anymore. And now when Microsoft Office improperly handles ODF, you redirect your vitriol at them. It's a win-win, you still get to complain, and ODF becomes the defacto Office suite file format ;)

        1. JohnG

          Re: Libre/Open Office?

          "Except that you don't need to save documents in Microsoft proprietary formats these days. Recent versions of Microsoft Office can open ODF files,..."

          "....and ODF becomes the defacto Office suite file format ;)"

          Yes but that ain't gonna happen. The vast majority of corporate desktops and notebooks are using MS Office and save in an MS format by default. Why would Microsoft change the default formats of Office to benefit potential rivals? I suspect they will continue to warn their users that "this document may contain features that are not compatible with this format", which will help maintain the status quo.

          This means that LO has to try to work with native MS Office formats and Microsoft are clearly going to do there best to make that as difficult as possible.

          Things were much simpler when Word and Excel were the underdogs to Wordperfect and Lotus 123. Now, it is probably nearly impossible to provide a truly compatible alternative to MS Office, especially where complex documents using macros are involved. Added to this, Microsoft are not so stupid as to ignore the threat to MS Office from Libre Office (and by implication, to the Windows desktop from Linux) and will likely continue to move the goalposts. I like Libre Office and it seems to be the closest competitor to MS Office but I can't see it displacing the incumbent unless Microsoft completely miss the point.

      5. Euripides Pants

        Re: Libre/Open Office?

        "just today I sent an Open Office spreadsheet saved in Microsoft xlsx format to a coworker using MS Office, and yet again it wasn't handled well"

        Why not use the older .xls format?

        1. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
          Meh

          Re: Why not use the older .xls format?

          No particular reason other than I know they are on Office 2010.

      6. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        How to download Libre Office ..

        "just today I sent an Open Office spreadsheet saved in Microsoft xlsx format to a coworker using MS Office, and yet again it wasn't handled well"

        Direct them to the Libre Office web site and the download link ...

        1. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
          FAIL

          Re: Direct them to the Libre Office web site and the download link ...

          As if that's going to happen in most corporate environments.

  2. Monkey Bob
    Coat

    Open source attack dog?

    Isn't that the next Ubuntu release? Rabid Rottweiler?

    1. Euripides Pants

      Re: Open source attack dog?

      Nope, its Raunchy Rhinoceros.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Open source attack dog?

      Rampant Rabbit obviously.

    3. Fatman
      Linux

      Re: Isn't that the next Ubuntu release? Rabid Rottweiler?

      NO, actually, its Raring Ringtail, due out in April.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    LAMP servers

    is what most of the net is running on.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Eric Rudder

    Steering the ship

  5. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Turn that FUD valve!

    > The establishment of Trustworthy Computing changed how Microsoft and the entire computer industry thinks about security and privacy

    Implying they weren't playing desperate catch-up then, being the typhoid Mary of the whole of the industry. Serious problems remain today.

    One should also not forget that "Trustworthy Computing" was in a good part about protecting the content providers from the end user, not the end user from security problems.

    1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: Turn that FUD valve!

      One should also not forget that "Trustworthy Computing" was in a good part about protecting the content providers from the end user, not the end user from security problems.

      Yes. What the article should have referred to was the Secure Development Lifecycle, which did lead to substantial improvement in Microsoft's code (particularly in the rate of vulnerabilities in new features). That was largely the work of actual security researchers like Howard and Leblanc. While I'm not uncritical of everything Howard and Leblanc and the other major MS security people did, they're serious, smart folks who cleaned a lot of muck out of those Augean Stables.

      While, as you say, problems remain, at least Microsoft's improved to the point where other firms (Adobe, Oracle courtesy of Java) often outpace it in the new-vulnerability stakes.

  6. Bob Vistakin
    Linux

    Ballmer called Linux a “cancer”

    This need repeating.

    Ballmer called Linux a “cancer”

    Microsoft apologists really, really want that to be somehow erased from everyone's memory, and never appear in the same sentence as Windows 8 whilst they are running a multi million pound advertising campaign for it.

    Ooops.

    See what I did there ?

    1. Roger Greenwood
      Thumb Up

      Re: Ballmer called Linux a “cancer”

      Mr Ballmer was right in a way - Linux is a cancer:- It grows uncontrollably (not controlled by a single corporation) and seems unstoppable (which is not what Mr Ballmer would like).

      In the case of Linux, I would say that is a good thing for competition. Only yesterday "Ubuntu on a phone" was one of the top 10 articles on the BBC news website for most of the day. I want one already.

      1. kissingthecarpet
        Linux

        Re: Ballmer called Linux a “cancer”

        I'm sure there's a less pejorative & needlessly unpleasant term than "Cancer" for the phenomenon you describe.

        But its true that Ballmer called Linux a “Cancer” Really classy,Steve,eh?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ballmer called Linux a “cancer”

          Yeah, but at least Steve doesn't give people the finger, and bawl out his developers in public forums, as Linus does.

          Personally I think they're probably both rather difficult people to work for, but let's not pretend they're even a patch on Steve Jobs, who was by all accounts "really very challenging indeed" to work for.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Ballmer called Linux a “cancer”

            Yeah, but at least Steve doesn't give people the finger, and bawl out his developers in public forums, as Linus does.

            No, Steve has at least the sense to destroy chairs in private. Just wonder what the cause was, though.

            As for what Linus did, yes, that was IMHO incredibly stupid as it broke rule 1 of decent man management (and general people skills): praise in public, correct discretely. It is actually almost irrelevant what the issue was - you just don't do this because it makes (a) almost certain this team member will leave and (b) on seeing this, potential new joiners may reconsider.

            1. Fatman

              Re: what Linus did, yes, that was IMHO incredibly stupid as it broke rule 1 of decent man management

              On this we agree.

              One of the hallmarks of a good boss is know when, and where to criticize a subordinates fuck up.

              Unless it is absolutely necessary to make an example of someone, save the ass chewing for a private session.

              Being perceived as a loose cannon on a roll, is a morale killer.

              I know, I used to work for one. And $DEITY, I hated the way he treated people, including myself. It was one uncalled-for public ass chewing that caused me to quit on the spot. Eventually his antics got the attention of higher ups, and he ended up being frog-marched out the door.

  7. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Great IntelAIgent Game Changers of Novel Canon

    while promoting .NET, Mundie said the open-source software model: “Isn’t successful in building a mass market and making powerful, easy-to-use software broadly accessible to consumers.”

    Well, he is duty bound to say that, promoting .NET, but it isn't the Truth as Cast and Found in the Alternate Reality Game where open-source software models are successful in building a mass market and making powerful, easy-to-use software broadly accessible to consumers.

    Where Be Ye Dreamers...... the Plains are Yours to Build Upon Again with Manic Ubuntu Mars NET Rockets/Shuttleworth Space Craft which are only AIMessage away for All the Help that Springs Eternal in Deserving Circles .... and that is AI Virtual Power Source Generator and Sterling Stirling Engine for Drivers with Program Fluffers Enhancing Peformance, Displaying Direction for Erotic Capture and Sweet Sticky Submission to Surrender to the Omniscient Power of True Freedom.

    I think you will definitely find that 2013 is gonna be nothing like 2012.

    So what do y'all want Systems to Provide? What Content does One Offer for Consideration towards Realisation and Media Presentation via Alternative Traditional Channels.

    What is your Master Future Plan with Power and Control of Everything, for that is a program available today which purports to have private experience in public practice of such virtuous viral eventing ...... which are the smarter memes which attract inquistive attention and all due dude respect for shock and awe revelations.

  8. asdf
    Trollface

    Yawn

    >Ballmer called Linux a “cancer” – while promoting .NET

    Wow he really knows how to back a winning horse huh? Remember when Microsoft was supposedly betting the company on .Net? Funny how they never really ate their own dog food and wrote any of their own software on .Net. Oh well good thing Ballmer is doubling down on an even worse technology (Metro or the artist formerly known as). As this article shows the one thing Ballmer is extremely good at is eliminating and neutering internal rivals which is what this move was probably about.

    1. asdf
      FAIL

      Re: Yawn

      Before a paid troll or fanboi pips up yes parts of VS 2010 are written in .Net (WPF). It also might be why VS goes unresponsible and its window greys out every now and then while it searches unnecessarily deep in windows libraries for god knows what or is by far the most sluggish in general VS to date.

      1. kissingthecarpet
        FAIL

        Re: Yawn

        Indeed, some of the VS2010 UI no longer works as well as previous versions because they're using WPF.

        Notice Office is still a native C++ COM app for example

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yawn

      " Funny how they never really ate their own dog food and wrote any of their own software on .Net"

      They have in fact, over the years, produced quite a range of applications in managed code. Really, you should do a little research before posting such ill-informed rubbish.

      1. asdf
        Thumb Down

        Re: Yawn

        Name some. Read the articles below as they sum up the situation perfectly. "At the moment the only Microsoft application that uses WPF is Visual Studio and many users wish that it didn't." Granted that is WPF but I am having problems finding any of their major apps that use a majority of managed code.

        http://www.i-programmer.info/professional-programmer/i-programmer/2830-was-net-all-a-mistake.html

        http://www.i-programmer.info/professional-programmer/i-programmer/4026-the-war-at-microsoft-managed-v-unmanaged.html

        1. asdf
          FAIL

          Re: Yawn

          This was about all I could find and boy is it dated. "Windows "Longhorn" dramatically increases the amount of managed Windows code including components like WinFx, an all managed API, "Avalon", a managed presentation layer, and "Indigo" a messaging stack, all using managed code."

          We all know how well things went adding lots of managed code to Longhorn (Vista). It went so well they ended up ripping most of it out on rewrite and Vista was still dog slow.

          http://blogs.msdn.com/b/danielfe/archive/2004/11/02/251254.aspx

          1. asdf
            Trollface

            Re: Yawn

            http://stackoverflow.com/questions/228024/what-major-applications-does-microsoft-sell-which-use-the-net-framework

            There was this too but honestly not many of those products really took off and the ones that did are usually for management types who can't do real development (Sharepoint is SVN/GIT for management), etc. Notice that the SQL server answer is only interoperability as SQL server itself was not written in managed code. As for IIS oh you mean that webserver headed for single digit market share? Still it was smart doing that for often public facing software in managed code considering the rate at which MS devs introduce buffer overflows in their code.

            1. asdf
              Trollface

              Re: Yawn

              Bah missed edit window. Meant to say for management and web dev types (Expression Blend) that think XAML is proper GUI development.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Yawn

                So there ya go... You have managed to prove your initial assertion wrong. Nothing wrong with that. I do it all the time - sometimes :)

            2. Richard Crossley
              Coffee/keyboard

              Re: Yawn

              "Sharepoint is SVN/GIT for management"

              Thank you, that cheered up my afternoon.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Thumb Up

          Re: Yawn

          Your first post clearly stated: "Funny how they never really ate their own dog food and wrote any of their own software on .Net"

          My original comment was not concerned with just WPF as you probably gathered.

          You stated .Net, I was therefore responding to your claim that Microsoft never produced any software in .Net - Which is, in all honesty, complete hogwash.

          As far back as 2004 Microsoft had at least; (1) 11 Windows server products written in whole or in part in managed code; (2) 5 developer tools partly written in managed code; (3) 7 web properties written in managed code; (4) 10 internal applications written in whole or in part in managed code.

          The case still stands, in 2013, that more than just Visual Studio uses managed code.

          "Granted that is WPF but I am having problems finding any of their major apps that use a majority of managed code."

          If you now want to change the goalposts to "major apps that use a majority of managed code" then of course, I will need to change my response to meet the new goalposts you are now setting.

          As for WPF however. Never liked it. Never will.

          Glad you didn't mention Linux. It's my New Year resolution to say 'BSD' every time I reply to a post with 'Linux' in it :)

          1. asdf

            Re: Yawn

            My point was simply .Net was a long term fail that even Microsoft saw coming. Linux on the other hand is as strong as ever. Ten years from now guess which technology people will still often mention (even if they call it Android or whatever) and which one will be mentioned in the same context as COBOL.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Yawn

              "My point was simply .Net was a long term fail that even Microsoft saw coming."

              I don't necessarily disagree with the sentiment. But why not just say that in the first place?

              Why was it necessary for you to waffle on about Microsoft not using managed code to produce any of their own software - a statement which you have now managed to prove to yourself is an incorrect statement?

              You seem to have an inability to admit that you were wrong. Big deal. Just admit it and move on.

              "Linux on the other hand is as strong as ever."

              Oh yes, Linux. Personally I don't give a shit about Linux. Linux bores me. Linux trolls bore me. In fact I give Linux as much time as you give Windows - probably less. No. Definitely less.

              The day Linux becomes a superior product to BSD for what I do daily is the day I will reconsider. That day is not going to happen any time soon. In fact, I doubt that it will happen any time ever!

              Perhaps now I have said that you can conjure another fabricated statement to attempt to defend your precious little kernel.

              You waffle on about the greatness of Linux and poke fun of Windows users - I have the neck to say, "What utter crap you spout. Get over yourself already!"

              If a Linux troll wants to troll, fine. But at least have the decency to troll with factual statements.

              "Linux on the other hand is as strong as ever. Ten years from now guess which technology people will still often mention (even if they call it Android or whatever) and which one will be mentioned in the same context as COBOL."

              10 years from now little Linux trolls will still be sat there sniggering and making up little stories to troll and flame Windows users.

              The rest of us... Well, we'll just be getting on with our work quietly and leaving the patently absurd and puerile arguments to the children and, of course, the penguins.

              Why? Well because the rest of us will be using BSD which is, and always was, a superior product (in every conceivable way). It's just we don't feel the need to make ourselves look stupid by spouting lies to support a non-existent argument.

              Oh... Did I say that BSD is great and that Linux is, in comparison, inferior (just as Windows is inferior to Linux)?

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Yawn

                "Oh... Did I say that BSD is great and that Linux is, in comparison, inferior"

                +1 from my first post! :x

              2. asdf

                Re: Yawn

                > BSD which is, and always was, a superior product

                Theo is that you? STFU. BSD is great on the %50 at best of hardware out there it will run on. BSD performance (including Mac OS here) especially on a LAMP stack is laughably bad on multi core systems (though was getting better last I checked). Worst of all the best place it can run is on my Netgear router and there is no version available unlike Linux under OpenWRT. I actually own computers running Windows, Mac OS, Mint Linux and FreeBSD as I agree an OS is a simple tool and not a life style choice. I just find tweaking the point and click drooler MCSEs praying to make it to retirement before their beloved empire collapses to be amusing in general.

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Happy

                  Re: Yawn

                  "Theo is that you? STFU. BSD is great on the %50 at best of hardware out there it will run on"

                  It runs on 100% of the hardware that I run it on!!! ;)

                  +1 on your last post as it made me smile

                  (Looks like I forgot the troll icon on my posts. Oops)

  9. Ian McNee
    Linux

    Android vs. Surface/Windoze 8/TIFKAM/<insert crap M$ product here> anyone?

    So...

    Setting out Microsoft’s position at New York University, Mundie claimed open source resulted in “unhealthy forking” of code and the “viral” nature of the free software movement's GPL threatened developers' intellectual property and undermined commercial product development.

    Speaking as Microsoft was ramping up its campaign against open source and Linux – Ballmer called Linux a “cancer” – while promoting .NET, Mundie said the open-source software model: “Isn’t successful in building a mass market and making powerful, easy-to-use software broadly accessible to consumers.”

    See title. Nuff sed.

    </rms-troll>

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Android vs. Surface/Windoze 8/TIFKAM/<insert crap M$ product here> anyone?

      Did you miss the bit that this statement was from 2001?

  10. Ian McNee
    Thumb Up

    p.s.

    Fab title btw - Ballmer will be getting sweaty just thinking about it :-)

  11. Boris S.

    Someone should explain the definition of security...

    ...to Microsucks who doesn't seem capable of buying a clue when it comes to security.

    1. Not That Andrew

      Re: Someone should explain the definition of security...

      You think Windows is insecure now? was 10 times worse 10 years ago. The sad thing is if they empoyed saner defaults it would be as secure as any unix style OS.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mundie kicked upstairs?

    Mundie is eased out and given an honorary role as Ballmers 'advisor'?

  13. ichibrosan
    FAIL

    Trusted Computing Initiative an insane abuse of programmers everywhere

    If he was the person responsible for TCI, he is on my %^&*-list. The philosophy of the initiative was that programmers cannot be trusted to have access to assembly language. This was the primary foundation of the .NET approach.

    .NET, aside from being a single sourced execution environment, locking in developers to the Windows platform, it was a huge waste of CPU processing power. Software Engineers know that running under emulation is ok temporarily for quick and dirty programs, but commercial software should be as efficient and tight as possible. When you use .NET, you are no longer depending on the hardware of the processor to correctly executre your code, but instead are depending on the .NET runtime, which like other Microsoft programs is most likely buggy in subtle ways. If your .NET program is not working correctly, where do you look for the problem?

    I harte .NET for what it did to the programming community. Now all the Microsoft programming languages target .NET pseudo-code, instead of real code.

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