Have you ever imagined a 'no windows' world? In a world where you don’t have to deal with any Operating Systems like windows? Sounds exciting aren’t it? Well, Microsoft has imagined it. They called it cloud computing.
Steve Bass writes…
It's true: Microsoft has confirmed that it's abandoning Windows as we know it. Cagey as ever, the Microsofties won't say when it'll happen, but they have talked a little bit about what the next OS is going to look like--or not look like.
Microsoft code-named the project Midori. As best I can figure, its cloud computing: Everything, including applications and data, is on the Internet.
What Exactly Is Midori?
My colleague Elizabeth Montalbano, with the IDG News Service, tried making some sense of it in "Microsoft Prepares for End of Windows With Midori" and Erik Larkin, our crackerjack OS and Web guy, has plenty to say in "Cloud Computing, Microsoft's Midori, and the End of Windows." There are also details--and speculation--in an SDTimes piece, "Microsoft's plans for post-Windows OS revealed."
Midori for Linux?
One of my smarter-than-me buddies, Gary F., told me that Linus Torvalds worked on something called Midori a few years ago, an embedded Linux for mobile devices: "I doubt Microsoft would ever release something that could be traced back to Linux, but if I recall correctly, Transmeta's Midori had some rudimentary 'cloud computing' features vaguely similar to Microsoft's Midori." Read "Details emerge on Transmeta's "Mobile Linux" and "Transmeta Exports Midori Linux to China".
Quick aside: Cloud computing is worth knowing about, if for no other reason than sounding smart at your next dinner party. Read "Yahoo, Intel and HP Form Cloud Computing Labs" and "Sci-Fi Channel Has Head In Cloud Computing" to get a handle on it. Interesting, too, is what Dell is trying to do; read "Dell Tries to Trademark 'Cloud Computing'" for details on that. (All right reserved by PC Magazine, 2008).
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