Saturday, November 09, 2002

Shut Up and Just Use Windows Frank wrote about David Gelernter's Lifestreams project/product, which aims to replace the desktop metaphor of file cabinets, folders, and files with a visual chronology, what he calls a "narrative stream." The product sounds good, although I would hope for more than just a chronological view. Something in Gelernter's NY Times article disturbed me, though: his suggestion that the operating system war is over, we should all use Windows, and that's the end of the story. But Windows is the marketplace victor and has now won a decisive legal imprimatur. There is no technical reason for us to move to Linux; why should we switch? Why should our customers? Perhaps if Gelernter didn't get free copies of Windows (I presume) he might see this differently. Windows XP Professional -- and you need the Pro version if you are doing much of anything with a network -- costs about $300. This cost can be lower and buried in the cost of a new system, but it's still a high ticket item. I'll ignore the technical issues, here, only to say there are indeed some technical reasons to "switch." Gelernter's argument doesn't hold water. If the OS has indeed become irrelevant, if the future is all about a universally searchable pile of documents, contacts, e-mails messages and so on, that is all the more reason why we don't need Windows. Because the last time I checked, Linux, MacOS and other OSes were more than capable of processing those types of data. And they also do a fine job of running a browser, which can act as a universal file viewer, a la ZOË. David Gelernter's thinly-veiled propaganda is making me a little sick. 11:06:25 AM    comment []