Microsoft apologizing for Windows Vista with new Singularity OS?
Windows Vista hasn’t done much to impress the masses or compel them to shift away from Windows XP. And despite its massive marketing push for Windows Vista, Microsoft may finally be realizing that it’s time for real change. Meet Singularity, a new operating system built by Microsoft from the ground up.
In a company press release, Rick Rashid, VP of Microsoft Research says “Singularity is not the next Windows, think of it like a concept car. It is a prototype operating system designed from the ground up to test-drive a new paradigm for how operating systems and applications interact with one another. We are making it available to the community in the hope that it will enable researchers to try out new ideas quickly.”
It’s about time. “The key developers of Singularity, Galen Hunt and Jim Larus, said that all current operating systems such as Windows, Linux and MacOS can be traced back to an operating system called Multics, which has its origins in the 1960s. In effect, current operating systems are still based, in part, on thoughts and criteria from 40 years ago, Hunt claims,” according to TGDaily.
Below is a list of features in Multics, sound familiar? Windows Vista still employs many of the same concepts.
- Dynamic linking: Multics needs no loader. Write a procedure, say joe, and compile: suppose the resulting binary refers to an external subroutine called fred. You can run joe by just typing its name.
Microsoft has an obvious interest in creating the next leap in operating system technology. If it can get a head start with Singularity, its already dominant presence in the market with Windows Vista and XP could expand even further.
I take Singularity as a sign from Microsoft that it’s ready to embrace change and innovation. The scary part about that is the potential for devastating the competitive landscape.
Not coincidentally I’m sure, the name Singularity certainly has an existing reputation Microsoft is piggybacking on in mathematics and science.
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March 5th, 2008
Vaporware. This will never get to the market. Its just Marketing. “yeah we screwed up with vista…but we have singularity and windows 7.. Just wait 5 or 10 years and we’ll give you something new”..
March 5th, 2008
MS should just do the right thing. Admit that Vista is a failure and discontinue it altogether. Extend the life of XP until Windows 7 or something else better comes around.
There is no doubt in my mind that MS will release some kind of Linux OS at some point in the future. The purpose would be simply to get their foot into the Linux arena and Lord knows what happens after that.
They should release something along the lines of a Windows Classic perhaps based on XP and designed to run on older systems much like Win FLP.
March 5th, 2008
Singularity has nothing to do with Vista’s success or failure !
It was a project started by MS in 2003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singularity_%28operating_system%29
March 7th, 2008
Wow this is really exciting. Finally Microsoft is starting to get it. I wish they would tell us which components they will include in their distro. Will it be 2.6.22 based?
March 7th, 2008
@happyandyk
Finally, somebody is doing their research. This is absolutely, %100 correct
November 18th, 2008
Wow, this was really kept on the quiet! Wished I had known this back when I purchased my Laptop I would have demanded it not be installed, as it stands the software came bundled with the laptop in. I like Vista’s Speed, don’t like the other junk in the trunk, thought a SP2 would fix the problem guess that’s not forthcoming. What an amazing let down are there any option you know of where MS will refund the cost of Vista 64 Bit. Maybe I should buy a MAC end all this they don’t seem to have this much drama.
walter_a_horton@msn.com