Vista: Google Edition, or Yahoo! Edition, or ???

One of the weaknesses of the fragmentation of Linux into a google of different and competing versions has been confusion on exactly which distro is the "One True Way".

As of early 2007 there are about 62 different versions of Linux available. And those are just the bigger fish in the pond. I'm all about exposing myself to new and different ways of doing things but that's just ridiculous. I've played with distros by Red Hat, Ubuntu, Mandrake, Debian, Slackware, and LFS over the years and they've all made me want to punch myself in the face. And no, it's not (just) because I am a Windows Weenie unable to handle anything without a graphical interface, but mostly because each version had significantly different ways of doing things. The distros could even change drastically between releases. Directories would be organized differently, installations would use different formats, some OSS zealot on the distro team would remove some critical (IMO) codec’s, etc.

The problem is not that there are different distributions, but that they differentiate on insignificant details. Only Knoppix has differentiated by enabling developers to create custom tailored distro's that can be pre-equiped with all the software for a specific use. Lisp Knoppix, Monoppix, Games Knoppix, MythTV Knoppix, etc. The value to be found here is a common foundation already set up with the basic software to do what the user wants to do.

When I install Lisp Knoppix or Monoppix distro they are fundamentally the same as far as the base installation goes. The directory structure is the same; the fundamentals are all in place. I didn’t need to spend any additional time figuring out which installation management system to use, one Knoppix system is the same as another except for what matters to me, the user software.

This is where Microsoft could benefit. They have *the* industry standard for stable structures. When you install any version of a Microsoft OS, there is a C: drive. I can't even recall a time before there was a "Program Files" directory. The shell and API are consistent. (PowerShell is going to fix the problem of the current extremely limited console of Windows.) The Windows updater is about the simplest and cleanest installer known to man (IMO).

While Linux is fragmenting because of competition between vendors, Microsoft is fragmenting from within. Microsoft has been slowly declining in the clarity of their basic vision of a fundamental Windows OS since Windows 2000. Their releases have steadily been getting more and more cryptic. Windows 2000 was as clear as one could get, no "Home", "Professional" or "Media Center". Just "Workstation" and "Server", nice, “Advanced” server doesn’t count here. With Vista we get "Ultimate", "Home Premium", "Home Basic", "Business", "Enterprise". Well, that cleared things up. Microsoft is doing the opposite of Linux, they are fragmenting themselves.

So close yet so far away. Windows XP Starter Edition was a forced and seemingly half-hearted response by Microsoft to comply with the EU requirement to provide a minimal XP release. Yet it’s very restricted and limited as to be useless as a base platform for developing custom releases.

To prove that larger corporations don’t always learn from their mistakes, enter Vista Starter Edition. Basically it’s the same stupid decisions on hardware and concurrent application restrictions as they made with the XP version.

Why not remove the restrictions and open the license so that third-party vendors can re-distribute their own version of Vista? It can’t dilute the brand anymore than Microsoft has done to their self. And it would shut up the EU and anti-monopoly zealots by enabling ISVs to bundle their software for re-sale to end-users while still providing a revenue model to Microsoft.

Make Vista a PLATFORM for ISVs. Don’t release multiple versions of Vista, sell one base version with additional extension packs, ala the Plus! SuperPack.

I can almost imagine that glorious day. I boot my Google Vista workstation for the first time. Log in; see that I have a few new GMail messages. Launch Firefox and see my bookmarks are all synced and ready to click. Open Picasa and see my wife’s pictures loaded and ready to upload to Flickr.

Ahh, maybe someday.