[11882] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Windows 4 as Internet interface
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (designa@aol.com)
Fri Apr 22 18:47:55 1994
From: designa@aol.com
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 10:04:55 EDT
Bill Gates, at the EMA keynote in Anaheim on Tuesday, said that SLIP and PPP
would be built into Windows 4.0, and that it would provide native TCP/IP
support. The heart of the speech was a demo of the beat version of Windows
4.0 (code-named Chicago) accessing Microsoft's ftp server using a
Windows-Mosaic interface. It was clear that the design direction for Windows
4.0 is as graphical interface for the Internet. Gates also said that
Microsoft would ship 40 million copies within a year.
This statement reflects a shift in direction for Microsoft. Last June I
asked Gates if Microsoft planned to offer an Internet interface, and he
fluffed the question, basically saying that his percveive base of corporate
users were too afraid of the Internet due to security and reliability
concerns. In follow up, regarding potential plans for Microsft to build its
own network presence, Gates referred to (Microsoft exectutive, and Banyan
co-founder) Jim Allchin's Ph.D disseration as the model for Microsoft's
future network arhcitecture. Now, however, the Internet is seen as the
backbone of a global architecture for which Microsoft plans to provide the
user interface.
Unfortunately Mr. Gates did not make himself available for questions after
his speech. I would like to know how long Microsoft pursued this strategy of
developing the next version of Windows as an Internet front-end. Has it been
a long term strategy, or is it more opportunistic? Windows 4.0 frees systems
from DOS memory barriers, provides 32-bit communication drivers, and layers
in TCP/IP without additional system overhead. As such, it puts the net ready
at hand to its users. 40 million in one year. Watch out.
= Joe Raimondo =
Editor, Encapsulations, Design Points for Global Access Newsletter
designa@aol.com
"The modern world tends to be skeptical about everything that makes demands
on man's higher faculties. But it is not at all skeptical about skepticism,
which demands hardly anything."
E.F. Schumacher
