New Ideas Regarding an Old Operating System

Upon reading an unconfirmed rumor this morning that Microsoft is developing a thin client version of Windows XP, it got me to thinking.

Longhorn is so far away that the company is now relaunching an existing product. It will have a huge marketing campaign and everything. The product is called "Windows XP". Perhaps you've heard of it. Of course, XP got a bum rap right out of the gate. Not only were people outraged by the concept of hardware-checking activation programs, but, if memory serves me correctly, XP hit shelves on October 25, 2001: just 44 days after militant Islamic fundamentalists crashed four jets into the American populace. It was therefore tragically unfortunate that the "Where do you want to go today?" ultraphrase chosen for Windows XP was "Prepare to fly". At the time, people were standing in huge lines, getting their shoes X-rayed, or having their nail clippers confiscated by people making minimum wage. Publicity this bad may have devastated a lesser company.

So it is only now, more than three years down the road, that XP is finally getting some bona fides. I'm curious to see how Microsoft will take this. As I was fretting over how to get an .ISO file from an FTP server onto a freshly FAT16-formatted hard disk, I grabbed a Ubuntu Linux live CD. As I reached for it, I wondered what stance Microsoft would take towards a Windows live CD.

Such a thing would be marvelous. Imagine having your own personal Windows XP machine wherever you go with all of the programs you want on it.

Eventually, Ubuntu barfed at the thought of running Mozilla Firefox, so I restarted the PC with a Knoppix disk and all was right with the world. And to think that there is an underrepresented group of Windows users out there being neglected in this way. No wonder they're rushing to Linux in droves.