Windows 8: Getting a new filesystem

I don't pay much attention to Microsoft and Windows these days. I admit it, I am a hardcore Mac and Linux user, more comfortable in the unix shell than I ever was at a Dos prompt.

It's easy to forget the layers and layers and layers of complexity that exist in any operating system nowadays, even a little Android tablet (which I am spending lots of time with lately.)

So this article is a good reminder of what's happening up in Redmond. It describes the "next generation file system for Windows":

"Our design attributes are closely related to our goals. As we go through these attributes, keep in mind the history of producing file systems used by hundreds of millions of devices scaling from the smallest footprint machines to the largest data centers, from the smallest storage format to the largest multi-spindle format, from solid state storage to the largest drives and storage systems available. Yet at the same time,

Windows file systems are accessed by the widest array of application and system software anywhere. ReFS takes that learning and builds on it. We didn’t start from scratch, but reimagined it where it made sense and built on the right parts of NTFS where that made sense. Above all, we are delivering this in a pragmatic manner consistent with the delivery of a major file system—something only Microsoft has done at this scale. (from Building the Next Generation File System for Windows: ReFS)

Reading the article is not as satisfying as the build up. I guess not surprisingly, given that by definition the article has to over simplify and really hide the wheels within wheels.

I have written many times about Microsoft's amazing ability to build complex products and support a user base across a crazy variety of versions, hardware, software, countries, eras and so on. The challenge that they take on with Windows 8, apparently massively changing the on-disk structures of their file system while preserving API compatibility is daunting.

So while I am not a Microsoft fan or booster, I still have enormous respect for them.

Bill Gates and Microsoft

I still don't love Microsoft. I used to, actually, use Windows day in and day out, for years. But I am known to frown a the thought of sitting down and usingn Windows 7 or whatever it's called these days.

But isn't Bill Gates awesome? After building Microsoft into a hugely successful business behemoth he takes his money and builds an awesome charitable behemoth:

""We all know that there are these exemplars who can take the toughest students, and they'll teach them two-and-a-half years of math in a single year," he says. "Well, I'm enough of a scientist to want to say, 'What is it about a great teacher? Is it their ability to calm down the classroom or to make the subject interesting? Do they give good problems and understand confusion? Are they good with kids who are behind? Are they good with kids who are ahead?' (from The Wall Street Journal)

Microsoft is to Google as Lotus was to Microsoft

This isn't a huge new insight but it's interesting to see history kind of repeating itself.

Sometimes a product is so locked in and so entrenched that it looks like it will never be beat. After all, no one ever got fired for buying IBM right? And you'd have to be crazy to try to build a new spreadsheet to compete with Excel, because companies large and small have an unbelievable investment in training, familiarity and documents so that any change is extremely hard and costly.

It is said, correctly, I think, that such entrenched software products often get unseated during a platform switch. When a dominant technology platform (e.g. PCs or Windows) is losing it's dominance in favor of a new technology (e.g. Cloud-based apps) the dominant software company and products are vulnerable.

Did you know that Lotus Development had total dominance in spreadsheets on MS-DOS? And then Microsoft Windows 'came along' (that coming along took almost a decade but still Lotus got caught short.

Lotus kept investing in 1-2-3 - the couldn't not - while Microsoft without the 'baggage' of an installed base could bet on their 'new platform' and build a great new spreadsheet called Excel. It was a gamble, and they won.

Now we might be seeing history repeating itself. In a New York Times Article from a day or three ago:

"Microsoft’s long-awaited move, analysts say, is a studiously crafted bet, including various offerings at different prices. They are not sure whether it represents wishful thinking or a workable strategy. Microsoft’s plan is to embrace the demand for cloud-based tools for office workers, which promise to be less costly for companies than conventional software, and yet avoid cannibalizing a business that is its biggest single money-maker." (from Microsoft Takes to Cloud to Ward Off Competition)

Wow, that sounds like what I heard around Lotus about 15 years ago.

Imagine this: "Lotus' plan is to embrace the demand for Windows-based tools for office workers,[...] and yet avoid cannibalizing a business that is its biggest single money-maker"

Easily the best Microsoft advertisement EVER

And, maybe, better than any ad that Apple has ever done....

An interesting video about design of Windows 7's default desktop colors

If you're interested in design and illustration, you might like this video of how Microsoft went about designing the default desktop for Windows 7. Also some interesting commentary about the challenge of designing an Operating System for an astronomical number of different PC configurations.