Midori - Resurfaces Again

Back in 2008, I wrote a piece on my company techblog about Midori:

Hedging bets against Midori?

I admit it.  I have not been following the latest gossip in the frontlines of Microsoft development.  Frankly, I have too much going on.  However, the newest buzzword from the folks in Redmond is "Midori."  What is it?

 

Midori, rumored to be out in 2011, is a 'possible' departure from anything related to Windows.  Sort of.  It is supposed to Microsoft's way of leaving Windows in the dust and starting over with a new operating system that is NOT backward-compatible with previous versions of Windows.

 

So, you have thousands, tens of thousands, millions of dollars worth of software and man-hours tied up in your network operating systems and servers because you went with the 'big dogs?'  Tough.  Dump it and start over.

 

I understand the 'logic' behind wanting to make such a move on Microsoft's part - Windows has become so bloated, it is almost unusable (read, Vista in the early days).  In an effort to keep everyone happy, Windows programmers have been holding on to legacy APIs, DLLs, and a varied hodgepodge of other acronyms in the name of customer satisfaction. 

 

Starting over SOUNDS like a good idea.  But, here's my issue with it...  If I have to start over with a system that will not run my current programs (though there is talk of a Windows-like emulator that would TRY to run your current apps), then why would I spend a gazillion dollars to make that move?

 

Look, if it means learning a whole new OS, frankly, I've got my picks out there.  I could switch to Novell-Linux or a variety of other Linux-based OSes.  What difference would it make?  And, if I switched away from Microsoft, I would open the doors on all kinds of free and/or open-source software that can do basically what I'm doing now. 

 

Wait, that means I would have to learn new software.  From the looks of it, I would be doing that in either case.  I might as well save myself some money as this dog learns some new tricks.

The company techblog is on a dying platform that we have since moved away to a hosted solution. In the name of preservation, I have been moving posts from that site to our new site. This post, though, I opted to move here.  In any case, I decided to see if the Midori Project was still around. Sure enough:

Here is a ZNET article about the changes to the personnel and a discussion in the comments about the OS itself: http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-midori-operating-system-skunkworks-project-soldiers-on-7000007110/

As you can see, the OS did not come to light in the form of Vista, Win7, or anything else over the past 5 years.  I hold fast to my comments above: Microsoft Midori will be unlike any other OS Microsoft has produced. I also believe it will be the "equivalent" of Windows 10 (Windows X, if you will).  Of course, it won't be called "Windows."  We're on Windows 8 as of this current writing. I believe we will see Windows 9 and then we will no longer see ANY version of OS called "Windows."  When the release date for "WinX" comes around, Microsoft will wow the world with their new OS.  And, when that happens, everyone gets to start over as far as anything Microsoft is concerned.