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I remember seeing an awesomely kool looking video of Longhorn(now Vista) back in 2002-2003. It had features and GUI enough to push back Apple way behind the current game. For those who are not getting even a slightest idea check the video below.

[ youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=Tf29haATORQ]

So where are the features showcased during PDC-2003? Why Microsoft had to settle for something less and name it Vista? And why the features that resembles Mac? Why, Microsoft Why? What happened to Longhorn concept?Well, I’m still searching for the answer. Few points that come to my mind are:

• Business Strategy.

It could be Microsoft’s business strategy to first commercialize Vista, a rip-off of the longhorn concept, get the jargons Aero, Yukon, Avalon etc. out, and then release the main product. It could be like releasing Windows 2000 first and then XP(which is built over 2000).

• People not ready for it.

This could be partially true. If you remember Tablet-PC, which was popularized by Microsoft way back in 1993. There wasn’t much appreciation from the general public and Microsoft had to wait for almost a decade for it to get commercialize.

• Microsoft is still working on it.

The initial promise of Microsoft of a new File System, called WinFS was pulled off from Vista due to several reasons. Microsoft has to throughly test the whole new OS after integrating all the features. WinFS wouldn’t have finished by the deadline set for Vista’s release.

• More features = More resources

Well, I don’t need to explain much. Vista itself needs around 2Gb to work smoothly(512Mb minimum, but will minimum work for us?). A high level of UI presentation would mean a lot more that 4GB of RAM that the current 32-bit architecture won’t support.(Ahh i remember my old days when i begged my dad for 8Mb of RAM ).

• Not enough usage.

Yep, seriously, this could also be a reason. These features may look awesome to some, but for some it would be a time waster. There are a lot of people who change their start menu to the way old Win95/98/2k style and don’t prefer the xp/vista style. They feel comfortable in their old style zone. Pumping in all the frills may not be the update that they are looking for.

Well, all’s well that end’s well, i believe that Microsoft is not dropping the Longhorn concept, and would bring it back in the upcoming Windows7/Vienna.
What you say?

We all love Google for all the advanced web-apps like Gmail, Gtalk, Google Reader etc. Now, here’s a little tux here to whet your G-appetite. Its the gOS which is a linux distro which is made to be :

1. Google-optimized.
2. User-Friendly.
3. Of course, free and open source.

So, how does it work ? Easy as pie is how it works !! Its easy to operate for the average user. Here’s what the gOS dev team has to say about it :

# An alternative operating system for the masses : “Our idea is to be a simple, user friendly, beautiful desktop for normal people”.

 # Out of the box, just works! : “We’re creating an OS ecosystem that is complete. We come with all the software you need to browse the web, email, instant message… Play movies, music, and connect to iPods… create and edit documents, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, images… out of the box. Plug and play! ”

# Bring on Google and other wonderful applications : ” We recommend Google for just about everything… Gmail, Gtalk, Calendar, Maps, Docs and Spreadsheets, and more. We’d like to welcome you to the idea that Google already is your “operating system.” “

The OS has an desktop integrated search box and everything Google can be accessed right from the desktop.  

Hmm…. I have a good feeling Google is going to acquire this project or something. Thats what Google does, right ? Buy companies. lol

Internet search giant, Google, seems to have grown over concerned about its customers. This was evident from the past set of updates that they have done to their algorithms. First it was the update on the PageRank algorithm, that affected a plethora of bloggers and similar publishers. A recent one being an update on the clickable region of the Google AdSense from the entire box.

Google believes that these steps would help erradicate false alrams or fruadulent clicks on the ad, thus taking only the really interested folks to the respective sites. Anyway, Google already has many algorithms to detect fraud and unintentional clicks, to do away with wrong statistics, then why the heck this sudden change?

Well, to get into a bit deeper let us divide the Internet Users into 4 categories:

1. Google (yep, need to put the company separately).
2. Advertisers (whose ads are stored in Google’s ad database).
3. Publishers
4. End User (Web surfers)

Now lets take it on a case-to-case basis.

For Google, the most important thing is that the general public is directed towards the right site and this is what Google is famous for. Buying and selling a large number(remeber a large number) of text links could misguide the PageRank algorithm, therby misleading the end user. It is also important that the customers (advertisers) gets the real clicks, for which they are paying google.

Advertisers, as said, needs really interested folks, to grab new customers. It doesn’t pay them off well, if the refferal site used unethical ways to increase popularity of their site etc., as the general public is much unaware of all this.

Publishers, well for quality contecnt writers this seems to be a good move(I’m not here in a mood to argue).  They will get the attention that is due on them. I dunno if most bloggers would agree with me or not, but isn’t it true???

End users, as mentioned, most would not have an idea about AdSense, and many would fall trap to clicking on the ads where the intension was to click on some link in the text.

Now keeping above points in mind we can conclude that for most part the changes done were much thought of and well planned. What are your feelings? Please do comment …