But... Isn't this sort of like boasting of embedding a mountain into
a molehill? <G>
Seriously, if this isn't just another way of Microsoft trying to "Be"
the entire computer domain, I'm seeing things wrong; Every item in your
house that has a computer embedded, running either WinCE or WinNT? Does
this sound like a monopoly, anyone? (We're all smart enough her to
recognize a duck when it waddles...)
Imagine the WinCE software for your toaster, your microwave, etc.,
interacting with your WinNT self-cleaning oven, and a heretofore
undiscovered mixed-network bug (which is totally impossible, of course
<snicker>) causes all of them, turned on at 1:50AM late one Saturday,
early next April, to make you a snack (You might as well clean the oven
while you're up), to stay on continuously forever due to a time library
bug, immolating you as you sit on the couch waiting for the snack to
cook; As you smell smoke, of course you'd be denying that MicroSoft
could ever make mistakes like that?! {not that Win95 had anything like
such a bug. Or that decent software testing could possibly have found
such a bug! <G>} Of course, the basement would go up in flames as well
(the dryer locked on as well with it's own embedded Win98 variant
confused as to whether or not IT had sprung forward, yet, or not.)
How many people here want anything to do with having to buy the latest
version of Embedded WinCE, every 3 years, for $100, times every
appliance you have at home? Always going to be bug fixes, and wunnerful
feature improvements, don't ya know... {And if so, why? Does your
toaster LAST 3 years? <G> And does a new toaster cost $120, NOW? Oh,
it costs less than that; well, THAT can be fixed...}
And you've all heard of consumer protection laws being modified to not
cover software, I imagine... Doesn't prove a conspiracy but if I were a
software company I'd be rubbing my hands in either glee or sorrow at the
stupidity of some regulators!
Sound like a world you want to live in, where software runs the world
(but you have no protection when the WinCE elevator you are riding in
decides to ascend to the 30th floor - of 14.) Where if your ladder
slips on an ice patch, and the ladder doesn't have a label on it stating
"do not place on slippery or icy surfaces", you can sue & win - but when
your car shuts down, weekly, on the way home from work, your only
recourse is to buy a newer (buggy) embedded operating system?
Maybe I'm finnicky - In aviation embedded systems, you tend to ship
product with NO bugs, and test the heck out of the product to guarantee
as best you can that there ARE no bugs, as well as looking through the
code intently repeated times to cross-check. If a bug is discovered,
you're forced to FIX it instantly, at the customer's place of business,
to keep your product saleable. Granted, that's a different world than
consumer electronics, but seriously here, I don't think I WANT a toaster
or oven or microwave that hasn't passed somewhat similar safety
inspections (UL Labs approval works for me, NOW; I wonder if they're
going to require no certification on WinCE or WinNT appliances, as
they're too hard to test, though?) And I've thrown more than one
toaster away, as it decided to latch on & try to torch the kitchen using
a piece of sourdough as firestarter (having a girlfriend who is put into
seizures by the smoke alarm may make me, um, cranky about this sort of
thing. 7 hours in the hospital is NOT my idea of fun.)
I just don't buy computer hardware I cannot choose the OS for & write
code for, if I can help it (and I wish my appliances came with an RS-232
connector at least, for programming; I may well eventually have the
washer, dryer, etc. started by central computer...)
Mark Willis
John Oram wrote:
>
> http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?98058.whntembed.htm
>
> Could be you all have gotten the attention of M$?
>
> John O
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