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Microsoft rips it all up and starts again – no, the campus, not Windows
The Register ^ | Jan 9, 2019 | Richard Speed

Posted on 01/09/2019 7:21:16 AM PST by dayglored

Nobody dares take a sledgehammer to the OS

Microsoft has announced that it is time to simply tear stuff down and rebuild anew.

Sadly, this is not in reference to Windows, which still labours under code built up over decades of twiddling, but is instead related to the modernisation of its campus.

That said, we quite fancy the idea of being issued one of those natty hardhats. Handy for weathering the latest Windows 10 update if a little flimsy when it comes to wholesale demolition.

And we can't see any attachment points for a handy Hololens either.

The Windows giant will tear down 13 buildings over the next few months, with an employee (and nine teammates) having at building 2 with sledgehammers. Microsofties handed over hard-earned cash to charity in order to be in with a chance of giving the company’s workspaces a damn good kicking.

A feeling we're sure many who use the company's wares would understand.

Microsoft became the first US tech company to be certified zero waste in 2016 and aims to avoid the majority of demolition waste going to landfill. Presumably it will bury the Windows 10 October 2018 Update under a pile of rubble in the hope everyone will stop talking about The Update of the Damned.

Or maybe stick a sign on top with the words "Never Forget" to ensure the Windows team aren't tempted to do a repeat performance in 2019.

The building works themselves are expected to take up to seven years to complete, with the first building ready in five. We would not want to be the first Microsofties to move in there – everyone knows you should wait until the first service pack has made an appearance before going near anything new from Redmond (boom, and indeed tish).

Snark aside, plans for the updated campus can be found here.

While it is good to see Microsoft spending some of its billions making a better workplace for its employees, certain teams within the bowels of Redmond would do well to remember that sometimes it really is better to simply tear everything down and start again. ®


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: microsoft; redmond; windows; windowspinglist
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Some distraction from politics: Hump Day snark and sarcasm from The Register.
1 posted on 01/09/2019 7:21:16 AM PST by dayglored
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To: Abby4116; afraidfortherepublic; aft_lizard; AF_Blue; AppyPappy; arnoldc1; ATOMIC_PUNK; bajabaja; ...
Microsoft rebuilds Redmond, well, part of it ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

2 posted on 01/09/2019 7:21:59 AM PST by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."`)
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To: dayglored

“Microsoft rips it all up and starts again – no, the campus, not Windows”

Oh... a letdown. I though the “starts again” referred bringing back XP; I was practically giddy.


3 posted on 01/09/2019 7:22:36 AM PST by MayflowerMadam
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To: dayglored

Dang...........................


4 posted on 01/09/2019 7:22:44 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: dayglored

Campus? Oh, so there building a school then?


5 posted on 01/09/2019 7:24:05 AM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: dayglored

1. They complain about all the legacy code in Windows, but dont seem to mention that companies are the ones that demand it, so why would they make their primary customers angry?

2. Who cares if they demolish builds for redevelopment. Lots of construction guys will have steady work for a while.


6 posted on 01/09/2019 7:27:47 AM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: MayflowerMadam

I had to work on a Windows Server 2012 instance today. It drove me crazy. How does that junk even still exist under 20 layers of right clicks. Ugh, the horror.


7 posted on 01/09/2019 7:37:13 AM PST by lefty-lie-spy (Stay metal. For the Horde \m/("_")\m/ - via iPhone from Tokyo.)
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To: MayflowerMadam
"Oh... a letdown. I though the “starts again” referred bringing back XP; I was practically giddy."

I was hoping for W2kPro. sigh...

8 posted on 01/09/2019 7:39:08 AM PST by redhead (RAYfor little ones in pedo pipeline:child livestock: raped, tortured, and satanically sacrificed.)
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To: MayflowerMadam

2000 to 2007 I worked at SAFECO which was right next door to the Microsoft campus. It was pretty impressive spreading for blocks on end. I managed to hustle my way into one of their many Corp Cafe’s and it made ours look like a third world street vendor.


9 posted on 01/09/2019 7:39:36 AM PST by BBQToadRibs
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To: redhead

Perhaps they will purchase the rights to IBM’s OS2 and us it as a base for their next OS.. Nice to have a real time OS.


10 posted on 01/09/2019 7:45:32 AM PST by Waverunner (I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
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To: VanDeKoik
> They complain about all the legacy code in Windows, but dont seem to mention that companies are the ones that demand it, so why would they make their primary customers angry?

Good point. The underlying problem is that since the early days of Windows, business applications have used undocumented features, depended on undocumented behaviors, constructed workarounds for structural flaws and behavioral bugs, etc. As a result, those applications are heavily dependent on old, often broken, code deep in the bowels of the OS.

Microsoft has a many technically competent software engineers, brilliant system designers, and great system architects. But they are all hobbled by having to maintain "back-compatibility" with stuff that never should have been done that way in the first place.

Windows will never escape the damage done to NT in the mid-90's by trying to make it act like Win95. Everything after that just added insult to injury. It's really a shame; it could have been done so much better. Microsoft can never take a deep breath and re-do it from scratch, the way Apple did with the switch to OS X.

Make your bed, lie in it.

11 posted on 01/09/2019 7:48:50 AM PST by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."`)
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To: Waverunner; redhead
> Perhaps they will purchase the rights to IBM’s OS2 and us it as a base for their next OS.. Nice to have a real time OS.

Hell, there's no reason (other than NIH Syndrome) that Microsoft couldn't revamp Windows as a GUI+syscalls over a Linux or Unix base system, the way Apple did when they migrated the old MacOS GUI to a FreeBSD Unix base system and created OS X.

12 posted on 01/09/2019 7:58:37 AM PST by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."`)
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To: dayglored; Waverunner; redhead
> ...there's no reason (other than NIH Syndrome)...

Well, that and the point I addressed in comment #11 above. :-)

13 posted on 01/09/2019 8:00:17 AM PST by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."`)
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To: dayglored

Interesting. I spent five years on campus as a contractor and worked in most of the buildings. I was one of the very first to get caught up in Micrsft’s contractor crunch - lost my gig due to the “360 and out” policy that MS enacted because of contractors suing for lost benefits.


14 posted on 01/09/2019 8:04:44 AM PST by rockrr ( Everything is different now...)
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To: MayflowerMadam

Many ATMs run on XP, Microsoft still supports XP for them, not us.


15 posted on 01/09/2019 8:07:30 AM PST by null and void (If they don't respect our borders, why would you expect them to respect our National Parks, or us?)
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To: null and void
Many ATMs run on XP, Microsoft still supports XP for them, not us.

They run on Embedded XP which is not the same OS that one would run on a desktop.

16 posted on 01/09/2019 8:12:57 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: usconservative

Thanks.


17 posted on 01/09/2019 8:15:25 AM PST by null and void (If they don't respect our borders, why would you expect them to respect our National Parks, or us?)
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To: dayglored

Microsoft can never take a deep breath and re-do it from scratch, the way Apple did with the switch to OS X.”

I was in IT during this. We supported Win and Mac. The OS X transition took about 2 years. They put in code that allowed you to run “classic” apps.
It worked damn well, especially considering OS X was a total departure from Mac OS. I didn’t find any MAC OS apps l could not run including the Server software.


18 posted on 01/09/2019 8:16:40 AM PST by gibsonguy
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To: dayglored

Bring back “bob” !


19 posted on 01/09/2019 8:24:23 AM PST by llevrok (Vote while it's still legal)
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To: llevrok

20 posted on 01/09/2019 8:45:31 AM PST by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."`)
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