Microsoft said late on Tuesday that it has pushed back the expected launch of a version of Windows designed for high-performance computer clusters.
A Microsoft programmer said last month that the company was aiming to have Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition ready in time for a launch at the SC2005 supercomputing conference in November, with a beta version coming this summer. However, Microsoft said on Tuesday that the launch will be delayed as the company responds to early customer reactions.
"To ensure this feedback is incorporated, Microsoft is now planning to deliver the first beta to customers in the second half of 2005 and the final release is scheduled for first half 2006," a Microsoft representative said in an email.
Microsoft also cautioned that it is not aiming as much for the type of supercomputer that makes the annual list of the 500 largest supercomputers. Rather, Microsoft said it is focused on the kinds of clusters that a department or even a single researcher might put together.
"Enterprise customers are increasingly in need of HPC solutions for personal and departmental use, which is causing HPC to move from the traditional supercomputing centers found in academic and government sectors into the commercial markets, including engineering, life sciences and finance organizations," the Microsoft representative said.
Microsoft's plans for a supercomputer version of Windows were first reported last May. In June, Microsoft confirmed its intent to deliver the specially tailored Windows version.
Microsoft has not announced how much it will charge for the Compute Cluster edition, but did say last month that additional computers, or nodes, of a cluster will be priced at some discount. The initial version is designed to replicate many of the features that would be offered if someone were clustering machines using Linux. In future versions, Microsoft plans to incorporate support for the company's .Net programming infrastructure as well as allow for so-called "cycle harvesting" in which clusters can take advantage of the processing power of unused PCs on a network.
Talkback
The way I see it this shows why software patenting should never be allowed.
"The initial version is designed to replicate many of the features that would be offered if someone were clustering machines using Linux."
So Microsoft is allowed to take a complete, free copy of open-source based IT processes for it's own use whilst charging obscene amounts for it's own work.
"In future versions, Microsoft plans to incorporate... "
It then broadly patents all of the further developments it makes, affectively capping open-source progress by taking away any innovation potential.
Then we have an oversized corporation that is blatantly abusing it's monoply in the IT industry by slowly appending to standard network protocols with it's own proprietry systems and shutting out the competition.
At the same time, it is also abusing an intellectual property protection service to actively stifle any further developments it's open-source competitors may have made.
Have I got this right?
There are two ways to make yourself stand out in a crowd:
1 - climb up high. (OS)
2 - push everyone else down. (MS)
How do you think MS got to the top in the first place? Oh right, I suppose they started there. And the origin of life is explained by creationism. Right.