I have written a few Microsoft conspiracy theory columns in my day, but a great one came in this week from reader Andy Hopper who seems to think that Microsoft is lately trying to emulate Apple Computer and might actually buid its own PCs. I hardly think so, but Andy gives us something to chew on, and the ideas that spill from what Andy ISN'T saying tell us a lot about where Microsoft is really heading.
Andy writes: "Microsoft has already created an instruction set (Intermediate Language, also known as IL). It's used for a stack-based virtual machine that the .NET Framework runs upon, and the code written to run in that environment is called 'managed code.' .NET's been in use in production environments for a little over a year, and from what I can see in the explosion of managed APIs for Longhorn, Microsoft is planning on migrating everything but the OS kernel to it. In other news this week, Microsoft and IBM announced that Microsoft will be creating a new processor for its next XBox. IBM has noted that Microsoft wants to be very hands-on in the processor design. Hmm. Perhaps as far as specifying the instruction set it uses? Just how hard would it be to implement an IBM-designed RISC processor that interpreted a Microsoft-designed instruction set like, say, IL? 'But wait!' you say. 'What about all of the existing software that won't be compatible with the new hardware?' Well, Microsoft just recently purchased Connectix, which writes PC emulator software. Now that they have that resource at hand, they can develop an x86 emulator for a .NET platform.
News source: I, Cringely
