I was reading an article in some dumb IT magazine they send me for free twice a month. And apparently Windows 2003 is going to have a console in it.. and I do not mean the normal console (CMD) with the 80 char limitation where you can run DOS command, this new console is going to operate and behave like XTerm in Linux.

Only there is on interesting Quirk. The entire system will operate on the .NET framework, so when you run an application and pipe it to another application like "cat somefile | grep -n some_text" it will not just pipe basic ASCII data as linus does... it will actually emit objects through the pipe.

You will be able to pipe into Excel documents and create full formatted documents as an example of its capability, you will still however be able to see the text on your screen if you wish your output to be the console.

I think this will be pretty cool, and certainly a feature that will make me like Windows that much more

Nah, no-one will use it or very limited use, the techno savy people more often the nto run linux, the diiots and the sheep run windows so they dont need ti, just another thing they dont need.

I run windows 2003 enterprise on a few machines at work and home in addition to several other OSs

I haven't heard of this feature, but I also haven't had sufficient time to review 2k3 closely. I had to hit the ground running with it for an AD project I was working on.

What is the name of this feature? Do you know how it can be accessed?

Actualy I have taken a look at Win Server 2003, and I have to say that I am impressed with it. It actually has true multi-user support for one major difference from the past version of Windows. It runs a lot like a server actually should, and I do not think it is going to be a platform your standard idiot uses.

I mean I love linux as much as the next tech savvy guy, but still, win2k3 is actually what I would expect from a piece of server software. And using windows a lot in my course of contract development I have come to conclude that the Windows Console is a feature I will also likely use a lot depending on the commands and utilities that will actually be available from the console... off hand it looks to be very usefull.

I have to fiddle with my school's web server every now and again. While the IT techs don't have a clue what they're doing, it looks like a great OS.

[blasphemous post ahead] yeah, as much i like linux, windows can do everything. (like support my rhapsody software so i can listen to music cuz i pay $10.00 a month for the shit). that whole "blue screen of death" thing is WAY in the past. [blasphemous post ended]

fedora core forever...w00t!

I would do everything in Linux, if most of my clients would only allow me to develop linux softare for them, instead of Windows :P And since they will not, guess I will have to keep using Windows. And damnit, Linux has a long way to go before it can reasonably support Laptop hardware features... like hotplugging, and decent power management support, and reliable suspend/resume capabilities ;)

Contract programming requires the coder to be utilize the platform of their clients' choice. Most of which will be centered around the WIndows world. The ones who run Linux, normally have people on staff to write their own in-house software... most of my contract work is windows based. Having said that, I prefer Fedora Core 3 Linux.

My systems at home run:

DOS, Win3.11, Win 95, Win98, Win2k Professional, WinXP Professional, Win2K3 Enterprise Server, Gentoo Linux, Fedora Core 3 Linux, Ubuntu Linux, Solaris 10 EA, Irix, and Mach.

Can I ask why you run DOS and Win3.11? Do you actually get people asking you to develop for these systems?

Yes. I have clients that are 100% DOS based.... still. They don't have the funds to enhance their IT approach, only to purchase more merchandise. As far as the windows 3.11, I don't have any clients running that, but its on the box that has DOS on it, so if the need ever arises, it is there.