More Windows Administration and VBScript!

The web is loaded with articles that tell you how to get started with VBScript ... there are a couple here! But there aren't too many telling you how to do the things that really count ... like administering Windows using VBScript with internal Windows systems like WMI and ADSI. Last week, I revised my "getting started" VBScript tutorial to make it mesh well with this week's continuation that dives into the heart of VBScript and WMI. Give it a try!

On another, related, topic ... the beginning of the end of "un-governed" Microsoft marketing might have been seen this week when the European Commission ruled that Microsoft had to sell a version of Windows without Media Player. I selected the word, "un-governed" carefully. The idea is that before this, Microsoft and Microsoft alone decided what would, and would not, be included in a Microsoft product. The defining example is Internet Explorer. Microsoft decided that everyone who bought Windows would also buy a copy of IE. After years of lawsuits in the US, that's still the way it is today. The European Commission is the first time (if the decision sticks) that a government will say, "We have a vote in that too and you will make it possible to buy Windows without Media Player."

This could have serious consequences for developers. For example, if a vote had been taken on the matter, programmers would have voted overwhelmingly against .NET trashing a whole decade of Visual Basic backward compatibility. (Regular readers know that my vote, at least today, is that .NET is something long overdue and much needed.)

So ... this could be good or bad. I'll say right up front ... without listing my reasons right now ... that I think the European Commission decision is good and I hope it sticks. The US should have made their decision stick on IE.

What do you think