The Windows Era Is Over

Windows won't go away for a foreseeable time. Here's why: Businesses run Windows.

And to those that chime Linux. I'm sure it's a great OS for a consumer, but good luck fully implementing that in a large business with legacy applications. I'm not going to waste my time or a million dollars of my employer's money migrating ERPs just for Linux.
 
BladeVenom said:
JeiPArx.png
Click to expand...
That's a deceptive plot. It just means Android is growing faster than anything else.

Smart phones, Good to Cheap tablets, China smart TV sticks, etc.

Windows7 could still be growing, just not as fast as android, and it would like like its in serious decline.
 
The guy who wrote the article is moron.

From the article:
In many ways, it’s reminiscent of what Microsoft did to Netscape in the mid 1990s. For a few years, Netscape was the premiere Internet browser. Then, Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer, and Netscape crumbled. Microsoft displaced Netscape by giving Internet Explorer away for free. Nowadays, it seems insane to pay for a mobile browser -- but back then, Netscape cost money.
Click to expand...

A browser isn't an OS. There isn't a cost/restructure required to switch to a different web browser. You can swap from IE to Chrome to FF on the same website in 30 seconds and almost always have the same experience. An OS runs differently at the core - different kernel, different UI, different dependencies. This doesn't even account for the huge glaring things like the programs and data files a business uses on a daily basis not being there, plus all of the backend IT structure to support it.

For the article writer to essentially look at it and basically say 'Windows is done because Android is free' is gut-ripping laughable.
 
ktk_ace said:
ADD START BUTTON

CRISIS ADVERTED
Click to expand...

I think the most frustrating thing about this is that all of the Group Policy configuration settings still exist for the start menu. Instead of adding a single on/off option under the group policy settings, they completely left the option out of the users control while retaining the previous settings. Every time you install a piece of software, it still adds a shortcut to the start menu folder. It's still there, the folders still exist and so do the configuration settings you just can't see it. This isn't efficient code, it's a backdoor open to exploits, and it looks like the work of some amateur hack-job programmer. Most of the people who I've talked to that say they enjoy Windows 8, have disabled the metro apps and only use features that were added in Windows 7. :shrug:
 
yelsewshane said:
I have never understood why any company would use windows in the first place for business. Linux for business and windows for gaming and media.
Click to expand...

I'm going to guess you've never worked in corporate IT.

I recommend a tablet to the vast majority of home users who ask for my expertise. The vast majority of folks can do 95% of what they want to do using a tablet (browsing the web, watching videos, email, etc). The hard part at times is printing.
 
dgingeri said:
Example on the server side: I can build a DNS, DHCP, and routing server in two hours with Windows 2003, 2008, or 2012 with no extra programs. It takes a full day to do the same with any version of Linux, and with some distros several extra programs.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:
 
shade91 said:
I'm going to guess you've never worked in corporate IT.

I recommend a tablet to the vast majority of home users who ask for my expertise. The vast majority of folks can do 95% of what they want to do using a tablet (browsing the web, watching videos, email, etc). The hard part at times is printing.
Click to expand...

The biggest reason I don't use a tablet, and will never use a tablet, for that purpose is when I'm trying to select a link, I keep getting the wrong thing, The tip of my finger seems to overlap three links at once, and it always selects the wrong one. It's a PITA to use a tablet to surf the web.

A touchscreen is not the big interface that everyone needs. What we need is a decent voice command interface to couple with it. I'm not talking about the simplistic interface we have today, I'm talking the Star Trek Next Generation type computer interface where we can ask it to do specific things in complex language. Siri has been a start in that direction, but that is still pretty simplistic.
 
dgingeri said:
The biggest reason I don't use a tablet, and will never use a tablet, for that purpose is when I'm trying to select a link, I keep getting the wrong thing, The tip of my finger seems to overlap three links at once, and it always selects the wrong one. It's a PITA to use a tablet to surf the web.
Click to expand...

Zoom in. Select link.

The PITA is that you're not using pinch/expand zoom properly to ensure that you're clicking on only one link.
 
There was once a day when tech news people published articles because they had good solid researched observations to talk about. Now-a-days the online news cares only about making a headline counter-intuitive enough to get people to read it, no matter how off-base or misleading it might be. I don't even click these links to get to the comments to let them know how ill-formed they are; I don't want their page load numbers to go ++ and validate their crap.
 
It's amazing how many people just blindly dismiss this. 10 years ago you would have said the same thing about apple. But apple is winning absolutely tons of places in business. Almost every inventory and sales mobile device that I see on new deploys is iPhones and iPads, never once have I seen anyone using any windows 8 / phone 7 + device. Most windows devices are still older windows mobile devices for companies that do not want to update.

All this is because Apple invaded the consumer space and then slowly but surely CEOs started demanding they use apple products. Now google is doing the same but with even more fever. So what stops anyone from developing for android and deploying? Nothing. Unless MS can start to really take market share back in mobile this trend is going to start invading their enterprise space.

I do not expect the trend to dominate, in fact I expect there will be a back lash in a couple years when lots of people say hmm I already have a bunch of phones and tablets and my PC is like 10 years old maybe its time to upgrade. The problem is at that point many of those people will switch to Apple, and if chromebooks are getting better they may go that way. MS knows this all to well but some how they just cannot get the powers that be to work with them to shift the problem. MS has seen absolutely zero help from the US carriers, and little to no help from any major phone / tablet maker. Instead their only help comes from Nokia which is a joke anyway given they no longer have the ability to produce anything themselves.

So MS goes and tries surface, which really is a cool device, the problem is it is not a universal device, its a niche device with a niche form factor. Ballmer better wake up soon and take some major losses to gain market share or do something. Because if he doesn't, google will supplant MS with the most used OS.

Google already has various office products and the vast majority of office use is by people who are not really exploiting the advanced features of office. Really go look around and ask how many people know what pivot tables even are.
 
dgingeri said:
One simple reason: Linux is far too difficult to use for the average office worker. That's all of it. If someone in the Linux community would quit this elitist attitude of "command line supremacy" and the "write it yourself" approach to Linux programs, we might see a bigger adoption rate. As it is, Linux can't do half of the things Windows can, either on the desktop or on servers, without an insane amount of extra work.

Example on the server side: I can build a DNS, DHCP, and routing server in two hours with Windows 2003, 2008, or 2012 with no extra programs. It takes a full day to do the same with any version of Linux, and with some distros several extra programs.

Example on the desktop side: installing a program: With Windows, it's just a matter of invoking and going through an installer from the source media. With Linux, if the program you want isn't in the database for the distro, which is very hit or miss, it takes downloading a .tar.gz file, unpacking it somewhere, and then run a "make", and then a "make install" to get it to begin installing, or if they happen to be packaged for Red Hat, running the installer in yum, from command line. With many Linux programs, it also involves a ton of command line configuration, editing configuration files, and other things. (Installing Nagios correctly took me three tries and over two days. It was ASININE!)

On top of that, it would take a far smarter and harder working breed of office worker to put up with Linux on the desktop. Most people have a hard enough time with Windows. (I know, I worked Windows desktop support for 13 years!) They simply couldn't handle Linux. In order to hire people that are smart enough to handle that, it would easily cost twice the salary levels of today's office worker. Forget salesmen, too. I have yet to meet a salesman who has the mentality to deal with something like Linux. They're generally people people, not technical people, and, while very smart in dealing with people, they do not have the logical reasoning to deal with Linux.

If Linux developers actually get their heads out of their elitist butts and make programs that are actually easy to install and run without all the crap command line, then they might, maybe, begin to gain market share. As it is, Linux costs far more than Windows in over cost because of the extra time it takes to support it, the time it takes to install and configure it, and the required expertise to use it in any form or fashion. It just won't happen.
Click to expand...

Warning this post contains so much anti Linux myths it makes my head hurt. My almost 60 year old father can use desktop Linux. I'm also a sysadmin and these examples are just not true. Maybe if you took your head out of your butt and smelled the roses you might not hate the most used OS.
 
yelsewshane said:
I have never understood why any company would use windows in the first place for business. Linux for business and windows for gaming and media.
Click to expand...

Maybe because of software compatibility?

Every hear of some of the Microsoft business products that only run under windows like Exchange, SQL, CRM, Office, or the several different accounting systems?

Almost everything we run in the office requires Windows, with the exception of some apps that have Mac versions available. Even the people who run software that have Mac versions would require a VM running windows for the other 65% of the software they need to run.
 
You can't compare Windows and Android because they run on completely different devices. The idea that Tablets will replace computers is a complete myth. There will always be a significant number of people who will prefer to interface with the computer using a real keyboard, and a real monitor (20+ inches).
 
GotNoRice said:
You can't compare Windows and Android because they run on completely different devices. The idea that Tablets will replace computers is a complete myth. There will always be a significant number of people who will prefer to interface with the computer using a real keyboard, and a real monitor (20+ inches).
Click to expand...

But if all of those people are using android phones won't they want access to their apps? Wont they want their apps and services mostly google to work well on their PC? Yep they will and that is how google will get into the desktop / laptop market.
 
rudy said:
It's amazing how many people just blindly dismiss this. 10 years ago you would have said the same thing about apple. But apple is winning absolutely tons of places in business. Almost every inventory and sales mobile device that I see on new deploys is iPhones and iPads, never once have I seen anyone using any windows 8 / phone 7 + device. Most windows devices are still older windows mobile devices for companies that do not want to update.

All this is because Apple invaded the consumer space and then slowly but surely CEOs started demanding they use apple products. Now google is doing the same but with even more fever. So what stops anyone from developing for android and deploying? Nothing. Unless MS can start to really take market share back in mobile this trend is going to start invading their enterprise space.

I do not expect the trend to dominate, in fact I expect there will be a back lash in a couple years when lots of people say hmm I already have a bunch of phones and tablets and my PC is like 10 years old maybe its time to upgrade. The problem is at that point many of those people will switch to Apple, and if chromebooks are getting better they may go that way. MS knows this all to well but some how they just cannot get the powers that be to work with them to shift the problem. MS has seen absolutely zero help from the US carriers, and little to no help from any major phone / tablet maker. Instead their only help comes from Nokia which is a joke anyway given they no longer have the ability to produce anything themselves.

So MS goes and tries surface, which really is a cool device, the problem is it is not a universal device, its a niche device with a niche form factor. Ballmer better wake up soon and take some major losses to gain market share or do something. Because if he doesn't, google will supplant MS with the most used OS.

Google already has various office products and the vast majority of office use is by people who are not really exploiting the advanced features of office. Really go look around and ask how many people know what pivot tables even are.
Click to expand...

If Google were to make a non-ad supported suite ... commit to decades of service support for their offerings (their track record of cutting and running on projects is well established) ... and insure compatibility with various factory control systems, ERPs, PLMs, and CRMs then they would have a chance in the corporate environment ... until they do, large corporate customers demand too many support requirements that MS (and their partners) can offer and Google does not ...

the consumer market and enterprise market are very different ... although there has been some slight crossover due to BYOD and employee interest in new form factors, larger corporations are still entrenched in many legacy systems that do not migrate into new platforms easily or cheaply ... a new small business who can implement everything from scratch might have some choices, but an established business has to be careful about the costs and performance implications of abandoning functional legacy systems ;)
 
I agree it's been badly damaged, but I think MS could reinvent itself much better than 8.1 if they really tried, and bring consumers back to Windows. Tablets and Smartphones market grab was inevitable, it would be biting a chunk out of any major OS player if it wasn't MS.
 
yelsewshane said:
I have never understood why any company would use windows in the first place for business. Linux for business and windows for gaming and media.
Click to expand...

That's because you have never worked at an enterprise business.
 
BladeVenom said:
JeiPArx.png
Click to expand...

Nonsense chart given that Android is almost entirely made up of low end devices that are barely better than featurephones. Saying that they are in anyway comparable to the majority of devices running iOS, Windows, or OS X, is ludicrous.

You might as well throw the billion or so flip phones with crappy web browsers into the chart.
 
As a general advocate of user-focused Free and Open Source Software, on one hand I can say that moving away from Windows could be a good thing. The worry though with the data however, is something completely and totally different. What is WAY more worrisome is this perceived death of the "PC form factor" doesn't just mean that people are buying laptops/tablets/smartphones form factors, but the worst thing is the change of dynamic where the way these operating systems on these devices is altered.

They stop being general computing devices and instead become consumption appliances, strictly controlled by an "App Store" and other both hard and soft limits; obliterating everything from user focus, choice/options, and often even privacy under the guise of a "unified experience". This is the true threat of the times. I don't want to see "Tivoized" consumption devices become ubiquitous in computing. There is a huge amount of real value lost when that "PC" in the house isn't something where you can install any new operating system, program et.c..you wish, especially amongst youth. Real choice has been replaced by the illusion of choice, often with invisible "bubbling" that guides the experience. In the quest for more hardware form-factors and software/UI's to suit those new form factors, we've lost real power as users while those who profit from this paradigm continue to insist it is the only way forward.

I understand that most Americans aren't going to need a big giant box full of components and lots of wires connected to displays and peripherals. It doesn't take a rig like [H] to browse the web and check facebook *shudder*. Tablets and smartphones can be the primary computing devices for some users. However, there's no reason these need to be walled gardens with locked down hardware and especially software. This is what needs to be stopped, before we have a whole generation who has grown up on "apps" and consumption-focused devices exclusively. It is possible to create a wide variety of form factors and UIs etc... that all adhere to principles of user-focused, free and open source design. However, the moneyed interests who want the opposite are throwing fistfulls of cash to keep it from happening. We have to do better. Vote with our wallets, our knowledge, and our code.
 
Xaeos said:
They stop being general computing devices and instead become consumption appliances, strictly controlled by an "App Store" and other both hard and soft limits; obliterating everything from user focus, choice/options, and often even privacy under the guise of a "unified experience".
Click to expand...

Excellent points made in your post. Kudos.
 
MostComfortable said:
Nonsense chart given that Android is almost entirely made up of low end devices that are barely better than featurephones. Saying that they are in anyway comparable to the majority of devices running iOS, Windows, or OS X, is ludicrous.
Click to expand...

In America the Samsung Galaxy phones are the most popular Android phones. What's the most popular Windows phone, the cheap low end Lumia 520 & 521? So here at least Android are the high end phones that are more expensive than the average computer, while the barely better than a flip phones are Windows phones.

Maybe in poor developing countries low end Android phones are the most popular, but if they are hooked on Android now, they are more likely to stay with Android when they can afford a better phone. Those people may not even have a desktop at all, everything they do is going to be on Android.
 
the market is changing for sure, but most people who say windows is going away, were never going to own a windows pc in the first place. the main foundation behind windows is the ecosystem and despite changing/evolving, i do not see it fading away anytime soon.
 
yelsewshane said:
I have never understood why any company would use windows in the first place for business. Linux for business and windows for gaming and media.
Click to expand...

10k node environment, we are upgrading to Win7.

We are having issues with our software supporting Win7, never mind linux.

Sure I could see some rare cases where a business uses all main stream apps, everywhere I have been though there are always specialty apps made by small vendors. Again these vendors have a hard time supporting an enterprise windows environment, forget about a linux one.

Though I do see the mobile push as helping this, more and more vendors are going agnostic... to support the mobile platforms and windows. In 10-15 years companies could maybe get rid of Windows.
 
He discredited himself when he said that Google gives Android away for free.

But yeah, Microsoft fucked themselves with Win8.

So far, in reality, of the average consumers I've heard comment on Win8, about 95% have used the word hate to describe how they feel about it (by "reality" and "consumers" I mean average people I've talked to in person and not enthusiasts arguing in internet forums). That's pretty terrible.

Is the Windows era over? Maybe, maybe not... That depends on if Microsoft decides to get their head out of their ass and add a desktop mode to Windows 8 (Christ I can't believe I had to say that) and get the ad system off the desktop. They want to make the "user experience" the same across platforms, but no one wants a mobile phone experience on a desktop. Who ever thought that was a good idea is a world-class idiot.
 
JosiahBradley said:
Warning this post contains so much anti Linux myths it makes my head hurt. My almost 60 year old father can use desktop Linux. I'm also a sysadmin and these examples are just not true. Maybe if you took your head out of your butt and smelled the roses you might not hate the most used OS.
Click to expand...

Oh? Myths? I've been dealing with Linux for work for the last three years. I've learned a lot on how to use it, but it is still an incredible pain in the butt. Everything I stated were about places where I have had major issues with that unfinished OS. (I've also had to deal with HP-UX, AIX, and Solaris, all of which are far worse than Linux. So, yes, it could be worse) Linux is much more difficult, in every way, than Windows, and it is all because of the attitude of the people behind it. RedHat even had a gui for their DNS server back in version 5, and took it out to force people to use the command line! What idiots do such a thing?

Command line SUCKS! Oh, sure, it's flexible, but it also demands that you know the exact commands to use it. That's tons of more memorization. That's not even mentioning the so called manuals and how incredibly difficult they are to read. Ever try to read the manual on the current version iptables?? It's horrible, and inaccurate, and misleading. I think that manual is actually for a version about three generations back. Iptables has been updated repeatedly, the functions revamped and reorganized, and the manual was never updated. It also takes 6 commands, a couple over 150 characters long, to get it to route, and one typo makes the whole command useless, and could cause you to have to start over, or worse render the system unusable. It takes half a day to get NAT routing set up.

On top of that, there are no visual indicators as to which network port is assigned which number. It's pretty much guesswork as to which adapter is which port unless each and every one is a different vendor. If you've got a 4 port adapter, they could be eth2, eth3, eth0, and eth1, or eth0, eth1, eth2, and eth3. I've seen both come up on the same system between different installs. The same thing happens in Windows, but at least when a cable is plugged into one it's easy to tell which one is which. That's impossible with Linux. it's plug and pray you assigned the IP to the right port.

A GUI gives the opportunity to figure out what to click by logical reasoning. It's also far quicker. Routing in Windows takes about 30 seconds to set up.

There is a reason that 4 times as many people are able to support Windows compared to Linux.
 
It is funny that people in high places fail to grasp the state of the market. Just because people stopped purchasing new gear every three years, and upgrade windows with it, does not mean the PC is failing. It means the hardware has come to a point where it is fast enough, and Microsoft has created a version of Windows that people are happy with. They just want to use the stuff they have, not purchase more. Add to this a struggling economy where extra cash for computer upgrades is tight, and you get what the state of the system. Mainstream likes them some Windows and Office. They are just getting more life out of what they have.

Does anyone else actually work in the industry, or do you just run fringe stuff in your parents basement and decide that is the future?
 
Xaeos said:
As a general advocate of user-focused Free and Open Source Software, on one hand I can say that moving away from Windows could be a good thing. The worry though with the data however, is something completely and totally different. What is WAY more worrisome is this perceived death of the "PC form factor" doesn't just mean that people are buying laptops/tablets/smartphones form factors, but the worst thing is the change of dynamic where the way these operating systems on these devices is altered.

They stop being general computing devices and instead become consumption appliances, strictly controlled by an "App Store" and other both hard and soft limits; obliterating everything from user focus, choice/options, and often even privacy under the guise of a "unified experience". This is the true threat of the times. I don't want to see "Tivoized" consumption devices become ubiquitous in computing. There is a huge amount of real value lost when that "PC" in the house isn't something where you can install any new operating system, program et.c..you wish, especially amongst youth. Real choice has been replaced by the illusion of choice, often with invisible "bubbling" that guides the experience. In the quest for more hardware form-factors and software/UI's to suit those new form factors, we've lost real power as users while those who profit from this paradigm continue to insist it is the only way forward.

I understand that most Americans aren't going to need a big giant box full of components and lots of wires connected to displays and peripherals. It doesn't take a rig like [H] to browse the web and check facebook *shudder*. Tablets and smartphones can be the primary computing devices for some users. However, there's no reason these need to be walled gardens with locked down hardware and especially software. This is what needs to be stopped, before we have a whole generation who has grown up on "apps" and consumption-focused devices exclusively. It is possible to create a wide variety of form factors and UIs etc... that all adhere to principles of user-focused, free and open source design. However, the moneyed interests who want the opposite are throwing fistfulls of cash to keep it from happening. We have to do better. Vote with our wallets, our knowledge, and our code.
Click to expand...

Those are all excellent points, but I'm surprised you didn't touch on the forced subscription models that are being foisted on consumers under the guide of "cloud computing." Microsoft is trying to play the villain and the hero by making personal licenses of Office so ridiculously expensive that the only "reasonable" course of action is to subscribe to Office 365.

So now, instead of being able to budget for one-time purchases and sticking with them if times get tough, they have to keep spending and spending. And if you stop subscribing, well...poof! Where before customers only had no control of the source code, they now have no control over the binaries either. Companies can require users to maintain Internet connections in order to use the software, which inhibits offline use and contributes to network congestion by forcing people to remotely access content that could just as well be stored on their local machine.

I just don't see a lot of upsides to where we're going.
 
Perhaps Microsoft is building their own coffin. Microsoft blames tablets, I blame Microsoft for making a tablet. I'm not saying they shouldn't but in my honest opinion the surface should be a different ballpark than a PC with it's own agenda. Microsoft should be innovating the desktop experience not destroying it if they want PCs to survive. Microsoft should be pointing the fingers at themselves.
 
dgingeri said:
Those part time games are just mild time wasters. Home gaming, like WoW, are good for replacing TV watching, and keeping my brain in good shape while I'm at it. I'm not wasting my brain power watching TV most of the time. While, yes, my body is idling away, at least my brain isn't. It's a much better use of my time. It keeps me thinking, and that keeps me smarter than the masses of the general population.
Click to expand...

As opposed to huge time wasters like WoW (and other MMOs)? Those games aren't keeping you/making you smarter. Go read a book, study a new programming language, learn a new spoken language... those activities expand your mind... reading the chat box in an mmo full of 12 year olds (or their mental equivalents) doesn't count.

People can fool themselves into believing anything. Incredible.
 
People that visit forums like this one are the exception, not the rule. Over the last 5 years this country as a whole has gone through a much-needed attitude adjustment. People are finally starting to look at what they actually need, versus what they might just 'want'. The vast majority of PC owners use whatever OS came installed on the computer when they bought it.... and never change until they buy a new computer. If that computer and OS do what they need it to do, then there's no reason to upgrade. Lots of people I know are still using Core2duo processors and Windows XP because they pretty much email and browse and that's about it. That combo isn't fast, but it gets the job done. Requiring that vast majority to upgrade all their existing software (that they're already happy with and know how to use) just makes it that much more expensive and therefore less likely for them to change.

I don't see a trend of people moving away from Windows and PC's. I just think a lot of people are 'satisfied' with the PC's they have already and see no need to change . It works, they know how to run it and it doesn't cost them anything. Windows 8 just made their decision not to change right now that much easier because they don't want to learn a new OS that doesn't work like what they're used to.

PC sales will rise and people will upgrade their software when their existing machines either break or can no longer do what they want them to. When we get to that point, Microsoft had better have a start button option available in their OS or most current Windows users are going to be picking their next system based mainly on price and whatever OS comes pre-installed is what they're going to learn and then stick with for years to come afterwards.
 
Shorehn said:
Those are all excellent points, but I'm surprised you didn't touch on the forced subscription models that are being foisted on consumers under the guide of "cloud computing." Microsoft is trying to play the villain and the hero by making personal licenses of Office so ridiculously expensive that the only "reasonable" course of action is to subscribe to Office 365.

So now, instead of being able to budget for one-time purchases and sticking with them if times get tough, they have to keep spending and spending. And if you stop subscribing, well...poof! Where before customers only had no control of the source code, they now have no control over the binaries either. Companies can require users to maintain Internet connections in order to use the software, which inhibits offline use and contributes to network congestion by forcing people to remotely access content that could just as well be stored on their local machine.

I just don't see a lot of upsides to where we're going.
Click to expand...

OMG! Thank Christ there are at least two people out there with some brains! Thanks for the well written posts guys, refreshing for a change. Not sure if the double quote will come through here.. but damn! If i could put my thoughts into words like Xaeos did.. i'd be set! lol

Unfortunately with the general majority being such (to be frank) dumb fu*ks and the people in "power" positions deciding the future of our hardware/software being money hungry instead of driven to provide something great and get rich if they achieve it... its a sad future we face. :(

Here's a quick example of what dumbfounds me in an age were we are meant to be so "technically advanced"... this evening my brother wanted to play a video file on his PS3. He wanted to stream it via his LAN and *not* be connected to the internet on his PS3. Seems like a reasonable request. "You can turn off your net connection on the PS3" i confidently exclaimed. Only when he proceeded to do this the PS3 dropped off the LAN and wouldn't detect the Media Server it was connected to. WTF! Since when is disabling WAN mean you can't access your LAN! Unbe-fkg-leivable! REALLY!?! A petty example you may think. But there is an ever growing list of "surely something so simply and/or desirable would just work-but doesnt". Its really frustrating.

Windows has a future. Coz i'll be using for a damn long time. Updated to the latest version or not.. still means it has a future to me because it WORKS and DOES WHAT I WANT! (note:this is a good thing sorry, to you multimillion dollar money making company's that won't make as much this year coz i didn't buy your v20 with updated colors).
 
dandirk said:
10k node environment, we are upgrading to Win7.

We are having issues with our software supporting Win7, never mind linux.

Sure I could see some rare cases where a business uses all main stream apps, everywhere I have been though there are always specialty apps made by small vendors. Again these vendors have a hard time supporting an enterprise windows environment, forget about a linux one.

Though I do see the mobile push as helping this, more and more vendors are going agnostic... to support the mobile platforms and windows. In 10-15 years companies could maybe get rid of Windows.
Click to expand...

Those small vendors need to stop using VS2005 and fix their severely outdated code.

It is extremly easy to fix code to work in Windows7/8.
 
bpmurrGT said:
The Enterprise isn't leaving Microsoft anytime soon. If anything you'll see more Apple products.
Click to expand...

That's actually what I'm seeing at my firm. Not in mass numbers of course, but I'm seeing more Mac's being purchased since 1999 when the move from Mac to PC was done than I have since then.
 
Frobozz said:
Microsoft is the greatest threat to Microsoft. They've been on this quest recently to ignore the customer at best and actively piss them off at worst. .. in all divisions!

Every time they disrupt their user base, it causes an opening for them (users) to explore other options. Ex. the response to Windows 8, introduction of XBone not talking about games (TV TV TV), even the discontinuation of Technet. They all give users a chance to stop and think about alternatives.

They're the biggest game in town, but what's a big company with no customers? They need to listen to their customers and when they gamble, make something that the customer wants. It'd be better if they went back to the Embrace, Extend, Extinguish strategy... because at least the customers' needs were being catered to.
Click to expand...

Their discontinuation of TechNet out of the blue is just more proof Microsoft doesn't understand it's customers any more. Then there's the whole issue of whether they really give a shit what their customers want to begin with.

The Windows 8 UI on Desktops/Laptops is further proof of that. That change was convenient for Microsoft, not for it's customers. It provided zero benefit to customers.
 
You are quite out of touch with the mainstream on this.

dgingeri said:
Um, that's just numbers. Who actually uses their phone or tablet for regular web surfing and news reading? I can't imagine it would be too many with those tiny screens and tiny print. Who uses their phones or tablets for watching TV shows or movies? Again, those tiny screens tell me not many. Those that do must be masochists. I use mine once in a while for looking things up on the internet, but not nearly as often as my PCs.

As for movies and TV shows, I use a PC attached to my TV. It gives me the greatest flexibility. I can watch from BluRay, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon prime, or the TV antenna. It's great. Sure, a TV/streaming appliance or smart TV could give me many of the same things, but I've found I can't watch many of my favorite shows on those because Hulu "doesn't have the rights to stream this show on a mobile platform." Granted, that's just asinine of the content providers, but that's the way it is. Also, I don't do that much watching TV. It's a total waste. Both your body and your brain just idle and waste away while watching TV, so I keep it down to about 6 hours per week. We have enough stupid people in this world as it is. TV just manufactures more. Try to avoid it, people.

As for games, yeah, Angry Birds and Suduko are great for waiting at the barber shop or the doctor's office, but it really doesn't do well for at home gaming time, and it really isn't too mentally challenging. Those part time games are just mild time wasters. Home gaming, like WoW, are good for replacing TV watching, and keeping my brain in good shape while I'm at it. I'm not wasting my brain power watching TV most of the time. While, yes, my body is idling away, at least my brain isn't. It's a much better use of my time. It keeps me thinking, and that keeps me smarter than the masses of the general population.

On top of all that, those tiny screens would be nothing but a horrid obstruction to actually doing my job. My current work laptop has a 14" screen, and it is so horribly tiny I can hardly do my work away from my dock. It's good enough for a meeting, but not for my actual work.

Nothing is going to replace my PC. No tablet or phone is going to ever be good enough to do my home gaming or show watching. They would be absolutely horrible for my work. Smartphones and Tablets have their place, but these idiots that think they're going to replace PCs are just out of their minds.

MS's sales and the PC sales are down because a lot of people don't like Windows 8. Also, Intel, being the sole provider of PC processors these days, since AMD isn't putting forth anything that actually competes, has been stalling the performance climb of PC processors. There really isn't any reason to buy a new PC if you have a 3 year old Sandy Bridge, or even Nahalem, system. It's really that simple. If MS were to backtrack a bit and get rid of this stupid tablet interface, they'd get a lot of sales back. If Intel were to actually release something that pushes performance forward, they'd have some good sales growth. Right now, PC sales are stagnating because we're really going nowhere. Why is it these so called 'experts' can't see this?
Click to expand...
 
RangerXML said:
Where have you been since, oh lets just say the late 80s? :p

Its a fairly open platform with support or certs and support by the company that publishes it. In theory I'll give you that Linux makes a better business platform, in application for $200-300 you can get a PC with monitor and Windows XP already set up with tons of companies that have supported the platform for almost 30 years. Linux, if you have the money to through at it, for the experts, programmers and specialized software can be customized to almost any need...if you have the money for it and then keep the experts, programmers and vendors that sold you the specialized software to keep supporting it.
Click to expand...

Windows isn't an open platform at all. It is a proprietary, closed-source operating system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top