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Authored by tiger99 on Apr 22, 2016 12:05:18 GMT
BBCA number of us, from early in Groklaw's history, were predicting the demise of the Vile Monopoly, perhaps around this time. It was a mixture of wishful thinking, a realisation that their technology was trash, and the rise of non-PC devices, amongs other things, which led us to speculate. Some more astute people may even have seen a trend in the financial returns, stock price etc. Some time back, it did seem that the tipping point may have been passed, with the utter failures of Vista and Windoze 8, amongst other things. I seem to remember being quite rude about a certain phone which flopped badly, about the time an oil well needed plugging. Didn't they sell about 100, and have to give the remainder of the preproduction batch to staff? Well, today's news seems to show that the actual financials are catching up rapidly with the long term ethical and technical bankrupcy of the organisation. Down, down and down, and no product in sight that will save them. Cloud? Who needs their particular cloud? I don't even know very many people who use M$ at home now. Sadly I have to at work, only a temporary job at least! I think M$ are just fading from the domestic scene, people can take no more of their trashware and are prepared to pay double for overpriced Apple hardware, built by almost slave labour, just to get an OS that does a reasonable approximation to working correctly and is quite secure too. Many of us here will be using much cheaper and even better alternatives....
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nsomos
Veteran Member
Posts: 140
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Authored by nsomos on Apr 22, 2016 13:39:45 GMT
The fall of Microsoft, as Shakespeare wrote, would be " a consummation Devoutly to be wished. " I have something to look forward to.
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swmech
Veteran Member
Posts: 150
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Authored by swmech on Apr 22, 2016 19:31:52 GMT
"today's news?" Anything specific?
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Authored by wol on Apr 22, 2016 23:20:13 GMT
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Authored by wayneborean on Apr 23, 2016 14:37:51 GMT
BBCA number of us, from early in Groklaw's history, were predicting the demise of the Vile Monopoly, perhaps around this time. It was a mixture of wishful thinking, a realisation that their technology was trash, and the rise of non-PC devices, amongs other things, which led us to speculate. Some more astute people may even have seen a trend in the financial returns, stock price etc. Some time back, it did seem that the tipping point may have been passed, with the utter failures of Vista and Windoze 8, amongst other things. I seem to remember being quite rude about a certain phone which flopped badly, about the time an oil well needed plugging. Didn't they sell about 100, and have to give the remainder of the preproduction batch to staff? Well, today's news seems to show that the actual financials are catching up rapidly with the long term ethical and technical bankrupcy of the organisation. Down, down and down, and no product in sight that will save them. Cloud? Who needs their particular cloud? Been meaning to do an update on the Microsoft Death Watch. Did you know that Microsoft's share of the operating system market is down to 25%? Wayne |
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Authored by tiger99 on Apr 26, 2016 9:36:25 GMT
I guess that 25% includes mobile devices, where they failed spectacularly several times. Linux, mostly in the form of Android, is the most prolific OS on that basis, so Linus has in fact won his battle, on phones and tablets, but not yet on the desktop. BSD, in the form of Apple, is second. Unfortunately M$ are still dominant on the desktop, although from my personal observations Apple must be catching up. A lot of individual users have i-somethings these days because they are sick of the constant bugs and security holes.
However many businesses will never consider Apple due to the high cost, and lack of suitable application software. If the FOSS developers of stuff like FEA, CAD, SPICE simulation, DTP, etc could find the time to polish up their user interfaces and make them more acceptable, a large market awaits. (Yes, I know time is precious and there are never enough good developers...) The underlying code is generally good, the user interfaces are very variable. Take the Gimp for instance, a massive learning curve. Surely some simplification is possible? Arty types are catered for by the excellent Xara, which is also good for simple block diagrams and anything in between. Commercial software is viable, sometimes. Things like FPGA tools (some costing upwards of 100k) run faster on Linux than on Windoze.
We are ever so close to not needing Windoze at all, but not quite there yet. I can't help but think that Mr. Nadella is well aware of the situation, so M$ are probably hard at work porting Office etc to Linux. I don't think that will go anywhere, as at this point in time anyone who knows Linux already runs LibreOffice (apart from the dozen die-hards who run OpenOffice...).
So what is M$ left with? Windoze 10, giving it away free at the moment. A database? Oracle would like to eliminate them from that area and there are plenty of high quality free alternatives, which again just need some polish as far as the UI goes. Active directory? Not the best ever concept, and Samba can emulate it. X-Box 360, just recently discontinued, so hopefully fewer house fires in the future. Visio, an utter abomination, neither a CAD package nor a sketching program. Office, for now...
I have to wonder what they are doing that will provide their future income...
They could always apply to Judge Cahn to be closed down in an orderly manner.
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Authored by wayneborean on Apr 26, 2016 15:17:07 GMT
I guess that 25% includes mobile devices, where they failed spectacularly several times. Linux, mostly in the form of Android, is the most prolific OS on that basis, so Linus has in fact won his battle, on phones and tablets, but not yet on the desktop. BSD, in the form of Apple, is second. Unfortunately M$ are still dominant on the desktop, although from my personal observations Apple must be catching up. A lot of individual users have i-somethings these days because they are sick of the constant bugs and security holes. The number of Apple laptops you see in Tim Horton's, or at the library is amazing. Indications are that Apple has about 25% of the consumer market in Canada. That Macs just work makes a lot of folks happy. However many businesses will never consider Apple due to the high cost, and lack of suitable application software. If the FOSS developers of stuff like FEA, CAD, SPICE simulation, DTP, etc could find the time to polish up their user interfaces and make them more acceptable, a large market awaits. (Yes, I know time is precious and there are never enough good developers...) The underlying code is generally good, the user interfaces are very variable. Take the Gimp for instance, a massive learning curve. Surely some simplification is possible? Arty types are catered for by the excellent Xara, which is also good for simple block diagrams and anything in between. Commercial software is viable, sometimes. Things like FPGA tools (some costing upwards of 100k) run faster on Linux than on Windoze. I'm not so sure. When you compare Apples to Apples (similar specs in other words) Apple is usually less expensive. As to software, a lot of business software is 'in house' software, so the problem is more likely a lack of programmers to convert it to OSX. For basic business software (Office Suite, Accounting) there's nothing wrong with OSX. And they are cheaper to run, since Macs require very little maintenance. We are ever so close to not needing Windoze at all, but not quite there yet. I can't help but think that Mr. Nadella is well aware of the situation, so M$ are probably hard at work porting Office etc to Linux. I don't think that will go anywhere, as at this point in time anyone who knows Linux already runs LibreOffice (apart from the dozen die-hards who run OpenOffice...). There's nothing wrong with OpenOffice. And I've heard that the two projects do collaborate, which improves both. The one thing you are leaving out is Microsoft's enormous cash stash. Problem is, a lot of it is overseas, and Microsoft won't bring it home unless they get a tax amnesty. So what is M$ left with? Windoze 10, giving it away free at the moment. A database? Oracle would like to eliminate them from that area and there are plenty of high quality free alternatives, which again just need some polish as far as the UI goes. Active directory? Not the best ever concept, and Samba can emulate it. X-Box 360, just recently discontinued, so hopefully fewer house fires in the future. Visio, an utter abomination, neither a CAD package nor a sketching program. Office, for now... Office is Microsoft't major cash cow. They won't port it to Linux, not enough need. They are pushing it on the IOS and Android devices. I have no idea how well it has caught on, but I did check it out and the pricing is prohibitive, or at least is is on IOS. I have to wonder what they are doing that will provide their future income... They could always apply to Judge Cahn to be closed down in an orderly manner. Cash stash, remember? They won't die for a long time. It will be interesting seeing what they do try and come up with though. Wayne |
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Authored by wol on Apr 26, 2016 16:54:01 GMT
However many businesses will never consider Apple due to the high cost, and lack of suitable application software. If the FOSS developers of stuff like FEA, CAD, SPICE simulation, DTP, etc could find the time to polish up their user interfaces and make them more acceptable, a large market awaits. (Yes, I know time is precious and there are never enough good developers...) The underlying code is generally good, the user interfaces are very variable. Take the Gimp for instance, a massive learning curve. Surely some simplification is possible? Arty types are catered for by the excellent Xara, which is also good for simple block diagrams and anything in between. Commercial software is viable, sometimes. Things like FPGA tools (some costing upwards of 100k) run faster on Linux than on Windoze. I'm not so sure. When you compare Apples to Apples (similar specs in other words) Apple is usually less expensive. As to software, a lot of business software is 'in house' software, so the problem is more likely a lack of programmers to convert it to OSX. For basic business software (Office Suite, Accounting) there's nothing wrong with OSX. And they are cheaper to run, since Macs require very little maintenance. That's how I see it too - as soon as you take an Apple spec, and try to match it, you end up with a similar price. You can't get a Rolls Royce for the price of a BMW (Actually, you can, but it's called a Bentley and will set you back the same or more) We are ever so close to not needing Windoze at all, but not quite there yet. I can't help but think that Mr. Nadella is well aware of the situation, so M$ are probably hard at work porting Office etc to Linux. I don't think that will go anywhere, as at this point in time anyone who knows Linux already runs LibreOffice (apart from the dozen die-hards who run OpenOffice...). There's nothing wrong with OpenOffice. And I've heard that the two projects do collaborate, which improves both. The one thing you are leaving out is Microsoft's enormous cash stash. Problem is, a lot of it is overseas, and Microsoft won't bring it home unless they get a tax amnesty. LibreOffice and OpenOffice don't collaborate. Two problems - the licence, and Rob Weir. Thing is, while LO can take advantage of code added to OO, the same does not hold true the other way, and the bulk of the code churn is in LO. So the two code bases are drifting apart at a steadily-accelerating rate, and code flow from OO to LO is getting harder and harder. I think somebody's knocked some sense into Rob, he's disappeared, but he made a lot of enemies and these things don't heal quickly. Oh - and cash stash? That won't save MS! Ever heard of the Wolves of Wall Street? If the investors think MS is bleeding cash, some Vulture Capitalist will sort out a bid, strip out the cash, and abandon the carcass. So what is M$ left with? Windoze 10, giving it away free at the moment. A database? Oracle would like to eliminate them from that area and there are plenty of high quality free alternatives, which again just need some polish as far as the UI goes. Active directory? Not the best ever concept, and Samba can emulate it. X-Box 360, just recently discontinued, so hopefully fewer house fires in the future. Visio, an utter abomination, neither a CAD package nor a sketching program. Office, for now... Office is Microsoft't major cash cow. They won't port it to Linux, not enough need. They are pushing it on the IOS and Android devices. I have no idea how well it has caught on, but I did check it out and the pricing is prohibitive, or at least is is on IOS. I have to wonder what they are doing that will provide their future income... They could always apply to Judge Cahn to be closed down in an orderly manner. Cash stash, remember? They won't die for a long time. It will be interesting seeing what they do try and come up with though. Wayne I'd be interested to see what they come up with. They're giving SQL-Server away free now ... imho, they have two real assets - port Windows Explorer to linux and have "Windows on Linux" - their UI experience really isn't all that bad. And, of all things, Access!!! When used properly (ie NOT as a database), it's actually a damn good tool. But it needs a proper database behind it. I gather Office actually does run on linux. Okay, it's a skunk-works project, but it's there ready to launch if Windows implodes ... What I'd really like to see, however, doesn't leave much room for MS in its current form. WordPerfect for linux again (okay, that's not MS at all :-), and the PC makers going back to the Win3.1 days, except instead of tweaking doze for their hardware, they tweak linux. Dell Linux, HP Linux, Compaq Linux etc. An in-house distro that is guaranteed to work well on standard in-house hardware. Like they used to tweak Windows 3 until MS brought out 95 and forbad them. Even if they just paid for a few engineers to work on linux, kde, gnome etc, just think what that would do. And before you say "they wouldn't make a difference" or "but the projects wouldn't allow them", just remember the golden rule - "he who writes the code, makes the rules". It wouldn't take allocating many engineers, before they would have a major say, and even if other cut-price OEMs tried to take advantage of it, it always pays to have your own engineers guaranteeing things will work. "First to market" is a *mahoussive" advantage. Cheers, Wol |
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Authored by Bill R on Jul 16, 2016 11:52:50 GMT
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charlieturner
Veteran Member
Above ground, and still breathing.
Posts: 37
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Authored by charlieturner on Jul 24, 2016 22:33:50 GMT
Wol, MS is giving away SQL Sever? How so? Where? That would help me a bunch. Thanks!
charlie
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Authored by wol on Jul 25, 2016 6:12:28 GMT
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