The Windows era is over

http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/The-Windows-era-is-over/1274899297

• Firefox launched in late 2004; according to Net Applications, its usage share was 24.59 percent in April.
• Internet Explorer usage share dropped from around 95 percent six years ago to 59.95 percent in April, according to Net Applications.
• Android and iPhone OS outsell Windows Mobile on smartphones; Windows Mobile was ranked fifth in Q1 by Gartner.
• Google claims 100,000 new Android activations per day.
• Apple's iPhone run rate is close but just a little behind based on first-quarter phone sales.
• App Store has more than 200,000 applications, and the Android Marketplace more than 50,000.
• Facebook has close to 500 million subscribers, up from 30 million in July 2007.
• Americans watched 31.2 billion videos in March, 42 percent of them at YouTube, according to ComScore.
• Apple's market capitalization is $227.95 billion and Microsoft's $228.47 billion.
• Apple's market cap was $88.68 billion on Oct. 2, 2008 and Microsoft's was $228.35 billion on Sept. 29, 2008. Mmmm, do you see a difference?

Unsurprisingly, all this competition -- and innovation -- is beyond Windows, much as the PC ecosystem was to the IBM mainframe during the 1980s.

... oh man, am I being a fanboy here or is this really a whole bunch bull? What exactly is wrong with these people saying Windows is dead because Facebook has 500 million users? I mean... WTF?

Maybe common sense is not that common after all! *lol* ( quote is from a Discovery Channel commercial )

Quote "TheQuestor
May 26, 2010 - 10:30 PM

I swear I have heard about the death of windows for at least 10 years now. Every couple of years some bafoon who thinks they know better spout off on how this is the last year of windows. Wow. Only thing less likely to happen is this being the year of Linux."

haha... I guess he summed it up pretty well.

turrican said:

Quote "TheQuestor
May 26, 2010 - 10:30 PM

I swear I have heard about the death of windows for at least 10 years now. Every couple of years some bafoon who thinks they know better spout off on how this is the last year of windows. Wow. Only thing less likely to happen is this being the year of Linux."

 

haha... I guess he summed it up pretty well.

Windows 7 Thrives as Mac OS X and Linux Are Weak Competitors 

IE9 is coming

WP7 is coming 

Natal is coming

Silverlight is Rock

Office 2010 is Rock

Joe Wilcox is Idiot?

What do the success of a browser, two websites, and an aggregate company have to do with the alleged downfall of Windows?

It's not right to compare Apple and Microsoft as companies, as they have their hands in so many different markets. If you want to talk about Windows being "over", talk about OSX vs 7 or MacOS vs Windows. Don't talk about half a dozen different things vs a company.

1993 is the year of the Linux desktop!

My Take is this:

we have more choices today.

that's it.  that's a good thing.  it does not mean that demise of the windows OS but it does mean that there is more to pick from and that creates (IMHO) a place for companies to compete at making better products, an open market with multiple vendors to chose from allows the better ones to get better and the not-so-good ones to change or fail.

things like browser share - you still need an OS to run the browser. so i still see a huge amount of web traffic from a windows OS even if the browser is not IE.

figuerres said:

My Take is this:

 

we have more choices today.

 

that's it.  that's a good thing.  it does not mean that demise of the windows OS but it does mean that there is more to pick from and that creates (IMHO) a place for companies to compete at making better products, an open market with multiple vendors to chose from allows the better ones to get better and the not-so-good ones to change or fail.

 

things like browser share - you still need an OS to run the browser. so i still see a huge amount of web traffic from a windows OS even if the browser is not IE.

 

Quick Question:

Name me 3 applications that are sold by Microsoft that you install and use daily/weekly on Windows?*

*NOT COUNTING Office or Visual Studio, Expression Studio would be a stetch too.... IE doesn't count as it's "bundled" with Windows....same goes for Movie Maker/Windows Live Messenger...

Seriously....you have to think really really hard to come up with 3 MS applications that you use daily/weekly and LOVE that are built on Windows.

Then look at the Iphone.....I can't count how many Apple and non Apple applications I've installed....it's literally DOZENS.

Windows might not be dead....but it's dead BORING.

allenf said:

figuerres said:

*snip*

Quick Question:

Name me 3 applications that are sold by Microsoft that you install and use daily/weekly on Windows?*

 

*NOT COUNTING Office or Visual Studio, Expression Studio would be a stetch too.... IE doesn't count as it's "bundled" with Windows....same goes for Movie Maker/Windows Live Messenger...

 

Seriously....you have to think really really hard to come up with 3 MS applications that you use daily/weekly and LOVE that are built on Windows.

 

Then look at the Iphone.....I can't count how many Apple and non Apple applications I've installed....it's literally DOZENS.

 

Windows might not be dead....but it's dead BORING.

Comparing Microsoft with the Apple app store, hmmmm....so what you're looking for is:

Microsoft Baby Shaker 2010

Microsoft Fart Machine 2008 R2

allenf said:

figuerres said:

*snip*

Quick Question:

Name me 3 applications that are sold by Microsoft that you install and use daily/weekly on Windows?*

 

*NOT COUNTING Office or Visual Studio, Expression Studio would be a stetch too.... IE doesn't count as it's "bundled" with Windows....same goes for Movie Maker/Windows Live Messenger...

 

Seriously....you have to think really really hard to come up with 3 MS applications that you use daily/weekly and LOVE that are built on Windows.

 

Then look at the Iphone.....I can't count how many Apple and non Apple applications I've installed....it's literally DOZENS.

 

Windows might not be dead....but it's dead BORING.

By jove, you're right. As soon as I exclude all those apps you've mentioned; which probably account for 99% of the time I'm using my computer and ignore those crazy hardware devices like XBox and Zune (as well as the software which is really only bundled with it) and, of course, exclude Windows itself, because that doesn't really count; I basically never use any Microsoft stuff at all.

In fact, I barely ever use a computer at all. Ever.

I feel healthier already.

FTA:

"Windows & Windows Live accounted for 48 percent of the five Microsoft divisions' combined operating profit during fiscal 2010 third quarter -- that's without factoring in expenses or other charges."

If that's "without factoring in expenses or other charges" -- why is the article author using the word "profit?" 

Additionally, this article author better clue himself in as to what operating system most of those 500 million Facebook subscribers are using to access Facebook.

Dumb article.

allenf said:

figuerres said:

*snip*

Quick Question:

Name me 3 applications that are sold by Microsoft that you install and use daily/weekly on Windows?*

 

*NOT COUNTING Office or Visual Studio, Expression Studio would be a stetch too.... IE doesn't count as it's "bundled" with Windows....same goes for Movie Maker/Windows Live Messenger...

 

Seriously....you have to think really really hard to come up with 3 MS applications that you use daily/weekly and LOVE that are built on Windows.

 

Then look at the Iphone.....I can't count how many Apple and non Apple applications I've installed....it's literally DOZENS.

 

Windows might not be dead....but it's dead BORING.

Idiots. That remark is meant both for the article's author, and for allenf. If you're going to try and make a spin on this topic, I'd suggest you find a way to do it that uses sound reasoning. Comparing apples to oranges and constraining the comparison in absurd ways only makes you look like an idiot, and doesn't promote your view point, what ever it may be.

Some specific comments. If the article talked about the "fall" of Microsoft, and not Windows, some of those points might be valid. Of course, "fall" just means decline and not death, as Microsoft is still on top in most of the sectors targeted by these "facts". IE is still the dominant browser, even when you combine all the competitors into one lump market share figure. Windows is still the dominant OS. Facebook is an apples/oranges comparison, since Microsoft has never been the leader in the social network game, and in fact barely plays in that arena. What I think is being said is that online applications are taking a large portion of the user base away from desktop applications, and thus the importance of Windows or any OS is declining. However, desktop usage is still the larger market, and in both markets Windows is still the OS the majority of users are using, so this is a weak argument. The phone discussion is interesting, but still of base, as Microsoft has never been the leader in this market either. Not to mention, there's real evidence that WP7 could have a big impact on this market. At least enough to indicate that Microsoft isn't really likely to stay in a decline in that particular market.

As for allenf's comments... I can't really say much that hasn't already been said. One thing that confused me was asking about software that Microsoft "sold" but then discussing software they don't sell, like Messenger. Really, can you name software that Microsoft sells that wasn't excluded in his list? I can only think of a few, that he'd claim really were included in his list, or he'd dismiss because they aren't "sold". I use Live Writer and Live Mail frequently. Oops, those aren't sold. I use Home Server. Oops, that's not an "application". I play some Microsoft games... but those are often free and I don't use them daily/weekly. I use SQL Server all the time, but I'm sure he'd consider that to be lumped in with his Visual Studio exclusions. I use Exchange and SharePoint every day at work... but he'd consider Exchange as part of Office and Share Point as part of Visual Studio, I suppose.  I could go on, but I think the point has been made.

allenf said:

figuerres said:

*snip*

Quick Question:

Name me 3 applications that are sold by Microsoft that you install and use daily/weekly on Windows?*

 

*NOT COUNTING Office or Visual Studio, Expression Studio would be a stetch too.... IE doesn't count as it's "bundled" with Windows....same goes for Movie Maker/Windows Live Messenger...

 

Seriously....you have to think really really hard to come up with 3 MS applications that you use daily/weekly and LOVE that are built on Windows.

 

Then look at the Iphone.....I can't count how many Apple and non Apple applications I've installed....it's literally DOZENS.

 

Windows might not be dead....but it's dead BORING.

Not sure why I am going to even respond to an obvious troll but:

SQL Server

Zune Software 

Expression Suite

(These are just items that were paid for.  If you want to include all of the software that Microsoft gives me for free then the list gets much longer.   The Zune software was included because I had to buy a Zune).

Nope... not hard at all.    Pretty lame attempt at trolling I might add.

Hmmm Facebook.  That company Microsoft owns a stake in.  I guess you could say that 3% of Facebook is Microsoft.

allenf said:

figuerres said:

*snip*

Quick Question:

Name me 3 applications that are sold by Microsoft that you install and use daily/weekly on Windows?*

 

*NOT COUNTING Office or Visual Studio, Expression Studio would be a stetch too.... IE doesn't count as it's "bundled" with Windows....same goes for Movie Maker/Windows Live Messenger...

 

Seriously....you have to think really really hard to come up with 3 MS applications that you use daily/weekly and LOVE that are built on Windows.

 

Then look at the Iphone.....I can't count how many Apple and non Apple applications I've installed....it's literally DOZENS.

 

Windows might not be dead....but it's dead BORING.

and i can't list apps not made by MSFT that i use all the time?

i can't list games?

is this about windows beeing dead or what? sounds like you have a goal and you are setting your own rules to prove your idea.

I think I may have found the perfect explanation for Windows' demise:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PiratesVsTemp_English.jpg

Microsoft needs to promote international piracy or lower the Earth's temperature - it's that simple.

bureX said:

I think I may have found the perfect explanation for Windows' demise:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PiratesVsTemp_English.jpg

Microsoft needs to promote international piracy or lower the Earth's temperature - it's that simple.

hahaha, such a fantastic link. I will surely have fun with it. Thanks for posting it.

allenf said:

figuerres said:

*snip*

Quick Question:

Name me 3 applications that are sold by Microsoft that you install and use daily/weekly on Windows?*

 

*NOT COUNTING Office or Visual Studio, Expression Studio would be a stetch too.... IE doesn't count as it's "bundled" with Windows....same goes for Movie Maker/Windows Live Messenger...

 

Seriously....you have to think really really hard to come up with 3 MS applications that you use daily/weekly and LOVE that are built on Windows.

 

Then look at the Iphone.....I can't count how many Apple and non Apple applications I've installed....it's literally DOZENS.

 

Windows might not be dead....but it's dead BORING.

Do I really have to buy it from Microsot Store? I normally just go and buy it at Best Buy. Otherwise I would much prefer to list out Cysis and Bad Company 2

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Fallout-3-PC-Game/product/A267B41D

Anyway, MS is failing behind on some of the stuff indeed. Like Windows Mobile / Phone is rather weak, hope 7 will change it. And IE is rather weak, I really really really hope they change UI, it is freaking IE6 UI. And there seems to be innovations around the world when MS doesn't seem to able to compete or make their own market.

And this may be biased, but, it seems like people who works for MS and left are unhappy about the working envirnment. It lacks teamwork when manager and employees are pit against each other. And it seems the company lacks mentorship. Certainly people who can help themselves are great, but, at one point, co-operation is much more effective. This is what I heard as MS doesn't usually have a clear goal and focus on their stuff. And I think it is getting more visible as I see a lot of MS stuff are floating around for nothing.

I do think MS is more like IBM now. hope they get their groove back