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549 Comments
- Topher06, on 04/12/2008, -33/+267That is the most laughable statement. While I agree that Vista was handled poorly by Microsoft, its not the collapse of Windows, and Windows based PC will last a good long while. The most laughable thing is that while so called "analysts" are predicting the demise of Windows, the reason why Vista isn't selling well is because of Windows. People just don't see a need to upgrade to Vista when XP has turned out to be a mature, stable, and ultimately secure OS.
So, while Vista might ultimately be a flop, Microsoft will plod on with their 90% market share, and people smoking crack will all keep predicting when OS X or Linux will take over the world. - Philluminati, on 04/12/2008, -32/+185
Those who do not understand UNIX are condemned to re-implement it poorly! - toxicityj, on 04/12/2008, -19/+151I don't get it...Vista alone has more market share than os x and linux combined and somehow Vista is the one collapsing? http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid= ...
- dukeeeey, on 04/12/2008, -12/+104"Windows isn’t really that relevant any more just because of the increasing utility of online applications"
why do people this cluless even write articles ? Are they just paid to write BS ? - grumpyrain, on 04/12/2008, -5/+70pfft, using facts to back up your point, buried
/sarcasm - kupa, on 04/12/2008, -5/+57so right: http://digg.com/microsoft/Analysts_predict_bleak_f ...
anyway, besides the standard "omg windows is failing" rhetoric that seems to come out every time they release a new OS, what else is actually new? they survived ME, surely they'll survive Vista. Besides, wasn't there a recent article somewhere around here that mentioned that MS is actually the fastest at releasing updates/patches?
90% share, gosh, they sure are circling the drain. - Philluminati, on 04/12/2008, -17/+54I think if they don't put out one solid operating system before 2015 that gets good reviews then they will almost certainly lose their market share. I personally don't think Windows XP cannot hold them past 2011 in my eyes. By then it will have serious failings against Linux and Mac. (one of them being the need to install 10 years of updates onto a single machine).
Let's just pretend that Vista is a total failure for a second... they still have a ~ 90% market share. I don't think that'll move excessively before 2011. By then they'll need a newer, better operating system that can compete on technical merits with Linux and Mac. It's a ticking clock however and although it sounds like a long time, it took 5 years to make Vista. With the wine project chasing away at their heels they need to do "the job properly" and do it by 2011. Hell even 2015. They have to get it *right* though. - HigherLogic, on 04/12/2008, -8/+44Please step outside your basement for a moment and talk to your average person about computers. Then, after you've done that, come back and tell me how Linux will now become popular amongst home users. Quite the pipe dream. Look, I love *nix in all its flavors. As a web developer, it's my only choice. But as far as the desktop market goes, you're vastly underestimating (and failing to understand) the average user, what they know, what they want, and what they can do. But you did hit the nail on the head, at least partially: if they could only make it easier for new users to figure it out. That's quite a challenge considering how much support a product like Windows has.
- Akaji, on 04/12/2008, -14/+49Spoken like a true Linux junkie - shrill and annoying.
- NateDog, on 04/12/2008, -17/+47Several years ago I remember agreeing with so many articles being written making fun of M's defense against their monopolistic charges. M has been saying new technologies including the open source and the web could challenge their dominance and for a long time I always thought it was bogus. But now it really seems like the writing is on the wall. For individuals there are a lot of non-microsoft options and it's only a matter of time before more and more businesses that are completely dependant on Microsoft will start to feel they have real options. Pretty amazing to think the giant may one day (in the not too distant future) fall.
- inactive, on 04/12/2008, -15/+45I really dont mean to sound harsh against Linux, but Linux is always playing catch up to other systems. Mimic and eye candy. And if Linux doesnt clean up its own act, will never be able to dominate anything. For almost a thousand years (so it seems), Linux has been getting "better" for the average desktop user. But it never actually gets there. Seriously. Linux folks need to stop singing the praises of their OS and start taking a hard look at the problems which inhibit it's acceptance as a real alternative. And you cant point fingers and blame software manufacturers or hardware manufacturers. The OS has serious problems of its own. The good news is that right now is the exact time that folks should be working on taking care of these problems. But, they wont. Linux will continue to flounder in its own mess, and I predict that ultimately, it will be Apple who dominates.
- inactive, on 04/12/2008, -2/+32I rather like Vista. Is it worth upgrading an old perfectly working computer? Probably not. It it worth it on my brand spanking new Quad core computer with 200ish dollar video card? ABSOLUTELY.
- inactive, on 04/12/2008, -6/+35So why is this news? Two morons who are suposedly "analysts" say stupid ***** that 99.9999999% of hte other analysts disagree with.
- Aharoni, on 04/12/2008, -2/+27I have a strong laptop which works with Vista and it works great. I think you just need to give it time. I think the only difference between Vista and XP is that Vista came to a world filled with angry bloggers.
- netdroid9, on 04/12/2008, -1/+22I think you're confused, Steve Jobs is a salesman, not an engineer. Apple has some great products, but they were the brainchild of Woz and other Apple engineers, not Steve. At least Bill Gates knew what he was selling.
- sirhomer, on 04/12/2008, -19/+39This is all predicted word for word in the Gospel of Tux. Excellent. Soon the giant penguin of Nor'dai shall walk the Earth again and the followers of Gates will cower in horror as the great bird wreaks ultimate vengence among the defenders of the Microsoft. For it is written that way, and that way it shall be. Praise be Turing!
- soopafly, on 04/12/2008, -6/+24Windows. It's the best because you don't know how to use anything else.
- KMartSheriff, on 04/12/2008, -11/+29Open Office is crap. I mean it's a nice idea and all but it doesn't even come close to MS Office.
- doObz, on 04/12/2008, -6/+24as of 10.5, osx is "unix".
- lordtyros, on 04/12/2008, -2/+20And Leopard only has its market share because it comes with new Macs. What is your point? Most people would be happy with Window 3.1 if it rarely crashed and did everything they wanted it to. Progress is forced, more often than not.
- Stonekeeper, on 04/12/2008, -3/+20I just don't know whether to digg you up or digg you down. You state some true facts then end it with an idiotic comment.
Edit: You mean turn on compiz? i thought you meant turn on linux. heh. It's on by default in popular distros. - domokunt, on 04/12/2008, -1/+17Businesses are well known to be very slow at moving on to the next version of Windows. I remember all the stories when XP was out that so many businesses had yet to upgrade to it.
- WoollyMittens, on 04/12/2008, -2/+18It took all of their many many thousands of developers all those years to remove an icon from the desktop?
- inactive, on 04/12/2008, -4/+19GUI is an important part of it. More appropriately, user interface. And yes, Linux continues to play catch up in that arena as well. The problem with Linux is that the OS is really separate from the user interface in a very odd way. When people think Linux, they think KDE or Gnome, which as we know is not the case. But when someone thinks Mac or Windows, there's hardly any separation of the UI from the inner workings of the OS. Microsoft took a long time to introduce "themes", the ability to change your desktop, and they still are slow to adopt it....for very good reason. The average guy doesnt care, and it causes more confusion when things arent going well. Microsoft adopts a lowest common denominator policy that has worked well for them. If you have used Windows 95, odds are VERY good that you can use XP. It looks and feels pretty much the same. As an ordinary user, you feel right at home. As Windows user trying to go to Linux, the average person is going to become frustrated with the variations in user interface, from one application to another. Cut&Paste works here, but not here. Why do my files for this app save over there, and this app saves them someplace else that I cant even find? Filesystems in Linux are a nightmare as well, and even though they arent technically a UI element, they DO become visible when the Open/Save dialogs come up. Windows has My Documents. Nuff said. Linux? Who the heck knows where something will end up. These are simple examples, but they are very relevant. And they are core problems that Linux needs to address if they ever have a dream of really competing on the desktop.
- StanleyKoolPrik, on 04/12/2008, -4/+19Even if you concede the point that the new OS is the web, you still need some kind of OS on your PC to run your ***** browser.
- grumpyrain, on 04/12/2008, -8/+22Monthly updates are all rolled into service packs. When XPSP3 ships, you wont have to hit windowsupdate for 10 years of updates to XP. My personal view on Vista is that it is not the problem some bloggers like to make it out to be. I waited to make that conclusion until I actually had it installed. By 2011, a machine with the pricetag of the eepc could comfortably run Vista. Today, a $500 desktop has no trouble, next year a $500 laptop will have no issue.
Where Microsoft really stuffed up was the Vista capable saga. Had they just said the minimum requirement was 1GB RAM, no mainstream tech site would have seen significant problems.
In the enterprise, Linux has a real chance, although I know of no enterprise who would commit to rolling out any OSX based platform for as long as it ties them to a single hardware vendor. It makes no difference to a home user, but businesses can't be at the whim of any one hardware vendor. They hate being at the whim of a single OS vendor too, but many sacrifice this for the convenience of software choice. - init100, on 04/12/2008, -4/+18"And you cant point fingers and blame software manufacturers or hardware manufacturers. The OS has serious problems of its own."
Why don't you make a list of the "serious problems" that you claim that Linux has? It would be much more useful than your simple claim. - Rauby, on 04/12/2008, -11/+24I think real threat to Office is Open Office, and not so much Google Docs.
- Smeed, on 04/12/2008, -0/+13If you've ever done tech support you know most of the problems are created by the user. Im sure if millions of people were hammering on linux they would find a way to ***** that one up to. Im not defending vista in any way... being almost impervious to viruses in *nix is great but you cant underestimate a few million idiots.
- MSstar, on 04/12/2008, -3/+16you've got balls of steel to say that on Digg! dugg up
balls of steel, balls balls balls of steel - Optimaximal, on 04/12/2008, -1/+14Apple don't release many patches because they deny there was anything wrong in the first place then roll the fixes up into the next full version so they can charge for it...
- nixfu, on 04/12/2008, -2/+15>if an Active Directory-like product comes out for Unix based operating systems then Windows will definitely fall.
News Flash... AD = LDAP + Kerberos...its not rocket science and it was all around and being used in large orgs LONG before Microsoft had the idea. - estvir, on 04/12/2008, -0/+12Who in their right mind ever thought Vista was for PDAs and phones? There's a little something known as Windows Mobile, Windows Embedded, etc. By the way, Vista does run on UMPCs.
- tehWyman, on 08/19/2009, -4/+16The fact of the matter is, most of Microsoft's market share comes from corporations. Sorry to deflate all of the fanboy's dreams, but corporations aren't going to purchase completely new hardware, train their employees how to use new software, or change what they've known to work in the past. Microsoft isn't going anywhere.
- dem0sthenes, on 04/12/2008, -1/+13i seem to remember people counting out a certain chipmaker a few years ago.
things have changed a bit since then.
i think this statement is a premature stab in the dark which you see quite often,
and of which at least are true.
imagine that a retard throws a thousand darts and one or two hits the bullseye, brilliant! - aelias, on 04/12/2008, -6/+18Vista doesn't bother me in the slightest. I have Ultimate SP1, and I can't use basic to run Pro-Tools, which is stupid, but other than that fraction of a fraction of the market that runs into those issues, any OS is going to have it's specialized software that you have to go download to make your life tolerable, so who cares? Linux is free, but still not idiot proof, Mac OS has the high point of entry to the common consumer that can't get it to install on something else. By the time any of it matters, we'll be controlling our computer by waving our hands around and talking into our 40 inch super-wide screen wraparound monitors.
- inactive, on 04/12/2008, -9/+20people still forget that when XP first came out the world thought it was full of bugs and a piece of ***** and now everyone loves it. Vista needs to be out for awhile and it will become the stable main OS like XP just needs time to get out in the world. Everyone hated XP and didnt want to use it but now everyone loves it. I dont see the PC world dumping it anytime soon. Linux is too difficult for the average user to take full advantage of and Apples OS is just as full of bugs and is still hard to navigate not to mention nothing runs on it of value.
- therightclique, on 04/12/2008, -3/+14in any event, Linux is way behind regarding GUI anyway, so the argument is pointless.
- Akaji, on 04/12/2008, -6/+17So long as Microsoft isn't stupid enough to stop supporting Windows XP until a better Windows is created.
- Speed, on 04/12/2008, -3/+14"Linux has been getting "better" for the average desktop user. But it never actually gets there"
It's like a 1/x graph. Gets closer to 0, but never actually touches.
Yes I'm a nerd. - gwinerreniwg, on 04/12/2008, -7/+18Iroinically enough, MS had it right, but the DOJ forced them to decouple the browser from the OS. Had they not done this (or at least been distracted by this), MS might have become a true net-OS faster.
- FatShady, on 04/12/2008, -10/+21OSX is more solid? Try actually using it.
I played with the OS in the store too, and I bought a mac. It's running Windows right now because OSX is a confusing, poorly implemented shell on top of a gutted BSD. Great, it looks pretty. More reboots are required on OSX than with Windows. And guess what? I got more "Confirm or Deny" style prompts in OS X than I do in Vista.
OSX is designed to feel solid in the store. When you actually use it, that's when you know you're *****.
Steve Jobs can suck my *****. - bjornski, on 04/12/2008, -0/+10That's called a "prolapse".
Just don't do a Google image search for it. - Dantetheinferno, on 04/12/2008, -2/+12... What?
If you're having that problem, don't run that application. It's not vista's fault, it's your own ***** fault for clicking "OK". Vista was trying to protect you. - KMartSheriff, on 04/12/2008, -10/+20As a Mac lover, I couldn't agree with you more. I'm happy to see more people using Macs, but to think for a second that Macs would ever take over Windows is laughable at best. Linux, despite what those basement-dwellers would like to believe, would never have a chance.
- tomwhughes, on 04/12/2008, -1/+11talk about a generalisation,
and I'm not even American. - djchester, on 04/12/2008, -2/+12or if the gaming industry would move back to OpenGL and make it easier..
- Shadowgamers, on 04/12/2008, -1/+11An application shouldn't be so ***** written that it kills the operating system.
- DeathfireD, on 04/12/2008, -2/+12You have to remember Linux wasn't all about flashy GUIs and user interfaces until this past 4 or 5 years. The programmers where all about security, stability, and compatibility, something MS should have been focusing more on from the start. What you're seeing right now, this "catch up" is really the GUI programmers taking the things people like in all OSes and slowly combining them together. So in all honesty I think Linux has the right idea, it may not "be ready" for stupid people yet but at some point in the near future it will be. Oh and most of the complaints you see in IRC are either related to or directly about hardware incompatibility's in the kernel. Don't blame the programmers, blame the hardware manufactures for not publishing their specs.
- schoate09, on 04/12/2008, -0/+9You mean an asymptote?
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