The Death of Microsoft?

[Bwilky]

Does anyone else think that Microsoft is going to crash soon since they stopped selling XP? Apparently yesterday you can't buy it legally anymore and Since most of the PC users are still using XP, their going to have to upgrade to vista at some point when their machine dies. I think this is where Apple steps in and use their ad's to get more pc users to convert. I dunno, maybe a commercial where PC comes in sad because he was going to downgrade to XP, but now it's to late or something. Seeing as you can install XP on a mac I don't see why the VISTA haters wouldn't switch. Win Win for them, GREAT OS, and if their not satisfied, use their crappy XP on the Mac.

Just a thought.

 

[arkitect]

"We have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose,"
-Steve Jobs-
MacWorld 1997

 

[zap2]

No, and you can still buy XP(well OEMs can, and they pass the extra cost right on to you!!) http://gizmodo.com/5017980/windows-xp-on-a-dell-means-50-downgrade-surcharge-starting-now

And netbooks can still use XP for the normal price, if I recall.


But the main reason MS will be fine, is that companies like Dell, HP, Sony, Asus aren't leaving. Sure Linux is going to gain some market share( the netbook crazy will have them gain some, but MS will still have some of that market)

When Mom+Pop go to pick up a 500 dollar PC to check the web they are gonna get Vista, and until companies replace Vista/XP as the preinstalled OS, MS has little to fear.

 

[gkarris]

The thing that will save Microsoft and keep them afloat:

Developers, developers, developers, developers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hadxBZWxNrs

 

[IJ Reilly]

This prediction is made by someone every time Microsoft migrates from one version of Windows to another. If it was only a matter of the MacOS being better than Windows (or DOS before it), then Microsoft would have been toast a long, long time ago. The reality has always been that the quality of Microsoft's operating systems don't matter very much. The secret to their success is having the OEMs welded at the hip and marching in lockstep to the Microsoft drummer, which they've been made to do with coercion when they weren't otherwise willing. This is the industry which sells the vast majority of the copies of Windows to consumers -- not Microsoft.

The other reality is that once Microsoft's market share reached 95% or so, as a practical matter, it could only go down. I'd expect Apple to continue to whittle away at the Windows market share, slowly but surely. It isn't natural for any one company to have a 95% share of any important market, or even 90%, if an alternative is being offered.

 

[kkat69]

Somthing to ponder:

Is a post stating "Do Not Feed The Troll" feeding the Troll?

I like the part "spreading rumors" - on a "rumors" site to begin with...

That's actually a self portrait of me at work.

 

[BlakTornado]

"We have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose,"
-Steve Jobs-
MacWorld 1997

We all know he had his fingers crossed behind his back

 

[bashveank]

No, Vista's fine and people will realize that once they start to actually use it.

 

[Jiff Lemon]

veering slightly off topic for a moment....

There was an interesting post made about a month ago by a windows blogger. They'd posted a statement made by some major company about why they weren't rolling out Vista SP1. After everyone had sat nodding and agreeing with all the comments, it was brought to light that the statement was made several years earlier and was originally about XP SP2.

Some people don't like change, some welcome it.

Me? I see both PC's and Mac's as the same thing - they're a tool. If you find one tool easier than the other, use it.

back on topic:

Microsoft, quite simply, do not live and die by a single OS.

 

[gkarris]

^^^

Were we ever on topic?

Microsoft didn't die when it stopped selling Windows 95.


MS will live on and continue to be the OS with #1 market share...

 

[soberbrain]

Switching everyone from Windows to OS X will be as easy as switching everyone from U.S. standard of measurement to metric

 

[Eraserhead]

No, Vista's fine and people will realize that once they start to actually use it.

+1, the main problem is that it isn't a big enhancement, not that it isn't useable.

 

[macintouch]

I'm certainly not a ~*Microsoft fanboy, but they certainly aren't going to crash or go anywhere. I do like that quote that the person above posted from Macworld 97. That sums it up nicely.

 

[Queso]

Switching everyone from Windows to OS X will be as easy as switching everyone from U.S. standard of measurement to metric

Now that would be easy if only you'd all stop being so stubborn about it

 

[cwheatley]

not trying to sound like a hater, but i'm still not ready to try vista again... my mum bought one of the cheaper xps laptops last month, and within a week, vista had already "lost" (dell's word for it) her entire user profile, and had to restore to factory settings because the os was so screwed up. it was very bizarre... had all the updates and everything, too.

makes me wonder if this is the norm for windows pcs...

 

[IJ Reilly]

I do like that quote that the person above posted from Macworld 97. That sums it up nicely.

That was really just a political statement, not a reflection of the reality then and even less so now. Don't think for a moment that Apple isn't constantly thinking of ways to steal market share from Microsoft and that Microsoft isn't trying every day to find new ways of competing with Apple.

 

[Eraserhead]

That was really just a political statement, not a reflection of the reality then and even less so now. Don't think for a moment that Apple isn't constantly thinking of ways to steal market share from Microsoft and that Microsoft isn't trying every day to find new ways of competing with Apple.

I dunno, you could definitely say Apple has won now, but Microsoft certainly hasn't lost yet.

 

[surferfromuk]

Apple need to do two things to light the touch-paper for mass switching ;

1) When people contemplate switching they look for BIG reasons. Whilst there are half a dozen biggies the real benefits are the hundreds of little reasons. That message is virtually impossible to transmit but it does explain why people switch never go back..the endless little 'oh cool' moments...

2) Enterprise - it's really difficult to justify monster enterprise investment in Apple when Apple won't at least have an 'enterprise' tab on their website. That'd do it - that's all it would take - just a tab to keep all the enterprise crap under it but it would send out such a phenomenal message that people could legitimately start recommending Apple as an alternative to MS in the enterprise confident in the knowledge that Apple have setup a signpost ( which infers a roadmap at the very least)

Until these two problems are solved, whilst we ALL know Apple is massively superior and is set to become even more so, the erosion of MS as a dominant force will continue to be slow but steady - meaning MS ain't going anywhere soon - but, that said, continue it will. I expect to see Apple continue to make huge strides and over the next 5 years get at least another 10% market share - now that's when things will get REALLY interesting...

That said Apple are doing some really interesting things lately...and I think will have a few more major suprises up their sleeves in the next couple of years..

I think the biggest potential fracture point in MS is not in fact Vista, but the departure of Gates.

 

[cbrain]

No, Vista's fine and people will realize that once they start to actually use it.

I use Vista under Boot Camp and I haven't had any problems, just User Account Control is a slight annoyance.

 

[nick9191]

"We have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose,"
-Steve Jobs-
MacWorld 1997

I count that the 384657785 time Steve Jobs has contradicted himself.

 

[XboxEvolved]

This is an interesting subject, and something I am writing about for my website. I have been doing a Xbox site for over six years now, and as of late, if you look the Xbox 360 is losing ground, which I think sucks, but a lot of it has to do with Microsoft as a whole, not just with Windows, has lost touch with what consumers want, and they have incredibly bad management.

If you look at the division that runs Xbox and Zune for example, they have had a change of hats so many times in the past two years that there is no clear management other than Shane Kim and Robbie Bach.

Steve Ballmer is ******* insane, and he has the weight to scare people like Bill Gates did into working

• Balmer and Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo to help go against Google, when Yahoo sucks anyways, and their obsession with Google means they are slacking off in a lot of other areas

with them, but not the wits like Gates has. If Bill Gates were still actively running Microsoft, there wouldn't even be a discussion like this.

Just a few points:

• Windows Mobile sucks and RIM and Apple control that industry now

• Zune while successful in it's own right is no where near as successful as iPod, and was dropped by a major retailer recently, Gamestop

Besides that, no company is scared of Microsoft anymore, Microsoft mostly plays catch-up now, and Vista roll out sucked so bad, a lot of consumers and companies are just waiting for Windows 7.

Also, why would you want Macs to even become a majority? It will never happen, and if it did it would probably cause problems. Also, it isn't possible anyways, unless Apple sold macs at places such as Wal-Mart.

 

[Scooterman1]

Microsoft won't die until Apple releases a version of OS that can be used on the majority of Intel and AMD motherboards and hardware.
Until then, Microsoft will supply the majority of OS's to the large majority of computers.
Apple is too expensive for the majority of Home Computer Users, and Businesses.

 

[Queso]

Apple is too expensive for the majority of Home Computer Users, and Businesses.

But Linux isn't. If you've seen KDE4 running on Kubuntu 8.04 you'll see just how scared Microsoft ought to be right now. Microsoft's malaise has allowed Linux the time to mature for mass adoption. It only takes one large non-tech company to do it and the Windows business monopoly crumbles.

 

[IJ Reilly]

But Linux isn't. If you've seen KDE4 running on Kubuntu 8.04 you'll see just how scared Microsoft ought to be right now. Microsoft's malaise has allowed Linux the time to mature for mass adoption. It only takes one large non-tech company to do it and the Windows business monopoly crumbles.

This recurring prophecy reminds me of an old joke.

A woman meets an old friend of hers whom she hasn't seen for years. When she's asked what's new, she says, "Since I saw you last, I've been married and divorced three times, and the marriage was never consummated."

"How can that be?" the friend asks.

"Well, the first marriage was to a Windows guy. As soon we got to the hotel on our honeymoon night, he fell asleep on the sofa."

"What about the second marriage?" the friend asks.

"The second marriage was to a Mac guy. On our honeymoon night I couldn't get him to stop playing around on his computer."

"And the third?"

"Oh, he was a Linux guy. On our honeymoon, he spent the entire night sitting on the end of the bed telling me about how great it was going to be."

 

[Queso]

Actually use a current Linux distro. I'm telling you, it's as ready now as Windows Vista is.

So it's not just about potential anymore. There's an actual mature product.