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Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

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Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#221

Post by cutler »

supernovae wrote: post #44
anon987 wrote: post #5

Microsoft continues to try to convince us that they are great with press releases and non-organic stories such as this. I, my peers, and my co-workers just don't see it. With billions in reserve it's no surprise they are trying to buy popularity.

I find these kind of comments depressing mostly because they scream "group think". (my inner circle says this, so I repeat it) The new MS is much different than the MS I grew up with in the 90s. It's time for the community to recognize this and just let people bask in positive news that is worthy the bask in. I love my Surface Pro 4, I love the fact .net is cross platform, I love that Azure is fast and easy to use, I…

Do you love the fact that MS earns millions from patent trolling Linux companies? How's that for open source "support"?

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#222

Post by scholia »

cmdrfred wrote: post #141
untog wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Apple wasn't the first to make a touch screen smartphone. They were just the first to do it well.

Lets say their implementations are marginally better. * runs sandboxed apps from a web store - Android(2008), IOS(2007) * as well as traditional Windows apps - Only Windows obviously * built in AI assistant - Apple(2011) * excellent pen operation - Wacom(1992) * built in accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer - Every flagship phone since 2005 * cloud integration with OneDrive, Office programs, email etc with the…

Microsoft had precursors for most of those, including pen operation via MS DOS extensions (in the 1989 GriDPad) and the intelligent Office Assistants in Microsoft Office 98.

Otherwise, the interesting point about Windows 10 is that so much of the technology was carried across from the smartphone industry, including Cortana and notifications from Windows Phone.

I'd have thought that creating a converged mobile OS to cover IoT devices, games consoles, smartphones and all types of PCs required innovation.

On the same basis, so did "PC innovations" that included features from minis and mainframes, and smartphone innovations that had already appeared in various PCs and handhelds.

Unless you're actually a research organization, pretty much every innovation will have more to do with implementation than with pure invention.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#223

Post by donmatito »

acomjean wrote: post #214
suprgeek wrote: post #108

The young'uns here probably have not lived thru the Microsoft era in the 90s when "Embrace Extend Extinguish" was the operating motto and any Market where MS entered would send competitors quaking in fear. They were late to the internet party and then under the disastrous leadership of Ballamer (mindshare wise, not revenue) they completely lost the plot. Now they are indeed enjoying a resurgence, less evil, more rele…

I kind of thought that it was a new microsoft. Then we switched to office 365 at work. New app icons keep appearing. I love checking them out. They still seem to release a lot of clone like software: MS flow = ifttt [1] MS planner = trello [2] MS forms = google forms "MS Power Apps" seems interesting but I haven't had a chance to explore. [1] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/11/micros... [2] https:/…

And MS Teams (soon) = Slack

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#224

Post by MiddleEndian »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #192
chmln wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience has been the complete opposite. I've got a Lenovo Y50 running Win10. With a HiDPI display, it is pretty much unusable. While OS elements scale rather well, most of the software doesn't, even using the "DPI fix." [1] There are also ads on lock screen. [2] The "terminal", PowerShell, is slow to launch, path completions are crawling. The subsystem for linux is great, and certainly a move in the right direc…

FWIW, the "ads on the lock screen" thing is a wee overblown. Microsoft is the single-party provider of any of their so called "suggested content". Aka, you saw Tomb Raider not because Square Enix paid to be on the lock screen, but because Microsoft was trying to push that you can get AAA games in the Windows Store. The Surface has been up there, I think they put a movie-related one up once or twice, again, referring…

>you saw Tomb Raider not because Square Enix paid to be on the lock screen, but because Microsoft was trying to push that you can get AAA games in the Windows Store

I would still consider this to be an ad.

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#225

Post by throwawaymsft »

strictnein wrote: post #145
throwawaymsft wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say he was average at making money. It sounds impressive but you need to annualize and compare it to the market as a whole. 5.36B to 22B in 12 years = 11.7% annualized profit increase from 2012 to 2014. However, MSFT stock appreciation was 22 -> 41 or 5.2% annualized. (Stock includes expectations of future growth, etc.) Average S&P was ~7.8% for that time period. Ballmer would have done better for investors by ju…

You including their 2003 stock split in your calculations? edit: because, if not, it's more like a 9.85% return on the stock

Thanks for the catch; I didn't account for the split. Still, it looks like the SPY handily beat MSFT's return over that time period.

https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=0&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=0&...

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#226

Post by tonyplee »

scholia wrote: post #174
tonyplee wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also got a new win10 HP laptop and new gaming win10 desktop recently, but has different experiences. I absolutely hate the constant force update/reboot from Win10 and the huge amount background / network activities/connections. After most of the win10 background networks connections are blocked and force update/reboot is disabled with Windows firewall, the system are usable now. I tried and found the new Linux subs…

> constant force update/reboot from Win10 Really? How often? I have "active hours" set and I rarely get more than one reboot per month. Same with network connections, and what they're doing. Some recorded facts would be more interesting than your impressions...

Run "netstat -nob" in a admin prompt and you will see what I mean.

I block all those apps now with Windows firewall except firefox, chrome and Windows defender.

Also you can check out the default windows firewall config and see how many out going connections are allowed AND CONNECTED by default.

I always configure my system network security by default disable ALL and only selected app/ports are allow connect to internet.

Win10 firewall is completely opposite - its default configure for outgoing are "Allow ALL".

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#227

Post by clay_to_n »

Camillo wrote: post #110
dpark wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not entirely gone but it's dying. I'm still in a private office. Lots of devs on my team are doubled up, though. Many teams have already moved to open spaces. Demographics are a factor. Lots of devs, especially younger devs, and especially devs who've worked at other younger companies are asking for open floor plans. Not all of them, but a sizable chunk. That plus reduced cost for providing office space to devs…

They are asking for open floor plans? Is there anything young people won't ruin?

Yes, they keep requesting open floor plans and talking about this book Extreme Programming which apparently advocates for it...

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#228

Post by kijiki »

shmerl wrote: post #119
ChuckMcM wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea of having their own "brand" of laptop I think was really important for recognition. It was always easy to tell the Apple users with the glowing Apple logo but the other laptops could be all shapes and sizes and that didn't say there was one competitor or 15. Having the branded laptops making an appearance really helped solidify in people's minds that it was a Microsoft product these other people were using.

That's why I like to put Debian sticker on my laptop. Otherwise people assume I'm using Windows. Kind of silly, but years of Windows domination brainwashed people.

I've been completely unable to find a Debian sticker that: a) is big enough to see from more than 3 feet away b) that works on a black laptop.

Do you know of a good supplier?

Re: Microsoft, Rebooted, Emerges as a Tech Leader

#229

Post by joe_fro »

aswerty wrote: post #202
yummyfajitas wrote: post #144

I recently bought a Lenovo sporting Windows 10 and decided to give it a fair try. I've been using Windows exclusively on my personal laptop for about 2 months and so far it's a good experience. This is after 16 years of running linux (or briefly a mac) on the desktop. The window manager is tolerable (not as good as Xmonad, but equivalent to Unity). Windows subsystem for linux is letting me get my work done with no pr…

I'm a massive fan of .NET and MVC as a development stack and think VS is the bees knees when it comes to my IDE (with a Vi plugin of course). But I'm hugely excited about .NET Core for the sole reason of abandoning the Windows OS. It really is a horror, it comes bundled with crapware which gets reinstalled when a major update is applied, the major updates are foisted upon you whether you want them or not, after a maj…

What bothers me is that all the data collection is on by default. If I purchase something I expect it to have my best interests at heart, if I get something for free I expect it to have the providers best interests at heart. Since you buy your computer, all data collection should be opt in. If Microsoft wants to give me a free computer, then make it opt out.
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