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Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

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Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#151

Post by fulafel »

plandis wrote: post #149
_wmd wrote: post #25

I guess this means we can officially stop hating on Microsoft for having such a lax attitude towards security, considering their last OS to suffer from that attitude was released 16 years ago, and it accounts for less than 3% of present day traffic according to statcounter.com Meanwhile according to the same stats, Android sits around 37.9%, and I have to wonder just how many of those devices are still impacted by fo…

You sound like someone that either works at Microsoft or has a large financial interest in them.

I think he sounds like every person with security awareness who ever looked at the Android situation in the field.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#152

Post by yawn »

dublinben wrote: post #81
pjmlp wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they cared one second about it, they would have changed the terms of access to the Google services. The sad part is that the 2016 security report just came out and they brag how the whole security improved, without mentioning the elephant in the room. Google IO is around the corner and I bet they will keep talking as if everyone could upgrade right away to Android O, with N now having barely 2%.

Everyone (who buys Google phones) can upgrade right away. It's not Google's fault that the other manufacturers refuse to update their products in a timely manner. The responsibility for these devices lies solely with the manufacturer.

Try telling that to anyone owning a Nexus 5 (still a very viable phone) or older.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#153

Post by vram22 »

pjmlp wrote: post #86
loudmax wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Microsoft put OS/2 and BeOS out of business, and nearly did the same for Apple. While this was happening, FreeBSD and Linux emerged as excellent Unix variants, so when Apple and Google went to look for their own OSs to deploy, they leveraged what was already available. If you're looking for alternatives, there is stuff being developed. Google's Fuscia is intriguing, and there are other non-Unix kernels from oth…

> Microsoft put OS/2 Actually regarding OS/2, IBM had lots of blame as well. They didn't managed the whole situation properly and trying to use OS/2 to get back into the game of selling their own PS2 architecture didn't help win the hearts of the buyers. I would have had to pay almost 500 € extra, on today's money to get a PC capable of running OS/2 properly, instead of the one I got with Windows 3.1.

I had read that OS/2 Warp was considered a pretty good OS technically, though I don't remember the details now, as to what made it an improvement over Windows. I remember that PC Quest, an Indian PC magazine, gave out OS/2 Warp on a CD [1] in one issue.

[1] They often bundled a CD with lots of free software with their magazine issues, e.g. different distros of Linux, server software, utilities, etc. All free or trial software, usually. I remember they bundled the QNX OS once, and I installed it and tried it on my PC. It was very light and fast, had a GUI too - Photon, IIRC. They might even have bundled BeOS once. I think I tried installing that too, but it did not work on my PC.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#154

Post by apexalpha »

j_s wrote: post #88
najati83 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending an MMS is very expensive and many people don't even bother to configure their mobiles to send them because they've never used them.

Interesting perspective. Where is this coming from, geographically? It doesn't match my experience here in North America.

Yeah I recently learned from a Candadian friend that people in the US and Canada still text a lot? Outside of the US & Canada my estimate would be that 99% of people has switched to WeChat, Whatsapp and FB Messenger.

The only texts I ever recieve nowadays are automated (2FA etc...). Even though unlimited texts come with every SIM.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#155

Post by thr0waway1239 »

mysterydip wrote: post #55

I had recently been looking for a laptop to replace my wife's aging machine. She wanted something to hit all her social media stuff, save pictures and videos, basic office, and watch her tv and movie streams. I had a barely-used lenovo that I had put xubuntu on that I wanted her to try first to gauge her size and performance requirements, but she wasn't ready for linux. I searched around a bit (knowing putting window…

I wonder if this means Amazon can just focus on Android for their supposed Office killer instead of making it web based?

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#156

Post by ksk »

peterwwillis wrote: post #76
georgeecollins wrote: post #18

When I was younger there IBM, Apple, Be, and Microsoft were all working on these amazing new operating systems. Now the #1, #3, #4 most popular operating systems are all some variation on Unix. What happened? Why did no one except Microsoft come up with a new operating system worthy of mass adoption?

There's a very long list of inferior technologies that beat superior ones in popularity, or age. QWERTY keyboards, Electronic forms, Combustion engines, Agribusiness refinements, Byte-oriented computers, Genetic technology (outside of GM crops), Building construction/insulation, Monorail and near-sonic trains, Pharmaceuticals, PlayStation, 8086, TDMA, USB, PHP, VHS... The most common link between them is a low barrie…

But on what basis are you judging them to be inferior? Are they logically inferior or practically or some other way?

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#157

Post by bitmapbrother »

WorldMaker wrote: post #147
bitmapbrother wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop being disingenuous on purpose. A Google device receives security updates for 36 months. Your "+1 for some fixes" comment implies that you only get "some" of the security updates when, in fact, you get all of security updates.

Isn't 36 months 2 + 1 years? Also, the point is still valid that 36 months (or 3 years) is still rather short security lifetime for a device. At some point (presumably soon now that carriers are dropping most device subsidies) the 2 year replacement scheme of mobile devices stops being sustainable and you do start to have to deal with the long tail of people sticking to 5-15 year old hardware devices. Google seems to…

>Isn't 36 months 2 + 1 years?

He stated "+1 for some fixes" which is incorrect as it implies that you may not get all of the security fixes for that additional year and only "some" of them.

>Also, the point is still valid that 36 months (or 3 years) is still rather short security lifetime for a device. At some point (presumably soon now that carriers are dropping most device subsidies) the 2 year replacement scheme of mobile devices stops being sustainable and you do start to have to deal with the long tail of people sticking to 5-15 year old hardware devices.

I agree it is rather short and the sooner Android OEM's can move from an SoC supplier, like Qualcomm, that only provides BSP support for 2 years the better.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#158

Post by fixermark »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #103
dublinben wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone (who buys Google phones) can upgrade right away. It's not Google's fault that the other manufacturers refuse to update their products in a timely manner. The responsibility for these devices lies solely with the manufacturer.

This excuse completely ignores the fact that through the MADA contract, Google controls all of the manufacturers and defines whether or not they are allowed to sell Android phones, effectively. And that the OS is designed, by Google, to require the manufacturer to distribute the update, rather than, as with... pretty much all other OSes, the software developer being responsible for updating their own software. Google…

As I recall, Google tried a laxer approach early in Android's history, and the quality results were pretty disastrous.

Why do we fault the company for taking steps to pull Android as a brand together?

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#159

Post by yuhong »

pjmlp wrote: post #104
yuhong wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was always a myth, of course.

What was a myth? Me saving around 500€ on today's money, because I got to use my savings on a no name OEM PC running DR-DOS/Windows 3.1, instead buying an IBM PC with OS/2 2.0?

OS/2 never required a PS/2.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#160

Post by Oletros »

pjmlp wrote: post #62
dep_b wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two classic mistakes with 20:20 hindsight. Linux makes updates more complicated because of it's monokernel and Java well.....Oracle....

There wouldn't be any problem with Oracle if they didn't try to scam Sun. There are lots of companies selling JVMs, many of them with extensions, and none of them got sued. Why? Because they play by the rules, instead of trying to be different. And at least on those platforms I can make use of proper Java 7 and 8 features, not the cherry picked ones on Android.

Apache Foundation tried to scam Sun?
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