Live data from Hacker News

The End of Windows

stratechery.com

41–50 of 617 posts

Re: The End of Windows

#41
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a long time developer on the Microsoft stack (approaching 20 years now?), it seems to me like this makes Microsoft and it's services less relevant and more easily replaceable in the long run. It's clear Azure and the related services are very lucrative, but I feel this is because of the prevalent use of Windows, not in spite of it.

well, as a long time developer in financial enterprise space (18 years) I think MS made a lot of right moves already since Nadela took over. betting all your eggs on Windows dominance proved to be a faulty (and dangerous) strategy especially since a lot of enterprise started using Linux / open source. For example I know a very major hedge fund that went from Windows everywhere to using every open source database they…

>a lot of enterprise started using Linux / open source.

any major players? entire healthcare industry is married to microsoft, at least the big names. same for lots of major enterprises that i know of

Re: The End of Windows

#43

So are mom and pop businesses using Chromebooks and Ipads to do their accounting now? Last I checked Windows was still pretty dominant in both Enterprise and midsize businesses, though I could see a food truck being run from a phone (theoretically).

In my experience... yes. At least in the Pittsburgh area, every food truck, small boutique, expo vendor, etc. that I've encountered has used Square and an iPad to handle payments.

Re: The End of Windows

#44
post #37
post #6

I'll be interested to see how this bifurcation of the Windows team plays out. Windows 10 has been a mixed bag - some nice new features but also a lot of half baked buggy stuff. The evergreen nature of Windows 10 feels like the right move, but I'm worried they're going to let the OS stagnate. There's already a lot of low hanging fruit they could clean up with an update, but haven't. I'm not a huge fan of using my tabl…

> There's already a lot of low hanging fruit they could clean up with an update, but haven't. In all honesty that's been my impression of Windows since its inception. The only time I can recall ever feeling like Windows was deserved market leader was with Windows 2000: Linux wasn't mature on the desktop, OS X wasn't yet released or literally only just released and OS 9 was god awful (worse than the Win 95 in my opini…

I think because there's no career advancement at Microsoft, working on cleaning up existing features. Only by working on new stuff can you get noticed.

So, interns work on 'old' stuff (like office apps, Windows, tools). And they always look pretty rough.

Re: The End of Windows

#45

About that reorganization : "Today, I’m announcing the formation of two new engineering teams" "Windows: Joe Belfiore will continue leading our Windows experiences and will drive Windows innovation in partnership with the PC and device ecosystem" How does this exactly means they are giving up on Windows ?! Seriously, wishful thinking much ?

They are not giving up Windows. They just adjusted the organization to reflect the fact that Windows itself is no longer as important as in the 90s.

Re: The End of Windows

#46
Early Windows was a great platform for the users that it served. But every few years, the Windows product itself had one of those "off years." It arguably started with NT 4.0 for workstations, then again with Windows ME, then Vista, and then arguably 8.

This interleaving strategy was okay when they were the only market player, but now that there's actually good competition in the computing space (read: smartphones and chromebooks), it's not so good. All of the little sacrifices that Windows has to make to move itself forward are cuts that make people reconsider using it in the first place.

I honestly wonder what world it would be if every Windows release had "stuck the landing." If we had a super solid Vista and a super solid Windows 8, would Microsoft even be in remotely the same position as they are now? Probably not, because it would actually have been the preferred choice, and not just the default.

Re: The End of Windows

#47
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux on desktop is pretty amazing. Haven't looked back in 3 years.

Is there a laptop you would recommend?

I use an xps13 9350. I am running fedora on it and quite literally everything works out of the box on install.

Re: The End of Windows

#48
This seems like a ridiculous strategy. Who would abandon an ecosystem that they own over 80% of? If they're spending too much money on it, stop adding features and harden what they already have. It's increasingly clear that macOS isn't business-level stable, and Linux isn't polished... No one has an Android device on their desk at work. Maybe if they stopped trying to take over the world they would realize that they already own a huge part of it. If they don't care, they should sell it to someone who does.

Re: The End of Windows

#49
post #6

I'll be interested to see how this bifurcation of the Windows team plays out. Windows 10 has been a mixed bag - some nice new features but also a lot of half baked buggy stuff. The evergreen nature of Windows 10 feels like the right move, but I'm worried they're going to let the OS stagnate. There's already a lot of low hanging fruit they could clean up with an update, but haven't. I'm not a huge fan of using my tabl…

Linux on desktop is pretty amazing. Haven't looked back in 3 years.

Funny - I use a linux desktop in a VM only when I absolutely have to. Because I can't get much done without a struggle. But to each his own!

Re: The End of Windows

#50
post #6

I'll be interested to see how this bifurcation of the Windows team plays out. Windows 10 has been a mixed bag - some nice new features but also a lot of half baked buggy stuff. The evergreen nature of Windows 10 feels like the right move, but I'm worried they're going to let the OS stagnate. There's already a lot of low hanging fruit they could clean up with an update, but haven't. I'm not a huge fan of using my tabl…

Linux on desktop is pretty amazing. Haven't looked back in 3 years.

If I still have to open the terminal and edit text files in /etc for essential things like sound, WiFi, accelerated graphics, and so on then it hasn't really evolved in the right ways.

Linux on the desktop has always been a niche experience for a niche audience. ChromeOS and Android (both based on Linux) are mainstream desktop experiences, as are MacOS, iOS, and Windows.

Post reply on HN