21–30 of 51 posts
Does this mean it's time to lift the anti-monopoly restrictions on Microsoft and Windows?
So the answer to your question is a resounding no.
Here's a quote from one of his other articles, "I can't say that I've looked at Windows 7 nearly as closely as Kennedy has, but I've looked at Windows 7 enough to know that it's no real improvement on Vista."
It's too bad that "journalists" can be consistently wrong with impunity.
That said, based on his track record, Windows will probably have a bright future.
In a way journalists writing this type of article over and over puts a little fear in my heart. I don't ever intend or want to pass up my PC or laptop in favor of a phone or tablet interface; as a content developer its just not something I could ever see myself wanting to change. Sure, I own a smartphone and tablet but they're recreational at best and often used only for efficiency in my life, never a replacement for…
If there is ever a drop in demand large enough that would render the desktop computer market small enough to halt production, I would bet that you will find that you no longer use it for productivity either. I'm a developer too and that is not a niche market. It's easy to think of it as such but the reality is that old-fashioned productivity isn't going anywhere. Tablets have replaced non-consumption and at best complement desktop machines.
Microsoft should have their Windows people concentrate on the PC. Make it the best desktop device possible.
They need a separate mobile group. Keep Balmer as CEO but when it comes to mobile do the opposite of whatever he says. It worked for George: http://www.tv.com/shows/seinfeld/the-opposite-2326/
The big question is - what else do we want a desktop to do that they can't already do? I struggle to think of anything that Windows could add to its functionality that would make me want a new version.
Windows 7 and OS X 10.8 are fine desktop OSes that one can continue to use for years to come. However, I can think of two improvements for future versions:
* Better file systems. Windows was supposed to get WinFS, OS X was destined to adopt ZFS. Unfortunately, neither of those panned out. HDDs are on their way out, we need native support for a file system that is reliable and is optimized for SSD use. Preferably, both Apple and Microsoft use the same open source solution for all their platforms, but that's not likely to happen.
* APIs to aide cooperation between mobile apps and desktop apps and TV screens. Right now, there are few good examples of mobile apps adding to the desktop experience, or the other way around. At the moment, only Adobe Nav[1] and Adobe Color Lava[2] come to mind. This is something Apple en Microsoft need to solve, not make each developer do so for themselves. Look at the brilliant folks at Panic and their Status Board app: they spent months working on a solution to display high quality graphics from an iPad to a TV screen [3]; those things should be much easier.
[1] http://www.photoshop.com/products/mobile/nav
[2] http://www.photoshop.com/products/mobile/colorlava
[3] http://www.panic.com/blog/2013/03/the-lightning-digital-av-a...
"Windows is done". What a final statement. PC sales may be mostly done. A desktop that was bought 10 years ago can still run fine today - and many still are. We reached a point in computing where upgrading doesn't make that big of a difference. You can use the same machine for a decade or more without problem if you're an end user, especially given so many rich web apps that don't require high processing power.
A decade is a bit much. I'll give you 5 years, but that's about it.
In a way journalists writing this type of article over and over puts a little fear in my heart. I don't ever intend or want to pass up my PC or laptop in favor of a phone or tablet interface; as a content developer its just not something I could ever see myself wanting to change. Sure, I own a smartphone and tablet but they're recreational at best and often used only for efficiency in my life, never a replacement for…
Do you mean something that runs x86 architecture? Something with keyboard/mouse as the primary interface? Something with interchangeable commodity components? Something with lots of local storage?
Yes, the OS with +90% market share is done. Idiot....
In a way journalists writing this type of article over and over puts a little fear in my heart. I don't ever intend or want to pass up my PC or laptop in favor of a phone or tablet interface; as a content developer its just not something I could ever see myself wanting to change. Sure, I own a smartphone and tablet but they're recreational at best and often used only for efficiency in my life, never a replacement for…