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Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

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31–40 of 53 posts

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So only open source software can be cool? I don't really get that perspective.

I want to be able to know what my machine is actually running. It gives me some nice warm fuzzy feeling knowing that I have that option. I probably won't but still, I like having that option.

The option of spending a lifetime reading the Windows code in order to 'know what your machine is running'? it's such an old argument but no one ever talks about how fucking cumbersome is to read code, even in work itself, moreso outside of work, unpaid.

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#32
post #8

They're doing a hell of a lot more cool things than Apple, these days. Windows is moving. macOS is terrible. (Says the guy who's been a Mac user for >15 years and bought every new product Apple has come out with.) Apple is doing this to themselves. As a dev platform, their appeal is waning. (Stop making shit laptops, and make your macOS stable again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) Microsoft, under Nadella, is making the right moves, li…

Doesn't Windows have ads embedded w/in their OS?

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#33
post #8

They're doing a hell of a lot more cool things than Apple, these days. Windows is moving. macOS is terrible. (Says the guy who's been a Mac user for >15 years and bought every new product Apple has come out with.) Apple is doing this to themselves. As a dev platform, their appeal is waning. (Stop making shit laptops, and make your macOS stable again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) Microsoft, under Nadella, is making the right moves, li…

Are you telling me they brought back Windows 7? 'Cause that's what people want.

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When IBM went to the PS/2 architecture, and the OS/2 software, to try to kill the PC clone market and lock up the PC hardware and OS market for themselves, Microsoft was the champion of freedom and openness. Really. Windows 95 and 98 were when the GUI became cool. Well, cool and available - it was cool on the Mac, but nobody had Macs.

Yeah, I could see how finally getting their GUI system more or less working a decade after everyone else could be seen as cool. And yes, keeping the corporate drone market away from a technically better product, also cool.

Despite what people around here (including me) might think, when you have the Rolling Stones advertising for you and people are lining up to buy your product at midnight, you're pretty cool.

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#35
I was reading a comment stection of a win xp pirated edition. It had los of bug reports. 3-10 min after each there was a developer comment of the kind "thats terrible!" 10-30 min after that a comment containing a patch was posted.

Am i to understand this kind of service is impossible for a multibillion company? You dont have any questions, you dont have any problem and we are certainly not going to fix anything.

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#36
post #8

They're doing a hell of a lot more cool things than Apple, these days. Windows is moving. macOS is terrible. (Says the guy who's been a Mac user for >15 years and bought every new product Apple has come out with.) Apple is doing this to themselves. As a dev platform, their appeal is waning. (Stop making shit laptops, and make your macOS stable again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) Microsoft, under Nadella, is making the right moves, li…

Are you sure your not a sponsored by Microsoft ad?

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#37
post #8

They're doing a hell of a lot more cool things than Apple, these days. Windows is moving. macOS is terrible. (Says the guy who's been a Mac user for >15 years and bought every new product Apple has come out with.) Apple is doing this to themselves. As a dev platform, their appeal is waning. (Stop making shit laptops, and make your macOS stable again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) Microsoft, under Nadella, is making the right moves, li…

Doesn't Windows have ads embedded w/in their OS?

I haven't seen any ad. But that may be because I use the enterprise version. Maybe someone with the Home version can clarify?

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#38
post #8

They're doing a hell of a lot more cool things than Apple, these days. Windows is moving. macOS is terrible. (Says the guy who's been a Mac user for >15 years and bought every new product Apple has come out with.) Apple is doing this to themselves. As a dev platform, their appeal is waning. (Stop making shit laptops, and make your macOS stable again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) Microsoft, under Nadella, is making the right moves, li…

Doesn't Windows have ads embedded w/in their OS?

I’ve been using professional since release and haven’t seen an ad yet.

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#39
Cool to whom?

As a nerd, I would like them to do what Apple did: release a new, clean, robust OS (based on OpenBSD would be smart, worked for Apple) and then provide a shim for backward compatibility. That is, allow all existing programs to still run but have a clean platform for future apps. Like ChromeOS I would prefer this to be truly secure, robust and updated with minimal intrusion.

As a consumer, I want systems that are reliable, robust, secure, free from malware, impossible to hack into, cheap and fast. In other words everything that Windows currently isn't.

Re: Ask HN: Will Microsoft ever become cool again?

#40

If someone is on a windows machine, using the pre-installed IE11 or Edge browser, I tend to assume it's a 70 year old these days. Or possibly someone at a firm with some dated internal ActiveX page that needs IE. That kind of association is extremely difficult to break. Car manufacturers have struggled with similar impressions. You can make the greatest, and cheapest, car in the world, and people won't buy it if it h…

Talking of cars, Porsche sell stripped out, weekend racer versions for more than the more luxurious ones. But it is a niche market. Same with computers for nerds - we know what we are doing, but for the average consumer - which is certainly MS's target market - the more bells and whistles the more impressive it is in the showroom.
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