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2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

arstechnica.com

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Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#41

Post by adventured »

exprI wrote: post #16
DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

which remains for me the main reason why regardless of it is now being cool again I still avoid it like the plague. another funny thing is that they have improved their OS security so much that it is now considered harder than Linux, and Apple

Little criticism, followed by a huge compliment. Usually shilling. Considered “harder” by whom? Windows enthusiasts have certainly considered Windows to be more sophisticated since the first public version of NT, and more secure by XP SP2, at the very latest.

Saying you avoid something like the plague isn't a little criticism. Further, shilling in favor of Microsoft for an operating system that has had a consumer monopoly on the desktop for 20 years? Yeah right.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#42

Post by AnimalMuppet »

meagain20000 wrote: post #23
valarauca1 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I feel like the media wants to paint a comeback story a la Apple a lot more than one actually exists. In terms of an Apple come back story that's blatantly false. Microsoft was never in dire financial straights since practically the mid-80's. The Benefit of the Doubt is more because of their attitude to the OSS community. For nearly its entire life Micro$oft has been seen as the prime enemy of the OSS community, a r…

I would not happily return to them. In fact, I see no reason why. To me, they are still in their same embrace, extend, extinguish mode only that now their cycle is a lot longer. It could even be that nadella really thinks that he will always be in the embrace and extend phase. My gut feeling is that as soon as it becomes hugely beneficial to them somebody within the company will advocate for the extinguish phase. Don…

"The guest who has escaped from the roof, will think twice before he returns by the door." - Gandalf, to Saruman.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#43

Post by ifdefdebug »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #5

They've done some brilliant things for developers this year, but sadly shipped a giant spyware operating system at the same time. From what I've read people are still trying to determine everything it's calling home.

It's easy to run Windows 10 without any calling home at all. Just don't use a Microsoft account. Just chose custom configurations during setup.

Doesn't a default Android phone also do a lot of calling home? And Apple phones? Why is it so special when it's Windows?

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#44

Post by JumpCrisscross »

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #34
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for Windows 10 being considered more secure than OS X or Linux? Didn't expect that designation to fall on a spyware-as-OS product.

perhaps my context was unclear. I was considering number of vulnerabilities among the different OS. that has actually little relation to the other problem that it is of course as spyware-as-OS.

> I was considering number of vulnerabilities among the different OS. that has actually little relation to the other problem

That's like Apple deputizing OS X's vulnerabilities as "features" and calling it quits.

My test for defining vulnerability derives from whether a reasonable, knowledgeable party would put sensitive information on the system. Windows 10 fails this test. I find it difficult to see how anyone would describe its as "hardened," hence the request for a source.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#45

Post by oldnan »

ifdefdebug wrote: post #35
oldnan wrote: post #21

Microsoft's 2015 reminds me of Sun's 2004 - open sourcing software in a desperate attempt to remain relevant as Linux grows. In truth Microsoft hasn't open sourced Office, Windows, SQL Server etc. which they make money from, but only bits which they think might save them from irrelevance amongst developers in the era of Linux and the cloud. As much as MS made a song and dance about open source the vast majority of MS…

I don't think their open sourcing is some kind of desperate attempt. They open sourced .NET understanding that developer tools and languages have to be open source nowadays, if they want adoption.

Without adoption it's hard to stay relevant which was what my post was about...

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#46

Post by scholia »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #32
oldnan wrote: post #21

Microsoft's 2015 reminds me of Sun's 2004 - open sourcing software in a desperate attempt to remain relevant as Linux grows. In truth Microsoft hasn't open sourced Office, Windows, SQL Server etc. which they make money from, but only bits which they think might save them from irrelevance amongst developers in the era of Linux and the cloud. As much as MS made a song and dance about open source the vast majority of MS…

I wouldn't be surprised if Windows was open source in 10-20 years. I'm not expecting it to, and I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't open sourced, either.

Probably not going to happen. Windows includes code sourced from too many other companies.....

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#47

Post by TruthSHIFT »

ifdefdebug wrote: post #43
deanclatworthy wrote: post #5

They've done some brilliant things for developers this year, but sadly shipped a giant spyware operating system at the same time. From what I've read people are still trying to determine everything it's calling home.

It's easy to run Windows 10 without any calling home at all. Just don't use a Microsoft account. Just chose custom configurations during setup. Doesn't a default Android phone also do a lot of calling home? And Apple phones? Why is it so special when it's Windows?

Apple has a history of avoiding the storage of personal data when possible. They also have a history of failing to comply with the demands of authorities to release personal information.

On the other hand, Microsoft has a history of complying with government authorities.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#48

Post by frik »

ifdefdebug wrote: post #35
oldnan wrote: post #21

Microsoft's 2015 reminds me of Sun's 2004 - open sourcing software in a desperate attempt to remain relevant as Linux grows. In truth Microsoft hasn't open sourced Office, Windows, SQL Server etc. which they make money from, but only bits which they think might save them from irrelevance amongst developers in the era of Linux and the cloud. As much as MS made a song and dance about open source the vast majority of MS…

I don't think their open sourcing is some kind of desperate attempt. They open sourced .NET understanding that developer tools and languages have to be open source nowadays, if they want adoption.

Without developers Microsoft tools and platform will shrink a lot and fast. It was basically their only chance to open source the new dotNet core. And try everything incl. their TypeScript tactics on JavaScript to get developers back into their development tool eco system - and to lock-in them into their tool-sets and platforms.

Most devs beside enterprise IT departments use open source languages for web deveopment. NodeJS/Java/PHP/Ruby/Python/Go are very popular and only a tiny fraction (11%) runs on Windows servers with dotNet or Mono. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2015/11/16/november-2015-w...

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#49

Post by romanovcode »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #5

They've done some brilliant things for developers this year, but sadly shipped a giant spyware operating system at the same time. From what I've read people are still trying to determine everything it's calling home.

>spyware operating system

I'm not sure how is W10 different than Android/MacOS. Actually, on Windows you at least can skip the account registration. On mac you can't even get updates if you don't register. Android doesn't even let you use the OS properly without account.

Re: 2015: The year that Microsoft started getting the benefit of the doubt

#50

Post by jv0010 »

It's an unsettling feeling with Microsoft ever since the rise of mobile devices and cloud based systems. Nonetheless the company deserves a lot of respect for setting the foundation of a lot of under the hood tech it has paved the way with.

Microsoft can't monetise in multiple ways from singular products the way other companies can nowdays. I think most general users use mocrosofts core products as a platform to connect with other companies to monetise. The push with win10 to connect with the Microsoft store was a good move IMO.

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