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Microsoft is driving users away

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Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#91

Post by FirmwareBurner »

overgard wrote: post #85
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accurate as every other week's predicting of Microsoft's impeding doom from users who don't like Windows in the past 30 years. - 1995. wah, wah! Windows 95 sucks, it's so bloated, MS-DOS was so much lighter, this will be the end of Microsoft. - 2001. wah, wah! Windows XP sucks, it's just a bloated Windows 2000 with Fisher Price coloring, this will be the end of Microsoft. .... - 2021. wah, wah! Windows 11 sucks, it's…

Well in 2013 Windows had a 90% market share for desktop PC's, and now it's evidently down to 69%... so yeah, I'd say they have a problem. (Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/218089/global-market-sha... )

What problem? In 2013 Microsoft only had 2-3 big products, Windows, Office and X-Box. Now it's significantly more divested and the company's growth no longer depends on Windows' success or failure, and the stock pricing reflects that.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#92

Post by layer8 »

forinti wrote: post #57
probably_satan wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've converted a handful of some of the least computer tech heavy people to Linux. This was years ago. The final few nails of Microsoft's coffin are being nailed as we speak. Not only because they are just fundamentally bad at innovation, but because they also sold out the United States to China. Billy boy is scared, and he should be.

I managed to convince my mother-in-law to use Linux and drop Windows. But it seems that convincing the network guys at work is harder than convincing a retiree. Apparently it's easier to administer a Windows network than a Linux one.

There is no good replacement for Active Directory, by a large margin. It’s the single biggest factor that keeps Windows alive in the enterprise.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#93

Post by overgard »

firesteelrain wrote: post #4

As much as I like Linux, tides won’t be shifting for desktop to Linux. It will be Microsoft Windows for years to come

I think the end result is less people using the desktop overall (ie, just relying on tablets and phones), which in my opinion is a catastrophe since phones and tablets are generally consumption devices rather than creative devices (sorry, I'm not counting selfies or tiktoks), and we're slowly dumbing down the next generation.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#95

Post by moribvndvs »

Windows 10 and 11 are miserable. At this point, I only use them for gaming, but just about every windows update breaks performance and stability, or introduces a headache. Sometimes they fix it, but mostly it’s drifting towards the abyss. Meanwhile, they endlessly shovel unwanted products and insert their corporate surveillance into just about every aspect of the Windows experience. I’m just sick to death of it. We are so close to the point where I can just delete it and run SteamOS exclusively or at least a majority of the time, and I cannot wait.

In general, MS is pissing a lot away. Office, both the desktop apps and Office 365, are absolutely atrocious (just started using it due to a new job, I previous thought Google Docs was the worst). VSCode has become slow and frustrating to use. I stopped developing on their platform products long ago because most are a terrible value proposition and frustrating developer experience.

I have been a dedicated DOS and Windows user since the 80s, and a Microsoft developer since late 90s and 2000s, but between Vista and Windows 8 it was clear they were circling the drain and I have been distancing myself from their products as much as I can.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#96

Post by nickelpro »

overgard wrote: post #73
nickelpro wrote: post #15

This is basically an article by a guy angry that the UI for printers changed and predicting the end of the Windows empire based on that.

Every Windows user I know hates the new control panels. (I use plural because they've been trying to replace the actual good control panel basically every version of Windows since 7 and it's an incredible mess). Enterprise users put up with Windows because it's better to administrate than anything else, so taking away that stuff really is murdering windows.

I did enterprise administration of Windows boxes, ~400 seats.

We did not manually muck with control panels per station. I could not care less what the settings UIs for home installs of Windows are.

And that's the real truth, power users and these small fry IT install bases are not major markets. The most prominent markets are OEM installs for non-technical home users (who hate complex panels and love the push-button UIs), and large 3/4/5 digit enterprise installs that do not give a damn about this stuff because they're using MDT (or whatever) to deploy images to all their stations and not playing with this per-station configuration stuff.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#97

Post by rincebrain »

pdimitar wrote: post #28

Microsoft has been driving users away for no less than 10 years now and nothing much is changing IMO because Windows is what most people think of as "the computer". Non-technical users think they have no other choice, they shrug the defects off and try to get their job done. Though the article kind of piqued my interest by claiming that Microsoft "is in panic" -- any proof that they are indeed bleeding users more tha…

Really, among people under 25, a lot of them see "the phone" as the computer, and treat using desktops as a burden any time it happens.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#98

Post by Fervicus »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #17
nickelpro wrote: post #15

This is basically an article by a guy angry that the UI for printers changed and predicting the end of the Windows empire based on that.

Accurate as every other week's predicting of Microsoft's impeding doom from users who don't like Windows in the past 30 years. - 1995. wah, wah! Windows 95 sucks, it's so bloated, MS-DOS was so much lighter, this will be the end of Microsoft. - 2001. wah, wah! Windows XP sucks, it's just a bloated Windows 2000 with Fisher Price coloring, this will be the end of Microsoft. .... - 2021. wah, wah! Windows 11 sucks, it's…

I don't think it's the same. I have been a Windows user all my life. Bloat and bad UX changes is one thing, but this is the first time I feel like I am having to actively fight the OS against showing me ads and dark practices like changing user preferences unbeknownst to me.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#99

Post by overgard »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #91
overgard wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well in 2013 Windows had a 90% market share for desktop PC's, and now it's evidently down to 69%... so yeah, I'd say they have a problem. (Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/218089/global-market-sha... )

What problem? In 2013 Microsoft only had 2-3 big products, Windows, Office and X-Box. Now it's significantly more divested and the company's growth no longer depends on Windows' success or failure, and the stock pricing reflects that.

So, you're saying that losing 21% of their OS market share by actively pissing off their customers shouldn't be seen as a problem? OS stagnation would be an improvement compared to what they're currently doing.

Re: Microsoft is driving users away

#100

Post by avidphantasm »

thiago_fm wrote: post #47

The issue with Windows that the HN public might have trouble to understand, is how bad decisions are sticky in a company with little to no taste like Microsoft. You can't suddenly change things and expect app developers to accept it like they do in OSX. This means they can't change Windows too much. Any new change creates lots of compromises and just slapping a new UI doesn't fix the underlying issue. This has been t…

Also, MS’s primary audience for Windows is corporate IT departments and to a lesser extent established ISVs, while Apple’s primary audience for *OS is end-users.
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