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Windows Phone Free-Fall May Force Microsoft To Push Harder On Windows 10 (pcworld.com)
tripleevenfall quotes a report from PCWorld: Microsoft sold a minuscule 2.3 million Lumia phones last quarter, down from 8.6 million a year ago. Phone revenue declines will only "steepen" during the current quarter, chief financial officer Amy Hood warned during a conference call. That's dragged down Microsoft's results as a company, too. As the company's mobile device strategy continues to disintegrate, Microsoft may feel compelled to push harder on Windows 10 adoption and paid services to prove it can survive without a viable smartphone. CEO Satya Nadella's strategy is simple enough: grow Microsoft's revenues by convincing customers to adopt its paid subscription services.
I'd consider paying for Microsoft Linux. Basically it would be desktop/workstation Linux, but without a lot of the stupidity we've seen lately. It wouldn't have systemd. It wouldn't have Unity or GNOME 3. It wouldn't have PulseAudio and NetworkManager.
They could use new technology, like Mir, but couple it with a sensible init system (it doesn't have to be sysvinit; just not systemd!), and maybe an updated version of Xfce ported to Qt (since Qt is way better than GTK+). It would use Linux and open source software that works, without using a lot of the newer shit that doesn't work.
Most important of all, I'd want them to port Edge to this Microsoft Linux distro. I've used Edge on Windows, and it's much nicer than Firefox or Chrome. If it was available for Linux, I'd be very happy! It's fast, it's sleek, and it's standards-compliant.
In some sense it would be a return to their Xenix days.
Free download for Vista and XP users.
So far they've only targeted Win 7 and 8 machines.
In Microsoft's heyday, people would anxiously await the opportunity to pay $120 to upgrade to the new version. New bells, whistles, and blue screens.
Now many people are trying hard to avoid Microsoft's "upgrade" to Windows 10. More and more people go through the trouble of removing the Windows install that came with their computer, to replace it with a less troublesome OS. They want to get rid of Windows.
Microsoft's last-ditch solution is to try to get their few remaining hostages and fanboys to not only pay for MS software, but to keep paying again and again every month. I feel for anyone who's either stuck in a position where they have to keep paying every month for software most people don't even want for free, or who simply doesn't know any better, they're probably still paying $25/month for AOL too.
Windows 7 doesn't access the Windows Store. The Windows 7 install base is HUGE. They want those people off Windows 7 and on an OS that has their store built in. Windows 7 runs on almost 60% of general user PCs, this number includes Macs. https://www.netmarketshare.com... That's a shit ton of potential people buying from your store. Let's face it, most people running W7 won't pay to upgrade, but their logic will be "hey if it's free, why not?!?". There you go, more money extracted from what would otherwise be a zero revenue generating install.
MS takes 30% of sales on their Windows store. MS wants everyone purchasing from their store so they get a 30% cut of every other company's programming work.
How I interpret MS's a long term goal - it's likely that they want to at some point force you go through the "Windows Store" to buy programs, just like Apple does on their "App Store". Hey,if you can't ignore the forced update that makes this change, then too bad for you. Here's how I see it as a general outline:
1. Develop New Windows OS that Data Mines (read new MS agreements @ https://edri.org/microsofts-ne... ), "cloud services", and more importantly includes the windows store and forced OS updates to add/remove features as they see fit. - Check
2. Offer "Free" windows upgrades - Check
3. Gain Installs / market penetration for new windows OS - In Progress
4. Sell / Use mined data for marketing purposes - Check (See above)
5. Leverage "cloud" services as a vendor lock in - Future
6. Sell more "windows services" - Future
7. Use forced Os updates to lock windows program installation down to their store just like Apple does on iOS - More Distant Future
8. Utilize a 90%+ PC device install base to profit massively off the "windows store" ( http://www.windowscentral.com/... ) - More Distant Future
Shill some more dipshit.
The people at Microsoft has changed, but Microsoft has not. You simply do not change the culture in a company by changing the people who work for it over time.
There have been examples of companies with such a toxic culture it was easier to shut them down than change it, and that's among those who have tied. Microsoft has not. They are still serving the same old soup, they just partially use new ingredients.
Did you take some Nadella dick in the ass right now, or is it going to be tonight?
I'd be happy with (1a) alone, with (1b) a nice addition.
All this push to UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 10 pushed me to install Arch (Sure as hell isn't for beginners, but it was a fun challenge).
It also pushed my girlfriend to ask me to install Mint on her laptop, someone who isn't by any stretch of the imagination a tech nerd.
And several of my friends once I told them their favorite steam games now work perfectly fine, and I would be happy to install whatever distro they wanted if they bought the vodka.
I don't think microsoft understands they do not hold the monopoly on good, usable, noob friendly operating systems anymore.
Strange, I have one sitting right in front of me, and it seems to still be alive. A few hours ago, I was sitting next to my son at dinner, and he was showing me his Android. I used to have an Android, but I much prefer the Windows OS. He said, "But you can't get App A on Windows!" I opened up the Windows phone store, and downloaded App A. "Oh, but you can't get App B!" I went back to the Windows store, got App B.
Obviously there are far more apps for Android than there are for Windows. Some would say I was just lucky. I'd say I don't need the junky apps that mostly fill the Android store. In all the years I had an Android phone, I never found as good a weather app as the one that came built into my Windows phone. I prefer the navigation apps I have on Windows to the ones I had on my Android phone (although I hear that app maker has jumped ship). It's much easier to set the alarm on my Windows phone (the Android phone was always over-shooting). And in general I find my Windows phone easier to use.
I am _not_ an Ms shill, and I never moved from Win7 to Win8 on my desktop (nor have I found any compelling reason yet to move to Win10). And for programming, Linux is far superior. But Android is, IMNSHO, a piece of junk.
I realize that barring some miracle, the Windows phone will probably be dead some day. But it isn't yet.