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Microsoft Is 'Demoting' Windows for the Cloud, Says CNN (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes CNN:
Microsoft is giving Windows a demotion, and leaning into the cloud. CEO Satya Nadella told employees on Thursday that Terry Myerson, leader of the Windows and Devices Group, is leaving the company. "Microsoft has been my work, my team, and my purpose for 21 years," Myerson wrote in a LinkedIn blog post. "It is an emotional day"... The shakeup includes the formation of two new engineering teams that will prioritize Microsoft's cloud and artificial intelligence products -- a move that should make investors happy, said Brad Reback, a software analyst at Stifel. Morgan Stanley said recently that Microsoft could hit $1 trillion in market value within a year, thanks in large part to the strengths of Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing service, and the cloud-based Office 365 software suite... Amy Hood, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said in January that the company's commercial cloud revenue grew 56% year-over-year. In that quarter, Windows commercial products and cloud services sales fell 4%.
Home users don't need Office. They need Wordpad.
At work the only time I have to use Office is for a particular spreadsheet template for mileage reimbursement that's so strangely implemented that it doesn't want to work right in Libreoffice. Even pivot tables work properly in Libre, I've done a lot of complex spreadsheets in that program that are entirely interoperable with Excel.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Grudgingly accepted is good enough for their bottom line to be happy, sadly.
True, but the sustainability of a strategy based on grudging acceptance is always uncertain.
Of course when Adobe went to CC that was commercially good for them in the short term. They replaced intermittent revenue from customers, many of which were no longer buying every new CS update, with a more predictable subscription revenue stream. In most cases, that revenue stream was also going to work out at more money per customer even for those customers who really were updating regularly before.
However, credible alternatives for simple uses or specialist niche markets were starting to appear and steal small amounts of market share within a few years, and they are growing in number, scope and awareness. Go read any online forum visited by creative people today, and you'll find a mix of sentiment between people who view Adobe as still the industry standard/800lb gorilla and people who have made the switch to alternatives and been happy with the results. You'll find plenty of comments from those who are upset by the CC subscription pricing, and plenty of comments from people who still use CS 5/5.5/6 and refuse to upgrade. You'll find plenty of comments from people asking what has really been added in all the time since CS6 to justify the upgrade and lock-in and all the extra cost, too, but few good answers.
Adobe are very cagey about breaking down their subscriber figures, even in their official reporting. For example, consider any recent call or regulatory filing or investor literature and try to work out whether subscriber numbers in North America or Europe or Asia are trending up or down. Try to work out whether the money is coming from new customers or long-standing ones. Try to work out whether it's big institutional customers paying the bills or small agencies and freelancers. In fact, try to identify where the money and growth are coming from in the subscription revenues in any sort of detail at all. Usually the best you get is a few carefully chosen highlights.
My suspicion -- though that's all it can be, given the above-mentioned lack of hard data -- is that Adobe will continue to do OK with subscriptions for a while, but they opened the door to much more serious competition and over time that will hurt them. It's possible that this is already happening but it's being masked for now by growth outside of their traditional markets. In any case, if they don't seriously up their game and produce real extra value in CC to justify the ongoing subscriptions, sentiment could start to shift, and if the momentum in the market starts going in the wrong direction, that nice-looking stock chart could become very ugly.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Computers and devices that just work?
No airflow pile of shit which gets a faulty chipset liek the traschan AMD fiasco and then leaves the customer in the gutter for 2 years before being forced into finally providing a repair program.
That's your idea of just work?
-2007
When the 15" MacBook Pro had a frame with hinges attached to it instead of them sensibly being attached to a backplate, so they constantly broke like paperclips.
Apple experience and quality.
-2008
When the graphics chips were dying on all the Apple computers. Apple was forced to help by a class action lawsuit. How that worked? They put an Apple diagnostic disc into your computer to decide whether they may or may not help you, based on whether the test passes. Of course, it can't work if you don't have a fucking functional graphics chip.
Apple experience and quality.
-2009
"Unibody" 15" MacBook Pro. Except it was made out of 2 pieces stuck together with adhesive. Not only that, it was so well designed with such build quality, the fan exhausting the heat these MacTurd Pros built up, was positioned to exhaust into the adhesive directly. End result: Computers falling apart everywhere.
Apple experience and quality.
-2010
A1286 model with the 2850 board, which was failing because the sensors would keep the fans at 1000 RPM when FinalCut Pro was rendering and running a video for 20 minutes straight.
Apple experience and quality.
-2011
820-2915 board comes out. Throttling the CPU out of the box with no dust, at 70 fahrenheit room temp. A $2000 machine, throttling and functioning worse than a shitty $300 Acer at that time.
Apple experience and quality.
-~2010
iPhone 4 comes out. $600 phone that you could not hold in your hand without dropping a call. Apple is not at fault, it's your fault for not holding the phone correctly on your fucking face!!!
Apple experience and quality.
>your Apple computer is stolen
Apple service policy: Doesn't allow them to give the phone number of the owner to the FUCKING POLICE, when the computer is found, has the Find My Mac software and info, and is reported stolen!
Apple users: The wife that gets beaten daily by the husband, calls it "love".