This is the excuse Linux evangelists always give. But guess what? It doesn't hold water. Look at Apple. No, they don't have a massive desktop market share, but they have a significant and influential corner of that market precisely because they produced an OS that many people felt was superior to Windows. And they were able to convert users to their platform despite it only being available on their hardware, which required paying a hefty premium over Microsoft's OEMs. The simple fact of the matter is that more people would be using Linux if it were good enough. They aren't because it isn't.
I've used and owned all of them. They are all worse than the Apple TV. The difference between you and me is that I am not obviously and childishly biased against Apple.
Lmao. It's leagues above any of those devices. Chromecast is garbage, it doesn't even belong in this comparison. It does nothing. Roku is comically outdated. Tivo is a completely different product. "Android TV" is being discontinued.
"It's been 25 years. I can do this for another 25. I'll wear them down." He'll wear them down? That kind of attitude is why they've failed thus far. You don't need to wear anyone down, you simply need to make a better desktop. I'm sure I will now be inundated with replies saying various Linux distros/window managers are, in fact, better than Windows and OS X. Guess what? Millions (billions?) of users disagree. And the prevalence of the idea that Linux is somehow Good Enough, despite all evidence to the contrary, is precisely why I have little faith it will ever get there.
It's a 20-year-old laptop being used to service a 20-year-old car. I don't find this very strange. It's not like any current McLarens still require the same laptop.
I think the appeal of VR is extremely limited. How often do you see people riding a bus or a train while playing a game on their phone, or to a lesser extent, on a portable console? Those same people aren't going to strap a contraption on their face and be ignorant to the outside world just to play a game. It reminds me of 3D. Everyone just decided it was going to be The Next Thing, but they never stopped to consider what value it provided, or if the benefits outweighed the costs. And it crashed and burned.
I agree with you that the future of VR will be phone-based. And I think the future of high-end VR, like Vive and Rift, will be via a phone app that integrates with a high-end gaming PC. But I think it will have about the same market impact as high-end gaming PCs. Definitely a sustainable market, definitely large and influential, but nowhere near an "everyman" thing.
Yeah, and it's nowhere close to as popular as Windows. It's not even relevant in that discussion. And again: stop being naive. I don't care that OP wants ssh, I don't care that there are others who want ssh; no one ever said otherwise. What I take issue with is the childish and obviously false assertion that ssh is the kind of feature Windows needs to be successful. That's utter nonsense, and you know it. 99% of the desktop OS market does not care about ssh in the slightest. Most users don't even know it's a thing that exists. Get over yourself. People like and OP are why Linux is guaranteed to never overcome Windows' popularity. You are wasting a great thing.
They definitely do exist; many Linux evangelists like to pretend otherwise and dismiss them as astroturfers. But even if they didn't...so what? It's hard to measure desktop OS market share, but most of the estimates I've read indicate Windows is at 90% and all Linux distros combined make up 2%. What value is there in having a "fan base" when your install base is so tiny?
There are a quite a lot of people who have tried Ubuntu, and other Linux flavors, and simply think it's worse than Windows. And there are many others who have no desire to try Linux because they've never had any problems with Windows. Don't pretend they don't exist just because it serves your point of view. You're gonna sit here and tell me you think Windows has more driver issues than Linux? Simply preposterous. Linux distros have plenty of advantages over Windows, you shouldn't need to lie.
That's fair, but I don't think people like you exist in large enough numbers to support the platform. As an aside, is Microsoft actually trying to sell Lumias? I assumed they were waiting to release a Surface Phone and put all their effort behind that.
(ssh out of the box would be awesome, both command prompt and a way to easily connect to sftp servers which only Windows fails at nowadays)
This is what YOU want. This is not what the market wants. Don't be so naive that you fail to understand the difference between the two. Anyone who tells me Windows needs to take cues from Ubuntu in order to develop a "desirable" OS is awfully close to being too far gone. Last time I checked, Ubuntu wasn't desired in great numbers.
Have you considered that it's possible to think Windows Phone is amazing in some regards while also not owning one? I used the Lumia 900 for a few months before they announced I couldn't upgrade it to WP8, then went back to Android, but I loved the UI. It was a natural extension of the Zune UI, which I also loved, and the thing was just a pleasure use. The interface is even better now, but the platform has NO APPS. It's functionally useless because of that.
I have an iPhone now, I like a lot of things about Android too, and I wish Windows Phone had enough apps to make it a viable third option. I think the market would be a lot better for it. You don't have to be a paid shill to hold that opinion.
I worked in college admissions for a little over a year; I also graduated from the same school. Our admissions standards rose considerably from where they were when I applied (in 2006) to the most recent class of applicants. So the bar for admission, at least at some schools (we were a large state school) is rising.
The market at the moment is basically the iPhone vs. a collection oversized, outdated, poorly-skinned Android phones. For all the "choice" there is supposed to be on the Android side of things, I can't think of one single phone that doesn't require you to compromise in some way. So no, it's not too late. It's absolutely possible for one (or two, or three) manufacturers to release a platform that features phones of consistent quality. The problem is lies solely in getting app developers onboard.
This is great news. It's frustrating to look at the lineup of Android handsets and see all the different ways the various OEMs have taken a good platform and ruined it. It's even more frustrating when you find the magical Phone That Doesn't Suck and ask yourself if/when it's going to get OS updates. Android is a mess and Google needs to take back some control.
And I share their worry, because I don't believe Microsoft's store can be as good as Steam (especially wrt the sales), but nothing Microsoft is doing is inherently bad. It's competition, plain and simple. If Steam can't exist alongside the Windows Store then it's quite simply not good enough. And I'm saying that as a person who loves Steam (and thinks Gabe is overreacting like a god damn child and should just focus on making a good product).
Have you actually tried using Windows 8? It's still very easy to navigate the new UI with a keyboard and mouse. They've adapted a lot of old hotkeys/shortcuts to Metro and added a few new ones. After about 15 minutes I felt nearly as productive as I normally am in Windows 7.
Actually, that doesn't make any sense at all. We're talking about sharing something with a specific person; why would I post it on my wall and then tag them in it? Why not just put it on THEIR wall because I want THEM to see it? The "Facebook way" is the better way, obviously. Google+ will accept that eventually, much like how a lot of their features were originally different from Facebook for no reason other than to be not Facebook.
This thing has a Vista-rushed-to-market feel about it.
Thanks for being explicitly clear about what you mean. People are continually comparing Windows 8 to Vista in completely insane ways, but this is one example I can agree with. It feels like Microsoft are rushing a lot of what they do these days. I mean, shit, I owned a Zune, I currently own a Windows Phone, and I love both. I think Metro is a great UI and has huge potential on tablets (I tried the beta on my desktop, and while it's surprisingly decent with a mouse/keyboard, I'm still not optimistic). But they really need to make sure it gets the appropriate level of polish before they put it out to market.
I'll just sum it up this way: they can't expect to deal with the tablet or desktop market the same way they've dealt with the Windows Phone 7 to 8 transition and expect to have any level of success.
I'm starting to think I should just not have an account anywhere. That's hyperbole, of course, but there's a new hack every week and I don't have a good enough memory to use completely unique passwords for every account.
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This is the excuse Linux evangelists always give. But guess what? It doesn't hold water. Look at Apple. No, they don't have a massive desktop market share, but they have a significant and influential corner of that market precisely because they produced an OS that many people felt was superior to Windows. And they were able to convert users to their platform despite it only being available on their hardware, which required paying a hefty premium over Microsoft's OEMs. The simple fact of the matter is that more people would be using Linux if it were good enough. They aren't because it isn't.
I've used and owned all of them. They are all worse than the Apple TV. The difference between you and me is that I am not obviously and childishly biased against Apple.
Lmao. It's leagues above any of those devices. Chromecast is garbage, it doesn't even belong in this comparison. It does nothing. Roku is comically outdated. Tivo is a completely different product. "Android TV" is being discontinued.
"It's been 25 years. I can do this for another 25. I'll wear them down." He'll wear them down? That kind of attitude is why they've failed thus far. You don't need to wear anyone down, you simply need to make a better desktop. I'm sure I will now be inundated with replies saying various Linux distros/window managers are, in fact, better than Windows and OS X. Guess what? Millions (billions?) of users disagree. And the prevalence of the idea that Linux is somehow Good Enough, despite all evidence to the contrary, is precisely why I have little faith it will ever get there.
Apple TV is far superior to any other streaming box on the market. It's really not even close.
It's a 20-year-old laptop being used to service a 20-year-old car. I don't find this very strange. It's not like any current McLarens still require the same laptop.
I think the appeal of VR is extremely limited. How often do you see people riding a bus or a train while playing a game on their phone, or to a lesser extent, on a portable console? Those same people aren't going to strap a contraption on their face and be ignorant to the outside world just to play a game. It reminds me of 3D. Everyone just decided it was going to be The Next Thing, but they never stopped to consider what value it provided, or if the benefits outweighed the costs. And it crashed and burned. I agree with you that the future of VR will be phone-based. And I think the future of high-end VR, like Vive and Rift, will be via a phone app that integrates with a high-end gaming PC. But I think it will have about the same market impact as high-end gaming PCs. Definitely a sustainable market, definitely large and influential, but nowhere near an "everyman" thing.
Yeah, and it's nowhere close to as popular as Windows. It's not even relevant in that discussion. And again: stop being naive. I don't care that OP wants ssh, I don't care that there are others who want ssh; no one ever said otherwise. What I take issue with is the childish and obviously false assertion that ssh is the kind of feature Windows needs to be successful. That's utter nonsense, and you know it. 99% of the desktop OS market does not care about ssh in the slightest. Most users don't even know it's a thing that exists. Get over yourself. People like and OP are why Linux is guaranteed to never overcome Windows' popularity. You are wasting a great thing.
They definitely do exist; many Linux evangelists like to pretend otherwise and dismiss them as astroturfers. But even if they didn't...so what? It's hard to measure desktop OS market share, but most of the estimates I've read indicate Windows is at 90% and all Linux distros combined make up 2%. What value is there in having a "fan base" when your install base is so tiny?
There are a quite a lot of people who have tried Ubuntu, and other Linux flavors, and simply think it's worse than Windows. And there are many others who have no desire to try Linux because they've never had any problems with Windows. Don't pretend they don't exist just because it serves your point of view. You're gonna sit here and tell me you think Windows has more driver issues than Linux? Simply preposterous. Linux distros have plenty of advantages over Windows, you shouldn't need to lie.
That's fair, but I don't think people like you exist in large enough numbers to support the platform. As an aside, is Microsoft actually trying to sell Lumias? I assumed they were waiting to release a Surface Phone and put all their effort behind that.
Utterly meaningless. Windows' install base utterly dwarfs Ubuntu, and there's no indication of that ever changing.
(ssh out of the box would be awesome, both command prompt and a way to easily connect to sftp servers which only Windows fails at nowadays)
This is what YOU want. This is not what the market wants. Don't be so naive that you fail to understand the difference between the two. Anyone who tells me Windows needs to take cues from Ubuntu in order to develop a "desirable" OS is awfully close to being too far gone. Last time I checked, Ubuntu wasn't desired in great numbers.
Have you considered that it's possible to think Windows Phone is amazing in some regards while also not owning one? I used the Lumia 900 for a few months before they announced I couldn't upgrade it to WP8, then went back to Android, but I loved the UI. It was a natural extension of the Zune UI, which I also loved, and the thing was just a pleasure use. The interface is even better now, but the platform has NO APPS. It's functionally useless because of that. I have an iPhone now, I like a lot of things about Android too, and I wish Windows Phone had enough apps to make it a viable third option. I think the market would be a lot better for it. You don't have to be a paid shill to hold that opinion.
I worked in college admissions for a little over a year; I also graduated from the same school. Our admissions standards rose considerably from where they were when I applied (in 2006) to the most recent class of applicants. So the bar for admission, at least at some schools (we were a large state school) is rising.
Seriously, just use the desktop. It's basically the same. Win+Q pulls up a search box. That's basically all you need to know.
The market at the moment is basically the iPhone vs. a collection oversized, outdated, poorly-skinned Android phones. For all the "choice" there is supposed to be on the Android side of things, I can't think of one single phone that doesn't require you to compromise in some way. So no, it's not too late. It's absolutely possible for one (or two, or three) manufacturers to release a platform that features phones of consistent quality. The problem is lies solely in getting app developers onboard.
This is great news. It's frustrating to look at the lineup of Android handsets and see all the different ways the various OEMs have taken a good platform and ruined it. It's even more frustrating when you find the magical Phone That Doesn't Suck and ask yourself if/when it's going to get OS updates. Android is a mess and Google needs to take back some control.
And I share their worry, because I don't believe Microsoft's store can be as good as Steam (especially wrt the sales), but nothing Microsoft is doing is inherently bad. It's competition, plain and simple. If Steam can't exist alongside the Windows Store then it's quite simply not good enough. And I'm saying that as a person who loves Steam (and thinks Gabe is overreacting like a god damn child and should just focus on making a good product).
I must have some weird Chinese knock-off version of Windows 8, it seems to run Steam exactly as well as Windows 7.
Have you actually tried using Windows 8? It's still very easy to navigate the new UI with a keyboard and mouse. They've adapted a lot of old hotkeys/shortcuts to Metro and added a few new ones. After about 15 minutes I felt nearly as productive as I normally am in Windows 7.
The wall is for things you want to share AND for things people want to share with you. That shouldn't be a complicated concept to grasp.
Actually, that doesn't make any sense at all. We're talking about sharing something with a specific person; why would I post it on my wall and then tag them in it? Why not just put it on THEIR wall because I want THEM to see it? The "Facebook way" is the better way, obviously. Google+ will accept that eventually, much like how a lot of their features were originally different from Facebook for no reason other than to be not Facebook.
This thing has a Vista-rushed-to-market feel about it.
Thanks for being explicitly clear about what you mean. People are continually comparing Windows 8 to Vista in completely insane ways, but this is one example I can agree with. It feels like Microsoft are rushing a lot of what they do these days. I mean, shit, I owned a Zune, I currently own a Windows Phone, and I love both. I think Metro is a great UI and has huge potential on tablets (I tried the beta on my desktop, and while it's surprisingly decent with a mouse/keyboard, I'm still not optimistic). But they really need to make sure it gets the appropriate level of polish before they put it out to market. I'll just sum it up this way: they can't expect to deal with the tablet or desktop market the same way they've dealt with the Windows Phone 7 to 8 transition and expect to have any level of success.
I'm starting to think I should just not have an account anywhere. That's hyperbole, of course, but there's a new hack every week and I don't have a good enough memory to use completely unique passwords for every account.