Hans-Christian Andersen
hans.andersen at phulse.com
Mon Jun 11 23:41:55 CDT 2012
The only problem with your forecast is that Microsoft is playing long term and anything can happen in the next 5 years, so their strategy can fail easily. Things change very quickly these days. Perhaps users are scared of Linux now and Apple may be a bit more costly than businesses are willing to pay for, but I am certain somebody is going to see a gap in the market and come out with a product. Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot. Monopolies never last. Imagine if Google released their own Linux distro (and I don't mean chrome os)? Just their brand recognition would be enough to cause a shift, but this is an assumption. What's more likely is that people will start ditching desktops and laptops in favour of devices like tablets and Microsoft is in serious trouble if that happens, because they will have no credibility if they are willing to upset their users like this. Windows 8 is the mark of an end of an era, where MS was a complete monopoly. We are now going back to a world with different fiefdoms and a bit of uncertainty. - Hans On 2012-06-11, at 7:00 PM, "Jim Lawrence" <accessd at shaw.ca> wrote: > My thoughts on why Windows 8. > > Everyone or at least most are saying the Microsoft is killing themselves but > not really. They are just trying to resolve a number of problems and W8 is > the ticket. For years they have provided a cheap OS on every PC but have > reaped little in benefits (no as much as they would like) and now is the > chance to turn things around. They are going for the long pass. > > 1. Their new system will not support other browsers than IE. No more > challengers. Now they will have complete control of not only IE development > but all other products running through their system. Bing will be the > default search engine of course and MS will have undivided sales revenues. > > 2. Google would be not be gone of course but it dominance on the MS > platforms will be dramatically reduced. One enemy slowed. > > 3. Backward compatibility is always been an expensive issue and takes lots > of additional programming to support with no apparent reaping of benefits. > W8 clients, if they want application will have to buy new MS > applications...more profit. > > 4. All application that will go on the system will have to be vetted through > Microsoft. Rest assured applications that are competing with MS applications > will have a hard time finding a good place and they will have to adhere to > very strict MS policies. More chances that clients will just purchase or > lease through the cloud, MS products. > > 5. Far less chances for viruses as Microsoft will control all internet > access and that's good for business. > > 6. Another thorn in their side has been the Open Source community and with a > combination of the new extended BIOS and careful vigilance their impact can > be slowed and maybe even halted. This will mean stopping defectors and that > mean more sales of MS products. > > 7. Being able to easily detect and eliminate any installed products suspect > of a patent violation or writes infringements now can be easily detected and > crippled. Of course if you anti-up those issues can be solved. > > 8. By limiting the number of developers on their new platforms a greater > profit can be made from those and by those adding extra features. Much like > Oracle who only provide support to their certified techs...certification > that costs a fair dollar. > > 9. Of course any applications will be able to run on the system but only > when installed in a virtual PC interface. Then the new applications will not > perform as well as they are not running in native mode. Such abominations as > VirtulBox will have to find another home of course. > > 10. Goodbye VB and any direct support of it. Time for all programmers to > learn .Net products and pay for the development tools instead getting them > for free. > > There are probably many other good business reasons for Microsoft to move to > W8 but these are high-lights. > > Will MS loss many customers? Yes and no. Most customers will have to just > languish using Windows 7 as slowly over a few years, like XP it will be > phased out. By then the fear of W8 will be over and they will have little > choice but to migrate as all new PCs will come with W8 on them. (I am sure > there will be some great migration tools available by then and they will be > very reasonabily priced) In the meantime, all users that have moved will > have paid a handsome amount in purchasing and supporting new MS > software....not all at once but slowly and steadily. Most of the riffraff > developer will have gone, Google, FF etc revenue streams will be > dramatically down and the Open Source world will have to find other OSs on > which to run their evil products. > > Will there be a mass movement to such systems like Apple or Linux or even > some new Android platform? Not likely, as few businesses have the resources > to go Apple, there are too few Apple techs to do any major migrations or > have the skills needed to attach to backend servers, most users are totally > freaked with Linux distros and no other Operating systems are there yet to > challenge. > > In summary, Microsoft has placed a bold new plan in place which allow them > to regain virtually absolute control of the market and they might just as > likely succeed. Their profits may be dramatically down but in the next five > years they may again rival those of Apple. > > Resistance is futile. > > Jim > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com