Post #439,554
8/2/21 3:42:11 AM
8/2/21 3:42:11 AM
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I'm going to get crucified, know it...
But I thought Windows 8 had huge potential. As a touch-screen table OS, I found it a refreshing re-thinking, if somewhat incomplete in implementation.
Unfortunately, one thing it did not have going for it was that it was made by Microsoft - who listens when a lot of their customers tell them they thought it was shit. :-/ Largely because most of them demanded an incremental but noticeable improvement over Windows 7 instead of something new and innovative.
Wade.
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Post #439,555
8/2/21 7:52:02 AM
8/2/21 7:52:02 AM
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Why would you get crucified?
Your review is essentially, "Someone had a bold, new idea. But Microsoft being Microsoft, the committeed it until it was just bad enough that it got enough bad coverage that the old guard was able to kill it."
They're good at basically 3 things:
1) Backwards compatibility
2) Copying successful products that someone else did
3) Lock-in
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Post #439,557
8/2/21 9:15:12 AM
8/2/21 9:15:12 AM
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They're good at a whole lot more than that, of course
Gaming, cloud services, consultancy, security (yes really, look at how they've taken down botnets), etc.
Also the whole "making a metric shitload of money, despite everyone apparently hating their products for nearly half a century" thing.
Windows 8 was bold, and I liked it a lot. But it was such a massive change in a market that is better suited to a more incremental approach. Shit, we all know those older relatives who lost their shit when IE got a slightly different icon. Windows 8 basically caused them to spontaneously combust.
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Post #439,560
8/2/21 10:13:24 AM
8/2/21 10:13:24 AM
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I meant things that they're better at than anyone else
There are lots of companies good at gaming, services, etc.
What they're uniquely good at - what makes them that metric shitload of money - are the three I mentioned. The compatibility and lock-in alone pretty much define the corporate hegemony.
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Post #439,561
8/2/21 10:46:27 AM
8/2/21 10:47:37 AM
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OK
Backwards compatibility - they're definitely good at it, but I'm not sure how much money it makes them. People get Game Pass to play the latest games, and the X360 and OG XB games are just a nice to have. Yeah, Windows runs on some old-ass hardware, but there's shots fired in Windows 11 - TPM2.0 or fuck off, no W11 for YUO! The other products copying thing - you sure? Their big moneyspinner is Windows and services built on Windows, like Azure. And whilst Windows has got roots in VMS, it's not that similar, especially once you step outside the kernel itself. Office is mostly home-grown (and they make an absolute fuckload out of 365, btw) although they did buy PowerPoint. Lock-in - yeah but nah but yeah but nah. I know what you're driving at, but I honestly think you're only as locked-in as you want to be, in 2021. Ten years ago this was an absolute given, but things have moved on. There are whole businesses running on Google Docs now, frinstance. You don't have to guess at what makes MS's money. You can just go look. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2021-Q4/press-release-webcast(Aside: Azure is up 46%. That's only 46%. You know you're in bizarro-world when 46% growth is the lowest it's ever been, and thus a disappointment)
Edited by pwhysall
Aug. 2, 2021, 10:47:37 AM EDT
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Post #439,562
8/2/21 11:17:55 AM
8/2/21 11:17:55 AM
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I'm allowed to be lazy
In my current world my team evaluates cloud-based security products. We're mostly AWS first, Azure second. The only Windows to be seen is VMs, which are mostly hosted on Linux servers.
Desktops are default Windows, but developers can request Mac (and most do). I know that my knowledge about MS' offerings is about a decade out of date, so if we evaluate something on the desktop I'll have to get current. Until that, I'm happy to leave my opinions unexamined.
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Post #439,564
8/4/21 5:34:10 AM
8/4/21 5:34:10 AM
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Because there are people who hate Windows 8.
I'm just not sure how many are in here. :-) I know a few on Twitter.
As Peter pointed out, Windows 8 was wonderfully bold and had a *lot* of potential, if they'd only had the balls to persist for another major version. They could've done a half-fork: done the Windows 10 thing for people who wanted more 7, but also supported an 8 mode for people (like me!) who preferred that.
Wade.
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