* Posts by Richard Plinston

2608 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2009

Windows 8: A soaraway Kinect? Or is it Red Ink Friday for Microsoft?

Richard Plinston

Re: convicted monopolist"

> Do you think browsers would be free if not for MS?

Before IE there were several web browsers available for various systems.

Mosaic was free, and there was a Windows port. """While often described as the first graphical web browser, Mosaic was preceded by WorldWideWeb and the lesser-known Erwise[5] and ViolaWWW.""" these were also free.

Netscape's browser was free for non-commercial use but commercial users were expected to purchase Netscape's web server on which the business was based.

IE was written by Spyglass on the basis that they would be paid $5 for every copy sold. By giving it away for free they avoided giving money to Spyglass, though later court action had MS have to give some anyway.

The basis for free was to drive Netscape to bankruptcy. Netscape had announced that the web could support web based applications that would replace desktop computers. These would run Java and Javascript and would bring back centralised computing. By killing Netscape MS managed to hold back computing for 15 years (1995 - 2010) and the industry is only now realising what Netscape intended.

But, of course, IE is not free at all. It is simply a part of what you pay for when you _buy_ Windows.

Richard Plinston

Re: A *BIG* difference

> Why don't you Linux fanbois go make your own tablet?

Well actually 'Linux fanbois' are making tablets: they call them Android, but underneath they are Linux.

> that no-one else would want to use

Only about a million units a day for Android.

Nokia's imaging chief makes surprise exit

Richard Plinston

Re: Did he really leave

> real comparisons on the internet of the 808 phone against 'premium compacts'

As to be expected with the 808's large 1/1.2 41Mpx sensor, the processing down to 5Mpx can use information from 7 px to better eliminate noise.

"""shooting at full resolution (38 megapixels) yielded noisier results and softening of detail, especially at high ISOs. """

The 920 camera owes nothing but the name to the 808's. It does have an F2.0 lens but on a small sensor with no oversampling being done.

Mint Linux gifts Unity haters with 'Nadia' ... plus her Mate

Richard Plinston

Re: Kubuntu also

>> Unlike say Windows or Mac you have a choice.

> .. because you need one? One of the principal issues with Linux is exactly choice. ... end users see that as a problem because they don't know what to choose and on what parameters.

So you are saying that the world would be a better place is _all_ computers were the same with, say, Windows 95, and all cars were Ford Pintos. I read a book like that once, it had a number as its name.

> Although I like Mint (Xfce)

Mint defaults to MATE which is Gnome 2 fork.

> but they made it somehow possible to switch between the various desktops

Almost *ALL* distros can have any of the several desktops. apt-get install xfce* kde* ... and then in the next login you can choose whichever you want.

It happens that XBuntu has the default of XFCE, KBuntu has KDE etc, but you can load these from the repository and switch to your preference.

You can't do that easily with Windows 8 because Microsoft wants to remove that choice.

Microsoft dragging its feet on Linux Secure Boot fix

Richard Plinston

> So what's to stop the various linux "manufacturers" ... negotiating with the OEMs

Contracts with Microsoft.

If OEMs want to keep their discounts then they do exactly what MS tells them.

Retailers report slow Windows 8 sales, low demand

Richard Plinston

Re: A single change...

Windows 8 isn't "change for the sake of change", it has a deliberate and specific purpose.

Sales of desktop machines are decreasing. Partly this is due to saturation, but it is also because there is little need to replace or even upgrade a machine bought in the last few years, they have been 'good enough' for a decade. This is especially true when desktop functions are being done on iPads, Android tablets or phones. The next growth area is smartTVs for internet access, beyond that will be pocket devices (phones) that connect to TVs to make these into desktop PC replacements.

Microsoft has no presence in the new markets having made phones but seen their market share decrease and tablets (slates) that never sold well. Consultants have told them that the reason is that the WP7 UI is 'unfamiliar'. They think that they can fix that. Force TIFKAM onto every desktop and soon _everyone_ (or at least 400 million) will be familiar with it and will _demand_ it on their phones and tablets.

They haven't considered any other outcome. It is so essential to future growth, or indeed survival, that making it optional is not an option.

What happens if the user goes into the phone shop, sees WP8, and says "that's the UI I hate on my desktop" ?

Design guru: Windows 8 is 'a monster' and 'a tortured soul'

Richard Plinston

Re: What's new?

> the WWW would look like it did in 1995.

Interesting that you bring up 1995. That was the year when Microsoft tried to change the WWW into being the original MSN, or actually to avoid the WWW and replace it with MSN for Windows 95 users only, which MS expected to be 98% of computer users. (The later use of 'MSN' was for something else entirely).

Then in 1998 MS tried to bring in 'Active Desktop' and 'Channels' but they made the mistake of allowing it to be turned off.

They have not made that mistake with Windows 8. Tiles are the new 'Active Desktop'. Services will be able to be locked to MS (with advertising).

Bah humbug! Google cancels Christmas

Richard Plinston
Trollface

It's Microsoft's fault !!!

When Windows 95 was running late and still had not been released it was alleged that Bill Gates had said: "Windows 95 will be released before Christmas, but we may have to delay December for a couple of months".

It seemed that the same would happen with Windows 8 so obviously Google catered for this to save Microsoft embarrassment.

Liberator: the untold story of the first British laptop part 3

Richard Plinston

Re: Fascinating article

> I don't believe IBM actually invented the PC.

The first reference that I have to the use of 'Personal Computer' is a 1978 Byte ad for the Apple II. It may well have been used before that.

> Back then there were multiple competing systems - all incompatible

The weren't _all_ incompatible. No more so than today where iPad, Android, BB, PS3, Wii, etc are *all* incompatible. Androids, for example, may be all different but are all compatible. Since 1975 many desktop systems were 8080, 8085 or Z80 computers of various forms running CP/M or MP/M (1978) or compatible systems such as CDOS or TurboDOS and were thus compatible - at least with each other. Even an Apple II could add a Z80 Softcard and run CP/M and software such as Wordstar.

> IBM .. they weren't capable of designing/building a "low cost" desktop product

IBM had been building small computers since 1975. There was the Series 1 desktop system which competed with similar machines from DEC and DG. The 5100 portable (luggable) with a 5inch screen was released in 1975. This was followed by the 5110 and 5120 desktop machines. Then there was the System/23 Intel 8085 based desktop machine.

When IBM saw Apple IIs getting installed in their mainframe sites as personal computers running BASIC, Visicalc and CP/M software with a Z80 card they wanted to counter this with a CP/M machine that was slightly better. They modified the System/23 planar (mother board) to take a Z80 and then again for the 8088. They got MS to supply BASIC and asked DRI for CP/M-86 but MS talked them into taking QDOS which was owned by SCP at the time.

The 5150 IBM PC Model A planar was laid out the same as the System/23 from which it derived. The Model B (which I have here) has a reworked planar with the slots closer together and capable of running more than the 256Kb which was the limit of System/23 (bank switched) and Model A.

> IBM bought the company, stuck an IBM badge on the computer

Not true at all.

Android and Apple OS shares show mountain MS must climb

Richard Plinston

Re: Ironically

> Though now you mention it - the recent article claimed that developers did pick market share as the number one reason to develop for a platform (and presumably then picked iphone first due to a delusion on which was actually most popular).

Yes, that was the one you misread and continue to show your misunderstanding of it.

The developers said that what was important was "_A_ large userbase" which you misread as 'the largest userbase'. Android has _a_ large userbase. Apple has _a_ large userbase.

I am afraid that it is only _your_ delusion about what was said.

Richard Plinston

> filter out the Asha sales, just to make Nokia look worse than they are.

I suspect it is Nokia, or Microsoft via Elop, that is 'filtering out' Asha. They call it a featurephone so that it doesn't make WP sales look worse than they are.

> note the sales figures are *higher* than iphone in its first few quarters

Microsoft had WinCE PC Phones, WM phones, WP7 phones and now WP8. It is somewhat past the 'first few quarters'. WP7 itself is over two years old.

Richard Plinston

Re: Ironically

> From what I hear, you'll be getting all of the features that the older hardware supports, just like is done on Apple. It's just that MS are being honest and clear by calling it "7.8" instead of "8",

Then you heard wrong - you probably believed a RICHTO post. The only thing actually announced for 7.8 is some minor start page UI cosmetic issues, such as extra colours and additional sizes for tiles, to have it match TIFKAM.

> It's unfair that Apple has always been catered for first, when it's never been the number one platform

You misread an article on how developers decide which platform to develop for and then complain about this based on your misunderstanding.

New Microsoft Windows chief 'shocked' by Sinofsky defenestration

Richard Plinston

Re: And so it begins

> who can hardly be regarded as a family of pure German ancestry.

Wilhelm II was, for example, a grandson of Queen Victoria.

Mobile phone sales slump bites Nokia

Richard Plinston

Re: Wow... so Samsung then

> So it's Samsung phone owners who are the sheep, buying the same phone as everyone else.

Surely that would be: buying the same _12_different_ Samsung phones as everyone else ! Oh wait ...

Microsoft rolls out always-on Skype for Windows Phone 8

Richard Plinston

Always on - for ads

With MS notmetro apps showing advertising then perhaps Skype will be always on for advertising - even if you set 'not available'.

Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 handset review

Richard Plinston

> will have something like 500 milion target devices in a year or two.

How well did your prediction that Nokia would sell 30 million WP7 phones this year work out ? There were rumours that they had to dump 1million because distributors cancelled orders when MS killed the platform by announcing no upgrades.

Richard Plinston

Re: I don't know of any

Try this one.

http://phandroid.com/2011/09/29/panasonic-lumix-phone-101p-digital-camera-meets-android/

What I don't understand is why Panasonic with its LUMIX trademark hasn't sued Nokia over their steal this with LUMIA. How close does it need to be ?

Fujitsu guru: Win 8 will triumph. And we'll have brain plugs in 2027

Richard Plinston

" in the long term, he said, "backwards compatibility is just not sustainable"

Translation: MS will keep changing network protocols and Office formats until XP and Win7 no longer work.

Business as usual for MS.

iPad Mini's quite a handful

Richard Plinston

@Tom 38

> Hardcore gamers prefer keyboard and mouse

_OLD_ gamers prefer keyboard and mouse

I take it that the 38 is your age, or less.

Microsoft building its own Phone hardware: Not 'If', but 'When'

Richard Plinston

Re: Android Fanbois

> it already looks a thousand times better than android and ios

Exactly, that is why it has such a high market share, if it didn't look so much better then the market share would be much less.

> but Open Source is NOT always the best by the way

Exactly, if it was always the best then Android would have a much higher market share than the miserable 75% that it has.

> the xbox360 was about the most popular gaming system on the market and MSFT makes Billions of Dollars

2012Q1 """Microsoft's entertainment and devices division has not been too lucrative lately, with figures revealing a loss of $229 million in the three months ending March 31. As this console generation begins to wrap up, news arrives of Xbox 360 sales falling by nearly 50%."""

2012Q2 """one thing that stood out was a $263 million loss in the Entertainment and Devices division."""

Acer is the latest maker to delay plans for a Windows RT fondletop

Richard Plinston

Re: I think

> the amount of bloatware, software trials, tool bars and other useless cruft

The article is talking about Windows RT, there is _no_ bloatware, software trials, tool bars or other cruft, useless or not, because there is no software for it*.

* beyond some converted phone apps - and Windows RT is not a phone.

Asus: we ship a million Google's Nexus 7s monthly

Richard Plinston

Re: I've got two 7's and no fruit

> santa will be bringing them ...

That you continue to believe in Santa, or at least, continue to keep your children believing in Santa, tells me everything that I need to know about you.

Richard Plinston

> Remember Apple also quote figures SOLD not SHIPPED - everyone else seems to quote SHIPPED.

A manufacturing company _sells_ products to distributors. It may also sell directly by having its own shops or via the internet. If it sends a container load to K-Mart then those have been sold to that company. The only other mechanism is 'on consignment' where the distributor holds stock and is only invoiced for those no longer in stock (ie have been sold to an end user).

Regardless of 'sold' or 'shipped' these still do not reflect them being in the hands of the end-user.

Fans' loyalty questioned as iPhone popularity plummets

Richard Plinston

Re: Not a fan

. 1) Most users are locked into a 2 year contract."... for which they paid peanuts for the phone,

They may have paid a 'peanuts' deposit but they paid large for the phone. It was just paid for monthly instead of upfront.

Surface RT: Freedom luvin' app-huggers beware

Richard Plinston

Re: A Step Up from Chromebook?

> (neither of which will stay closed over the screen on their own per my test and confirmed by the MS "attendant" - Fail!).

That, apparently, is 'by design'. An MS apologist claimed that the keyboard is 'easy to open' (ie it won't stay closed) so that the device is more like a book and gives the user the impression that it is always ready to use.

Sounds like post hoc rationalization to me.

Richard Plinston

@RICHTO

> TIFKAM is perfect for morons / the IT illiterate ...

How many did you say you were getting ?

Richard Plinston

Re: thinking ahead

> It has a 1.2 MP camera. Which when cropped

It is cropped to 0.9Mpx

> still gives you full native 720P video capability.

720P is _not_ 'full' HD.

Richard Plinston

> It is a full version of Office included.

No. That is wrong, as usual for your posts.

It is Home and Student edition which is not 'full Office' as it lacks some programs. It is also only licenced for 'non-commercial' usage and business users will need to buy another licence.

It is Office RT which has less features and is missing:

"""

* Macros, add-ins, and features that rely on ActiveX controls or 3rd party code such as the PowerPoint Slide Library ActiveX control and Flash Video Playback

* Certain legacy features such as playing older media formats in PowerPoint (upgrade to modern formats and they will play) and editing equations written in Equation Editor 3.0, which was used in older versions of Office (viewing works fine)

* Certain email sending features, since Windows RT does not support Outlook or other desktop mail applications

* Creating a Data Model in Excel 2013 RT

* Recording narrations in PowerPoint 2013 RT

* Searching embedded audio/video files, recording audio/video notes, and importing from an attached scanner with OneNote 2013 RT

"""

Richard Plinston

Re: thinking ahead

The camera image is apparently fixed at 16:9 which wastes space for documents. You would proboably want to photo in portrait which would give an odd sideways tilt. The camera is only 1Mpixel and the 16:9 crop make image 0.9Mpx which is rather low for readability.

In other words: fail.

Richard Plinston

Re: Software costs?

> What is stopping Libre Office going to Windows store?

It is likely that Microsoft will be that. It has already said that other browsers need not bother to apply.

> Anyone actually know if its being ported yet?

It is being ported to Android.

There was a version of OpenOffice that would run on Nokia's N900 tablet which was ARM based, but Maemo was GTK based so it didn't need to rewrite the UI for that.

Ballmer bets 'all in' on Phone 8 and Windows

Richard Plinston

Re: And this, my friends....

> Ooh! Ooh! Is it linux-on-the-desktop year again?

Do try and keep up, desktops are dying so it was replaced by 'Linux-on-the-mobile' a couple of years ago, and yes, it is.

In a couple of years time we will be wondering again when will it be 'windows-on-the-mobile' year. But it won't be.

Richard Plinston

Re: squee1701

> 3. Open bag three: Retrieve external USB hard-drive where my movies, music, images, etc... are stored.

> 5. Bit of luck and I'm productive.

You seem to be confused: watching movies is not 'productive', listening to music is not 'productive', looking at pictures is not 'productive'.

Windows RT still haunted by the ghost of Microsoft's 2001 tablet fiasco

Richard Plinston

> I think it will do pretty well, especially in business.

Surface RT has several problems for businesses. While it has Office RT (a cut down version), they would have to pay extra for a licence to use it for commercial purposes. The only software available is that in Microsoft's app store and no existing Windows apps, such as bespoke or inhouse applications would ever run. While businesses could completely rewrite all their inhouse stuff (and hope that software houses would redevelop) they could do this for Android or iPad or redeveleop for web-based systems that would run on anything. If they wanted to side-load their own apps they would have to get a special server to run their own repository.

It may also be that they had WM6.x phones and were screwed when MS dumped that and replaced it with the less business friendly WP7, which was also dumped on. Most businesses have probably gone to iPhone or Android and will stick with those for tablets.

Richard Plinston

Re: Was the iPad haunted by the Newton? No, so why Surface should be haunted by tablets PCs?

The main problem with the Newton was that it was expensive. On a casual cost/benefit evaluation it failed to be useful enough. While the iPad was still not cheap it benefited from the previous experience of the iPod and iPhone. This meant that when the iPad arrived there were millions of users that were familiar with its UI and there were plenty of apps and developers.

The precursors of Surface were slate and tablet PC which were both too expensive and compromised far too much by OS and software unsuited to touch or stylus input. Basically the software required mouse and keyboard and the extra cost of a slate was a complete waste except in specific usage areas.

But the failure of slate can be ignored because the real precursor of Surface is WP7. This arrived by killing off WP6.5 stone dead and thus was a completely different product with no developers and no apps and a completely new UI. It failed to gain traction and was killed stone dead by announcement that there would be no upgrade to WP8.

Now with Surface RT it can't run the software that failed to work on slate, or indeed anything useful from desktop Windows (except a cut down Office). It can run (converted) WP7 apps, except those that need phone, SMS, GPS, compass, or just about everything else that makes a phone useful. Camera and photo apps will also be a waste of time because the web cams on Surface RT are rated by reviewers as 'useless'.

Surface Pro, however, will be haunted by tablets PCs as users try to run their existing Windows desktop software. Surface Pro will also be more expensive than the RT versions and will also be haunted by the higher cost (compared to a laptop) that prevented slate and tablet PCs being used as laptops with extra features.

I also suspect that new Windows 8 machines and Surface will be haunted by "that was the UI that I didn't want on my phone when I bought an Android".

Richard Plinston

Not a laptop

> Surface laptop-cum-tablets

It may have a foldout out keyboard but Surface is not a laptop. It may be possible to balance it on one's lap briefly but it won't be usable there. The screen will be fixed at an angle too upright. The weight balance is wrong. The keyboard junction is floppy. The edge is too sharp and will become uncomfortable. Any attempt at swiping the screen will result in disaster.

Also it is unlikely to be usable on an aircraft table, mainly because the screen would need to be more vertical than the stand, or balance, would allow and the keyboard will not provide support.

Actual reviews (rather than puffery items) support this view.

Windows 8 unleashed! Midnight launch for world+dog

Richard Plinston

Re: Another day another dollar

> Sunspider Java test is over twice as fast on Windows RT on Surface as on the iPad 3!

We need to add reading problems to your list of inadequacies. No review claims _over_ twice as fast.

"""That's nearly twice as fast as the latest iPad and nearly as quick as our record holder, the iPhone 5"""

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/23/microsoft-surface-rt-review/

"""The Surface notched a solid 347 on the Peacekeeper browser benchmark, which is just slightly lower than the iPad's mark of 376 but better than the Vivo Tab RT's 338. However, it took just 1,037 milliseconds to complete the Sunspider JavaScript test, far quicker than Safari's time of 1,696 on the iPad."""

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/tablets/microsoft-surface-rt.aspx

Windows 8: An awful lot of change for a single release

Richard Plinston

Re: Support for extended memory

> Certainly MS's decision to only support Intel XMS offered a market niche for DR-DOS, but not one that allowed Windows 3 to run on non-Intel hardware.

I am not sure what you are trying to say but it seems to be complete nonsense. I ran Windows 3.x on SiS and VIA chipsets in all its modes. I ran Windows 3.1 in an emulated environment on multiuser systems (DR-Multiuser-DOS) and on OS/2. It did not require Intel hardware.

Richard Plinston

Re: Digital Research?

> Well the main selling point of Windows NT was that it ran all Windows 3.x and 9x Software (as well as OS/2 and Posix, at least initially).

It certainly did not run _all_ 3.x and 9x software. Most of it maybe. In particular many Windows 9x games did not run until XP.

The OS/2 personality was text mode only. No presentation manager. What they called 'POSIX' was not.

Richard Plinston

Re: Support for extended memory

>. allowed users to break through the 640KB DOS barrier.

MS-DOS did not have a '640Kb barrier'. Several machines, eg S100 based, could run MS-DOS with 1Mbyte of RAM. It was the IBM PC design that put the video RAM at 640Kb that imposed the limit. non-IBM-PC did not have that limit.

> Specifically, MS supported only Intel 386 extended memory

MS-DOS 5 had HIMEM.SYS for 80286 systems, granted it was a couple of years after others had done it.

> cutting all other extended memory managers, based on non-Intel chipsets, out of the market.

It certainly didn't 'cut out' DR-DOS's EMS and XMS managers which were significantly better that MS-DOS's. It may have killed others but that is just the risk that company's take when they enhance MS products. If it works then MS will take the business from you.

Richard Plinston

Re: Where do you think you are going today?

> Well all UAC did was frustrate the bejeezus out of people

No. It did have a very useful function for Microsoft: it changed the blame.

Before UAC the blame for security problems was Microsoft's. Users were often forced to run insecurely. The UAC changed that, if the user agreed then it was his fault.

Richard Plinston

> Cutler didn't write NT from scratch. Much of NTs core code was os/2 lanserver 2.1 - when IBM and microsoft went thier own ways they each got a copy of the (mainly IBM coded) base code which they could develop from.

That is complete nonsense.

Cutler did not write NT from scratch, that is true, but it was not based on anything that was OS/2 (except the project was for a short time named OS/2 NT), it was based on his previous work at DEC for a VMS replacement. In fact DEC threatened to sue MS over this and they settled.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/content1/topic/windows-nt-and-vms-the-rest-of-the-story/catpath/windows-2000

> (mainly IBM coded) base code

The base OS code of OS/2 was written by Microsoft, the very early builds of which were referred to, and displayed, 'MS-DOS 5' (not to be confused with the much later MS-DOS 5. IBM wrote Presentation Manager at Hursley lab.

> NT is os/2 with microsoft extentions and a new gui.

NT is _NOT_ OS/2 - except the project was briefly named that and it did have an OS/2 text mode 'personality'. NT 3.1 did not have 'a new GUI' it had the Windows 3.1 GUI which is why it was numbered as that. NT 4 did get a new GUI.

Richard Plinston

Re: Pre-95 & NT Windows weren't OSes!

> managing the filesystem... Windows 3.1 did all of these

No, you are wrong. From Windows 1 through 3.11 the filesystem was controlled via the underlying MS-DOS (or DR-DOS). Windows 95 changed this by using VFAT which was part of Win95. Though the underlying MS-DOS still resided under Win95 it was only used for very minor functions dictated by compatibility issues.

Windows 8: Is Microsoft's new OS too odd to handle?

Richard Plinston

Re: The solution is simple

> When Windows 98 came out, everybody hated it.

There were a couple of things that I 'hated' about 98. The first was that installing IE was not optional even though it was a separate install. On the first reboot after installing 98 it went to IE install with the Cancel button deactivated. The second thing was 'Active Desktop'. I did not want any 'channels' and hardly ever see the desktop anyway, it is covered by what I really want to do. Fortunately that could be turned off.

Windows 8 recombines those things that I hated, not-Metro tries to be active desktop but without the option.

Windows RT OEMs unveil pricing for Surface wannabes

Richard Plinston

Re: Can we scotch this notion of a $50-65 RT license?

> so why would it charge OEMs more for a Windows RT license than it charges for a Windows 7 license,

It is actually alleged to be $70-90

Because Windows RT includes Office RT*. You are comparing it to OEM W7 and need to compare it to OEM W7 + OEM Office Home and Student.

* licence is for non-commercial use and businesses need to purchase a full licence.

Windows 8: Microsoft will declare victory, but will anyone believe it?

Richard Plinston

Re: Turning its back on system builders?

> If MS succeeds in what it is trying to do I see a lot of small system builders going out of business and the big companies relegated to selling printers and hosted services,

If MS succeeds in the 'devices and services' market by taking significant amounts of revenue from the OEMs and retailers, as they seem to want to do, then the OEMs and retailers will turn to selling something else, such as 'Dell Linux' or 'Android + Ubuntu' phone/transformer combo, or ChromeBooks. Maybe even WebOS or Playbooks.

I just LOVE Server 2012, but count me out on Windows 8 for now

Richard Plinston

Re: Totally agree…

> When I would boot to Desktop in previous versions of Windows, the first thing I would do is click on something (usually Email, Web Browser or Word/Excel).

That does seem strange to me, but then I have machines here that haven't been booted since the last power outage over a year ago. Email, browser, and everything else that I use it exactly where I left it. I so seldom see what is referred to as the OS or desktop that I find it irrelevant.

But then I don't use Windows.

Richard Plinston

Re: @Sir Wiggum: appliances

> Forcing the extremely tablet configured Metro on the desktop won't stem the switch to tablet or phones

Not-Metro is not intended to stem the tide of switching to tablets and phones, it is intended to change that tide to switching to Surface and WP8.

An analyst (pronounce that any way you feel is appropriate) told them that the reason for WP7 failure is unfamiliarity with the UI. MS are trying to fix that by making it "the most familiar UI" on 400 million machines within 12 months.

Salesforce CEO Benioff: Win 8 is 'the end of Windows'

Richard Plinston

Re: For someone who lives in a big city

> Linux will probably continue to be ~ <5% of the userbase ... Windows ... unless something like Android for PC kicks it out.

Android _IS_ Linux. Linux is the kernel of the OS for both Android and the distros of GNU/Linux (and of lots of embedded devices and TVs).

> The hardware OEMs will make sure to that.

I am sure that the hardware OEMs would like to sell many different things, particularly ones that make a profit. Unfortunately they have contracts with Microsoft that prevent them doing that while still retaining their 'loyalty discounts'. Retailers are also driven by profitability. When they sell a PC with Windows they can also sell many profitable add ons with software such as Office, anti-virus, games and such. In the past they could also rely on repeat business as the Windows machines choked up and became slower until the user decided it needed replacement with a new one (after only 2 or 3 years - though reinstalling would probably make it usable again).

Now machines with XP or 7 are powerful enough and Windows is reliable enough that replacement is no longer required. SmartTVs, smartphones and iPads are resulting in less usage of the desktop, plus spending money on those reduces the budget available to buy a replacement, or additional, PC.

With Microsoft taking the business away from OEMs and retailers with the app store, Surface and MS stores, there may be less incentive for the OEMs and retailers to stick with a Windows only policy. They may turn to Android, ChromeOS, FirefoxOS, or WebOS to make up for revenue lost to MS, or just lost due to reduction in PC sales.

Richard Plinston

> IBM's Thomas J. Watson is credited with having predicted a "world market for maybe five computers".

That was, of course, based on their current, at that time, price point, installation costs and running costs.

Windows 8 'bad' analyst says Store is a weakness

Richard Plinston

> you pronounced it "vapourware".

"""Definition of vapourware

noun

[mass noun] Computing, informal

software or hardware that has been advertised but is not yet available to buy, either because it is only a concept or because it is still being written or designed."""

In what way was WOA, Windows RT and Surface _not_ vapourware ?

But actually this just shows you have no humour because one of the announced features of Surface is that the case has "VaporMg" coating, so it is truly vaporware.

> declared that it would hopelessly overheat.

> you irritably posted how it wouldn't be waterproof.

I never mind being criticized for what I _actually_ say, but you are just making up stuff. I have not used the word 'hopelessly' in any of my posts. 'Irritably' is probably how you felt, and perhaps you merely misspelled 'irritatingly'. The Surface Pro is ceratinly not waterproof, so what point are you trying to make ?

> You're always making damning predictions like this.

Based on the history of Microsoft. Read up on the AARD code, on how they made Win32s fail on OS/2, on the jingle "The job ain't done/ 'til Lotus won't run". See the current Novell Microsoft case and the COMES documents.

But mainly: grow a sense of humour.