Windows vista!!!

[JoeXIII'007]

Originally Posted by scitobor 617

OS X on PCs and Windows XP.

Yeah, its going to happen, and that's when I'll make the 'switch.' I'm pretty sure of it because Apple did announce about a month ago that they were going to say good-bye to IBM's processors (G#, PowerPC) and go to Intel X86 or something of that nature. Its going to be SWEEEEEET! (That is, if they really do allow it. )

[Mike]

Microsoft is declining, they made the same mistakes Hitler and Napolean did. Microsoft originally started out purely as an OS company, then they went into office tools with Microsoft Office, then PDAs with Microsoft Mobile, then news with MSNBC, then search with the MSN search that will supposedly beat Google. They are fighting on too many fronts, just as Napolean did. Their biggest loss has been against Google, they simply cannot defeat an enemy that large. They've resorted to suing Google (Microsoft sues Google and Google countersues). Hitler, as well as Napolean tried to take on the superpower USSR. They both failed miserably, as will Microsoft.

My history knowledge isn't nearly as good as my computer knowledge, so correct me if something is wrong.

[BrianBSL]

Originally Posted by scitobor 617

I agree and your post reminds me of something else.... OS X on PCs and Windows XP. I believe that Vista will have a very hard time selling to the general public. For once M$ has very stiff competition which it created. I believe that Windows XP is stable enough that everyday PC users are not looking forward to their next Windows upgrade they way that most people longened for something better than Win95/98/Me. Not only will Vista have to compete with the stablity of XP it will have to compete against Apple's OS X. I believe that Apple will be releasing cheaper PC versions of their current Mac lineup faster than M$ could dream of releasing Vista(I'm counting on more delays on M$'s part).

As far as I am concerned Vista is a poor copy of what is already avaliable on Linux and OS X. Further more, I see the release of Vista as the beginning of Microsoft's decline. Their paranoia of Linux(which is a great OS but will not be taking over the world any time soon) shows that they could be anticipating their decline.

I know this was a rather pesamistic post however I believe that the next few years in the PC market could become very interesting for Microsoft.

Where do you see anything that says that Apple will be releasing OSX to run on any PC? Yes, they are switching to Intel hardware, but as of right now, it will only run on Apple's hardware. Apple makes a lot more off of hardware then they do off selling OSX. The developer copies that have been out there will not run on any standard PC without modification, and even then theres a lack of driver support for PC hardware running on. I have no problem with OSX as an operating system - I own a powerbook that runs it, but as of right now, when it launches for Intel (still months to the first ones, and a year or two until it is completely Intel), it will be for Apple computers. You won't be able to buy a Dell or a Lenovo (IBM) with OSX pre-installed, and it isn't likely you will be able to go buy it off the shelf either.

Microsoft doesn't make its big money off people buying Windows XP at CompUSA and BestBuy - they make it from OEM's who bundle it with their PC's (although the revenue per unit is higher on retail copies, OEM's buy thousands of copies, don't require anything other than the sticker and sometimes a CD, and require no low level support (they handle it themselves)). Although the Corporate market usually sticks with the previous OS for a year or so, OEM's often switch to the new OS as soon as it is out. As soon as Vista comes out, all the big OEM's will be pushing it on all of their home PC's. For the corporate market, they will have to offer XP for a while (although many in the corporate market purchase their own Microsoft select licenses and use their own vlk, and could care less what OEM license it comes with), just as they did with Windows 2000.

[BrianBSL]

Originally Posted by Mike

Microsoft is declining, they made the same mistakes Hitler and Napolean did. Microsoft originally started out purely as an OS company, then they went into office tools with Microsoft Office, then PDAs with Microsoft Mobile, then news with MSNBC, then search with the MSN search that will supposedly beat Google. They are fighting on too many fronts, just as Napolean did. Their biggest loss has been against Google, they simply cannot defeat an enemy that large. They've resorted to suing Google (Microsoft sues Google and Google countersues). Hitler, as well as Napolean tried to take on the superpower USSR. They both failed miserably, as will Microsoft.

My history knowledge isn't nearly as good as my computer knowledge, so correct me if something is wrong.

Declining? They actually posted 8% higher profits then last year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4704927.stm

Office is an excellent product which can be replaced at home with Open Office, Star Office, etc, but it not in the Corp. world - try to convince someone to switch to pop3 or imap email with Thunderbird instead of the collaboration features of Outlook paired with Exchange.

Windows Mobile is getting e-mail push in October with Exchange 2003 SP2 and Windows Mobile 5.0, which should give Microsoft a huge chunk of the Blackberry market if they can get the hardware providers to produce good quality devices. An upgrade to Exchange SP2 for free or a $30000 Blackberry enterprise server isn't much of a tough choice.

I'm not a huge Microsoft fan, but you guys are counting them out way too early.

[Timothy D. Ginn]

Originally Posted by BrianBSL

Declining? They actually posted 8% higher profits then last year. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4704927.stm

Profits aren't the only measure, and probably aren't the best measure of success for a software company. Aside from that "Dow component Microsoft posted a 37 percent gain in net earnings, but a large part of that came in a tax benefit, and analysts worried that the company's operating earnings weren't seeing stronger growth. Microsoft lost 76 cents to $25.68." (source Yahoo! News)With recent news, despite both Microsoft and Google having profits their stocks actually went down (which seems kind of odd).

Most recent months have seen Microsoft IIS use declining in comparison to Apache (according to Netcraft).

Adoption of .NET isn't as stellar as hopes for it had been (including within Microsoft -- MS Anti-Spyware built on MS Abandonware).

Linux is catching on especially in cost-sensitive areas like the developing nations and with governments (source: Computer World among others).

There's always: Apple making big inroads in business with OS X.

Oh, and Firefox is causing the market share of IE to slip; IE also wasn't even included in the latest version of Mac OS X.

MS really doesn't have anything that can compete with the "mind share" generated by Apple's iPod, or the good word of mouth PR that things like Google Moon generate.

I wouldn't count MS out by any means at this point; but they're certainly nowhere near their height so, by that standard, I'd say they are declining.

[Mike]

Fresh from Slashdot

I assume it'll also be available on Vista, but now Microsoft is gonna lose even more in the browser wars.

[Nate Smith]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It is still a year away from being available to the public though, so don't get too excited yet.

I'll be able to get my hands on the beta 1 released sometime in the next couple of weeks(we have an MSDN membership @ work), so I'll throw a few screenshots and my commentary up here like I did back when I got my hands on WinXP RC1

[Kyle Fenton]

Originally Posted by BrianBSL

Where do you see anything that says that Apple will be releasing OSX to run on any PC? Yes, they are switching to Intel hardware, but as of right now, it will only run on Apple's hardware. Apple makes a lot more off of hardware then they do off selling OSX. The developer copies that have been out there will not run on any standard PC without modification, and even then theres a lack of driver support for PC hardware running on. I have no problem with OSX as an operating system - I own a powerbook that runs it, but as of right now, when it launches for Intel (still months to the first ones, and a year or two until it is completely Intel), it will be for Apple computers. You won't be able to buy a Dell or a Lenovo (IBM) with OSX pre-installed, and it isn't likely you will be able to go buy it off the shelf either.

Microsoft doesn't make its big money off people buying Windows XP at CompUSA and BestBuy - they make it from OEM's who bundle it with their PC's (although the revenue per unit is higher on retail copies, OEM's buy thousands of copies, don't require anything other than the sticker and sometimes a CD, and require no low level support (they handle it themselves)). Although the Corporate market usually sticks with the previous OS for a year or so, OEM's often switch to the new OS as soon as it is out. As soon as Vista comes out, all the big OEM's will be pushing it on all of their home PC's. For the corporate market, they will have to offer XP for a while (although many in the corporate market purchase their own Microsoft select licenses and use their own vlk, and could care less what OEM license it comes with), just as they did with Windows 2000.

Yes you are correct Mac OS X will never be available for anything else but an Apple computer. Apple likes to keep control of their hardware and software. It makes their support a lot easier to control. One thing they might do is license their computers to a PC company (like the HP iPod), but I don't see that happening in near future.

I have seen screenshots and movies of Longhorn, and to tell you the truth I am not that impressed with it. Granted I have not personally tested it, but it just seems like Windows XP with a new UI. All of its features have been either reduced or eliminated (ex. WinFS, Alvilion).
One feature that will be big in Vista will be "trusted computing" which is the highly controversial Palladium that was introduced about 5 years ago. I am curious to see if it does prevent virus and other types of security risk, or it will just be another annoyance for consumers.
Another thing I am curious is how the minimum specs for Vista will affect its sales. I remember an article a while back that talked about Longhorns minimum specifications. They were very high, and called for something like a dual core processor, 200gb of hard disk, and a video card that is 3X more powerful then what is available today. That will render almost any computer bought today obsolete by the time it comes.

It will be an exciting time to see what the computer industry produces in the next year. Around the same time that Vista appears, it will compete with Leopard (OS X 10.5), which its features hasn’t even been announced yet. Linux is also expected to make good inroad to the PC market.

[alphastryk]

Originally Posted by BrianBSL

Office is an excellent product which can be replaced at home with Open Office, Star Office, etc, but it not in the Corp. world - try to convince someone to switch to pop3 or imap email with Thunderbird instead of the collaboration features of Outlook paired with Exchange.

just btw, here @ my work (Georgia Tech Reasearch Institute), at least for my dept, we use firefox+thunderbird, so...

yes, Longhorn has been majorly degraded to "vista", but it still will catch on, even if just b/c it will come on home PCs..

[Quatitos]

Vista might need to be renamed again if stuff doesn't go right for Microsoft.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07...emark_dispute/

[BrianBSL]

Originally Posted by Timothy D. Ginn

Adoption of .NET isn't as stellar as hopes for it had been (including within Microsoft -- MS Anti-Spyware built on MS Abandonware).

Microsoft Anti-Spyware wasn't written by microsoft - they bought it from GIANT Anti-Spyware (same product) and now give it away for free. Its the same situation when they bought hotmail and it originally ran on Unix servers.

Originally Posted by Timothy D. Ginn

Oh, and Firefox is causing the market share of IE to slip; IE also wasn't even included in the latest version of Mac OS X.

Because once Safari came out, Microsoft stopped devloping IE for OSX. Firefox has very little to do with the Mac market, because Safari is so closely related to Mozilla's stuff. Tho, I actually have more problems with Safari than I do with IE, so I use Firefox on both.

Originally Posted by Timothy D. Ginn

I wouldn't count MS out by any means at this point; but they're certainly nowhere near their height so, by that standard, I'd say they are declining.

I guess it depends on your definition of declining...I would argue their products are far better than 5-10 years ago, its just as they have gotten better, so has everyone else (or perhaps the other way around).

Originally Posted by alphastryk

just btw, here @ my work (Georgia Tech Reasearch Institute), at least for my dept, we use firefox+thunderbird, so...

If you've never used shared meetings, resources, tasks, etc, you don't know what you are missing. Probably doubles my productivity in a day to be able to have people send me meeting requests etc and have it all work, voting buttons, integration with Active Directory (if you use MWSS), etc. Theres only a few products that rival it, namely Notes and Kerio Mail (although Kerio relies heavily on having Outlook). I'm not saying its impossible (Outlook + Windows Server + Exchange + CAL's is major money so there are people who don't use it), but for those who have used it there's no switching back.

Just my $.02.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by BrianBSL

Firefox has very little to do with the Mac market, because Safari is so closely related to Mozilla's stuff.

Reason being is because Firefox, Safari, Konqueror and a couple other browsers are all based on the Gecko rendering engine.

[Kyle Fenton]

Originally Posted by Mike

Reason being is because Firefox, Safari, Konqueror and a couple other browsers are all based on the Gecko rendering engine.

Safari is based on Webkit, which kind of the sucessor of KHTML