Bonum Certa Men Certa

Not So Keen on KIN2K (Vista Phone 7) and Why Windows Will No Longer Matter in a Mobile Future

Online everywhere
Smaller, better, faster, stronger



Summary: Amid progression and transition into a future of mobile devices Windows is unable to keep up and GNU/Linux increasingly matters on the client side; the future of Windows on "the desktop" is doubted as well

WINDOWS Phone 7, aka Vista Phone 7 (it will perform poorly like Vista and the "7" in it is just Seven-washing), is going to fail just like many Windows Mobile predecessors. We have already summarised many indications that, in spite of half a billion dollars to be spent on marketing, Vista Phone 7 will be hardly more successful than KIN [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. It just doesn't have what it takes to compete against Linux and hypePhone, for reasons that are easy to see (number of applications, cost, brand awareness, and functionality). The Linux-based Android, for example, is quickly moving up the hierarchy of scale, from phones to tablets and sometimes to full sub-notebooks and notebooks (Chrome OS).



“Sadly for Microsoft, the world is going light and mobile right now, sometimes Web-based too (sending workloads to the server side).”Vista Phone 7 is being mocked around the Web for being buggy and disappointing (see these two new screenshots [1, 2]). Notice the target market of Vista Phone 7 advertisements, as well. They target kids. That's exactly what they did with KIN and we already know how that strategy went.

Sadly for Microsoft, the world is going light and mobile right now, sometimes Web-based too (sending workloads to the server side). Microsoft's only truly profitable business is stuck on the desktop with a "fat" operating system and "fat" office suite for income. These monopolies cannot be easily transformed and ported to the mobile world. Microsoft spends so much money on Vista Phone 7 advertisements because it cannot afford to give up on this market. If everything carries on the way it already does, then Microsoft may have to split the company and spin off the mobile/Web efforts as separate because they lose too much money and might be worth selling away like Razorfish, if a buyer is found at all (more details in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]).

Wayne wonders about "Windows As An Orphan Product" -- basically a situation where access to Windows support is no longer available because of growing debt in the parent company (Microsoft has just approved debt of up to $16 billion).

So in effect, no one really cares if Microsoft goes bankrupt. Oh, Group 5 will hold onto Windows for as long as they can. Group 5 users can be generalized as the lowest common denominator in Information Technology. They know nothing, and they don’t want to know anything. Many of them seem to think that Microsoft invented the GUI (it was invented by Xerox), and for that matter that Microsoft invented the operating system. The Rednecks of the computer world, they’ll happily put up with virii, bad drivers, spam, just as long as they can hold onto their wonderful Windows for as long as possible. They are also the least honest. Everyone else was either willing to pay for their OS, or willing to search for a free one. Windows Desktop users would rather hunt for a crack, so that they can keep using their drug.


A migration from Windows to desktop GNU/Linux is very trivial these days. This good new post mirrors my personal experience, having recently migrated some people from Windows XP to GNU/Linux (PCLinuxOS).

Today at the dinner table my oldest, Paige, blurts out that she cannot use Windows. Not sure I was hearing her correctly I asked her what she said/meant. She indicated that her friend down the street had a computer with Windows 7 and that she, nor her friend, could figure out how to get songs off the web (legally) or off my daughter’s media player (sansa fuze) and onto her friend’s system and media player (not sure what she has).

[...]

What does this say to me? Windows 7 obviously was not made for her. Even more, I throw this in the face to all those who say Linux is not for the masses. Bull crap. It’s not that Linux is difficult, it is that it is more often than not different.


One possible corollary is that children should be introduced to GNU/Linux at a young age. This is something which Microsoft and Bill Gates will not permit as they turn schools into their private indoctrination facilities, which just happen to be funded by taxpayers for Microsoft's own benefit. Later this week we will publish a long post on the subject.

Recent Techrights' Posts

SLAPP Censorship - Part 161 Out of 200: Low Standards in Defamation Cases Just Muddy the Waters and Distract From Legitimate Cases
The judge at the trial said that Garrett's case was a waste of the court's money
Congrats to Linux.org for Adopting or Getting Back to IRC
This is the way the Net ought to work and was originally designed to work [...] IRC as a protocol turns 38 this month
 
GNU/Linux Did Not Start in 1991 and America Wasn't Discovered by Europeans
it'll be 43 next month
Rolling Out Some Changes Soon
To the regular reader no change will be seen
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 24, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 24, 2026
Gemini Links 25/08/2026: Separated by Plexiglass, Low-Tech Information Networks, Jörg Rippel Comes to Geminispace
Links for the day
The Tragedy of Software Developers Making Up Narratives and Making Excuses for Plagiarism (of Their Own Work, Too)
one lingering issue is that many who vote in Debian GRs receive money from slop companies
Evri Makes Us Optimistic About the Collapse of the Slop Pyramid Scheme (Bubble)
Do not be seduced by false promises of "automation" or "intelligence" where only automation may exist but no intelligence at all
Links 24/08/2026: "Journalism Can Help Expose Bad Science And Trigger Real-World Change"; Further Suppression and Censorship in China/HK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/08/2026: Soul Mentality, Words to Live by, Mozz.us Gemlog Resumes, Smol Conversations
Links for the day
Today The Register MS Published Greenwashing Spam for the Slop Pyramid Scheme, It Mentions "AI" 29 Times
More people need to talk about the role of the media in this pyramid scheme
Slop Plagiarism and Chatbots Are Killing Evri (They Infuriate and Insult Clients)
Slop destroys companies and leads to misery (miserable clients, time-wasting)
Links 24/08/2026: Re-defining the IndieWeb and "Data Center Backlash Bursts Into the Midterms"
Links for the day
The Issue With Omarchy is the Slop, the Politics Are a Side Issue
Those corporations do not oppose slop, they participate in it
In South Korea, Steady Increases for GNU/Linux
authorities said they would migrate to GNU/Linux or consider moving in that direction
SLAPP Censorship - Part 160 Out of 200: In Astounding Repetition of Last Year, Brett Wilson LLP Deliberately Ignores Holidays of People It is Attacking and Crushes Principles of Access to Justice
Disconnected from the law
Links 24/08/2026: Vision and Skill, Doing Good, Chiperia Project
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 23, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, August 23, 2026
Gemini Links 23/08/2026: Turning 60, PineTime, and Simulation Hypothesis
Links for the day
Will Your "Modern" New Car Still be on the Road in 2060?
Are people now expected to change a car as often as they replace a mobile phone and, if so, how fast would costs add up?
The Sniff Test
Be sceptical of "CoCs"
Cloudflare Sees a Quarter of Requests in China Coming From GNU/Linux Today
Will 23% ever be the average for GNU/Linux rather than a mere peak?
You Can Lose Some Battles and Still Win the War
Winning or losing isn't something for a scoreboard
GNU/Linux Usage Measured at 23% in Russia Today
the average was almost 10%
Things Not to Fear Missing Out on
Life is too short to pay attention to social control media
Gemini Links 23/08/2026: Exercising Again, Tackling Phone Addiction, and Putting Graal Online Back Online
Links for the day
Northern Africa: GNU/Linux Measured at Around 5%
by Clownflare
PIPs and Lawsuits: On the Future of IBM Trying to Spit Out Its Own Staff at Minimal Cost
"I'd rather be laid off than be put on a PIP"
France: GNU/Linux Averaging at 7%, Peaked at 14% Today
When will 14% be the average?
Links 23/08/2026: Water Crises, Illegal Tariffs, and Carney Confronts US Over Patent Imperialism
Links for the day
Links 23/08/2026: Slop "Children's Stories Contain Bizarre Patterns" and "Butterflies at the One Garden"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 159 Out of 200: Telling Courts False Information and Spoon-feeding Them Insults, Hoping or Expecting Them to Repeat These Insults
When lawyers trick courts into repeating something false
Microsoft is in Double Trouble in Singapore
Android+GNU/Linux+ChromeOS are near 20%
The Slop Industry Bribed the Media to Pretend It Has Something New and Revolutionary. Now It Bribes Politicians Too. Anything to Avoid Scrutiny and Regulation.
borrowed money has long been used to bribe the media
"AGI" is Decades Old and It Never Found a Viable Business Model or Real, Actually Useful Use Cases
I keep reminding people of local firms (right here in Manchester) doing the same thing the media now calls "AGI"...
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 22, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, August 22, 2026
Microsoft to Its Workers in April-May: You're Too Old, Go Away. Microsoft in August: Young People, Go Away.
What does this company even sell anymore?
Clownflare Data US-Centric
We are assuming that for national security reasons not many sites in Chinese (or based in China) outsource their traffic to Clownflare
Gemini Links 22/08/2026: Broken Car, Devuan, and Thundermail
Links for the day