12.14.11
Divergence From Microsoft Front Groups
Summary: Kaspersky is one of the latest members of the BSA to leave and IDC dares not to shower Windows with the usual paid-for compliments
LAST year we saw the BSA losing some key members after it had gotten worse than terrible. Techrights made it into some mainstream news sites for breaking this story at the time.
The BSA recently fronted and promoted SOPA, which led to yet more of an exodus. Can the BSA become defunct like other Microsoft front groups, let’s say within a decade? We shall wait and see. What we already find in the news is that FUD spreader Al Gillen and his colleagues lose blind faith in Windows as IDC expresses concerns about Vista 8. How times have changed… █
Michael said,
December 14, 2011 at 11:00 am
Nobody has faith in “Vista 8″ given how it does not exist.
Please *try* to learn a little about the products you obsess over.
mcinsand said,
December 14, 2011 at 12:46 pm
If we look back over the course of the decades, MS’ losers are becoming more frequent and progressively worse. As bad as the problems were with DOS 4.0, they weren’t nearly as bad as with Windows ME, which was a fantastic product introduction in comparison with Vista. Win-7 is just a ho-hum bugfix, nothing more than a Vista servicepack. So, MS is under the gun with Windows 8… Vista8 looks to be a dead-on prediction. Modern operating systems are increasing in complexity every year, and, when everything is glommed together in a megalithic architecture the way Windows is, then security and reliability have no chance. In otherwords, they can either go for the ho-hum or go for the dramatic; they are stuck between a (self-created) rock and a (self-created) hard place. To play it safe will leave openings for actual competition, especially if there is any chance for Android to gain more attention. Then, with the DOJ now showing signs of waking up, their tried and true market suppression (threatening with bogus patents, BSA, bought ‘study’ propaganda), the only tool they have left, is at risk. With Win7, MS has proven that they do not have the technical chops for anything significantly new, so what kind of idiot would expect anything of Win8?
Actually, this puts not only MS at risk, but Apple, as well. They need each other, and they need to keep the markets suppressed to avoid that nasty competition thing. Android is proving what a truly innovative product can do, and the public might actually find that they no longer have to choose between an operating system with broad hardware support (Win) versus reliable hardware support, broad hardware choices versus effectively no hardware choice, a wide range of interface choices versus no interface choices. The two have always been nasty and underhanded, and I do disagree with a comment that you recently made that said something about Apple having become sleazy (not the exact word, but the way it came across). They sell overpriced, underpowered, and ‘shiny’ to an inelastic market slice, but the articles do what they do reliably; you’re okay as long as you do not value freedom or choice. Then, Windows has tackled the commodity market and done well. Again, the two function together. For those well-heeled that are fed up with Windows’ issues, they can always go to Apple, and Apple benefits from the people that MS drives away. The people that leave give up broad software and hardware choices, but that is the tradeoff.
What will happen, though, when enough of the buying public will realize that they do not have to choose between having cake and eating cake? MS doesn’t give the option of having both, and neither does Apple. The patent wars will get as nasty as our government lets them get, and the shills are going to be more vocal and out in force. However, they are outgunned, and the Linux community infrastructure is not one that they can shut down. MS tried through SCOX, and that didn’t work out.
It’s tough to be patient, but the outcome is well assured. When MS is too sleazy for even the BSA, then I doubt that the members leaving will even consider Apple. Anyway, when even their morals start to give qualms, then MS is losing.
Michael Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
Do you think this opinion is what lead Roy to make his mistake in thinking there is a Vista 8?
To whom?
Android is not really competing in the same space as a desktop OS – though Win 8 seems to be stretching its reach.
What? Really… what are you even talking about?
Sure… it makes a good comparison to iOS which is a truly innovative product. You stated that in a rather round-about way.
Apple products cost about the same as the competition, earn higher user satisfaction ratings, and offer a different choice… they do not remove any.