Summary: GNU/Linux is still destroying Microsoft by eliminating its profit margins
MICROSOFT has been killing many products recently. In the past 9 months alone, Microsoft put to end to almost 20 (maybe more, but it is difficult to keep count). We estimated that Microsoft kills, on average, about 2 products per month. So indeed, it's time for another death knell. This one used to be a rumour. It is about Popfly, which is GNU/Linux hostile [1, 2] (also mentioned very briefly in [1, 2]).
Fortunately, given the anti-competitive nature of Popfly, this product is now
officially dead.
Microsoft is shutting down its Popfly mashup tool, company officials are confirming.
Microsoft may have no choice but to shut down many more services and products. Based on
this new report from the Wall Street Journal, we might see a recurrence of
last quarter's results with Microsoft profits falling another 30% or more (in reality it
may be a lot worse), to a great degree due to GNU/Linux which eroded Microsoft's margins (
dumping and
kickbacks take their toll).
Microsoft Seen Posting Sharp Profit Decline For Fiscal 4Q
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is expected to post declines in profit and sales for its fiscal fourth-quarter next Thursday, as the software giant contends with flagging sales of personal computers bundled with its technology.
Microsoft will surely try to blame the economy, but
Google and IBM have both just reported a rise in profit (both companies use GNU/Linux); Red Hat
did too not so long ago and it is
part of a trend.
Our reader
Goblin wrote about
the meaning of Microsoft's expected sharp decline in profit.
It is being reported that Microsoft’s figures for Q4 that are due to be posted next Thursday are expected to be down, again.
One key reason for this is GNU/Linux, as it was confirmed by the press before (Microsoft has underperformed for a long time, but it bought back shares).
Ars Technica wrote :
"Client software felt the slump in PC sales, and was further harmed by the shift to netbooks; many of these run Linux, which helps Microsoft not at all." CRN wrote:
"Microsoft, like much of the IT industry, was caught off-guard by the rapid rise of the netbook category, but moved quickly to offer a netbook-specific version of XP Home to stem the tide of Linux on netbooks. When one considers that getting some revenue is better than getting none, that was a wise move."
Another reader of ours reminds people that ARM-based sub-notebooks are going to cause another major headache to Microsoft because
Vista 7 won't run on them. Our reader writes:
We'll see if AlwaysInnovating.com can ship this month as claimed.
I've wanted a solid-state ARM-based netbook since around 2001. ARM-based tablets have been around since Zaurus and in 2007 started to kick ass with OpenMoko and the Nokia N810. The software has started to catch up. Now netbook-oriented distros are being ported to ARM and industry has planned six to ten ARM-based netbooks for 2009.
It looks like the first one is about ready.
If it gets 10 hours of battery, even die hard Bill fans will find a way to upgrade to Linux even if only on the netbook.
As noted last week, ARM-based sub-notebooks
are expected to grab 55 percent of this market. This can't be good for Microsoft.
⬆
"Microsoft, the world’s most valuable company, declared a profit of $4.5 billion in 1998; when the cost of options awarded that year, plus the change in the value of outstanding options, is deducted, the firm made a loss of $18 billion, according to Smithers."
--The Economist, 1999
Comments
David Gerard
2009-07-19 13:28:12
Roy Schestowitz
2009-07-19 14:03:34
Nice spin.
Roy Schestowitz
2009-07-19 14:06:54
So Microsoft told them that it's a blow to ARM, but they didn't even confirm this with ARM.
This is just bad reporting. ARM was happy with Linux all along.
Andrew Macabe
2009-07-19 14:24:27
EU_AntiTrust_Conviction v2.0
Jonathan Wong
2009-07-19 14:44:24
However, I'm guessing that the engineering effort to adopt an x86-based OS like Windows to support ARM may be quite substantial.
IMO, this would be a great opportunity for Google Chrome OS, if and when it does come out next year.
David Gerard
2009-07-19 14:53:14
At any given speed of processing, ARM/MIPS will outdo x86. Every x86 these days is essentially a RISC processor with an x86 instruction decoder on the front, but that instruction decoder is still crippling for power and speed compared to purer RISC. Though Atom is doing very well for lower power at usable performance.
Roy Schestowitz
2009-07-19 18:27:13
Andrew Macabe
2009-07-19 11:54:20
Microsoft's dumping of a 8 year old application (XP) masquerading as an OS on the netbook is seen as brilliant by some established bloggers, journalists and analysts, we see that as an act of desperation. OEM strangulation and blackmail by microsoft can be readily seen by how the convicted Redmond monopolist defines what a netbook should be. Shouldn't that be left up to the OEMs decide?
David Gerard
2009-07-19 14:12:43
I live in the cloud. Even at home, my data lives on the household file server. The most inconvenient thing about switching machines is making sure the local install of Gimp has images I was working on.
Mikko
2009-07-19 18:56:11
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9134522/Nvidia_For_smartbooks_Windows_CE_beats_Android_?taxonomyId=162&pageNumber=1&taxonomyName=Processors
Jonathan Wong
2009-07-19 19:21:02
I'm not very familiar with Windows CE, but I'm not convinced that Windows CE in its current state gives users the experience they want from a netbook.
The last CE version (6.x) was released in 2006, and as expected, lacks some the one thing a mobile netbook user likely will need - a modern web browser.
The good thing for the consumers is that they are spoilt for choice, since besides Windows CE there are likely many other OS choices (both now and upcoming) for your ARM-based netbook.
Mikko
2009-07-20 00:07:42
DiamondWakizashi
2009-07-20 00:43:17
http://techblips.dailyradar.com/story/zune_hd_confirmed_to_use_nvidia_tegra/
Nvidia is ridiculous, insulting Linux because of the stupid Zune.
Ijika
2009-07-20 04:19:05
Andrew Macabe
2009-07-20 12:29:41