12.11.10

Gemini version available ♊︎

Microsoft Windows Weakness on Desktops and Phones

Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Patents, Vista 7, Vista 8, Windows at 4:18 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

It’s vapourware time

Steam

Summary: Microsoft talks about Vista 8 [sic] and mobile patents rather than existing products, which simply don’t sell so well

A FEW days ago we showed that Vista 7 adoption was actually quite poor, but Microsoft dishonestly reported false figures. The post “Cost-ineffective “7″ Deployment” helps explain why the operating system just doesn’t make sense for a business, based on economic terms:

That looks like -$1250 and you get nothing for the expenditure… How is that cost-effective? Any possible benefit is just a wash, about the same as the last system that you are chucking while still viable. One could go to Debian GNU/Linux and be free of most of these costs. Really. If you can get all your machines to boot PXE, you can slap GNU/Linux onto hard drives in 20 minutes or so and you are done. One re-boot and the system is working, free of malware and not slowing down until there is a hardware or network failure. If the machines are really old, you will be better off using LTSP, a package in many distros these days, to boot them and users run applications and sessions on a powerful new machine that can please dozens at once.

Microsoft understands that Vista 7 adoption will be slow and businesses see no reason to use it. Some might even move to another operating system. In order to “freeze the market” — as Microsoft's Nathan Myhrvold once put it — they are dropping a name as a form of vapourware. They say that the mythical Vista 8 will have an interface called “Wind” but provide no proof:

As of now, all of these are mere rumors as there is no way to confirm any of them. So take them with a pinch of salt.

According to previous leaks from Microsoft, we are two years away from knowing if any of these are true.

Based on this confidential Microsoft document [PDF], Microsoft uses vapourware (speaking about future versions or products that don’t yet exist) only when the competition is too much to bear. In the mobile arena, for example, Linux/Android beats Windows very easily and “Microsoft Doesn’t Expect Windows Phone 7 Sales To Catch Up To iOS or Android Any Time Soon,” says this one headline. Glyn Moody links to this other article where Microsoft continues to avoid answering the question about number of sales. Microsoft carries on collecting more patents because Vista Phony 7 [sic] seems as though it’s not much better than the “KIN”, just better advertised. Microsoft explained that it would use patents to monetise mobile phones and what it means by patents is racketeering [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] (demands without disclosure, backed by threats). In the coming years Microsoft will be more of a leech owing to the broken patent law. It’s already happening.

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Reddit
  • email

Decor ᶃ Gemini Space

Below is a Web proxy. We recommend getting a Gemini client/browser.

Black/white/grey bullet button This post is also available in Gemini over at this address (requires a Gemini client/browser to open).

Decor ✐ Cross-references

Black/white/grey bullet button Pages that cross-reference this one, if any exist, are listed below or will be listed below over time.

Decor ▢ Respond and Discuss

Black/white/grey bullet button If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

6 Comments

  1. Agent_Smith said,

    December 11, 2010 at 5:23 am

    Gravatar

    2 things here: people wants the softwares, not the OS from M$. Then, one thing I’m working in my job is to make Virtual Box run the softwares folks need. So, one can run the programs and lock M$ out.
    The other thing is, whatever this “wind”(could be called Vapour interface, for that matter) is, and my hunch it is something like the Kinect controlling the computer, Linux already robbed the thunder from it. If M$ says you can control your computer with gestures in the air, with Winblow$ 8, Ubuntu and Linux already do it now. So, when Winblow$ 8 launches, Linux will have at least a 2 year head start.

  2. twitter said,

    December 11, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Gravatar

    Ah, Microsoft vaporware. Remember the 2007 “Minwin”? Longhorn? Cairo?

    It must be that Vista 7 is starting to outlive Vista 7 hype. By now, everyone realizes that Windows 7 does not run on cell phones or netbooks, eats battery life on laptops and is just as bloated and insecure as Vista was. They also know that it breaks their working software can causes lots of headaches while delivering a truly underwhelming user experience. If Windows 7 had virtual desktops, people could compare it to older gnu/linux desktops like KDE 3.x or Gnome 1, which it superficially resembles.

  3. Will said,

    December 11, 2010 at 2:21 pm

    Gravatar

    When I saw the new interface announcement, the first thing that came to my mind was that “Wind” would probably end up looking like some cheap ripoff of either Unity or Gnome Shell. Since that’s basically what Windows 7 did with KDE 4.

    Dr. Roy Schestowitz Reply:

    Yes, one of my friends thought so without even having background in GNU/Linux. He saw KDE4 and then Vista 7 [sic].

    twitter Reply:

    These comparisons give too much credit to Windows 7, which is five to ten years behind gnu/linux. They have yet to implement virtual desktops, something that’s been around gnu/linux for more than 13 years. Their use of native transparency and compostiting lagged by at least five years and their menu system is still primitive and inflexible. Finally, their toolset is extremely poor compared to free software which offers dictionaries, graphing calculators, weather applications and many other toys as integrated parts of the system. Windows has always relied on “third parties” for functionality and left it up to OEMs and users to do the work of making the Windows distribution worthwhile.

    Dr. Roy Schestowitz Reply:

    They didn’t feel like they needed to improve if they could keep the market share. It’s just like IE6.

DecorWhat Else is New


  1. Windows Falls to 16% Market Share in India (It was 97% in 2009), Microsoft Layoffs Reach India Too

    This month’s picture from the world’s most populous nation does not look good for Microsoft (it looks good for GNU/Linux); anonymous rumour mills online say that Microsoft isn’t moving to India but is actually firing staff based in India, so it’s a case of shrinking, not offshoring. When even low-paid (much lower salaries) staff is discarded it means things are very gloomy.



  2. Links 22/03/2023: GNOME 44 “Kuala Lumpur”

    Links for the day



  3. Microsoft Has Also Infiltrated the OSI's Board of Directors After Rigged Elections

    Weeks ago we warned that this would happen and for the third or fourth time in 2 years the OSI’s election process broke down; today the Open Source Initiative (OSI) writes: “The polls just closed, the results are in. Congratulations to the returning directors Aeva Black…” (Microsoft employee)



  4. Links 22/03/2023: Official Thunderbird Podcast Starts

    Links for the day



  5. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 21, 2023

    IRC logs for Tuesday, March 21, 2023



  6. Many More Microsoft Layoffs Later Today

    Yesterday we shared rumours about Microsoft layoffs being planned for later today (there were 3 waves of layoffs so far this year). There are several more people here who say the same. How much noise will Microsoft make in the “media” in order to distract? Will the chaffbot "ChatGPT" help create enough chaff?



  7. Links 21/03/2023: JDK 20 and GNOME 43.5

    Links for the day



  8. Germany's Lobbyists-Infested Government Sponsors the War on Ukraine via the European Patent Office (EPO)

    The chief UPC ‘judge’ is basically seeking to break the law (and violate constitutions, conventions etc.) to start a kangaroo court while dodging real courts, just like Vladimir Putin does



  9. [Meme] The Meme That Team UPC (the Collusion to Break the European Laws, for Profit) Threats to Sue Us For

    António Campinos and Team UPC are intimidating people who simply point out that the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is illegal and Klaus Grabinksi, shown above, strives to head a de facto kangaroo court in violation of constitutions and conventions (the UK does not and cannot ratify; Ireland hasn’t even held a referendum on the matter)



  10. Microsoft is Sacking People Every Month This Year, Even Managers (While Sponsored Media Produces Endless Chatbot Chaff)

    Lots of Microsoft layoffs lately and so-called ‘journalists’ aren’t reporting these; they’re too busy running sponsored puff pieces for Microsoft, usually fluff along the “hey hi” (AI) theme



  11. 3 Months Late Sirius 'Open Source' Finally Deletes Us From the Fraudulent 'Meet the Team' Page (But Still Lists Many People Who Left Years Ago!)

    Amid fraud investigations the management of Sirius ‘Open Source’ finally removed our names from its “Meet the Team” page (months late); but it left in the page about half a dozen people who left the company years ago, so it’s just lying to its clients about the current situation



  12. Amid Fraud at Sirius 'Open Source' CEO Deletes His Recent (This Month) Past With the Company

    Not only did the Sirius ‘Open Source’ CEO purge all mentions of Sirius from his Microsoft LinkedIn account; he’s racing against the clock as crimes quickly become a legal liability



  13. Web Survey Shows Microsoft Falling Below 15% Market Share in Africa, Only One Minuscule African Nation Has Windows Majority

    A Web survey that measured Microsoft Windows at 97% in Africa (back in 2010) says that Windows has become rather small and insignificant; the Microsoft-sponsored mainstream media seems to be ignoring this completely, quite likely by intention...



  14. Rumours of More Microsoft Layoffs Tomorrow (Including Managers!), Probably Azure Again (Many Azure Layoffs Every Year Since 2020)

    Amazon is laying off AWS staff and Microsoft has been laying off Azure staff for 3 years already, including this year, so it seems like the “clown computing” bubble is finally bursting



  15. [Meme] EPO's Management Brainstorm

    The story behind a misleading slogan told above



  16. The Photo Ops Festival of the Funky President António Campinos and Revolt From the Patent Examiners Whom He Perpetually Oppresses

    European Patents are being granted for no reason other than application and renewal fees, awarding European monopolies to companies that aren't even European (only about a third are actually European); staff of the EPO is fed up as it regards or views all this as an extreme departure from the EPO's mission (and it's also outright illegal)



  17. Links 21/03/2023: Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0 LTS

    Links for the day



  18. Back Doors Proponent Microsoft Infiltrates Panels That Write the Security Regulations, Press Fails to Point Out the Obvious

    Cult tactics and classic entryism serve Microsoft again, stacking the panels and basically writing policy (CISA). As an associate explained it, citing this new example, Stanford “neglects to point out the obvious fact that Microsoft is writing its own regulations.”



  19. IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 20, 2023

    IRC logs for Monday, March 20, 2023



  20. Links 20/03/2023: Curl 8.0.0/1 and CloudStack 4.18.0.0 LTS

    Links for the day



  21. Standard Life (Phoenix Group Holdings): Three Weeks to Merely Start Investigating Pension Fraud (and Only After Repeated Reminders From the Fraud's Victims)

    As the phonecall above hopefully shows (or further elucidates), Standard Life leaves customers in a Kafkaesque situation, bouncing them from one person to another person without actually progressing on a fraud investigation



  22. Standard Life Paper Mills in Edinburgh

    Standard Life is issuing official-looking financial papers for companies that then use that paperwork to embezzle staff



  23. Pension Fraud Investigation Not a High Priority in Standard Life (Phoenix Group Holdings)

    The 'Open Source' company where I worked for nearly 12 years embezzled its staff; despite knowing that employees were subjected to fraud in Standard Life's name, it doesn't seem like Standard Life has bothered to investigate (it has been a fortnight already; no progress is reported by management at Standard Life)



  24. Links 20/03/2023: Tails 5.11 and EasyOS 5.1.1

    Links for the day



  25. Links 20/03/2023: Amazon Linux 2023 and Linux Kernel 6.3 RC3

    Links for the day



  26. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 19, 2023

    IRC logs for Sunday, March 19, 2023



  27. An Update on Sirius 'Open Source' Pensiongate: It's Looking Worse Than Ever

    It's starting to look more and more like pension providers in the UK, including some very major and large ones, are aiding criminals who steal money from their workers under the guise of "pensions"



  28. Services and Users TRApped in Telescreen-Running Apps

    TRApp, term that lends its name to this article, is short for "Telescreen-Running App". It sounds just like "trap". Any similarity is not purely coincidental.



  29. Links 19/03/2023: Release of Libreboot 20230319 and NATO Expanding

    Links for the day



  30. Great Things Brewing

    We've been very busy behind the scenes this past week; we expect some good publications ahead


RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts