Summary: The world is leaving Windows behind (at all levels) and Microsoft is now joining companies that are using GNU/Linux, perhaps acknowledging that the demise of Windows is inevitable

MICROSOFT has suffered a huge decline in sales of Windows. It was very clear. Microsoft wasn't able to hide it anymore. Not even increased pressure on companies to pay up could make up for the alarming numbers which preceded massive layoffs (almost 20,000 staff). As large nations gradually move away from Windows (not 'upgrading' Windows) the company is likely to resort to lawsuits (when extortion tactics fail). Without Windows, the common carrier, Microsoft is reduced to almost nothing. This milking cow is the only reason many people still use Office and other offerings from Microsoft.

Gregg Keizer from IDG says that "Windows 8's uptake was stuck in reverse for the second straight quarter as the reputation-challenged operating system fell behind the pace set by Windows Vista six years ago, according to data released Friday.

"Web metrics firm Net Applications' figures for July put the combined user share of Windows 8 and 8.1 at 12.5% of the world's desktop and notebook systems, a small drop of six-hundredths of a percentage point from June. That decline was atop a one-tenth-point fall the month before, the first time the OS had lost user share since its October 2012 debut."

Regarding the source of the data, Net Applications, it is Microsoft-affiliated, too.

It sure looks like the Windows franchise is becoming a thing of the past; sales of Android devices outpace sales of computers with Windows and as older PCs (running Windows XP) age too much users may move to GNU/Linux or buy new devices with Linux/Android on them. Microsoft (Nokia) tried to make its own version of Android but failed. Nobody wanted Microsoft.

On the server side too this is happening. Microsoft's share in Web servers has been reduced to just spam and inactive domains. GNU/Linux is highly mature a platform and many hosting platforms now use GNU/Linux by default. I see this in my daytime job. There's an influx/inertia leading to FOSS, albeit quite silently. This means that a lot of companies will make the migration sooner or later, especially now that Windows Server 2003 becomes orphaned [via]:

The end of extended support for Windows Server 2003 is just under a year away. One manager says the average migration will take 200 days, so start thinking about migrating if you haven't already.

Hopefully he speaks of a migration to GNU/Linux. There is no reason to stay with the Vista equivalent on the server side. There is nothing in it, except newer back doors, increased fees, and more lock-in. Based on the trend in nations such as Russia and China, many systems at the back end will be converted to GNU/Linux, perhaps when support lapses for the current version of Windows (that's what happened in Munich, Germany).

Microsoft has become so desperate on the server side that it is now liaising with one of the largest users of GNU/Linux, namely Akamai. There is no suggestion that Akamai will be using Windows; in fact, even years in the past (e.g. the Olympic Games in Beijing) Microsoft relied heavily on GNU/Linux (at Akamai) for data delivery. For Microsoft to grow closer to Akamai is rather telling; perhaps Microsoft too is already seeing the writings on the wall. The world is moving beyond Windows, and there's absolutely nothing Microsoft can do to stop it (except perhaps trying to tax it using software patents). ⬆