THIS morning we showed that on desktops and laptops Windows seems to have fallen from 80% to 70% in just 3 years. If one counts mobile platforms, Windows has sunk to just 27% and months ago a market survey said that only 2.6% of users had adopted Vista 11. That's really awful performance (likely unprecedented for Windows) considering the billions spent on marketing and aggressive "upgrade" schemes.
"Shown above, in the case of China, is the growth of Android, which has Linux in it."In other words, the balloon is deflating rapidly.
A strong reason to harp on about monopoly rents is to kill the myth that Microsoft makes its money from OEM "sales" of Windows or Microsoft Office (MSO). The sales drive the monopoly in the case of Windows and the monopoly in turn provides income (though not necessarily enough to make a profit). With MSO, it is the monopoly on the file formats which drive the monopoly rents (though again not necessarily enough to make a profit there either). Either way, there is a myth falsely glorifying the company and their products. It goes along with the conflation of common with popular. Microsoft may be common, but it is certainly not popular and is indeed the reason that most people absolutely hate "computers" since they have no experience with real operating systems or real software.
Shown above, in the case of China, is the growth of Android, which has Linux in it. That's the world's second-largest economy. In India, Android is at 73% this month. Windows is down to 17%.
Microsoft has rapidly become obsolete to more and more people. This isn't the 1990s anymore. For those who still rely on GitHub for development, for instance, there are many good alternatives, as below. ⬆
Useful alternatives to Microsoft GitHub: