Microsoft? not even Gates can save it.

[stevewfl]

The Mac and Droids have taken over the earth. There is no competing with Apple and Google allowed in a modern market. Its funny the tech analysts now think "Bill Gates can save it" 

http://mindofthegeek.com/2013/07/31/microsoft-surface-horrible-sales-gates-return/

[Cholla]

They are now reaping what they have sown in rushing crap operating systems to market.

[Leo]

The salesman at our local staples says he cannot give away Windows 8 machines.  The laptops are really bargan priced as far as hardware goes, but the software makes them ridiculous to use.  I bought a left over windows 7 machine from Tiger direct, not because of price but because I didn't want windows 8.

[VirginiaJim]

Yep, word's getting out about Windows hate...

[Cholla]

And people finally realized Windoze is and always has been junk.

[Stasch]

Here's what I posted on that link:

"Bill Gates didn't invent the MS DOS operating system, but he's the reason we all have Windows today. He's a great business man which is why he's worth 10's of billions. I think he could bring it around with the right changes in direction and be even richer for it.

 Could W's be better? Sure. Have they had some misfires? Sure.

 MAC and Apple are too consumer level / entertainment oriented and too expensive IMO. Most of the hype and sales focus is based on watching a movie or listening to YOUR music anywhere, RIGHT NOW on your device. Its a toy. As mentioned in the article, MS too fell into that thinking.

 Most consumers follow in lemming lock step, rushing to get the latest and greatest 4x 5x device for $800 every couple years, taking the next few weeks to learn all the 'new' (ie: renamed and moved) features. (MS very guilty on that count as well). It doesn't really do anything for end users productively, and at best distracts them from their reality for a while.

 All well and good I guess, but the real ongoing $$$ to be made in computing need is for business.

 Entertainment is just the tip of a working economic pyramid. Its not a sustainable industry on its own UNLESS there's a real and productive economy behind it to fuel the revenue.

 We need useful, user intuitive business devices / software / OS's. Whoever does that will own the world again, as Bill Gates once did."

[B.D.F.]

I disagree- people have always knows Windoze is a monstrous, slow, convoluted maze. But.... and this is a gigantic but (easy boys!), it is the PC that is needed in the industrial world, which is most of civilization. I was a Mac guy until 1991 when I had to go PC because every single piece of serious industrial software on the planet ran on that or Solaris (anybody even remember that?).

We are now in the classic circle problem: no one in the industrial world writes software for Macs mostly because there are not enough Macs worth bothering with. Nobody buys Macs to run anything industrial because there is little to no industrial software for them. Couple that with Apple's proprietary nature and the deal is done. Besides all of that, with decent modeling software costing $5K per seat, why get excited about the $1,000 or $2,000 computer that it requires to run?

Macs are, and always have been, slick. I am sure Ipads and Iphones are also. But as far as computers go, PC's have always had the software edge and it is not by a little bit either. Beta was the superior format compared to VHS but that alone was not enough to allow them to win.

Brian

And people finally realized Windoze is and always has been junk.

[Cholla]

How many different programs do you need to do the same thing?
BTW-the Mac IS a PC.
The Intel inside ads were all done on Macs. And not Intel based ones, either.
Office was written for the Mac first.
that proprietary nature of the Mac environment ensures every Mac program works the same and makes sure it works right.
And the Mac hardware in my experience is better quality.

[Strawboss]

OK, so when will my laptop here stop working?

[Cholla]

As soon as you turn it off.

With a Windoze machine to shut down go to the START menu...

[Rhino]

Also hate Windows 8 but like windows 7. Turns out there is a very simple fix in Windows 8 that makes it look and feel like Windows 7. There are lots of tutorials on how to make it happen such as this one:

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/software-and-web-apps/how-to-make-windows-8-look-like-windows-7-50009546/

Seems like Microsoft makes every other operating system suck, ME, suck, XP, OK, Vista, suck, 7, OK, 8 suck.

[wahrsuul]

I guess I expected Win 8 to suck:

[wahrsuul]

I remember Solaris, used to work on that with the AF years ago.  Never did like it much.  Linux is good and I use that on several of my systems - including my server - but sometimes the lack of consistancy gets annoying.

Win 8 was horrid - I bought the Pro version, and it didn't last a month before I pulled it for Win 7.  Yes, there are a few aftermarket "fixes", but MS should have had that option built in from the start.

I don't think MS is dead yet, but they will be if they don't figure out how the landscape is changing.  Time was when MS could dictate to developers and hardware companies, but now they don't have that kind of control. 

Sadly, it seems that in America these days, a product is good if it makes money, as opposed to a product making money because it's good.