Posted on 11/20/2021 10:31:28 PM PST by dayglored
Why do we put these stories out for every single release of Windows?! It’s asinine. Like MS is somehow failing. People don’t like upgrading OSes. It’s a pain. And frankly not worth the effort. But when people get new computers they will get the new OS. Anybody that thinks any version of Windows is “dead” is stupid. We wrote these same idiotic articles for XP. Now the articles worship it as the holy land.
Back-end? Hell, I went to my eye doctor and the machine they use for checking my optical script was running XP. I made a joke about it with the doc and she said that they had to keep using it for reasons that went back to regulations and certification.
I don't know if that was strictly true, but if so, that is even more scary than the XP box itself.
Depending on what you're doing, of course. I find that during the course of a workday, I use Linux with Firefox and Chrome, Windows with Chrome, and MacOS with Chrome, interchangeably. I mostly work at the Linux/Bash command line -- I don't do much of "Office-app" work, but I have Office365 loaded on the Windows10 box and that does the trick.
Edge is, for me, an unnecessary one-more-me-too browser; I only use it for compatibility testing.
> If you don’t do anything of substance with your computer I guess Windows 7 is ok.
The main legit excuse for running a non-supported OS like Win7 is that you have mission-critical applications that can't run on the newer releases. And if you don't trust Microsoft (and who does?) then Win7 might arguably have less spyware on it than Win10.
Thank you for both replies.....very much what I needed and wanted but did not know to ask. Much appreciated. I already have (bought) a copy of “Linux Lite” on thumb drive that I have on a sort of test bed (older Dell laptop). I think I need to bite the bullet and try that on her work machine.
^^ THAT.
There are days when I'm convinced that Microsoft considers Windows, the OS, as their "loss-leader" that mainly serves to get people in bed with Office365 and Azure/SharePoint services.
The OS has become a frilly platform with little point other than supporting the applications.
Of course, one might reasonably argue that that (just a platform) is the proper purpose of an OS. It's not supposed to be a way of life.
I think that is pretty much all it ever was. IIRC, even Gates said so.
I treat these stories as just a string of observations on the passing scene. Microsoft isn't failing. But their business is Office365 and their Azure cloud services. Windows is a bit-player in their overall strategy with regard to their consumer users.
Windows, like MacOS, is becoming increasingly irrelevant for consumers, as mobile devices and mobile OSes consume more and more of the landscape. It has taken a long time, but Windows is finally retreating from the consumer scene.
OTOH, Windows will always have a large base in the enterprise. Business user computers -- other than software development which is nearly all Linux these days -- run Windows, it's just a fact of life.
And then there's that huge, largely invisible mass of computers that run the internet, websites, etc. almost all of which are Linux. Users easily forget that nearly everything they do these days involves the internet, and the internet is Linux, with few and scattered exceptions.
I see these stories as people wanting desperately to say a big company is failing.
Windows has ALWAYS been a bit player in the MS business. It’s a standard. What comes from owning the standard is always worth more than the standard itself. Back in the day it was selling the SDK to developers who wanted to write applications.
It’s never been relevant to the consumers. It’s the road. Roads are relevant, but if roads don’t exist it’s a lot harder to sell cars.
Windows isn’t retreating from the consumer scene AT ALL. Like I said these stories get written for every single version of Windows since Win98. They aren’t stories, they’re idiots misreading numbers to lie to people. By the time the next version comes out 11 will have most of the market. Just like every other version of Windows these idiotic stories have come out about.
XP was the last product MS created that sold itself. Everything else they’ve had to resort to strong-arm tactics to get any market penetration.
In the meantime they’ve spent ten fortunes trying to get a toehold in the handheld digital devices market with nothing to show for it.
They still dominate the desktop market but that market segment has been in steady decline since 2012.
Thanks. I use “open shell” on my w-10 devices. I haven’t tried to use it on w-11.
Thanks for that. and that’s a fact.
At my very last employer(I am retired). I was charged with dual testing - Vista vs W-7.(we were on XP)
It took forever for the higher-ups to make a decision. We bypassed Vista.
Lots of good points made here.
Two things. In the server world we speak of “cattle not pets”. This is the way. Gone are the days when “the mail server crashed or the print server crashed” and now nobody can get work dine. Now these things are just “services” and sure there are real computers under the covers but you don’t really need to know that. Should be the same with laptops and desktops. Backup your data and think of your puter as part of a herd of cattle. If it breaks or needs an upgrade shoot it in the head and get another.
Second - as far as migrating users. Where I work - an admittedly “tech” company - users own their upgrade process. In the same vein - you would get a notice that you’re due for an upgrade and IT would provide you with a freshly imaged laptop (say) and you would own the migration. Doesn’t work for factory floor or point of sale etc. But then again there IT can impose their will and the computers aren’t snowflakes.
At the end of the day an OS is just a “program” just like notepad or your calculator app. To some extent we’ve over mythologized it.
Time will tell. Microsoft's inability to break successfully into the mobile market means that they have to rely on business users and consumer inertia, to keep Windows going long-term. Maybe "retreating" isn't the right word. How about "overtaken and passed by mobile devices"?
I know an awful lot of consumers who were dedicated Windows users for decades, but whose desktops and laptops are gathering dust now, because they can do pretty much everything they need on their phone or tablet. (Serious artists, authors, and spreadsheet jockeys excepted -- for that you need a big monitor.)
When at last one of these consumers blows the dust off their desktop's keyboard, they find that there are Windows Updates pending, and after 10 minutes of drumming their fingers, they grumble and turn back to their phone or tablet to get the task done.
Personally I think Microsoft made a mistake labeling this new release "Windows 11". They should have just made it the next incremental release of Windows 10, and people would have not had that visceral reaction that comes from every major upgrade. Because Win11 isn't a major upgrade -- it's an incremental tweak on Win10. Microsoft jumped the shark calling it a major change, especially after all the hoopla about how Windows 10 was the final major version of Windows (remember that?).
In any case, we'll see. Microsoft is in the business for the long run, but the long run is Office and Azure, and as you said so correctly, Windows is just a road to those services. Time will tell.
Very well stated!
Time has told. People have been saying MS is losing the consumer scene since Windows 98 didn’t storm the world. 23 years in a row those predictions have been WRONG.
Surface Tablets. MS is fine in the mobile market.
It’s not an incremental release. Because 11 is moving away from old hardware with major security problems it wouldn’t work as an incremental release. It actually is a big upgrade, just by jettisoning a lot of legacy crap.
They keep talking about last version of Windows. But it’s a brand that sells. That’s really the proof you need that all predictions about Windows failing are wrong. If it was failing MS would actually abandon the name.
“The OS has become a frilly platform with little point other than supporting the applications. “
Yep, basically a smart phone/tablet dependent on their services. Difference? A whole lot of gigs and heartache to do the same thing a cell phone will do with 3-4 gigs. Most times a cell phone does it more reliably than a Windows PC too. The updates rarely break it.
And you can run a lot more apps offline that Windows will not let you do. The only thing missing is a larger display and keyboard. Might even be better off having a smart phone and a docking station for it with touchscreen and a keyboard.
I’m gonna continue to use Windows 7.
I still have one functioning Dell laptop with XP on it. That laptop is still one of my best ones and I’ve been tempted many times to upgrade the OS, and my nostalgic common sense wins out.
Funny, that most of my favorite anti-virus programs actually STILL accept XP after all this time (thank you Avast)
A LOT of healthcare software was developed on XP for a specific certification and was never updated due to either cost or the vendor ceased to exist. It’s a big problem.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.