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Comment by robertlagrant | Hacker News Reader

I think this is a big leap. Organisations worldwide use Windows. Office 365 is not a good replacement for Office on-device, and I bet it will never be. I'm a big fan of this happening, but I don't think this is the nail in the coffin. It definitely is a nail, and I use Steam on Linux happily, but not the nail.

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My mom was on the market for a PC upgrade. I so badly wanted to get her moved to a MacBook Air, but she's forced to use some niche accounting software made by Sage (I think specifically for the Canadian market even?) that only exists on Windows.

These situations are what keep everyone a hostage of Microsoft.

I've got a Windows XP virtual machine on my Linux desktop computer exactly for a similar reason. I start it when needed and close it.

And of course it's not connected to Internet.

I can relate to your pain, in Canada the overwhelming majority of accountants use Sage 50, which has a burgeoning cloud version but still lives as Windows software.

I got an accountant instead of switching away from macOS. Made more sense.

Agreed, and hardware support is another one. For PC hardware (and software as well), the de-facto standard platform is Windows.

The other bit of speculation I've seen for long enough that I can't pin down when it started is if consumer windows is a large enough burden for maintenance, then what potential is there in minimizing that through virtualization, at least for the legacy compatibility. If they're making money through services, do they really care if the underlying OS is full-fat windows, a streamlined windows, or some other OS if they can support external projects doing what they need.

As far as gaming goes, I've wondered for a while how much of a burden it is to maintain directx, along with working with the hardware partners to add/maintain features when they want. With the console side there was some symbiosis, but with their current direction and recent xbox fortunes that also looks like an area they could reduce their ongoing spending to stay relevant.

Agreed... still a pretty big nail. A turning point.

The loss of gaming definitely marks the beginning of the end of Windows as a consumer OS. Windows future might be relegated to a platform to run Microsoft business apps and dev tools.

Considering Windows is the most anti-consumer mainstream OS out there -- if Windows becomes a "business OS" then I wonder what happens to all the telemetry and other anti-consumer stuff they've added over the years?

Seems like a fork in the road for Windows product planning.

I would say - it's still not a loss. Not every game is available on Linux, at all, or if it is it's not very easy for a regular person, or if it is there might still be a better experience on Windows. It's amazing progress, but it's a long way off what you're describing.

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