> Windows is dying.
No. It is not. Windows still sells millions of computers and everyone uses it, from households to corporations. It's here to stay for a very long time.
No. It is not. Windows still sells millions of computers and everyone uses it, from households to corporations. It's here to stay for a very long time.
Microsoft has built a good and cheap platform for workplaces PCs and households, that's the reality. The only two real alternatives I can see right now are OS X and some well supported GNU/Linux distros like Ubuntu/Red Hat/Suse, and both have their own disadvantages (the former a significant higher cost in hardware, the latter a lack of commonly used pro software like MS Office, Adobe programs, AutoCAD and other specialized software...)
If you want to call it 'Windows is in decline' instead of 'Windows is dying', sure, we can call it that instead.
...but it's effectively the same thing. Don't bet on this platform; it's not the future. Sure, it'll still be around for the foreseeable future, but you win when you bet on things that experience year-over-year growth, not year-over-year decline.
You can call the growth-hackers nasty names if you want, but its undeniable that there's a strong correlation between growth and success.
My bet? Microsoft won't fail. They'll find other things (services in the cloud perhaps) to grow; but windows will consistently decline over time while it fails to gain traction in the mobile space. /shrug
(1) http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3026217 "Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 5.2 Percent in First Quarter of 2015"
Sure you can run Linux services on azure, but windows services are nicely integrated.
Combined with erosion of pricing power, OS licensing isn't the glorious business it used to be for Microsoft (it's still worth billions of dollars though).
Well, we could argue about it, but how about you go and read the Intel Q1 2015 earnings statement(2), have a think about how daft those guys must have been to have missed the obvious short term decline in sales leading up to the Windows 10 launch.
...but hey, don't take my word for it. There are plenty of other 5 year forecasts out there; just pick up a few and do some background reading.
(2) http://www.intc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=906520 "Year-over-year revenues were flat, with double-digit revenue growth in the data center, IoT and memory businesses offsetting lower than expected demand for business desktop PCs," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. "These results reinforce the importance of continuing to execute our growth strategy. "
People who actually need their computer to do things other than play Angry Birds are not going to be satisfied living in a walled garden.
I'm curious what you are thinking is going to beat it? OS X? What system do you think most businesses will be using in 10 years?
As if what computers some boring bank, insurance company or sausage making company uses is something to care about...
iOS and Android are basically toys compared to Windows and next to nobody is using OS X, so what's your prediction?
Depends if in "nobody" you include: almost every student in a modern US university, almost the majority of top-tier programmers in any programming convention (from Java to Rails and from Python to C++ and Go), almost all creatives (designers, musicians and video editors), and almost all business executives.
Of course that's for the US. Finland and Kazakstan might differ.