http://semiaccurate.com/2014/05/15/microsoft-now-irrelevant-computing-want-know/The pundits are now writing in past tense about the decline and fall of MS into irrelevance now -- all over the place they seem to be writing about it. In 2013 they wrote to predict it, now it is written about in past tense.
And this is in spite of Win 10 and "the new MS". Win 10's failure to hit the ground running well is seen as a confirmation of MS's inability to execute their new OS systems on PC, much less on mobile.
Last weeks complete bricking of dozens of cell phones for the beta tester crew has put an !!! or three on to the FAIL associated with Win 10 mobile at this point in time.http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/microsoft-working-to-fix-phones-broken-b...The company is now assuring users that it is working on different repair options. "We're working on repair options for the devices that were not supported but got the latest build," Aul tweeted. "This is a high priority for us to solve and have a team dedicated to it. We will let you know as soon as we have info on recovery." Some HTC 8X handsets and many BLU smartphones are affected by the bug.Still no news on a fix for the broken phones and its been over a week now ..... but MS is toughing it out and going with the planned scheduled release of Win 10 Phone.
If they do the same sort of "force you to do it" tricks and then tank a bunch more phones on a general release (especially since they now KNOW many brands will not take the upgrade ..... having found out the hard way by using the general beta tester population as guinea pigs and having cost some of them their phones .....
well then Win 10 mobile may get a rep for being too dangerous to try as an upgrade, ever.
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So, how is Microsoft doing just lately? Like this past week? Nothing, stone quiet. No one is talking about MS at all, except to update some old predictions made back in 2013 and 2014 with "Yep, I told you so" sort of things.
Here are some of that old prediction stuff that is all new like again .....This is a LONG article, what is below is less than 10% of it .....
Microsoft is now irrelevant to computing, and they want you to know it
Opinion: Two recent cave-ins leave no doubt they are done forThen came Surface, something SemiAccurate called a failure long before launch. We also said that OEMs were leaving Microsoft in droves at a level never seen before in the industry. People laughed. Bloomberg copied us without credit but still managed to doubt it. People poo-pooed what we said because they had no way of asking the companies about what was going on.
Step forward two years and you have Chromebooks, Intel making Windows a minority OS, and every OEM out there trying desperately to put out not-Windows devices. Microsoft was almost non-existent on the floor of Computex 2013 and this year looks to be more of a Android, Chrome, and Steam OS whitewash. Microsoft killed their monopoly with Surface and management was too dumb to understand why. I doubt they even understand the depths of their problems today, but if you had to point to a single event that made Microsoft irrelevant, Surface’s launch was it.
That said most people didn’t grasp how badly Microsoft had fallen, they were totally irrelevant and had no more monopoly to leverage. This played out with the Windows 8 launch, Microsoft was desperately trying to stay relevant in mobile by forcing the entire computing ecosystem to adopt their new mobile OS. In theory this would lead to software being leveraged across platforms, and between Office and Exchange, they could force people to use Microsoft mobile products.
A funny thing happened though, an entire generation of users didn’t want to give up their beloved iPhones or Android devices for an inferior, slower, more expensive, app-free Microsoft device. Microsoft repeated their threat loudly, “Use our mobile OS or you won’t get Office or Exchange on your phone!”
To their abject horror the response was almost universally, “OK, bye”.=======================================
http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-isnt-dying-its-just-becoming-irrelevant/Windows isn't dying, it's just becoming irrelevantOnce again, a long article, but this is the concise summation at the end of it.
SIMPLICITY, OR LACK OF IT"Bottom line, some people don't have the time, energy, inclination, experience, or know-how to make Windows do what they want it to do. I know that there are times when I don't.
And I'm not alone.
When I read tweets from long-time tech veteran – and the person who, unbeknownst to him, was responsible for inspiring me to write about tech – Jon Honeyball about his struggles getting a printer working on Windows 8, that's a clear indication to me that the Windows ecosystem is broken. Sure, printers have always been the spawn of the devil, but given the ease with which I can connect my smartphones and tablets to a whole host of devices – from fitness wristbands to my car stereo – hooking a PC up to a printer should be a snap.
Over the two decades that I've been helping people make the most from their PCs, I've lost count of the number of times that I've told people to delve into the Windows registry or run some arcane command that, to them, looks like it might summon the undead. I thought I was helping, but in the long run I was part of the problem. I was helping a bloated, convoluted, increasingly user-unfriendly product retain its dominance.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Windows, along with the PC, is going to be around for years to come. We're not talking about the sudden, premature death of the two icons of the modern IT world. Instead, what we are seeing is a slow, but certain, slide into irrelevance. Just as the stone ax gave way to one made of bronze, the Windows-powered PC must now give way to better, more customized, more refined tools."=========================================
https://techpinions.com/beating-the-dead-horse-that-is-microsoft-windows-part-1/Beating The Dead Horse That Is Microsoft Windows (Part 1)This is just the index of a two week long series article on the fall of MS from any real relevance. I would say the full course of articles would hit 30 pages in length, and is very depressing to read in its entirety.
Let Me Count The Ways"So, exactly how badly is Microsoft losing in the personal computing space? Let me count the ways:
(FAIR WARNING:
This is an old article and in this quote I replaced any out of date notations with the current name so it would be applicable to today's current nomenclature. This guy couldn't predict Win 9
would never be and Win 10 would be the name du jour. However, the accuracy of this series of predictions is still creepy accurate so far .....
1) PCs are in decline;
2) Mobile is ascendant;
3) Windows 10 Phone sales have been disappointing;
4) Windows 10 new sales have been disappointing;
5) Microsoft Surface sales have been disappointing;
6) Third-party Windows 10 tablet sales have been disappointing;
7) Ultrabook sales have been disappointing;
8) Windows 10 business adoption has been disappointing;
9) Microsoft App Store growth has been disappointing;
10) Business and Enterprise is moving on without Microsoft’s products or services;
11) Microsoft has lost its monopoly and its monopoly powers; and
12) Microsoft is dependent upon legacy products – Windows and Office – for the bulk of its profits.
No reasonable person is arguing that Microsoft is going away. What rational people ARE contending is that Microsoft is becoming irrelevant in the front end – the consumer facing portion – of the personal computing space."
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So, if MS actually stops writing headlines for itself by having Windows 10 CONTINUOUSLY DOING RASH, CRAZY-SCARY OR STUPID / GREEDY THINGS, does it actually hasten the moment when nobody cares any more?
Which will come first, the chicken or the egg?