Daniel Dilger of RoughlyDrafted posts another cracking article, this time on The Vista Myth. As usual it is hard to fault Daniel’s logic and I agree with a lot of what he has to say, however I do believe that despite the disaster that was Vista it will take many years for Microsoft’s stranglehold on the corporate market place to be significantly eroded.
Sure the home market is changing rapidly and it is certainly true that the portable and mobile market is a big part of this. How many people now sit down to do their ‘home computing’ at a desk in front of a traditional PC compared to those surfing from their netbooks on the sofa in the living room, or posting to their twitter account or blog from their iPhone ? However many sectors of industry ( mine being health ) are implicitly linked to Microsoft technologies and here change is MUCH slower, typically refresh cycles for major systems are in the region of 5-10 years.
I do believe that HTML5 will have the biggest part to play in Microsoft’s downfall. When suppliers begin to adopt this standard for corporate web applications and leave the disastrous ActiveX monster behind there will be no need for the Microsoft Operating System/Browser combo to run these apps and at last corporates will be able to chose operating systems that are genuinely better for them ( think no viruses and malware for one and this immediately directs attention away from Windows whatever version ! )
Whilst I agree with the sentiment of the piece regarding the consumer shift from grey box desktop PC’s, the average consumer buys devices based not on the OS they run. They buy a device to suit a need. They don’t choose OSX, be it on an iPhone or a Mac, they choose the device. As long as Mac choose not to compete in mid market space Windows will remain the default platform for anything other than a high end notebok or smartphone. Linux is far from mature enough to fill the gap, and I know this from experience with a number of people bringing me netbooks preloaded with some awfull Linux derivative asking me to install XP. They have no realistic third option. (I build/repair computers as a sideline)
As for the Enterprise space, I work for a large UK bank, all of our machines have XP OEM license stickers on, but all have NT4 installed. I’m sure when/if they choose to upgrade the new machines will have Win7 preinstalled, and MS will rack up the sales. Far too many legacy applications still in play to even be able to consider droping MS. Even if they want one, there is no exit stratergy away from MS, and not even a hint of Mac competing in that space.
Was an excellent article and I agree with a number of the outcomes. I don’t have a problem spending £900 on an iMac but I would cringe at spending the same on a PC and expect it to do exactly the same.
I agree with your insights. Most people are still using PCs to do their necessary routine. Moreover, they are after of the features that PCs can offer compared to notebooks or mobile phones.
Personally, I still prefer using desktop compared to laptop or notebook or mobile phones. I find it more comfortable, with the complete set of computer. Otherwise, if I’m not at home, of course, I don’t have any other choice, but to make use of what I currently have as of that moment (like my mobile phone).
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