Posted on 10/23/2016 8:29:45 PM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft is set to unveil a bunch of new hardware on Wednesday, with the star attraction likely to be a new Surface PC to compete with Apple's all-in-one iMac.
Microsoft is billing this event as the future of Windows 10. That's not surprising: The reason Microsoft got into the Surface business in the first place was to push Windows forward into a touchscreen future, whether PC manufacturers wanted it or not.
But we're fast approaching a moment in time where Microsoft is going to have to do more than introduce new kinds of PCs if it wants Windows, first introduced in 1985, to stay relevant for the next three decades.
The PC industry is shrinking and Windows is increasingly irrelevant in a mobile world ruled by Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Even worse, Microsoft's own attempts to break into the smartphone realm have landed with a resounding "thud," exacerbating the slow decline of the Windows business (fortunately for Microsoft, its cloud and productivity businesses are exploding, propelling the company's stock to new highs).
It's gotten to the point where some, like Infoworld Editor-in-Chief Eric Knorr, have openly wondered whether it would be best if Microsoft put Windows out to pasture now, rather than let it bleed out slowly over the next few years as the world passes it on by.
[...lots more at the link...]
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I loved XP and I love Windows 7. Absolutely hate Windows 10.
I didnt think nt4 was too hard to use.
I found "Classic Shell" to be invaluable in making Win 10 usable. I can now tolerate it quite well, at least for most standard tasks. (It's required at work, and I have it at home because I work from home....)
In the mid-90's it was quite good. I disliked the fact that they forced the Win95 GUI over it (I started working with NT at version 3.5). But as a server OS it was surprisingly good.
As long as you don't count UNIX or VAX/VMS, that is. But since they didn't do Windows networking... :-)
Ditto. Left the corporate scene after Win 3.1 and went into fixing PCs. Now entering 4th decade of home/business M$ involvement. Can’t say it’s been bad.
On the Microsoft end of things, I started with MS-DOS 5. DOS 6 had a compression feature that I was adventurous enough to use. I was excited to get Windows 3 and at my job at the time they had the Workgroups version of Windows 3 and then Windows 95. I liked Windows NT, Windows XP and Windows 7. It seems to be hard for Microsoft to understand that some of us still use and need desktop computers and we don’t want the operating system to be like something you see on a phone or tablet.
Good luck with that, Microshaft. I’ll be using 7 in a VM in Linux before I buy any of the new crap they’re trying to make stick to the wall.
That might have been COMDEX. One year I commuted for three days to COMDEX from southern CA. Cheap flights.
What a klutz company, now trying to boost 10 up by coercing users that do not do "touch" crap?
Yes. I now think of Microsoft as an unethical company. However, I don't mind Windows 10, except for its privacy violations, and I use Shut Up 10 (https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10) to minimize that problem. 10 has been perfectly stable.
Sorry guys, I’m still trying to get Vista to work.
Agree 100%
Although Microsoft tried to force me on to Windows 10. It jacked up my computer ever since it happened 3 months ago.
Apple will release their ne computers on Thursday. I’m going to get an Apple this time. Done with Microsoft.
I began using Linux in 1994. The GUI is still separate, you can choose one or several inter-phases. I love XFCE GUI. Have been using it since Redhat 8.0 came out. It was not part of the package, I added it.
Over the past 10 years, it is rare that I use a Windows OS.
I almost never have a system hangup and have never had a Malware exploit.
My first PC ran CPM-86. It was a British machine ( at the moment, senility is winning and I can't remember the manufacturer!) [I just looked it up - Amstrad!], used a 3" floppy (Sony design) and first introduced me to the marvel of spreadsheets. I think we bought it at Sears for about $350.
Do you want to sell it? I’m serious.
Microsoft automatically updated my desktop to Windows 10 with the new browser Microsoft Edge which won’t open so I have to reroute everything back to Outlook Express. What a hassle.
I'm using 16.10 without touch. Seems fine to me. Set my VPN up last night. Easy. I run Mint 18 and 16.10 on an early I5 laptop. Both setup and run fast. I do prefer the feel of Cinnamon but boot up is way slower on Mint.
August 24, 1995. At the Windows 95 launch, I was living in Louisville, KY. Three computer geek friends and I drove up to Cincinnati for the unveiling.
Now I’m a Win 7 forever person. Does everything I want and need. No reason to upgrade. Ever.
Still using it. Albeit for offline functions only but it is still a great OS.
That’s what I’m running. I like 7. I think what screws up most product changes is the involvement of “human factors” experts who feel a need to screw with operations that don’t need screwing.....
Windows real value is in its for-business line, rather than personal. Windows can’t be all things, to all people, at all times. If MS keeps going with this push to the touchscreens, to the exclusion of the desktop, it will become completely irrelevant very quickly. The Surface is a mobile device, with limited usability. What office admin wants that headache?
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