OSes provide integration between the hardware and the software. They might have other tools for resource management but those are really applications. The actual OS itself is the layer between hardware and application, and that will never go away.
The smart phone has taken the phone market by storm. It is not a desktop replacement, it’s not good at anything desktops are actually needed for. The screen is too small for long term working, the keyboard is too small for long term working, the memory and storage are too small for large scale functionality. Actually iPhone and iPad sales are negligible compared to desktops and laptops.
Kindle is only outselling hardbacks, which account for about 5% of book sales.
Windows is on 1.1 BILLION machines. 100 million iPhones still puts them 91% of the market away from taking over.
EVERYTHING needs OSes, read what I said. Your precious smart phones ALL have OSes. 4.0 of the iPhone OS came out at the same time as thenew hardware, and can be applied to previous versions of the hardware. Average mass market Joe might not KNOW about the OS, but there’s still an OS on every single device he’s using, PC, smart phone, DVR, Garmin, laptops, Kindle. They all have OSes.
You still have to manage large numbers of users. Nothing really changes with the cloud, they all still have machines that will be configured and updated. The only difference is that when something happens to the company’s network those machines become completely useless. In the current world when the internet connection fails productivity goes up because people lose a major method of screwing around. In a cloud world when the internet connection fails productivity ends.
I don’t own a smart phone, don’t want to talk on my computer ... But I don’t buy them other people do.
Yes, but I remember when the same was said about the PC. It’s too small, the processor is way too tiny, the processor couldn’t do anything blah blah blah ... it’s not good for nothing real computers do ... and then times changed.
Who needs quad core when one core is hardly ever maxed out. Times change. Nowadays most computers do not take advantage of the power they have.
So long old friend but your days are numbered as the mass market darling you once were. But if I wanted an OS, why would I buy one? Most of the MS sales are from the Lappy market where windows comes preloaded. There is a reason investors are thinking MS is a has been stock — As the ‘pads’ take over.