

Marc Benioff: "Windows 8 is the end of Windows" - spking
http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/19/salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-windows-8-is-the-end-of-windows/

======
hdivider
So Windows 8 is the end of Windows because people apparently aren't talking
much about desktop PCs anymore?

That seems like an awfully weak argument, given that there are still countless
millions of desktop PC users, many of which run Windows. Plus, lots of people
use everything: smartphones, tablets, desktops.

I must say I'm getting a little tired of these 'Windows 8 is going to crash
and burn!!' threads. In truth nobody knows how this experiment will turn out -
I'll personally pay far more attention to actual sales figures 6, 12 and 18
months from now.

~~~
jiggy2011
To be honest I think enough people , including a lot of the press seem to want
to fail badly enough that it will almost be irrelevant how good it is.

They will definitely sell a bunch of devices with it on but it will never be
cool.

~~~
modarts
It's pretty annoying. Anything Apple does is "revolutionary" and "magical".
Anything Microsoft does is seen as being bound to fail.

Apple has definitely won the media messaging war.

~~~
rbanffy
Well... I've been using Windows 7 on one computer at work and it's really bad
compared to how smooth both Macs and Ubuntu (Unity and Gnome) are. Little
things like the cluttered Aero theme, to the really horrid font rendering, the
confusing ideas of "Libraries" mixed with filesystem folders to the
unspeakable mess that is the control panel compound to make Windows an awful
experience.

Windows 8 is _much_ better but, still, leaves a lot to be desired before it
can claim the smoothness of its competitors. It evolved by adding pieces and,
after so many years of layer upon layer of stuff added, it starts to show.
Windows 8 has some good ideas, but a lot of it is change for the sake of
change.

------
rabidsnail
"And you should believe me because I have definitely not made my career by
convincing people to stop using desktop software."

~~~
rbanffy
Is Hacker News running on your desktop now?

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Tipzntrix
I'd be willing to bet Windows releases another operating system after Windows
8. Whether it is the end of their dominance in the business realm is about the
only thing up for debate, but the company is sure not going to file for
bankruptcy before Windows 9.

~~~
rbanffy
Microsoft will not go out of business when Windows ceases to be the dominant
desktop OS. They will reshape themselves like they did before. Microsoft
started selling BASIC interpreters for 8-bit computers and shifted its main
cash cows a good couple times. It may never be as profitable as it was in its
height, but to say it will cease to exist is exaggerated.

~~~
sbochins
Yep, they'll still have outlook and office. Doesn't seem like anything new
they do really sticks. Their web services division has been a real stinker for
quite a while now.

~~~
brcrth
They also have Xbox.

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ladzoppelin
I bet he has never even used it. Windows 8 is really good so I am sure many
people/blogs will be talking massive trash the closer it gets to release
because they know its going to be a very relevant and possibly even well
received.

~~~
lurkinggrue
I used it and found it a mess of an OS and Metro apps horrible. Multitasking
is boned and it works badly with multi monitors.

~~~
skyhook_mockups
I agree that the current suite of Metro apps is crap, but that hardly makes
the OS a mess. I've been using it as my primary OS for about 6 months and my
usage hasn't really changed from Win7. All my work is done from the desktop,
with the new start screen working as a useful short cut organiser.

    
    
      Multitasking is boned
    

Not sure what you mean there.

    
    
      ...it works badly with multi monitors.
    

Depends on your definition of 'works badly'. I think they've made smart
choices. You can easily nominate which monitor is your Start Screen monitor
and all Metro apps will launch there. You can't seem to run metro apps on more
than one screen, but you can have 2 visible on the same screen using docking.

~~~
lurkinggrue
Try running multiple metro remote desktops on two different monitors. You
can't.

Metro apps are not made for multiple screens and this is what they are pushing
for as future software. All full screen tabs.

There us a lot of hot corner action that is painful when those hot corners are
in between the two monitors. I had to offset the screens so I could catch the
mouse to hit the start button area.

This is a huge step backwards in multitasking.

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johnwatson11218
I hope all the non-tech folks do move to tablets, phones, and webapps. Then
maybe windows 9+ can drop the pretense of user friendliness and become much
more technical. Who knows maybe they could strip out all the bloat and produce
a highly customizable OS that would appeal to programmers and tech
enthusiasts.

~~~
untog
You can bet on OS X getting there before Windows does.

~~~
ams6110
Getting where? More technical? That's certainly not the direction it's been
heading up to now.

~~~
da_n
What do you mean by 'technical'. OS X has UNIX underpinnings, you can still
VIM, Mutt and Lynx as much as you want, you can compile from source. This is
meaningless to me.

------
guimarin
Widows is dead with version 8. Long live windows. I think he should rather
have said enterprise PC's and workstations are dead. It's clear to me that for
normal users ( disclaimer, I work with HPSCs all day ) mobile will become the
compute device and each display/'workstation' will have some sort of GPU and
connection to the mobile device either wired or wireless in the next 5 years.
I can't wait to buy an android device like this. Certainly Apple would do well
to team up with NVIDIA for their MBA line and offer an external discrete GPU
for when you want sit down at a proper desk with a large screen.

~~~
recuter
External GPU's over thunderbolt has been a dream of mine for a long time. It
would make the MBA the ultimate computer.

There have been proof of concepts, I think by Acer, but I don't know of any
product roadmap by anybody. Apple wouldn't need to partner with NVIDIA for
this, it would be an enclosure not unlike one for external hard drives where
you could install any off the shelf graphics card. :)

~~~
coolnow
Even if thunderbolt provided enough bandwidth, wouldn't the whole idea fall
apart because the data has to pass through another protocol (making it slower)
vs having the GPU directly interfaced?

~~~
recuter
Thunderbolt is in actuality PCI Express and has ample (20 Gbit/s) bandwidth.
As far as I know it will be almost like directly attaching a GPU with some
minimal latency because of the greater distance.

If not, the next gen optical version will have more then enough headroom.

------
taylonr
Interesting thing is that even if it's the end of the line for Microsoft
developing new versions of Windows(and I don't think it is), there is still an
entire ecosystem that won't be going anywhere.

I'm working for a client right now writing a few apps (away from Access/Excel
type apps) so that they can upgrade to Windows 7 by mid-year 2013. And they're
upgrading from XP.

So even if Windows 9 never comes out, I would guess there is plenty of work
for Windows developers (for better or worse.)

------
sakopov
How many failures did we predict for Facebook and Google and only god knows
how many other companies. There is at least one every week for Facebook.
Windows & Microsoft aren't going anywhere. At least not any time in this
decade.

~~~
vibrunazo
The death of the PC has been talked about for many years as well. What makes
it different this time is that it's microsoft themselves admitting it, and
planing their next move with this in mind. There's this show called Windows
Weekly in the TWIT network [1]. They often (always?) have microsoft employees
as guests to the show. And if you watch the show, you'll see they'll clearly
admit that microsoft is sure the PC era is ending for real this time. They
know very well the company must change, a lot, what they do to keep themselves
alive.

You might argue that they'll succeed in their new strategies. But you sure
cannot say that everything is fine and there's nothing to change, or to be
alarmed of. Not even microsoft would agree with that.

[1] <http://twit.tv/show/windows-weekly/283>

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xenen
Benioff is very very good at playing the publicity game. What was said is not
important, that wasn't the reason why he said it. He said it in order to make
front pages, and he did.

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barista
He is better off making sure that his company is not facing the end soon. For
a company that is in business for almost a decade, they are yet to turn a
profit.

~~~
absconditus
They are clearly following the Amazon model and pursuing growth rather than
profitability:

<http://ycharts.com/companies/CRM/revenues>

~~~
kingnothing
Exactly. The sheer number of employees CRM is hiring, month after month, is
staggering.

~~~
kingnothing
Why the down votes? They've nearly doubled the employee count in a couple of
years, which is quite impressive at that scale.

