

Microsoft's big (unmentioned) problem with Windows 8 - FrancescoRizzi
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20106156-75/microsofts-big-unmentioned-problem-with-windows-8/

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rbanffy
> even if Microsoft does manage to ship by fall 2012, the calendar still gives
> the Apple and Android development projects a huge lead time to out-innovate
> Windows 8

Odd they left Linux out. By the time Win8 hits the shelves, Ubuntu will have
iterated three times - its Unity desktop will be on its fourth release by the
time we reach Quaint Quetzal or Quirky Quail, Gnome will be on version 3.6,
Fedora 18 will be the favorite of Red Hat lovers and even Debian may be able
to iterate over a couple Toy Story characters. At the same time, FreeBSD 10
will be well on its way.

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jamesbritt
I sometimes think Linux is the Ron Paul of operating systems.

Doesn't matter what number of people use it, or cheer for it, or how many
sites it powers, it's, you know, not a _real_ contender. :)

~~~
rbanffy
And yet, it keeps powering most of the computers that make this conversation
possible...

Go figure...

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pedalpete
i 've thought the reason Microsoft has to announce earlier than apple is
because the hardware partners need the extra lead time. Apple has the luxury
of working software and hardware in parallel, Microsoft and to some extent
android gets shown to select partners on a very long lead time, and then gets
released to everybody about 10 months to a year early.

~~~
rbanffy
Another reason is to assure their corporate clients they don't have to move to
Apple or Linux just now because their next OS will be well ahead of their
competition. And that with everyone betting on the demise of the desktop,
storage-heavy PC.

Windows Server 8 will face competition from RHEL 7, Ubuntu Server 11.10 (or
12.04) and FreeBSD and OpenSolaris-based OSs (ZFS is great).

It will be ugly.

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pedalpete
can you explain why the newest breed of linux will be any more threatening to
Microsoft than the last?

I don't think corporations have ever thought they 'have to move to apple or
linux" the challenge is will they upgrade from windows 7. The tablet
capabilities will help, and for the most part I don't think there is much
other tablet capabilities in other devices.

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rbanffy
Why would they have to be more threatening than they use to be? Windows is
losing share, mostly on servers. I look around me and Macs are more popular
desktops and laptops than they were last year. And the year before.

It won't be fast and Windows desktops and servers won't disappear (or even
become a small niche) overnight, but I don't see Windows regaining its lost
popularity.

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blisper
This article has one sentence thats valid , i.e. microsoft will not ship on
time. The rest is fluff. Typical CNET.

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georgemcbay
Win 7 shipped on time. What makes you so sure Win 8 won't?

Win 8 has a lot more in common with Win 7 in terms of people driving it,
developers involved, etc, than it does with Vista or any earlier release.

Judging by the Build preview, which is similar to the state of the Win7 PDC
2008 preview, I don't see why anyone would doubt Microsoft is on target to hit
RTM near middle of next year (the same way Win7 went RTM in July 2009) and
then full release in October (the same way Win7 went into general release in
October 2009) to coincide with the hardware maker's fall releases.

I do agree the rest of the article is fluff, though. This statement in
particular:

"What's more, even if Microsoft does manage to ship by fall 2012, the calendar
still gives the Apple and Android development projects a huge lead time to
out-innovate Windows 8."

Does the author think the developers at Google and Apple just wave their arms
and solid innovative code magically appears in Android and OS X? It was pretty
clear what Win8 was going to be even to curious outsiders as long as a full
year ago. Just like it is pretty clear to anyone with half a lick of sense
where Apple is taking OS X over the next few years (hint: more iOS-y).

Showing this stuff off now about a year ahead of full retail release doesn't
change the game in any notable way.

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rbanffy
> Win 7 shipped on time. What makes you so sure Win 8 won't?

I agree 7 data-points is not that much, but, so far, how many Windows versions
shipped on time?

