
The Cultural Defeat of Microsoft - yarapavan
https://www.devever.net/~hl/windowsdefeat
======
Someone1234
That article says very little. I mean half of it is some strange blurb about
POSIX-ness that isn't ever fully realised (what is POSIX culture, and why is
it significant? Why does OS X fall into it?) then it tacks on some point about
how Microsoft's culture (which too isn't explained) is defeated by the
unexplained POSIX culture.

I'm not saying there isn't interesting points to be made in this regard, I am
however saying this article doesn't make interesting points because the author
failed to completely flesh out core concepts (POSIX culture, Microsoft/Windows
culture, the differences, and what has changed).

~~~
wodenokoto
It's how used you are to use the command line and the standard programs /
libraries you can expect.

The culture is just if you feel at home as a developer in posix / unix
environment or a Windows.

If you feel at home in Windows you are likely to use Windows in your start up
or do better at as a system manager for a Windows based business, thus
strengthening the position of Windows.

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sharemywin
Linux took down microsoft...now we have apple, google, and facebook...Even if
they opened up 100% of there code, and server design the network effects of
these companies along with the data they own make code as a point of
differentiation almost irrelevant. If Google is using Neural nets more and
more you could have the code for the neural net without the weights and 10
billion pictures and not be able to have a competitive system.

~~~
erikpukinskis
Two things:

1) I would rather have three walled gardens than one.

2) In the time since Microsoft's reign, things have sped up a bit. Anything
that Google builds can be re-built by a teenager on a home computer maybe 5
years later. Since Facebook launched it's already been beaten twice: first by
Instagram, and then by SnapChat. Even Google Search was bested by Siri (in
terms of consumer relevance).

The current era is just nothing like what Microsoft did. It was incredibly
depressing back then. There was a sense that you couldn't really do anything
interesting because Microsoft would just copy it and destroy you. I don't see
that attitude today, even with the entrenched powers you describe. It's more
like "We can do anything because Google can't do everything". The definition
of "everything" is just so much bigger now.

So to Microsoft, I say good fucking riddance. You thought you deserved to turn
the world into your playground and now you're paying the price.

I do see Google trending in this direction... Googlers seem to think that they
deserve to have all the funnest toys and not share them with the outside
world. I suspect that's what will take Google down in the end. But the
mindshare is theirs to lose. I don't think they have the power to hold onto it
against the wishes of their community.

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davidgerard
The cultural aspect is interesting. We hired on a Windows admin a while ago (a
very good one, well versed in NT's evil little ways) to take care of our
Windows kit, and also gave him his first exposure to Linux. He took to it like
a slightly reluctant duck to water that turned out to be just fine. It's
heartwarming to see ...

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PopsiclePete
Windows will probably be irrelevant on the server and pretty soon, so will
Windows as a dev platform.

They already made .net core open-source with support for Linux and OSX. SQL
Server happened as well. They can see the writing on the wall.

This is the age of containerized micro-services, not some monolithic Server OS
I can't easily provision on the fly.

I bet fewer and fewer startups are choosing the MS ecosystem. They've
definitely lost the "cool" factor.

Go to any non-MS centric dev conference and see the future - nothing but OS X
for dev work and Linux on the server.

Heck, even Visual Studio Code is their attempt to capture mind-share in that
market.

They will still rule the home desktop and office stuff for the foreseeable
future, but they've lost mobile and server, I think.

~~~
pedalpete
Nice handle, but in response to your comment, the 'nothing but OS X for dev'
isn't completely necessary or true.

I run windows and linux as my dev machines (I favor Windows, but have a back-
up linux for when I forget my computer at home).

I'm one of the few devs at our company who runs windows, though I'm amazed how
many Phd students and researchers run Windows.

Often people try to 'stump' windows with terminal commands, but there aren't
any we use on a regular basis which will break when you have cygwin installed.

What we do find is paths break of course, but, should you really be hard-
coding paths into your apps?

For many people, myself included, OS X doesn't do it. I've never been a fan,
find the hardware too expensive and I've had issues with longevity with the 3
macs I've owned over the years.

I have to confess though, I've been disappointed with Windows 10 of late, and
may make the switch to linux in the coming months.

