

Why Windows 10 will not succeed (and Windows will never do again) - marco1

Windows 10 seems to be quite a solid operating system. But it will not succeed in the way Windows XP or Windows 7 did.<p>So who could be willing to switch over?<p>* Private (&quot;normal&quot;) users: People have jobs, hobbies, friends, family, TV, music, games, exercising ... you get the point. When they come home from work, do they want to deal with a new operating system? No. 15 years ago, when personal computers were the new shiny thing, they would. But today, they have smartphones (which they use more then their PCs, anyway), they have tablets and an existing computer that <i>just works</i>. They won&#x27;t switch over.<p>* Private (power) users: These are the users that would spend an at-home day and be excited enough about a new operating system to try it. But are they passionate enough about <i>Windows</i>? Probably not. There are so many exciting pieces of technology today, Windows does, for most people, not belong to the <i>most</i> exciting pieces of technology anymore. Better buy a Lily camera or a Raspberry Pi. Oh, and let&#x27;s not forget that power users have invested a lot of time into thorough configuration of their operating system. They don&#x27;t want to lose this or need to re-configure everything.<p>* Business users: They want stability and reliability above everything else. Why switch to Windows 10 if your Windows 7 will still receive updates until 2020?<p>* Technology novices in emerging markets: People in emerging markets and developing countries often skip the PC altogether and start with mobile devices. Or they get Chromebooks, Linux, OS X.<p>* Mobile device users: Microsoft has been too late to the game. We all know this and Microsoft even knows themselves. This is why they focus on &quot;reinvent[ing] productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more&quot; (Nadella) on <i>any</i> operating system.<p>Windows had its heyday, but it will never come back to past dominance.
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celticninja
I think you are ignoring a large subset of users, business users who will
upgrade and not just a single machine but hundreds of machines. Most
governments still run Windows software on their staff desktop/laptops, thats a
lot of licenses. Why upgrade from 7 to 8? Touchscreens are much more
widespread and 8 handles touch well. I know it is easy to hate on MS but they
are the dominant desktop/laptop OS for a reason and whilst their new offering
may not be the most amazing thing since sliced bread they do not really have
any competitors.

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OedipusRex
No, I don't think Windows will dominate the market like is has in the past but
saying Windows 10 will not succeed is completely false. Windows 10 is free to
those who have Windows 7 and up, there is not monetary value for those who
upgrade and Microsoft knows that. Microsoft will make a majority of the
Windows 10 profit from selling the OS to PC manufacturers for consumers who
buy new computers.

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whitehouse3
Couldn't the same be said for OSX and Linux? Legacy builds are always more
stable. Users will migrate when:

1\. The existing OS is no longer secure

2\. The features of a newer release become necessary.

Certainly the use case for desktops is changing - but this is a challenge for
the whole industry, not just Windows.

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Mosix1975
_than_

