Can Google and Apple take over the PC market?

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Very important post by Paul Thurrott: Can Google and Apple take over the PC market? And some significant insight from Steve Sinofsky: This misses one
[See the full post at: Can Google and Apple take over the PC market?]

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Dyed-in-the-wool Windows man here myself, and before that Vax/VMS and RSX-11M Plus… Before that IBM mainframes in Ancient times.

However…

My son, now 24 and graduating later this week with an advanced degree in Photonics and already having earned a degree in nuclear engineering, chose Apple years ago – AFTER I bought him a state of the art PC laptop running XP in 2004. Today, he STILL uses a 2008 MacBook. That says something.

We need to face the fact that the golden age of Windows computing has come and gone. The change was confirmed at the first pre-release of Windows 8, but the astute could see that there was really nothing new in Windows 7, just refinement. The beginning of the end.

Frankly, if all Microsoft can muster is the likes of Windows 10, then good riddance! It’s time to move forward again.

But…

Will the Unix derivatives upon which Apple and Google have based their business take us forward? Time will tell.

In the 1970s and in all the time since people always predicted Unix would be the one to ultimately take over. I never believed it, because Unix isn’t particularly elegant, but here we are.

-Noel

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Agree with you, right down the line. (And congratulate your son for me!)

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Wish you could (but sure you can’t) publish that Dilbert clip from 11/6/2012 after MS came out with Win8. He hit the nail on the head way back then.

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Take windows 8.1, remove all the tiles, don’t add edge, bring back the real start menu (I would accept WIN+W for control panel searches, and WIN+S for classic searches like in windows 8.1), don’t add cortana, fix keyboard shortcuts (like CTRL+S on the CTRL+ALT+DEL screen [broken in win10]), keep IE11 (with 64-bit appcontainer integrity mode), remove all the privacy problems… Windows 11 – “we’re sorry about the last few years” edition. Wait now I’ve lost track, I’m sure I’ve missed too many…

Ok, take MacOS, let me build my own machine (buy Apple license key), be sure every dialog has a cancel(/OK/Apply) button (no OS9 style “click the close button to apply these settings you messed with[while learning] OR unplug the Mac to cancel”, PLEASE). Also cut the prices a bit, I don’t need an ultra slim laptop with no DVD drive, SSD and ram soldered to the motherboard and no battery upgrades possible (no Li-Po batter that is thinner but lasts [wear/charge] shorter).

We live in hard times for computing.

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I can certainly publish a link!

http://dilbert.com/strip/2012-11-06

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Here is one more utilisation of Chrome OS.

I received this newsletter from Citrix which although has a close cooperation with Microsoft, has been involved for a while in developing and implementing solutions using Chrome OS machines as terminals for serving virtual Windows and web-based applications to end-users or in a different scenario, serving virtual Windows desktops.

Innovative Enterprises leverage XenApp & Chrome as their Platform of Choice

Virtual Windows and mission critical line of business apps on Chromebooks? Across your entire enterprise? That may have seemed unimaginable not long ago, but with our increasingly cloud centric and app-first world, the use case is a growing, viable and innovative alternative to traditional desktops and laptops. A number of leading enterprises across the globe have embraced this new alternative solution with both end users and IT alike enjoying a new level of productivity, security and cost benefits.

Chromebooks with Citrix XenApp offer a highly scalable, secure and easy to implement and manage solution that allows organizations to easily deliver any Windows or Web-based app with the highest level of security and performance. Learn about innovative use cases and the continuing momentum of a Chrome and Citrix XenApp solution in a variety of organizations of any size.

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Some of us like Desktops. I have no interest in a laptop, tablet, etc.

A desktop computer is easier to work on, easier to add stuff to, more standardized, easier to get the dust out of, etc.

All of my ports (USB, card reader, etc.) are right there, easy to access. CD/DVD drives are easy to access.

There are no battery memory issues with a desktop.

And everything is well-protected in a big metal case.

No compromises need to be made in order to make everything fit into a tiny package.

If you don’t need portability or mobility, then a desktop is much better computer.

In my opinion.

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The manufacturing world has a huge amount of proprietary development apps for high-dollar machinery that occasionally get squirelly if you try running that XP version of the app on WMWare over Win7.

I’m not gonna risk bricking a $3000 ControlLogix trying to run Allen Bradley Logix5000 from the cloud if AB decided to offer a Logix5000 program-from-the-cloud service, and its not just the cost of the controller, it’s the automation the PLC controls. Mfg values reliability above all, when your plant fixed costs are $100,000 a day to keep the doors open its very expensive every minute an assembly line is down, you only have so many hours in a day to make parts to cover your high fixed cost.

I think there will always be a mfg base buying legacy Windows machines. They may be using SSD instead but IMO there will always be that demand.

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ChromeOS and Android are destined for browser app status, so it’s really between iOS/MacOS and Linux. All else will run inside web browsers on those OS bases. So Google does not in my opinion, figure into the future of consumer OSes.

Linux could develop into its own device ecosystem, but I really don’t see this happening soon if ever.

Android will probably live on in phones forever, but on tablets and 2-in-1s, I don’t see a future for Android as the primary OS.

Windows will probably live on in servers and Cloud Computing, but these are business applications, not consumer OSes.

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