The Week: Windows is doomed

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Navneet Alang, writing in The Week, hit the nail on the head: [W]ith its emphasis on the cloud, artificial intelligence, and more, Microsoft may well
[See the full post at: The Week: Windows is doomed]

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Thanks for that link – not in the UK edition!

Win10 22H2 Pro, MBAM Premium, Firefox, OpenOffice, Sumatra PDF.

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Last one out, be sure to close the window – fixed that for you Woody!

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AlexEiffel, HiFlyer

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Another “the PC is dying” article disguised this time as a “Windows is dying” article.

The world has not moved on to mobile.  How many times do we have to keep having this discussion?  People who have lightweight needs have moved on, but a lot of things don’t lend themselves to phones.  AMD just released a new GPU; like the last one, you had to be quick to get it before it was sold out everywhere you look.  Bitcoin miners, they say.  Is that going to move to phones?  I’d love to see that.

Admittedly, Bitcoin mining itself is not going to “save” the PC, if it does, in fact, need saving.  It’s simply an illustration that “the world” has not moved on to mobile.  A subsection of the world that never needed all of the power and flexibility of a PC in the first place has moved on.  The rest of us are still here, El Guapo.

Windows may, though, be doomed, but it’s not for the reasons stated in the article.  It’s because Windows now means Windows 10, and few people are enthusiastic about 10.  Many of us are determined to avoid it like the plague (that it is), and a lot of people who use it not because they *love* Windows as Nadella said he wanted, but because they get Microsoft’s “drift,” so to speak, when they keep telling us that resistance is futile (or “abandon all hope, all ye who enter here.”  Your choice.)

Another month has gone by, and that means another set of stats from netmarketshare.com.  It’s been one year since the Windows 10 free upgrade period ended, and in that year, what can be observed about the market share of various flavors of Windows?  Windows 10 has gone from 22.99% to 27.99%, an increase of exactly five percentage points.

What about Windows 10’s main competition (such that it is), Windows 7?  It’s gone from 47.25% to… drum roll please! 48.43%.  It’s increased in share by more than one point.

It appears that, according to these numbers at least, the 5% increase in Windows 10 share over the last year (in absolute terms) has come strictly at the expense of Windows 8 (down about half a point), 8.1 (down nearly two points), and XP (down about three and a quarter points).  Linux, for the very first time since I’ve been watching month by month (I started right after I first tried 10 and hated it), has gone past 3 points, which very well could just be a momentary blip in the numbers.  It’s at 3.37%, more than three quarters of a point up from last month.  It’s too early to be hopeful about that; I would be surprised if it holds.

If Windows is doomed, Windows 10 is the reason.  Or, perhaps, it would be more proper to say that Microsoft is the reason.  It’s always been a bit risky on patch day, but the quality of Microsoft’s patches has just fallen through the floor since they fired their quality assurance people.  (Who could have seen THAT coming??)  MS has been trying to shake off the reputation for making shoddy, buggy products for years, ever since the pre-XP days, when Windows would crash if you looked at it funny.

The myth of Windows instability stuck around a lot longer than the actual instability itself; from the release of the NT-based Windows XP onwards, it’s been a whole new ballgame.  Now a lot of techie type people are saying that XP never really was any good until SP2 or SP3, that it was crashy as ever before that, but to me that seems like revisionism.  When I moved to XP in around 2002, it was instantly obvious that it was a wholly better product than its consumer predecessors.  It was based on the beloved Windows 2000, which had developed quite a reputation for stability, and while the controversial Luna theme looked jarringly different from 2k, it was a very close cousin “under the hood.”

Now, it seems, Microsoft is working toward earning back its reputation for producing buggy, unstable code rather than trying to dispel it.  Again, who could have predicted a lack of quality assurance after they fired their quality assurance team?  Like so many other things MS is doing to Windows these days, it seems suspiciously like deliberate action rather than bumbling incompetence.  Perhaps the Windows ship isn’t sinking as much as it is being scuttled.

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Good summary.  If you noticed the article also said that the interest in iOS has spurred interests in Macs.  I was in the Apple store last week and the iPad, MacBooks and iMac desktops were flying out of the store (back to school time here).  While in the minority, I was surprised many of the 27″ large iMac AIO (desktops) boxes being carried out.

I asked a middle aged man and a college age woman carrying the boxes what they liked about it and was it their first Mac as I was considering one.  Both said they wanted a quality, stable system compatible with their iPhones and iPads.  Both said their Windows machines were no longer reliable.

I agree that this is just anecdotal in an area where there are a good number of Apple stores, but I was surprised about the unsolicited comments of their PCs not being reliable anymore.

I would like a 27″ iMac, but the cost/hardware ratio is still somewhat of a negative.  However an iPad is on deck.  Right now PC parts are dirt cheap, so the Linux build is starting to move.

My one criticism of the article (and many like it) is it never even mentions the impacts or needs of the PC gaming communities.  Gaming laptops are increasing in number (AND price).  I know many folks using the phones and tablets for more and more, but gaming is not one of them.  I frequently here the PC is for serious stuff like gaming and doing taxes. 

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Bill C.  In my town at the mall closest to me, there are two stores almost next door to one another.  One a Microsoft store and the other an Apple store.  I don’t have any statistics, but it is hard to understand how the MS store justifies the huge rent.

Meantime, every time I’ve observed, the Apple store is bulging at the seams.  People even line up hours before the store opens.  And this is a huge store, same size as the Microsoft store.

Microsoft has nothing to sell but X boxes and defective Surfaces.  They also sell some PC manufacturer’s machines.  When someone goes to the Microsoft store, there is no one there that will help them.  At the Apple store (next door), people come walking out all day long just in love with the way they were helped.

CT

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My experience when I bought my iPhone was the single best retail experience ever.  We had the same last month when my wife bought her iPhone at a telco and brought it for a screen protector.

Our mall has both also, same observations here, except during the Holiday X-Box season.  Actually it seem like some of these folks live at the Apple Store.

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Ascaris, it is bumbling incompetence.  The marketing types are painting lipstick on that darned pig.  The important thing to know is that is not just incompetence in the ranks of coders.  It is rank management incompetence who clearly do not understand the business.

Purely and simply this is vastly overpaid “C” execs taking the biggest share of the dying pig they can get.  The truth is and they know it, MS days are numbered.  Google and Apple are eating MS lunch.

It used to be a MS exec could get a job anywhere anytime.  Not so much any more.  That prize goes to Google execs.

CT

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Elly, HiFlyer, AJNorth

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This writer hit the nail on the head “Windows is Doomed.”  It confirms my opinion which I have been nursing for close to two years now.  It is the reason why, after 3 decades of my personal investments of all sorts in Windows, I have told my clients that I do not and will not do Windows 10, which is certainly not Windows.  Windows 7 is my last Windows concentration.  As Windows 7, shades to darkness, so will my Windows investments and career as provider of support.

Supporting those Win7 clients has become very difficult as Microsoft continues to blunder with Windows Update so badly that I now consider Microsoft’s Windows Update a bigger malware threat than anything else out there.

After all Microsoft’s fumbling with the so-called Windows (10), of all my 150 client computers, TWO have switched to 10, after falling victim to the forced upgrade.   That pretty much confirms my expectations.

Previously, of those clients about 20% (30) replaced with new each year.  In the last year that has amounted to 4 and they were actually Win7 computers.  One 16 year old client is actually in the process of buying a new Dell Win7 computer right now.

I was a well-known customer at the local computer store as I was there about twice a week.  I have not been there in 2 months now.  I used to be up and informed on the latest in PC tech.  Today, I don’t even read the articles.

When forced to make recommendations, I suggest consideration of Chromebook, Mac or smartphone.  Absolutely warn my clients away from anything from Microsoft as they are a completely untrustworthy provider.

CT

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The article’s author opines that Windows is doomed because of the dominance of Android and iOS in the mobile market,(Win 10 Mobile being absent) ie the mobile market will eventually rule the computer-world, thus obsoleting the immobile market in which Windows presently dominate(= Win 7/8.1/10 over MacOS and Linux). I disagree.
… The author did not address the issue of Windows(MacOS, Linux) being a necessity for doing serious work at home, in the office or factory or for playing most online computer games. He just brushed the issue aside by claiming that new technologies will enable the mobile OS to trump immobile Windows OS, eg Augmented Reality and AI(= Siri, OK Google, Alexa, Cortana, etc). In fact, Augmented Reality should find more use in immobile Windows OS, eg for playing computer games. AI is just a new technology to make people more lazy, like the washing machine.

The mobile and immobile markets are separate and will remain separate for many more years to come. Maybe, forever.
… The mobile OS, ie Android and iOS, are basically OS to run a mobile phone with supplementary Internet mobile computing capabilities. They require a mobile telco package plan to run, ie to make mobile phone calls/texts and/or surf the Internet, eg more expensive subscriptions from T-Mobile, Verizon or Sprint, compared to a fixed/immobile landline subscription from an ISP like AT&T for a Windows computer.
… So, it was foolishness for M$ to try to merge the mobile and immobile OS platforms, starting with Win 8 and then Win 10, eg Metro Tiles, Settings plus Control Panel, Windows Store, etc.

It is the super-greediness of M$ that may doom Windows, specifically Win 10, which is beginning to cause Windows Update to be borky, the twice-yearly OS upgrades to be destabilizing and some rejection of Win 10 by consumers and corporations.

So, Windows, MacOS, Linux and other immobile OS are here to stay.

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I agree, the PC isn’t going anywhere soon. You can’t do serious content creation on Mobile no matter how hard you try to shoehorn it in. You just won’t get the same control you do with a Mouse and Keyboard. Also you can’t do PC gaming on a phone either.

There are still people who will need PCs, and there are still people who want them over Mobile.

Windows too, will be around for some time because of businesses, but I will agree with the article and say that yes, Windows is dying, and that’s largely because of Windows 8 and 10 (Even though 8.1 is decent, just poorly marketed).

In the mean time, Linux is looking like a better choice everytime Microsoft has a big fumble with Windows 10 FCUOEMBBQLOL.

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Elly

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Canadian Tech wrote:

When forced to make recommendations, I suggest consideration of Chromebook, Mac or smartphone. Absolutely warn my clients away from anything from Microsoft as they are a completely untrustworthy provider.

Same with me– I would not recommend anything MS these days.  But for my own use?  All three of those are non-starters.  I have the knowledge level to make Windows 8.1 work for me for the next few years, as long as MS at least somewhat meets their obligation to keep it patched for security until 2023, and from then to move on to Linux full-time (which I could do now, but why should I as long as Windows still has a bit of life left in it?).  Others can do this too, of course, but those would not be the people asking me for advice on what to do.

CT, your reasons for warning clients away from MS match mine (though I don’t really have clients as such; it’s the reasons that are the same), but they’re not the reasons in the “Windows is Doomed” article.  Windows isn’t doomed because no one wants PCs anymore, as the author suggests… it’s doomed because MS has developed a strategy of repeatedly abusing and betraying the core users whose support and business over the years has propelled MS into the lofty position they’re in, all in the futile effort to try to reach for a market that has moved beyond tolerating a sparsely-populated app store.

At one point, both Apple and Google had what we would now consider to be poorly-stocked app stores too.  That was in the early days of the smartphone; people were amazed just to have a selection of apps at all, so the relative paucity of apps didn’t bother anyone.  That was years ago, and MS has missed the boat (understatement of the year).  Their idea of trying to use their PC platform dominance to lure app devs into making phone apps because they can also run on PCs was something I would have predicted (and did predict when 8 was released) was going to fail miserably.  With a huge software library designed for the desktop PC platform, why would any consumers want to go for phone apps, which at the time could only run full-screen in Windows 8, on the desktop instead?  MS had all their eggs in that one basket; there was no plan B.

By the time it was clear that 8 was a failure and that it was never going to deliver their phone-oriented Windows Store, trying the same strategy again with 10 was already too little, too late, but it was all they had.  When you add in the browbeating, the spying, the ads, the frenetic update pacing, the perma-beta quality, and the control that MS had usurped over people’s PCs, it should have been obvious that this was not going to work any better than 8 had in terms of forcing a reasonably-stocked Windows Store into being.

Microsoft claimed to be “mobile first, cloud first,” while pushing a nutty half-and-half UI onto traditional non-touch PCs, while completely ignoring their mobile customers who are begging for the smallest tidbit of support.  How can they be mobile first while allowing their mobile customers to languish and twist in the wind?  The diehard mobile fans at Windows Central have been asking, pleading, begging for some support from MS, but they’ve gotten nothing.  They’re lamenting that there are NO Windows Phones available now if their Nokias should be lost or broken; they’re devoted to the Windows mobile platform, but there is quite literally no way for them to stick with it once their current phones are no longer usable, and they all know it.

How was this nutty strategy to use the desktop dominance supposed to get MS anywhere in the mobile market if they’re busy ignoring the mobile market at the same time they’re supposed to be considering it “first?”  It’s like the Post Office messed up and delivered the “Mobile” parcel to the PC people, lost the “PC” parcel, and delivered nothing to the mobile people.

It truly boggles the mind.

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Ascaris, I agree that people still want a tool to do work.  Indeed they need such a tool. The reason Windows is dying is not because no one wants an imobile PC, it is because Windows, which has been that tool for decades now, is just no longer a useful tool.  That forces a lot of people to find other ways to do things.

Apple is an alternative, but limited because of price, a paucity of useful tools and just as much a privacy threat as MS.  The only real difference between Apple and Microsoft now is the attitude of Apple people, which is stunningly superior to MS.

That price gap between Apple and Windows computers is narrowing considerably.  Just try to find yourself a nice laptop to replace that one you bought 5 years ago for $500.  You are looking at $1000.  As Windows dies, the market for Windows machines withers, competitors drop out and prices rise.

CT

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anonymous wrote:

Last one out, be sure to close the window – fixed that for you Woody! ?

No need. It will close itself…..

There are 10 kinds of people:
those who understand binary numbers
and those who don't.

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Ascaris wrote:

… Like so many other things MS is doing to Windows these days, it seems suspiciously like deliberate action rather than bumbling incompetence. Perhaps the Windows ship isn’t sinking as much as it is being scuttled.

Why bother scuttling the ship at all? If Microsoft was no longer interested in Windows itself, then why put so much effort into “Windows 10” ?  They could have just as easily said something like: “Windows 7 and 8.1 will continue to be supported to their natural end of life in 2020 and 2023, and we will not continue to build new windows versions.  We are now reorienting our product line, etc.”.

As for everyone who has any sort of “investment” in windows, which is pretty much 90% of the planet, MS could also just say “tough luck, rebuild”!  Imagine the boom for the economy  if all those desktop programs and hardware had to be rebuilt to work on another platform!

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Ascaris wrote:

How was this nutty strategy to use the desktop dominance supposed to get MS anywhere in the mobile market if they’re busy ignoring the mobile market at the same time they’re supposed to be considering it “first?” It’s like the Post Office messed up and delivered the “Mobile” parcel to the PC people, lost the “PC” parcel, and delivered nothing to the mobile people. It truly boggles the mind.

Indeed it truly does boggle the mind!

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AJNorth

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John in Mtl wrote:

Why bother scuttling the ship at all? If Microsoft was no longer interested in Windows itself, then why put so much effort into “Windows 10” ?

I can only speculate, of course.

Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop is an asset that still holds a lot of value, but MS seems to have little faith in the continued value of that dominance.  If their apparent belief that Windows is doomed (for the same reasons in the article, that no one will want PCs anymore), to simply let Windows 7 and 8.x support timers run out and leave it at that, they’re essentially allowing a considerable asset to depreciate down to zero value while they stand and watch.  Better, then, to liquidate that asset before that happens; begin a series of short-term changes to squeeze the Windows customer for all they’re worth, which will increase cash flow in the short term, but in the long term will harm the Windows franchise and eventually lead to people abandoning the platform.

If the idea was to keep Windows viable into the foreseeable future, a “kill the golden goose to get all the eggs now” strategy would be really terrible, but if the goose is terminally ill anyway, what is there to lose?  There is no value in trying to preserve the goodwill of the Windows customers toward MS (whatever remains; before 8 came it was actually fairly decent, with lots of praise for 7 and the Vista debacle fading from memory) iff Windows is going to die anyway.

That’s my guess, anyway.  If this is accurate, MS must have concluded that the development costs of 10 would be recouped by whatever monetization plans they have in mind.  They may well have a bunch of them that they haven’t revealed to us yet, depending on how things unfold.  Nothing’s written in stone, so if MS had found that their plan to use the desktop dominance to make a mobile app store had worked, their possible plans to scuttle Windows could easily be reversed.

I can’t think of any way that MS could be planning to keep Windows viable into the foreseeable future with all they’ve done.  It all seems oriented toward short term gain with long term expense.  MS has resisted using the full power of their Windows monopoly for the entire time it has been a monopoly, until now.  That’s the only reason they’ve been able to maintain it for so long.  When a company puts a monopoly into full effect, the gains short term can be great, but they don’t last long.   When a critical mass get fed up, someone will break through the monopoly, and it will be all over.  IE and Firefox and then Chrome, for example.

 

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I have two desktop pc’s and a laptop all between 3 and 6 years old running Win7 x64 sp1 on intel core i5 or i7 processors that are either 4th gen (the two desktops) or 2nd gen (the laptop), and all are fully updated to date.  Since I am 68 years old and Win7 still has almost 2.5 years of support to go, and I have the store bought original Windows 7 x64 sp1 dvd’s (one is home premium and the other is an oem professional dvd); I see no reason to move away from Windows 7 x64 sp1.  In my opinion it’s the best Microsoft OS ever produced and I am very happy with it.  I don’t use my computers more than three or four hours a day and don’t leave any of them running when not in use.  I find myself using my smartphones or tablets or my Samsung Chromebook II (which I love) for almost everything I ever do online.  Lately I have tried keeping track of what I am receiving downloaded from the internet; and I have found that almost half of the data downloaded was to update the Windows software on the two desktops and the laptop through the monthly updates, as well as the Adobe and Symantec software on those machines, or other updates to the software on the computers.  So when January, 2020 comes around, I’m just going to disconnect the three Windows machines from having access to the internet, disabling their network adapters; and I’ll use my Chromebook II (which has standard usb 2.0 and 3.0 ports for usb thumb drives to download and transfer data or files to the pc’s) and the tablets and smartphones for all my internet access.  If I buy a new computer or laptop it’ll be running either the Chrome OS or Linux Ubuntu Desktop.  Windows 10 is nothing more than a slowly unfolding disaster – a waste of time and money.  Dell and HP cannot be happy.

 

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anonymous wrote:

Last one out, be sure to close the window – fixed that for you Woody!

Our window is ajar..with only A NEW HOPE to cling to until 2023

The term ‘the dark side’ has been used in jest for GNU/Linux over the years but, the force has changed since the GWX campaign and as it stands, MS is veering towards that term if not worse.

As a long time Windows user, undoubtly like others on this forum, I am personally disheartened by the direction/ method in which MS has taken and is taking for their operating systems, leaving their loyal fanbase reeling in discontent.

This article seems to me to be heavily influenced by falling PC sales (fact) and the mess that Microsoft is creating may be a contributing factor. The patching side of things for techies and non-techies alike, is a b***** disgrace and should be honoured with respect for the people who put Microsoft in such a commanding position globally. There is a huge level of mis-trust associated with MS at the moment which, will be difficult for them to regain. Articles such as this, only fuel the mis-trust further.

The force is strong in this one!

Any questions, email: (read spam) SatyaNadella@…..com

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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johnf, Ascaris

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Some say that Microsoft is working toward moving x32 applications to the cloud. If that is at all possible it will probably not happen until after 2025. Assuming they can pull it off (and provide a guaranteed quality of service), it is obvious that consumers will be set adrift and there will be no more Windows as we currently know it.

From inception, MS stated that W10 was going to be Windows as a Service – not Windows as a Product.

The Cloud is Microsoft’s flagship now. Subscription services are it. When/if OS desktop Windows dies, it means that Enterprise users will be relegated to dumb terminals and that will make a lot of CFOs very happy.

In my younger days I worked in a computing center as a systems engineer and the building adjacent was a data center. The talk of the day was that the data center was going to die – distributed processing was it. It seemed unreal at the time but it happened. Now the pendulum has swung the other way. Back to data center services is the vision – what was old is now new, again.

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I’ve had a handful of people ask me today – as a result of reading The Week – “What will we use for logging into our 401(k) accounts if we won’t be able to use Windows”? These folks don’t want anything to do with mobile apps, so I suggested a chromebook or a Linux machine or a Mac. Well, the Macs are too expensive. The rub on the other 2 is that “they’re not supported”. So, I looked at some websites, and sure enough all they talk about is mobile apps and Windows and Macs. There’s never any mention of chromebooks or Linux or browsers used with them.

So, my question is what do I tell these folks? If they go out and get a chromebook or a Linux machine with Firefox, are they going to be able to access their accounts? I realize this is potentially pretty open-ended because of the multitude of financial sites, but I’m wondering what experiences people have had with Linux and/or chromebooks and financial websites.

Moderators: Feel free to move this post somewhere else. I didn’t really know where to put it, although this topic seemed timely.

Thanks.

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Elly, lurks about

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Have you tried Firefox? It works on all my financial sites.

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DrBonzo

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This is the type of small issue that often gets forgotten as folks consider migrating to a new OS.  A friend of mine learned the hard way at tax time and he had to get a refurbed cheapie PC for his tax software.  Our accounts are able to use Firefox on Linux, but only with the full multi-factor security steps as the validation software for a private computer only works on Windows.

It is not a real big deal, but it means a quick check is a longer process.  It is also why one machine will remain Windows 7

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HiFlyer, DrBonzo

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Advise them to keep their Win7 machines usable. Plan to keep them long past when MS stops “updating” them. In my humble opinion MS updates provide more danger than safety, anyway.

Eventually, the US govt and most agencies will be moving over to Ubuntu, as many governments across the world have been doing already.

CT

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@Canadian Tech:  I am at a total loss as to  having updates “out there”, and being on Defcon-2.  I know you do not recommend “updates” at all (I think).  I have mine set at “NEVER UPDATE”, and have not checked to see what is even there.   I’m searching for some guidance insofar as determining if its “safe” to leave it at “NEVER CHECK FOR UPDATES”, and then co a check for updates.   I’m not sure where any of us stand, and I recall that your recommendation in the past was to NOT update.   Is this correct?

In the past I have kept the ‘NEVER CHECK” on and still gotten the updates so I could see what was there.  Advice from any source will be most appreciated.

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Walker, I have my clients computers updated to and including May 2017 using the Security-only model that is resourced in

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/2000003-ongoing-list-of-group-b-monthly-updates-for-win7-and-8-1/

This is the work of pkcano.

This kind of updating is too complex for the vast majority of Windows users/owners. So, I undertake to do it for my clients remotely at such time as I log in to their systems. I expect that will be about twice per year.

As of June, MS blundered into a serious problem for this style of updating. They issued a fix for a defective “security only” patch in a non-security only patch. That leaves an erroneous update installed unless you install from the standard stream. I regard that as unacceptable so, this is likely the end of updating of Windows.

You are correct. I have concluded that from a day to day ordinary home user/owner perspective. The threat of Microsoft malware (updating) is significantly greater than from all the hacks in the world.

My policy is to insist on a high quality up to date functioning antivirus/only software package (I use Bitdefender Antivirus + 2015/18 as a standard) along with sensible practices and backups is the right way to go. By the way, from this perspective, the only reason Win7 will die is if your hardware dies or the other supporting software providers desert Win7. The January 2020 date becomes meaningless.

Many of my clients are using systems that were converted from XP to 7 with a purchased retail upgrade licence. Those licences are perpetual and can be re-installed in new PCs. The majority of them also use Office 2010 and are very unlikely to ever install a more recent version.

I have to report that ever since the threat of forced Win10 “upgrades”, I have practiced a very limited updating policy. All of my client computers are set to never and that never changes. There has not been a single instance of an infection or serious problem in these years. In fact, demand for my assistance has distinctly dropped off. My clients’ PCs are more stable than they have been in history. My own Win7 equipment is completely reliable and predicable.

The drop off in demand is at least partly due to a major shift to smartphones and ipads. My clients use their PCs about 25% as much as they did 5 years ago.

By the way, an aside….
I have switched from Logmein (after 10 years) for my remote work to TeamViewer. The best change I ever made:
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/search/teamviewer/

CT

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Elly, walker, AJNorth, Cybertooth

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@Canadian Tech:  Thank you so much for the information you have provided.  You have an excellent system to protect your users.   It’s good to know that you have been very successful in the manner you are utilizing to protect yourself and your users.  Thank you once again for sharing your expertise, and invaluable knowledge.  It is most sincerely appreciated.     

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Elly, Canadian Tech

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I have had no issues with Linux and a variety of browsers including Chrome, Opera, and Brave over the last few years.

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“What do I tell these folks?”

You can test out Linux (live CD or Live USB), and use User Agent for Firefox

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/impersonate-browsers-user-agent-switcher-firefox/

Or User Agent for Chrome

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher-for-g/ffhkkpnppgnfaobgihpdblnhmmbodake?hl=en

You can impersonate a user on Windows using IE or Chrome for Windows. That works on most web sites, at least for me, when I need to login using Linux. It’s also why the % of listed Linux users is so low, as you show up as a Windows user when you do that.

 

 

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AlexEiffel, DrBonzo

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Yep, keep Win 7.  to the bitter end  Push come to shove since there were still a number of XP users, wouldn`t you know  they did an emergency update this year.

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wdburt1, AJNorth

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Well I think its a little too early to write the epitaph for “Windoze” and Desktop Computing just yet.
Hey Vinyl Records and Turntables came back didnt they ?

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HiFlyer

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I agree wholeheartedly, based on my own experience and work needs, that the PC is far from dead or in terminal agony: much too useful for many important and necessary practical tasks for that to happen any time soon, as several people have, rightly, already pointed out here.

It is possible that the top management at MS might be killing Windows as a ploy to make more money for themselves, let’s say, off their already quite generous bonuses and stock options, by assuming their moves will make their company stocks rise, through some kind of arcane market speculation, or acting on some such greedy, short-term financial machination, without regard for their users’ interests; it is also possible that the people running MS are merely incompetent. And it is also possible that both those things are true.

And it is even possible that the trouble with Windows is the result of perverse internal big-corporation political games that are contrary to the health and very long-term survival of its main business.

As to issues accompanying the move to other PC operating systems (Mac Os, Linux…), with, e.g. on-line banking: for some of that and for now, there might be a workaround, if not a very convenient one, as already indicated here. But, in the longer run (the real question, of course, being: how much longer?) banks and other institutions relying on IE, or Edge?, for secure on-line access to their services will most likely move away from MS-provided Windows browsers to some of the alternatives, to allow access to a growing number of their customers. And this might be more likely than not to happen, keeping in mind that “secure” is an increasingly questionable attribute of MS PC products, including its browsers, something the IT people at those banks, etc. surely know as well or better than most.

 

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I can pretty much see M$ moving to a subsciption basis for the traditional Desktop style and laptops in the future. After all Office 365 is like that, they have had “per seat” licensing, that I am aware of, since NT4Serv & Workstation though to this day. Since Office 2016 and Win10 hit the scene in 2015 and given that they will be at the end of projected life around 2025 (yes I believe office 2016 was around in 2015) Its a fairly safe assumption that 2025 is the date.
Pretty much they have to get around to inventing a whole new incarnation of an OS that will inevitably be essentially rebranded to distance them selves from the “die hard” Winows users who will stubbornly stick with the old brand and model, much as we know it now. That way should any malware apocalypse hit future machines they can safely distance them selves from it and not have to provide protracted support. Indeed I can envisage any new machine inc Laptop etc coming with the latest offering on a “one year free” then pay as you go. As “the Cloud” will probably be all to pervasive in the future your machine will be virtually useless without a network connection or subscription. More like the “dumb Terminal” or Win7 lite or POS of old.
I acknowledge that “handheld” devices will be all pervasive and may well swallow up the computing market. There will be a sizeble minority that will still want the Trad. style of computing, my self included;
A steady revenue stream by “tied subscibers” to a certain division of the company would make it attractive to hive off certain less than profitable parts to concentrate on financially more equitable parts of the company.
Hey theres a lot of ifs and buts in the foregoing assumptions and after all 7-8 years is a long time but I am sure this is what they are driving at as a Business model with some flexibility for the future. It may happen sooner rather than later but I still think its too early to write that epitaph just yet….or is it…?

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Elly, Cybertooth

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I was at an event in last couple of days and Windows 10 came up. Most of the people there are not IT pros but regular users. The Windows users despise 10 with some pretty funny and vicious comments about it (phoning home to our dark overlords in the mothership was common theme). What struck me was how unhappy regular users seem to be with W10, many to the point of actively trying to figure out what they should do in the future to avoid the train wreck they view Windows to be. (Another common theme was if you hate W10 wait to you see the mess W11 will be.) When Linux, Chromebooks, or Macs are mentioned as alternatives people seemed to perk up at the thought there may hope and they might get away from the detested Windows.

With the amount of venom I observed, MS’ mishandling of W10 is not endearing them to current customers. Customers who leave with vile taste in their mouths will not be customers again. It does not matter whether MS has a great cloud platform if enough people refuse to use it, it is will be market failure. Transitions are difficult but alienating existing customers in the hopes of landing future customers is never a was idea.

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Elly, johnf

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