Mr. Kingsley-Hughes is only partly right.
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| Author | Content |
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| r_a_trip Jan 14, 2010 4:37 AM EDT |
Falling hardware prices are a threat to Microsoft's gravy train. Stating that hardware pricing is the sole threat and dismiss Linux altogether is short sighted. The only thing that is true is that Apple isn't a threat to MS. Apple caters to the crowd with ample disposable income and an inclination not to want to fuss with anything. Computing in the appliance category. A small, high-end niche market. (Never mind they wouldn't license OSX in a million years). Why are falling hardware prices a threat to MS? The answer is Linux. If there wasn't a capable and cheaper alternative to Windows/Office, Microsoft wouldn't be in trouble. What are you going to install if the only choice is Windows? But there is a choice. A more affordable and infinitely more flexible platform. Linux is the perfect companion for low cost computing devices, because Linux is a low cost but complete computing platform. The generation that grew up in a Windows only world is dwindling. The new generation is used to all kinds of (mobile) interfaces and more importantly, they are familiar with the central software management paradigm. App stores are priming the new generation for the central repositories of Linux. "It's like an App store, but all the apps are free!!" (They will focus on the beer aspect more than the speech thing, but hey, we all had to start somewhere). In essence, 2010 is the year in which MS is no longer a monopoly. They are forced to compete. They are still big, powerful and a vicious adversary to be reckoned with, but their main advantage now is inertia in the installed base, not their prowess in killing off the competition. The competition has grown impenetrable defenses (GPL anyone?) against their antics. |
| hkwint Jan 14, 2010 4:53 AM EDT |
What these writers often forget, is the whole netbook-market was created as a result of a Linux device: The OLPC. A new market of "e-book multitouch tablet-PC" will be created, by Notion Ink for example. Most of them run Linux, because it's easy for those tiny startups to customize Linux to their hardware even before their hardware is production-ready. ARM is causing Microsoft to lose developers, and that's not because of 'falling hardware prices'. It's because the unability to (cross / re-) compile the closed Windows-ecosystem for Linux, or port it to another version of Windows, like CE. Even if Microsoft compiled Windows for ARM, they're still victim of all the closed applications made by 3d parties they can't compile for ARM. Microsoft a victim of closed applications, yeah, I like that! |
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