What's behind Microsoft's fall from dominance?

[stefcep2]

Re: business.  Business doesn't have high hardware and software turnover.  There are businesses still running P4's with Server 2003 and Office 2003.  Their computer is just a tool, they don't need a different hammer...we are one such business with 6000 employees..

OTOH consumers hardware is good enough and has been good enough since since Win 7 came out for most people's needs.  Games no longer push the hardware as they once did. No new hardware means no new operating system is needed.

Also the Win 8 experience is just too jarring for experienced users, and lets face it, who wants to waste time and effort re-learning to do the same thing a different way.

The other thing is the sort of things that non-computer enthusiasts did on PC's they can do more coveniently with a phone.

[stefcep2]

I havde heard that MS will fall song since the 90s, its not going to happen.

And regarding win8, you may or may not like it, but it took my mother a very short time, less than 1 hour, to learn it. It is actually very user friendly.

Was that on a tablet or PC?

If it was a PC could you mother do what she does on a PC just as well on her phone or  a touch tablet?  If so then she's probably not someone who needs a PC anyway. In which case there's probably no compelling reason for it to be a Win 8 phone or tablet.

[stefcep2]

The compelling reason is that it's by Microsoft and they are a software company. You can run Windows 8 on hardware that shipped with Windows XP. They are less likely to leave you out in the cold.
 
Apple stop offering OS updates after a few years, so you're forced to upgrade your phone.
 
With Android you're lucky if you get one update by your manufacturer and its likely to make your phone unusable. I have an android phone and I'm fed up with substandard software.

I don't have any apple or android devices so I can't comment, but MS has a very long history of making hardware obsolete with their OS upgrades.

In fact it was the Vista disaster that told them people would not play the hardware upgrade game anymore, forcing them to make a faster booting more responsive , less resource hungry Win 7.  Some say more so than even XP SP 3 on old machines.

No-one really knows what path they will take as Win 8 matures on phones and tablets- they might just exclude certain CPU's, GPU's, screen resolutions, especially now that they own hardware manufacturers like Nokia and make their own tablets.  Its in their interest to force you to update your phone and tablet hardware, just like everyone else does.

[stefcep2]

I've never really understood how Linux gets away with free DVD playback

[stefcep2]

Simple: non-commercial projects are exempt from a lot of restrictions like patents, and Linux is largely non-commercial.

I doubt that: on the face of it, if I take somebody's work which they derive a living from and give it away for free for others to use, I may not make money from it, but I am still aiding in depriving the owner of the work some of the proceeds they are entitled to for their efforts.