What's behind Microsoft's fall from dominance?

[nicholas]

ubuntu might not bundle it, but there is dvd player software out there that is illegal in the usa and some other countries but completely legal in some others. There are fully licenced proprietary linux dvd players available for those who live in the usa.

ftfy.

http://www.cyberlink.com/eng/press_room/view_1849.html
http://www.fluendo.com/shop/product/fluendo-dvd-player/

I should also mention that the exact same DVD players that are available for Linux are available for users of Windows in those countries outside the USA. (VLC, MPlayer, FFMPEG, libdvdcss etc)

http://www.videolan.org/legal.html

[ElPolloDiabl]

Read a book on all the Windows 8 secret functions... Suddenly it becomes an interesting OS. MS shouldn't have to force everyone to get a more bloated OS, because most people just don't need to upgrade.
The problem is that you are forced to have it pre-installed on a new system.

If you want to downgrade I am pretty sure the Win8 serials work for Win7. Dig around for a link from MSDN.

The mobile market sickens me. There is no innovation there. Just bigger, faster etc. to sell more devices.
Problems like: Your battery will last two hours in use, but then the competing model will have the same problem.

[Iggy]

Read a book on all the Windows 8 secret functions... Suddenly it becomes an interesting OS. MS shouldn't have to force everyone to get a more bloated OS, because most people just don't need to upgrade.
The problem is that you are forced to have it pre-installed on a new system.

If you want to downgrade I am pretty sure the Win8 serials work for Win7. Dig around for a link from MSDN.

The mobile market sickens me. There is no innovation there. Just bigger, faster etc. to sell more devices.
Problems like: Your battery will last two hours in use, but then the competing model will have the same problem.

Thus sayeth the Devil Chicken and verily it is most true.

Two hours if you are lucky.
And people wonder why I still use a regular cell phone.
My battery stays charge for about a week.

I really like the Galaxy S4, but its not that practical as a phone.
I use my phone to call people, not run applications.
Those, I'll run on a small notebook or tablet.

[commodorejohn]

That was definitely one of the reasons and it's a really justifiable one.

I'm not arguing that. It's their decision, and while I think it was a stupid one, it's not fundamentally wrong.
 

Let us be clear, you can't possibly know whether Microsoft were threatened to drop DVD playback. I was merely showing that Apple bundling everything with the OS while Microsoft getting hassle was a real thing & therefore comparing Windows & MacOS like that is like breaking someones leg and then punishing them for not being able to run a marathon.

I can't possibly know? Since when was I the one claiming that? You openly claimed that Microsoft dropped DVD playback in response to pressure by other vendors - I'm asking if you have a source for that.
 

Your ability to troll is wasted here.

My ability to troll is never wasted.
 

Do you realise your righteous indignation makes you sound like a git?

Do you think I care?

(Also, that wasn't even righteous indignation, that was exhausted disgust.)

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

They don't come with DVD playback, the user has to install a codec or standalone player like VLC to enable it. Same as Win8.

Ubuntu 13.04 can play DVD's using it's built-in "Videos" application, no 3rd party software or additional downloads required.  Don't believe me?  I just did it, fresh install of Ubuntu only a couple days old.  I'd be glad to shoot you a video.  Although if someone really wanted to watch a lot of movies on any system, I'd still recommend VLC.

My only point in bringing this up was, that if someone buys a new computer out of the box, someone who doesn't know a whole lot about computers (unlike everyone on this forum obviously, yadda yadda), and see the label for DVD on the drive, pop in a disc... they should be able to play it with no hassle.  This is just such a basic feature these days that everyone expects to be able to do it without having to think about it, ya know?

Anyhow, carry on with your other arguments now.  

[Iggy]

...carry on with your other arguments now.  

+1 :hammer:

Thanks for the news about Ubuntu Mike.
It used to be my favorite linux distro.
I'll have to check it out again.

[nicholas]

Ubuntu downloaded and installed the DVD playing codec when you ticked the box to install third party codecs during the installation wizard.

As you are in the USA you broke the law you naughty boy.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyxLGSMtqtM  

[persia]

I just bought a camera that runs Jelly Bean.  It's kind of neat to SSH into work or play Angry Birds on my camera....

[psxphill]

I can't possibly know? Since when was I the one claiming that? You openly claimed that Microsoft dropped DVD playback in response to pressure by other vendors - I'm asking if you have a source for that.

No, I didn't openly claim that. I said that comparing Windows with MacOS on bundled software was flawed because Apple don't get sued while Microsoft do.
 
You obviously are exhausted as you can't even troll effectively anymore.
 

My only point in bringing this up was, that if someone buys a new computer out of the box, someone who doesn't know a whole lot about computers (unlike everyone on this forum obviously, yadda yadda), and see the label for DVD on the drive, pop in a disc... they should be able to play it with no hassle. This is just such a basic feature these days that everyone expects to be able to do it without having to think about it, ya know?

Everytime I go to an ATM and insert my card there is money available, it's such a basic feature that I expect the money to be available without having to think about it. I opened a new bank account and the ATM won't give me any money, why doesn't it give me yours?
 
Or in other words why should everyone subsidise a feature in Windows that the majority of people don't use? Just because some users are too dumb? If they buy the version of Windows without the DVD player then it's their own fault.

[psxphill]

This pretty much throws the whole argument out the window... not only is Windows 8 less capable, it costs more, too. Way to go, Microsoft! *facepalm*

It's not less capable, you can buy a copy of Windows that includes DVD playback. It appears that Microsoft increased the price of Windows 8 in February, you should have bought it sooner.

[commodorejohn]

No, I didn't openly claim that. I said that comparing Windows with MacOS on bundled software was flawed because Apple don't get sued while Microsoft do.
 
You obviously are exhausted as you can't even troll effectively anymore.

I won't dispute that it can get exhausting dealing with you and your "everything Microsoft does is perfection and wonder!!! Anyone who doesn't like it is just a hater!" nonsense. However:

So Microsoft get pressure to drop it from Cyberlink/WinDVD, who made better products.

This is what you said in a post that you made which I have now linked to twice. Its meaning is not changed by its context. Did you or did you not mean what this sentence says? If you did, can you provide a source?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

It's not less capable, you can buy a copy of Windows that includes DVD playback. It appears that Microsoft increased the price of Windows 8 in February, you should have bought it sooner.

You've completely missed the point.  In the face of rampant criticism (and I don't mean just on this forum - look at the thousands of reviews on any major website you care to google) one of the few options Microsoft has is to slash prices... which is exactly what they've been doing with the Surface lately... but instead they chose to raise prices?  That's why the *facepalm*.  Ah, nevermind.  I give up.  And as for "should have bought it sooner", yeahhhh, no.  :p

[psxphill]

That's why the *facepalm*. Ah, nevermind. I give up.

I'd take your point more seriously without the pantomime.
If you can't make you point without LOLing, facepalming etc then don't bother.

[commodorejohn]

People wouldn't facepalm so much if you didn't make them.

[psxphill]

I won't dispute that it can get exhausting dealing with you and your "everything Microsoft does is perfection and wonder!!! Anyone who doesn't like it is just a hater!" nonsense. However:
 
This is what you said in a post that you made which I have now linked to twice. Its meaning is not changed by its context. Did you or did you not mean what this sentence says? If you did, can you provide a source?

I never said that everything Microsoft did was 100% perfection. I only ever mention Windows here at all because you repeatedly say that everything that Microsoft does is 100% pure evil.
 
It's obvious that cyberlink and windvd would be unhappy about windows 7 supporting dvd playback. But no I don't have any recordings of phone calls or copies of confidential emails that can prove that to you. However there is plenty of evidence that shows that when Microsoft bundle anything that the software industry already supplies then they get sued. It could be that they removed DVD playback purely to annoy you, because it's funny watching you get wound up. They said it was the license cost, but I think they are lying.
 
The irony is that a lot of the user base doesn't care about the cost of windows 8 or whether it includes dvd playback, because if you pirate windows 8 then you may as well also pirate powerdvd.