What's behind Microsoft's fall from dominance?

[SysAdmin]

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/Microsoft-and-Ballmer-and-Nokia-Oh-My-78901.html

[Duce]

Hack article, at best.

Elop stands a fair chance, but a shoe in?  That's a real stretch.

[nicholas]

Oh dear.

http://slashdot.org/story/191479

[bloodline]

Oh dear.

http://slashdot.org/story/191479

At least XP still works... Though annoyingly Apple now only support Win7 in boot camp :-/

[psxphill]

I've heard Classic Shell on Sourceforge.net makes Windows 8 almost tolerable.

I'll make sure not to install it, almost tolerable would be a step down for me.
 

Jerky DVD playback with third-party applications, because Windows 8 no longer includes DVD playback capabilities as standard. I *hate* DVD's, and even I facepalmed when I saw this decision by Microsoft. :p

DVD playback was only ever included in windows 7 home premium/ultimate/enterprise, it wasn't included in earlier versions of windows or the other windows 7 versions. IIRC Microsoft had to pay license fees which was a percentage of the cost of Windows. Lots of machines don't even have optical drives anymore & it wasn't that good either, cyberlink was always better.
 
It makes sense for Microsoft to drop DVD support because it isn't cost effective.
 
I don't miss windows media centre either, early adopters could get it for free but even that wasn't worth it for me.

[Fats]

My God!
I really don't like this guy, but I wholly agree with him here.

Microsoft is here to stay and our OS' are relegated to hobbyist pursuits.

I also think Microsoft will be here for a long time but it's also clear iOS and Android are currently in the driver's seat and Windows (Phone) needs to need run hard to catch up.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I'll make sure not to install it, almost tolerable would be a step down for me.
 
DVD playback was only ever included in windows 7 home premium/ultimate/enterprise, it wasn't included in earlier versions of windows or the other windows 7 versions. IIRC Microsoft had to pay license fees which was a percentage of the cost of Windows. Lots of machines don't even have optical drives anymore & it wasn't that good either, cyberlink was always better.
 
It makes sense for Microsoft to drop DVD support because it isn't cost effective.
 
I don't miss windows media centre either, early adopters could get it for free but even that wasn't worth it for me.

Media Center is attrocious, but all versions of Windows 7 AFAIK can play DVD's directly through Windows Media Player, I just tested it on a Windows 7 Professional box.  Also for giggles I popped a DVD into a freshly installed Ubuntu 13.04 laptop I have sitting here, and the DVD began playing in the built-in "Videos" application.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but Mac OS can still natively play DVD's, correct?

So it seems like Microsoft was the only major player to remove DVD playback capability from their OS and force users to have to hunt down 3rd party applications.  Now mind you, I hate DVD's so really couldn't care less, but it just seems a bit... premature... to remove DVD playback, when there are still a large percentage of the population who use things like Redbox, no?

[dandelion]

This all said - we have just got a new suite of MS laptops at work. Brand new high spec ones, with MS Office 2013. Office 2013 is just awful. Certainly, Microsoft remains a behemoth, but it's hard to escape how dreadful some of their major software has become, and that it's being recognised as such by people who previously didn't want to/couldn't think such things. Windows 8 is widely recognised as an update to be avoided and if it came with your new machine, something to show your friends and laugh at.

Microsoft's marketing and influence has been so pervasive that people who pointed out the company's failings in the past were aggressively shouted down (as we've seen in this thread). Whether this is a "Tyranny of the Majority" effect (read John Stuart Mill's excellent essay) or just people (consumers, businesses, governments) incapable of admitting that all the money they've given Microsoft might not actually have got them the best that money can buy, I don't know. But what we're seeing, I believe, is a shift from this for the first time. Microsoft is still massive, with a hugely dominant existing user base, but people's opinions are changing and they're going to have to work a lot harder to make this up.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

It's just following the same pattern.  Office XP - terrible.  Office 2003 - great.  Office 2007 - terrible.  Office 2010 - great.  Office 2013... you get the idea.

For laughs read some of the reviews on amazon.com.  Office 2013 has close to 90% 1-star reviews, and Office 365 is even worse.  :p  If they don't shape up it'll be LibreOffice or Google apps after this!

PS - with your license for Office 2013 you receive downgrade rights to Office 2010, so you can run either.

[psxphill]

So it seems like Microsoft was the only major player to remove DVD playback capability from their OS and force users to have to hunt down 3rd party applications.

Ok, yeah I missed that it was in professional. It's not in home basic or starter.
 
Microsoft always have problems when they bundle software, because of the whole monopoly thing. Apple get away with bundling a lot more because they aren't the incumbent OS. If Apple ever get the majority desktop market share then expect them to have similar issues. Compare Microsoft being sued for bundling Internet Exporer to Apple bundling safari (http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-can-the-eu-come-after-microsoft-for-anticompetiveness-but-apple-gets-a-pass/)
 
So Microsoft get pressure to drop it from Cyberlink/WinDVD, who made better products. It allowed Microsoft to reduce the price of Windows 8, which is much cheaper than Windows 7. I'd expect OEM's to bundle a player if they sell a windows 8 machine with a DVD/bluray drive (and I believe most of them do). But it makes perfect sense to me.
 
I think the Linux distros should also be subject to the same controls as Microsoft, if you get five free media players bundled with Linux then how is anyone ever going to compete with those. You could argue that they should get bundled too, but that misses the point of allowing competition.

[commodorejohn]

I think the Linux distros should also be subject to the same controls as Microsoft, if you get five free media players bundled with Linux then how is anyone ever going to compete with those. You could argue that they should get bundled too, but that misses the point of allowing competition.

So you want to screw over people using a free OS by applying commercial restrictions to a non-commercial product simply for the sake of making Microsoft look less cheap for dropping something that cost them a small fraction of their sale price.

Yeah, that's totally a reasonable stance.

[Iggy]

Not including DVD playback in all versions of Windows is remarkably lame.
Well, I can always fall back on XP MCE and MorphOS (my copies of both shiipped with that capability).

[XDelusion]

Mobile Devices

[Iggy]

Mobile Devices

Cell phones?
Nah, I don't enjoy the small displays.
My iBook or a netbook (or possibly a tablet) is about as mobile as I want to go.

[XDelusion]

Cell phones?
Nah, I don't enjoy the small displays.
My iBook or a netbook (or possibly a tablet) is about as mobile as I want to go.

 I'm talking about the masses, not us die hard computer nerds. All us sane folk were using Atari or Amiga long before Windows anyhow.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

It allowed Microsoft to reduce the price of Windows 8, which is much cheaper than Windows 7.

Just FYI, see attached screenshot, made today from neweggbusiness.com.  If anything Windows 7 is cheaper since they have the 3-pack option.  Below this was Windows 8 home, which was retailing for $99, but I'm a business user and only buy/recommend business-class solutions.

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*

Edit:  haha, look at all the low reviews for Windows 8.