Netizen: Microsoft Windows

Showing posts with label Microsoft Windows. Show all posts

Monday, February 03, 2014

An Opening For Microsoft: Supercheap Smartphones

I think the biggest new opening for Microsoft to get back on the tech map is for it to cash on its Nokia acquisition and a CEO who grew up in India, a country that has more poor people than any other, and to offer the cheapest smartphones across the Global South. That steep price gradient is the only hope Microsoft might have to become a significant third force in the mobile space where Android is the new Windows. If it were to move fast enough I think there is a slim chance that Microsoft might end up with Apple like global market shares.

The large number of Android manufacturers are tough competition though. Android is free. And those hardware makers are doing their best to offer cheap phones. But I have a feeling Nokia knows a thing or two about cheap.

Gates Seen Taking Bigger Products Role at Microsoft

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Ubuntu Out In The Open

Official Ubuntu circle with wordmark. Replace File:Former Ubuntu logo.svg. Español: logo de Ubuntu + marca denominativa Français : Logo officiel d'Ubuntu. Remplace File:Former Ubuntu logo.svg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are billions of people in the Global South waiting to lay their hands on their first smartphone. Android, welcome. Ubuntu, welcome.

Ubuntu Smartphone Aims for Success in Developing Economies

the world’s most popular Linux-based operating system, Ubuntu ..... he expected to make the most progress with the Ubuntu Phone in the developing world, where smartphone sales are only just beginning to take off ..... Ubuntu is already a household name in some of these markets due to its use on desktop and laptops PCs. “We ship on 30 percent of Chinese PCs today” .... models from Dell, Lenovo, and HP. “If you go into a store in India, you will see Ubuntu branding” ..... Canonical coördinates development of Ubuntu and makes money by offering paid-for support to companies using it, with many companies around the world using Ubuntu to run Internet and Web servers. Shuttleworth intends to replicate that model for Ubuntu’s mobile version. .... Ubuntu’s software makes wide use of sideways swiping gestures .... Even though a high proportion of PCs bought in India and China are bought with Ubuntu installed, many are soon wiped, with pirated copies of Microsoft Windows installed instead ... Yesterday Intel announced it would release a new smartphone chip aimed at developing world markets

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Windows 8: Another Case For The Chromebook

Image representing Windows as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

A most amazing thing about the Chromebook - and there are many - is you don't need anti-virus software on it. The plan seems to be that you stop paying your annual rent to Norton and with that saving you buy a Chromebook instead. The anti-virus software is so expensive, and the Chromebook is so cheap and getting cheaper.

Same Crap, Different OS: Windows 8

Crapware has long been a thorn in the sides of Windows users. Consumers and enterprise users buy PCs under the faulty impression that they’ll be getting a completely clean computer when they break open the box. Instead, they find a PC that’s been loaded up with junk that they typically don’t need. What’s worse, all of that software slows down boot times and performance, since the programs are usually set to load automatically and typically run in the background.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Single Platform Talk

I am enamored by the vision. I like the idea. You are the same person with your phone, your tablet or in front of your laptop. Why should the device feel different?

But there is an undercurrent here. Bill Gates would like to dominate the mobile space like the dominated the PC space. That is what he really means when he talks of one platform. In case you did not notice, Bill Gates never left Microsoft. He is still Chairman. China had Chairman Mao. Microsoft has Chairman Gates.

By the way, I am a huge fan of his foundation. There might not be another person on the planet as focused on poverty - laser focused - as the Chairman. The other Chairman also cared a lot about the poor. That one was practically a communist. Bill is the ultimate capitalist. I like that convergence. A lot.

The future of Windows is a single platform according to Bill Gates

Windows is really headed toward a "single" platform. That means that at some point in the very near future, your Desktop, your Phone and your Tablet will all share the same operating system.

What does Bill Gates think about the new Windows lineup?

Windows 8

Many have predicted the demise of Windows, and you look bold when doing so, but here is Microsoft claiming to have married the tablet touch into the laptop Windows.

Microsoft has a small but legitimate presence in the mobile space by now. And so I am not about to call the end of Windows. As for the sexy, that right now rests with Apple and Google.

The new Windows tries to give you the tablet feel.

Windows 8: Does Microsoft’s Split-Personality OS Make Sense?

Microsoft is trying to leverage its Windows customer base to drive demand for the phones and tablets that are the company’s future. .... consumers today would prefer to buy a tablet rather than a desktop or laptop ...... Windows 8 has two separate ways of working. There’s a familiar Desktop mode, which resembles the multi-window, taskbar-at-the-bottom world most users have becomes used to. But it also has a completely new interface somewhat awkwardly called “Modern-style UI” (previously “Metro”). ..... a full-screen grid of large, colorful tiles whose contents change dynamically to show, for example, new Facebook photo posts. On a touch-screen tablet, it seems natural. ..... the company’s particular vision of mobile computing. ....... Don Norman .. a former Apple vice president .. “The requirements of small-screen mobile devices are incompatible with those of large-screen fixed devices,” Norman says. “Windows 8 has a problem. The real business workhorses of Microsoft Office are not well supported by the mobile apps. So Microsoft had to provide a backwards-compatibility mode, which provides the necessary power, but makes things even more confusing.” ..... wants Windows-powered tablets to seem more familiar than an iPad to potential buyers. ..... they’re using the “tablet” interface instead of Desktop even on desktop computers.