Where is Windows heading?

An interesting comment from Microsoft at the end of an Australian Parliamentary enquiry into software/hardware pricing:

Microsoft: If our prices were unfair, people wouldn’t buy them

The last cab off the rank was Microsoft, fronted by Australian managing director Pip Marlow.

Marlow acknowledged that the company had not polled Australian customers about the fairness of its local pricing, but went on to argue that different markets require different prices and the sales figures speak for themselves:

We don’t set a global price for our products. We don’t believe that every market is the same. Emerging markets where the cost of living and the availability of technology is different has to be priced differently. At the end of the day, if we make a price too high in a particular market, customers will look elsewhere.​

The Committee then confronted Marlow with a pricing sample of 47 Microsoft products, of which nearly 66 per cent are more expensive in Australia than the US.

Again, Marlow cited Microsoft’s sales success in the country, claiming “if they don’t like it, they vote with their wallets”. Under repeated questioning, Marlow all but dismissed the main thrust of the inquiry, claiming: “You’re looking for one simple silver bullet. There isn’t one.”

The Committee then rattled off some Microsoft price comparisons between US and Australia. When lumped together, the evidence is pretty sobering:

◾Windows 7 Professional (US: $326, AU: $469)
◾Office 2010 (US: $356, AU: $499)
◾Word 2010 (US: $142, AU: $189)
◾Visio Pro (US: $570, AU: $900)
◾Visual Studio 2012 with MSDN membership (US: $12,000, AU: $21,000)​

As the questions drew to a close, Marlow claimed that the company would “consider” using different pricing strategies as the company moves deeper into the cloud.

IT Pricing Inquiry: A Recap Of Excuses | Lifehacker Australia

How much deeper into the cloud does Microsoft intend to go?
 
How much deeper into the cloud does Microsoft intend to go?

I think we all know the answer to that question.
No installable programs/software. :mad:
 

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How much deeper into the cloud does Microsoft intend to go?

I think we all know the answer to that question.
No installable programs/software. :mad:

Hi there

Monthly subscription process (or yearly) but subscription nevertheless.

Time to get out those legacy OS'es again (via VM's) and the Linux Textbooks.

As for one of the most BOVINE remarks that I've ever in my reasonably long life that I've ever heard " If Our prices were unfair people wouldn't buy" .... How could somebody even THINK of saying that much less people actually believe it.

For example I (and I'm sure millions of hard pressed drivers) never think the price of a litre of gas is reasonable on 90% of this planet. - Not always Oil companies fault -- Greedy govt's impose usually exhorbitant taxes on it too). So even though the price is totally unreasonable I still have to buy it. If you live in rural areas you have to rely on your car -- even the most fanatical of Green party supporters don't suggest running buses to remote communities regularly or if at all.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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But then oil companies post absurd record profits. Seems skepticism is in order.
 

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Seems these price 'discrepancies' exist everywhere. Take Adobe as a good (or worse) example than MS. Adobe pricing is almost a direct 1 to 1 - USD with GBP. Not sure how it works out with the AU$.

Wish I could walk away and use a linux distro but I do need Adobe and there is no way that I can find (via Wine) of getting their programs to run.

Good point Jimbo about fuel. Governments world wide go on and on about the price of oil but conveniently forget about their ever increasing tax take. In the UK we've got fuel tax then VAT on top of that. So a tax on a tax!!!!

Time to get off that subject as my blood pressure is going up.
 

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Wish I could walk away and use a linux distro but I do need Adobe and there is no way that I can find (via Wine) of getting their programs to run.

Forget WINE, you have to use a Windows VM. :)

VMware Player and Workstation can be installed in Linux distros.
 

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Forget WINE, you have to use a Windows VM. :)

VMware Player and Workstation can be installed in Linux distros.

Thank you. May try that route with an oldish laptop I'm using with Win7.
 

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Hi there
I am about to trying running a W2K3 server VM on SUSE (and I might also try Linux Mint). Note with VMWARE for LINUX you can use EXACTLY the same VM files that you did in Windows -- just open the Virtual Machine configuration files. Linux Distros these days don't have any trouble READING / WRITING NTFS files. Just don't open the SAME VM on a shared LAN on two different HOST machines concurrently !! (unless you are not allowing the VM to "be persistent" -- i.e after your VM session you can discard all changes --very god method for titorials / demos etc).

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Can anybody really know other then Microsoft. Here lately I find myself using my Mac more then Windows 8. Not really sure as to why since my Win 8 OS looks and feels more like Vista (just like the Vista UI better).
 

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Hi there
I am about to trying running a W2K3 server VM on SUSE (and I might also try Linux Mint). Note with VMWARE for LINUX you can use EXACTLY the same VM files that you did in Windows -- just open the Virtual Machine configuration files. Linux Distros these days don't have any trouble READING / WRITING NTFS files. Just don't open the SAME VM on a shared LAN on two different HOST machines concurrently !! (unless you are not allowing the VM to "be persistent" -- i.e after your VM session you can discard all changes --very god method for titorials / demos etc).

Cheers
jimbo

I'll probably just partition the 250gb SSD I'm running in the Samsung laptop and dual boot. See if Mint picks up on all the bits needed as I know there are no drivers etc available from Samsung for linux. Then take it from there. Thanks for the feedback.
 

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Hi there
I am about to trying running a W2K3 server VM on SUSE (and I might also try Linux Mint). Note with VMWARE for LINUX you can use EXACTLY the same VM files that you did in Windows -- just open the Virtual Machine configuration files. Linux Distros these days don't have any trouble READING / WRITING NTFS files. Just don't open the SAME VM on a shared LAN on two different HOST machines concurrently !! (unless you are not allowing the VM to "be persistent" -- i.e after your VM session you can discard all changes --very god method for titorials / demos etc).

Cheers
jimbo

Gonna see if I can get VMware Player running in LMDE 201303. I couldn't install it in Knoppix... this is also Debian based and i'm curious how the install goes.
 

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As for one of the most BOVINE remarks that I've ever in my reasonably long life that I've ever heard " If Our prices were unfair people wouldn't buy" .... How could somebody even THINK of saying that much less people actually believe it.

Maybe that explains the low uptake rate of W8. ;)

I'll probably just partition the 250gb SSD I'm running in the Samsung laptop and dual boot. See if Mint picks up on all the bits needed as I know there are no drivers etc available from Samsung for linux. Then take it from there. Thanks for the feedback.

Linux Mint 14 MATE (64 bit) ran all of my hardware "out of the box".

If you use a VM, you shouldn't have any problems either (but you may have to install VMware Tools).

Gonna see if I can get VMware Player running in LMDE 201303. I couldn't install it in Knoppix... this is also Debian based and i'm curious how the install goes.

VMware Player 5 works correctly in Linux Mint 14 MATE (64 bit) on my PC.

I couldn't install Workstation as the version I have (7.1.6) is too old (i.e. it doesn't have the updates for the newer kernels).
It did run correctly in Ubuntu 10.
 

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[h=1]Where is Windows heading?[/h]To the trash cart...
Microsoft is so big is could collapse like rock hitting water...
To survive MS need to think smaller and more compact.
Stop wasting billions on mistakes (Vista & 8)
Be more rational in its moves.
If it does not then it will sink fast like a gaping hole in a ship.
Windows will follow behind it.
"The futures bright, but more slim-lined"
 

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Other than a very short foray, well in the past, where Apple allowed third party manufacturers to make hardware, Apple has always made the hardware and software. Noting that Apple desktops and laptops are really in the weeds as far as take-up is concerned, I wonder what would happen if Apple did allow third party manufacturers to make systems based on OSX? I have a feeling that there could well be a huge surge in OSX uptake at the expense of Windows.
 

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One netbook, 3 Linux distros. Maybe the fragmentation of the Linux market is one of the reasons it hasn't gotten traction on the desktop.

Maybe machines that are well suited to content creation will be a niche market in a few years. Content consumers (mobiles, internet connected TVs, etc.) could be the primary market. I can imagine Apple as having a much larger share of a much smaller market.
 

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One netbook, 3 Linux distros. Maybe the fragmentation of the Linux market is one of the reasons it hasn't gotten traction on the desktop.

Maybe machines that are well suited to content creation will be a niche market in a few years. Content consumers (mobiles, internet connected TVs, etc.) could be the primary market. I can imagine Apple as having a much larger share of a much smaller market.

Lets see he has 4 OS on one box. Windows has 4 OS being used also XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Window 8.
 

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MS is hoping to get everything up there - including the os itself.

There will be cost and privacy issues for the punters.

Microsoft patent covers streaming OS plans | Geek Pick | Geek.com

The fast machine booting through streaming storage patent details how a virtual hard disk (VHD) image could be pushed to a user’s desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet (or just about any other device… perhaps a future Xbox?) and cached in memory
 

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MS is hoping to get everything up there - including the os itself.

There will be cost and privacy issues for the punters.

Microsoft patent covers streaming OS plans | Geek Pick | Geek.com

The fast machine booting through streaming storage patent details how a virtual hard disk (VHD) image could be pushed to a user’s desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet (or just about any other device… perhaps a future Xbox?) and cached in memory

That's almost like thin client. For decades Microsoft fought against Oracle (I think it was) and their push for thin client in the corporate space, and now they want to do basically the same. How is this going to work if you're nowhere near net connectivity?

The OS space seems to be opening up for Linux and Apple more and more by the looks of it.
 

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