25 replies to this topic

[Stefancos]

For many, many years now Microsoft has been the King of operating systems, the default choice for 95% of people who are buying a computer.
Most of the people who own a PC own one because of the Internet. But in the last few years The Internet, or how we regard it has changed.

Smartphones, and more recently Tablet computers like the iPad have made Internet something portable, to carry around with us, put on the table, take to the toilet with us.

In the world of the portable OS, there are 2 main camps. Apple and Android. (yes there are others, like Blackberry, but they are no were near as well-known)

In this segment of the market, Microsoft who are almost impossible to avoid when it comes to regular PC's and laptops, are almost invisible.
I only ever used one device with Windows Mobile, and it was a disaster. Slow, cumbersome, difficult to understand.

The future of computer is with these portable devices.

Will Windows be able to keep up?

[Blumenkohl]

Microsoft will be fine. They have plenty of smart people to make good enough products to stay relevant. Are they going to be the game-changing rivals that Apple and Google are? We'll see, probably not, at least not for a while.

[Trent Bennett]

I agree with Blume, I think Microsoft will be fine. The only time they come out of the shadows is for a new release of Windows. Speaking of which Windows 8 is being currently worked on. There's someone on Starship Modeler who's been beta testing it and he says it's like Vista, something that never should have been made. Unfortunately all the laptop and computer companies will be switching to Windows 8 once it's released. They did it with Vista and they stuck with Vista until Windows 7 came out.

From what I have read from the poster who's doing the beta testing on Windows 8, I won't be upgrading at all. I'm perfectly happy with Windows 7.

I don't think I would ever get a Windows 7 phone at all. All though It think my brother Russ had a Windows phone and didn't mind it too much. I know I'll be sticking with the iPhone since this has been the best phone I've had.

[Blumenkohl]

Think of it as European empires post World War I and II, Steef.

Not quite the USSR or USA, but relevant and instrumental enough to matter, especially with regards to who they throw their lofty weight behind. (In our tech situation Microsoft tends to be siding with Apple in this new balance of power).

Of course, this period of low-stress not being "an industry leader", if Microsoft is smart, gives them an opportunity to really develop and learn while the big boys battle it out, making them far stronger when the next shift in the balance of power happens.

[Quint]

I can certainly see where Steef's coming from, though. Before the iPod generation it seemed as though MS was this unstoppable software behemoth - which it probably still is, for now at least - but with the advent of the recent "hardware wars" they seem to have fallen out of fashion and in a big friggin' way.

They keep coming out with so many ideas, so many failures (Zune, Windows Phone), that they almost look... desperate.

[Trent Bennett]

They keep coming out with so many ideas, so many failures (Zune, Windows Phone), that they almost look... desperate.

Sad but true.

I saw a Zune up close and personal a few years ago and I didn't like it at all. Weird interface and it seemed to be a bit more sluggish compared to an iPod.

[Stefancos]

People are passionate about their Apple products or their android stuff. I don't see people sharpening their knives to defend the integrity of Windows.

We buy a new PC, and we use Windows 7 because that's what it comes with. It's the default choice, and we are used to it. Like a Big Mac.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Windows 8 is not like Vista. It's like their WIndows Mango Phone OS. Should be interesting to see how it works on people's desktops.

[Pasi Tiitinen]

Eh? You have no idea of new Microsoft & Nokia system? I t will wipe the arse of the Apple soon. Android Ekosystem
might be the most succesful though.

[Stefancos]

The big advantage of Android over Apple is that you have soooo much more choice.

Apart from the hard drive size, there really isn't any difference between the different price levels of iPhone. They all look the same, they all have the same features and they all work the same.

It's actually a bit boring.

[Jason LeBlanc]

Us knowledgable techie people find it boring and love the options android gives us. But average Joe Q Public likes the simplicity of the iPhone, and thats why it sells so well.

[Stefancos]

Apple use to be the alternative choice.

[Trent Bennett]

The big advantage of Android over Apple is that you have soooo much more choice.

That's one thing I've been a bit frustrated with regarding Apple. For the most part you are restricted to using iTunes. Where as with the Droid Eris (when I had one), you were able to drag and drop music right onto the phone with Windows Explorer. I really wish Apple would be able to have the same interface for the music portion.

[Marian Schedenig]

The new version of Windows Mobile has generally been getting rather positive reviews, it seems primarily a question of whether they can catch up with Android and Apple in that regard.

Overall, as usual, Microsoft has come to late to a major trend. They missed the internet in the 90s and could only temporarily get the lead in the internet consumer sector after the browser wars, which for years damaged the internet formats and standards. Luckily, the success of open source and Firefox put Internet Explorer in its right place, and nowadays hardly anyone but big corporation (who, in my practical experience, are just too blinded and tied into the whole Microsoft machinery to even begin to realise the alternatives) uses it. The server market has never been Microsoft's major domain, they've always shared it with Linux.

Microsoft's big claim is to the desktop, and to the business world through their Office suite, where they have so far been successfully keeping competitors at bay by establishing their own non-standard formats and making it hard for everyone else to be compatible with them. That seems to be their only reliable foundation: A desktop everyone is used to (it's not that Apple and Linux desktops are worse, in many ways the Microsoft desktop is simply antiquated, but people are used to it, and everything that's different scares them before they can see the benefits), and an Office suite many people have to use because they depend on being able to handle the formats. I don't know how likely it is for Microsoft to claim a relevant share of the current smartphone market, but as long as people are tied to MS Office and Exchange, they're quite safe.

The big advantage of Android over Apple is that you have soooo much more choice.

That's one thing I've been a bit frustrated with regarding Apple. For the most part you are restricted to using iTunes. Where as with the Droid Eris (when I had one), you were able to drag and drop music right onto the phone with Windows Explorer. I really wish Apple would be able to have the same interface for the music portion.

That would be against everything Apple is striving for. I give them credit for having a way of simplifying the user experience by focusing on things every user can handle. But they've always been doing it at the expense of advanced features, preferring to completely ignore them rather than just putting them where only experienced users would find them, and they've always been focused on tightly controlling their eco system. Only for a brief time did they allow other companies to produce Apple devices, and never (that is, not while they adhere to their current business model) will they allow anyone but themselves to fully access their data and devices. iTunes is a prime example. Basically, they're like Facebook, only with a much more loyal (to put it mildly) fanbase.

[Stefancos]

The small amount of experience I have had with the iPhone 4 told me that while its very user friendly, its not more user friendly then my Android run HTC Desire.
Also I just don't think the iPhone 4 is a particularly goodlooking device, which is very rare for Apple. (the iPod 3gs was far better looking).

[Marian Schedenig]

Also I just don't think the iPhone 4 is a particularly goodlooking device, which is very rare for Apple. (the iPod 3gs was far better looking).

I'll never understand why the iPhone 4's design is so lauded. I haven't been a big fan of Apple's designs for years, but usually they at least look decent. The iPhone 4 looks like a brick, or like an unrefined prototype.

[Stefancos]

It does. I rather liked the curves on the previous model. But the 4 looked so crude. with those ugly sticky-out buttons on the side. It looked like they were aping then then current Samsung galaxy.

[Trent Bennett]

I agree with both of you about the way how the iPhone 4 looks. Hell the iPod Touch looks sleeker than the iPhone.

[Stefancos]

I had a first generation Touch which looked sleeker and thinner then the iPhone 4.

[Quint]

I still use my iPod Touch 3G(S), brilliant little device and my first Apple purchase,

[Stefancos]

My HTC does everything that my Touch did, only fater and better.

[Quint]

I'd like to give a HTC a proper going over. I'm actually keen to find out if they are as well made and enjoyable to use as I've heard they are. Can you get Safari on Android? If not, what do you use? I imagine all alternative mobile browsers to be shit. I installed Opera once and it was horrible.

[Stefancos]

Mine comes with a build in browser that is in looks rather similar to Safari. I tried Android versions of Firefox and Opera and found them slower and cumbersome then the default one.

[Quint]

The reviews for apps such as browsers are never any use either since people happily award five stars just because they like the colours.

[Stefancos]

I agree.

[Datameister]

The future of computer is with these portable devices.

Not for me...