All Things Microsoft > Microsoft as a Company

Microsoft buys a share of Facebook

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Calum:
well, if MS no longer make operating systems, who'd fill the gap?

seriously, who? i know there are "alternatives" to ms windows (i haven't had ms windows on my pc for so long i can't remember, although i am no linux/mac purist) but are any of them sufficient to replace ms windows in its strongholds? in fact it would be very good if there were alternative OSs ready to step up since then companies etc etc might consider those alternatives even when ms windows is still being sold, accelerating its eventual and inevitable demise.

Orethrius:
I'll guess and say "Mac OS X, Ubuntu, Novell|SuSE, and RedHat".  True, the latter two have "made a deal with the devil" as it were; however, Mac is actually gaining desktop share (despite articles to the contrary, the average growth rate has been +1.5 - 2% per year) and retailers like Dell are carrying Ubuntu pre-installed on select systems.  Any way it goes, I think the writing is on the wall.  Let's just hope Ballmer throws another chair at it so we can confirm the notion. :D

Refalm:

--- Quote from: Calum ---well, if MS no longer make operating systems, who'd fill the gap?

seriously, who? i know there are "alternatives" to ms windows (i haven't had ms windows on my pc for so long i can't remember, although i am no linux/mac purist) but are any of them sufficient to replace ms windows in its strongholds? in fact it would be very good if there were alternative OSs ready to step up since then companies etc etc might consider those alternatives even when ms windows is still being sold, accelerating its eventual and inevitable demise.
--- End quote ---

The only thing companies want out of an OS is a large usable application pool, the ability to Ghost (without any hostname collisions etc.), and some support.

Ubuntu seems to have all these three. Don't know about Mac OS X's ability to ghost it on computers without hostname collisions.

However, if Microsoft would stop right now, it would take at least 10 years before companies switch.
This is for the simple fact of specialised applications running only on Windows, most sysadmins who are too affraid to switch to anything they aren't used to, and a community who would still improve the "abandonware" Windows.

Aloone_Jonez:

--- Quote from: Refalm ---However, if Microsoft would stop right now, it would take at least 10 years before companies switch.
This is for the simple fact of specialised applications running only on Windows, most sysadmins who are too affraid to switch to anything they aren't used to, and a community who would still improve the "abandonware" Windows.
--- End quote ---

That's not quite true, even if Microsoft stopped selling Windows, they would still own the copyright so it'd still be illegal to distribute it. People would have the choice of keeping thier existing computers running Windows for the next 10 years or buy new machines running an alternative.

There are plenty of cases where companies have stopped making software or even gone bust and the liquidators have managed to shut down sites that redistribute their programs.

_LiquidOxygen:
So that means that when they stop or go bust, it means their software can't be purchased for any longer?

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