3 ms·

Dude, no one pays for desktop software on Windows either, and it's doing fine.

kamarg 8y ago
Just going off of the AAA game market your statement is obviously incorrect. That doesn't get into productivity software, engineering applications (CAD, 3D modelling, etc), or the very large variety of enterprise desktop software to name just a few markets. Not everything is a web app these days and many people still prefer to own their software instead of being a recurring revenue source for the same functionality month after month.
- Spivak 8y ago
  People pay for games and specialized professional software -- indiscriminate of platform. Outsize of those sectors you'll be lucky to sell a piece of software not attached to a service.
scarface74 8y ago
Office 365 and Adobe’s subscription offering seem to be doing well.
- techntoke 8y ago
  When you have a company wining/dining and paying kickbacks, or when Microsoft hires erotic dancers for their events, then the top executives with no technical knowledge are happy to sign multi-year contracts that lock them into those vendors... if they don't, then Microsoft can always release their blackmail files.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    Pardon? I have Office 365 and Adobe subscriptions and have never been blackmailed or signed a multi-year contract.
    - techntoke 8y ago
      That's good. Do you have over 1000 accounts?
  - com2kid 8y ago
    > or when Microsoft hires erotic dancers for their events, I worked at MS for a long time. I can say that sort of stuff hasn't happened for quite awhile, and people involved in it happening were fired, some of them rather publicly. Now days, expense reports are gone over very carefully. Everyone at Microsoft attends yearly ethics training, which covers all manner of topics, including what is and is not acceptable to do to win sales. Realistically, when it comes to cloud based productivity systems, the choices are Microsoft or Google. > then the top executives with no technical knowledge are happy to sign multi-year contracts that lock them into those vendors Any half decent company is going to have at least a CTO in charge of these decisions. The CTO should have multiple people working for them that are capable of making engineering decisions. If a company sends a bunch of non-technical people to a technical presentation to make a technical decision, that is the company's fault.
    - dave7 8y ago
      > I worked at MS for a long time. I can say that sort of stuff hasn't happened for quite awhile, and people involved in it happening were fired, some of them rather publicly. 2016 isn't that long ago, and that's just one that was badly-judged enough to have made the news: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-18-microsoft-gdc-party-criticised-for-exotic-dancers-phil-spencer-apologises https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-18-microsoft-gdc-...
      - com2kid 8y ago
        And people internally were shocked at the stupidity of that event being put on. The overall feeling inside MS at the time was "wow, that was stupid, hasn't that team being paying attention to how the industry has been changing?" An even more formal policy change was then sent out, reminding people of dumb stuff they aren't supposed to do.
        vetinari 8y ago
        Are they also shocked by stuff like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_licensing_corruption_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_licensing_corruption... It was nothing in-your-face like strippers, but still pretty immoral.
cpburns2009 8y ago
My Steam account says otherwise.

Just going off of the AAA game market your statement is obviously incorrect. That doesn't get into productivity software, engineering applications (CAD, 3D modelling, etc), or the very large variety of enterprise desktop software to name just a few markets. Not everything is a web app these days and many people still prefer to own their software instead of being a recurring revenue source for the same functionality month after month.

Spivak 8y ago
People pay for games and specialized professional software -- indiscriminate of platform. Outsize of those sectors you'll be lucky to sell a piece of software not attached to a service.

scarface74 8y ago

Office 365 and Adobe’s subscription offering seem to be doing well.

techntoke 8y ago
When you have a company wining/dining and paying kickbacks, or when Microsoft hires erotic dancers for their events, then the top executives with no technical knowledge are happy to sign multi-year contracts that lock them into those vendors... if they don't, then Microsoft can always release their blackmail files.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  Pardon? I have Office 365 and Adobe subscriptions and have never been blackmailed or signed a multi-year contract.
  - techntoke 8y ago
    That's good. Do you have over 1000 accounts?
- com2kid 8y ago
  > or when Microsoft hires erotic dancers for their events, I worked at MS for a long time. I can say that sort of stuff hasn't happened for quite awhile, and people involved in it happening were fired, some of them rather publicly. Now days, expense reports are gone over very carefully. Everyone at Microsoft attends yearly ethics training, which covers all manner of topics, including what is and is not acceptable to do to win sales. Realistically, when it comes to cloud based productivity systems, the choices are Microsoft or Google. > then the top executives with no technical knowledge are happy to sign multi-year contracts that lock them into those vendors Any half decent company is going to have at least a CTO in charge of these decisions. The CTO should have multiple people working for them that are capable of making engineering decisions. If a company sends a bunch of non-technical people to a technical presentation to make a technical decision, that is the company's fault.
  - dave7 8y ago
    > I worked at MS for a long time. I can say that sort of stuff hasn't happened for quite awhile, and people involved in it happening were fired, some of them rather publicly. 2016 isn't that long ago, and that's just one that was badly-judged enough to have made the news: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-18-microsoft-gdc-party-criticised-for-exotic-dancers-phil-spencer-apologises https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-18-microsoft-gdc-...
    - com2kid 8y ago
      And people internally were shocked at the stupidity of that event being put on. The overall feeling inside MS at the time was "wow, that was stupid, hasn't that team being paying attention to how the industry has been changing?" An even more formal policy change was then sent out, reminding people of dumb stuff they aren't supposed to do.
      - vetinari 8y ago
        Are they also shocked by stuff like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_licensing_corruption_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_licensing_corruption... It was nothing in-your-face like strippers, but still pretty immoral.

cpburns2009 8y ago

My Steam account says otherwise.