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> while long-term I and probably a million others are running for the exit, and doing our best to never use Windows, Azure, Outlook, Office etc again. So few co

> while long-term I and probably a million others are running for the exit, and doing our best to never use Windows, Azure, Outlook, Office etc again. So few companies out there seen to care about their long term reputation. Sadly, the number of people who will actually run for the exit is much, much smaller. People on HN are completely unrepresentative of the general population. I'm pretty sure MS has people who do user retention as part of design research, it is standard in the industry before rolling out a feature to all users. Especially when switching costs are high, even people who hate ads get used to them after a very short time. Plus, everyone who can afford a Mac and doesn't mind being locked-in to the Apple ecosystem is already there. Every mainstream platform is already inundated with ads. Social media is full of ads and sponsored posts. Most 'news' sites have gotten so bad that content is only 25-50% of the screen. E-commerce marketplaces from Amazon to Walmart are compromised and corrupted. People may run from one ad-saturated platform or site to another, but the norm is ads everywhere. If they're not running from that, would they notice or care about this?

QuadrupleA 4y ago
Well we're often the ones who recommend a computer to our parents and grandparents. Or the ones who decide which cloud hosting platform or email service provider to use in our organizations. People and governments are collectively getting fed up with surveillance capitalism. One can hope.
- 323 4y ago
  Well, I remember how 10 years ago tons of HN users were posting about how they changed the browser on all of their relatives and friends computer to Chrome. How did that end up?
  - MikeDelta 4y ago
    Chrome became the most popular browser in the market. (Unfortunately with its own issues.)
encryptluks2 4y ago
It took me a while to abandon the Microsoft ecosystem for my own use but I'm so glad that I did. It was a lot of careful considerations though and finding out what was important to me and how other open source projects aligned with those goals. I'm thinking maybe a site that has a way for users to pick things that matter to them and then recommend an OS and software would be a good idea.
prox 4y ago
This article was 50 percent ads. What’s interesting is that MS is doing things that the EU already gave substantial fine for making a browser default.
timbit42 4y ago
> Sadly, the number of people who will actually run for the exit is much, much smaller. Doesn't matter as long as the number is growing. As it grows, more people will tell others that they switched and it's better. It's slow to start but eventually it becomes unstoppable. I think Microsoft will keep the business desktop but they will lose the home desktop. When that happens, Eventually, games won't even be made for Windows anymore, like Macs today.

QuadrupleA 4y ago

Well we're often the ones who recommend a computer to our parents and grandparents. Or the ones who decide which cloud hosting platform or email service provider to use in our organizations. People and governments are collectively getting fed up with surveillance capitalism. One can hope.

323 4y ago
Well, I remember how 10 years ago tons of HN users were posting about how they changed the browser on all of their relatives and friends computer to Chrome. How did that end up?
- MikeDelta 4y ago
  Chrome became the most popular browser in the market. (Unfortunately with its own issues.)

encryptluks2 4y ago

It took me a while to abandon the Microsoft ecosystem for my own use but I'm so glad that I did. It was a lot of careful considerations though and finding out what was important to me and how other open source projects aligned with those goals. I'm thinking maybe a site that has a way for users to pick things that matter to them and then recommend an OS and software would be a good idea.

prox 4y ago

This article was 50 percent ads. What’s interesting is that MS is doing things that the EU already gave substantial fine for making a browser default.

timbit42 4y ago

> Sadly, the number of people who will actually run for the exit is much, much smaller. Doesn't matter as long as the number is growing. As it grows, more people will tell others that they switched and it's better. It's slow to start but eventually it becomes unstoppable. I think Microsoft will keep the business desktop but they will lose the home desktop. When that happens, Eventually, games won't even be made for Windows anymore, like Macs today.