3 ms·
They get away with it because their users absolutely refuse to leave for greener pastures. It's not because of the number of products they own, it's because th
by shiroiushi 2y ago
They get away with it because their users absolutely refuse to leave for greener pastures. It's not because of the number of products they own, it's because their users think "PC == Windows", and scoff at anything offered as an alternative, usually with some excuse about MS Office, or some other very specific software that most users don't use.
Meanwhile, in reality, it's easier than ever to be MS-free, thanks to the rise of web-based applications. There's lots of alternatives to MS Office, including MS's own Office365 online, as well as Google docs, LibreOffice, and others. Most users just use their computers for web browsing anyway, and that can be done on any computer. 20+ years ago, people had much better excuses, because most software was run locally, so if they used some proprietary Windows-only application, they were basically stuck unless they could get it running in WINE, but those days are mostly gone.
But people want to stick with what they know (even though it's actually constantly changing with every new Windows version), so they'll put up with whatever crap MS wants to put in Windows: spyware, ads, etc.
Of course, some people are rebelling and leaving Windows, as we saw in the recent article about Linux desktop usage being at an all-time high, but it's still only about 5%, though that's a lot better than 20 years ago.
- qnleigh 2y agoNah, Windows 11 finally pushed me over the edge, and as soon as I switched I realized the only Microsoft product I really liked was OneNote, which now works on Android and Mac.
- shiroiushi 2y agoI'm glad you switched (welcome!!), but I didn't mean to imply that zero Windows users are switching, just that the numbers are very low. So many of them complaing about all this crap, swear they're going to switch to Linux, but never do. They're all talk and no action. And we can see it in the numbers. As I pointed out before, the stats are showing a slow rise in Linux marketshare, so obviously there are some people switching, which is great of course. But at this rate it'll be a long time before MS really has to worry. And don't forget, a huge portion of MS's customer base and revenue source is businesses, not individuals, and businesses are probably even less likely to dump Windows. Lots of individuals these days don't even use a PC, they just use a phone or tablet.
- theshackleford 2y ago> absolutely refuse to leave for greener pastures. But Linux isn’t a greener pasture for the only thing I use windows for. For the things in which it is, I already use Linux or other non windows based operating systems. I assume you’re talking about “non IT” people though I suppose who may only be able to facilitate the usage of one operating system at a time.