3 ms·
There's no realistic competition because the amount of work to switch your OS ecosystem, especially for businesses, is huge. So the product doesn't have to be g
by pjc50 10mo ago
There's no realistic competition because the amount of work to switch your OS ecosystem, especially for businesses, is huge. So the product doesn't have to be good, you can just slam ads in the Start menu or whatever.
- spogbiper 10mo agoThe business version of Windows doesn't have ads in the start menu. That's the consumer/home version. The "Pro" flavors of Windows are quite a bit more pleasant and I don't think there is any downside even on a home computer.
- jamesfinlayson 10mo agoYes it wasn't until recently that I understood why people ran Windows Server as their home operating system.
- yuters 10mo agoAt one point the product is getting so bad that the cost of switching becomes a real consideration. It seems that every other year I hear about businesses and governments making the move.
- dmichulke 10mo agoIf you're good enough at killing lighthouse projects you can defer that. https://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Munich-Plans-to-Ditch-Linux-and-Go-Back-to-Windows https://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Munich-Plans-to-D...
- yuters 10mo agoWeird that they've decided to switch to Linux in 2004 when Windows XP was great.
- themafia 10mo agoMonopolies destroy everything. This isn't a binary it's a spectrum. You don't even need total control of the market, just extreme dominance of it, to see this effect begin.
- dangus 10mo agoThe competition is more fierce than it has been since before Windows 95 started the complete domination of the desktop market. Apple doubled their marketshare since the M1 chip came out. You can just go out and buy laptops from multiple OEMs with Linux preinstalled, and it’ll run all your business apps (Slack, Google Workspaces, Zoom, Spotify, etc, everything works). That would have been unheard of in 2010. You can even play a huge number of Windows games on Linux, and the most popular PC “console” is a Linux system from Valve (with another releasing this year). Microsoft has no control over the PC gaming market like it did back in the heyday of DirectX. I think Microsoft should be all-hands-on-deck trying to build reasons for customers to use Windows. I personally think Windows 11 is pretty good and is the most “going in the right direction” version we’ve seen in a long time, but it could be better. Yeah there have been missteps but the windows team does seem more free to just add stuff they wish had been in Windows for years but never got approval to go for.
- pjmlp 10mo agoApple prices are out of reach in many world regions. OEM laptops with Linux distributions pre-installed are only available on online shops known to HN/Reddit demographics.
- heavyset_go 10mo agoYou can buy Dell machines with Ubuntu or RHEL installed on Dell.com, same thing with Lenovo and their site.
- teki_one 10mo agoThe cheapest machine with Linux in the Australian Dell store is 13000 AUD (~9000 USD). You can buy many things for that money.
- pjc50 10mo agoWeird. The cheapest in the UK seems to be this one https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/desktop-computers/dell-pro-max-tower-t2-desktop/spd/dell-pro-max-fct2250-desktop/xcto_fct2250_emea?configurationid=9f23a34b-698e-41a4-86e5-f44271e9ddf7 https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/desktop-computers/dell-pro-m... at £647. It even helpfully tells you that choosing "no Windows" takes £100 off the price.
- perlgeek 10mo agoThe switching cost keeps decreasing, because more and more stuff is being migrated to the browser and/or cloud. Combined with some digital independence movements outside the US, I have some hopes that Windows monopoly starts to crumble.