4 ms·
I guess it’s surprising because how ubiquitous their products are. You’d expect them to be of better quality considering everyone is using MS software one way o
by f6v 2mo ago
I guess it’s surprising because how ubiquitous their products are. You’d expect them to be of better quality considering everyone is using MS software one way or another.
- TacticalCoder 2mo ago> ... considering everyone is using MS software one way or another. This used to be the case when Apple was in dire straits and MS abused their monopoly position to gain 95% of browsers market share. Grim days. But those days are thankfully long done and there are plenty of people who are completely Microsoft-free. The one thing people are using one way or another is Linux, because it's now in just about everything. Even those in the Apple ecosystem, with an iPhone and Mac computers, very probably have a Linux router and Linux TV at home. The number of devices in the world running one version of Linux or another outnumber Windows devices by something like 10 to 1. Maybe more. Microsoft is a despicable company producing turds since forever. I hate them and the crap they produce with a passion since the DOS days. As the saying goes: the day Microsoft shall produce something that doesn't suck is the day they'll start selling vacuum cleaners.
- inigyou 2mo agoGoogle of the 2020s is the new Microsoft of the 2010s.
- keiferski 2mo ago>considering everyone is using MS software one way or another. I don't think I've used a MS product in at least a decade. At least that I was aware of. Edit: did some research and I have used LinkedIn. Other than that, nothing.
- jkaplowitz 2mo agoNo GitHub at all?
- onetokeoverthe 2mo ago[dead]
- VeninVidiaVicii 2mo agoI suppose the argument is in reverse. They are so ubiquitous, they don’t really have to be good anymore to capture the market.
- doctorpangloss 2mo agoI haven't opened Office in years.
- inigyou 2mo agoThey haven't supported Office in years. You're only supposed to use the web app version now. And it's not called Office any more, it's called Copilot 365. Not joking.
- ipaddr 2mo agoThey haven't added a feature I needed since 2003.
- f6v 2mo agoWell yeah, but I've been involved with like 6 universities in different European countries and all of them use MS email.
- gh02t 2mo agoAnd they got that position of dominance more via shady deals and sketchy practices than by producing excellent software. Microsoft has done some good engineering, but that's not what made them what they are.
- wvenable 2mo agoI disagree. Microsoft software was some of the best. Maybe not because their quality was excellent but because their competition was easily worse.
- onetokeoverthe 2mo ago
- ankurdhama 2mo agoProduct quality has nothing to do with ubiquity. Its all about shady business deals that locks you into products where the migration cost is much higher.
- thewebguyd 2mo agoTheir products/services are ubiquitous not because they are good but because they got where they are today by abusing monopoly power and shady tactics. On the business side, with M365, they use lock-in tactics and extremely aggressive bundle pricing. The only competitor is Google Workspace, and it's missing features you get bundled with something like an E5 license. So your choice becomes: just pay Microsoft $60/user/month and get Identity, Office, Intranet, MDM, EDR, DLP, ZTNA, the works. Or, buy Google Workspace and then also buy Slack, Okta, JamF (or Jumpcloud or similar), some ZTNA product, etc. and you are now at double or more the price of an E5 license. On the consumer side with Windows, they secured their monopoly via internet explorer, and predatory OEM contracts to prevent machines being sold with anything else. Now Windows is just an ad-delivery network disguised as an OS. People don't leave Windows because its still, through those shady backroom deals, the default OS on every off the shelf PC, and because of existing software. Microsoft has zero incentive to build a good product now, they already won. People use it because they have to not because they want to.
- fryanyway_swe 2mo ago>extremely aggressive bundle pricing I mean it's a good deal. As you say, when a company goes above a certain size, it does not make sense to pay for GSuite + Slack + Zoom + RMM/MDM + Zscaler Windows is still good for gaming PCs, and it will now handle and update itself reliably. No I don't need to hear anecdotes, I work in the IT desktop space. IT janitor monkey if you will. There is no way an enterprise will convert laptops to linux or chromebook. You see it as malicious, but well, even Google have trouble in this space. Because it is hard.
- inigyou 2mo agoMicrosoft products are no longer ubiquitous. That's an early 2010s view. In 2026 most clients are running Android, followed by iOS, followed by Mac, and use Google Docs for their office work. Windows is only used on a per-company basis. If your company uses it it uses it, otherwise it doesn't.
- philistine 2mo agoYou got it mostly right. It's Android, then iOS, then Windows. It is still the number one PC OS, in terms of active users and sales. MacOS is a distant second. Of course in 2026, if you want to make money as a developer selling directly to consumers, your best targets are probably iOS and macOS. Android and Windows are rife with users who'll never buy anything and pirates.
- amrit3128 2mo agoYou're confusing number of people with percentages. There's still a large share of people who'll pay to use software on windows or android provided your software is good enough. This wrong impression comes from the fact that many users are from 3rd world countries who can't afford anything else. Steam made their entire business selling stuff on windows. And not just proprietary software. Many blender and godot addons are paid and nobody complains. Apart from developing software, where linux and osx are far ahead, in terms of industry software such a autodesk, solidworks, rhino, flstudio, etc, windows is THE platform you want to target of you are planning on monetization. And I'm saying this as a exclusive linux user of 3 years. You know who won't pay money? Linux users. Not out of lack of it, but mostly because of principle of FOSS software. And yes, I'd rather use a inferior FOSS alternative than a slightly better proprietary one
- inigyou 2mo agoEveryone I see who doesn't use Linux uses a Mac.
- p91paul 2mo agowell that only means there's a lot of people you do not see. The large majority, according to every available stat.
- dismalaf 2mo agoThey're ubiquitous because everyone else fucked up during the 80's and 90's charging too much for everything. MS was affordable. It's really just Apple gaining economy of scale by manufacturing in China and Linux being free while being higher quality that make MS look bad. Also MS stuff has always been slop. Hate their business practices too. But without Linux we'd be choosing between MS, Apple and Oracle Solaris or something...
- pjmlp 2mo agoI would much rather have the evolution of Amiga, OS/2 or BeOS, but it is as it is.
- gertrunde 2mo agoThe ubiquity is the problem I suspect. If customers buy the product regardless of the quality, then the manufacturer has no incentive to improve the quality.
- mrweasel 2mo agoIt cuts both way, because most of Microsoft customers aren't really exposed to anything better, they just believe that this is how it's suppose to be. It's just hard for someone to experience anything better, because Microsoft products are so ubiquitous.