4 ms·

I'm going to rant big time, and I expect downvotes, but this is my true opinion, has always been and will always be, so I see no reason to not write it down her

I'm going to rant big time, and I expect downvotes, but this is my true opinion, has always been and will always be, so I see no reason to not write it down here. I don't think Microsoft ever cared at all about customers or products. Microsoft has been making money out of patents and white-gloved mobbing for ever, not out of customer happiness. Probably around 90% percent of what they earn in OS licenses comes from preinstalled laptops and desktops, where the user doesn't even have the choice to reject paying for them because they gently mobbed all manufacturers into shipping with their crapware installed, so they don't even need to care about making a great product, just one that's good enough and works most of the times. I've paid for at least 5 Windows licenses that I never, not even for a split second, have used. First thing I do when I get a laptop is install Debian on it. I have NEVER even seen the Windows logo come up in any of my PCs, yet I've still had to pay their mob tax. No matter how much you fight with the clerk or how many emails you send to the manufacturer. They can't do anything. It all comes from above. The hardware and the software are a unit. It's a bundle, you can't separate it. Xbox one sucks, alright. So did all Windowses from 1.0 till 3.1, Windows 95, Windows Me (especially), Windows Vista, and uncountable other terrible decisions that, somehow, didn't manage to sink the company. I don't think yet another awful product will even manage to make a notch to their massive fortune.

tekromancr 13y ago
Yea, but 98se was bulletproof.
adventured 13y ago
Ok, interesting claim. So, how much money has Microsoft been making from patents exactly? Since you've made a very dramatic statement, I'd like to see a specific figure. And then I'd like to see that compared to Office, Windows, Server & Tools, etc. Why would anybody buy hardware with Windows on it, only to install Debian? Build your own systems, that's the really obvious and really simple answer. You're blaming Microsoft for your bad choices. You don't have to pay any fake tax that you're making up - simply stop buying the products that you are. You have no right to any particularly configured product to begin with; you're not entitled to any such thing. Create your own laptops if you're so bent about it. Sounds like you're taxing yourself. You can rant like a champ, but you can't custom build a Debian laptop? Whose fault is that exactly? I fail to see how that's Microsoft's fault, or how they owe you or Debian anything.
- bergie 13y ago
  They're apparently making about 8$ per Android device on the (secret) patent deals: http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-most-profitable-mobile-operating-system-android-7000015094/ http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-most-profitable-mobile-opera... According to Google's 1 billion activated Android devices, that would make patent revenue of 8 billion $ just on that platform. This compared to the about 70 billion $ yearly revenue they're making overall.
- glogla 13y ago
  Building laptops from scratch. Right. Requiring people to do the impossible or else they are "entitled" doesn't make for a very good argument.
- vetinari 13y ago
  So while we are here, why the entitlement to use Intel CPUs, right? They should go and and make their own silicon ingots and then their own CPUs in their own fab, right? There is a reason why the world is organized around this 'division of labor' concept. Excluding someone from it and then calling the complains about it an entitlement is not a good way forward.
  - yuhong 13y ago
    Reminds of the days when Compaq etc built their own chipsets. Of course I am not expecting them to do it now, but I do wish they were still as willing to fix BIOS bugs.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- bromagosa 13y ago
  And since you asked for a specific figure, it seems as of 2011 they were making $444 million annually [1] just out of their patents on Android. That's just out of the Android patents, a mere fistful among the more than 10.000 patents [2] they hold. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-microsoft-android-2011-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-microsoft-android-201... [2] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/11/microsoft_10000_patents/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/11/microsoft_10000_pate... edit: Also, are you seriously asking me to build my own laptop?
maxerickson 13y ago
In their 2012 annual report, they say 75% (which isn't all that different than 90%, it just gets rid of the probably). The os segment is about 25% of their revenues. It would be interesting to see how much of that revenue is from licenses that do not end up being used (My assumption would be very little of it. Which doesn't say anything good about there being a monoculture, but the unnecessary license problem is probably a narrow edge case...).
daivd 13y ago
AFAIK you don't pay a Windows tax on most laptops. All the adware, crapware, trial software and whatnot that are pre-installed pay for the Windows license. This is why the few Linux laptops that do exist are not really cheaper.

tekromancr 13y ago

Yea, but 98se was bulletproof.

adventured 13y ago

Ok, interesting claim. So, how much money has Microsoft been making from patents exactly? Since you've made a very dramatic statement, I'd like to see a specific figure. And then I'd like to see that compared to Office, Windows, Server & Tools, etc. Why would anybody buy hardware with Windows on it, only to install Debian? Build your own systems, that's the really obvious and really simple answer. You're blaming Microsoft for your bad choices. You don't have to pay any fake tax that you're making up - simply stop buying the products that you are. You have no right to any particularly configured product to begin with; you're not entitled to any such thing. Create your own laptops if you're so bent about it. Sounds like you're taxing yourself. You can rant like a champ, but you can't custom build a Debian laptop? Whose fault is that exactly? I fail to see how that's Microsoft's fault, or how they owe you or Debian anything.

bergie 13y ago
They're apparently making about 8$ per Android device on the (secret) patent deals: http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-most-profitable-mobile-operating-system-android-7000015094/ http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-most-profitable-mobile-opera... According to Google's 1 billion activated Android devices, that would make patent revenue of 8 billion $ just on that platform. This compared to the about 70 billion $ yearly revenue they're making overall.
glogla 13y ago
Building laptops from scratch. Right. Requiring people to do the impossible or else they are "entitled" doesn't make for a very good argument.
vetinari 13y ago
So while we are here, why the entitlement to use Intel CPUs, right? They should go and and make their own silicon ingots and then their own CPUs in their own fab, right? There is a reason why the world is organized around this 'division of labor' concept. Excluding someone from it and then calling the complains about it an entitlement is not a good way forward.
- yuhong 13y ago
  Reminds of the days when Compaq etc built their own chipsets. Of course I am not expecting them to do it now, but I do wish they were still as willing to fix BIOS bugs.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
bromagosa 13y ago
And since you asked for a specific figure, it seems as of 2011 they were making $444 million annually [1] just out of their patents on Android. That's just out of the Android patents, a mere fistful among the more than 10.000 patents [2] they hold. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-microsoft-android-2011-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-microsoft-android-201... [2] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/11/microsoft_10000_patents/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/11/microsoft_10000_pate... edit: Also, are you seriously asking me to build my own laptop?

maxerickson 13y ago

In their 2012 annual report, they say 75% (which isn't all that different than 90%, it just gets rid of the probably). The os segment is about 25% of their revenues. It would be interesting to see how much of that revenue is from licenses that do not end up being used (My assumption would be very little of it. Which doesn't say anything good about there being a monoculture, but the unnecessary license problem is probably a narrow edge case...).

daivd 13y ago

AFAIK you don't pay a Windows tax on most laptops. All the adware, crapware, trial software and whatnot that are pre-installed pay for the Windows license. This is why the few Linux laptops that do exist are not really cheaper.