6 ms·

So Elop was in fact a Trojan Horse? Wonder what this does to the already strained MSFT vendor relationships. You could now almost guarantee vendors will start

So Elop was in fact a Trojan Horse? Wonder what this does to the already strained MSFT vendor relationships. You could now almost guarantee vendors will start to completely dump Windows on ARM and possibly even look for alternatives to Windows x86.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
Moto7451 13y ago
I disagree. I doubt purchasing Nokia's phone business would make PC vendors any more worried than Surface/Surface Pro did. Windows is still king of the desktop and unless Android becomes a desktop OS or Apple starts licensing OS X there aren't any real alternatives with consumer brand recognition. If Ubuntu were the answer then System 76 would be more than a boutique PC maker. If MS starts making desktops, laptops, and servers... Then yeah it'll be a hectic day for the people responsible for Windows OEM relationships. The worry here for MS, as I see it, is really that they loose HTC and Samsung and any other potential Windows Phone partner. I'm guessing they're prepared to deal with the consequences.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- schuke 13y ago
  HTC and Sumsung are almost irrelevant in the Windows Phone ecosystem anyway. They obviously made little effort and aren't likely to make more, with or without the acquisition.
- kbaker 13y ago
  Idk, sounds like the year of Linux on the desktop is closer than it has ever been. :) But you should really look at Chromebooks/ChromeOS for one glimpse of what a consumer-friendly, non-MS system would really look like. Right now it is the #1 selling laptop on Amazon, and reviews are pretty positive. If I was a shareholder in MSFT, I would seriously be worried for the future of the whole Windows platform, mobile and desktop.
  - 300bps 13y ago
    I started using Slackware Linux in 1997. If I had a nickel for everytime someone declared the Linux desktop is imminent since then I'd have more money than Bill Gates.
    - kibibu 13y ago
      I'm not convinced it's been declared 1,340,000,000,000 times, but I get your point
    - stormbrew 13y ago
      If they said it before and they were wrong, surely that means they will be wrong forever!
      - jlgaddis 13y ago
        If they continue to say it every year, they will eventually be correct, right?
    - venomsnake 13y ago
      Next year is always the year of the Linux desktop. But I begin seeing worries in people where MS is pushing the OS (mostly privacy concerns) and is seems running windows in a hypervisor with VGA card passed trough is becoming more and more popular.
      - mynameisvlad 13y ago
        > and is seems running windows in a hypervisor with VGA card passed trough is becoming more and more popular. I know absolutely nobody who does this.
        BinaryBrainz 13y ago
        I'm guessing that he's being a bit sarcastic since this would be an extremely hodgepodged setup, but I have thought about doing something like this for a home server/personal computer setup. My thoughts where to have something like a rackmounted server machine in my basement with multiple storage drives, oodles of RAM, CPU, and a video card with it all running under an ESX (or whatever) install. Over the hypervisor I could then have running a headless NAS OS (e.g. UnRAID or FreeNAS) for my backups/media/etc and then a full-blown gaming PC running Windows with the GPU being virtually attached to it. Then (oh there's more) I could run all of my keyboard, video, mouse, and USB cables for the virtual gaming PC up through my house to where my desk is located. I figure that with this setup I could consolidate a several physical computers (gaming pc, NAS, etc) into one workhorse computer which would save space and possibly some electricity.
- blinkingled 13y ago
  With every passing day Windows is becoming more and more irrelevant - iPads, Chromebooks, non-Windows SmartPhones/Tablets etc. are really the future of consumer computing. So it isn't as far fetched as it was few years ago that OEMs will successfully back Ubuntu/Fedora/Android/ChromeOS and give consumers a laptop that can do everything Windows does for them today. The only holdouts would be power users that rely on Windows software and the Enterprise users - they aren't the majority user base of Windows though.
  - Moto7451 13y ago
    This is true but it's not going to happen that quickly. Traditional computers are still where "serious" work like homework is done. In my experience anyone who does more than spend time looking up recipes and checking out Facebook considers their phone to be too limited for "real" work. Some people might be happy with a bluetooth keyboard and a tablet but clearly the billions of dollars in sales of traditional PC hardware shows that the desktop is here to stay for a while. My point, basically, is that no one is going to look back at history and say "Microsoft purchasing Nokia's phone division was the end of the desktop PC." They're going to look at the release of the iPhone and then the time that Android, iOS, Win Phone, etc became just as good (i.e. no one thinks "should I use my iPhoneLapDocTop or my Windows Laptop") for general purpose computing as Windows and OS X every were. I think cloud services and "dockable" phones with proper large screen UI/UX will be key to that. I'm pretty excited about that, assuming it happens, as I sometimes find my MBPr too large but my iPad too limited for some things like interviewing potential hires. Using the same core for each would be very handy, but I've digressed. Also don't discount those holdouts. The fact that Windows gained so much of a foothold in the home because it was what people are/were using in the office. The Mac OS, even if it was 100 times better that Windows at any given time didn't have that ubiquity. Smart phones have the benefit of being in everyone's pocket, but until your boss/HR sets you up with a brand new iAndroidPhone OS laptop for work Windows will still have that crutch to lean on. IMO the patient is terminal but the prognosis is a drawn out death that might be lived on by Windows Phone if any of this works out.
    - slurry 13y ago
pedalpete 13y ago
You may be correct, but google's acquisition of Motorola didn't limit the growth of android at all. If canonical plays it's hand well, they could benefit, as could firefox on mobile, but displacing microsoft on desktops is still a huge challenge. Windows 8 'lackluster performance' still has greater market share then osx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system... I know some will say 'but iOS/android...', but those are in addition too, not a replacement.
sremani 13y ago
Every thing that happens in real life is not Stephen King novel. Elop may have affinity with Microsoft given he worked couple of years there. He worked for number of other respectable companies, so to label Elop as a Microsoft man is a bit of stretch.
est 13y ago
Elop sold Macromedia to Adobe. I used to remember Flash was cool, then it was dead for like 5 years allowing HTML5 and Unity to catch up.
- camus 13y ago
  I did not know that fact. thanks. Selling to Adobe resulted in the demise of every Macromedia products.There is nothing left from Macromedia in Adobe, Nokia products will meet the same fate.
jpalomaki 13y ago
About of month ago there was some complains from Nokia about Microsoft not making progress fast enough with the software [1]. Some other reports also stated that Windows Phone 8.1 was about to be postponed to early 2014. [2] Both news (if true) were bad for Nokia which was quite dependent on the success of their higher end mobile phones on short term. I believe Nokia was little bit short of cash and their credit ratings are bad. IF Microsoft would have wanted to cause trouble for Nokia to drive down the acquisition price (or maybe even force them to acquisition), this would have been one way to do it. [1] http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/29/4567046/nokia-frustrated-by-microsoft-windows-phone-slow-progress http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/29/4567046/nokia-frustrated-b... [2] http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-testing-windows-phone-81-internally http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-testing-windows-phone-81-...

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

Moto7451 13y ago

I disagree. I doubt purchasing Nokia's phone business would make PC vendors any more worried than Surface/Surface Pro did. Windows is still king of the desktop and unless Android becomes a desktop OS or Apple starts licensing OS X there aren't any real alternatives with consumer brand recognition. If Ubuntu were the answer then System 76 would be more than a boutique PC maker. If MS starts making desktops, laptops, and servers... Then yeah it'll be a hectic day for the people responsible for Windows OEM relationships. The worry here for MS, as I see it, is really that they loose HTC and Samsung and any other potential Windows Phone partner. I'm guessing they're prepared to deal with the consequences.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
schuke 13y ago
HTC and Sumsung are almost irrelevant in the Windows Phone ecosystem anyway. They obviously made little effort and aren't likely to make more, with or without the acquisition.
kbaker 13y ago
Idk, sounds like the year of Linux on the desktop is closer than it has ever been. :) But you should really look at Chromebooks/ChromeOS for one glimpse of what a consumer-friendly, non-MS system would really look like. Right now it is the #1 selling laptop on Amazon, and reviews are pretty positive. If I was a shareholder in MSFT, I would seriously be worried for the future of the whole Windows platform, mobile and desktop.
- 300bps 13y ago
  I started using Slackware Linux in 1997. If I had a nickel for everytime someone declared the Linux desktop is imminent since then I'd have more money than Bill Gates.
  - kibibu 13y ago
    I'm not convinced it's been declared 1,340,000,000,000 times, but I get your point
  - stormbrew 13y ago
    If they said it before and they were wrong, surely that means they will be wrong forever!
    - jlgaddis 13y ago
      If they continue to say it every year, they will eventually be correct, right?
  - venomsnake 13y ago
    Next year is always the year of the Linux desktop. But I begin seeing worries in people where MS is pushing the OS (mostly privacy concerns) and is seems running windows in a hypervisor with VGA card passed trough is becoming more and more popular.
    - mynameisvlad 13y ago
      > and is seems running windows in a hypervisor with VGA card passed trough is becoming more and more popular. I know absolutely nobody who does this.
      - BinaryBrainz 13y ago
        I'm guessing that he's being a bit sarcastic since this would be an extremely hodgepodged setup, but I have thought about doing something like this for a home server/personal computer setup. My thoughts where to have something like a rackmounted server machine in my basement with multiple storage drives, oodles of RAM, CPU, and a video card with it all running under an ESX (or whatever) install. Over the hypervisor I could then have running a headless NAS OS (e.g. UnRAID or FreeNAS) for my backups/media/etc and then a full-blown gaming PC running Windows with the GPU being virtually attached to it. Then (oh there's more) I could run all of my keyboard, video, mouse, and USB cables for the virtual gaming PC up through my house to where my desk is located. I figure that with this setup I could consolidate a several physical computers (gaming pc, NAS, etc) into one workhorse computer which would save space and possibly some electricity.
blinkingled 13y ago
With every passing day Windows is becoming more and more irrelevant - iPads, Chromebooks, non-Windows SmartPhones/Tablets etc. are really the future of consumer computing. So it isn't as far fetched as it was few years ago that OEMs will successfully back Ubuntu/Fedora/Android/ChromeOS and give consumers a laptop that can do everything Windows does for them today. The only holdouts would be power users that rely on Windows software and the Enterprise users - they aren't the majority user base of Windows though.
- Moto7451 13y ago
  This is true but it's not going to happen that quickly. Traditional computers are still where "serious" work like homework is done. In my experience anyone who does more than spend time looking up recipes and checking out Facebook considers their phone to be too limited for "real" work. Some people might be happy with a bluetooth keyboard and a tablet but clearly the billions of dollars in sales of traditional PC hardware shows that the desktop is here to stay for a while. My point, basically, is that no one is going to look back at history and say "Microsoft purchasing Nokia's phone division was the end of the desktop PC." They're going to look at the release of the iPhone and then the time that Android, iOS, Win Phone, etc became just as good (i.e. no one thinks "should I use my iPhoneLapDocTop or my Windows Laptop") for general purpose computing as Windows and OS X every were. I think cloud services and "dockable" phones with proper large screen UI/UX will be key to that. I'm pretty excited about that, assuming it happens, as I sometimes find my MBPr too large but my iPad too limited for some things like interviewing potential hires. Using the same core for each would be very handy, but I've digressed. Also don't discount those holdouts. The fact that Windows gained so much of a foothold in the home because it was what people are/were using in the office. The Mac OS, even if it was 100 times better that Windows at any given time didn't have that ubiquity. Smart phones have the benefit of being in everyone's pocket, but until your boss/HR sets you up with a brand new iAndroidPhone OS laptop for work Windows will still have that crutch to lean on. IMO the patient is terminal but the prognosis is a drawn out death that might be lived on by Windows Phone if any of this works out.
  - slurry 13y ago

pedalpete 13y ago

You may be correct, but google's acquisition of Motorola didn't limit the growth of android at all. If canonical plays it's hand well, they could benefit, as could firefox on mobile, but displacing microsoft on desktops is still a huge challenge. Windows 8 'lackluster performance' still has greater market share then osx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_system... I know some will say 'but iOS/android...', but those are in addition too, not a replacement.

sremani 13y ago

Every thing that happens in real life is not Stephen King novel. Elop may have affinity with Microsoft given he worked couple of years there. He worked for number of other respectable companies, so to label Elop as a Microsoft man is a bit of stretch.

est 13y ago

Elop sold Macromedia to Adobe. I used to remember Flash was cool, then it was dead for like 5 years allowing HTML5 and Unity to catch up.

camus 13y ago
I did not know that fact. thanks. Selling to Adobe resulted in the demise of every Macromedia products.There is nothing left from Macromedia in Adobe, Nokia products will meet the same fate.

jpalomaki 13y ago

About of month ago there was some complains from Nokia about Microsoft not making progress fast enough with the software [1]. Some other reports also stated that Windows Phone 8.1 was about to be postponed to early 2014. [2] Both news (if true) were bad for Nokia which was quite dependent on the success of their higher end mobile phones on short term. I believe Nokia was little bit short of cash and their credit ratings are bad. IF Microsoft would have wanted to cause trouble for Nokia to drive down the acquisition price (or maybe even force them to acquisition), this would have been one way to do it. [1] http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/29/4567046/nokia-frustrated-by-microsoft-windows-phone-slow-progress http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/29/4567046/nokia-frustrated-b... [2] http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-testing-windows-phone-81-internally http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-testing-windows-phone-81-...