Is Windows still relvent
The Windows Desktop is ubiquitous - it's everywhere in it's various versions and for many it is the only desktop OS that they have ever known. But the question is - is Windows still relevant ?
To me the answer is maybe - There is more competition today than ever and while MS still holds a very large market share in the desktop space - the reality is more and more folks are either A) moving away from the desktop entirely or B) looking at one of the desktop OS alternatives.
So let's look at the alternatives. At the desktop you can now easily go with MacOS, one of Linux distros like Ubuntu or Mint or the newest player in Google ChromeOS. From a day-to-day usage perspective each of these alternatives actually can provide a reasonable experience depending on your computing needs.
If you're a typical desktop user - what do you need ? Okay so Email, Web, IM, some form of word processing, maybe spreadsheet and presentation. Then add basic media capabilities like music, photos and video. Finally there are news, weather, sports feeds and for some games. For a lot of folks that's it. I've used both Mac and Linux desktops and I can say that I can perform all of my required tasks as I can with Windows.
And in the case of Linux you are effectively doing it without the licensing costs associated with Windows and Office. And if you've ever purchased those products at retail you know how expensive that can be. Today retail versions of Windows 8 Pro and Office 2013 can easily exceed $500 which is in some cases more than the cost of the hardware. Sure MS has softened that blow slightly with Office365 Home subscription model - but when compared to the "free" versions included with MacOs or Linux - it's still a cost.
Then there is the second wave of alternatives - tablets like iPad and Android. For the most part - all of the same capabilities I listed above for desktop are available on tablets today. In fact these tablet platforms have very large portfolios of apps that provide for an experience that in many cases you can't get from a desktop.
Sure tablets may not have the raw processing power, storage or device connectivity that a desktop has - but for most folks - they don't come anywhere near using the power and resources they currently have on their PCs
For many years, MS had two huge cash cows in Windows and Office - these two core products brought in billions in revenue. But these two key franchises are shrinking. Windows 8 has been a disaster for MS at a time when they needed a real winner and with alternatives like Apple's Pages, Numbers and KeyNote being included with OS or LibreOffice being provided with Linux distros - Office is also beginning to see some pressure.
Sure you can argue that MS Office is the defacto standard for productivity software - especially in the enterprise - but that reality is changing. For many "good enough" and free are compelling.
Five years ago, you would rarely if ever seen a corporation offering a MacBook as a supported corporate laptop. Now they almost all do. In fact you see on corporate recruiting sites the statement that one of the things that a new employee gets is a shiny new Mac. Now sure that Mac may also need to run MacOffice, Parallels or Vmware Fusion to run a version of Windows for specific corp apps, but that is going to change. Many corp execs use iPads or MacBooks as their personal devices and they are using Pages, etc to develop content and using native email apps to connect to corporate email.
So back to the question - is Windows still relevant ? Sure it is, but that relevance is shrinking and I believe more rapidly than many want to believe. There are still millions of PCs sold every year, but the year over year numbers are declining while tablet and smartphone sales are exploding. Even MS's long time ecosystem partners are now building and selling Chromebooks in attempt to shore up unit sales.
We already know that the mobile market is many times larger than the PC market and MS is in a very distant trailing market position in that space - with no real signs of catching up in the near future.
The fact is that the end-user computing world has changed and MS is struggling to keep up. Additionally for many folks - MS has not made a very compelling reason to buy a new PC. Finally and maybe most importantly - I believe they have lost a big portion of the new development community to iOS and Android that they may never get back. And without compelling apps - why would someone want to use Windows ?
To me the answer is maybe - There is more competition today than ever and while MS still holds a very large market share in the desktop space - the reality is more and more folks are either A) moving away from the desktop entirely or B) looking at one of the desktop OS alternatives.
So let's look at the alternatives. At the desktop you can now easily go with MacOS, one of Linux distros like Ubuntu or Mint or the newest player in Google ChromeOS. From a day-to-day usage perspective each of these alternatives actually can provide a reasonable experience depending on your computing needs.
If you're a typical desktop user - what do you need ? Okay so Email, Web, IM, some form of word processing, maybe spreadsheet and presentation. Then add basic media capabilities like music, photos and video. Finally there are news, weather, sports feeds and for some games. For a lot of folks that's it. I've used both Mac and Linux desktops and I can say that I can perform all of my required tasks as I can with Windows.
And in the case of Linux you are effectively doing it without the licensing costs associated with Windows and Office. And if you've ever purchased those products at retail you know how expensive that can be. Today retail versions of Windows 8 Pro and Office 2013 can easily exceed $500 which is in some cases more than the cost of the hardware. Sure MS has softened that blow slightly with Office365 Home subscription model - but when compared to the "free" versions included with MacOs or Linux - it's still a cost.
Then there is the second wave of alternatives - tablets like iPad and Android. For the most part - all of the same capabilities I listed above for desktop are available on tablets today. In fact these tablet platforms have very large portfolios of apps that provide for an experience that in many cases you can't get from a desktop.
Sure tablets may not have the raw processing power, storage or device connectivity that a desktop has - but for most folks - they don't come anywhere near using the power and resources they currently have on their PCs
For many years, MS had two huge cash cows in Windows and Office - these two core products brought in billions in revenue. But these two key franchises are shrinking. Windows 8 has been a disaster for MS at a time when they needed a real winner and with alternatives like Apple's Pages, Numbers and KeyNote being included with OS or LibreOffice being provided with Linux distros - Office is also beginning to see some pressure.
Sure you can argue that MS Office is the defacto standard for productivity software - especially in the enterprise - but that reality is changing. For many "good enough" and free are compelling.
Five years ago, you would rarely if ever seen a corporation offering a MacBook as a supported corporate laptop. Now they almost all do. In fact you see on corporate recruiting sites the statement that one of the things that a new employee gets is a shiny new Mac. Now sure that Mac may also need to run MacOffice, Parallels or Vmware Fusion to run a version of Windows for specific corp apps, but that is going to change. Many corp execs use iPads or MacBooks as their personal devices and they are using Pages, etc to develop content and using native email apps to connect to corporate email.
So back to the question - is Windows still relevant ? Sure it is, but that relevance is shrinking and I believe more rapidly than many want to believe. There are still millions of PCs sold every year, but the year over year numbers are declining while tablet and smartphone sales are exploding. Even MS's long time ecosystem partners are now building and selling Chromebooks in attempt to shore up unit sales.
We already know that the mobile market is many times larger than the PC market and MS is in a very distant trailing market position in that space - with no real signs of catching up in the near future.
The fact is that the end-user computing world has changed and MS is struggling to keep up. Additionally for many folks - MS has not made a very compelling reason to buy a new PC. Finally and maybe most importantly - I believe they have lost a big portion of the new development community to iOS and Android that they may never get back. And without compelling apps - why would someone want to use Windows ?
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