The giant is gonna fall someday...

well i hope they dont go away. i love ms

I'm still kinda tired of al lthe anti-MS people. I use their operating system, I use Linux's too. So what if it has bugs, people still use it don't they? Your car probably has problems, but you're not mad at Honda.

As for it falling, I have no idea. It's certainly not now.

And by the way, naem one company that does not rely on their best product to get them by.

I for one am neutral on it. I use their software, I like it, and I think they have very talented marketing people Personally I think Linux is cooler, but not supported well enough, though I do think that that is slowly changing.

And I've almost never used a Mac, but from what I have used, I like Windows layout better. Especially two-button mice hehe

I would disagree that 98 was the last significant OS...XP was a major step because it finally brought an NT OS down to the consumer level. 2000 came close, but it wasn't positioned as a consumer OS.

However, I do see things happening especially in the Office market. I myself (due in part to some unforseen discoveries which would've meant me spending $500-600 to stick with MS Office, but I won't get into that here) have gone to using OpenOffice.org on the main PCs in our home (my Dad's laptop came with Office XP) and it has been very good for us. I have not noticed any significant lacking (after using Office 2000 for prolly 2-3 years). My hopes are not too high for Office System 2003, and several OEM's are shipping WordPerfect instead of MS Works, and one cannot help but wonder if some might start selling WordPerfect (or OpenOffice?) instead of MS Office. That is certainly something to keep an eye on.

Going back to Windoze, I have never used Linux really (although only my current ISP which is MSN is keeping me from doing that), but I doubt that it is anywhere near a spot to take any significant ground from Windows. What is perhaps one of the most radical possibilities of a non-Windows OS for the PC concerns Apple. This is a huge what if, but what if Apple decided to ship some PC's with Intel or AMD CPU's? Apple would need to develop an x86 version of MacOS X, which could then, if they would make it be so, be a competitor to Windows on non-Apple PC's. Who knows if it will happen.

There's no doubt about it that I am not a MS fan anymore. I may have used to be, but their licensing terms and the price of their products is just too high. I honestly doubt that my main PC (because I only web surf, and do office work) will ever recieve a newer version of Windows (My family just spent $200 earlier this year to buy a Full Retail Windows XP Professional). If anything, it would recieve Linux with OpenOffice.

Ive siad that theyre never going to go away. Yet this doesnt mean that they will not "swap places" with linux or other third party systems. Much like what has ocurred with machintosh, they are not the dominating market force they used to be (not a direct comparison, ore an analogy)

Yeah, but what benefits did NT bring?...It was primarily meant as a server-network OS, how could that help the consumer? (Hence the many crashes with Millenium, which is based heavily on NT)

Click to expand...

Actually, Millenium was much more based on the 9x kernel. (I can't tell you specifically where, but just take a look at the files in the C:\ directory on a Me system vs a 98 and 2000 system. Me and 98 have files like MSDOS.sys, IO.sys, COmmand.com (which existed all the way back in DOS), where as 2000 (and thus XP) has ntldr., ntdetect.com, boot.ini, etc). No, the NT kernel brought a much more stable OS to the majority of the market.

M$ will never go away. They are too far out in front and have so much money behind them that they are good to go pretty much with out stopping them. They have the bucks and having the bucks means you can hire the best software writers. Also the fact that most people use their OS's means that the most common applications as well as hardware will all be catered to work with their platform. They just have such a grip on things there really is no way they can fall. If they ever get into trouble they could cut back on some areas... but as far as operating systems and office applications and so on they are pretty much in like Flynn. My opinion is that they should humble themselves a bit and lower their prices for the sake of their own reputation. If they sold there stuff for more reasonable prices they wouldn't stir up so much resentment from the general public....and when you get people to dislike you, some will start to find other software to work with. I really am not crazy about some of their business practices as well as their high prices but they do make good software and I can accomplish much more with programs I like on a windows platform. Ive tried Linux a couple of times but it just didn't work out for me....Linux is behind in some ways and its just tougher to get things done for me in Linux. All PC hardware is compatible with windows but its not all compatible with Linux....that right there is a huge reason why I stick with M$. I want to be able to get the hardware I want and actually have drivers available to run the stuff. With Linux your options are limited. I really would like to see Linux grow and I would be glad to use it if it becomes more compatible with all the hardware and software I like to run.

Many people run with Linux for the same reason they run with AMD IMO.

I don't see AMD making any significant gains in the foreseeable future. I think it will be relegated to it's niche market, and that's about it.

It's fun to point the fingers at Microsoft, but really, who's doing a better job on your desktop, and who's capable of supporting it better? As long as MS maintains Bill Gates vision and business prowess, they aren't going anywhere IMHO Heaven help us if they do. They are one HUGE employer.