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Old 9th December 2012, 06:57 AM   #98
Merko
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Originally Posted by Squeegee Beckenheim View Post
I don't see that happening. Windows has been the standard for way too many years. Almost every PC program written thus far has primarily been written to run on Windows. People use Windows because A) it's what computers come with and B) all of the software they want to use woks on it.

If someone were to try to take over the market they'd have to get computer manufacturers to supply their new computers with the new OS, and they'd have to ensure that their OS was compatible with all the software that's compatible with Windows.
I don't think that's true anymore. Of course there are people who need some specific program and won't buy anything that does not support that. But most people buying a new computer do not have a ton of software that they already own and that they care about. They buy a new computer because they want to surf the web, write some documents, maybe watch some movies and have their photographs on them etcetera. They want a machine that lets them do this and that seems familiar.

So far, they end up with Windows because that's what has been pre-installed on everything and it seems familiar.

But, my argument is that with Windows 8, it no longer seems familiar. It's very strange. A Mac will seem more familiar even for people who are used to Windows.

So the second question is really: will Windows 8 continue to come pre-installed on everything except for Macs? So far Microsoft have been able to force manufacturers to do this because of their dominant position, offering an all-or-nothing deal. Either they can have Windows on all their machines, or not at all (which used to mean you can't sell anything). So no one could offer a machine running some Linux variant or whatever, because that meant giving up on Windows completely.

But look what is happening now: Acer, Asus, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Olivetti, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony all have Android tablets. Microsoft have not been able to strong-arm these manufacturers to sell Windows and only Windows, like they used to. Of the big brands, only Dell and HP seem to be Windows-only (though I only did a quick check). So can Microsoft really stop these companies from releasing more desktop-oriented machines without Windows? I'm not so sure.
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