Who is Julie Larson-Green? Meet the new head of Windows

[sygnus21]

I'm wondering if this is some type of inside disagreement with the direction Window 8 took. Maybe Ms. Larson will put things back in order?

Just my guess.

 

[whs]

That would be a big relief.

 

[lkgriffith]

"Maybe Ms. Larson will put things back in order?"

Don't count on it. I suspect she was selected because she was a good doobie who does what she is told. My guess is that everything that was removed was so that the remainder could fit in the Surface and Windows Phone. Meeting the requirements of a desktop user more than likely didn't even get on the list of things to do or care about. Hence, she won't bring back a decent desktop experience.

After all, we desktop users are a whiny bunch. We expect the software we buy from them to work, work well, and be configurable to meet our individual needs, wants, and preferences. While they expect us to to send them money for ill conceived and poorly designed buggy software and help them find the bugs.

 

[mjf]

When MS dominates this much of the market share
Operating system market share
it's getting pretty close to a monopoly. Price gouging (outside the US) and imposing a "take it or leave policy" is unacceptable in my view. By all means offer a Metro interface but at the same time offer a user interface more suited to many of other users. For many a PC is a technical/scientific/business/educational... tool.

I'm definitely not a lawyer. I thought the Bell system was broken up by US antitrust laws because of market dominance.

 

[whs]

While they expect us to to send them money for ill conceived and poorly designed buggy software and help them find the bugs.

When I worked in the industry, the rule of thumb was 1 bug per 1000 lines of code - and I don't think that has changed a lot because of the human factor.

Windows is over 50 Million lines of code. Make the arithmetic.

Only one man ever claimed he could produce bug free code. That was Prof. Dijkstra at the University of Eindhoven. He was working with a small team on software for the Dutch submarine fleet. And that was in 1961. E.W.Dijkstra Archive: Interview Prof. Dr. Edsger W. Dijkstra, Austin, 04-03-1985

 

[whs]

Michael, I have seen this chart before and I was wondering what they are really measuring. If you take ALL operating systems, the lion share should be Android (just think of all the phones). Even Symbian, although rapidly declining, still has a share. But since they show Android and IOS on the chart, one could suspect that they included mobile. I am confused.

 

[mjf]

If you take ALL operating systems, the lion share should be Android (just think of all the phones). Even Symbian, although rapidly declining, still has a share. But since they show Android and IOS on the chart, one could suspect that they included mobile. I am confused.

You do make a good point. Is it market share by number of units or cost?
Are we comparing apples with oranges - probably yes.
Maybe we should just be comparing desktop OSs. Then we have Windows, Mac (proprietary linux), and open source linux variants (you know the Ubuntus etc). Then it looks even more skewed towards MS to me.

A computer scientist could answer - "Why is a professional linux kernel not fundamentally better than Winowsxxx". I think MS has the desktop application developers locked in because of their market share.

 

[sygnus21]

If you take ALL operating systems, the lion share should be Android (just think of all the phones). Even Symbian, although rapidly declining, still has a share. But since they show Android and IOS on the chart, one could suspect that they included mobile. I am confused.

You do make a good point. Is it market share by number of units or cost?
Are we comparing apples with oranges - probably yes.
Maybe we should just be comparing desktop OSs. Then we have Windows, Mac (proprietary linux), and open source linux variants (you know the Ubuntus etc). Then it looks even more skewed towards MS to me.

That would be a good start; coupled with the fact that NO OS has ever been released without issues.

And those decrying Windows 8 Is buggy, well the "it's buggy" argument/statement is rather old, and really isn’t saying anything seeing that there isn’t a piece of software released that hasn’t earned this charge. Thus the "it’s buggy" argument requires a more thoughtful new argument; Like the interface makes no sense on a desktop PC if you don’t plan on touch screen or apps like operations. Now that’s more informative than just the standard "its buggy" statement.

Anyway I for one don't like the interface. One the other hand, I must admit I've not tried the OS, so for me, I won't pass too critical judgment because I personally have no experience with it. On the other hand, I'm not in a hurry to try it either.

My two cents.

 

[Layback Bear]

Microsoft got the large percentage of the market share because the operating systems they put out were better than the competition. Some of the operating system were not very good at times but still better than others. Windows 7 proves they can do better and I would like to see them even do better than Windows 7. Windows 8 does not fill the spot of being better than Windows 7. I have no doubt that the people in the trenches at Microsof who built the system can do it. My doubt lays in managements decisions that would allow it to be done. Microsoft wants to get a big chunk of the tablet poke the screen to be happy business and I don't blame them. Just don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

 

[sygnus21]

They can compete in the tablet market only if they...

1. Allow apps to access the OS/system
2. Put out apps that'll make people want to migrate away from Google, Apple, Android.

If Microsoft can't/won't/don't allow those two, they are doomed before they start. The tablet market has a big heard start, and Microsoft is way behind, just like their presence in the mobile phone market.

 

[whs]

They can compete in the tablet market only if they...

1. Allow apps to access the OS/system
2. Put out apps that'll make people want to migrate away from Google, Apple, Android.

If Microsoft can't/won't/don't allow those two, they are doomed before they start. The tablet market has a big heard start, and Microsoft is way behind, just like their presence in the mobile phone market.

I would add to that: Price. I just bought a 32GB Nexus 7 purely based on price - for $230. For me it is just a little toy and I was not ready to spend $500 or more for that.

 

[Wishmaster]

I like the Windows 8 style for things such as .. the Windows 8 Phone. really nice.

But on a desktop? Not so much. Didn't take the plunge either and still using and happy with Win7.