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Where do you think M$ will be in 5 years?

I'm thinking it will pretty much stay how it is now, sucessfull business wise, but not so successfull customer satisfaction wise. Win2k changed that, since it's very stable and I never heard problems about it. But when XP came out, it completly flipped things, from what I heard, XP has lot of bugs, and crashes a lot. I did not use it enough to know how true that is, but I've heard more people say it's unstable than stable, but it's still better than win98.

Also, the activation thing is a big ennoyance as well.

Just my $0.01(USD)

So what do you all think about M$ses future?

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7262

I love XP....


Anyway, I think Microsoft will lose favour in the business world. Linux will become more popular.

Linux will also become more popular for home users, but it will still be primarily a server OS.

Windows will still be the most popular OS, although I think the upcoming *features* of future Windows OSes will make some people choose the Macintosh.

Since Apple will finally dump those processors for something faster (I hope), they will get more business. I think Apple will be the one to benefit from the customers' dissatisfaction of Microsoft more than Linux.

Office will still be the standard. Everyone will use it.

I think IE will lose some ground. At least, I hope so. Apple is making its own browser (Safari), so I think IE may no longer be in the Mac OS. People are starting to see how much IE sucks and how unsafe it is. Hardly any new features have been added to IE in the last few versions. I guess they spend a lot of time trying to fix the security holes....

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7265

That's true, IE has not really changed that much. Only bug fixes (once you install SP2 )

The worse was IE 5.5. That was basicly an eye opener to how much coffee m$ employes drink when programming, possibly spilling it on their keyboards.

5.5 was horrible for bugs!

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7266

I've had no problems with XP. I checked for updates and there was one for the AC'97 sound driver...that one killed my sound completely! That's one good thing about XP, I was able to roll back the driver.

I don't know where Microsoft is going...they probably don't either!

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7269

I believe we will see a change from common perceptions.

For one, the Product Activation. It's not require to re-activate every time you add a piece of hardware, rather, if there is a significant change in hardware, then it would require activation (So as to ensure you're not just loaning the disc, or moving hard drives from machine to machine). Who knows where they'll take it after where it is now (The current state is what I just described).

As for Stability, I don't care what anyone says. XP IS STABLE. In my experience with it, it is as stable as 2000, though it doesn't support some legacy hardware, and it does take some getting used to. It is truly Microsoft's attempt at stabilizing the Home-user world. Remember, Windows 2000 Pro is geared for businesses, as were all realeases of NT (Which 2000 and XP ARE based on.), while 95, 98/ME were more geared to the home user. And with each new release came updated support, and compatibility, with some sacrifice of quality.

We also have to picture the new operating systems that they have release following the intial XPs (Home and Pro). Windows XP Media Centre was geared to transform some specially designed PCs into, essentially, home entertainment units. The newest part of the Windows XP family is tentatively code-named Longhorn and will encorporate significantly more testing, and levels of security not seen in previous versions of Windows to ensure a better exprience for the home user. Microsoft seems in no rush to usher this version out the door, and I've been hearing of release dates as late as 2005 before Longhorn is released for sale. (Do the math, that's over 2 years in development).

As for Apple, they are gaining a stronger pull in the market, especially with professionals. Both our local newspapers use MacOS and Mac-based tools to do compilation and printing. As for Tak's comment about Apple's processors being slow, and that they should dump them for something faster, I have to say that that comment is largely unfounded. Truly, you can not compare two systems which are not even closely related, both in the hardware architecture and in the software architecture. The truth about Mac Processors is the same truth as with AMD's processors. They don't need to be made faster, because they run better. For example, Windows XP is based on WindowsNT, while MacOSX is based on a UNIX core, and those of you whom have used Linux/UNIX or MacOS X know that you don't need a hefty 2.0GhZ processor to push your system.

As for Linux, I do think it has a future, which is growing faster than ever. The latest release of Mandrake Linux is beautiful, and other than Linux and Mac not having the same gamer support as MS, it has a definate future once developers start to embrace it.

At least, that's my view on things.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7285

As for Tak's comment about Apple's processors being slow, and that they should dump them for something faster, I have to say that that comment is largely unfounded.

Even if it is unfounded, that is what a lot of people will believe. I want a Mac so badly.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7290

I don't think microsoft is going to die, but it's on a downward slope.. and even microsoft is starting to realize this. I think microsoft will turn into a primairly consumer OS, quicly losing ground to linux and bsd in the server market. The linux desktop market will expand, but it still won't surpass windows, and with the losses in the server market, microsoft will have to make compatibility concessions with linux, and open standards will florish.

As for Apple, I think it wil continue to be a niche market, and the prefered platform amoung graphic artists and musicians, though the number of PC artists and musicians will increase. Also the proliferation of apple consumer products like the iPod will push other OSes and hardware platforms to work together more with Apple. Also (in response to the comments about apple's "slow" processors) I think that benchmarks will be the new measure of speed amoung average consumers in terms of cpu speed, but I also think there will be more controversy over how benchmarks are made, perhaps resulting in the creation of a benchmarking standards organization.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7319

perhaps resulting in the creation of a benchmarking standards organization.

I hope so! That would be great!

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7321

Yeah it would be great to have a standard!

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:830, old post ID:7325