What's the future for Microsoft?

[Dan B]

But then, if apps do go web based, it's only the familiar interface that needs to remain. Perhaps a rise in thin clients then, it wouldn't matter about os's and hardware.

That's pretty much the point. When the current bunch of desktops reach the point that they can't be upgraded to comfortably run MS Windows 2012 or whatever it is, some bright spark will say "look, the only thing we actually use them for is web applications, do we really need all these client licences when we could just run Chrome"

It'll happen earlier in small companies where they can get away with this kind of stuff more easily - bigger organisations will take longer to catch up

 

[TheDoctor]

Chrome OS is aimed purely at Netbooks. I don't think it'll work on anything with a hard drive, just the solid state drives.

 

[Dan B]

I expect it'll grow into something that can work on machines with hard drives; it'll just make very little use of the local storage because everything important is in "the cloud". But whether it's Chrome or Chrome's-Big-Brother (in the same way that Chrome is Android's-Big-Brother) the basic principle is there.

Note that this is not the only possible way things could go. All these thin or thinnish client systems seem to be based on the "teenage girl" model of the internet: that the users are simply consumers, and the only information they generate is variations on "hello I am still here". Content creation is not something they seem to have looked at much at all - the Apple approach may yet win the day

 

[rh100]

Chrome OS is aimed purely at Netbooks. I don't think it'll work on anything with a hard drive, just the solid state drives.

I thought solid state drives were just big brothers of memory flash cards, no moving parts but limited read/write life span. But effectively the same interface as a hard disk. Whats the score with chrome os not using traditional hard disk then - is it the speed loss?

 

[rh100]

I expect it'll grow into something that can work on machines with hard drives; it'll just make very little use of the local storage because everything important is in "the cloud". But whether it's Chrome or Chrome's-Big-Brother (in the same way that Chrome is Android's-Big-Brother) the basic principle is there.

Note that this is not the only possible way things could go. All these thin or thinnish client systems seem to be based on the "teenage girl" model of the internet: that the users are simply consumers, and the only information they generate is variations on "hello I am still here". Content creation is not something they seem to have looked at much at all - the Apple approach may yet win the day

A very good point - consuming data and even some basic text input type stuff such as office tasks take little bandwidth. I wouldn't like to upload a hidef video to the web to edit, not on sky broadband anyway

 

[beanzontoast]

A very good point - consuming data and even some basic text input type stuff such as office tasks take little bandwidth. I wouldn't like to upload a hidef video to the web to edit, not on sky broadband anyway

So, are you saying that there's going to be a limit for the near future at least on the type of work that can be done using online apps?

I find this really interesting, partly because the luddite in me likes the idea of owning an app outright and being able to do complex, processor intensive work (like graphics) offline and regardless of whether I'm using the web at the time. Plus part of me baulks at the idea of being reliant on external providors 'live' feed of internet access to their apps to allow me to get my work done.

If it is the case that some tasks will never be able to be done using remote apps, then the future of operating systems that not only tolerate but actively support locally held applications is that much brighter.

 

[rh100]

So, are you saying that there's going to be a limit for the near future at least on the type of work that can be done using online apps?

I find this really interesting, partly because the luddite in me likes the idea of owning an app outright and being able to do complex, processor intensive work (like graphics) offline and regardless of whether I'm using the web at the time. Plus part of me baulks at the idea of being reliant on external providors 'live' feed of internet access to their apps to allow me to get my work done.

If it is the case that some tasks will never be able to be done using remote apps, then the future of operating systems that not only tolerate but actively support locally held applications is that much brighter.

I would think it is limited for a while, but i suppose bandwidth will keep growing, but will the provision outpace the demand of online apps? The more that people rely on data links to servers, the bigger the problem it will cause when that link breaks.

I feel the same as you, i like to 'own' the bits and bytes, use broadband as required, but carry on using my pc to do music,photos etc when i feel like it. Mobile users especially, no way is mobile broadband all it's cracked up to be, it's good but not faultless and not everywhere.

Also look at what happened to Google today, if they decide to pull out of a country for whatever the reason, however good the intention, it can leave a lot of people high and dry.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Having recently bought (still waiting for it to arrive though) a lightweight laptop; (think netbook but with more spec); I was completely disgusted with the fact that none, not a single one, of the new laptops I could find were shipping with anything other than Windows on them. (Mac excluded for the moment). This is after the whole 'linux is making huge inroads into the netbook market' story - which, I suspect, they are, in (say) India. I even went to the US Dell site to have a look, after a hit to a story which blew Dell's trumpet with the 'giving customers a choice of OS' lie.
Dell US does offer, oh, 5? laptops/netbooks preinstalled with Linux; however to get to them you can't just go through the netbook -> customise my netbook -> select OS option (there you get to pick windows, and if you're lucky, windows); no; you need to go to the Dell Linux homepage and then shop. Even then, if memory serves me right, not one laptop was a direct comparison of spec - nowhere could you get to the point where you said 'Ah! I'm being charged $xx for Windows on this PC when Linux ships free' as the other specs were not the same.
I reckon M$ has threatened suppliers with withdrawing rights to sell unless they're given monopoly; just like they refused to let the dumbed-down versions of Windows be installed on netbooks unless thye were limited to 1Gb RAM, 160Gb HDD; which has effectively capped the entire netbook market at the same spec even though it should be perfectly possible to make them, for the size, much more powerful now.
/end rant

 

[rh100]

Think about it though, you have had to deliberately seek out and find a linux machine. If Joe Bloggs saw two side by side and decided to go for the cheaper one, then finds out he knows bugger all about Linux and how to use it or update it, and then has trouble getting driver updates (especially on OEM hardware like Dell, I tried and failed just to update RAM on one of the bloomin things - still like them though), he'll be straight back onto Dell complaining what a pile of junk it is, whereas you would know what you are getting.

I would agree that there should be a simple option to get one without ANY OS and get a discount. Joe Bloggs is less likely to buy a machine with nothing on it and have to suss it out himself, than a machine with a "free" OS which the salesman says is all the rage.

 

[Carwash]

... If Joe Bloggs saw two side by side and decided to go for the cheaper one, then finds out he knows bugger all about Linux and how to use it...

It has been my experience that 'Joe Bloggs' users know bugger all about Windows and how to use and maintain it, either. The only thing Windows seems to have going for it in this scenario is that it is familiar.

 

[rh100]

It has been my experience that 'Joe Bloggs' users know bugger all about Windows and how to use and maintain it, either. The only thing Windows seems to have going for it in this scenario is that it is familiar.

Exactly, plus he knows someone that knows a little bit about it.