Ultratwinkie said:
O maestre said:
Ultratwinkie said:
O maestre said:
Ultratwinkie said:
O maestre said:
Ultratwinkie said:
AldUK said:
Nobody can truly argue with a straight-face that the tech inside the Wii-U is comparable to Sony and Microsoft's offerings. I think dated technology in the machine is the true failing, since one of the main reasons the Wii-U isn't selling is because it has too few games. The reason for that, is because developers have stated that they don't want to develop for a console that is behind the times and making their latest games work on all 3 systems is almost impossible.
Sure you can blame Nintendo's marketing campaign and confusion over exactly what the console is, but without games, it'll never pick up sales. I know I'll probably be slammed for even suggesting this, but I really do think it's time for Nintendo to move away from the console market. Imagine Nintendo PC games and tell me how that would really be such a bad thing.
I can't help but feel that if they rush out another console to try and save face (and profits) and it misses the mark again, it could be the last nail in the coffin. Nobody wants to see that.
If Japan actually joined the club of PC gaming, Nintendo would just switch to that no problem. The PC gaming market would just explode with games, and pretty much gain such prominence that consoles might actually be in trouble.
2/3 of the big 3 are Japanese. If Japan goes PC gaming, so does every japanese company because Japan is all they really care about. Microsoft won't have the xbox and its entire product strategy would be deemed worthless. Nintendo and SOny would take their fanbase to the PC, and destroy the xbox at every turn. Xbox can't compete with both Sony and Nintendo exclusives on a single platform.
xbox is a trojan horse to peddle the rest of Microsoft's steaming turd pies hand made by Steve Ballmer. In fact, they wanted to use the xbox to push the under performing WIndows 8 on people. If xbox can't gain a foothold to peddle the other stuff, then Microsoft's long term investment over the last 20 years would be meaningless. Microsoft would be the laughing stock of the corporate world.
You seem to forget that Microsoft is the main factor in PC gaming, so they win OEM or not. Their lucrative hardware partnerships, like the 20+ years "alliance" with Intel, only recently has Intel been "allowed" to drop some of the exclusive support to Microsoft, which honestly seems more like long term strategy. Then there are the driver royalties that basically every hardware manufacturer is bound to.
point is M$ is an evil that is not going anywhere any time soon
PC gaming is moving to Linux, and gamers won't use windows past windows 7.
So an outdated windows or Linux. The prospects are not good for microsoft. Even Direct X is starting to get replaced by openGL, and knowing Sony and Nintendo they will push for openGL.
Their philosophy is all about ONE OS for all devices. Its a marketing push that PC gaming doesn't want to be a part of. In fact, no one wants to be in Microsoft's walled garden. All windows 8 did was slaughter PC sales, phone saes, and xbox sales. Windows 8 kills everything it touches, and Microsoft aint abandoning Windows 8.
I'll say the move to Linux is at a slow and careful speed, baby steps even. Knowing Microsoft I wouldn't put it past them to trip up a baby and beat it to death with royalties.
Speaking of which, you neglected to address what I wrote about hardware. Intel may have begun to do a little side work in 2013 but they know that M$ is their pimp. Likewise many hardware manufacturer are chained to them.
Unless we get to a point where we are all streaming content and hardware is irrelevant for gaming and otherwise, Microsoft arguably the oldest, mos powerful, most evil and most useful tech company is not going away.
Also windows nine is already gearing up for release for late 2014 or early 2015 to coincide with their new surface line and the Intel tick(tick-tock release schedule).
Windows 8 is like vista, and they dropped that pretty fast after it bombed we can only hope the same will happen with 8.
And walled garden is a stretch to far don't you think? Given the alternatives(apple,Google) windows has broad comparability and coerced cooperation with the major manufacturers. Those anti trust law suits were not for nothing, they really had everyone by the balls.
When windows sales kill hardware sales, which is happening, alliances won't mean shit. In fact nvidia and AMD have plenty of reason to drop windows because of pure bloatware killing performance. Even Intel is hurting because of microsoft's toxic brand. Windows 9 is actually an update to windows 8. Its the same thing.
Its also the same idea of ONE OS across all devices. Which urned windows into a bloated mess of bad ideas. Which is whats killing the PC in the first place. They even intended to make a microsoft store and only certify what they want to run. Its a walled garden now.
They are trying their hardest to kill XP and 7 to force everyone into the septic tank they call Windows 8.
Microsoft's hold has been slipping for a while. Even its business sector is in trouble in the long term when mobile becomes more important for the efficiency of business.
Its phones are DOA. Its tablets are DOA. Windows 8, their new main os and the ONLY OS they will make now, Is DOA. Their enterprise division is starting to slip because they lost sight of the needs of business. Their lack of mobile presence also means business is starting to leave them behind.
On top of all of this, their only brand that gets them any love is the xbox and they ruined that too. Their consumer PR is dead in the water, and they can't push their products out to the people anymore without massive hate.
There is a reason that investors normally call Microsoft an old wannabe stock from the 90s. When it comes to image, its horrid. When it comes to consumer relevance, its slipping. When it comes to leadership, its a big fat joke that hurts everyone around it.
Windows is going downhill, and no company will let it self be dragged down with it. Why do you think OEMs went back to windows 7? Why do you think they started abandoning the tablets and phones?
Because no one bought them. There is no money in it.
A monopoly isn't going to be a monopoly for long if you can't provide the sales to back it up. So far anyone aligned with microsoft is losing money on Microsoft's horrid ideas.
It only works if you get money from the deal, and so far the only one making money out of the deal is Microsoft. There is plenty of evidence to show that the wintel partnership is nearing its end.
The statement that "microsoft is a monopoly now" holds no water. Nothing is a monopoly forever, otherwise apple and google wouldn't exist today. They both would have been bought out by Microsoft. Businesses rise, stagnate, and die. Its the cycle of life. No company is too big to fail.
If microsoft was so full of geniuses as you think, they wouldn't be having any of the issues they face today. Nothing would be handled badly like it is now.
There is nothing stopping microsoft's erosion of its business. There is nothing stopping anyone from just walking away from a 90s dinosaur, which is a common comment by investors now whenever talking about microsoft. The writing is on the wall that the old guard is falling apart and a new one is forming.
If there wasn't so many issues and no reason to leave windows, no one would be talking about leaving windows at all. We wouldn't be having this conversation. The world is changing, and Microsoft refuses to change. It is inevitable that people just up and leave.
There is no doubt that Microsoft is not in the same psoition as they were before, but you are making a lot of statements that are not quite true. As for AMD and Nvidia, they have never been as slave bound as Intel is so they are free players.
Try and search for "Microsoft sales" and you will see record revenue plastered on several articles, their surface tablets have been sold out many places. Granted the lack of stock maybe them pulling the same stunt Apple always pulls. Revenue is up in a noticeable way too, an overall bump of 14%. So somebody must have bought them. Still not enough to call it a recovery at all, but significant.
You claim that they do not change, but isn't that exactly the reason that Windows 8 and that awful awful metro overlay are being rejected on anything but tablets. As for Win9 who can really know until it is actually released for review, people were spelling doom for the company after the vista fiasco but they bounced back with win7.
The walled garden maybe a thing on the consumer end, but on the business end they are literally giving trade secrets away after joining the Open Compute project.
I agree that M$ has done dumb things, and that they seem too hell-bent on crushing Apple to realize that they are facing competition from anyone else. But them going away won't happen until traditional software is replaced by streaming or the still in development Steambox manages to change general attitudes towards Linux.
I don't appreciate you putting words in my mouth, nowhere did I state they were geniuses' nor do I think so. please refrain from doing that again, and only reference something if it is actually written down.
Neither did I state that they were too big, simply that they are not going away any time soon, if IBM could fall so can M$. Only the big banks along with the big insurance and capital(AIG, metlife, GE capital) are too big to fail.
I am no fanboy, and have no loyalties to any brand or company. I have devices and OS' from most companies except Apple. In my work and study, colleagues and fellow students Microsoft is still what is pulled out when you need to be productive, and Linux mint(debian). Granted I am an electronics engineer student so my environment does not reflect the general market, and M$ has license deals with my university.
Microsoft's problem is that the tech world has shifted, rapidly towards tech being used for fun, where 90% of a gadgets use is for fun! Unheard of in M$ world, they simply put don't do fun well. The Metro interface of win 8 is perfect evidence that they have no idea what fun is, and made something based on a dictionaries description of fun. Apple peddles inferior products, but win because they are flashy and fun to use.
If I were a shareholder I'd advise them to focus on its strengths, productivity, driver development, software suites, server tech, framework, development software. ect Just look at any SWOT analysis and the conclusions will be similar, that M$ should stick to their guns. On the other hand nobody wins 90% of the market by playing it safe. The bold 2-in1 and convertible PC's like the Surface Pro is a statement to that.
Profits yes, but their phones and tablets are dying.
You say that they are growing, but 5 people buying them one week and 10 people buying them another is a 100% jump. When it comes to phones and tablets, Microsoft is dead last. Its install base is small and its adoption rate compared to everyone else is god awful like all their last attempts. In fact, according to business insider its estimated that the xbox one sold way more than its cheaper tablets. Xbox sold around 2-3 million while its tablets only managed about 1-2 million. Most likely because manufacturers have all but abandoned the mobile side of microsoft.
http://www.businessinsider.com/s?q=microsoft+mobile
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-surface-sales-2014-1
And yes, manufacturers have actually been pulling back from microsoft mobile devices.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/microsoft-admits-risk-in-tablet-plans/
http://rcpmag.com/articles/2013/09/25/dell-abandons-windows-rt.aspx
Windows 9 however WILL be the same as Windows 8. They have stated many times they want one device for everything. They want one OS for everything. Windows 9 will not be a return to windows 7 level quality. It will be a name change for one of the worst OSes microsoft ever put out.
They are so far beyond common reason they would rather throw everything away to be "cool."
Microsoft stated they will start killing one of the 3 versions of windows to start bridging everything together. They have stated this will start to happen in 2015. It isn't a coincidence. If their recent behavior is any evidence, windows RT is on the chopping block. However, its been said this isn't the case. That leaves either the mobile phone OS or full windows would get the chopping block. The less OSes they have, the more bloated the rest gets. The less potent it becomes for enterprise.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Has-No-Intention-to-Abandon-Windows-RT-374585.shtml
This attempt to grab at the bottom common denominator of what they think people want from tech is whats killing them. Its whats killing their brand in gaming in all sectors. Gaming will abandon microsoft, just like fun abandoned microsoft, just like you said.
So ultimately, microsoft won't be in any position to do anything to stop nintendo or Sony going PC or even having any leverage at all against these companies on the PC. If they couldn't stop apple, google, and everyone else including sony itself. They won't stop anyone now.
No, I said google Microsoft sales and you will see a recovered revenue in contrast to a "lackluster" 2012/2013. Saying that a company that reported a yearly gain of 22 billion is coming to an abrupt end is a bit too premature. Things move fast in the tech industry but not that fast.
Just like it is premature to make assumptions on windows 9 until someone actually has it in their hands.
Speaking of OS', you say one device and one OS as if it was a bad thing. I'd personally love an all purpose device that will be a true step towards a star trek like future, as it is now tablets are just expensive toys, to my knowledge Microsoft is the only one taking a stab at spearheading that kind of device. As the intel clock counts down in size and counts up on speed, we might have a future with one device, and lots of docks for various screen sizes.
Or as I've said before google's cloud computer may be, the other equivalent to an all purpose device. The great problem there is device fragmentation.
The idea of going from matlab, to writing latex, to drawing a schematic by pen and then booting up Skyrim or Crysis 2 on one machine on the go, the pro version of the surface, has blown my mind.
Maybe it's just me, but versatility, compatibility and usability is high on my list for any device.
At least from me and my peer's market corner, windows is not replaceable just yet. There are compromises with all platforms.
With Mac you have a true walled garden, or walled carnival of fun with Steve jobs as willy wonka, where everything is served to you on a platter, but you are going to need vmware to be productive and higher specs to run the same software.
On Linux you have the freedom, but need to be active and constantly tinkering, especially if you want compatibility. The Mint distribution is an amazing exception as it's possible of running proprietary software with little tinkering, and can be loaded from a USB drive. It still is a "hard" platform that requires an active user for ideal configuration.
Windows you get bloat, virus' and more bugs than you can count, but you get freedom to tinker and allows for a more passive user, though it can be jarring compared to Apple. But at least you can throw almost any kind of software at it, since its development tools are standardised and borderline open.
That is the situation amongst my fellow students, at least and they are a very geeky bunch.
Windows RT needs to be killed. In general all ARM and tegra devices should be shelved in my opinion. It is a world of compromise regardless of platform. it is completely useless for anything and merely a pitiful attempt at copying Apple.
I'll still wait to at least see a review for win 9 beta before believing anything. These corporations may not give two shits about you or me, but they do care about their money, and the sales for win 8 are embarrassing. As I have said I am of two minds, if I was a shareholder, I'd like them to stick to what they do best.. Microsoft has been for the tech world, a lot like what the Audi is for cars. A business suit pure and simple. But as a consumer I benefit from the competition, and I want M$ to fight tooth and nail for their position, all of their positions.
As to your final point, which humorously enough is getting us back to the original topic. let us look at the companies you have as M$ gaming successors. Nintendo is flailing and makes M$ look radical when it comes to conservatism and lack of diversification. They don't have the leadership or the liquidity to make a big jump.
Sony has a whole world of problems. With the exception of the PS4, xperia z tablet aswell and their powerful music and movie industry, they are getting beaten on every end of the tech spectrum, software, phones, PC's, televisions, cameras ect.
Microsoft may be taking a hit, but nowhere near the beating the two Japanese companies are taking, so they are in no way going to be in a position to take over M$ in the foreseeable future. Someone may even replace M$ in the future, but it won't be those two.
Google was a break away hit that nobody foresaw, Apple's success was a huge mistake for M$ but good for competition, hell Bill Gates was the one who gave money to Steve Jobs when nobody else would.
