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liam_on_linuxLinux on modern PC hardware is harder work today than it was say 5y ago. Also, the Linux desktop today is inferior to that of 5y ago, more splintered and incoherent, with lots of new tech and new desktops which are not generally well-liked by users. And the thing that nobody is spotting is that all this is a direct result of Microsoft's efforts over the last 5-6y.
As a result of Microsoft action, now we have:
• UEFI
• SecureBoot
• Windows 8.x OEM deals that require the above
And on Linux:
• GNOME 2 is no more; instead we have GNOME 3, Unity, Cinnamon, Maté, Consort & more.
The latter is, I submit, a direct result of Microsoft legal bluster
The Linux world has been fragmented in all directions and MICROS~1 didn't even have to find anyone to sue. Meanwhile, the x86 PC is now a much less friendly platform to non-MS OSes. The biggest commercial Unix - Solaris - has been castrated. The non-x86 Unix platforms are all failing, and ARM is not very Linux-desktop-friendly either; that is why Linaro even exists.
MICROS~1 has closed down the x86 ecosystem, wounding Linux, and it's wounded Linux directly too. It's also screwing Windows, but for good solid reasons - it is trying to adapt to both the Apple sales & marketing model and to the coming tablet revolution. It's not doing very well but I can't see how it could have done any better.
We are where we are because a bunch of very smart, very motivated people at MICROS~1 sat down around the time of Vista and said to each other:
"We are fucked. Apple is doing great, Linux is doing great, we're tanking. What can we do? How can we emulate what Apple is succeeding with (back then, the iPod and iTunes Music Store) and also knife Linux?"
And they came up with a brilliant plan, executed it and it succeeded magnificently.
What they didn't see is the iPhone and iPad coming and they totally failed to respond effectively to that - but they are trying.
The Zune was a public experiment - a whole new model for MS media sales and DRM, a whole new UI, etc. It failed as a product but as an experiment it gave the desired results; the UI and tech was refined on the xBox 360 and then a big revision was tried with Windows Phone 7.
They binned all their old phone/media/mobile stuff, from Windows Mobile to ActiveSync, and built something new on an NT kernel - while trialling the new UI on the WinCE kernel as an interim move.
It's a smart, clever, well-planned, well-executed response to Apple and Linux.
It's not good enough, but it's as good as I can even imagine.
The stuff going on with Windows Server is also very good. Hyper-V and PowerShell and so on are very good tech.
I'm not sure it's good enough - I think they're in for a long slow decline into irrelevance - but it's good.
Do not for a moment think that it's due to lack of effort from the Linux folk, though. It's not. The Linux lot have been outmanoeuvred, comprehensively and skilfully.
The snag is, both Microsoft and desktop Linux have been outmanoeuvred by Apple and Google. Apple has the commercial devices and online store and revenue stream; Google is playing catch-up there, doing it on the cheap using Linux and FOSS tech. And it's doing a very good job, too.
Google's model is "we're rich, we'll give the tech away for nothing, to hinder our rivals, and then we'll make money off the ancillary stuff - ads etc. - later." That's working splendidly, too.
But nobody even noticed Microsoft's 2 biggest, very cunning moves against Linux, and Microsoft's moves against Apple and Google, while valiant, are not good enough and I suspect never will be.
Against Apple: a locked-down Windows on both x86 and ARM with merged desktop and touch interfaces - a single OS on desktop, tablet and phone - and an Apple-style online store. Embrace and extend, the classic move. Not working well, not yet, but it's early days. V3.1 will be when it all comes together. When that is remains to be seen - v1.1 just came out. (Zune, Windows Phone 7.x etc can be seen as equivalent to Windows 1.0 and 2.0 - trial runs that bombed but were half-expected to.)
Against Google: errrr, we'll copy what you're doing and give it away. Bing, Bing Maps, Outlook.com, WinPhone as against Android, etc. Trying to embrace and extend, but not quite making it. Probably near-total failure but the war's not over yet.
Against Linux: knife the most popular desktop, splintering the market: total success. Knife the ability to install and run on any arbitrary PC hardware: near total success. Knife the ability to run at all on Microsoft ARM hardware (as they don't control anything else): total success, but nobody cares as it's bombing.
As a result of Microsoft action, now we have:
• UEFI
• SecureBoot
• Windows 8.x OEM deals that require the above
And on Linux:
• GNOME 2 is no more; instead we have GNOME 3, Unity, Cinnamon, Maté, Consort & more.
The latter is, I submit, a direct result of Microsoft legal bluster
The Linux world has been fragmented in all directions and MICROS~1 didn't even have to find anyone to sue. Meanwhile, the x86 PC is now a much less friendly platform to non-MS OSes. The biggest commercial Unix - Solaris - has been castrated. The non-x86 Unix platforms are all failing, and ARM is not very Linux-desktop-friendly either; that is why Linaro even exists.
MICROS~1 has closed down the x86 ecosystem, wounding Linux, and it's wounded Linux directly too. It's also screwing Windows, but for good solid reasons - it is trying to adapt to both the Apple sales & marketing model and to the coming tablet revolution. It's not doing very well but I can't see how it could have done any better.
We are where we are because a bunch of very smart, very motivated people at MICROS~1 sat down around the time of Vista and said to each other:
"We are fucked. Apple is doing great, Linux is doing great, we're tanking. What can we do? How can we emulate what Apple is succeeding with (back then, the iPod and iTunes Music Store) and also knife Linux?"
And they came up with a brilliant plan, executed it and it succeeded magnificently.
What they didn't see is the iPhone and iPad coming and they totally failed to respond effectively to that - but they are trying.
The Zune was a public experiment - a whole new model for MS media sales and DRM, a whole new UI, etc. It failed as a product but as an experiment it gave the desired results; the UI and tech was refined on the xBox 360 and then a big revision was tried with Windows Phone 7.
They binned all their old phone/media/mobile stuff, from Windows Mobile to ActiveSync, and built something new on an NT kernel - while trialling the new UI on the WinCE kernel as an interim move.
It's a smart, clever, well-planned, well-executed response to Apple and Linux.
It's not good enough, but it's as good as I can even imagine.
The stuff going on with Windows Server is also very good. Hyper-V and PowerShell and so on are very good tech.
I'm not sure it's good enough - I think they're in for a long slow decline into irrelevance - but it's good.
Do not for a moment think that it's due to lack of effort from the Linux folk, though. It's not. The Linux lot have been outmanoeuvred, comprehensively and skilfully.
The snag is, both Microsoft and desktop Linux have been outmanoeuvred by Apple and Google. Apple has the commercial devices and online store and revenue stream; Google is playing catch-up there, doing it on the cheap using Linux and FOSS tech. And it's doing a very good job, too.
Google's model is "we're rich, we'll give the tech away for nothing, to hinder our rivals, and then we'll make money off the ancillary stuff - ads etc. - later." That's working splendidly, too.
But nobody even noticed Microsoft's 2 biggest, very cunning moves against Linux, and Microsoft's moves against Apple and Google, while valiant, are not good enough and I suspect never will be.
Against Apple: a locked-down Windows on both x86 and ARM with merged desktop and touch interfaces - a single OS on desktop, tablet and phone - and an Apple-style online store. Embrace and extend, the classic move. Not working well, not yet, but it's early days. V3.1 will be when it all comes together. When that is remains to be seen - v1.1 just came out. (Zune, Windows Phone 7.x etc can be seen as equivalent to Windows 1.0 and 2.0 - trial runs that bombed but were half-expected to.)
Against Google: errrr, we'll copy what you're doing and give it away. Bing, Bing Maps, Outlook.com, WinPhone as against Android, etc. Trying to embrace and extend, but not quite making it. Probably near-total failure but the war's not over yet.
Against Linux: knife the most popular desktop, splintering the market: total success. Knife the ability to install and run on any arbitrary PC hardware: near total success. Knife the ability to run at all on Microsoft ARM hardware (as they don't control anything else): total success, but nobody cares as it's bombing.
