ghostrider

Anyone looking at the tech world 10 years ago, then looking at it again in 2019 would be totally shocked, and probably wouldn't believe a thing they were seeing. It makes little sense even to seasoned techies who are watching the tech world shift and morph into something quite unbelievable. I'll give you a few examples;

Microsoft embedding Linux in Windows - making it a 1st party extension. Whaaaaaaat? Balmer and Gates must be traumatized!

Apple iPhone sales falling, with no 'next big thing' in sight.

Microsoft showing off an Android phone!

Apple selling Microsoft products on their website

Apple launching a (near) budget iPhone, and possibly a real budget iPhone next year

Microsoft and Google working together

Microsoft and Samsung working together (I think that's more about Microsoft's litigation threats though)

Microsoft and Intel no longer best friends, and MS porting WIndows to ARM!

AMD beating Intel at their own game, and Intel cutting prices to try and compete! Madness.. but great to see.

WIndows being pushed further and further down Microsoft's priority list. It'll be off the bottom soon (recent patch quality indicates this is now a certainty).

Google, who started as a simple search engine, are now one of the biggest tech companies in the world

Everthing's a subscription, subscription, subscription!

Plenty more I'm sure, but it's certain the tech world has gone to hell. What happened to good old competition? Now everyone want's to work together...

Just what is happening to Windows, and where exactly is it heading? With Microsoft embracing competitors, going all in on open source and supporting Linux within Win10, Windows purpose in life is sort of bluring - losing it's focus. MS seem intent on adding every single feature they can think of to Windows. Some work, some don't, but it's not slowing MS down. This means Windows is becoming a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none. Stability and reliability are now afterthoughts - and those were Windows core values at one point, back in the day, especially for the Enterprise. Now, it's all about adding value, user monetization, services, telemetry, feature count and numerous other non-essential items, all at the sacrifice of what Windows use to be about.

People used to laugh at Linux fragmentation, and still joke about Android having the same problem. What about Windows though? How many 'supported' versions are now out in the wild, with more due. Every feature update of Win10 is, in essence, a completely new OS build, meaning fragmentation in the Windows world is a growing thing. The fact MS also can't develop stable builds anymore mean users are either deferring updates for as long as possible, or using other methods to block them altogether, all in the name of wanting something stable and consistent.

By all accounts, inside Microsoft, Windows is now a rudderless ship - passed from team to team as they try to keep momentum going, yet ignoring feedback and pushing on with this relentless and unsustainable dev cycle. The 2018 releases were indications there are big problems, and if 2019's releases aren't any better, I can see customers starting to look elsewhere, and once that happens, the flood gates could open. The truth is, for many, Windows is familiar, but not essential. There are alternatives that would work just as well - if not better - but it's like people still don't want to look or consider them, but that may change. Maybe companies like Google, Apple, Canonical etc are just waiting for Windows to self implode. It's not unfeasible.