Re: Madness? This. Is. STATISTICS!
*sigh* Hence, someone like Vociferous would be popular in Microsoft and be confused to why they are failing. For 2013, MAC sales dropped by about 14%, meanwhile Windows sales dropped by 30~40% (I don't know the latest figures) since the introduction of Win8. Had Windows 7 continued to be sold or Win8 worked & looked like Windows 7 (which I and most others would have been happy with) - then PC sales might have dropped by 14~15%. But as we know for a FACT, that after the release of Windows 8.1, Windows 7 market-share INCREASED! I and others *WARNED* Microsoft publicly that Win8 will HURT PC sales and IT DID. "We Listened, and fixed everything in Windows 8.1" - blah, they did nothing... oh, yeah, its *IS* a good improvement to make a hidden single pixel in a corner into a normal size button, but that's about it. This causes people in the field to not HAVE confidence in Microsoft's ability to produce and ship a usable product. In case you haven't noticed - many suits, including Monkey Man Ballmer are gone.
If Bill Gates was dead, he'd be rolling in his grave... man, it would be hilarious if they made some new "I'm MAC, I'm a PC" TV Ads. So, lets get back to numbers.
Does Microsoft still own about 93% of the PC market? Yes. But with ChromeOS, a noticeable dent has started. 270 million is healthy? Many years ago, 350+ million was typical. As we see, PC companies are dropping like flies. Dell is not stable, HP almost threw in the PC towel, ACER - which bought up Gateway, e-Machines and others is suddenly struggling. Hmmmm.
Now, lets look at why Windows is a dying platform... No, it won't die completely. Hey, there are people still using Amigas today! But it will become nothing much more than a corporate application launcher for legacy software. You see, Micorsoft and Windows has never been a company or product that people LOVED... its just a tool we use to make a living.
And as someone had posted, for many in the industrial/corp sector - the workers barely know what they are on. They don't interface with the OS, just the hand full of programs they are ALLOWED to use.
So why is 270 weak? Apple sold that many in iPhones and iPads in 2013 and Samsung sold about 500m phones in 2013. So out of about 2 Trillion devices sold in 2013, only 270m was microsoft...
Now, that WOULDN'T matter if these NON-Windows devices were accessories. Think of the OLD PDAs like Palm or the dumb cell phones that only worked like a phone (not even a camera). No problem.
The issue is that PEOPLE, real customers are using these as desktop replacements! And as more companies realize this, the more dangerous it is to Microsoft. So yes, Windows OS is going to collapse. I have several Windows 7 PCs, a Linux notebook (because Win8 made me start learning Linux) and I gave my wife a notebook. You know what she uses for 95% of her computer time? An Android Cell phone with a 4.5" display. The Notebook is for work and its running Linux.
Many of my clients have NOT upgraded their notebooks... instead they are buying iPads, iPhones and Android devices. I do more reading of The Reg on my Android phone than my desktop.
Microsoft themselves have damaged PC gaming... look at all the XBoX games that are NOT available for PC. Halo 3? Gears of War 2~3, etc? Why should I SUPPORT them? So the PS4 will be my new gaming platform. My intel i5-3570 will become my legacy Windows7 Media PC hooked up to my PC. My future WORK computer will be a small box running Linux.
So yeah... Microsoft OS is less than 24% marketshare... and that is a problem. One of my projects is a custom APP. We're making it ONLY for iOS and Android... PERIOD.
As you say: ""Microsoft is dominant in one class of computing device, but not in two other, different, classes of computing devices." - And if that class of devices is replaced by another - then it doesn't matter. Hey, remember when Toshiba dominated HD-DVD players? Compared to 15+ companies making blu-ray? Remember when Cassettes were in all cars? Then replaced by CD players... which are now replaced by MP3 players/inputs.
Why do you THINK that MS spent so much effort making Surface/RT and buying up Nokia? Because WindowsRT failed, Windows tablets are not selling and other than Nokia, nobody is buying their Phone OS. The only thing that makes MS money is Windows and office... and Windows is used as a launcher. If/when MS-Office, Adobe and Intuit software was made for Linux - who'd buy Windows? Everything else MS does, loses money... only being supported by Windows...
I and other do NOT see how MS will change this... Metro did look promising, it looked like it would make sense. But in reality, they failed and people no longer care.