Posts by Colin Ritchie

Justin Keller obviously forgot about Grandad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxTW33tiXt8

Transcend get my vote.

An enterprise level lifespan for less than £250, I'll buy one of them next time.

M$ declares war on small businesses.

I shall continue to watch this car crash from my Hackintosh and weep for the small businesses that suffer.

200 million Win X devices? Really?

Where on the net can we find them?

Desktop Net Market Share?

Windows 7 55.68%

Windows XP 10.93%

Windows 8.1 10.30%

Windows 10 9.96%

Mac OS X 10.11 2.99%

Windows 8 2.76%

Mac OS X 10.10 2.23%

Linux 1.66%

Vista 1.62%

Less than 10% share 6 months after starting a free giveaway?

Hmm, on the bright side less than 1% behind XP!

Mobile Net Market Share?

iPhone 19.41%

Android 4.4 18.65%

iPad 15.88%

Android 4.2 9.49%

Android 5.0 9.31%

Android 5.1 7.70%

Android 4.1 3.37%

Java ME 1.85%

Windows Phone OS 8.1 1.75%

Android 4.3 1.75%

Symbian 1.70%

Android 4.0 1.18%

BlackBerry 1.05%

Android 2.3 0.92%

Android 6.0 0.54%

Windows Phone OS 8.0 0.39%

Windows Phone OS 10.0 0.23%

0.23% of mobile activity, Tablets and Phones, even worse.

(Data source here: https://netmarketshare.com/)

Must be a lot of Xbones about then...

Taut, by the way. Not taught.

I think you'll find, he just has been.

Missed a d on down too. ;)

The HP Pavilion

They can really iPAQ them in.

I'm with Trev on this one.

Trevor_Pott's comment on the 2010 article still rings true today, seasonally adjusting the price ofc:

"Too little, too late.

Microsoft is the new Novell. Novell was once the 800lb gorilla of networking, and then along came Microsoft to relegate them to relative obscurity. Novell dropped the ball, stopped innovating, and Microsoft produced a good-enough clone with just enough added blue crystals to take the lead. (It didn’t help that Microsoft isn’t inclined to play fair, but what company playing at that level ever is?)

Today, we are witnessing the death of the Microsoft client operating system. While it has the bulk of the market share in desktops and notebooks, this is largely a product of inertia. The constant game of “me too” and “catch up” has produced an impending death by a thousand cuts. Apple, Google and others, (Palm/HP for example) are simply out-innovating Microsoft while producing solutions that developers can live with and customers actually enjoy.

Microsoft has already lost the smartphone wars; nothing short of divine intervention will change that. The war for the tablet might be over before it even begins; we are about to enter into the Christmas season with no evidence of either an Android or Windows tablet that doesn’t royally suck in sight. While I’m not 100% sure, I suspect that being allowed to go unchallenged for an entire year is more than enough for Apple to establish itself as the king of this particular hill, capable of fending off all challengers handily.

So what’s left, the desktop? Traditional notebooks? I am sure there will always be a call for these, maybe even a fairly significant one. With VDI, cloud computing and a slew of credible alternative operating systems on offer, Microsoft stands to see a dramatic reduction in market share over the next decade. Apple has always been too expensive to realistically consider as a competitor for the desktop/notebook space, but Linux (in the form of Android, MeeGo, WebOS or ChromeOS) might finally be ready to start eating the low end.

Do your thin clients need to run Windows embedded? Once your corporate applications are recoded as SaaS apps deliverable through a browser, can’t at least some of those desktops be some flavour of Linux? Does Aunt Tilly require a home PC with a 350W+ PSU running Windows to heat her living room just so she can use Facebook and Gmail?

I don’t ask these questions or make these comments to attract flames, and I am not saying that this will all happen tomorrow. I am saying that in my opinion, over the next ten years, Microsoft will slowly fade out of the /client computing/ scene. I fully expect them to remain a server superpower, but I would be willing to bet that their desktop operating system versions will be used only by people requiring what we used to call “workstations” and by enthusiasts.

The real problem is the bloat. Microsoft couldn’t make a competitive operating system even if they got rid of Ballmer. The new black are these operating systems that can run cheerily on a 500Mhz processor with less than 512 MB of RAM. They are thin, light, have their own app store and will give the non-power-user all the computer they want in a package that eats less than 5 watts fully loaded.

Microsoft’s best embedded operating systems don’t even come close, nor do they get the kind of love or attention the flagship product does. If Microsoft wants to survive, then it’s time to say goodbye to the NT platform. NT is great for workstations, gamers or other demanding users…but until they can bring a credible lightweight operating system out as their mainstream they are cooked.

They could front something based on Windows CE (or buy Novell and just birth a mobile Linux like sane people,) but it’s more than just the OS. If you look at the gong show that is Windows Phone 7 they are so culturally indoctrinated into the idea of “copy the competition” they are not only copying the positive aspects (such as an app store) but the brutal mistakes (such as lack of copy/paste, lack of full multitasking, walled gardens, etc.)

If Microsoft want to play in so many different pools at once, they need to be capable of making products that are excellent on their own, interoperate beautifully with other Microsoft products but also interoperate with products from other companies. (Remember that they are competing not against Apple or Google…but the entire largely cross-compatible Linux/UNIX ecosystem.)

They lack two critical elements to pull off all of the above. The first is someone with a grand unifying vision that truly has the depth of scope necessary to understand how all of Microsoft’s offerings contribute to each other and thus to the whole. The second is management capable of actually executing and doing so on tight deadlines.

In the meantime, I will continue to wait around for a sub-$1000 tablet with 1366x768, SD card slot, USB and that either allows me to install whatever or want or can be easily rooted. Will Microsoft be capable of delivering, or will Android get there first?"

5 years of delay and 5 years to recover.

Who ya gonna charge?

GHOSTBUSTERS!

Buy a secondhand VW

"Those who actually care about saving fuel and resources - and perhaps about helping to end the evil of economic growth - might instead consider buying a secondhand VW Polo Bluemotion or one of the various similar cars offered by rival manufacturers a few years back.... though to be sure using diesel."

- editorial note Sept. 2014

Your editor's advice from the end of the Jags to riches article on fuel efficiency.

You give the same advice now and it makes perfect sense too. Toyota managed to shrug off a 10 million car recall after a Lean Quality Control disaster, in less than 5 years.

When my Moto G 4G wears out I will by a new one.

I may have to wait some time for my upgrade.

No Ferrari Hybrid engines?

With a diesel engine and stop start, I hope Messrs Ferrari and Maserati are considering an electric hybrid version in the future. Green without the mean.

Flat six not transverse and missing some wheels.

Unless you have a trailer. :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Gold_Wing

You almost had me packing my bags.

Until you mentioned Genghis the Commie Pinko.

We hit something the size of South London from 10 years away.

This in itself is cause for jubilation.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/a-size-comparison-of-the-comet-with-popular-sci-fi-spac-1658215585

35 years on and still singing.

This is the best announcement Tim Cook has made as Apple CEO so far.

Brave and fearless boss.

Sing it Tom: http://youtu.be/eLc-bh_DrKw

Facebook's take on it.

"Houston, we have a problem."

"What?"

"Never Mind."

"What's the problem?"

"Nothing."

"Please tell us."

"I'm fine."

Cans are a very personal choice.

I use Grado SR60i for domestic sounds and Sennheiser PX100 - II foldaways for traveling. Bleats or Bozos are way overpriced for the quality and Apple buds are a pain in the canals imho. Each to their own.

Picking up a pair of Rogers LS6a speakers very soon, they will destroy even some of the most expensive earwarmers.

Docter Who?

Capaldi combines echoes of Hartnell and Pertwee while creating his own irascible persona for the Doctor.

In a post Saville BEEB an older timelord is duty bound to not approve of the hugging.

Liking the chemistry but the scripts need more work I feel.

Computer Engineers.

Designing a system's performance within the power limits, how revolutionary. ;)

Grats to the Burgh, well played indeed.

Be afraid.

Señor Dabbs, I would get worried if the missus uses the same excuse to research the word cockcage....

"Yes dear, apparently it measures the number of Sales Guys on a single office floor."

BSoAD

Ballmer's instructions are very concise, unfortunately the fame of its familiarity to practically every Windows user in creation is more than a little Pyrrhic.

4G Moto G is the sweet spot.

I have the 4G 4.5" screen Moto G it is the best of both worlds and expandable with up to 32 Gb SD cards.

Love it and it fits in my pocket, only £110 on O2 payg and switching to Giff Gaff to save on the bill. The bigger one has 3G only and doesn't fit my jeans.

No improvement.

Wordsmith alert!

Spat, the perfect word for a disagreement between punks.