back to article Windows 10 love to see PC market grow again. Future iPhone to be clear. Elvis to re-appear

Analyst outfit IDC thinks the PC market will grow again, although things are going to get worse before they get better. And the growth will come because people like Windows 10. The firm's new Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device (PCD) Tracker says “As a collective group of device categories, the PCD market is expected …

  1. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Tablets down, tablets with detachable keyboards up. They do know the latter is cheaper (in general) and likely to shift more units, especially in the home market?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yeah, I wonder if this is actually good news for Microsoft. As tablets with keyboards are supposed to explode in growth, that could mean a lot of Android tablets and iPads... not necessarily to MSFT's benefit if they are replacing laptops which MSFT dominated. Certainly a much more competitive space.

      I also wonder how much of the laptop space growth is Chromebook. They are supposed to hit 20 million units next year, up from nothing five years ago, so certainly it is having an impact on the market growth.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    So where do I get tickets to see The King??

    Because I definitely don't believe the other two are going to happen!

    (Mine is the white jumpsuit with rhinestones and a waist-length cape.)

  3. wolfetone Silver badge
    Pint

    Elvis isn't dead...

    He's just gone home.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: Elvis isn't dead...

      Don't you mean

      Elvis has 'left the building'?

      1. wolfetone Silver badge

        Re: Elvis isn't dead...

        If Tommy Lee Jones says he's gone home, then HE'S GONE, HOME.

        Evidence

    2. Sandtitz Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Elvis isn't dead...

      "He's just gone home."

      Yeah, into a nursing home.

      1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

        Re: Elvis isn't dead...

        That's actually a very entertaining movie.

  4. PhilipN Silver badge

    Please take mine

    Symptomatic of what will be facing a lot of Reg Readers : I have accumulated a plethora of computers taking up space and in too many cases just gathering dust at home and in my office, not to mention tablets (and I am not even going to look in my cupboard full of old phones). All or most of them still work fine (including the phones). In reality I do not think I need ever buy another computer.

    I don't think I ever need buy another tablet. Most of the casual and non-casual surfing and emailing etc is done on my phone.

    Where is the market for more sales - i.e. not just replacing the old equipment? New businesses and new households? Really? 2-year old kids are already starting on tablets, and by the time they grow out of kiddie games they will be able to do everything they need on phones. They do not even need a keyboard - some of them type faster with 2 thumbs than I do with ten.

    I also now do a fair amount of dictation direct on the phone with almost instant conversion to text.

    All I can say, having long ago gone through the essential re-configuring and re-building of office furniture to accommodate 6 square feet of desktop PC + display + keyboard + printer (instead of c. 1 square foot typewriter) - Thank God!

    What is obvious is that the market for spectacles is going to grow exponentially since kids are going to be short-sighted by the time they are 3.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Please take mine

      Not everything works in a letterbox format (ie on a Phone). The squarer format of say an iPad is better for a whole raft of things than a phone.

      I'd really like to strangle the person or persons who decided that all screens (phones and laptops) needed to be in a format for viewing movies. Does your device get used for viewing movies more than 10% of the time?

      Pah.

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Please take mine

        "Does your device get used for viewing movies more than 10% of the time?"

        No, but my laptop, if you're including that in devices, is often displaying a document I'm working on and one of the documents I'm working from side by side.

        1. P. Lee

          Re: Please take mine

          >No, but my laptop, if you're including that in devices, is often displaying a document I'm working on and one of the documents I'm working from side by side.

          Better yet, a system with a couple of 24" screens. Even with a laptop, having a desk to work on is optimal. Fewer devices means a clearer desk, not no desk.

          Having a printer/multi-page scanner is also not dependent on the pc/tablet debate.

          My desktop sits under the drawers of my desk. Assuming the desk is required, even a mid-tower pc can have zero additional footprint.

          1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            Re: Please take mine

            "Even with a laptop, having a desk to work on is optimal."

            You haven't seen the state of my disk.

      2. SundogUK Silver badge

        Re: Please take mine

        "I'd really like to strangle the person or persons who decided that all screens (phones and laptops) needed to be in a format for viewing movies."

        Join the queue.

    2. Ralph the Wonder Llama
      Joke

      re: "some of them type faster with 2 thumbs than I do with ten."

      If you've got ten thumbs, no wonder ;)

      1. PhilipN Silver badge

        Re: re: "some of them type faster with 2 thumbs than I do with ten."

        That was the joke - MY joke. Give me my upvotes!

      2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: re: "some of them type faster with 2 thumbs than I do with ten."

        You know the rules: pictures or it never happened.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If someone sent me a pc with Windows 10 on I would have to return to sender. Uh-huh

    1. Geoffrey W

      Still no Linux on the desktop this year? Sob. Back to my room on Lonely Street, at Heartbreak Hotel, Where we'll be so lonely...

      1. Admiral Grace Hopper

        When I was a girl,

        And my PC was a pup,

        Over code and programs we'd stray.

        Just a girl and her machine,

        We were both full of fun,

        We grew up together that way.

        As the years fast did roll,

        My PC, he grew old,

        His eyes were fast growing dim.

        And one day the doctor looked at me and said,

        "I can do no more for him, Grace".

        With hands that were trembling,

        I picked up my gun,

        And aimed it at the PCs faithful head.

        I just couldn't do it, I wanted to run,

        I wish they would shoot me instead.

        It blinked its cursor and looked up at me,

        And laid his keyboard on my knee.

        I had struck the best friend a girl ever had,

        I cried so I scarcely could see.

        Old Shep, he has gone where the good PCs go

        And no more with old Shep will I code.

        But if PCs have a heaven, there's one thing I know,

        Old Shep has a wonderful home.

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Amazing, Grace.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Heartbreak Hotel...

        Poor millennials, who can't spot an Elvis song text and some irony... keep on listening to Bieber...

      3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        "Still no Linux on the desktop this year?"

        Get someone to help you install it. It's obviously too difficult for you to put a Cd or DVD in the drive.

        Hereabouts it's been Linux on the desktop since they days of Dapper, deep in the mists of time.

        1. Geoffrey W

          I got this program on a magazine, see. It had a penguin on it. I thought it was going to be a nice wildlife screen saver or something (I hoped for something to do with cats tho didn't really expect it) but it just made my task bar look funny and renamed all my programs. Still works though and I can still twitter all my tweets,,so...Did I install one of them there Linuxes then? #Cool!

      4. Teiwaz

        Year of Linux on the Desktop

        Whenever a dissatisfied Windows user installs 'Linux on and sticks with it.

        There are many thousands of very personal 'year of Linux on the Desktop' experiences out there.

        1. Geoffrey W

          Re: Year of Linux on the Desktop

          You make it sound like a religious experience. Wish I could have it too, but too late for me. I first used Linux years ago when getting it working was more of a pain in the arse. No dawning burst of light for me, but it was kinda fun. I enjoyed stuff like that back then, when I was a proto beard kinda guy.

    2. Avatar of They
      Happy

      I have,

      ... Will do again.

      People like Windows 10. Sigh....

  6. Triggerfish

    Refresh of hardware

    Not sure about Win10 love, how much is refresh of hardware? We have been keeping hold of our win 7 machines but they are a bit tired now, which means we will be going ending up with Win10 due to a hardware refresh. Doesn't mean we love it.

    1. Admiral Grace Hopper

      Re: Refresh of hardware

      My new dev laptop for work will be Win10 only because Win7 has been withdrawn from the corporate build. Given the choice, I would not be adding to the Win10 growth stats. I've only ever seen Win10 before in the period between a new laptop arriving at home and a Linux being dropped onto it.

      1. Naselus

        Re: Refresh of hardware

        "My new dev laptop for work will be Win10 only because Win7 has been withdrawn from the corporate build."

        Exactly this tbh. Win 10 will grow because corporates are never going to go to Linux (sorry penguinistas, but let's try to focus on reality rather than the impossible dream - if you have 20 MS support staff on permanent contracts, you're never, ever going to switch your shop to Linux) and the 1.5 year New Microsoft Operating System Quarantine Period has now passed. They're the vast bulk of the people keeping Win 7 alive atm, and they'll begin switching to Win 10 now because it's not an absolute abortion of an OS like Win 8 was.

        Plus, most of the more objectionable parts of 10 (telemetry, no-choice updating) can be deactivated with the Enterprise license. Funny, that; it's almost like MS knew that IT professionals would hate those parts...

        1. Missing Semicolon Silver badge

          Re: Refresh of hardware

          Enterprise version lets you disable telemetry? Suspicious Minds...

          More discussion on The Enquirer

        2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          The penguin's egg problem

          "if you have 20 MS support staff on permanent contracts, you're never, ever going to switch your shop to Linux"

          If you never switch your shop to Linux you're always going to have 20 MS support staff on permanent contracts.

          1. hplasm
            Thumb Up

            Re: The penguin's egg problem

            This ^^^^

            This very thing. And not to mention the MCSEs et al...

          2. Naselus

            Re: The penguin's egg problem

            "If you never switch your shop to Linux you're always going to have 20 MS support staff on permanent contracts."

            Yup. I'll leave you to figure out the implications for the forthcoming Year of Linux on the Desktop yourselves; as a broad hint, it's the same thing that happened to the previous 17 YOLOTD's that the more optimistic penguinistas have predicted on this site.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    Shiny things make everything better

    I'll be rolling out 3,500 Surface devices this year with Windows 10 and Office 2016 with E3 licenses.

    1. defiler

      Re: Shiny things make everything better

      I'm so sorry.

      I'll be laying hints to replace my Surface Pro 3 with a proper laptop. Probably the biggest use I found for the stylus was to draw dicks onto screenshots to emphasise a point. And the AAAA battery the thing takes was a pig to buy when it ran flat.

      "Detachable tablets – think Surface Pros, iPad Pros and other typoslabs – will lead the charge" - Ha! Only by laying the groundwork for another hardware refresh ASAP.

  8. Unep Eurobats
    Angel

    You clickbait merchants, you

    You get me every time. But like most others I guessed Elvis too.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Music to Microsoft's ears??

    Don't be so sure. There are plenty of really good, non-windows (i.e. not malware cesspools) that are far better than Microsoft's offering, far more secure and cheaper too.

    A pixel C is a very compelling device, nobody needs to run win32 these days, and windows store is a barren wasteland still... Windows is no longer the world's #1 OS...

    1. SundogUK Silver badge

      Re: Music to Microsoft's ears??

      "nobody needs to run win32 these days"

      Gamers.

      1. Zippy's Sausage Factory

        Re: Music to Microsoft's ears??

        Good luck running the latest Call of Duty on a Surface...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Music to Microsoft's ears??

        PS4

      3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Music to Microsoft's ears??

        "Gamers"

        That's wants vs needs.

  10. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "The firm doesn't say why 2019 will see a return to growth"

    It'll be all those caps on the motherboards of old computers reaching EoL.

  11. BobChip
    Meh

    IDC thinks....

    Like weather forecasts, I'll believe it when I see it.

  12. Updraft102

    So what do they know that we don't know?

    So Windows 10 was so popular that when they were giving it away, people still wouldn't take it, so they had to use malware techniques to force people to take their free product. Many people resisted, leading to the appearance of programs designed to prevent users from being given something for free, which is pretty incredible given people's love for getting things free. People would take a subscription to a newspaper in a language they don't read if it meant getting something for free, even if all it did was increase the amount of waste they had to get rid of.

    Now, Windows 10 is so popular that people who buy new PCs are rolling back to 7, in large enough numbers to prompt Microsoft to sabotage those installations and block future Windows updates on Windows versions they'd pledged to support until 2020 (even as a ransomware threat looms so large that they release a Windows XP patch even though XP has been out of extended support for 3 years). Once again, 10 is so popular that a program to break Microsoft's sabotage of Win 7 installations on new hardware appears about a week after the sabotage begins.

    Windows 10's growth rate since the official end of the free upgrade period has barely managed to outpace Windows 7's growth rate, according to Netmarketshare.com. Yes, Windows 7, the OS that you can't get on a new PC, that MS is not selling, that MS will actively sabotage if they want to, has been growing almost as fast as 10, at the expense of XP, Vista, and even MacOS.

    That's the operating system that's going to revive interest in the PC market, is it? They're predicting people are going to want 10 at some point instead of having it inflicted upon them? So what does IDC know that we don't? Win 10 is a piece of crap... everyone knows it, including the PC buying public, so what are they seeing that's going to turn this around? Is 10 going to be reworked to fix the many issues people have with it? Are they getting rid of the spying and restoring the Windows 7 UI and the level of control the user had over his own PC from Windows 7 too?

    Or are these guys just as batshit crazy as Microsoft?

    1. Naselus

      Re: So what do they know that we don't know?

      "Windows 10's growth rate since the official end of the free upgrade period has barely managed to outpace Windows 7's growth rate, according to Netmarketshare.com. "

      Not that I disagree with your overall point, but this simply isn't true.

      Win 10's growth is about 2% over the past 3 months (an amount equal to all Linux users across all distros, according to the same site; about the rate MacOS has grown in the past 8 years - operating systems that plenty on this site will happily insist are about to take over the world based on these figures), while Win 7 grew 0.3%. That's nowhere near the same growth rate.

      I doubt that the PC market is suddenly about to explode back into life, but there are a few things that say it might. Some software now being released is actually taxing hardware again - 64-bit CAD programs in particular are actually demanding all the grunt you can throw at them. Thin client solutions which Gartner were predicting would take over the world two years ago have proven to be just as disappointing as they do every time they rear their ugly heads; the touch UIs developed for tablets and phones have proven to be mostly useless for any serious workloads beyond emailing and light text editing; and most European economies are finally growing, meaning that businesses might just go ahead with hardware refreshes that have been long-postponed.

      While I doubt that Win 10 will be driving any expansion in the market, it does stand to benefit disproportionately if it does happen.

      1. Updraft102

        Re: So what do they know that we don't know?

        "Win 10's growth is about 2% over the past 3 months (an amount equal to all Linux users across all distros, according to the same site; about the rate MacOS has grown in the past 8 years - operating systems that plenty on this site will happily insist are about to take over the world based on these figures), while Win 7 grew 0.3%. That's nowhere near the same growth rate

        Admittedly, I was using the March figures as the present ones, but let's go with that for a moment.

        The free upgrade didn't end three months ago. It ended July 31, 2016. From then, Windows 7 has grown from 47.25% to 49.42%, for a total of 2.17%. During that same time, Windows 10 grew from 22.99% to 25.36%, for a total of 2.37%.

        That is quite near the same growth rate. It's quite remarkable indeed that 7 is growing at all; even holding its own would be impressive, given that every new PC comes with 10 and that MS is willing to stoop to sabotaging working installations of its own product (with three more years of support on tap) on newer-generation hardware to get people to upgrade.

        It seems that MS is willing to stop at nothing to get people to adopt 10. Well, except for making 10 into a product people would want... that's apparently just out of the question. Apparently, the lesson MS learned from the twin fiascos of Vista and 8 is that if you let people choose whether or not to upgrade, they might not do it, so better to never give them that choice. The more direct lesson, which was something like, "If you offer a product that amounts to a bunch of half-baked crap, people won't buy it, so don't release any half-baked crap" apparently escaped them completely.

        The idea of giving us what we're asking for instead of what they think we should have is just too crazy and out-there to be taken seriously, I guess... the failure of Vista and 8 was because we as customers failed Microsoft, not the other way round, in their cynical mode of thought. "What? You want Microsoft to serve the customers rather than forcing them to serve us? Are you new here?"

        1. Naselus

          Re: So what do they know that we don't know?

          "Admittedly, I was using the March figures as the present ones, but let's go with that for a moment."

          The precise figures for this month on Netmarketshare right now are:

          Win 10: 26.28%

          Win 7: 48.5%.

          Which aren't the figures you appear to be using.

          I think the more relevant thing to remember here is the Netmarketshare is not accurate enough to be trying to measure to 2 decimal places (or even to a 2% margin of error, tbh). Win 7 probably hasn't really grown at all, and so swings around just under 50% permanently. Meanwhile Win 10 is definitely on an upward trend over the same period.

    2. tentimes

      Re: So what do they know that we don't know?

      I think your premise is wrong.

      I have been using Windows 10 for about a year now and find it to be an excellent OS, better than Windows 7 (which I also like). I really don't see the downsides to upgrading to 10, apart from the caveat that you always want a fresh install. An upgrade install is always asking for problems.

  13. GingerOne

    Not sure about Windows 10 popularity. Windows 7 support is running out soon, there isn't much option (as many have said before, Linux is not an option sadly).

    We will shortly start migrating from Windows 7 desktops to Windows 10 'agile devices' *shudder*. Either HP Elite X2 or EliteBook 360. The surface-like devices are nice but I can't see them lasting. Once people realise you really need a desk to use them properly they will flock back to a more traditional looking laptop with fixed keyboard.

    As for keyboard-less tablets, they have their place and I imagine sales will probably remain low but consistent. They just dont need updating that often. I'm still using a 5 year old iPad 3 and Netflix/iPlayer and the interwebs all work well which is all I use it for - I can't see it being upgraded for a while yet.

    1. Updraft102

      Windows 8.1 has support for 6 more years and can be made to look and feel like Windows 7 far more than Windows 10 can, and without the forced upgrades, the built-in spying that has no OFF, Cortana, "Windows as a service" aka "you're the beta tester now", and all of the other negative crap with Windows 10.

      I'm using 8.1 now, and the Metro crap is pretty much gone. It takes aftermarket addons to make 8.1 usable, but the same addons are necessary in 10, and I used them even in 7 to make "good" into "great." Things like Classic Shell, Old New Explorer, 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, etc., take the stupid right out of the UI... no more ribbon, no more tiles, no more charms... it's very much like it was in 7. I was not using an Aero glass theme in 7 (I use my own customized non-transparency theme), but if you want that, it's also available via addon.

      Win 8 was only bad in comparison to 7, and many people remember it as being a piece of crap still, but compared to 10, it's far better. It's not as good as 7 all around (in UI terms), but it's pretty close.

      Six years is a loooong time in computers. It's possible that by then this idiotic "is it a phone or a PC" fetish MS has will pass. It's a given that MS is not going to change direction as long as their stock prices remain high. Six years is long enough for the MS stock prices to return to earth, which they most certainly will when the gullible investors realise that all of this talk about innovation and cloud and whatever else they hear from Nadella these days is just so much empty corporate-speak for the same old crap as before.

      It's not hard to dazzle investors in the short term; everyone's talking about how MS is so innovative now, but what's innovative about treating your long-time customers like crap? That's been tried many times, and it never really works.

      The cloud is just another name for the same thin-client crap they have been trying to push on us for decades, and convertible devices that can be laptops or tablets fail to live up to the hype. Apple already discarded the idea of 2 in 1s out of hand, and while Ubuntu went all-in on it with Unity (and arguably did a better job of it than MS), they've given up on it too.

      Maybe MS can make it work... but given what we've seen so far, I doubt it. It looks to me like Apple's point of view, to make the best tablet they can and the best PC they can and to have them work together seamlessly, but not to have them try to run the same UI or OS, is the way to go. I will never be happy with a touch UI on my PCs (laptop or otherwise), and tablet users will never be happy with a traditional Windows UI. They each need their own UI, separate and distinct.

      Personally, my plan is to use 8.1 as long as it is supported, and to transition to Linux during that time. I'm already set with Mint 18.1 on both of my main PCs. Right now a lot of people say moving to Linux is not an option, and I take them at their word... but six years is a long time, and the way the world is heading seems to be web apps that are platform-agnostic. Linux may well be an option long before Windows 8.1 goes out of support in 2023. And if not... we will know what the options look like when it comes to pass. We can't possibly know any of that now. So why put up with the pain of Windows 10 for the next six years when you don't have to?

      1. GingerOne

        @ Updraft102 Ye gods man, 8.1 is bloody awful. In a controlled corporate environment Windows 10 Enterprise is actually rather good (for Windows).

        1. Updraft102

          What's so awful about it? I'm really picky about UI (I'd never accept Windows 10 as it is now, for example, even if the spying and forced updates were removed), and I find it quite acceptable.

      2. Naselus

        "It's not hard to dazzle investors in the short term; everyone's talking about how MS is so innovative now, but what's innovative about treating your long-time customers like crap? That's been tried many times, and it never really works."

        Have you actually looked at the entire history of the computing industry? Because literally every big name in software and hardware has always done this. Oracle, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Google.... treating the customer like crap turns out to be very profitable.

  14. druck Silver badge
    Happy

    People wont be happy with Windows 10 until...

    ...Microsoft kills it off, and starts forcing people towards an even worse Windows 11.

  15. inmypjs Silver badge

    Can I have...

    some of what they are smoking - please.

  16. tentimes

    Why the Windows 10 hate?

    I don't get it. What's wrong with Windows 10? I use it fine, more productive than 7, looks better, runs faster, gets more out of the hardware. DX12. Apps that can run on the desktop so I can pin my twitter where I want it etc.

    Right click on the start menu icon to get all the bits and bobs like control panel, command line, disk manager etc. Really easy. Works well with three monitors. Detects all hardware instantly and has a better hardware base than 7. I didn't have to go searching for drivers when I installed it.

    So, what's not to like?

    1. GingerOne

      Re: Why the Windows 10 hate?

      All of that is great. As an OS to aid productivity at work it's brilliant. I think it's the data slurping at home that bothers people, that and the way it has been foisted upon users.

      1. Updraft102

        Re: Why the Windows 10 hate?

        The OS needs to understand that I am in control at all times, without question.

        This means I decide if I download anything. I decide if I install anything. I decide if the system is going to be rebooted, and when. I decide if Candy Crush Soda Saga is going to be installed. I decide if Speccy is going to be uninstalled. I choose the drivers for each device. I decide what data will be sent out of my computer, and to where.

        I do not expect to see ads in my operating system. Not even Google, biggest ad company in the world, puts ads into the Android OS. In the apps running on it, yes, but never in the OS itself. As my PC is not a phone, I expect better than on a phone OS like Android, not worse.

        I also expect any patches to the OS to be fully tested by a professional crew before I ever see them. Now that MS has done away with most of the QA people, that task falls to the end users, particularly the home users who are not using the CBB. That is not acceptable.

        I'm also very specific about user interface design. My PC is not a phone, so I never want to see anything in the UWP "design language." It's ugly, it's useless, and it won't be on my PC. Neither will anything that is an "app," or any "tiles." I have no desire for "Cortana," "Edge," "Windows Store," or any other detritus like that, and it should be a simple task to go into the "add or remove Windows features" dialog and uncheck them to delete those so-called features, but they haven't given that option. I also don't want to see the ribbon anywhere but on web sites making fun of Microsoft's bad UI design... certainly not in my file explorer.

        If they rectify these minor issues, I'll have to reconsider. Until then... never 10.

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Flame

      Re: Why the Windows 10 hate?

      "I don't get it. What's wrong with Windows 10?"

      *crack knuckles*

      1. The ADWARE

      2. The SPYWARE

      3. The FORCED UPDATES

      4. The "the METRO" focus (including 'settings' vs traditional control panel)

      5. The 2D FLATSO FLUGLY LIMITED CUSTOMIZATION appearance of *EVERYTHING*

      6. the arrogance of its advocates and fanbois

      7. The "Start Thing" (with embedded ads!)

      8. The removal of user customizations/options that USED to be some of the BEST features of windows (ability to customize)

      9. Microshaft basically using us END USERS as their beta testers via FORCED UPDATES. Got "BRICK"? It's happened a few times...

      10. 'windows update's tendency to DOMINATE your bandwidth with whatever _IT_ wants, regardles of whether you want to stream a movie, listen to internet radio, download stuff, yotta yotta, on ITS schedule, when _IT_ *FEELS*, and NO control by YOU!

      That's a good start.

      I really *HATE* Win-10-nic!

      1. Geoffrey W

        Re: Why the Windows 10 hate?

        Oh Bob, don't you know: The kid that hates is the kid that loves the most...

  17. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Coffee/keyboard

    And the growth will come because people like Windows 10.

    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, *breathe*, *breathe*, *gasp*, *breathe*, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

  18. Michael Sanders

    Any analysis from IDC I will now suspect. This growth is expected because people love Windows 10?! We killed the desktop with our phone/console fetish. And now we'd like to fix that with flashy flash. Should'a kept developing software that only runs on a beefy desktop. It's too late now. You couldn't manage your way out of a wet paper bag.

  19. cambsukguy

    52 -> 70

    NASDAQ, 12 months. 34%.

    I wish my value grew at that rate. I am sure they are gutted over at MS.

    Their purpose is to make that number bigger for the people that own shares. They are doing that and people think that they will keep doing that, hence the increase.

  20. Tcat
    IT Angle

    It's all computers. I use Mac. I use iPad. I use Win 10. I use a Lumia 950XL.

    I *need* Win 10 desktop for certain apps that don't fly elsewhere.

    I use Win 10 mobile Because of the .2% market share. It is rather tough and nobody targets

    a device with a fraction of a % of market share for ransom (and replaceable battery, 250GB SDcard, switch SIM's in 1 minute as I change countries...)

    None of it is perfect. IT was all designed by imperfect people.

    Yes, I have an iPhone too... Wonder where I left it in the home? Cupertino County jail it felt like.

  21. Howard Hanek
    Happy

    Question

    "On Top of Spaghetti" really isn't the theme song all MS developers must learn during their initial orientation?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The PC is dead Dave

    Ive been setting up and fixing PCs for friends and family since the Amiga days and in the last 3 years not one of my family or anyone I know has bought a new PC for home and as far as I can see they have no intention of buying another one ever again, why would they ? They are quite happy with their phone and tablet to do everything they need to do.

    In fact the main people who have asked for PC help were the ones who had the Windows 10 upgrade 'forced' on them and wanted to get it off as they hated it and nothing worked anymore.

    Was the survey sponsored by a certain Redmond company perhaps ?

    1. Updraft102

      Re: The PC is dead Dave

      I haven't bought a new PC myself in the last three years, and while I have no specific plans to buy another, I can tell you that I have no intention of giving up on the platform. I don't find Android or iOS to be fit for purpose, and I don't have a smartphone. My Android tablet (which is about 5 years old and has been out of patch support for about 4 years; see my previous comment about "not fit for purpose") mostly sits idle (I can go weeks without touching it except to charge it, which I only do to preserve the battery).

      Still, I know a lot of people fled PCs for those terrible mobiles. They never really needed a PC in the first place, though, and they only had them because at one point they were the only way to access the internet.

      I think it was Steve Jobs who likened PC (Macs included) to trucks and smartphones/tablets to cars. When only trucks were available, people bought trucks. It wasn't until cars arrived that people recognized that they didn't really need a truck... but when it was all trucks, that was just the way it was.

      PC sales are far higher now than they were during the mid to late 90s, when people lined up around the block at midnight to get the first copies of Windows 95. Suddenly, everyone that never found a use for a home computer needed one, and everyone pottering around with what was then obsolete hardware suddenly had a reason to upgrade to something modern. PCs flew off the shelves, and it seemed to be the golden age of PCs. Look at the sales figures by year, though-- they are far higher now than they were then, even with all of the people who only need to check Facebook or other mundane crap long gone.

      I wish that certain company in Redmond had the faith in the PC platform you seem to suggest they should. If they did, it is likely that the steaming dung-pile known as Windows 10 might be usable as a PC OS in its own right. It might have actually been designed to serve PC users' needs, if that were the case, rather than trying to serve Microsoft's frantic, desperate wish to turn back the clock and get some traction in the mobile market. In that case, Windows 10 might actually do what IDC suggested it would, which is to boost sales of PCs, rather than acting as an anchor to same.

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