What is the point of Windows now ?

[Nothinman]

What prompted me to ask the original question is the reasoning behind the new Microsoft tablets.

Which I think is..people have to use or want to use Windows on their computers, so they will want the same thing on their phones and tablets.

But I'm thinking consumers are actually moving away from pc's, towards smartphones and tablets based on Android and/or ios.

So I think it might be as likely that people will move away from Windows pc's as it is they will move towards Windows phones and tablets.

Its from that pov that I'm wondering why consumers still need or want Windows, or is the time ripe for laptops and desktops without Windows ?

Exactly. Most people don't want Windows per se, they want Angry Birds, Facebook, Quicken, Gmail, etc and the OS below it is a minor point to them which is how it should be. The OS should be a thin shim sitting between the applications the user actually cares about and the hardware to run it, not a huge revenue producing product that MS has turned it into.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I will never move away from the pc. You cannot play bf3 in 2560x1440 on a 64player map with a tablet.

 

[Tom]

You guys are acting like he is wrong. He is not. He answered the question posed by the op. Why do we need windows? Professional software doesn't work nor do most games. Thats why.

When did Adobe and Autodesk stop making software for Macs ?

Apple makes extremely popular smartphones and tablets. Doesn't that put them in a good position to sell laptops and desktops for commercial and professional purposes, that synergize with phones and tablets ?

Seems like they might be in a better position than Microsoft trying to enter the phone and tablet market.

 

[Dominato3r]

When did Adobe and Autodesk stop making software for Macs ?

Apple makes extremely popular smartphones and tablets. Doesn't that put them in a good position to sell laptops and desktops for commercial and professional purposes, that synergize with phones and tablets ?

Seems like they might be in a better position than Microsoft trying to enter the phone and tablet market.

Follow this train of thought with me:

- Majority of Windows PCs being sold are laptops

- Touch technology is getting cheap as hell

- Most Windows 8 devices shown off so far are convertible types, blurring the line between a laptop and tablet

- Microsoft continues to sell Windows at current volume (~360M Units per year)

- By Microsoft's own accounts, they expect a vast majority of PCs Q4 2013 to ship with a touch digitizer

If you look at it over time, what's stopping Microsoft from saying that they are the leader in tablets if even half of PCs sell with some sort of touch input?
What happens when a touch digitizer becomes as standard as the scroll wheel or a webcam on a laptop?

That is my thinking on the tablet area regarding Microsoft. Phones are a harder sell for them I think. The max WP could get in terms of share is probably 10% IMO.

 

[Tom]

It will probably be a year before laptops with touch screens will be affordable enough to compete with non-touch laptops.

A year when tablets in the $200-300 price range will sell 10s of millions.

Not sure what importance Windows touch devices will have in that world.

 

[HeXen]

I bet MS will count each device that an OEM creates as a # of W8's sold after the first month, so probably won't matter if no one buys it, they'll market a high number of copies sold or something as a way to work around its unpopularity by making it seem as if its popular

It will probably be a year before laptops with touch screens will be affordable enough to compete with non-touch laptops.

A year when tablets in the $200-300 price range will sell 10s of millions.

Not sure what importance Windows touch devices will have in that world.

It doesn't have to be, a couple years back i purchased a touch screen mod kit for my Netbook, it was only like $50, it worked great and was very simple, only 2 point touch though but for an OEM to add touchscreen should be dirt cheap even if it is a more generic one....though as i found, a touchscreen on a laptop isn't really terribly useful or comfortable. I ended up using it just to press shortcuts cause it was faster than using trackpad.

 

[Nothinman]

I will never move away from the pc. You cannot play bf3 in 2560x1440 on a 64player map with a tablet.

No one is suggesting that you do and I'll never give up my Linux PCs for control and flexibility reasons. But it seems that eventually they will fade as devices become more job specific and the general use devices will be relegated to the few technical hobbiests willing to spend the cash and professional developers.

I know these analogies usually suck but look at cars, originally they were wide open and tons of people tinkered with them, bought kit cars, etc but now only a very fringe few can do more than fill the tank. And the addition of black box computers into cars has made it virtually impossible to do any kind of work on one outside of changing the oil without specialized equipment.

I bet MS will count each device that an OEM creates as a # of W8's sold after the first month, so probably won't matter if no one buys it, they'll market a high number of copies sold or something as a way to work around its unpopularity by making it seem as if its popular

I'm sure they will as that's pretty standard these days. That's why every article about a new device makes a comment about the numbers being of devices shipped and not devices sold.