Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
Ed Bottand you believe that
<https://www.zdnet.com/article/400-million-windows-pcs-vanished-in-3-years-where-did-they-all-go/>
has noticed an interesting signal in among all the noise of
Microsoft’s PR boasts: the installed base of Microsoft Windows has
been shrinking, and quite substantially.
As recently as 3 years ago, Microsoft trumpeted an installed base of
1.4 billion Windows PCs; but the best it can say today is “over a
billion”.
So somewhere around 300 million machines have disappeared from that
count in that period. Were they all retired? Or were a few of them
switched to some other OS?
Ed Bott <https://www.zdnet.com/article/400-million-windows-pcs-vanished-in-3-years-where-did-they-all-go/>
has noticed an interesting signal in among all the noise of
Microsoft’s PR boasts: the installed base of Microsoft Windows has
been shrinking, and quite substantially.
As recently as 3 years ago, Microsoft trumpeted an installed base of
1.4 billion Windows PCs; but the best it can say today is “over a billion”.
So somewhere around 300 million machines have disappeared from that
count in that period. Were they all retired? Or were a few of them
switched to some other OS?
Ed Bott <https://www.zdnet.com/article/400-million-windows-pcs-vanished-in-3-years-where-did-they-all-go/>
has noticed an interesting signal in among all the noise of
Microsoft’s PR boasts: the installed base of Microsoft Windows has
been shrinking, and quite substantially.
As recently as 3 years ago, Microsoft trumpeted an installed base of
1.4 billion Windows PCs; but the best it can say today is “over a billion”.
So somewhere around 300 million machines have disappeared from that
count in that period. Were they all retired? Or were a few of them
switched to some other OS?
On Jun 24, 2025 at 6:19:23 PM EDT, "Lawrence D'Oliveiro" <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
So somewhere around 300 million machines have disappeared from that
count in that period. Were they all retired? Or were a few of them
switched to some other OS?
This is a well-known fact and has been going on for about 10+ years. Many users are switching to Macs, and Linux has had good growth too.
<https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/united-states-of-america>
Microsoft still has a pile of cash, and there's no chance of it just disappearing ...
On Tue, 6/24/2025 6:20 PM, % wrote:
Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
Ed Bottand you believe that
<https://www.zdnet.com/article/400-million-windows-pcs-vanished-in-3-years-where-did-they-all-go/>
has noticed an interesting signal in among all the noise of
Microsoft’s PR boasts: the installed base of Microsoft Windows has
been shrinking, and quite substantially.
As recently as 3 years ago, Microsoft trumpeted an installed base of
1.4 billion Windows PCs; but the best it can say today is “over a
billion”.
So somewhere around 300 million machines have disappeared from that
count in that period. Were they all retired? Or were a few of them
switched to some other OS?
If we were sitting in the boardroom in Redmond, there
was never an intention to keep everyone or anyone.
Some years ago, it was remarked that it was the "end of desktops",
and everyone would have a kink in their neck from using a SmartPhone.
But since Microsoft was unceremoniously booted from the SmartPhone
market (the consolidation problem), they have to walk uphill
to school and walk uphill to get back home at the end of the day.
They have to promote desktops now, as part of a sales pitch.
Nothing to see here, move along.
High tech companies have always been a crap-shoot. IBM is a survivor,
but it's trajectory, it's exposure, are not good. AMD is one of the
most amazing companies, they're like the Flying Walendas. But
generally speaking, high tech companies don't last.
Microsoft still has a pile of cash, and there's no chance of
it just disappearing, without some articles from ZDNET
predicting their demise. If staff didn't want to work there any more
(like the Meta AI issue), then, there would be a problem.
I don't make my purchase decisions, based on others.
I'm not a crowd-joiner. For example, I don't
own a SmartPhone. Shocking.
If you present an article with a line-goes-up for
Smartphones, this is my dont-care face.
If someone offered a laptop for $39, would I buy it ?
That's a solid NO.
On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 19:57:40 -0400, Paul wrote:
Microsoft still has a pile of cash, and there's no chance of it just
disappearing ...
Everything will be fine until the day you wake up and realize it isn’t.
Now we see the reason for this Windows/Xbox mashup idea that they’re promoting: by joining two different declining markets together into a
single product, they hope to prop up both businesses.
The trouble with that is: combining different product lines only makes
sense if you get some synergy out of it. In this case, we just have two mediocre product components dragging each other down.
On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 19:57:40 -0400, Paul wrote:
Microsoft still has a pile of cash, and there's no chance of it just
disappearing ...
Everything will be fine until the day you wake up and realize it isn’t.
Now we see the reason for this Windows/Xbox mashup idea that they’re promoting: by joining two different declining markets together into a
single product, they hope to prop up both businesses.
The trouble with that is: combining different product lines only makes
sense if you get some synergy out of it. In this case, we just have two mediocre product components dragging each other down.
So somewhere around 300 million machines have disappeared from that
count in that period. Were they all retired? Or were a few of them
switched to some other OS?
None of the people that I know _personally_ have computers any more.
They all have smart phones. They are all myopic, never needing to look
more than 3 feet / 1 meter in any direction.
High tech companies have always been a crap-shoot. IBM is a survivor,
but it's trajectory, it's exposure, are not good. AMD is one of the most amazing companies, they're like the Flying Walendas. But generally
speaking, high tech companies don't last.
"Lawrence D'Oliveiro" wrote:
As recently as 3 years ago, Microsoft trumpeted an installed base of
1.4 billion Windows PCs; but the best it can say today is over a
billion.
So somewhere around 300 million machines have disappeared from that
count in that period. Were they all retired? Or were a few of them
switched to some other OS?
This is a well-known fact and has been going on for about 10+ years. Many >users are switching to Macs, and Linux has had good growth too.
M$ is doing great, and will continue to do so for many years. They
don't make hardware. They don't to compete with, or depend upon, the
Asians.
chrisv wrote:
M$ is doing great, and will continue to do so for many years. They
don't make hardware. They don't to compete with, or depend upon, the
Asians.
Well, Asians make some hardware for M$, but I think the M$ has
options, there. Unlike so many tech companies that are dependant upon
TSMC.
The customers on the other hand, are so price sensitive, it's
ridiculous. This is why I'm seeing questions now about NUC-like
boxes. Intel made NUC boxes for a while, the interest was limited to
"rich people". Intel would not drop the price.
Intel has exited the NUC market, Asus got the formfactor from them.
But now, the pricing is competitive, and the price of these things
will drop into the sewer, and so will the performance. And Intel
gets to sell some of its two-core processors (in the year 2025) -- a
huge money maker, I'm sure.
Paul wrote:
Intel has exited the NUC market, Asus got the formfactor from them.
But now, the pricing is competitive, and the price of these things
will drop into the sewer, and so will the performance. And Intel
gets to sell some of its two-core processors (in the year 2025) -- a
huge money maker, I'm sure.
But NUC still lacks the versatility of the Raspberry Pi. So who is
going to buy these boxes, and why?
Remember Intels Atom chips? There they were trying to compete against
ARM in smartphones, tablets etc. But they could never offer a
competitive price on which they could make a profit. Only a small
handful of Android phones with Atom chips were ever made -- I think
only because Intel offered the phone vendors a subsidy to make them.
On Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:53:37 -0400, Paul wrote:
The customers on the other hand, are so price sensitive, it's
ridiculous. This is why I'm seeing questions now about NUC-like
boxes. Intel made NUC boxes for a while, the interest was limited to
"rich people". Intel would not drop the price.
Intel was trying to compete with the Raspberry Pi, by offering
products with much less versatility at something like 10× the price.
No wonder they couldn’t compete.
Intel has exited the NUC market, Asus got the formfactor from them.
But now, the pricing is competitive, and the price of these things
will drop into the sewer, and so will the performance. And Intel
gets to sell some of its two-core processors (in the year 2025) -- a
huge money maker, I'm sure.
But NUC still lacks the versatility of the Raspberry Pi. So who is
going to buy these boxes, and why?
Remember Intel’s Atom chips? There they were trying to compete against
ARM in smartphones, tablets etc. But they could never offer a
competitive price on which they could make a profit. Only a small
handful of Android phones with Atom chips were ever made -- I think
only because Intel offered the phone vendors a subsidy to make them.
On Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:53:37 -0400, Paul wrote:
The customers on the other hand, are so price sensitive, it's
ridiculous. This is why I'm seeing questions now about NUC-like boxes.
Intel made NUC boxes for a while, the interest was limited to "rich
people". Intel would not drop the price.
Intel was trying to compete with the Raspberry Pi, by offering products
with much less versatility at something like 10× the price.
No wonder they couldn’t compete.
The customers on the other hand, are so price sensitive, it's
ridiculous. This is why I'm seeing questions now about NUC-like boxes.
Intel made NUC boxes for a while, the interest was limited to "rich
people". Intel would not drop the price. Intel has exited the NUC
market, Asus got the formfactor from them. But now, the pricing is competitive,
and the price of these things will drop into the sewer, and so will the performance. And Intel gets to sell some of its two-core processors (in
the year 2025) -- a huge money maker, I'm sure.
The BGA (ball grid array soldered-down processor) chips on the Intel
site,
don't normally list prices.
I don't make my purchase decisions, based on others.
I'm not a crowd-joiner. For example, I don't own a SmartPhone. Shocking.
On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 19:57:40 -0400, Paul wrote:
I don't make my purchase decisions, based on others.
I'm not a crowd-joiner. For example, I don't own a SmartPhone. Shocking.
You and I are a lot alike. Improvements in technology are almost always a swindle or a scam of some type.
For instance, humans defecated and urinated outside for millions of years
up until very recently. Guess what, modern toilets aren't needed. Just
do it outside and let nature do the rest as it has been for almost the
entire existence of mankind.
And as long as you have access to moving water in a creek or a river,
what's the need for new-fangled plumbing and sinks and water faucets? You can also bathe in these bodies of water, just like humans have always
done.
Toothbrushes, naw. A soft stick split open on one end is better than a toothbrush made and marketed by Big Plastic.
Shelter? Fancy-dancy modern McMansions are for delusional people trying
to impress their equally delusional neighbors. All that is really needed
for shelter is a small frame built out of sticks and covered with straw,
hay, or tree branches with leaves on them. Fun fact, most leaves are waterproof.
On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 19:57:40 -0400, Paul wrote:
High tech companies have always been a crap-shoot. IBM is a survivor,
but it's trajectory, it's exposure, are not good. AMD is one of the most
amazing companies, they're like the Flying Walendas. But generally
speaking, high tech companies don't last.
IBM survives in spite of itself. They sold their fabs to Global foundries
and that's been a rocky road. DB2 seems to be fading fast. I haven't heard >anything about that sort of skunk works crew that was doing Java better
than Sun.
On Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:53:37 -0400, Paul wrote:
The customers on the other hand, are so price sensitive, it's
ridiculous. This is why I'm seeing questions now about NUC-like
boxes. Intel made NUC boxes for a while, the interest was limited to
"rich people". Intel would not drop the price.
Intel was trying to compete with the Raspberry Pi, by offering
products with much less versatility at something like 10 the price.
No wonder they couldn?t compete.
Intel has exited the NUC market, Asus got the formfactor from them.
But now, the pricing is competitive, and the price of these things
will drop into the sewer, and so will the performance. And Intel
gets to sell some of its two-core processors (in the year 2025) -- a
huge money maker, I'm sure.
But NUC still lacks the versatility of the Raspberry Pi. So who is
going to buy these boxes, and why?
But 'NUC's - or in general 'Mini-PC's - are indeed a small market, especially compared to laptops, but also compared to 'desktops' and 'All-in-One's. But they do have their uses.
As recently as 3 years ago, Microsoft trumpeted an installed base of
1.4 billion Windows PCs; but the best it can say today is “over a billion”.
On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 22:19:23 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
As recently as 3 years ago, Microsoft trumpeted an installed base of
1.4 billion Windows PCs; but the best it can say today is “over a
billion”.
Microsoft has revised the blog post in question to restore the 1.4
billion number <https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-seemingly-lost-400-million-users-in-the-past-three-years-official-microsoft-statements-show-hints-of-a-shrinking-user-base>.
Still, though, the idea that users might be jumping ship to go to
Apple’s Macintosh isn’t borne out by Apple’s figures, either.
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