The FT has reported this morning that:
Microsoft has given the strongest signal to date of a change of heart over its new Windows 8 operating system, as it revealed that the weak response to the software had wiped out underlying growth in its core business in the third quarter ended March.
Sometime, somewhere, someone is going to realise, soon, that there is such a concept as enough. Windows 8 may be indication of that: it is more than enough. It may well be that for many people it is just cumber (the wonderful word now almost entirely lost within encumber) and which means a hindrance, obstruction or burden.
This is when the green vision begins to become real.
And it is when we begin to realise that growth is not a panacea, not least because there is now no technological change anywhere in sight that will replace the growth created by the IT revolution.
The good news is that this will let us do something much more important. It will let us look at what we can do for each other, and not what we can own to differentiate ourselves from pour neighbour. The fact that this will require a Courageous State is just one those changes in mind set required to create a 21st century economy. But we will get there.
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My wife has been an unfortunate user of Windows 8 ever since her previous Windows 7 laptop went belly-up and we bought a new Acer “ultrabook”. It’s a lovely machine – and wasn’t very expensive – but it has a fatal flaw: it runs Windows 8. Words can hardly begin to describe how much of a catastrophe this OS is. Do you remember “The Fly” where, after a scientific experiment into teleportation goes wrong, Jeff Goldblum starts to get turned into a fly? Well, Windows 8 is like a software experiment that went wrong where a desktop OS starts getting turned into a touchscreen smartphone OS. Just to give one example of its crapness: the most useful feature on Windows 7 is the Start Button on the bottom left of the screen – that’s a reliable way of accessing all your programs, the file manager etc. You go into the desktop on Windows 8 (after navigating through a screen with a random selection of “tiles”) and what’s missing? THE START BUTTON. That’s right, they’ve taken the most useful feature of Windows 7 and dumped it out the window (pun intended).
I could go on but it would just be layering more pain on top of what’s already there. I am seriously considering wiping the laptop hard drive and installing an OEM copy of Windows 7 just to make the computer usable.
I know Richard is a Mac book user these days – I’ve always been put off because the hardware price is so high, but I’ll tell you one thing: Apple couldn’t have designed a better advert for Macintosh than Windows 8 if they’d tried. It’s almost like Microsoft are deliberately destroying their own company.
The good thing about Macs, I’m afraid to say, is they work
Very annoying given how much I dislike the company
Howard, I’ve been a Windows users for years, both at work (where we are yet to move to Windows 7, much less 8) and home. But I have to say that I certainly won’t be moving to 8 – not simply on your experience but that of many other. In fact – and luckily for me – my employer bought me a MacBook Pro laptop last year, so I now use both systems. I have to say the Mac is superb, even though I too hate important aspects of the ethos of the company.
I think this has to happen. Only those with the most tightly blinkered self-interest cannot see this-unfortunately those sort of people run the financial sector and/or become politicians, or so it seems. Ditching the Big Three parties seems essential for change and a move towards real issue based politics with independent thinking. Companies like Microsoft need to recognise when to bow out and give way to something better. Unfortunately I’m pessimistic and feel a lot more fecal matter will have to hit the wildly accelerating fan before this change can happen.
I had hoped for a bit more sympathy for those of us who have been sold a pup:o( And to think my partner offered to pay the extra for a Mac…)
Fortunately, I do not have W8.
The unit I’m using now runs linux, my desktop XP-Pro or Linux, my laptop runs Linux [Mint], and my ‘phone iOS.
My ‘phone is three years old, but since Apple products last longer I have no intention of changing it yet (and then only for another iphone)(which runs on any UK mobile provider).
As for the demise of Microsoft….I think not. Their software runs millions of commercial systems, the PC OS while being the “shop-front” can be run at a loss forever..
‘…not least because there is now no technological change anywhere in sight that will replace the growth created by the IT revolution.’
I raise this not because I necessarily think you’re wrong, but because I wrote about the with a collegue recently. To save having to retype I’ll just briefly quote:
‘Waves of change?
If you take the time to examine the fairly wide range of literature devoted to examining and analysing technology and technological change — or specific examples of it – it is unlikely that you will not, at some point, come across a discussion of ‘technological paradigms’ or, alternatively, ‘technological revolutions’…Each paradigmatic period, or wave, is marked out by the features noted in Table 2, below. Note that the beginning and end dates for the periods do not signal that at that point the particular key carriers and key industries disappear or even cease being important…the ICT paradigm was, therefore, the fifth wave – or techno-economic paradigm. There is, however, an increasing belief that we have already — or are on the cusp of entering – a sixth wave based around the life sciences (Dodgson, Gann and Salter, 2008). To what extent, where, and how rapidly the key industries and carriers of the sixth wave supplant those of the fifth is something we can observe as we move further into the 21st century.’
So, returning to your point, it may or may not be the case that the sixth wave will save us 🙂
Indeed….
Ivan, I would be interested in seeing your paper.
The Life Sciences? Are we talking about genetic engineering and nano-technology here? This could be the most diabolical wave to hit us – particularly in the hands of corporations who have little or no interest in the long-term consequences of their developments and decisions. Then you have the trans-humanists who want to see mankind “refurbished” (re-booted)into some kind of half-machine/half human entity or The Singularity as Ray Kurzweil called it.
I think what Richard had in mind was more of an inner or spiritual development in man, where yes we start to look after each others interests and to see our fellow man’s interests in common with our own. Was this direction you were leaning towards Richard?
You read me right