Interesting article about how much Nokia are receiving initially from M$

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...n-in-deal.html

They would've paid more - much, MUCH more. A billion is to M$ what a burger and fries is to most of us. Pocket money. And if it turns out Nokia needs more - even billions more - to make WP7 relevant in the marketplace, Uncle Ballmer will break out the checkbook. M$ will do whatever it takes! They know they cannot afford to be a loser in the mobile arena!

I wonder how many billions MS has already invested to make Windows CE to work, but failed already for 14 years.

But eventually all computers will be mobile phones. You just plug in bigger screen, mouse, keyboard and USBvX-hub when at home. So Microsoft is fighting for its life also in the longer term.

[QUOTE=zimon;963504
But eventually all computers will be mobile phones. .[/QUOTE]

I think Motrola Atrix is already virtually what you describe?

Actually, most of the newer phones and tablets out there meet that description. You can already get an iPhone 4 with video out and BT keyboard. Even better with the iPad devices where you have a keyboard dock and an HDMI out. My Samsung Galaxy Tab has an available keyboard dock with HDMI out, too. All I would have to do it pick up the Tab to continue doing what I'm already doing and walk out the door without even flinching or a second thought. Pop it right back onto a cradle or keyboard dock at work and, just as easily, I've got my own little computer ready to go on a nice big screen there too.

Truly, I think Windows is becoming increasingly less relevant with every month. Hell, a LARGE majority of people (from what I remember of recent stats) are STILL running Windows XP on any desktop/laptops they own. There's nothing compelling about Windows anymore with these new devices (cell phones, tablets, game consoles, hell--even just the bare TV by itself in a lot of cases now, etc.) lately popping up and doing everything nearly as well if not better than a Windows 7 PC. The Windows brand isn't the hot commodity it used to be, and even in its BEST era it never did well on mobile.

You're right, and that's why M$ knows they MUST make WP7 go. Mobile and cloud services are clearly the future.They will do anything, pay any price, for mobile marketshare. The billion they promised Nokia is nothing to M$ and I'm sure Ballmer is still chuckling over how friggin' cheap he got Nokia.

BUT...anyone who thinks the Windows monopoly for personal laptops/desktops will be broken in less than 10 years is dreaming. For business use make that 20 years or you're delusional. There are and will continue to be only certain tasks business users can do with a non-Windows OS device. Most business use will require - require, mind you, no choice - Windows for a very long time to come. Jeez, I can' t even get my office off XP or M$ Office yet.

http://netmarketshare.com/os-market-share.aspx?qprid=9

A seer you ain't. Let's all hop to Linux, because - oh, wait, it's less relevant each month. In fact, save for iOS and a few unnamed stragglers, they all lost a few pounds, just a few, to let the iOS in.

Must be a wording problem. Anyway, Crashdamage is right. DOS took decades to die off (BTW, the official time of death is 2000, but it lived on in various incarnations to date), and every now and then people jump ship to the next OS. Not as soon as they are released, because no matter how much you try, there's always SOME program that stops working. Each major release is work.

Vista was a joke and nobody will contradict this statement, Microsoft included. XP was the last good OS before 7, no wonder everyone sticks to it, especially since it runs fine on the latest 6-cores, with whatever RAM you can buy and all the drivers ever written. It's fine.

Here's a stat to ponder:

Windows XP (41.15%)
Windows 7 (26.35%)
Windows Vista (14.57%)
Mac OS X (7.07%)
iOS (iPhone) (2.20%)
Linux (1.65%)

7 has been around for 14 months (stats Feb 2011). Yes, the large majority, by (almost) any definition, runs XP. And given the fact that 1.5 years ago it was the only thing you could buy, there are a lot of systems out there that are too young to upgrade. Even so, it overtook Vista like it was going backwards (it is).

And this trend includes the period where everyone needed drivers, apps and compatibility checks, and doesn't include the EOL from MS (April 8, 2014).

Take pictures.

Linux is fragmented to death.

Linux will always be relevant, as it can't truly be left behind. Old versions do, but open source operating systems and the kernels they run on are far more fluid.

What we're seeing, more importantly, is a change in the dynamic and usage habits of non-corporate users of computers. Desktops, as a whole, will become less relevant as mobile devices take over a large chunk of the total usage time.

More nonsense from ericsson. Classic

True.
Distributions, like Debian and Ubuntu don't take it serious enough.

But the consequences can be catastrophic like that Nokia couldn't get Meego ready because its Meego people postponed develop rpm-support to UX and to Ovi and now even N950 won't be allowed to use word "Meego" because it is not Meego-compliant.

Eventually if Nokia goes to bankrupt, Linux fragmentation (and Debian) are one of the reasons.

Debian's stubbornness not to switch to LSB-standard rpm-package management, which is technically better (transactions) and practically more secure (embedded GPG), is embarrassing.