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Comment by vmfunction | Hacker News Reader

MS only warmed up to Linux/Open Source, cause they were getting obliterated by Google on search and Apple with smart phones. If they don't do anything to warm up to the open source developers community, they would be obsolete.

Personally I still don't trust any open source or close source products from MS or any corporation. There is ALWAYS some strings attached. However, good thing about open sourcing software, is that you can always find alternative version that is compiled by the community or CE edition.

e.g: Use VSCodium instead of VSCode. Use ungoogled-chromium instead of Chrome. Use WebKit instead of Safari

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Just look how often the vscode extensions break for the open-source variants of the IDE. I basically have to sit down every few months and rejig my settings.json file to match the latest syntax used by the IDE.

Microsoft hasn't changed its character, only how it presents itself.

Is that because of malice or because the unofficial version of VS Code (Codium, I think) isn’t well known?

The moved towards cloud catalyzed everything, it's much easier to extend and embrace Linux when Windows is no longer their only golden goose.

Your annual reminder that globally, it is Android that dominates the phone market, not iOS. I know that isn't the case in the USA, but that's not the global marketplace.

MS lost (or rather, made essentially zero head way in) everything except desktop computers.

And thanks to the Steam Deck and the damage that is doing to the last bastion of Window supremacy in gaming, they may not have that much longer either.

I mean, would you rather have an OS that turns your computer into a personal space invasion device that helps a multi-trillion dollar megalith monetize your every breath while consuming a huge portion of the performance of your $1,000 personal computer, or would you rather have a lightweight customizable OS that only does what you tell it to do, doesn't cost you anything, and can do almost everything that the other guy can do just as well for free with no tracking?

Sadly a lot of people "rather" have the former. Of course MS does everything in their power that these people don't know better or don't have the option to select the latter.

MS has always been about forcing subpar tech with shady tactics, and they are very good at it.

Steam Deck reinforces Windows and XBox as target platform for game studios, it is doing nothing to change Windows supremacy in gaming.

Specially now that Asus, Razor, Lenovo are getting into the same space with Windows 11 devices.

After all Proton is all about running Windows games.

> MS lost (or rather, made essentially zero head way in) everything except desktop computers.

Microsoft's booming business numbers would like to have a discussion.

$26 billion in quarterly operating income, about to overtake Apple in profit, and practically none of their growth over the past decade has come from desktop computers.

They have an extremely lucrative business across cloud everything these days and it has very little to do with Windows on the desktop.

Over the past decade that Windows desktop has largely been stagnant as a business, their total sales have gone from $78 billion to $218 billion. Operating income was stuck for 6-7 years in the ~$14-$22 billion range (the later Ballmer stagnation years), until after 2015. They'll cross $100+ billion in operating income over the next four quarters. All of that leap has happened from 2016 to now and basically none of it has to do with consumer Windows.

> Microsoft's booming business numbers would like to have a discussion.

My gut feeling is Microsoft is making money by moving old Active Directory servers into their own cloud offering, Azure. Their revenue is booming because they make more money from hosting a server than selling a Windows / MSSQL / Exchange licence that runs on someone elses hardware. To give them their due, they do it well, facilitating a smooth transition that allows you to move one machine at a time into the cloud, while the patient is still going about their normal business.

That's all well and good, but it doesn't mean the proportion of people / businesses out there running Microsoft software is growing. Maybe it's dropping? I don't know. But if it is dropping, it's going to come to an ugly end in a few decades time.

Fair enough. They got in to the cloud business. Substantially behind AWS but ahead of Google Cloud. So I'll grant them that, which is good since "consumer Windows" is probably the fastest shrinking market in computing.

yeah with the Jedi defence contract who knows how MS is actually making money. MS making money is NOT necessarily a good thing for users or their own share holders.

I can only trace it to Satya Nadal. I think he shaped modern Microsoft post Steve Balmer.

Microsoft got much more diversified since than it seems.

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