This is the reason, the utter reason, why windows is dead (or dying). I’ll just give the reason without you having to read the technical parts, for you TL;DR people ;) The absolute reason is because in our society a big chunk of people desire or want NEW things. They can’t handle things that are old especially when it comes to tech. Microsoft has already declared this is the last Windows they are shipping, with that said and Windows 10X just getting dropped with the 6th anniversary of Windows 10 (boy that’s a long time) there will be those who hang on still (again), but tha tha tha that’s all folks…
Let’s assume that Microsoft is hard at work on some brand new operating system (or for lack of a better argument, Windows on ARM).
In the above diagram these code sources are mainly for the protocols that have been agreed upon by the computer industry for over the past 30 years. Microsoft and other operating systems need these to function and to be cross compatible, i.e. work with others. I mean they could make a calculator but to have the OS be operable and to be useful for programmers to code on we rely on these librarires to be supported. The ones in red on the right are pretty difficult to get the original authors to re-code, but not impossible, some if a compiler is good enough, Microsoft could just recompile them into the system. The green box but mainly the pink box is the work, that they don’t seem to be able to complete anymore nor have they ever really gotten the umpf to get off the ground and into distribution. Currently, Microsoft even uses Linux for some of their main bread winners such as Azure with their own distro. And as mentioned above Windows 10X got dropped a year late and Windows 10 on ARM doesn’t seem to be working too good or can’t even emulate x86_64 code fast enough.
Linux for instance has well over 20 distros!! and works on many different chip architectures. Apple believe it or not, has over 8 current flavors, or kinda-current, operating systems! Now you may say these aren’t new and are mostly the same but they really are different beasts with their own GUIs & internals.
The main point is Microsoft has like a… ONE, or ok TWO operating systems!! (if you count Windows 10 on ARM, Windows 10S, doesn’t count if all you’re doing is checking a box wether you can only install from the Windows Store or not). But to their credit they do have the Xbox platform, (please clap). But seriously that is a good instance for them. They are using this for their Xbox cloud gaming service which will allow them to learn how to perfect Windows Remote Desktop as a service at some point. Which is where I see Windows going, Windows Remote as a service at $5.99/mo (or whatever). Which can be used on Chromebooks, Linux, Android, or macOS. But think of Windows in the future like a terminal window. Microsoft is just gonna ride this one out or grind this into dust. Think about this: before the GUI days were Terminals, and as adaptable OSes thrive and survive Windows becomes just a Window…
Why in the hell does this country (or the world for that matter) have gaming PCs at their work? And let’s not get started on RansomWare…
Food for Thought!
