Sony believed that they had so much market share that they could make a console that was leaps and bounds more complicated to code for, which would lock devs in and prevent them from going elsewhere, and they’d just have to suck it up because of said market share. Sony was wrong, and they lost out big time that generation (although they did manage to win the Blu-ray vs hd-dvd format wars).

Microsoft seems to believe they have so much market share that they can force people to upgrade to a privacy invading, ai infested piece of crap, and that everyone needs to suck it up because market share.

I’ve already started hearing wind that people, in statistically significant numbers, are finding alternatives… so is this the same situation as the ps3?

Just a passing musing without much to back up the gut feelings.

  • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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    15 minutes ago

    I think the biggest decider of how quickly the world transitions away from Microsoft or Apple, is dependent on how the USA looks within a decade. If fascism in the USA stays strong, it would have knock-on effects with foreign relations. Should the USA pull out of NATO and sides with Russia, that by extension implies that US software could be hostile to European powers. The excel spreadsheet with fiscal data for Polish military expenditures? It might be sent straight to a three-letter agency and shared with Russia. Internal French memos that oppose the US? Leaked. And so on.

    That would cause a major shift towards FOSS from governments across the world.

  • Wispy2891@lemmy.world
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    34 minutes ago

    I think it’s more comparable to say the same kind of mistake that Microsoft made with the Xbox One. Sold at a $100 premium over the playstation 4 because Microsoft assumed that everyone would love to get a bundled Kinect when actually nobody did.

    Also when they announced the stupid DRM that they wanted to use on the Xbox One (console must be always online to work, games on disk to become single use gift cards that get redeemed to a Microsoft account and can’t be used on a different console) Probably Sony won the console war with this single 20 second video even if Microsoft backtracked immediately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA

    With windows 11 Microsoft is doing similar mistakes:

    • With x86 processors, assuming that everyone has the money to buy a new computer even if their old one could work perfectly for what they need. Last week I went to visit an elementary school in my country and at the wall in the computer room they still had a poster comparing Netscape and Internet Explorer. They definitely don’t have the funds to throw and buy again 30 computers. Time for Linux to shine?
    • With arm processors, making it an exclusive for the expensive snapdragon x. Result: those laptops cost even more than comparable x86 ones, while could be cheaper. Look at the recently launched Minisforum R1. A full desktop computer with 32gb RAM and an ARM CPU that is comparable to a core i5-10400F while costing only $500. But because Microsoft chose to support only the most expensive snapdragon processors, this brand new computers can exclusively run Linux. Time for Linux to shine?
  • /home/pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 hour ago

    And Microsoft might be right this time. My mid size organization for example is locked in to microsoft, we use the Office suite, AD, Teams, their ERP system, Windows servers, Windows desktops, outlook, etc.

    I would love to go the Foss route but let’s be real, the costs that would save would quickly be overshadowed with learning to set it all up.

    Let me know if I’m wrong here, I really am open to moving over but it’s a massive undertaking.

    • Wispy2891@lemmy.world
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      20 minutes ago

      Steps to slowly escape are this:

      1. Install Debian + samba 4 on a server, configure to run it as an active directory server
      2. Join that server to the work domain as a backup domain controller
      3. Install onlyoffice on all computers and set it to use onedrive
      4. Meanwhile install nextcloud and get used to that with a small part, with onlyoffice.
      5. Migrate the users that don’t use too much Microsoft 365 to nextcloud instead of onedrive, onlyoffice+nextcloud instead of office, nextcloud talk instead of teams
      6. Start to decommission one windows domain controller and let the Debian domain controller do its work.
      7. The escape door is open, start to escape

      Alternatively can do the same with “Univention Corporate Server (UCS)”, which is the same stuff, but packaged with a nicer UI (it’s a paid product, based on Debian)

      In the short term, even if it’s free, having someone do this work will definitely cost more than paying the license for windows server + all the user CALs + the office 365 subscriptions but I think ROI in 5-7 years

  • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
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    55 minutes ago

    Nah, price killed PS3 and with Windows, OEM’s eat the cost anyway. If its cheap, people will buy it. MS isn’t making things harder for developers, they aren’t increasing the price of windows, they offer support to orgs, they offer a whole suite of software for them too, they aren’t going anywhere. They’ll lose out some of the consumer market, but thats not where they get their money from anyway.

  • titanicx@lemmy.zip
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    4 hours ago

    And honestly you’re not hearing that people in broad swath of numbers are replacing Windows you’re hearing in a very echo chamber like here or Reddit or possibly dig that people are replacing windows it’s still a small number statistically and while it’s slightly growing it’s still not enough that’s going to matter to Microsoft even in the least bit. The average person is not going to know what to do and the average person is not going to understand or even know that there’s an alternative besides macintosh. Nor are they going to attempt to install an alternative version of an operating system. I mean hell I couldn’t even convince my dad to buy a $200 laptop over the $900 gaming PC for the 40 minutes of work he does on computers a week. Some people just are going to do what they do out of habit and not even care.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    4 hours ago

    I work in IT. IMO, the civilian population moving to Linux is inevitable. As Linux finds itself and good ways to do things that don’t require people to know bash, or customize options by manually editing config files, things will push that way.

    IMO, it will happen, but not quite yet. We’re seeing the initial push of the privacy conscious and those that want to avoid becoming a product. It’s good, but we’re not there yet. We’re also seeing some pretty major players, most notably valve, pushing for consumer goods that are unashamedly Linux under the hood. This is, slowly but surely, pushing forward compatibility for apps running on Linux.

    We probably won’t see any line of business apps adopting a Linux build any time soon, and business in general actually wants the majority of what Microsoft is pushing for… Along with government institutions (for their own needs), and more. I don’t see business moving towards Linux anytime soon… Not beyond it’s current role in server operations.

    As stuff like steamOS get better and better, and find ways to solve problems in consumer friendly ways, that knowledge will feed back into existing Linux tools. We’ll get to a point where Linux will be as plug and play as Windows, and that’s when we actually have a good chance of migrating a lot of personal PCs to Linux.

    The Battle for the workplace is still a long way out. Well after the Linux home PC is commonplace. People at the office will simply have more experience with Linux, and push for being able to use Linux at work and eventually that’s going to start to happen… Probably not in our lifetimes.

    To me, it’s only a matter of time. Unless Linux undergoes a hostile takeover and unforeseen bullshit happens, it will happen.

    • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
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      1 hour ago

      It will happen when you see Linux PCs and laptops at Best Buy right beside the windows and macos ones.

    • bobgobbler@lemmy.zip
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      7 hours ago

      But then quickly stopped making Kinect mandatory. Plus the Kinect was a wonderful piece of hardware.

      Seriously they provided a kinect less bundle 6 months after launch

      • SoyTDI@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Seriously they provided a kinect less bundle 6 months after launch

        I wonder why 🙄.

        I would add Xbox One+Kinect+Always online+the used games policy.

    • MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip
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      6 hours ago

      For many of us, our brains are rolling things around all day but not necessarily completing thoughts or doing anything useful with it. Then, stop focusing on screens or whatever and get into an environment that has little to no mental stimulation, and all that stuff comes crashing out of “the ether” (back of the mind) and assembling at wild speeds. It’s called ADHD*.

      *Obviously, there’s more to ADHD than this kind of thing, and people with ADHD aren’t the only ones who find time to think in the shower.

      • AyD@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 hours ago

        ADHD - Thought about it before, during, after shower with breaking lines of thoughts that may or may not relate to the orginal. Naturally showers on auto-pilot; washing results my vary.

        ADD - Got into shower and accidently activate a trap card in thought process. Prolonged thought with no clear indication of a conclusion. Have yet to wash their body and water running cold.

  • Guy Ingonito@reddthat.com
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    10 hours ago

    Maybe for home computing which isn’t their priority. They’ve always had their bread buttered by corporate business

    • MangoCats@feddit.it
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      9 hours ago

      And all the corporations are looking to put all the AI in all the places… because: magic free labor fairy dust, and all that.

  • zephiriz@lemmy.ml
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    9 hours ago

    I hope those that are iffy about the jump away from microsoft look at valves steam machine and realize they can also use it for more than games. Make a smooth transition from oh this thing only does games to oh I can use it as my PC.

    • Rooster326@programming.dev
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      6 hours ago

      Most people don’t even need a PC these days. They use the phone for everything. There is an entire market of people who have windows pc purely to play games, and nothing else. That’s ripe for the taking.

  • vane@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    Nah it was Wii controller and Wii Sports that Sony lost to. Wii Sports sold over 83M copies, other Wii games like Wii Sports Resort 33M, Wii Play 28M, Wii Fit 22M. Wii controller was what crashed other consoles. That was what put Nintendo back on the top after Nintendo 64 flop. Compare it to PS2 - best Sony console, best sold game is GTA San Andreas and it sold only 17M copies.

    What keeps Windows afloat is Office 365 for corporations and companies.

    No kid will have Linux at home if their parents work for corpo and are no tech nerds.

    • Rooster326@programming.dev
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      6 hours ago

      They had everything going for it.

      The Wii Controller. The Wii Fit. Wii Bowling. That Wii U Streaming device so you could play Wii Sports on the go. They were truly leaps and bounds ahead.

      • AdmiralRob@lemmy.zip
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        5 hours ago

        Wii didn’t have a streaming device. Wii U was a sequel console, and the controller was that stupid tablet thing. It connected to the console via Bluetooth, you could only have one connected at a time, and they didn’t sell replacements separately, so if you broke the stupid thing, you had to mail it to Nintendo and wait a month for them to fix it.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Every other version of windows flops or sucks. 98 SE, good. 2k/ME, No. XP, great. Vista,no. 7, great. 8, No.

    10…probably the last good Windows unless M$oft unfucks itself and makes 12 good. But I doubt it.