Klaus

Micro$oft profit-maximizing?

 Mon, 05 Oct 2020 00:24:29 +0200 
#^Last phase of the desktop wars?
So, you’re a Microsoft corporate strategist. What’s the profit-maximizing path forward given all these factors?

It’s this: Microsoft Windows becomes a Proton-like emulation layer over a Linux kernel, with the layer getting thinner over time as more of the support lands in the mainline kernel sources. The economic motive is that Microsoft sheds an ever-larger fraction of its development costs as less and less has to be done in-house.
BOET
 Mon, 05 Oct 2020 19:11:20 +0200 
That sounds like a case one could sell to an investor-conference... Not saying that those guys would understand it at all. But making more money with less effort and complexity... I'd buy it.

My reality looks like this: I'm running the full Office 365 in my (Chromium-) Linux browser and even use MSTeams' Linux client to connect to my colleagues on our employer's enterprise instance. Haven't been starting Windows in weeks, if not month, while still being totally depended and locked in on the Microsoft cloud/platform. I don't like it, but it certainly works almost too well... and gives me the freedom to use any of my 5 Linux notebooks for work instead of schlepping the corporate machine across the house...
Klaus
 Mon, 05 Oct 2020 20:55:16 +0200 
And when you have per device enterprise volume licensing contract with Micro$oft you pay for all 5 Linux notebooks a license because they count as a qualified device. The same for iPads, etc. They really do not need a Windows OS. It's all in their license agreements.