Windows is "collapsing" and Microsoft Corp. must make radical changes to the way it does business if it wants to remain viable, according to a pair of Gartner analysts.
Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald, analysts at the technology research firm, said on Thursday that Microsoft has not responded to the market and faces serious competition in a number of areas that will make the Windows operating system obsolete unless the company takes significant action.
Windows Vista has had a very low voluntary uptake rate, according to analysts at tech research firm Gartner.
(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
The Redmond, Wash.-based software behemoth is being dragged down by nearly two decades of legacy code, which has made it impossible for it to quickly design a new version of Windows that has any meaningful improvements. That is primarily why computer users have been so slow to voluntarily adopt Windows Vista, Silver and MacDonald said.
"This is a large part of the reason Windows Vista delivered primarily incremental improvements," they said at a Gartner-sponsored conference in Las Vegas. "Most users do not understand the benefits of Windows Vista or do not see Vista as being better enough than Windows XP to make incurring the cost and pain of migration worthwhile."
Only about six per cent of businesses have adopted Vista, the analysts said in a presentation titled "Windows is Collapsing," with many opting to wait until the next version is released.
Silver and MacDonald also said Windows on the whole is becoming less important, since software developers are now designing applications more for the web than for operating systems. Microsoft is falling behind and could face major turmoil in as little as three years, when it will have trouble competing with web and mobile applications.
"Apple introduced its iPhone running OS X, but Microsoft requires a different product on handhelds because Windows Vista is too large, which makes application development, support and the user experience all more difficult," they said. "Windows as we know it must be replaced."
Industry experts said Microsoft is aware that Windows' days may be numbered, which is why the company is pursuing a takeover of internet portal Yahoo Inc. so fiercely. Converting itself to a web company is crucial for Microsoft.
"Online advertising revenue is their only real hope of long-term survival," TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington wrote on his blog recently.
Microsoft has once again extended the shelf life of Windows XP Home, allowing computer makers to install the older operating system on ultra-cheap laptops through to the middle of 2010. The system was to have been decommissioned at the end of June.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- The husband of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest on Saturday says his family is not seeking government help to cover the cost of bringing his wife's body home. more »
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- B.C. Premier Christy Clark says she is not happy with the RCMP decision to transfer a disgraced Alberta Mountie to the West Coast. more »
- Henrique's OT goal sends Devils into Stanley Cup final
- The New Jersey Devils will vie for a potential fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history after defeating the New York Rangers in six games in the Eastern final, courtesy of rookie Adam Henrique's goal early in overtime. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Unloading of docked SpaceX capsule to start Saturday
- The privately bankrolled SpaceX Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, and astronauts will begin unloading some of the 544 kilograms of food, water, clothing and other supplies its carrying starting Saturday. more »
- South Africa, Australia to share world's largest telescope
- South Africa and Australia will jointly host the Square Kilometre Array, which promises to be the world's largest telescope, the international consortium in charge of the project said Friday. more »
- Bonavista, N.L., 'coyote' was really wolf, tests confirm
- Wolves have not been seen in Newfoundland since around 1930 and were believed to have been hunted to extinction on the island, but genetic tests have confirmed that an 82-pound animal shot on the Bonavista Peninsula in March was, in fact, a wolf. more »
- Once-rare argus butterfly thriving thanks to climate change
- Global warming is threatening the existence of many species, such as the giant polar bear, but in the case of Britain's brown argus butterfly, it took a species in trouble and made it thrive. more »
- Yahoo scraps digital magazine designed for iPad
- Yahoo has killed Livestand, a tablet magazine, just six months after its debut on the iPad. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Government to shut down unique fresh water research area May. 25, 2012 12:31 PM The Experimental Lakes Area research facility in Northern Ontario is being closed down after 44 years of providing invaluable data to scientists in Canada and internationally, a decision that has stunned researchers and environmental groups.
Quirks & Quarks
- May 26: Before the Lights Go Out May. 25, 2012 4:15 PM A new book, "Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us", suggests that the unpredictable, unplanned, ad-hoc way our energy use developed in the past will shape our energy future.
Latest Features
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- Third B.C. salmon farm quarantined
- What a Greek euro exit could mean for Canada
- RCMP officer charged in fatal crash
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
