Ever wondered about what PCs and technology as a whole would be like if Microsoft's Windows didn't exist? We have. Here's our vision of a life without Windows.
If you listen to the free open source software crowd, the demise of Windows - and by extension, Microsoft's hegemony over the PC universe - would signal a kind of rebirth for information technology.
Software would finally be free of the corporate shackles that have stifled innovation and dragged down the best and brightest among us.
Such thinking is naïve, at best. Rather than freeing IT, the demise of Microsoft would plunge the industry into an apocalyptic tailspin of biblical proportions - no visions of hippie utopia here.
The withdrawal of the Redmond giant's steady hand would cause today's computing landscape to tear itself apart at the seams, creating application and device incompatibility and interoperability.
And don't believe that the web will somehow mitigate the impact of Windows' demise.
Although Google talks a good story about supplanting traditional compute models with a web-centric paradigm, the truth is that the folks from Mountain View are no less sinister when it comes to grandiose plans for world domination.
If anything, the rise of Google - or any dominant cloud-computing player - should be perceived as a potential threat to IT independence.
As the saying goes, never put all your IT eggs into a single vendor's basket.
But come, let us ponder together the implications of a world without that shiny, four-coloured Windows logo.
A world where standards are fleeting and where creativity and innovation have run amok. Here, I present my vision of life after Windows.
NEXT PAGE: Client applications: kiss consistency good-by
- We look at what'll happen to tech if Microsoft dies
- Client applications: kiss consistency good-bye
- Developer tools: Bloody purges and API turf wars will shape the new standards
- Hardware ecosystem: Chaos until a new overlord rises
- Abandon all hope?
Comments
Cyteck said: Sadly its profit amp market share that drives the IT computer hardware amp software industry for better or worse Frankly Microsoft will remain in existence for many decades too come in some shape or form But we severely under estimate how much of the computer amp software world is actually dominated by Microsoft and its products The trouble is that most people cannot even remember a time without Microsoft and Microsoft has come to be at the center of the computing world weather we like it or not we are very dependent on Microsoft to quite a shocking degree If Microsoft did even fail amp go down it would have seismic consequences for the entire planet Computing as we know it now would be gone forever but its not going to happen Microsoft is a corporation that is clever enough to spread amp diversify its portfolio of products in such as way as to always remain at the forefront
Robbin Kaye said: If microsost were not here somebody else would be - Remember GEM in many ways it was technically in advance of windows - but it lost out on marketing and available applicationsAs a result there wasnt the cash to develop its full potential BUT if it had developed we would probably all be using GEM2010 now it was actually very good
Ray Woods said: Boy is someone at Microsoft getting worried or something Supposing Microsoft were to spiral out of control there would be somone to pick up the pieces There is too much profit to be made for just a void to be leftConsidering the vast majority of people could survive very well with what is currently on offer both from the closed and open software world It would only be the high power users who might notice a gap Even the likes of legolas no doubt would find something that suited their specific needs in a Microsoftless worldThe internet will still run most super computer will still work as they employ Linux Even NASA relies upon Linux in many areasThis projected loss of Microsoft may be considered an inconvenience but not the end of Civilization
tricky said: Like Apple would not exist any more either
Squillary said: Im often very critical of the bland articles put on PC Advisor but I have to say this is really a very good piece Open source is a bit of a sick joke in this regard We may well get a Heath Robinson solution to getting say a new printer working with a certain distribution but it may also take 18 months to arrive In the absence of MS there would indeed be a vaccuum and to fill it wed have 10 companies with 10 solutions the biggest of which likely not being the best either I mean its a few years since 64-bit computers and Adobe STILL havent released a 64-bit version of Flash so you cant properly use any 64-bit browser The API issue is the biggest though Ive seen this in early computing days with a whole range of incompatible implementations with the best software running only on one or only running on the other
legolas said: Cyteck I would rather be hit by a comet from Zog than use linux
Cyteck said: Blimy thats a rather dome amp gloom picture your painting Frankly your forgetting several things here in this highly negative scenario No1 Current amp older software even Microsoft software would still exist No2 There will still be plenty of software developers amp skilled software engineers around to re-engineer new or old products into working programs once again No3 You extremely under estimate many many of the very large IT vendors still around without reference to Microsoft ie IBM HP Fujitsu Novell amp Sun Microsystems and thats not even mentioning the entire Open source community and Linux software world Frankly Your doom mongering scenario is 100 NOT ever likely to happen unless Earth is sucked into a black hole we never saw coming or Earth was hit by a comet from ZogOpen Source Linux community would have a great deal of applications amp OS distributions to offer in a blink to take over from Microsoft if that ever did become a reality