On Jun 5, 4:36 am, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Valve survey shows hundreds of thousands steamed up
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | However, the survey also shows how far Microsoft et al have to go
> | - currently, DX10-capable gamers (ie those with Vista and a DX10 card)
> | make up 1.21% of the gaming population.
> | ^^^^^
> `----
The Value Survey summary was also very interesting.
http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html
Most people maxed out their memory at 1 gig, but only .27% had 2 gig
or more, enough to run Vista smoothly. Only 1.21% had the DirectX10
card - allowing them to run Aero Glass.
Which pretty much leaves most of the 5% of those surveyed as Running
Vista instead of XP - not really seeing much value in Vista. Vista
eats up lots of RAM, and wiithout Aero, really doesn't give you much
real value.
Vista is looking more and more like Windows NT 3.x and Windows ME.
The big difference is that Apple has a better alternative on the
showroom floor,
and more and more people and companies are looking at Linux as a
supplement to existing XP systems.
The good news for Microsoft is that there is still a market for new
machines which are "Linux Ready" and shipped with XP. The biggest
challenge for the industry as a whole is even tracking Linux. Since
Linux isn't displacing XP, Microsoft can still sell XP on 90% of the
computers shipped. Vista has now demonstrated that attempting to
force users into an "either/or" decision will cost Microsoft the
sale. The problem for Microsoft, is that the continued demand for XP
is pretty much proof that people would rather have the ability to run
Linux, either as client VM, or as host system with XP as client VM,
than to commit to a "Microsoft Only" configuration.
Microsoft may have to soften it's stance and licensing terms for Vista
to make the sale. They may have to allow Vista home edition users to
install Vista as a VM Client to Linux. They may have to allow home
edition users to have installation media which can be installed to a
VM host. They may have to wave all patent claims on software required
to implement virtualized Windows XP and Vista machines on Xen and
other "free" virtualization systems.
A "vista capable" machine can run Linux and Windows XP concurrently
with no loss of performance on either Windows or Linux. Typically,
these machines have dual-core AMD or Intel processors, with 64 bit
capability, and have 1-2 gig of RAM. When Windows is the "host"
operating system, it fights to grab every byte of memory it can get,
and very reluctantly gives up anything. When Linux is the "host", it
uses most of the memory for disk buffers, which means that most of the
memory needed for a Windows XP VM can be quickly allocated.
Most surveys ask "Which operating system do you use" and gives you a
choice of Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, OR Linux. This is
a flawed survey. They should be allowing users to check all that
apply. Many users could be using one or more versions of Windows,
one or more versions of Linux, and possibly even versions of BSD,
Solaris, or Unix.
We may see an all-out open revolt among the OEMs around July/August,
with many demanding the ability to produce and market Windows/Linux
blended platforms, which will be put on display on retail shelves.
Some OEMs may even opt to go with Linux as the primary OS.
Ironically, Microsoft's agreements with Novell and Xandros for "non-
aggression" may actually encourage these OEMs to look at these new
alternatives.
As wierd as it may seem, this may actually be a good thing for
Microsoft, since they may actually be offering lower volume discounts
for these more "flexible" OEM licenses. There would be less co-op
being paid out as well. The OEM could pay as much as $10 more per
copy of Windows, with the possibility of getting and/or maintaining
premium pricing on hybrid Windows/Linux or Linux/Windows systems that
would be sold and promoted as such.
Even though Microsoft would be losing it's total monopoly of the
desktop, it could maintain market saturation, which could extend
Microsoft's influence over the PC market as a whole.
> http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40049
It is ironic that OEMs and Graphics card makers may be depending on
the Linux community to create OpenGL interfaces to DirectX-10 cards in
order to create a market for the new DX-10 cards.
All of these are pretty good indicators of a market that will be
looking to "hybrid" Linux/Windows systems as the key to their
continued financial success.
What if a company like IBM, or Verizon, or Panasonic, or Sony, opted
to become VARs, purchasing XP machines and reselling them as hybrid XP/
Linux machines, which would be displayed at retail outlets around the
world?
Again, Microsoft's profits woudn't suffer in the short run, and the
hybrid strategy might even extend their business and market saturation
another 5-10 years.
It does appear that demand for any sort of new Microsoft-only solution
just isn't there. People are not willing to forfiet even the
possibility of having a hybrid system, if that is the cost of
switching to Microsoft's newest versions of Windows.
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