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.
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$oft unfucks itself and makes 12 good. But I doubt it.
Everybody and their mother complained about how bad and privacy invasive Windows 10 was. Hell, the most famous software to fix the privacy issues of Windows 11 is still called Shut Up 10. This backlash is nothing more than people resisting change.
I think the biggest complaint was trying to shove cortana and the 11 upgrade in everyone’s faces constantly. Once you use whatever fix you choose to remove or silence them, Win10 is fine - as long as you avoid installing other M$ services, but those aren’t 10’s fault. And disabling the few annoyances 10 has are paltry compared to what M$ is trying to force users into accepting in 11.
Cortana was definitely one of the complaints but 11 didn’t even exist at the time and Microsoft insisted it never would. Funnily enough, people were pissed about Microsoft shoving the upgrade to 10 in their faces. Other things people complained about were the privacy-invading “quality of life” features, forced updates, the new start menu and metro apps. They also swore on their mothers’ graves to never update to 10. It was literally the same thing that’s happening with 11. You can look up “Windows spyware” with a pre-2021 filter for a blast from the past.
Every other Windows version is basically a test to see what sticks. They usually have huge ideas that push the boundaries of the current technology, and implement it as a prototype to gather data.
Incorporation of web frameworks into Explorer and the desktop, shift to ntfs/64bit, use of gpu acceleration, touch-enabled desktop, now incorporation of AI features. Many of these features also forced hardware vendors to adapt for Microsoft’s vision. So as annoying as it is, it’s probably a good strategy for them. We just need to treat every other Windows as a beta (or preferably switch to Linux).
Definitely wouldn’t equate 2k with ME.
Under the hood, 2K is much different from and more stable than ME.