A Theory to Explain Why December was a Disaster for Windows 8*

I woke up today, on the first day of January, and read Mechatotoro's post about the jaw-dropping December 2014 market share statistics for Windows 8*.

While the optimistic Winbeta site claims the market share loss is due to the traction gained by Windows 10, I doubt it.  I mean, Windows 10, in my opinion, looks good, but it's still in beta and not many people run it for production.  Besides, the numbers do not match...

Now, the Web is ablaze spreading the word.

Well, this article attempts to explain the phenomenon with a fact that has been silenced:  Chromebooks!

If that is true, then this prediction might not be so off after all...  In fact, I had read it before.

Maybe the prayer of the kitty was answered finally? ;)

Original image credit: Andri Oid (@andrioid), Tweet. 18 December, 2014.

Kitten prayers are powerful... :P

Wintel, Office 365, education, and other observations

I just read this feature on HP's position about committing to using only Windows and Intel chips.  As it seems, the marriage between the computer maker and Wintel is going sour.

It might be too late for HP.  Maybe they still have hope.  Whatever it is, it's clear by now that Windows 8 did not help computer makers boost up their sales and, given the fact that Microsoft is not making a big splash in the mobile (phone/tablet) industry, I guess HP is right to try other options.

Some people have argued that Microsoft will have it hard this year because they cannot use their market position to leverage the shortcomings of their software concerning performance and, thus, justify the price they charge for Windows and MS Office.  Microsoft must prove with the performance of its software that it is worth using and paying for.  That is not easy, especially when people do not seem willing to keep paying for newer versions that incorporate newer problems.  Take, for instance, the shortage of sevice in MS Office 365 last year.  Microsoft issued this apology , which became memorable for the irony it contains.  As it turns out, instead of being produced with a MS solution, it was produced with... Google Docs!

It is a fact that people have not been dying to upgrade Windows 7 (and, in some cases, Windows XP!).  What's more, where I work, most people still use MS Office 2007, which means that Microsoft has failed to motivate them to buy Office 2010.  Therefore, for Microsoft, it will be even more difficult to get them to jump on the Office 2013 wagon.

I doubt that many users here will like the idea to "rent" their Office and pay monthly, especially now that it is well known that you can produce documents for free with LibreOffice or other options.

So, the argument of business productivity might not work for Microsoft now as it used to. I guess that this company's greatest hope to remain relevant will be to appeal to the sector where, sadly, the most technology-ignorant people are found: education.  It's already happening.

It's sad to say it but, unfortunately, teachers are the easiest prey for companies like Microsoft because educators normally lack information about free software and they are brainwashed to accept blindly that technology enhances learning.  In addition, most teachers are the product of a monoculture in which "technology" is equivalent to "Windows".

However, I doubt that Microsoft can stop the quick disintegration of its monopoly... even if devices running their questioned Windows 8 OS flood certain schools, for many, Android and iOS are friendly neighbors, whereas Windows 8 is a suspicious stranger.

Why I failed the Windows 8 Logo Program

With all this uproar because of the implementation of UEFI as a requirement for the Windows 8 Logo Program, I decided to apply to get it because of the advantages it offers. You know, I tend to boot up rather slowly in the morning: I walk around my house in a state of semi-consciousness until all the proper drivers and modules are loaded. It would be great just to wake up and boot up into my operating system in the blink of an eye.

I discovered that one of the requirements to apply for the Windows 8 Logo Program, before I boot up, is to have secure boot enabled by default. I also must carry several sets of keys, all for the sake of prevention. According to MS, if I do not, some malicious thoughts could hijack the boot process and then I would be cast into a zombie state, controlled by some criminal or terrorist. Thus, I might end writing and sending millions of useless postcards...That's scary, isn't it?

So, the basic idea, protection from criminals, sounds appealing. Yet, I started asking some questions and found some problematic issues hidden below the surface of the venerable claim of security:

1. The keys and what you wear

The keys that they give me allow me to boot up super fast because they restrict the elements that I need to function. For instance, I will save time getting to work because I won't have problems remembering where I left my glasses the night before. What's more, in theory, even if a malicious poltergeist wants to play with my eye-prescription device, the mischievous spirit won't be able to. However, there is a big problem with this approach depending on who provides the keys. Let us suppose that MS allows OEMs (Organism Evaluating Mechanisms) to provide their keys. The control on what I boot up into will be so tight that if I, by any chance, want to wear a pair of glasses that is not certified by the key that they gave me, I will be treated like the poltergeist myself. Yes, I'd be in trouble to change my shirt, too. This will make a uniform world, indeed. I'm surprised that the United States, a country that defends individual rights with a passion, might meekly agree to let everyone use "the same clothes". Everyone into the same school uniform! How about that?

But the most worrisome part comes next...

2. Secure boot and the right to think

The fact that I cannot choose my glasses manifests something important that is underlying this prohibition disguised as "prevention". If this so called "secure boot" will not let me swap glasses or shirts easily (action), my right to consider wearing some glasses other than the certified ones (thought) is taken away from me. That is, I cannot even think about wearing anything else... Not even the widely-used MS XP Professional SP3 Glasses, for example. Paradoxically, I won't even be able to replace my MS 8 glasses (OEM version) by a brand new a pair of boxed MS 8 glasses if the keys are given by an OEM and not MS itself. You see, my individual right to think about choosing what I want simply ceases to exist.

You might think that all this is simply solved by disabling secure boot. You are, of course, absolutely right; I also thought that way. And that's the reason why I failed the Windows 8 Logo Program: you must have secure boot enabled BY DEFAULT to apply, remember?

I guess I value my freedom more than the Logo. In the end, if I'm free, I can take care of my security myself.

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On a serious note, next time I need to buy a computer, I'll make sure I'll purchase it from a manufacturer that respects my freedom to choose.

Some Random Thoughts on Windows 8

I had to go to this meeting yesterday in which University representatives came to deliver a workshop and show an application that was supposedly fundamental for the good functioning of the administrative layer of the different University units. However, when I asked the speakers how I could get the application, something funny happened. The younger speaker, a man who gave me a patronizing look, said that the application was real friendly. Then he tried to impress me with "computer jargon": he said that all I had to do was "install it to the root in C: and...."

And that's where I interrupted him to say that my computer doesn't run Windows, so I asked if the valuable application could run in Linux. He was dumbfounded and proceeded with the stupidest answer you can give a potential user: "Well, we can install an OS where the application can run for you and..."

I had to cut him short saying: "Wait, listen: I don't want to discard my OS and all my perfectly functional applications only because this program was not developed to work on different platforms. The program must be changed, not my OS".

That's one lesson several University authorities are yet to learn: academic and administrative units invest time, effort and budget to develop applications that, later on, are lost when Microsoft arbitrarily determines that certain features are not going to be supported by their newest OS version. I wonder if this "fundamental program" will run next year, when Windows 8 will be released. Maybe the program will trigger the redesigned Blue Screen of Death which I, jokingly, had anticipated here.

At least the University Libraries did not plummet into the same abyss. They improved all their systems to be OS-friendly, so I can do scholarly work using my Linux netbook and MAC users are also covered. Some units are also offering documents for download both as .odt and .doc (not .docx!)

But the administrative layer is the one that, for its most part, has no idea of what "compatibility mode for documents" is (let alone what a file extension is!). Those are the individuals who think of themselves as computer experts because they survived the adaptation to the Ribbon interface of Office 2007. However, in a notorious oxymoron, they claim that Linux/Open Office/Libre Office is too difficult because the UI is different. Yet, they simply bore and grinned when Windows 7 introduced new UI features. When a program that worked in XP ceases to work in 7, they meekly accept that as natural, cry over the dead program, and go on as cyber-zombies controlled by a Puppet Master. In short, they are the Spider Monkeys to whom Bill Gates referred and that made him grossly rich.

I must confess that I second what sinaisix mentioned as the first consequence of using Linux here. I like to have control of my computer. I want to be able to work with whatever system I have available, not one that will leave me hanging because the company that sells it decided to drop support. That happened already in the section where I work: the program that controls all the student registration processes is not supported in Windows 7. It was not my mistake, but I did not conform; my first action as the boss was to have it replaced by one that can be run in multiple OSs. It runs in Linux now. Hence, if Windows 8 decides not to run it, we will have a compelling reason not to spend money on a useless OS, right?

I wonder how the Spider Monkeys will react once they are hit by the new UI of Windows 8. Will they be able to pretend that they never said anything about a "pronounced learning curve"? Most probably, people are going to congratulate Microsoft for the brilliant innovation and say, paradoxically, that "Linux is falling behind" despite the fact that such cell phone-like UI was introduced in Linux before. Oh, and that troll who, after seeing Unity in Ubuntu and the ROSA panel in Mandriva, said that he was going back to Windows because "Microsoft knew their desktop" must be eating his shorts right now.

In any case, I hope this troop of Spider Monkeys starts backing up their info, just in case ;-)