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#1
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
This is probably paywalled. Someone sent me a copy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/t...ogy/microsoft- reorganizes-to-fuel-cloud-and-ai-businesses.html? hpw&rref=technology&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&m odule=we ll-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well |
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#2
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
Jason wrote:
This is probably paywalled. Someone sent me a copy. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/t...ogy/microsoft- reorganizes-to-fuel-cloud-and-ai-businesses.html? hpw&rref=technology&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&m odule=we ll-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well As corporate announcements go, this is a "nothing-burger". Call me when they run out of cash :-) They've known for a long time that they "need to do something". Todays announcement still doesn't indicate they know what the "something" is. If all the income they had was from the Cloud business, the only consequence would be that the company would be a lot smaller. ******* They don't think at all, like conventional companies. Some companies, when faced with under-performing units, do a stock split, and cut the company in two pieces. They could put "Windows+Office" in one half, and "Cloud+Skype+LinkedIN+social_networking_platform " in a second half. And a shareholder would get X shares of the first company and Y shares of the second company. HP has done that sort of thing in the past, as an example. What happens then, is the value of the shares of "Y" shoots up, with a resulting market cap to match. As a shareholder, if you don't think your shares of "X" have any value, you sell them immediately before the bottom drops out. That would end up giving us copies of Windows 11 for $150 a box (as the "new" company would have to charge for the OS to stay solvent). Paul |
#3
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
"Paul" wrote in message news
Some companies, when faced with under-performing units, do a stock split, and cut the company in two pieces. Nope. Which company did that ? Stock splits don't cut a company into pieces. A stock split issues new or reduces shares by a ratio(greater or less than 1) of the same company for a shareholder(s) in proportion to the ratio of the split. -- -- ....w♂妤比 msft mvp 2007-2016, insider mvp 2016-2018 |
#4
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
On 30/3/2018 10:25, Jason wrote: This is probably paywalled. Someone
sent me a copy. Fixing your broken link by wrapping it wiht "" and ""! https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/technology/microsoft-reorganizes-to-fuel-cloud-and-ai-businesses.html?hpw&rref=technology&action=click&p gtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well -- @~@ Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch! Live long and prosper!! / v \ Simplicity is Beauty! /( _ )\ May the Force and farces be with you! ^ ^ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.39.3 銝鞎! 銝閰擉! 銝鞈*! 銝港漱! 銝鈭! 銝! 銝芣捏! 銝瘙蟡! 隢桃 (CSSA): http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_...sub_addressesa |
#5
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
"Jason" wrote
| This is probably paywalled. Someone sent me a copy. | | https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/t...ogy/microsoft- | reorganizes-to-fuel-cloud-and-ai-businesses.html Worked for me with cookies enabled. NYT is an interesting example of how few people know anything about how to use their computer. I think they allow something like 6 articles before sending you to the signup page. And it never occurs to anyone to delete their cookies before going to article #7. I read that article as a typical press release. It's not really an article. The salespeople at the company write it. A company like the NYT will run it because 1) it's a pro-business ad and they run all the pro-business "news", whether it's fit to print or not. They want Microsoft ad dollars. 2) It's pre-digested journalism, which saves them money. The NYT fills 1/4 of a page and all they have to do is maybe make some minor edits and sign a reporter's name to it. (I remember reading a number of years ago that a study had found 52% of news articles are actually just ads written as press releases.) As Paul said, a nothing burger, or a periodic excretion from Redmond to keep Microsoft in the news with a good image. The reporter obviously knows nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if he never even read the article. He's a big shot who puts his name on things. The editor was probably some underpaid college student. It goes on about how successful cloud has been and then says, "Microsoft has successfully rewritten its popular Office productivity products as web-based applications running on the cloud." They're successfully selling it. (To my surprise.) But it's not cloud by any stretch. It's locally installed spyware with Web storage included. An interesting twist on that: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03...ve_langua ge/ Microsoft have changed their "services agreement" to give them authority to police their services for anything that might offend someone. They may have done it for good reason, following the legal change that allows websites to be punished for content. (See the Backpage, prostitution discussion in the news.) But whatever their motive, it's a glaring example of what people give up with cloud. All your data are belong to them. And the US Congress want it that way. So if you use Libre Office or buy an office suite, you can write what you want and embed nude pictures to your lover. If you do it on Office 365 it's no longer only your document. Microsoft co-owns it and may revoke your access to their products altogether if someone complains about what you wrote! I think the press release "takeaway" is something like: "We're pushing on with Windows as a service, by hook or by crook. (Mostly by crook.... Watch out for those Windows Mail links going to Edge, you suckers.) And, you know... we need to come up with an Alexa competitor. This AI-ordering-pizza stuff looks like it might really take off." Maybe it's not all bleak. I look forward to the new teen hobby of getting an Alexa tower and a Cortana box to enter into nasty catfights. It could be a new craze in party entertainment. And if Alexa can get Cortana to call her a whore then Cortana might be banned from MS services for "misdemeanor MeToo infringement", assuming Alexa can prove that the insult forced her into psychotherapy. |
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
Mayayana wrote:
It goes on about how successful cloud has been and then says, "Microsoft has successfully rewritten its popular Office productivity products as web-based applications running on the cloud." They're successfully selling it. (To my surprise.) But it's not cloud by any stretch. It's locally installed spyware with Web storage included. An interesting twist on that: I thought there was some web page you could go to, to design an Office document ? I haven't tried it, and just remembered it exists. The page says this is "free", whatever that means. Does it use watermarks ? Does it insist on OneDrive (and an MSA) ? Dunno. https://products.office.com/en-ca/of...-office-online Paul |
#7
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
"Paul" wrote
| I thought there was some web page you could go | to, to design an Office document ? I haven't tried | it, and just remembered it exists. The page says this | is "free", whatever that means. Does it use watermarks ? | Does it insist on OneDrive (and an MSA) ? Dunno. | | https://products.office.com/en-ca/of...-office-online | I'm not going to allow microsoft.com to run script in my browser, in order to find out what that page is about. I assume it's an entry into their trial scam: You give them personal information, create a Microsoft account, give them a credit card number, and basically you've bought into Office 365. The first 3 months are free. After that you have to remember to cancel it or they start charging your credit card. They did a similar thing on OEM computers for a long time, along with Symantec. Remember that? Stickers on the computers would announce that they came with Office and/or Norton, but it was actually just a trial. |
#8
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
On Fri, 30 Mar 2018 01:10:39 -0400, Paul
wrote: Jason wrote: This is probably paywalled. Someone sent me a copy. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/t...ogy/microsoft- reorganizes-to-fuel-cloud-and-ai-businesses.html? hpw&rref=technology&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&m odule=we ll-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well As corporate announcements go, this is a "nothing-burger". Call me when they run out of cash :-) They've known for a long time that they "need to do something". Todays announcement still doesn't indicate they know what the "something" is. If all the income they had was from the Cloud business, the only consequence would be that the company would be a lot smaller. ******* They don't think at all, like conventional companies. Some companies, when faced with under-performing units, do a stock split, and cut the company in two pieces. They could put "Windows+Office" in one half, and "Cloud+Skype+LinkedIN+social_networking_platform " in a second half. And a shareholder would get X shares of the first company and Y shares of the second company. HP has done that sort of thing in the past, as an example. What happens then, is the value of the shares of "Y" shoots up, with a resulting market cap to match. As a shareholder, if you don't think your shares of "X" have any value, you sell them immediately before the bottom drops out. That would end up giving us copies of Windows 11 for $150 a box (as the "new" company would have to charge for the OS to stay solvent). Paul "Stock Split" already means something else on Wall Street. But yeah reorganization and spinning off "under performing" assets, is one thing corporations do to protect the stock price. If they use the OS to funnel consumers into their cloud, they may still continue "developing" the OS, but may be selling it as purchasing on-line storage as a package. Privacy? fuggetaboutit |
#10
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
On Fri, 30 Mar 2018 08:12:00 -0400, "Mayayana"
wrote: "Paul" wrote | I thought there was some web page you could go | to, to design an Office document ? I haven't tried | it, and just remembered it exists. The page says this | is "free", whatever that means. Does it use watermarks ? | Does it insist on OneDrive (and an MSA) ? Dunno. | | https://products.office.com/en-ca/of...-office-online | I'm not going to allow microsoft.com to run script in my browser, in order to find out what that page is about. I assume it's an entry into their trial scam: You give them personal information, create a Microsoft account, give them a credit card number, and basically you've bought into Office 365. The first 3 months are free. After that you have to remember to cancel it or they start charging your credit card. They did a similar thing on OEM computers for a long time, along with Symantec. Remember that? Stickers on the computers would announce that they came with Office and/or Norton, but it was actually just a trial. Can't be repeated too often: Thar ain't no such thing as a free lunch. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus |
#11
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
On 03/30/2018 10:07 AM, BillH wrote:
[snip] Can't be repeated too often: Thar ain't no such thing as a free lunch. I would also consider that if they're giving you something, there is NO NEED for a credit card number. [spam snipped] -- Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.us/ "In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point." [Friedrich Nietzsche] |
#12
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
Mayayana wrote:
"Paul" wrote | I thought there was some web page you could go | to, to design an Office document ? I haven't tried | it, and just remembered it exists. The page says this | is "free", whatever that means. Does it use watermarks ? | Does it insist on OneDrive (and an MSA) ? Dunno. | | https://products.office.com/en-ca/of...-office-online | I'm not going to allow microsoft.com to run script in my browser, in order to find out what that page is about. I assume it's an entry into their trial scam: You give them personal information, create a Microsoft account, give them a credit card number, and basically you've bought into Office 365. The first 3 months are free. After that you have to remember to cancel it or they start charging your credit card. They did a similar thing on OEM computers for a long time, along with Symantec. Remember that? Stickers on the computers would announce that they came with Office and/or Norton, but it was actually just a trial. There's no credit card. A session worked in Firefox. My test session looked like a copy of Word with a ribbon bar at the top. It asked for my MSA, to login and start the session. It needs to open my OneDrive, before we can begin. It salts a Document.docx in my OneDrive, so there will be an assurance of something to edit. You cannot just download the freshly created document to your disk, without a copy being kept on OneDrive. I did download my new document to disk, and it was 39KB. You can "delete" the file on OneDrive, but it probably sits in your trash can for 30 days before "being hidden from you", while the actual document stays on OneDrive... forever. You will receive a prompt for a Skype Chat. I didn't answer that, to see if it's yet another boring bot. Chances are my Skype status was "online" for as long as I was using that crap. There was a Word tab in Firefox, plus a OneDrive tab. You can see the saved document in the OneDrive "drive contents" representation, but, because the file is "open in Word" in the other tab, now you cannot delete it. You'll need to visit OneDrive when the Word tab is closed, to delete the file. If you use the "Signout" button in the Word tab, it closes the OneDrive tab next to it. Not exactly a friendly interface for Grandma (too much head-scratching causes hair loss). On your re-opening of the file, you'll receive an advert for the paid version. Did I mention if was FREE (and comes with its own handcuffs). Houdini would love it. Yeah, I could see me running my business out of that now. It feels so so... I don't know... private. I felt so warm and fuzzy, I put more cat pictures on my Facebook page :-/ Paul |
#13
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
It's about time!
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#14
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
Wolf K wrote:
On 2018-03-30 04:12, ...w癒簽禮簣瞻簽 wrote: "Paul"* wrote in message news Some companies, when faced with under-performing units, do a stock split, and cut the company in two pieces. Nope. Which company did that ? Stock splits don't cut a company into pieces. A stock split issues new or reduces shares by a ratio(greater or less than 1)* of the same company for a shareholder(s) in proportion to the ratio of the split. Technically correct. However, it's quite clear from the context that Paul intended "reorganization". When your understanding of a word's meaning doesn't seem to make sense, parse the context. That's what lexicographers do when they create or revise dictionaries. The dictionary merely lists the meaning(s) of the word as used in its usual contexts. Best, 'Reorganization' would also be incorrect though marginally closer to the point if the context parsing was stretched beyond normal. Paul's point more accurately describes 'Spin-Off and Divestiture' - neither of which always correlates or equates to reorganization in the parent company performing the action. Feel free to check Webster if that's your go-to source/reference for applicable financial terminology. In this case though - Reorganization at MSFT would not apply to either of the above terms(Split, Spin-Off, Divestiture) thus an invalid analogy. -- ....w癒簽禮簣瞻簽 msft mvp 2007-2016, insider mvp 2016-2018 |
#15
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MS seems to be finished with Windows
On 3/30/2018 1:14 PM, Paul wrote:
Mayayana wrote: "Paul" wrote | I thought there was some web page you could go | to, to design an Office document ? I haven't tried | it, and just remembered it exists. The page says this | is "free", whatever that means. Does it use watermarks ? | Does it insist on OneDrive (and an MSA) ? Dunno. | | https://products.office.com/en-ca/of...-office-online | I'm not going to allow microsoft.com to run script in my browser, in order to find out what that page is about. I assume it's an entry into their trial scam: You give them personal information, create a Microsoft account, give them a credit card number, and basically you've bought into Office 365. The first 3 months are free. After that you have to remember to cancel it or they start charging your credit card. They did a similar thing on OEM computers for a long time, along with Symantec. Remember that? Stickers on the computers would announce that they came with Office and/or Norton, but it was actually just a trial. There's no credit card. A session worked in Firefox. My test session looked like a copy of Word with a ribbon bar at the top. It asked for my MSA, to login and start the session. It needs to open my OneDrive, before we can begin. It salts a Document.docx in my OneDrive, so there will be an assurance of something to edit. That's a significant benefit to MS. .docx means that everybody to whom you send the document has to have a recent version of MSOFFICE. Since .docx, people like me using the perfectly adequate Office 2000, will be motivated to purchase newer versions or rent office365. Yes, I think you can load the compatibility pack and at least read .docx, but that's not what most people will know how to do. If you double-click a .docx file, the error message is much more likely to lead you to a page to buy something rather than a download of compatibility pack. This is another missed opportunity for open-source. A little more concession to FULL compatibility and user wants and some advertising might drive a wedge. Aside... What's the proper grammar in situations where the first letter of a sentence requires capitalization, but the initial word demands punctuation and/or lower case? You cannot just download the freshly created document to your disk, without a copy being kept on OneDrive. I did download my new document to disk, and it was 39KB. You can "delete" the file on OneDrive, but it probably sits in your trash can for 30 days before "being hidden from you", while the actual document stays on OneDrive... forever. Do we know anything about archived history? Can you save the file locally, then edit the online version to something completely different? Sounds like a browser add-on opportunity. BUT If you don't have local office, what are you gonna do with a local copy of a .docx file? You will receive a prompt for a Skype Chat. I didn't answer that, to see if it's yet another boring bot. Chances are my Skype status was "online" for as long as I was using that crap. There was a Word tab in Firefox, plus a OneDrive tab. You can see the saved document in the OneDrive "drive contents" representation, but, because the file is "open in Word" in the other tab, now you cannot delete it. You'll need to visit OneDrive when the Word tab is closed, to delete the file. If you use the "Signout" button in the Word tab, it closes the OneDrive tab next to it. Not exactly a friendly interface for Grandma (too much head-scratching causes hair loss). On your re-opening of the file, you'll receive an advert for the paid version. Did I mention if was FREE (and comes with its own handcuffs). Houdini would love it. Yeah, I could see me running my business out of that now. It feels so so... I don't know... private. I felt so warm and fuzzy, I put more cat pictures on my Facebook page :-/ Paul |
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