I think Shuttleworth has just decided (probably correctly) that he can't make any money on the desktop, but mobile is still a possibility. The Unity interface and now this are an attempt to compete with Android.

I abandoned Ubuntu for my desktop when Unity came, but I think I might actually like it on a tablet or phone. Anyway, I'll try to keep an open mind when the devices actually come out. I hope one of non-Android Linux phone efforts finds a niche, whether it's Ubuntu, Jolla, Tizen, or Firefox OS. If Shuttleworth can pull it off, then more power to him.

There's still a need for the "gamer" PC, and that niche will continue to exist.

But for most of us, there are better alternatives. I just bought one of the Intel Next Unit of Computing systems a couple of days ago. I'm thrilled with it so far. It's totally quiet, mounts discretely on the side of my desk, supports two monitors, and is plenty fast enough for my software development needs.

I don't develop games, but I imagine that most users will be playing games on tablet-like devices in the near future, so a system like mine probably has more gaming horsepower than the average tablet as well.

Thanks, that was a very informative answer.

It also suggests that GMail is pretty close to being a complete replacement - the only thing missing is the DRM-style features. And obviously if you're an AD-centric shop then AD integration has some value.

Cheers,
Ami.

I'm actually really interested in this. I've worked at a lot of places that insist on using Exchange, but I've never figured out the attraction. It's not even a lock-in issue, really, since replacing your email server is dead-simple.

What is this secret sauce that keeps people using Exchange?

(And yes, I see it as an email and calendaring solution in the same league as GMail - if it does more than that, can you point me to summary or something?)

I find younger programmers don't know how computers actually work. They've never used assembler or C for anything. They can't use SQL properly. They don't have the range of experience that lets you attack a problem from all angles and find the best solution.

That's not to say that I use assembler or C for anything nowadays, but the understanding I gained way-back-when gives me a feel for what's actually happening behind the scenes when write in Javascript, Python, etc. And the addiction to application frameworks among young programmers seems to have inhibited their ability to come up with creative solutions to unique problems. They just apply their favourite framework to everything, regardless of how well it actually fits the problem.

Sorry for the rant, but the lack of technical breadth in younger developers is a real pet peeve of mine. I guess part of the reason I get annoyed by it is that experience isn't given that much weight in hiring decisions, so you have inexperienced people in roles of responsibility that they're not ready for. Us old farts who do know better end up having to deal with with the mess afterwards.

They need to make a clean break from Microsoft. That means get rid of Elop and the board that hired him. Beg some of the respected execs who fled, like Anssi Vanjokio, to come back. If they're not willing to come back to manage day-to-day operations, at least put them on the board to give a sane strategic direction.

Then buy up Jolla as a long-term investment, while producing Android phones to pay the bills.

The Kindle hardware is just a channel to sell e-books. If Kindle hardware sales dry up due to competition from other tables, it's not a problem as long as the other devices that people buy support the Kindle App.

Well, there's always Chrome-OS if Google ever really gets serious about it.

But I don't really expect casual home users to flee Metro. They spend 80% of their time in IE/Firefox/Chrome, 15% playing games, and 4% in Word, and 1% in misc other stuff (Excel, Turbo-tax, whatever). (Yeah, I just made those statistics up, but I bet they're not far off the mark.) Having six or so big tiles that they click on to get to those apps isn't really that different from having six icons on the desktop that you have to double-click on.

Really? I know Apple has done amazingly well in recent years, but 50% of the home market? Do you have a link for that?

Agreed that nobody every really liked Windows. But most of the regular (non-techie) people I know don't hate it either - they just use it because it's there and don't put much thought into alternatives.

The MS strategy (which will probably have some success), is pretty clear...

They figure they've got a few years of desktop monopoly left, and they want leverage this to protect their core business from iOS and Android. The plan is to get home users used to the Metro UI so that they'll be more likely to buy Windows-powered phones and tablets. Home users are far less conservative than enterprise users, and most of them will just go with whatever is loaded on their machines.

Within a three years the vast majority will be comfortable with Metro. That's about the time enterprise customers will be looking to upgrade from Windows 7, and in the meantime, everybody will be familiar enough with Metro to be immediately comfortable when they pick up a Windows Phone/Tablet.

It's really not a bad strategy. I don't think it will crush iOS and Android by a long shot, but it might just prevent MS from becoming totally irrelevant.

Ah, true enough. Though I think the case for default opt-in for organ donation is very strong and clear-cut (this should be done everywhere), while I'm not really sure about do-not-track. In the case of organ donation 1) there's a clear public interest, 2) the people who refuse to donate are essentially free-loading off of the those who opt-in.

Actually I'm Canadian, but in any case I don't see your point. How did I equate DNT to donating organs? And is this a good thing or a bad thing?

The argument is that most users don't really mind being tracked, but certainly aren't going to go out of their way to enable it. The majority just doesn't care enough to actively turn DNT on, even if it's easy to find in the settings.

That's very different from pop-ups, which are immediately obnoxious and swear-inducing.

From my own experience, I suspect this is in fact true. Regular people just aren't up in arms about tracking, even though everybody knows it happens.

Hear hear!

It's sad to see clueless MBAs come into tech companies and try to cut their way to profitability. It never works, but they keep trying it again and again (cue famous quote about the definition of insanity...).

About time somebody tried a different approach: take care of your people, and build great products. And remember that nobody does great work with an axe hanging over their head.

Time to buy some Yahoo! stock - they've found themselves a CEO with a clue.