this will force ms to make somthing new, every version of windows is the same, they just up the price and make it look diffrent, it makes me mad that a company who was built on not caring about the consumer can stay on top of the software market for so long

I would like to see it if for no other reason than direct competition on a highly publicized level. There has always been options other than windows but most people don't know much about them myself included.

unfortunately i don't think they are thinking about something as big as a os probably mostly just apps to go up against windows suite.

As far as timing goes though its not going get much better than now with the questionable results of vista and the mac commercials (take them as you will but i am almost positive they have swayed people) then
factor in lawsuits and anti-monopoly talks if they did it right they might make it big.

"It’s natural to be concerned about it… We’re not the same kind of company ... our engineers all run Linux. It’s free. You can hack on it. It’s deep in our DNA".

Rightttttttt, Good luck on fighting human nature buddy.
Oh we aren't human we are from a communisitic/socialistic future world of startrek where there is no need for money.....

LOL one reason online apps aren't big yet? because still no one has the net connections to support them. So they had better make a real world OS and not an online one cause its not gonna be big by any means.

P.S: I just remember now how erie his words are, cause they are very close to words said by Bill gates when microsoft first got into the game, a long, long long....time ago.

Competition = pure goodness

Good luck Google.

M$ is seriously in the hot oven gasping for air lately. When you really look at the big picture, M$ has been crumbling slowly from within because it got very greedy. All that greed is now coming back to them ten times fold to bite them in the ass.

In this Capitalistic society, name me ONE company thats not Way above everybody else and doesn't stress profits?

Look at WALMART has been doing to other competitors and its employees.

Look at what STARBUCKS has done to Small local coffee houses..

I can go on and on...thats the NATURE of Capitalism, sometimes it sucks.
I know fanboys hate MS's guts and want them to crash but, I don't think they understand the consequences of MS failing, and what it would do for jobs, and such.

..But competition keeps things interesting, I hope GOOGLE put the heat on MS. If anything we need somebody that will come in and push the industry so we consumers can benefit, well good luck GOOGLE.

"We're purposely going after Microsoft with our recently announced 'Google Fun Box O' Joy' video game system," says Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, "I downloaded free games since I was a kid, and used pirated software to run them, they're FREE. It's in my DNA."

1. When XP came out it blew just as hard as Vista is for performance, you have to wait for the graphics card companies to optomize their drivers.

2. I love google as a search engine but i don't see them doing well in other fields. Also why wouldn't Google take out apple first, get rid of the weaker competition and then go after the beast?

3. I think there is room for another software company, and google is cool, but the OS market is pretty freaking closed, there is no way google could get any kind of real share of 500 million people.

Competition is always great. But let's not forget that just because another company bring their line of products it does not mean it will sink the competition. With so many people in the market, lets just say there is enough slices with the Pie. Yes, we heard it over and over.. Microsoft is dead... everytime a new version of linux comes out (Trust there are lots of versions of linux), or every Mac OS... Microsoft will adapt to the market... acordingly... let me give you an example that many of you may not agree..

You guys ever heard of MySQL? Well is a very robust and free database system. Not fully considered RDBMS system since it lacked some features like Big database system such as Sybase, Oracle or SQL Server enjoy (one very important one is database replication and OS level security). Anyways... No everyone could afford a license for SQL server or even pay the hosting for a website. Recently microsoft release SQL Server 2005 express... Guess what? FREE! it pretty much SQL Server 2005 (ofcourse without enterprice stuff) but now people dont have to use access database.. heck.. you dont even have to have sql server install on the server to use it. It allows you to do all the TSQL + Store proc... views.. bla bla bla. Microsoft adapted.. the same thing they did with visual web developer tools... C# express, vb.net express. all free.

If microsoft sees that their bread an butter is going to be taken from them.. they will adapt. By dropping the price, adding more value or who knows even making it free and finding other revenue streams.
It's how they managed to stay where they are at.

Do you think microsoft wouldnt give the xbox 360 free if they had to in order to create other revenue streams such as more xbox live gold accounts, highter installbase, or IPTV revenues? It's business any company would if they see their revenue streams in dangerous.

One thing you can bet on... they are not going to sit around while google or any other company comes and sh!t in their backyard.
Google is just trying to expand... they have all this money that they don't know what to do with. And they need to... who knows if some kid in a basement comes out with an idea that allows people to search the content they need, faster and it render search engines obsolete... where would google be? That's why they are targetting Microsoft. They should, they are the big dogs.

One thing I find interesting is.... When any company goes in direct competition with Microsoft they all have one thing in common. Linux! LOL. it's funny... the company may not even be in the PC business (Sony adding Linux support to the PS3), Google now support linux (though most of the people that visit their search engine are windows users). This is like saying I have coke market shares and because pepsi is the competitor I will not buy the sugar they use at my local supermarket.

it would be really good if google released there own version of linux (being free) and if it ends up being good, and maybe even being able to connect to stuff like the 360 then i would NOT hesitate to download it (or order it on CD/DVD if its free of course) and install it over my windows vista ultimate
at the moment im running Windows XP Home and Vista Ultimate, i have downloaded Ubuntu 7.04 but havnt installed it yet, just incase you ever have a HDD failure and want to go on the net or something, then put in the CD/DVD and you can run the internet with the security as there wont be a HDD to infect, without any problems! =D just beware your resolution mite not be very good.

the programs get bigger and slower and resource hungary

my 8 year old pc loads word 98 in a second
my 1 year old pc loads word xp 1n about 3 seconds

my pc is virus free spy-ware free with most background services off

they should options with all these programs small / med / large

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau