Comments on: Report: HP trying for 'end-run' around Windows

Business Week cites anonymous sources that say the PC maker is developing its own operating system to bypass Vista.

[Earl Benzar]

I think this would be a great thing. I'd love to see Dell do it too. Of course then all the Windows fanboi's wouldn't know what to do once their beloved Windows ends up with a 40% market share, but it would be fun to watch.

BTW, I'm not an Apple user or a Linux user. XP here, and bitten totally by Vista.

[mbenedict]

Oh, come on. All this is telling us is it's now close to that time when HP and MSFT enter into contract negotiation.

HP will leak stories about how they're "looking at alternatives".

MSFT will point out that Windows is actually GAINING marketshare, while MacOS is actually LOSING market share.

Link: http://qwix.com/20

Quote: " According to statistics published by market analysis firm Net Applications, Windows jumped from a share of 90.89% at the end of June 2008 to 91.02% the past month. During the same period, Mac OS X dropped from 7.94% to 7.76%, while Linux increased its share at the usually modest pace from 0.80% to 0.82%"

[Penguinisto]

Here's the part of your cite you didn't quote:

"But even a certain dose of stability could help Windows, as it is undoubtedly going down from the dominant position on the market. Both Mac OS X and Linux have made consistent inroads into Windows' territory, a trend which only managed to accentuate following the availability of Windows Vista."

...meanwhile your cite sources failed to account for Apple's explosive growth in Mac sales, esp. when compared and contrasted with the sluggish (and in some cases flat) Windows growth curve. Furthermore, NetApplications doesn't use random (or even public) sampling. From their own website, we see this:

"We use a unique methodology for collecting this data. We collect data from the browsers of site visitors to our exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers." - ref: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/

Further still, NetApplications uses ad-driven clicks as the majority of their stats base "network" websites:
"# 76% participate in pay per click programs to drive traffic to their sites.
# 43% are commerce sites
# 18% are corporate sites
# 10% are content sites
# 29% classify themselves as other (includes gov, org, search engine marketers etc..) "

Sorry, but there's something very not-right about the source that your cite (and you) keep pointing at and shouting over.

[cheshirkat]

Well, we have seen the HP record with operating systems so far (HPUX) ... :-)

[Penguinisto]

Funny you should say that - even years after HP stopped selling it, there are more than just a few job openings out there for HP-UX admins.

[Inconnux]

Good for HP, Acer is now installing linux on its laptops. I refuse to buy a system with Vista on it.

[rklrkl]

I really doubt that HP would build its own Linux-based distro from scratch, because a) it would take a long time to become popular and b) they would have to dedicate a chunk of staff to supporting it. The best thing for HP to do would be to follow Dell's route (strike a deal with Canonical for an Ubuntu pre-install, tested against HP hardware), but actually go one further and offer the OS choice right up front next to Windows (i.e. no "hidden" separate models with different hardware like Dell outrageously do). Would Microsoft get upset and threaten HP if they did this?

[lobsails]

Hip Hip Hooray
If they do it we will come. (My next laptop will be a H.P.)

[spingle]

MS isn't smooshy enough yet for anyone to take over. Nibble at the edges, maybe; & in the long run Windows will come crashing down (I love the sound of breaking glass...). But not now, as useless as those Gates/Seinfeld ads are. (Nothing wrong with our OS, it's voter ... er, consumer perception that's the problem.) The hardware/software gestalt isn't sufficiently mature for that & MS can still bully all the bases. It will take something breakout --netbooks, say - dragging a primal Linux distro into the mainstream -- to really alter the playing field.

[hpsrb]

"Phil McKinney, CTO of HP's Personal Systems Group, didn't deny the company is looking into it, but said it didn't make much sense to build its own operating system. "Is HP funding a huge R&D team to go off and create an operating system? (That) makes no sense," he told BusinessWeek. "

Why build one when it has one of the best in existence -- OpenVMS? Of course, they will need the desktop applications, many of which are available as open source and some of which have already been ported to OpenVMS.

[AppleSuxLeo]

more FUD from C-net I heard C-net is going out of business.

[jscott418]

I don't think HP is fed up with Windows. I think it is looking for way to keep more profit. I can see companies taking advantage of the FREE open source OS and creating their own. What company would not take advantage of free. But this would likely affect Apple more then Microsoft. Apple after all has positioned itself around it OS. Its phone and computers both use OS X. We have yet to see a version of iTunes for Linux and I can bet we never will. This alone would stops many from even considering LInux.

[imhodudes]

"OS Y?"

[The_Decider]

This is the sort of thing needed to get companies to port their software over, like Adobe. The day Photoshop, Illustrator, etc get a native Linux version is the day MS is officially over. HP has the juice to make that happen, and almost doubly so if they can get Dell on board.

[swami_john]

I thought this was a great idea when I suggested it to HP 22 years ago. I programmed business applications for 20 years on what was then called a "mini-computer". Hewlett Packard's was known as the HP3000. It had a marvelous operating system that had two features Windows never seems capable of: reliability and security. You could backup everything (OS, apps and data) and completely restore it if you had a hardware failure (rare) and get back to an operable state in a very short time. As a bonus, the machine came with a great database that did not require a six figure salaried DBA to operate. I pleaded with HP at every user conference I attended to port this OS to the PC platform but never got a response. Don't underestimate HP; if they really want to do this, they are capable of it. At least they used to be. Maybe it wouldn't be ideal for people who just want to surf the net or send an occasional emai but it would be a viable alternative to Windows if you want to run a business.