Remember when Windows 3.11 was designed “for workgroups”? I wish Microsoft had kept that focus.
What did we see? With Windows 95 they tried to appeal to consumers. It was very successful, and so MS had to both appeal to consumer and business users and I think that is one of the causes of its problems.
You see if it was just for business users, they wouldn’t include the consumer junk that adds complexity, reduces security and has dubious value. If it was just for home users, then people wouldn’t be fooled that Windows has good security or safe to use.
As soon as the internet arrived I moved my documents and life online. For a very long time my computer has just been a portal to online. If the online documents or data fail then that is ok. I can rebuild it. However if there was a fire, theft or any number of things and I stored my data locally I would really be in trouble.
Why am I writing this? I have worked for many companies who didn’t realize all of the new consumer features that Windows offers gets in the way of effective security for an enterprise. It is frustrating that you have to carefully manage change, but there isn’t a choice. The cost of not carefully evaluating things as they change is that your security and privacy goes out the window.
Now I am not going to pretend that iOS/macOS is any better. It also gets compromised on a regular basis. Linux has its faults too. Nothing is perfect, but if I have a choice I prefer the mac with Linux almost tied. In past articles I said that Fedora was superior to macOS and it is in my humble opinion. The problem is that companies are not ready to admit the reality that Linux has a presence in a way that Windows/Mac I doubt will ever have again. Apple missed its opportunity to be a key player with technology. Their desire for proprietary is their downfall. I love the mac, but I hate the control that it represents and while MS open approach has worked, MS is fading.
Linux/Mac I think will one day combine and we will all be better for it. Then Windows and MS will shrink and then I’ll be using an obscure OS and complain that OS is not great. Isn’t life great?