Microsoft is Supposedly Investing in Cyanogen

[chris.addotta.1]

Smart move

 

[pc747]

Many good discussions and points made in the thread and some I will rehash for my own argument. First the only company to truly benefit would by Cyanogenmod who have gone from custom rom to custom os. You have to ask how strong is android without the addition of Google play. Well all you have to do is look to Amazon and even Samsung to answer that. Tizen have started off rocky and Amazon's play store is even rockier. It takes years to build up an app and content selection to where it is today and those of us who experienced early android can attest to the many trails and tribulations Google had to endure from being the wild west with pirated apps and malware to now more organized and safer. THe first android phone came out in what 2008? Here we are 7 years later with an Gapps maturing to where they are at today. Microsoft is not going to "out android" android and they know it, they are just diversifying their money as well as buying into what works so they can later bake those features into their os.

 

[pc747]

As far as Cyanogenmod, I am glad we have an alternative and applaud what he has done with his roms. We are where we are at today with android because of the contribution of developers like him. With that said it is hard to take android away from android when you have to rely on their apps as well as unable to provide as stable an os as what Google have done. AOSP roms provide an alternative but the majority of AOSP roms have bugs in them and though enthusiasts are willing to overlook them, people who paid their hard earned are not. To quote old @cereal killer, people just want stuff that work. The sole reason I have all but retired my crackflasher card is because I do not want to have to wonder about something not working like it is suppose to. And it took 7 years for Google to get android to that point. In lollipop android is finally running on all cylinders from performance, cosmetics, and security. For me to choose Cyanogenmod at this point is to go backwards in my opinion. The only complaint I have with lollipop is I want them to bring back the clear all button for recent apps. Other than that I am cool and I may be in the minority here (based on @dgstorm and @cereal killer weekend review) but I like the new silent mode.

The challenge for Cyanogen will be if they can do the same with a smaller percent of Google's budget and work force with out the rights and patents held by Google. Android may be open sourced but Google Apps and Services is not and it is why Google decided a few years ago they needed to protect it despite the grumbling of people from the open source community. Google survived the fire of iOS, Windows, Blackberry, fragmentation, malware, and oem's custom skins and they are here today continuing to improve what they built. I personally think Microsoft and Cyanogen would be better off building and designing their own software from the ground up and being the best at that versus trying to build on someone else's work. Samsung arguably have been the best at doing that and even they realize fans are growing fatigued of where touchwiz is at.

 

[Arjun_Rajendran]

Cyanogen is new and google has more experience than cyanogen. ...with the help of Microsoft cyanogen may beat google or google may beat cyanogen ..their will a tight competition between google's android and Microsoft's cyanogen...so the prize may decrese and features may increse so we costumers have a good day in future

 

[kodiak799]

I think it all comes down to the battle for the pc. Especially the enterprise market - if MS loses that and all the revenue from Windows and Office they are basically dead. PC and laptop/mobile aren't going to remain "separate" markets. Google is trying to sort of backward integrate to capture/steal those pc/Office revenues from MS, while MS is trying to forward integrate to protect itself and maybe steal a piece of the mobile pie.

MS was late to the game and executed poorly, because all those pc/Office users would have been easy to entrench in a seamless mobile platform. Looks like they're making a course correction to focus on seamless compatability to protect their core business - focus on maintaining the best pc/office software and remove mobile as a hurdle preventing users from sticking with you.

 

[rudywilliams]

I just moved a Sony Viao out of my media center, replacing it with a $150 Asus Chromebox. Now I get frustrated with The lag on my two Windows systems. That box does about 99% of everything the Windows systems do, but much faster. I would think Microsoft (and Apple) may want to move in that direction. I don't have to endure the McAfee madness on the Chrome system either.

 

[pc747]

I just moved a Sony Viao out of my media center, replacing it with a $150 Asus Chromebox. Now I get frustrated with The lag on my two Windows systems. That box does about 99% of everything the Windows systems do, but much faster. I would think Microsoft (and Apple) may want to move in that direction. I don't have to endure the McAfee madness on the Chrome system either.

I love my chromebook especially to use as a traveling device. But I can not use it as a full os. I need something I can load android developer tools on to communicate with my devices. I use a macbook for that. And though the macbook has a much better screen the chromebook performs better as far as surfing the web. But have to revert back to the macbook for writing articles. So I can not rely on chrome for every day use for an extended period of time.

 

[rhcp011235]

does anyone actually believe any of this poppycock? it's the #LOLZ

 

[FoxKat]

I think it all comes down to the battle for the pc. Especially the enterprise market - if MS loses that and all the revenue from Windows and Office they are basically dead. PC and laptop/mobile aren't going to remain "separate" markets. Google is trying to sort of backward integrate to capture/steal those pc/Office revenues from MS, while MS is trying to forward integrate to protect itself and maybe steal a piece of the mobile pie.

MS was late to the game and executed poorly, because all those pc/Office users would have been easy to entrench in a seamless mobile platform. Looks like they're making a course correction to focus on seamless compatability to protect their core business - focus on maintaining the best pc/office software and remove mobile as a hurdle preventing users from sticking with you.

That is an excellent assessment IMHO. The key points;

'I think it all comes down to the battle for the pc.' Yes, the PC as we knew it is a dying breed, however it's not yet completely replaced and yet not totally irreplaceable. A full keyboard and desk style mouse, and a full size screen are about all that still separates the two, but even those are able to interface totally wirelessly with tablets so other than raw power there isn't much separating the two, and the power divide is narrowing as well.


'PC and laptop/mobile aren't going to remain "separate" markets.' Oh how true. We have seen the tablet absorb a huge portion of the PC market, and perhaps to a lesser extent from a pure desktop functionality even phones have bitten off a chunk. Realtor's, Insurance Agents, and many other field professionals issued to carry laptops but always reverted to their desktop PCs for much of their most intensive work. I've seen most of them migrate to tablets, mostly iPads, and some have pretty much given up their desktops altogether.

Even in the office environment tablets have absorbed a lot of the daily responsibilities of desktop PCs and have even increased productivity by allowing collaboration in the office between staff face to face where it was difficult with stationary PCs. Microsoft did a good thing with their convertible "Surface" tablet, by making a powerful yet compatible bridge to the desktop that's totally portable and yes fully compatible with Windows applications. I believe they need to concentrate more on that migration rather than trying to get into the Android game in the 9th inning.

'MS was late to the game and executed poorly, because all those pc/Office users would have been easy to entrench in a seamless mobile platform.'

Again, so true. There really isn't more I can say about this.

I don't see how Microsoft could possibly make major inroads into Android while still remaining true to their core functionality, the Windows OS. Unless somehow they are able to coverage the two without losing functionality on both platforms they aren't likely to displace Google, but they do risk losing (more) ground in the PC arena if they turn to far away.

Look at Apple and how they've remained true to their OS and merged their desktop and mobile tablet and phone platforms into almost a seamless blend of all three. ITunes and iOS as well as tight control of all the platforms and a unified front have enabled them to keep what desktop market share they owned, while not losing the mobile platform totally. Yes, Android has dominated the phone arena but Apple is still going strong.

All in all making this kind of a hard left in such a critical time could spell disaster. IMHO, only Cyanogen really stands to benefit.


Sent from my Droid Turbo on Tapatalk.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I don't see it as a battle for the PC at all. Maybe tablets, but definitely not the PC and definitely not in the business arena.

With the exception of audio/visual companies using Apple machines, Microsoft IS the business OS. Sure, the iPad took a big bite outta the "alternative device" market in business, but Windows is so entrenched into so many corporations, I don't see any significant switch to another OS in a majority of businesses for a VERY long time. The older employees, including those in power, have all been using Windows for YEARS and are afraid of change. Maybe in a few generations, we'll see something other than Windows PCs, but I really don't think that's where the battle line will be drawn. Sure, there are a few companies that might run Linux, but most of those are running an Apache server and not an entirely Linux network. With Active Directory and other networking tools, Windows rules the roost in business as far as overall machinery.

Now, as I said, the tablet market is an entirely different story. Sure, Microsoft has the Surface and it's done ok in that realm, but the iPad is so ubiquitous right now, I could see that area being more like the PC wars of old.

 

[kodiak799]

Maybe in a few generations, we'll see something other than Windows PCs, but I really don't think that's where the battle line will be drawn..

In about 15-20 years, the "kids" who've grown up with Android and IOS tablets and smartphones will be running those companies. And smartphones are maybe 5-6 years away from being powerful enough for 99% of users (that is, on complete par with current high-end laptops/pc's)

There's not really anything special about Windows. Businesses have Windows on their pc's mostly so they can run Office. But Google Docs are way behind there. That being said, this is probably the main reason why MS is working to make Office fully compatible with Android and IOS

 

[cereal killer]

Businesses have Windows on their pc's mostly so they can run Office.

??? What???

Thats a ludicrous statement.