Microsoft recommends Ubuntu on Twitter

[Dragonbite]

The Microsoft of today is not the Microsoft of yesteryears! (mostly).

They slept like Smaug on a big pile of Monopoly-made money until its slumber was disturbed by a little projects called... Firefox.

This little browser started drawing people exasperated and tired of the buggy, insecure browser IE and Microsoft responded by throwing a few developers back into IE (which, reading between the lines, means they had only enough people to maintain IE and nothing into R&D). Then the giant tried to go back to sleep but it was not to be.

Little did the gargantuan realize, but the world had changed (significantly) since it was last fully awake; people recognized they didn't need the bloated OS anymore, that with Netbooks (and later Tablets) the advantages of portability and longer battery life was more important than the latest powerhouse computer (thanks to netbooks, Linux and the laptop that started the netbooks, in my mind at least, OLPC!).

As the giant stumbles to its feet in a sleepy-head fog and surveys its surroundings it finds that a lot has indeed changed; phones were becoming miniature, always-on, always-connected computers, people were enjoying the natural feel of touch rather than a mouse, the Internet was growing mature and people were getting comfortable with it (and of course needed a browser to access it), Apple had gained quite a few pounds of muscle and a new kid on the block was looking lean, sleek and responsive.... Google!

And so, with a few stumbling steps, Microsoft had to shake it's head from its decades-long days of decadent partying, take off the lampshade and start to slap itself around. Typically, it takes a few slaps to really get things going (and a cold shower in the form of the failed Surface RT attempt and Windows 8) and eventually those crumbles in the corner of its eyes were wiped away (bye Ballmer!) and it could finally be considered awake, and with a heck of a job ahead of itself.

Now comes the time to re-invent itself.
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Ok, Microsoft is jumping with Ubuntu could be for a number of reasons ...

• Competition is stiff, with Amazon, Google and a bunch of smaller players. Because of the nature of the Internet, there is a lot of opportunity to differentiate oneself and with big-names like Amazon and Google, Microsoft could not rely on the usual method of under-cutting everybody on price anymore.
  
• Linux is on the rise. Maybe it won't be the "year of the Linux desktop" but that is no longer the goal anymore
  
• Microsoft has been studying Linux for years (YEARS!) so they know something about the technical aspects but not so much with the community... and what does Ubuntu have over the other enterprise distributions? A strong technical community and stronger non-technical community!
  
• Red Hat is more of a competitor than a partner. Red Hat kicks in doors and takes no prisoners! Microsoft can't handle them. SUSE doesn't have much of a presence in the USA and isn't ubiquitous across Europe enough to be enticing. Ubuntu gives them community, technical and worldwide range!
  
• If you aren't going to run Windows, at least run your server on Azure (or run Microsoft apps, run on Android/iOS, etc.)
  

We live in interesting years and from the looks of it, the next few years is going to be very entertaining!

[vasa1]

Who the hell use b***, even on Windows?

People who are paid to do so or forced to?

Meanwhile, http://www.computerworld.com/article...-the-edge.html where B*** is the default.

[Dragonbite]

Who the hell use bing, even on Windows?

I do.

[night_sky2]

Meanwhile, http://www.computerworld.com/article...-the-edge.html where B*** is the default.

That's probably because Edge doesn't feel like a finished product, it's still ''rough on the edges'' as they say. It's not there yet.

There is also the fact that Google is quite efficient at bundling Chrome in other compagny's products on Windows by giving them money.

[vasa1]

That's probably because Edge doesn't feel like a finished product, it's still ''rough on the edges'' as they say. It's not there yet.

Oh, the impression that I got from the various posts made in the Ubuntu Forums of all places (!), was that Windows 10 is perfection epitomized.

There is also the fact that Google is quite efficient at bundling Chrome in other compagny's download installer by giving them money.

So (some of the) people who use Win10 are incapable of uninstalling Google Chrome? AFAIK, Microsoft is quite cash-rich. I don't see what's stopping them from doing something similar. After all, they do offer discounts to schools and students to catch 'em young.

[night_sky2]

Oh, the impression that I got from the various posts made in the Ubuntu Forums of all places (!), was that Windows 10 is perfection epitomized.

I personally like Windows 10 but I am a Firefox user and don't use anything else.

I have tried Edge once upon upgrading from 7 to 10, it clearly has a good potential, the UI looks modern but it doesn't display all webpages properly. yet. That's why they shipped IE as well.
When they add extension support and polish it a bit more it will become a very interesting browser that I might seriously reconsider.

So (some of the) people who use Win10 are incapable of uninstalling Google Chrome? AFAIK, Microsoft is quite cash-rich. I don't see what's stopping them from doing something similar. After all, they do offer discounts to schools and students to catch 'em young.

Microsoft cannot push it's browser too much on Windows or they will face an antitrust lawsuit for unfair competition as they did with Internet Explorer.

I am certainly not saying that people don't know how to install Chrome. But that bundling Chrome as p.u.p in such popular software as Avast, Adobe Reader, Ccleaner, Google Earth ect. probably helps a lot.

The Mozilla Foundation, Opera Software ect. simply can't pay for that sort of visibility.

[mystics]

People who are paid to do so or forced to?

Meanwhile, http://www.computerworld.com/article...-the-edge.html where B*** is the default.

Speaking as someone who occasionally looks into using search engine APIs, I will say that Bing is a good one. Personally, I go for it over the Google API since Bing offers more free searches and is more flexible with how you allocate them (5000 per month instead of 100 per day). So if I'm building a simple application for myself that needs to occasionally search the Internet, Bing is a very appealing option.

Beyond that, I have found Bing to be better for looking up stuff for programming. Even when I'm looking for stuff that can be very OS-specific, I've often found Bing to keep some of the better Linux-based ones near the top right below the mandatory preference they give to MSDN.

Bing also has the point system that you can turn in for rewards. It isn't much, but it is a little something extra for using it.

[night_sky2]

Speaking as someone who occasionally looks into using search engine APIs, I will say that Bing is a good one. Personally, I go for it over the Google API since Bing offers more free searches and is more flexible with how you allocate them (5000 per month instead of 100 per day). So if I'm building a simple application for myself that needs to occasionally search the Internet, Bing is a very appealing option.

Beyond that, I have found Bing to be better for looking up stuff for programming. Even when I'm looking for stuff that can be very OS-specific, I've often found Bing to keep some of the better Linux-based ones near the top right below the mandatory preference they give to MSDN.

Bing also has the point system that you can turn in for rewards. It isn't much, but it is a little something extra for using it.

I am not an expert in search engine but I've found Bing to be surprisingly good for everyday usage, if not as good as Google than very close.

The rest is a matter of aesthetic and personal preferences to me. I am now leaning towards Bing more often than not for it's better intergration with my Microsoft (Outlook) account.

[mystics]

To be honest, I doubt most people would ever consider the advantages and disadvantages of the Bing API compared to the Google API. Projects that would use those are starting to get rather specific in a hobby/profession that itself isn't exactly easy to talk about with anyone you meet. I was just pointing out that, from a personal standpoint, Bing does manage to get me to use it due to offering a better option in that regard.

I also would hardly call myself an expert at search engines. I just jump around among Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo a lot, and if I'm having trouble with one, I'll at least try the others. Over time, I just begin to learn which ones seem better suited for different things I search for commonly (programming being one of those subjects).

Basically, I like finding what gets the job done rather than throwing everything behind Google or Bing and then struggling for an hour with something the other may have led me to in less than a minute (this actually has happened to me).

[SantaFe]

When I went searching for a search engine, I went to Ask Jeeves, but I startled him and he stepped in a steaming DogPile. Boy was he one HotBot!

I was EXCITEd to remember all those old search engines & Cried out loud Yahoo!