Microsoft (MS) has gotten too big for its britches. Over time its wildly popular series of Windows upgrades has won over much of the world. For many years they successfully operated under a business model that said if you build it, they will come. Each new upgrade presented improved features that pushed customers over their thrifty-hump and pay for an upgrade to Windows (n+1). This business model kept sales growth high and led everyone to believe that it would go on forever. After all, founder Bill Gates was a likeable folk hero whose appeal across the business and computing worlds seemed inexhaustible.

I’m partway through switching to Linux Ubuntu from the home version of Windows 11. I just purchased an Asus laptop preloaded with Linux. I have a large collection of pdf files as well as MS Word files. My understanding is that pdf files are easier to transfer to Linux and one of the better ways to deal with Word documents is to convert them to pdf.

MS Windows and MS Office were loaded with advanced features wildly beyond what any single user would need to use. These features were neatly organized in pull-down menus and manipulated with the click and drag of a mouse. This would allow users from casual to super-users to use the apply one package across a wide range of applications. No need to offer different versions across business, personal and scientific applications.

MS has been selling excess capacity from early on. It was part of the ballyhoo and razzle dazzle. Think about all of the objects you own that are packed with unneeded applications you’ll never use. I wonder how much of the US economy is spent on tools and widgets that have wasted utility.

The Windows operating system (OS) and MS’s package of office applications have provided a widely adopted template for business activity, games and home computing. The friendly and perhaps even inviting graphic user interface (GUI), facilitated by the mouse, put a buffer between the user and the stark command line input with no visual clues of what to do next. Windows applications were user friendly and forgiving of mistakenly used features.

Many feel that Windows 7 was the high point in this important series of products. It seems Microsoft is a victim of its own success. Once market penetration reached a certain level, the question becomes how to sustain sales, EBITDA and growth? Auto manufacturers solved this problem long ago by offering physically appealing cars that were new and improved each year. They often used successful models as a guide to improved design and performance. While no foolproof, this approach can work very well.

Switching from the Windows OS to the Linux OS is what I’m doing presently. I’ve been saving MS Word and Excel documents since the late 1990’s. The version, or “distro’, of Linux I’m using is Ubuntu. It has a Windows-like GUI except that there is a command-line feature that needs to be delt with. Windows does too, but I’ve only seen IT folks dip into it to work their dark arts.

My impression is that Linux applications are not initially as feature rich as Windows but realize that the succession of Windows upgrades have been subject to creeping featurism from the beginning. The Linux mentality is quite different. Technology tends to improve and boost applications in order to stay competitive in the market. That evolution plus a new business model have led to the current Windows 11 fiasco. Older Computers that operated well on Windows 10 are suddenly inadequate for a drop-in replacement to Windows 11. People, businesses and governments are outraged by equipment upgrades needed to do what they did yesterday and consequently are dropping out of MS Windows all together. So alarmed is MS that it has even caused Bill Gates to be recalled from retirement to help brainstorm the sudden migration away from Windows.

MS has implemented artificial intelligence (AI) elements that are unwelcome to many users. MS blurts out that AI promises to improve better efficiency for users. Every dog and cat out there is doing the same. AI is an economic bubble that many are trying tap into. Early adopters do the best in these bubbles.

MS has tumbled over the edge of If you build it, they will come. Furthermore, the annual subscription now in play is new to most individuals using Windows. Even worse, the sacrosanct space on your hard drive is not even safe from the MS mothership hovering overhead beaming up your information or plowing it into the cloud that you may consider confidential. Should some documents under Windows 11 be air gapped onto a thumb or disconnected external drive? Seems that way.