[osigurdson]

>> and indeed in 2013, he cited the failure of WinFS as his greatest disappointment at Microsoft,

Failing to capture any of the mobile handset market while missing out almost entirely on search and social media businesses would be higher on my list if I were in BG's shoes.

[mbreese]

Intellectually though, I could see the WinFS failure as being more disappointing. If it had worked, local computing would have been completely different. Much like BeFS, WinFS (as marketed) would have introduced many new ways to interact with your computer and data.

Having a bigger presence in mobile and social would have been more lucrative, but from a CS geek point of view, the failure of WinFS might have been more stinging.

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

Speaking of mobile handset markets, does SeaweedFS support Android?

[Guthur]

Microsoft has never been good in either consumer electronics or advertising (social media).

MS carved out economic rent on business with Windows and Office, Apple actually failed at that.

[KingOfCoders]

"Gaming is now the third largest business at Microsoft." After Office and Azure, before Windows.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/30/24055445/microsoft-q2-202...

[spockz]

Sure. But windows was/is the loss leader for that. No gaming or office without windows. Even Azure benefits from it as it ties into Active Directory with Azure AD. This makes it a completely integrated story. So that they are even still making money off of windows directly is just a direct benefit.

[osigurdson]

It is amazing how sticky auth is.

[foota]

Did those happen under Gates?