Samsung Blames Microsoft For The Flat Memory Market

[steve2470]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/03/09/samsung-blames-microsoft-for-the-flat-memory-market/

This is an interesting little snippet from a senior Samsung executive. The PC memory market is pretty flat at the moment and the blame is being put firmly on Microsoft’s shoulders. And there’s two ways of taking that assignation of blame: one that it’s entirely fair and the other that it’s really rather unfair.

Addressing market research that indicates global PC shipments are on the decline, Dong-soo told reporters that the market segment has failed to see a boost from Windows 8 as it’s “no better than the previous Windows Vista platform.” Dong-soo even went on to link the poor attach rate for ultrabooks to Microsoft’s “less competitive Windows platform.” Unsurprisingly, this had led the Samsung exec to shift his division’s focus from the fabrication of “conventional” memory chips to the more profitable and booming mobile chip segment.

Do note that this is all about memory chips.

The first way of looking at this is, well, yes, OK, he’s right. Windows 8 hasn’t taken the world by storm and there hasn’t been the usual surge in new PC buying that follows on from the release of a new Microsoft OS. So, therefore, it’s all Microsoft’s fault that there isn’t some vast amount of PC memory being consumed in those lovely new machines.

[BlueJazz]

1. In my little world Windows 8 is way better than Vista...even better than seven.

I put 2 computers (each 5-6 years) with Win 7 and then 8

The 8's were fairly fast ..for their age...the 7's dragged a lot....a lot.

[talkingmime]

2. I've seen Win8. It sucks worse than Microsoft Bob. There's a good reason it isn't selling well.

Win8 is the equivalent of coming out with a sports car that doesn't have a windshield, headlights, muffler, or engine. I had to help someone with a Win8 machine and couldn't believe what I was looking at. Even the control panel was hidden. And on top of that, it was so slow I could have napped between operations. It's a bloated piece of shit with a juvenile interface. Vista sucks too although it's mostly functional, but Win7 is very stable and perhaps the best thing they've come out with since Win98SE and NT4.0SP4. Even Windows update works on Win7 - THAT's impressive!

Still, Samsung's claim is bullshit. The decline in the PC memory market is because of every company that makes smart phones, and regular cell phones (I've got a Samsung in my pocket right now) for that matter, as well as pop-n-go memory cards and thumb drives. You really don't need to install a DIMM in a PC when you can just throw in 64GB of flash memory that you scored on sale.

On top of that, most motherboards, especially in laptops, don't upgrade well beyond a certain point. My laptop I'm on right now has 2GB. To switch it to four I'd have to take out the 1GB cards (matched pairs) and put in 2GB cards. The thing's almost five years old. It's more cost effective to get a new laptop but I don't want Win8. The Win7 box has 24GB and that's maxed out for the motherboard.

I've got my complaints with Microsoft, but to blame them for what was easily forseeable at least five years ago is just silly. What they really need to concentrate on (all of them) is SSD technology. Physical spinning discs are way too vulnerable to damage and expensive to manufacture. I've got an entirely solid state mini that's light weight, runs almost 6 hours on a single charge, and starts up immediately. It also came factory installed with Ubuntu.

Again, the technology is there, the manufacturers just need to focus on it. I love Seagate and Western Digital drives, but I don't see either company being around in ten years if they don't refocus. That would be a shame. Both have great tech support.