[citation][nom]shadarlo[/nom]These are the types of games companies play when they're getting too big for their britches. Google can play these silly games if they wish but they need to realize Android/iOS are what people use to play, Windows is what people use to get stuff done. Windows drives the world still, the others are able to exist because of it.Gmail may be tops right now, but if Google decides to stop innovating to spite Microsoft they risk being surpassed by a company who is truly trying to "Do no evil" and deliver a quality product to their users. I am extremely annoyed by the lack of a Gmail client and this shows a piss poor attitude similar to the one Apple shows in the games they play with the maps app and patent lawsuits. I expect more of Google but perhaps I shouldn't.[/citation]
It isn't a game. How dare Google not produce products for a platform they don't see any demand for yet! Really?
>Android/iOS are what people use to play, Windows is what people use to get stuff done.
No, Windows are what people use who are either too young or too newbie to understand "vendor lock-in", or something they're resigned to being stuck with for the time being. You can "get stuff done" with Android, iOS, OS X, Linux, BSD and Windows. At this stage of the game, they're all full-featured.
>Windows drives the world still,
Windows doesn't "drive the world"... not in servers, not in supercomputers, not in embedded, not in mobile, not in stock exchanges, etc. It has a monopoly on the desktop courtesy of being first and this monopoly produces vendor lock-in which leads many people to either need it or think they need it. This is why South Korea is stuck using ancient buggy versions of Internet Explorer and the security nightmare ActiveX for all of its financial transactions... it was mandated at one point and then vendor lock-in occurred and now they're stuck with it. Even with no longer requiring it, the existing user base creates vendor lock-in and like gravitational pull it becomes hard to escape (those not willing to move away hold the rest back). One independent presidential candidate has even made it a plank in his platform to get rid of ActiveX! Would you say ActiveX is "driving" South Korea? Other than adding the word "crazy", no. The big innovations today are revolving around virtualization, the cloud, and big data, and Windows isn't leading/driving in any of those areas. In fact, in regards to big data, every major product in the category today is open source!
>the others are able to exist because of it.
I assure you neither iOS nor Android need Windows to exist. Heck, neither Apple nor Google run Windows on their general PCs (one guess as to what Apple runs and Google uses a modified version of Ubuntu).
>Gmail may be tops right now, but if Google decides to stop innovating to spite Microsoft
Releasing a Windows 8 app hardly qualifies as "innovating". Google is working on driverless cars... now THAT'S innovating!
> they risk being surpassed by a company who is truly trying to "Do no evil" and deliver a quality
>product to their users.
No one is going to surpass Google in search or advertising anytime soon, and if they do, it'll have nothing to do with Windows 8 email apps. Not supporting Metro is hardly "doing evil". MS' locking Metro apps into the Windows Store - that's another story.
> I am extremely annoyed by the lack of a Gmail client
Again... being locked into the Windows Store doesn't bother you at all, but the lack of Gmail client is what has you annoyed about Windows 8? Running software like your PC is one giant phone doesn't bother you either?
>and this shows a piss poor attitude similar to the one Apple shows in the games they play with the
>maps app and patent lawsuits. I expect more of Google but perhaps I shouldn't.
OK if Google not releasing a Gmail client for Windows 8 and Windows 8 phone is a piss poor attitude, please tell me how you view Microsoft not releasing Office or Internet Explorer or Visual Studio or Access for Linux using the exact same criteria you're using to judge Google. I await the undoubtedly interesting results of this thought experiment, although let's just say I doubt the results will surprise me much.