Microsoft doesn't give 2 cents now on desktops and desktop software. They care about selling cloud and cloud products.

Since they can't charge a subscription for Windows (like Adobe does for its products), they don't care about it anymore.

▲ hnlmorg 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Do they no longer charge annual licenses for Windows Server?

On that topic, it’s always surprised me just how little Apple invest into their enterprise / business backend services. Everything about the way they integrate Macs into businesses is awkward. Apple could make so much money there if they wanted to. It’s a real missed opportunity.

▲ Corrado a day ago | parent | next [-]

>On that topic, it’s always surprised me just how little Apple invest into their enterprise / business backend services. Everything about the way they integrate Macs into businesses is awkward. Apple could make so much money there if they wanted to. It’s a real missed opportunity.

Agreed! My $DAYJOB is an Apple shop and the Apple "Business" offerings are horrible. No support for a proper business developer account is annoying. A single human is responsible for this and when that human moves to a different company or role then you have to reassign the account to a different human. Configuring SSO is another trap. You have to capture a domain to add SSO but after you do that your users can't access the Apple App Store (for some reason).

There are so many places that Apple could improve their "Business" business, but they seem hell bent on not doing that. Maybe Mr. Ternus will address this issue.

▲ dangus 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The issue is that nobody (relatively speaking) uses Windows Server.

I don’t even think Microsoft is all that adamant that their customers use it.

It’s just not competitive with Linux and that ship has sailed. Linux is better and costs $0. Microsoft lets you run .NET applications on Linux and they’re better there.

I think the same thing happened with SQL Server. Nobody’s choosing it for new projects, its niche is basically legacy software.

I agree that Apple is missing an opportunity with business and enterprise but I think the issue is that they’re so far behind that catching up would be a massive investment that might never pay off.

This is similar to saying that Microsoft missed an opportunity with smartphone ecosystems. They could spend billions on getting a smartphone back on the market and it would arrive and everyone would ask the question “why am I buying this when my iPhone has X million apps on its store and is a nearly perfect device?”

If Apple Enterprise Cloud was available today who is switching and why? Apple would have to undercut established players to convince businesses to switch via a massive migration effort.

▲ mapontosevenths 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I work with fortune 500 clients, and all of them use Windows server for something. Usually a lot of somethings. For example: Active Directory.

If we look at Microsoft's revenue I think it's pretty clear that they do in fact care an awful lot about Windows Server - or at least should.

In fiscal year 2025, Microsoft Corporation's revenue by segment:

    Devices: $17.31 B
    Dynamics Products And Cloud Services: $7.83 B
    Enterprise Services: $7.76 B
    Gaming: $23.46 B
    Linked In Corporation: $17.81 B
    Microsoft Three Six Five Commercial Products And Cloud Services: $87.77 B
    Microsoft Three Six Five Consumer Products and Cloud Services: $7.40 B
    Other Products And Services: $72.00 M
    Search Advertising: $13.88 B
    Search And News Advertising: $13.88 B
    Server Products And Cloud Services: $98.44 B
    Server Products And Tools: $98.44 B
    Windows: $17.31 B

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lozenge 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

You only need a couple of Active Directory and Exchange servers here and there. But who's using IIS or SQL Server these days? Sharepoint also seems to be on a downturn.

	▲	hnlmorg 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		IIS was always the black sheep of web hosting. Nothing has changed there. Windows Server is used for more than just directory services and web hosting though.

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throw0101d 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Linked In Corporation: $17.81 B

Hwat? How does LinkedIn generate revenue (as much as "Windows")?

	▲	badpun 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		All recruiters get paid accounts.

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dangus 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I don’t think this is clear at all because the segments are lumped together and highly unclear.

What’s the difference between “server products and cloud services” and “server products and tools?”

I assume the former is Azure and the latter is on-premise.

In that case if we lump 365 in with server products and cloud tools then it shows that 2/3 of the enterprise revenue is going to cloud and 1/3 is on-premise (and I assume that 1/3 is declining over time)

▲ austinrm 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> If Apple Enterprise Cloud was available today who is switching and why?

Not sure about others, but I would switch if it meant I no longer needed to rely on Google Workspace.

▲ hnlmorg 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You’re talking about LAMP-type set ups and I’m talking about Windows Desktop integration services. Smaller orgs will use cloud services but many larger organisations, colleges, and the like will likely have a fleet of Windows servers running in VMs (traditionally VMWare but that might have changed since Broadcom bought them).

However if you do want to talk about services outside of fleet management, then there are plenty of niches where Windows Server has a surprising foothold. Though typically they’re domains which haven’t been disrupted by “tech bros”, which is why you don’t read about it much on HN.

> This is similar to saying that Microsoft missed an opportunity with smartphone ecosystems.

They did. But we are talking specifically about fleet management and not any random tech-adjacent industry.

> If Apple Enterprise Cloud was available today who is switching and why? Apple would have to undercut established players to convince businesses to switch via a massive migration effort.

The existing players only exist because Apples default offering is basically non-existent. Apple wouldn’t need to undercut them, just be comparably priced. The reason being that if you already have a business account with Apple then you don’t need to go through the pan of getting a new supplier approved by the board (etc).

As for existing businesses, if they’re already large enough that fleet management is a concern then they’re large enough to have people on payroll who manage that fleet. And thus to perform that migration. It might even be part of their laptop refresh program.

And if Apple had an enterprise fleet management service then they’d be able to offer tools that are locked to their fleet management (eg remote wipe). Which would heavily incentivise businesses not to go with 3rd parties.

▲ dreamcompiler 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I get the impression they care very much about windows because they can sell ads on it.

▲ radiator 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Why can't they charge a subscription for windows? It could be only a small yearly fee.

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sheiyei 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Because Windows is a garbage product and they would quickly wipe out its userbase by doing that.

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MSFT_Edging 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It's primary benefit is that it comes free with the laptop they bought on Amazon.

Once there's friction there, it'll make other friction seem less bad.

	▲	radiator a day ago \| parent [-]
		Maybe they could find another way to market it, e.g. Windows is free but with ads, and there is a subscription which makes ads go away. Or something else. Some creativity is needed.

▲ Ygg2 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't disagree. A big reason 2026 is the Year of the Desktop Linux is that MSFT lost any interest in the Desktop PC platform. Outside selling more of my data and filling it with AI Slop.

But if, say, AAPL had won the PC wars, we'd be staring at a much more locked-down, much more expensive OS experience.