Alex Wilhelm at TechCrunch on Windows 10:

A few questions: Will Windows 10’s release lead to lift in PC sales, even if temporary? If that is the case, did the release of Windows 10 come too late in the quarter to make much of an impact? If that is not the case, then it seems that Windows 10 will not drive an increase in PC sales.

The very first blog post I wrote for The Next Web — where I worked before coming to TechCrunch — had the following headline: “No Windows 7 PC Sales Bump Coming.” And that was Windows 7, mind, one of most popular versions of Windows ever.

I don’t recall Windows 8 doing the PC market many favors, either, at its debut. So we have at least some historical precedent that new builds of Windows are not key drivers of new unit volume.

My question is, why should a new version of Windows ever help sales of PCs?

This isn’t the launch of Windows 95. Those days are over. Microsoft knows this and I think it’s the impetus behind their cloning of Apple’s business model, despite the fact that they can’t duplicate said business model because they have OEMs they license Windows to.

It’s all about great, integrated hardware/software products and now that Microsoft has gotten a taste of the power that comes with controlling the whole stack they could give a fuck about OEMs.

Of course they won’t say that but it’s true. If they could sell Apple levels of Surface tablets and Windows Phones with Apple profit margins they’d be loving life.

They’re just still too scared to rip off that band-aid.