#industrial Pc market

[og-marketresearchreports]

https://oganalysis.com/industry-reports/industrial-pc-market

[trendingreportz]

Industrial PC Market - Forecast(2024 - 2030)

The Market for Industrial PC is forecast to reach $5.8 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 5.36% from 2020 to 2025. The significant adoption of the digital technologies, industrial automation and other advanced technologies is contributing to market growth rate. The increasing demand for the increasing process flexibility, enhanced efficiency in various industries is set to contribute to the growth of the market. 

Report Coverage

The report: “Industrial PC Market – Forecast (2020-2025)”, by IndustryARC covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the Industrial PC Market. 

By Product Type: Panel, rack mount, box, embedded panel, embedded box, Din rail PC with I/O

By End use industries: Chemical, Energy and power, Oil & gas, Food and beverage, pharmaceutical, automotive, aerospace and defence, semiconductor and electronics, and others.

By Geography: North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and RoW

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Key Takeaways

DIN rail PC are analysed to grow at highest rate during the forecast period majorly attributed to the high performing computing solutions offered.

APAC is analysed to dominate the market owing to the growing investments in R&D of the industrial PCs alongside the increasing adoption of the advanced technologies.

The rising demand for the efficient manufacturing process is set to be a key driving factor for the Industrial PC Market.

By Product type- Segment Analysis

DIN rail PC with I/O is analysed to grow at highest rate during the forecast period. The Din rail PCs are significantly deployed in the connected factories for efficient manufacturing processes thereby contributing to the high growth rate. In addition to these, these PCs have high durability and can be handled in harsh environments as they have high temperature threshold, which translates to reduced downtime and increased productivity. The installation of industrial PCs is easy and they are compact. They can withstand severe conditions and can absorb any stationary shocks or falls. Owing these benefits, there has been increasing adoption of industrial PCs thereby driving the market growth.

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By Enduser- Segment Analysis 

The industries such as automotive manufacturing, aerospace and defence, semiconductor and electronics are analysed to grow at higher rate during the forecast period. This is majorly attributed to the adoption of automation in these industries. Growing funding activities for IoT technology set to increase the adoption of industrial PCs, thereby driving the market growth. Automotive is analysed hold significantly higher share in the market, owing to the high adoption of industrial-grade computing solutions in the manufacturing process. Adding to this, the growing developments in the expansion of these plants is further contributing to the market growth rate. In December 2019, Morris Garages, a British automobile brand has announced its plans to invest $ 429.25 million. 

Geography - Segment Analysis

APAC is the dominant region in 2019 with a market owing to the high production base in the region, followed by North America and Europe. The large market share is majorly attributed to the presence of large production bases in China and India. In March 2020, China Association of Automobile Manufactures has announced that vehicle production and sales volume reached 3.47 million and 3.67 million units. Adoption of robots assists the industries in reducing labor cost there by providing opportunities for industrial PCs during forecast period. Adding to this, In U.S., Many manufacturing companies have started implementing robots to increase productivity and improve efficiency. Monitoring of robots require high quality industrial PCs which set to drive the market growth.

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Drivers – Industrial PC market 

Growing demand for automation and technological advancements in industries set to drive the Industrial PC Market

There has been significant growth in Industrial PC Market owing to the increased adoption for automation and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in industries. Industrial PCs assist in providing the platform to run automation software for monitoring and controlling the processes in real time applications. Many companies and startups are focusing on adoption of IoT technology. For instance, in June 2019, Indian IoT startup SwitchOn had raised $1 million seed funding from Pi Ventures. In April 2019, Altizon Systems Pvt. Ltd had raised $7 million in series A funding from investors TVS Motor Company Ltd.

Rising demand for energy efficient manufacturing operations

The manufacturing companies are majorly focusing on increasing their production capacities in order to reduce costs and strengthen their competitive position by increasing their production efficiency through adoption of industrial PC, thereby driving the market. In industries such as metals and mining, oil and gas, and others where the profit margins are comparatively lower than other industries such as automotive and food and beverages, among others, it is critical to optimize their resources and reduce waste. This is a flaw in the production process which result in huge losses, causing manufacturers in compensating the flawed product with a new one.  Owing to this, the manufacturing companies are actively increasing their focus towards adoption of industrial PCs in order to automate their manufacturing processes to enhance productivity. These PCs also assist the companies in improving accuracy, and minimizing operation costs, thereby achieving superior quality, uniformity, and safety. Therefore, increasing demand for energy-efficient manufacturing operations is anticipated to drive the demand for industrial PCs market.

Challenges – Industrial PC market

High Initial Investment

Implementation of industrial PCs in factories is a part of automation process. Adoption of automation machines can be one of the most cost intensive process for an industry. It involves millions of dollars. In addition to the initial costs, there are several unpredictable costs which may exceed the real cost saved by the accomplishing automation in the company. Some of these costs involve research and development costs of automating a process, anticipatory repairs, and maintenance costs. Additionally, there is also training cost associated with industrial PCs operation that further restraints the market growth. Most of the industrial PCs also occupy larger space which is a major challenge in small sized industries.

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Market Landscape

Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the Industrial PC Market. Industrial PC driver market is expected to be dominated by major companies such as Advantech, Beckhoff International, Siemens, IEI Integration Corporation, Kontron S&T, ABB, Nexcom International, among others.

Acquisitions/Technology Launches/Partnerships

In 2019, Advantech had launched palm size embedded industrial PC. The product includes features such as intelligent software integrated for remote system monitoring and management.

In 2019, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation had launched MI3000 model industrial computers and extended its MELIPC series of industrial PCs for edge computing and control applications in factory automation.

[gender-euphowrya]

something about when gamer men do the whole "ugh women just don't get why we love gaming so much :(". Well. maybe if women were actually treated seriously as gamers and gaming stopped being seen as a Male Activity where they get yelled at and harassed in voice chats or made to feel like the only games they're allowed to touch are the sims and stardew valley played on their pink computers

maybe women would 'get' gaming if gaming 'got' women

[lord-radish]

Tens of thousands of people have been fired in the tech sector in the last six months alone. With the economy the way it is, and with people who are already unable to get a job, I wonder how an extra 20,000+ jobseekers are going to have any luck finding work.

[kishorxox]

Thin Client Market by Size, Share, Forecasts, & Trends Analysis

Meticulous Research®—a leading global market research company, published a research report titled, ‘Thin Client Market by Type (Hardware Thin Clients and Software Thin Clients), Connectivity Type (Wired Thin Clients and Wireless Thin Clients), End User (Residential, Commercial, and Industrial), and Geography—Global Forecast to 2032.’

According to this latest publication from Meticulous Research®, the thin client market is expected to reach $2 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 3.2% from 2025–2032. The growth of the thin client market is driven by the rising adoption of cloud-based services, the increasing demand for data centers, and a growing focus on data security. However, reliance on central servers for network connectivity may restrain the market’s growth.

Moreover, the rising need to access applications from various locations and the increasing utilization of cloud computing is expected to create growth opportunities for players in the thin client market. However, latency issues when accessing graphic-intensive applications and server performance bottlenecks are some of the challenges impacting the market’s growth.

Additionally, the growing demand for VDI technology and the increasing focus on energy efficiency among organizations are prominent trends in this market.

The thin client market is segmented into type (hardware thin clients {desktop thin clients, mobile thin clients, and all-in-one thin clients} and software thin clients {on-premise deployments and cloud-based deployments}), connectivity type (wired thin clients and wireless thin clients), and end user (residential, commercial {retail, healthcare, office spaces, BFSI, hospitality, schools & educational institutes, and other commercial enterprises}, and industrial {automotive, transportation & logistics, government & defense, manufacturing, energy & utilities, and other industries}). The study also evaluates industry competitors and analyzes the market at the regional and country levels.

Based on type, the thin client market is segmented into hardware thin clients and software thin clients. In 2025, the hardware thin clients segment is expected to account for the larger share of over 74.0% of the thin client market. This segment’s large market share can be attributed to the increasing adoption of thin clients, which are cheaper than traditional desktops or laptops, require less maintenance, and have a longer lifespan due to fewer components. Additionally, thin clients use less power than desktop computers, leading to energy savings and a reduced environmental footprint. Moreover, the flexibility of thin clients allows for easy scalability—they can be added or removed without major changes to the existing infrastructure. Their design minimizes the risk of data loss since data is stored centrally rather than on built-in storage.

However, the software thin clients segment is projected to register the higher CAGR during the forecast period. This segment’s growth is driven by the benefits offered by software thin clients in enterprise environments, where resource efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and centralized management are crucial. Software thin clients can run on inexpensive hardware, utilizing servers for processing power, which reduces maintenance costs. They can operate on various devices, including old PCs, tablets, and smartphones, extending their lifespan and reducing electronic waste. This flexibility allows for the conversion of traditional PCs or laptops into thin clients, supporting sustainability efforts and lowering carbon footprint.

Based on connectivity type, the thin client market is segmented into wired thin clients and wireless thin clients. In 2025, the wired thin clients segment is expected to account for the larger share of over 62.0% of the thin client market. Wired thin clients are computing devices that rely on a central server for processing power, storage, and application functionality. These devices have gained popularity due to their economic and operational benefits. Wired thin clients are typically more cost-effective than full-fledged PCs due to simpler hardware and lower power consumption. With minimal operating systems and no local storage, they offer enhanced security by minimizing vulnerability to malware and data breaches. Centralized management of software updates, security patches, and user access from the server reduces manual error and ensures consistent security across all devices. These benefits contribute to the large market share of this segment.

However, the wireless thin clients segment is projected to register the higher CAGR during the forecast period. Wireless thin clients enable users to access their virtual desktops wirelessly within the network's range. Additionally, the absence of wires promotes a cleaner and more organized workspace. This flexibility in workstation placement is particularly advantageous in dynamic environments like healthcare facilities or warehouses. Moreover, wireless thin clients consume less power than traditional desktops or laptops, leading to reduced energy costs. They are also easier to install and often feature a more compact and streamlined design due to the absence of bulky network connectors. These benefits are anticipated to drive the adoption of wireless thin clients during the forecast period.

Based on end user, the thin client market is segmented into residential, commercial, and industrial. In 2025, the commercial segment is expected to account for the largest share of over 48.0% of the thin client market. This segment’s large market share can be attributed to the increasing demand for thin clients across sectors such as BFSI, education, and healthcare. Thin clients offer various benefits for these sectors, including enhanced security, centralized endpoint management, scalability, support for legacy applications, and simplified disaster recovery plans.

In the BFSI sector, where sensitive data is constantly handled, thin clients ensure centralized data storage, reducing the risk of data breaches and loss. They enable financial institutions to rapidly scale their IT infrastructure, adapting to evolving business needs without significant capital investment. Thin clients also facilitate secure remote access to financial systems, supporting the trend of remote work in the BFSI sector.

Market players are launching new solutions in response to the rising demand. For instance, in April 2025, AO Kaspersky Lab (Russia) launched Kaspersky Thin Client 2.0 (KTC 2.0) at the Dubai Cyber Immunity Conference. Thin Client 2.0 offers enhanced connectivity, higher speed of application delivery, lower total cost of ownership, user-friendly graphical interface, and quick deployment.

Moreover, the commercial segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Based on geography, the thin client market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In 2025, North America is expected to account for the largest share of over 41.0% of the thin client market. North America’s significant market share can be attributed to the increasing adoption of cloud computing and desktop virtualization (VDI) solutions such as RDS (Remote Desktop Services) and DaaS (Desktop as a Service), advancements in virtualization technologies, and the rising trend of working remotely, which drives the need for seamless access to corporate applications and data from multiple locations.

North America has a robust and continually improving network infrastructure, facilitating the effective deployment and operation of thin clients. Businesses in the region prioritize reducing IT costs, and thin clients offer lower upfront and ongoing costs compared to traditional desktops. Several companies in North America have introduced initiatives to develop this market further. For example, in November 2024, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (U.S.) launched Amazon WorkSpaces, a thin client service that helps organizations reduce overall virtual desktop costs, enhance security posture, and simplify end-user deployment. The WorkSpaces thin client service provides comprehensive IT administrator tools for inventory management and allows remote resetting, patching, and access control of thin client devices.

However, the market in Asia-Pacific is projected to register the highest CAGR of 5.0% during the forecast period.        The growth of this regional market is driven by rapid expansion in data center infrastructure, increasing internet penetration, initiatives by local and state governments aimed at accelerating digital transformation, and the significant adoption of cloud computing and edge computing technologies in the region.

Countries like China, India, and Southeast Asian nations are experiencing rapid economic growth, leading to increased IT investments. Organizations are seeking cost-effective IT solutions to support their expansion, and thin clients offer a lower total cost of ownership compared to traditional desktops. Data security is a major concern for businesses in the APAC region, and thin clients provide enhanced security benefits by centralizing data processing and storage on servers, which reduces the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches compared to traditional PCs with local storage. Thin clients can also play a pivotal role in supporting digital learning initiatives in educational institutions across Asia-Pacific. They enable remote learning by allowing students to access educational resources and applications from anywhere with an internet connection.

Key Players:

The key players operating in the thin client market include Dell Technologies Inc. (U.S.), HP Inc. (U.S.), Fujitsu Limited (Japan), Lenovo Group Ltd. (Hong Kong), Fujian Centerm Information Co., Ltd. (China), VXL Instruments Ltd (India), Seal Technologies Co (India), Thinvent (India), Green VDI (India), OnLogic, Inc. (U.S.), Advantech Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), ClearCube Technology, Inc. (U.S.), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea), NComputing Co., Ltd. (U.S.), 10ZiG Technology (U.S.), LG Electronics, Inc. (U.S.), and Amulet Hotkey Ltd. (U.K.).

Download Sample Report Here @ https://www.meticulousresearch.com/download-sample-report/cp_id=5951?

Key Questions Answered in the Report:

What are the high-growth market segments in terms of type, connectivity type, and end user?

What was the historical market size for the thin client market?

What are the market forecasts and estimates for 2025–2032?

What are the major drivers, restraints, opportunities, challenges, and trends in the thin client market?

Who are the major players in the thin client market, and what are their market shares?

What is the competitive landscape like?

What are the recent developments in the thin client market?

What are the different strategies adopted by major market players?

What are the trends and high-growth countries?

Who are the emerging players in the thin client market, and how do they compete with other players?

Contact Us: Meticulous Research® Email- sales@meticulousresearch.com Contact Sales- +1-646-781-8004 Connect with us on LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/meticulous-research

[tfatrading]

Are you looking to make informed decisions about your stock portfolio? If you're interested in understanding how stocks like Reliance Power, PC Jewellers, Zydus Life, and others are performing, you're in the right place! In this article, we will explore the latest updates on these stocks, as well as highlight some exciting multibagger penny stocks that could yield high returns. Whether you are a seasoned investor or a newcomer, this guide will provide you with all the insights you need to navigate these investments with confidence.

[transienturl]

Is this a deal at $1100 refurbished? I can't decide. Probably? Maybe? That display and chassis rock. Definitely not a hardcore AAA gamer device (I'd rather have a -60 or -70 GPU for the latest titles with more than 100w of cooling, and you can probably swing one for that price by losing the touchscreen and some niceties), but for content creation, programming, etc, it seems pretty solid.

(Lenovo also has the newer generation with a newer CPU and one-level-better GPU—and another usb-c port—refurb at $1450, which seems like not quite as good a deal, but I'm sure there are people with Macbook Pro 16-type budgets or who want to game more who'd consider it.)

[ravinderimarc]

The global industrial PC market size reached USD 5.4 Billion in 2024. IMARC Group expects the market to reach USD 7.8 Billion by 2033, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 4.02% during 2025-2033. The global market is primarily driven by the increasing demand for automation and control systems, technological advancements enhancing performance and ruggedization, growing adoption of IoT and connected devices for real-time monitoring, and an increased focus on cybersecurity measures to protect critical infrastructure.

[focusedmarketinsights]

Dive into the US online gambling market, which has witnessed an astounding value of $11.51 billion in 2022 and is ambitiously gearing up to double that, touching an anticipated $22.31 billion by 2028. With an impressive CAGR of 11.66%.

Americans have a legacy of favoring gambling; just think of Las Vegas, the world's glittering casino capital. To give you a snapshot, a staggering $157 billion was the consumer expenditure on gambling in the US in 2022.

What's fueling this market? The lavish spending capacity of the baby boomers and Gen X, paired with the tech-savvy millennials. This digital generation, addicted to their smartphones and the latest tech, is poised to catapult the demand for online gambling in the region. And let's not forget the soaring numbers in the casino sector; nationwide, consumer spending is on a pronounced uptick.

[dnnikhil]

The personal computer (PC) as a service market is expected to witness market growth at a rate of 47.69% in the forecast period of 2022 to 2029. Data Bridge Market Research report on personal computer (PC) as a service market provides analysis and insights regarding the various factors expected to be prevalent throughout the forecast period while providing their impacts on the market's growth. The rise in the demand in the business organisation is escalating the growth of personal computer (PC) as a service market.

PC as a Service is known to be the device management model with which organization pays for the lease management services and endpoint hardware from a dealer. The services offered are maintenance, imaging, logistic services and other.

[bishtmeenakshi]

Insights into the Dynamic Tech Market

Dive into the dynamic tech market with profound insights into the Computer Peripherals and PC Accessories Market. Uncover major players shaping this ever-evolving realm, exploring trends that define the intricate world of tech accessories and peripherals.

[aarunresearcher]

United States industrial PC market size reached USD 1.4 Billion in 2024. Looking forward, IMARC Group expects the market to reach USD 2.3 Billion by 2033, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 5.85% during ​2025-2033​. The increasing complexity of industrial processes, along with the growing need for real-time data processing and analysis, is driving the industrial PC market.

[hyperxcomputersqtr]

Benefits of Video Games in Learning

Parents usually distrust children playing video games. According to them, they don’t want their children to get addicted to video games. But some people consider video games as one of the best ways for children to learn.  The benefits of video games can include bringing out these skills in children such as concentration, creativity, team work, etc. The more we get to know about online gaming, the more we get to see its usefulness for children. However, it is necessary to use those video games that are useful for learning and at the same time the ones that are age appropriate.

Some of the benefits of video games in learning are :

Improved cognitive skills: Video games help in building cognitive skills such as problem-solving, decision-making, critical thinking etc. Players will have to solve complex puzzles while playing games, which can improve their problem-solving skills.

Enhanced creativity: Video games can improve creativity and encourage players to think out of the box and can make them come up with unique solutions.

Increased motivation: Video games are highly engaging and motivating for the players. The players are rewarded for achieving certain goals or completing challenging tasks in most of the video games. This can really encourage the players.

Improved hand-eye coordination: Most of the video games require quick movements while playing games. This can improve hand-eye coordination.

Improved memory and attention: Some of the video games require players to have good memory and remember rules and sequences, which further helps in improving memory and attention span.

Read More.....

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Microsoft pinky swears that THIS TIME they’ll make security a priority

One June 20, I'm live onstage in LOS ANGELES for a recording of the GO FACT YOURSELF podcast. On June 21, I'm doing an ONLINE READING for the LOCUS AWARDS at 16hPT. On June 22, I'll be in OAKLAND, CA for a panel and a keynote at the LOCUS AWARDS.

As the old saying goes, "When someone tells you who they are and you get fooled again, shame on you." That goes double for Microsoft, especially when it comes to security promises.

Microsoft is, was, always has been, and always will be a rotten company. At every turn, throughout their history, they have learned the wrong lessons, over and over again.

That starts from the very earliest days, when the company was still called "Micro-Soft." Young Bill Gates was given a sweetheart deal to supply the operating system for IBM's PC, thanks to his mother's connection. The nepo-baby enlisted his pal, Paul Allen (whom he'd later rip off for billions) and together, they bought someone else's OS (and took credit for creating it – AKA, the "Musk gambit").

Microsoft then proceeded to make a fortune by monopolizing the OS market through illegal, collusive arrangements with the PC clone industry – an industry that only existed because they could source third-party PC ROMs from Phoenix:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/08/ibm-pc-compatible-how-adversarial-interoperability-saved-pcs-monopolization

Bill Gates didn't become one of the richest people on earth simply by emerging from a lucky orifice; he also owed his success to vigorous antitrust enforcement. The IBM PC was the company's first major initiative after it was targeted by the DOJ for a 12-year antitrust enforcement action. IBM tapped its vast monopoly profits to fight the DOJ, spending more on outside counsel to fight the DOJ antitrust division than the DOJ spent on all its antitrust lawyers, every year, for 12 years.

IBM's delaying tactic paid off. When Reagan took the White House, he let IBM off the hook. But the company was still seriously scarred by its ordeal, and when the PC project kicked off, the company kept the OS separate from the hardware (one of the DOJ's major issues with IBM's previous behavior was its vertical monopoly on hardware and software). IBM didn't hire Gates and Allen to provide it with DOS because it was incapable of writing a PC operating system: they did it to keep the DOJ from kicking down their door again.

The post-antitrust, gunshy IBM kept delivering dividends for Microsoft. When IBM turned a blind eye to the cloned PC-ROM and allowed companies like Compaq, Dell and Gateway to compete directly with Big Blue, this produced a whole cohort of customers for Microsoft – customers Microsoft could play off on each other, ensuring that every PC sold generated income for Microsoft, creating a wide moat around the OS business that kept other OS vendors out of the market. Why invest in making an OS when every hardware company already had an exclusive arrangement with Microsoft?

The IBM PC story teaches us two things: stronger antitrust enforcement spurs innovation and opens markets for scrappy startups to grow to big, important firms; as do weaker IP protections.

Microsoft learned the opposite: monopolies are wildly profitable; expansive IP protects monopolies; you can violate antitrust laws so long as you have enough monopoly profits rolling in to outspend the government until a Republican bootlicker takes the White House (Microsoft's antitrust ordeal ended after GW Bush stole the 2000 election and dropped the charges against them). Microsoft embodies the idea that you either die a rebel hero or live long enough to become the evil emperor you dethroned.

From the first, Microsoft has pursued three goals:

Get too big to fail;

Get too big to jail;

Get too big to care.

It has succeeded on all three counts. Much of Microsoft's enduring power comes from succeeded IBM as the company that mediocre IT managers can safely buy from without being blamed for the poor quality of Microsoft's products: "Nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft" is 2024's answer to "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM."

Microsoft's secret sauce is impunity. The PC companies that bundle Windows with their hardware are held blameless for the glaring defects in Windows. The IT managers who buy company-wide Windows licenses are likewise insulated from the rage of the workers who have to use Windows and other Microsoft products.

Microsoft doesn't have to care if you hate it because, for the most part, it's not selling to you. It's selling to a few decision-makers who can be wined and dined and flattered. And since we all have to use its products, developers have to target its platform if they want to sell us their software.

This rarified position has afforded Microsoft enormous freedom to roll out harebrained "features" that made things briefly attractive for some group of developers it was hoping to tempt into its sticky-trap. Remember when it put a Turing-complete scripting environment into Microsoft Office and unleashed a plague of macro viruses that wiped out years worth of work for entire businesses?

https://web.archive.org/web/20060325224147/http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/newsinfo/collateral.aspx?cid=33338

It wasn't just Office; Microsoft's operating systems have harbored festering swamps of godawful defects that were weaponized by trolls, script kiddies, and nation-states:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EternalBlue

Microsoft blamed everyone except themselves for these defects, claiming that their poor code quality was no worse than others, insisting that the bulging arsenal of Windows-specific malware was the result of being the juiciest target and thus the subject of the most malicious attention.

Even if you take them at their word here, that's still no excuse. Microsoft didn't slip and accidentally become an operating system monopolist. They relentlessly, deliberately, illegally pursued the goal of extinguishing every OS except their own. It's completely foreseeable that this dominance would make their products the subject of continuous attacks.

There's an implicit bargain that every monopolist makes: allow me to dominate my market and I will be a benevolent dictator who spends his windfall profits on maintaining product quality and security. Indeed, if we permit "wasteful competition" to erode the margins of operating system vendors, who will have a surplus sufficient to meet the security investment demands of the digital world?

But monopolists always violate this bargain. When faced with the decision to either invest in quality and security, or hand billions of dollars to their shareholders, they'll always take the latter. Why wouldn't they? Once they have a monopoly, they don't have to worry about losing customers to a competitor, so why invest in customer satisfaction? That's how Google can piss away $80b on a stock buyback and fire 12,000 technical employees at the same time as its flagship search product (with a 90% market-share) is turning into an unusable pile of shit:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Microsoft reneged on this bargain from day one, and they never stopped. When the company moved Office to the cloud, it added an "analytics" suite that lets bosses spy on and stack-rank their employees ("Sorry, fella, Office365 says you're the slowest typist in the company, so you're fired"). Microsoft will also sell you internal data on the Office365 usage of your industry competitors (they'll sell your data to your competitors, too, natch). But most of all, Microsoft harvest, analyzes and sells this data for its own purposes:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/25/the-peoples-amazon/#clippys-revenge

Leave aside how creepy, gross and exploitative this is – it's also incredibly reckless. Microsoft is creating a two-way conduit into the majority of the world's businesses that insider threats, security services and hackers can exploit to spy on and wreck Microsoft's customers' business. You don't get more "too big to care" than this.

Or at least, not until now. Microsoft recently announced a product called "Recall" that would record every keystroke, click and screen element, nominally in the name of helping you figure out what you've done and either do it again, or go back and fix it. The problem here is that anyone who gains access to your system – your boss, a spy, a cop, a Microsoft insider, a stalker, an abusive partner or a hacker – now has access to everything, on a platter. Naturally, this system – which Microsoft billed as ultra-secure – was wildly insecure and after a series of blockbuster exploits, the company was forced to hit pause on the rollout:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/06/microsoft-delays-data-scraping-recall-feature-again-commits-to-public-beta-test/

For years, Microsoft waged a war on the single most important security practice in software development: transparency. This is the company that branded the GPL Free Software license a "virus" and called open source "a cancer." The company argued that allowing public scrutiny of code would be a disaster because bad guys would spot and weaponize defects.

This is "security through obscurity" and it's an idea that was discredited nearly 500 years ago with the advent of the scientific method. The crux of that method: we are so good at bullshiting ourselves into thinking that our experiment was successful that the only way to make sure we know anything is to tell our enemies what we think we've proved so they can try to tear us down.

Or, as Bruce Schneier puts it: "Anyone can design a security system that you yourself can't think of a way of breaking. That doesn't mean it works, it just means that it works against people stupider than you."

And yet, Microsoft – whose made more widely and consequentially exploited software than anyone else in the history of the human race – claimed that free and open code was insecure, and spent millions on deceptive PR campaigns intended to discredit the scientific method in favor of a kind of software alchemy, in which every coder toils in secret, assuring themselves that drinking mercury is the secret to eternal life.

Access to source code isn't sufficient to make software secure – nothing about access to code guarantees that anyone will review that code and repair its defects. Indeed, there've been some high profile examples of "supply chain attacks" in the free/open source software world:

https://www.securityweek.com/supply-chain-attack-major-linux-distributions-impacted-by-xz-utils-backdoor/

But there's no good argument that this code would have been more secure if it had been harder for the good guys to spot its bugs. When it comes to secure code, transparency is an essential, but it's not a sufficency.

The architects of that campaign are genuinely awful people, and yet they're revered as heroes by Microsoft's current leadership. There's Steve "Linux Is Cancer" Ballmer, star of Propublica's IRS Files, where he is shown to be the king of "tax loss harvesting":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/24/tax-loss-harvesting/#mego

And also the most prominent example of the disgusting tax cheats practiced by rich sports-team owners:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/08/tuyul-apps/#economic-substance-doctrine

Microsoft may give lip service to open source these days (mostly through buying, stripmining and enclosing Github) but Ballmer's legacy lives on within the company, through its wildly illegal tax-evasion tactics:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/13/pour-encoragez-les-autres/#micros-tilde-one

But Ballmer is an angel compared to his boss, Bill Gates, last seen some paragraphs above, stealing the credit for MS DOS from Tim Paterson and billions of dollars from his co-founder Paul Allen. Gates is an odious creep who made billions through corrupt tech industry practices, then used them to wield influence over the world's politics and policy. The Gates Foundation (and Gates personally) invented vaccine apartheid, helped kill access to AIDS vaccines in Sub-Saharan Africa, then repeated the trick to keep covid vaccines out of reach of the Global South:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#gates-foundation

The Gates Foundation wants us to think of it as malaria-fighting heroes, but they're also the leaders of the war against public education, and have been key to the replacement of public schools with charter schools, where the poorest kids in America serve as experimental subjects for the failed pet theories of billionaire dilettantes:

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/millionaire-driven-education-reform-has-failed-heres-what-works

(On a personal level, Gates is also a serial sexual abuser who harassed multiple subordinates into having sexual affairs with him:)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/technology/microsoft-sexual-harassment-policy-review.html

The management culture of Microsoft started rotten and never improved. It's a company with corruption and monopoly in its blood, a firm that would always rather build market power to insulate itself from the consequences of making defective products than actually make good products. This is true of every division, from cloud computing:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/28/other-peoples-computers/#clouded-over

To gaming:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/27/convicted-monopolist/#microsquish

No one should ever trust Microsoft to do anything that benefits anyone except Microsoft. One of the low points in the otherwise wonderful surge of tech worker labor organizing was when the Communications Workers of America endorsed Microsoft's acquisition of Activision because Microsoft promised not to union-bust Activision employees. They lied:

https://80.lv/articles/qa-workers-contracted-by-microsoft-say-they-were-fired-for-trying-to-unionize/

Repeatedly:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/activision-fired-staff-using-strong-language-about-remote-work-policy-union-2023-03-01/

Why wouldn't they lie? They've never faced any consequences for lying in the past. Remember: the secret to Microsoft's billions is impunity.

Which brings me to Solarwinds. Solarwinds is an enterprise management tool that allows IT managers to see, patch and control the computers they oversee. Foreign spies hacked Solarwinds and accessed a variety of US federal agencies, including National Nuclear Security Administration (who oversee nuclear weapons stockpiles), the NIH, and the Treasury Department.

When the Solarwinds story broke, Microsoft strenuously denied that the Solarwinds hack relied on exploiting defects in Microsoft software. They said this to everyone: the press, the Pentagon, and Congress.

This was a lie. As Renee Dudley and Doris Burke reported for Propublica, the Solarwinds attack relied on defects in the SAML authentication system that Microsoft's own senior security staff had identified and repeatedly warned management about. Microsoft's leadership ignored these warnings, buried the research, prohibited anyone from warning Microsoft customers, and sidelined Andrew Harris, the researcher who discovered the defect:

https://www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-solarwinds-golden-saml-data-breach-russian-hackers

The single most consequential cyberattack on the US government was only possible because Microsoft decided not to fix a profound and dangerous bug in its code, and declined to warn anyone who relied on this defective software.

Yesterday, Microsoft president Brad Smith testified about this to Congress, and promised that the company would henceforth prioritize security over gimmicks like AI:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/06/microsoft-in-damage-control-mode-says-it-will-prioritize-security-over-ai/

Despite all the reasons to mistrust this promise, the company is hoping Congress will believe it. More importantly, it's hoping that the Pentagon will believe it, because the Pentagon is about to award billions in free no-bid military contract profits to Microsoft:

https://www.axios.com/2024/05/17/pentagon-weighs-microsoft-licensing-upgrades

You know what? I bet they'll sell this lie. It won't be the first time they've convinced Serious People in charge of billions of dollars and/or lives to ignore that all-important maxim, "When someone tells you who they are and you get fooled again, shame on you."

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/14/patch-tuesday/#fool-me-twice-we-dont-get-fooled-again