Winners and Losers in 2014

Discussion in 'polls' started by emmjay, Dec 13, 2014.

?

How did this lot do this year?

  1. Microsoft, winner

    27 vote(s)
    45.0%
  2. Microsoft, loser

    24 vote(s)
    40.0%
  3. Blackberry, winner

    4 vote(s)
    6.7%
  4. Blackberry, loser

    26 vote(s)
    43.3%
  5. Apple, winner

    17 vote(s)
    28.3%
  6. Apple, loser

    18 vote(s)
    30.0%
  7. Android, winner

    37 vote(s)
    61.7%
  8. Android, loser

    4 vote(s)
    6.7%
  9. Linux, winner

    18 vote(s)
    30.0%
  10. Linux, loser

    16 vote(s)
    26.7%
  11. Facebook, winner

    10 vote(s)
    16.7%
  12. Facebook, loser

    31 vote(s)
    51.7%
  13. Firefox, winner

    18 vote(s)
    30.0%
  14. Firefox,loser

    24 vote(s)
    40.0%
  15. Symantec, winner

    10 vote(s)
    16.7%
  16. Symantec, loser

    24 vote(s)
    40.0%
  17. Malwarebytes, winner

    36 vote(s)
    60.0%
  18. Malwarebytes, loser

    6 vote(s)
    10.0%
  19. Invincea/SBIE, winner

    27 vote(s)
    45.0%
  20. Invincea/SBIE, loser

    8 vote(s)
    13.3%
  21. Chrome, winner

    25 vote(s)
    41.7%
  22. Chrome, loser

    14 vote(s)
    23.3%
  23. Other (my choice not on the list) ...

    5 vote(s)
    8.3%
Multiple votes are allowed.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. emmjay

    emmjay Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2010
    Posts:
    1,541
    Location:
    Triassic
    How did this lot do this year - were they winners or losers? Vote how you think they performed overall.

    Those that got a lot of attention in 2014 made my list. If a vendor's behaviour or actions have influenced your choice in a specific category, please elaborate. There are some categories I deliberately left off the list, such as Big Retail, Telecom companies and spy agencies as they have been mostly losers in 2014. I chose not to add all the security vendors, just the ones that have made major changes in 2014 The two most popular browsers are on the list as they come with extensions, search engines and options that influence user choices in a big way.
     
  2. safeguy

    safeguy Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2010
    Posts:
    1,797
    Microsoft has made some some progress in the mobile arena but at the cost of displeasing some desktop users.

    Apple has hit a home run with iPhone 6 & 6 Plus. They had to swallow their pride and go against their previous ad about how small screen is perfect. Then of course, there's Bendgate..

    Android gained Material Design. Android One success was not as huge as people were expecting them to be...maybe because it's the first implementation and there's strong competition from Chinese vendors in the Indian market.

    Linux has grown a lot compared to previous years. Unnecessary drama over systemd and now Devuan fork.

    Mozilla has spread their wings and the deal with Yahoo is a good decision. Firefox development on the other hand seems slow when compared to Chrome...electrolysis and sandbox still haven't reached stable channel.
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2014
  3. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2010
    Posts:
    6,144
    Location:
    Nicaragua
    I voted Invincea as winners. But is us, the users, who are the actual winners. One year ago, there was a lot of talk about how bad things were gonna go with Sandboxie after it was officially announced that the software had been sold. But since the transfer, in my opinion, Sandboxie has been maintained as good as it would have been by Tzuk himself and the sandbox has not been changed into something else. Thats all I wanted and its what we got.:)

    I also voted Firefox as winners. Despite most of the changes implemented in the browser this past year not being of my liking, I still can make Firefox function and look as I like my browser to be. To me, being able to do that makes Firefox a winner.

    Bo
     
  4. wolfrun

    wolfrun Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2009
    Posts:
    700
    Location:
    North America
    Invincea/SBIE and also Palemoon browser (others) as winners. Not going to post losers as I like to think positive, but if I were to post any losers it would be my football team. :cool:
     
  5. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Posts:
    20,590
    This latest version of Firefox puts in the loser column.

    In the winner column

    SBIE/Invincea
    Appguard
    ERP
    Emsisoft
    VMware
    Macrium
    Terabyte Unl.
     
  6. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Posts:
    17,546
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Losers services: Facebook, Yahoo
    Losers hardware: HP, Acer, Asus.
    Losers software: All makers of HIPS (Privatefirewall, Zemana, SpyShelter, Online Armor)

    - Facebook is ridiculously slow and heavy on older PC's, they should hire new designers.
    - Almost all Yahoo sites look like jokes, so same goes for them.
    - I bought three new PC's this year, all had serious and/or annoying flaws.
    - All popular HIPS have crappy GUI's which make them not pleasant to use.
     
  7. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Posts:
    17,546
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Part 2:

    Losers software: All browser developers
    Winners software: Invincea, Microsoft

    - Opera Blink is still a joke after months of development.
    - They screwed up Firefox with the new "clean" GUI, where did the status-bar go? It's sickening.
    - Sandboxie is still superior even though some things can (and should) be improved.
    - Windows 8 is far from perfect, but with a few tweaks here and there, you can make it run like Win XP.
     
  8. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2010
    Posts:
    6,144
    Location:
    Nicaragua
    Rasheed, you should take a look at Classic theme restorer in case you haven't. You can use it to get rid of the new "clean" GUI as well as get the status bar back. I know you like Tabs not on top, you get that option back too. You can test the addon while using SBIE.:cool:
    .https://addons.mozilla.org/es/firefox/addon/classicthemerestorer/

    Bo
     
  9. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2007
    Posts:
    6,429
    Loser: The new and modern looking Softpedia...
     
  10. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2009
    Posts:
    8,627
    :thumb:
     
  11. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Posts:
    17,546
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Thanks, the first time I tried it nothing happened, but now it does work. But there are also other things that bug me about FF, that's why it's my secondary browser.

    Totally forgot about them, I must admit that the site looks better in modern browsers like Firefox (looks crappy on Opera 12), but overall I still like the old version better, so definitely a loser.
     
  12. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2010
    Posts:
    6,144
    Location:
    Nicaragua
    Can you tell what this things are.:)

    Bo
     
  13. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2013
    Posts:
    1,892
    Location:
    US
    I think the biggest losers are apple and linux. Apple no longer appears to be the innovating company it used to be. The iwatch is a joke. Ipads are all the same every year, iOS introduces nothing really new and innovative. iPhones are just copy cats of other phones.
    Linux on the other hand is simply stuck in the desktop world, segmented into a million of pieces but that's not even anything new. The problem is that just like Microsoft, Linux failed to make any progress in the mobile market. Android with its Google grip on it is really not anything close to the open Linux we have on desktop and thus I have excluded it from the common umbrella of "Linux."
    The biggest winner I would say is Google and Android. It completely beat apple in the phone market and overtook it's popularity as number 1 mobile OS. It is cheap, it's proprietary and it's owned by Google.
     
  14. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Posts:
    5,614
    Location:
    Milan and Seoul
    I don't know really about losers but I can certainly state who the winners are for me :
    MS with Win 8, Sandboxie and Invincea, and the great come back of of Shadow Defender which we all thought for a while it had become abandon ware, Chrome is still going strong. I'm a bit disappointed by Facebook which deletes photographs without notice presumably following some automated software...
     
  15. luciddream

    luciddream Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2007
    Posts:
    2,545
    Microsoft goes down as a loser. Haven't made a decent OS since XP SP2, and still counting... not in this millennium could I in good conscience give them anything but a failing grade.

    Facebook... I just can't stand. I don't even use it so maybe I'm in no place to rate it.

    Firefox... even though I use it, it's a loser ever since it decided to try to be like Chrome starting with v29. I still use 27.0.1, and if/when I'm given reason to change still don't know exactly what I'll do.

    Chrome, even though I don't use it is a winner due to the above fact.

    MBAM a big winner due largely to the acquisition of the artist formerly known as Zero Vulnerabilities Labs. I predicted it would be a gold mine back then, and see no reason to sway from that now.

    Sandboxie... I had to think at first, but then realized how spoiled I've been with this product and gave it a passing grade in the end (Winner). I was thinking at first, ehh... I haven't really had a compelling reason to change since v3.76. In fact I'd say that version remains the most stable, downright best version there is. But that doesn't mean it's a poor product by any semblance of a stretch of the imagination. In fact it remains a great one. I think the fact that I still feel nearly invincible with it without even pondering an update is a testament to the grade it deserves.
     
  16. guest

    guest Guest

    Some are winners on some stuff and losers on other stuff, like Microsoft. Their tablet and phone have been losers but the W10 announcement saved them. The fixes and fixes to fix fixes with no information for days made me vote them as losers for 2014. It was a confidence thing.
     
  17. safeguy

    safeguy Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2010
    Posts:
    1,797
    I wrote earlier on but anyway here is how I voted.

    Both Winner/Loser:
    Microsoft, Apple, Android, Linux, Firefox

    Loser: Facebook (biased opinion)
     
  18. imdb

    imdb Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2011
    Posts:
    4,208
    though i've never been a user of it, it seems to me that one of the losers of 2014 is admuncher, total let-down for all those frustrated subscribers yearning for a v5 release throughout a decade.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2014
  19. guest

    guest Guest

    YouTube, sigh... do I need to elaborate it? Malfunctions all over the places. :rolleyes: And also, Firefox has been entering self-destruct sequence ever since v4. Oh yes, I'm not going to stop slapping Mozilla's face over and over again. I can't stop, it's so addictive! :eek:

    Microsoft has both of its ups and downs. They've managed to make some good moves. EMET, from my own experience, has been trouble free to use now. And I heard they also accept bitcoins as payments for some of their services. But on the other side, the botched Windows update saga and their Outlook Mail which doesn't even look like an email account anymore has soiled their name quite badly. I'd say it's 50/50 stand for them.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 19, 2014
  20. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Posts:
    17,546
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Yes M$ is a bit of a loser when you look at that whole Win 8 debacle, and after playing around with "Metro apps" I wonder just how many idiots does M$ employ? But they will fix those things in Win 10 for the most part I believe. I also think it's kinda sad that everyone is trying to copy Chrome. And I truly hope that Facebook will get smashed by its competitors.
     
  21. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2009
    Posts:
    8,627
    Yes you do. I've had YouTube streaming issues for years, and this year has been no different to any other year for me sadly.
     
  22. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Posts:
    17,546
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Sorry forgot to reply. But in short, it annoys me that I have to put so much time and effort into making Firefox more like Opera 12. I had to install extensions for: tabs on bottom, double click to close tab, and a freaking status-bar.

    I still haven't figured out how customize the main toolbar, seems like the "back button" is glued to the address-bar. And when bookmarking a site there seems to be no way to immediately assign a "URL alias" to it. Are these guys for real? This is basic stuff.
     
  23. bo elam

    bo elam Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2010
    Posts:
    6,144
    Location:
    Nicaragua
    I like that button glued but you can unglued it with Classic theme restorer. I mentioned this addon a few times to you, you should try it again. Just about anything you want to change in the UI, you can with it.

    Bo
     
  24. Cmp321

    Cmp321 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2014
    Posts:
    9
    Hmm, interesting poll. My thoughts on it:

    Microsoft: I don't think they've neither won nor lost. I think the demise of Windows is being called a bit too soon, but I don't see people paying what Microsoft is used to charging much longer either. I'm not sure how I feel about the rumors of subscription Windows. If they've lost anywhere, it's in mobile. No matter what they do, it just doesn't seem to be working out well for them.

    Apple: They seem to be doing pretty good for themselves. I don't think anyone will be arguing about the success of the iPhone/iPad.

    BlackBerry: I would put this company in the losers column. They just aren't having the best of times these days.

    Android: This is a pretty solid winner, of course you can't be much of a loser when you're one of the top two mobile systems.

    Linux: What can be said about Linux that hasn't been repeated time and again? It's just..there. Of course I'm referring to desktop usage.

    Facebook: I've always deemed it a loser, but that has mainly been due to their joke of user privacy and security. Now though, I think they are losing period. I think people have become bored of it, which is something that has happened with every social site and activity. It seems like places such as Instagram are the hot spots now.

    Firefox. I would say they are right at the top of the loser column. Usage is dropping quickly and Mozilla just seems to have lost sight of its goals, no matter what they say on their front page. I think losing Google is going to end up hurting them pretty badly.

    Symantec: I think they are doing alright. I wouldn't call them a winner nor a loser though. The company has been going through plenty of change.

    MalwareBytes. I'll just say up front that I consider MBAM to still be a winner as far as security goes. However, I have not been happy with Version 2 of this software. So, in my personal opinion they belong in both columns.

    SBIE: I think after the initial scare of Tsuk leaving, the company has done just fine. I have no access to their financial records so I couldn't say that is a fact, but I think they'll be okay.

    Chrome: As far as browsers are concerned, it is no doubt a winner. Usage is climbing, it is still reasonably secure and it is still fairly fast. Unlike Firefox, Chrome hasn't changed a whole lot. I think that is a pretty good recipe for continued success.
     
  25. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2004
    Posts:
    17,546
    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Yes I see it now, my bad. Some extensions have way too many options. BTW, I forgot about mouse gestures, this is apparently also not a standard feature, had to get an extension for it. But anyway, this thread is not about FF, so I will stop.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.