Maybe till around 10 years ago, this is what used to happen. People used to buy a PC pre-installed with Windows OS. Some would even buy a copy of MS Office and Microsoft would get a cut on every sale.
Fast forward to today and even though most PCs still have the Microsoft tag, the picture isn’t all that rosy for the Redmond tech giant. Today, there are loads of operating systems and a bigger ranger of devices running them. Mobile phones are one section where Microsoft would want to strengthen their hold, but what can you say, Apple and Google are too strong right now.
Now, Apple is actually very much similar to Microsoft in the sense that they work on a similar model where they take a cut at the point of sale, the only difference being that Apple can count on both hardware and software. Mr. Google on the other hand is playing a totally different game with their free software.
Let’s come back to desktops. Although Google already has the Chrome OS and loads of engineers working on it, guess what could be the biggest threat for Microsoft. Well, Android is a popular name every in the smallest of cities across major countries because of the increasing penetration. What if Google actually launches Android OS Desktop Version. In fact this has been the strategy for Microsoft too, of running same OSes on mobiles and PCs. I think there is a big opportunity for Google here and who knows maybe it is under construction.
One thing we can’t be really sure of is whether manufacturers will readily adopt the Android OS on desktops and laptops. If that happens, well, the thought of that happening is the biggest nightmare for Microsoft today.
