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.
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From when has journalism started being speculation ? Looks like you have no knowledge about Operating systems and all. Research why people buy windows Os . Android runs on Linux and Linux has been present since time immemorial. So there is no rationale behind your thoughts
This is not a speculation. It is a true concern which many at Microsoft have shown as well.
Linux has been in existence since long, true! If you read through the lines of the article, you'll see why we think Android can be popular as a desktop OS as well. In Ubuntu Phone OS was shown a few days back which will inform people more about Linux and thus get them to use it on their desktops too.
The ordinary man doesn't know much about Linux but they do about Android. Which one do you think would they be more likely to use on their desktops?
Ha Ha Really ? Am surprised :)
Yes, really! Talk to some mobile store owners and you'll know. People walk in to mobile shops and ask for an Android phone these days instead of a Nokia or Samsung like a few years ago.
The battle for OSes has just begun.
Android is Linux at its guts and Linux has tried to provide an open source alternative for Windows since forever. What's changed is how rabidly popular Android has become on smartphones and, to a lesser extent, on tablets. This popularity is the money in the bank that makes Microsoft lose sleep over what could happen if Google released a version of Android that was laptop/desktop targeted and that had some level of compatibility with the hordes of (mobile targeted) Android apps. Maintaining the link with mobile would be critical to such a design otherwise it would be just another flavor of Linux with little traction.