Microsoft - can it be beaten

I read just about everything that is posted on the three different forums here, but do not always post a comment. I find it interesting to see what people think, and how they feel about the way things are going in the computing world. It appears that must of the posters are only looking at just the average to above average individual using computers. They don't seem to be looking at the world wide use of computers as a whole.

When talking about who is going to gain or hold onto the number one position in the OS wars then we really need to focus on more then the causal users. There are corporations out there that are not going to spend millions or even billions of dollars to change over to a new system that is yet to prove itself. World wide companies like FedEx, UPS, Walmart militaries (world wide), governments, this list could go on and on. Now do you really think that Google has a chance against Microsoft at this point. Apple, Red Hat, Fedora, Suse, BSD, etc. have yet to even dent Microsoft's hold on the world. And, when you think about the world don't just think of one country, but all countries on planet Earth.

Microsoft has a hold, and to break that hold the next great OS had better be able to prove without any doubt it is the best thing since the wheel. :)

I don't think anything will beat Microsoft. The one and only company that would get close is apple. But I think they are pretty much the only competitors anyway. Oh and linux

I want to see past their cloud computing technology to give my appinion. Currently either others are catching up, on par or slightly ahead of them.

The next MS will likely develop from a gaming platform.

In my view the linux/open source model is its own worst enemy because of the drip drip updates they tend to release. Like 1.0.0 to 1.0.0-1 etc. VLC is a case in point. It took them 10 years to reach version 1.0.

The majority of Microsoft products are useful, useable and good to look at. Plus they just work. None of this compiling nonsense.

TheSchaft said:

I saw an interesting statistic a while ago, don't recall where, that said that the majority of connectivity to the Internet is now through PDAs and phones, not desktops and laptops. (I believe it was in an article on the difference between Apple's and Microsoft's market share when you look just at the US and when you look at the world.)

In any event, if it is true that connectivity is moving, or has moved, to phones and PDAs, then Microsoft has some real competition - on a number of installs basis.

The network is the computer. Houses are online. Cars are online.

Whatever happened to PARC's ubiquitous computing?