Microsoft faces a taste of its own "Free" medicine from Android in Operating Systems

Microsoft seems to be on the road to oblivion as it is failing to catch up with Google and Apple on multiple Technology segments.Microsoft looks more and more like a doddering dinosaur in comparison to its main competitors.While Apple is managing to churn out blockbuster products almost every year,Microsoft has had to stop its Kin line of smartphones just 2 months after its introduction at Verizon.Makes you wonder how much thought and planning went into the smartphone strategy of Microsoft . Now Microsoft is facing a direct onslaught on its main bread and butter business of s Operating Systems

Microsoft to face a  taste of  its own “Free” medicine in Operating Systems

Microsoft has long given away  “Free” software to decimate competition during its heyday in the 90s and early 2000s.Netscape is its most celebrated victim which fell prey to the “Internet Explorer” which was given free with the Windows Operating System.While Microsoft faced anti-trust lawsuits later on for using its dominant Windows O/S to edge out independent software companies,it still managed to destroy a lot of good business models.Now Microsoft is about to face the same strategy it so successfully used against its competitors.Android,Google’s new Operating System based on Linux,is being given away free to hardware vendors.Android has already managed huge success in smartphones with the like Motorola and HTC introducing huge hit phones based on Android.Windows is fast becoming a niche player in the smartphone O/S market just like Research in Motion and Nokia.Now Android threatens Microsoft in other Technology Hardware like Tablets.Apple’s iPad has made Tablets the hottest hardware category with every major PC company like Acer,Dell,HP planning new models.With Android being a huge consumer hit and free,these vendors will have little incentive to push Windows based Tablets in the Market.

Note Microsoft faces competition not only from Android but also Apple’s own proprietary iPhone Operating System.HP is also planning to use its own Operating System using technology from recently acquired Palm.Microsoft needs to quickly find newer radical ways to compete as its cash cows Windows and Office products face imminent death as technology paradigms change.

Microsoft CEO touts new Windows tablets vs iPad – Reuters

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer touted new tablet-style devices running the Windows 7 operating system from about 20 manufacturers at a conference on Monday, underlining the giant software company’s eagerness to counter the explosion of interest in Apple Inc’s iPad.New Windows-powered tablet or slate devices — small, hand-held, wireless computers — are in the pipeline from Acer Inc, Dell Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Toshiba Corp, Sony Corp and a dozen other PC makers, Ballmer said at the company’s annual partner conference in Washington, D.C., which was webcast.

“This year, one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates,” said Ballmer. “This is a terribly important area for us.”Apple’s iPad, launched in April, has already sold more than 2 million units worldwide, and threatens to take customers away from Microsoft-dominated desktop computing.

Ballmer did not mention Hewlett-Packard Co, the world’s No. 1 PC maker, which has said it plans to build slate devices running the operating system devised by Palm Inc, which HP bought this year. However, HP’s logo did appear on a slide listing PC makers working on slates which was displayed as Ballmer spoke.