The vultures are circling as the EU may require Microsoft to make other browsers available in the upcoming Windows 7. There seems to be an element around us that has the opinion that once Microsoft loses the browser market, the company is finished. In one opinion I read it all revolves around how Google is opening up the cloud, developing an OS for Netbooks which is the latest rage, and which in turn will drive the evil empire from our planet. Ho-Hum. This is getting old fast.

But here is what one article states:

• “Desktop operating systems. The “operating system” is gradually being reduced to a set of drivers designed to run a single app: The Internet.  Microsoft is struggling to maintain its pricing and profit structure in netbook sales (the fastest growing segment of the market), and “desktops” are no longer the center of the computing universe.  As more and more resources are shifted to the cloud, and users access the same info and apps from multiple devices and locations, the role of the desktop operating system will be further reduced.
• Office apps. Yes, Google Apps are still weak, especially for professional users.  But Google has grabbed the low end of the office app market, and they’ll presumably build from there.  Meanwhile, Microsoft’s features and functionality in Office have vastly overshot the needs of the mainstream market.  This makes Office ripe for disruption.

• Mobile computing. Relative to Apple, Research In Motion, and other mobile leaders, Microsoft is nowhere here.

• Cloud computing. In a world in which the processing and the apps live in the cloud, the operating system any given device is much less important. “

But there is just a few issues that haven’t been addressed. Businesses are not flocking to netbooks nor are they flying up to the clouds. Though I agree that there is a large market for a Google OS, I doubt it will be a dominate factor in 5 years as some believe.

We must remember that it is always easy to write about the demise of any despised company. But in this case, Microsoft will be around for a long time.

Comments welcome.

Source.