Is Microsoft losing patience with OEMs?

Microsoft is planning to open a line of retail stores to show off the Windows operating system and the software and hardware that is designed to run on it. Having worked in a retail store that specialized in electronics and computers I can say that any type of store that Microsoft opens would have to be massive if they wanted to get even a fraction of the products for Windows on display.

Dell, HP, Toshiba, Sony, Acer, Lenovo, and Asus all make a wide range of computers from netbooks to desktops. If Microsoft wants to showcase all of those plus printers, software, scanners, and other peripherals, they would need to have some serious space. If Microsoft does want to show of Windows and what it can do, there would have to be some ground rules on what computers are out on display, the main rule of course would be that it has to be a competent computer and it would need to be free of all the extra software that the OEMs seem to always stuff a computer full of.

Since it is very hard to get companies like HP and Dell to produce computers that are free of the extraneous software that people gladly pay the service technicians to remove, it might be likely that Microsoft will look to get either the OEMs to release computers that are free of that software or Microsoft is planning to team up with their suppliers to create their own line of branded computers - much the same way that they have done with the Zune. Microsoft is a competent hardware company, they make great peripherals and they have hardware experience with products like the XBox and the XBox 360. It is not unimaginable for Microsoft to release their own brand of desktops and laptops - all with components from companies that have released quality drivers for Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Companies that have failed in the past to support Vista would likely be excluded until they could catch up. In this manner, Microsoft could exert greater control over the Windows ecosystem and make sure that people have a better experience when using Windows. That might go a long way towards winning back mindshare from Apple and OS X.