Someone Get Me the Defibrillator!

Code Blue, Bill Gates please report to Redmond, Code Blue.  That's the folks at Microsoft, because their longtime friend Windows is dead. Okay, maybe it's not dead but it's certainly not the thoroughbred horse it used to be. A few events have occurred over the past few years that's put a damper on this one trick pony.

First, there was Vista. This was a disaster and certainly Microsoft lost some creditability with IT professionals and the general consumer.  They finally made good with Windows 7, but it took some time and gave other vendors a chance to gain a few length in the OS race.  Next came the ridiculous "To the Cloud" commercials and everyone lost sight of Windows.  What was Microsoft trying to sell? Did you still need Windows to use the cloud? It was all very confusing. 


Coming up from behind Apple. First was the iPod, then there was a series of new Mac laptops, then the iPhone followed by two releases of the iPad, plus at least two OS release and a load of hype in the press.  What does this have to do with Windows? It put Windows in the background as everyone was talking about this new shiny horse in the race. Microsoft had no new competing products and Windows 7 was already out, so Microsoft faded into the background. Since Microsoft relies on hardware manufactures like Dell and HP, there really was nothing new to see.


About the same time, Google has been busy developing a bunch of OS's (Chrome & Android) so they could get into the race and Microsoft had nothing new to show (except the silly Cloud commercials). Linux, the other dark horse, is still out there making headway with IT departments and imbedding the OS in hardware devices. 


Now, back in the emergency room, Microsoft prepares the next release of Windows and  the world holds it's breath for Windows 8. But is it too late? Has Microsoft already lost the race or will people blindly just upgrade when it's available without looking at the alternative? Are there really any alternatives? Yes, but they come in two flavors; Corporate IT and Consumer.


For Corporate IT, on the desktop I suppose they are out of luck. To many years of running Windows, to many years in investing in hardware that only runs Windows, to many applications built to either use a Microsoft infrastructure or at very least require the Windows OS. So unless CIO's are going to make some bold decisions (probably not)  and CTO's are going to think more out of the box (probably not), Windows seems like it is the answer on the desktop.  On the server side there is a different answer.  Again, unless there is a large infrastructure that is built around a Microsoft ecosystem, perhaps Linux has an opportunity. It's a much more mature OS than it was a few years ago and more OEM's (Original equipment manufacturer) are supporting it. Unless, your running the Apple OS, Linux or some virtual solution at the desktop, you'll be riding the Windows horse for sometime.


The Consumer on the other hand has some choices. Apple and Microsoft are pretty neck and neck in the consumer market. Personally, you can't beat a Macintosh; as long as your willing to pay the heftily price differential between a Windows PC and a Mac. I think it is worth it. I never worry about software or OS updates, nor have I ever had a virus. Most of what I need is in either the Google world or some other place in "the cloud" (non-Microsoft one) and all of my peripherals (camera, iPod, scanners) all just work.  I do have a Windows PC and it is slow, hard to update and sometime when I plug in peripherals I get errors. The point is for the consumer there is a choice and more choices are coming.


One alternative might be Linux. Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world. Developed under the GNU General Public License , the source code for Linux is freely available to everyone. Some companies have built clever GUI's (Graphical User Interfaces) to shield the scary Unix code and support the software. I'm not sure Linux is ready for the general user, but some of the companies that have put a wrapper around Linux may have a solution.

One of these wrappers is the Google Chrome OS. Chrome OS is an open-source project, built on top of of Linux,  that "aims to provide a fast, simple, and more secure computing experience for people who spend most of their time on the web." Basically it is an OS that allows you to run applications on the Internet.  It's been tried before with mixed results, primarily with Internet appliances (anyone remember the 3Com Audrey). The problem of the past was lack of high-speed ubiquitous Internet access.  People are ready to have a computer that connects to the Internet and runs all there applications. There doing it today with smartphone's, so why not there desktop. One of the nice things about the Google approach is that they have developed an ecosystem to go along with the OS. Applications, like G-Mail and Google Docs, are easily to access and free and the Google store provides a solution to obtain other applications to run under Chrome OS.  This also may be the solution that breaks people's dependance on Windows and Microsoft Office.

So while the folks at Microsoft continue CPR on Windows, others will take advantage and attempt to make a dent in the OS race.  I suspect in the end there will be no clear winner, rather the horses will continue to go around and around the track leap frogging one another for market share. I certainly will keep my eye on this race.


Postscript: If you interested in understand more about the Chrome OS, check out this video.

Contributions:
Linux at http://www.linux.org/
Google Chrome OS at http://www.chromium.org/chromium-projects