[citation][nom]guyjones[/nom]I don't know if you can really compare desktop OS market share to mobile OS market share; it's sort of apples and oranges. There's no denying that what Apple has achieved with its iOS devices is impressive. The company has gained a lot of market share in a short amount of time with some well-designed devices, a capable OS and intuitive functionality. And it's clear that Microsoft is not going to dominate the mobile space the way it dominated the desktop in the 80's and 90's. Despite its deep pockets, brand awareness and resources, the company has stumbled badly with its mobile strategy, with Ballmer initially haughtily rejecting the idea of the company building its own phones and then turning around 180 degrees and aligning with Nokia in what was essentially a de facto acquisition of the latter company. Microsoft will be lucky to end up with 15% market share in a few years, which would be a feat in itself, considering where they are starting from.Look, wherever one's computing allegiances lie, when all is said and done, all this competition between iOS, Android, Windows Phone and the other offerings is great for the consumer. We get better products at a cheaper prices, reap the fruits of innovation, with more variety of devices to choose from. So, let's savor the fact that the race for mobile dominance is going to be a true multi-candidate competition.[/citation]
don't count microsoft out. the one thing they do good is play catch up. when they arent number 1, they innovate more than any other company, weather you like the innovations or not is another question (think xbox live, and the ui for xbox).
i can see them kicking ios a$$ in less than 1 year, on a software side, on people using it, it will take about 2 years to really see those numbers due to contracts and iphone bs. if windows 8 can relay interface with everything, than i would have to lean towards windows phone, even over an established app store.
and lastly, the reason windows 7 isnt picking up as much as people leaving xp or vista is simple, we see windows 8. if we have to re learn an os, may as well go linux if you can, at least when that changes the way the os feels stays the same, and even if it changes, you can bet your a$$ you can mod it back exactly how you want it.