The future through 'WIndows'

Microsoft, one of the largest companies in the world, is known to follow a me-too strategy. Right from their operating systems for personal computers, Internet Explorer, Xbox, Zune, Windows Phone operating system and now ‘Tulalip’, Microsoft’s answer to Facebook and Google+ have all never been an illustration of the Blue Ocean Strategy.

I wouldn’t want to get into the nitegrities of how they muscled their way into the markets or how Bill Gates allegedly ditched IBM and launched DOS or how he kept competitors at bay by enforcing a monopoly for Windows for several years as this is all passé. What I would instead like to focus on is how they are working towards building an ecosystem which will leave us with brand ‘Windows’ being omnipresent.

Microsoft has been synonymous to computing for many of us. Microsoft NT being one of its first commercially known graphical operating systems has had several successors. DOS, an OS made for IBM way back in 1980 is widely used even today and with Windows 7 striking the right chords with the customers, they still dominate the OS market.

So what is it that makes Microsoft a company to look forward to in the future? I would believe that there are a lot of factors that need to be accounted for to answer this question. In this article, I will be highlighting some of them.

If you are a working professional, it is almost a given that you would be using MS Outlook in office. Just like the Windows OS has dominated the world, MS Outlook has tamed its way into our office laptops and desktops. Its integration with the MS Communicator sure helps in making communication a lot simpler than it earlier was. E-mail is not the only thing that it offers as we now see a gamut of features ranging from blocking work calendars for appointments to sharing desktops and working with remote access, all this with a highly secured Microsoft Exchange Server.

After a hectic day in office, as we reach home, we find an Xbox 360 waiting for us. Although the Xbox is several light years behind Playstation, the significance of it might be understood as you read on. However, what Microsoft holds in its arsenal as the ace of spades is their cutting-edge technology called ‘Kinect’ (see video). Although we see a lot of videos of Kinect on the internet for gaming, the use of this technology can go beyond one’s imagination.

Coming to the 'idiot box', a device which keeps us glued for hours, Microsoft’s MediaRoom, a platform for Smart TVs has a decent demand amongst the smart TV platform providers. However, what excites me the most is the way it seamlessly integrates with Windows for phone and PC. With mobile users being flooded with a wide range of platforms, Smart TVs certainly seem to be the next big thing!

Now, just think of outlook, communicator, Xbox integration, Kinect capabilities and integration with your Smart TV, all this in a 4inch device lying inside your pocket. Isn’t that intriguing? No matter which mobile OS you preach, the fact is that WP7 aka Mango is an operating system one just can’t ignore. The recent update that Mango received (WP 7.5) has made it even more desirable. The biggest strength of Mango lies in the weakness of its competitors. Android’s weakness lies in the fact that no matter how expensive your droid is, they all look the same!! iOS, although is beautiful, looks exactly how it looked in 2007, when the 1^st iPhone was launched. What Mango brings on the table is what they call ‘live tiles’, a concept (soon to be a part of Windows 8 for desktops) which helps it stand-out in a very crowded market. Their eco-system is fast approaching ‘completeness’ with Nokia stepping in and adding on to the existing offerings.

Microsoft is certainly not the only one moving towards an integrated eco-system as Google and Apple seem to move in the same direction. What one needs to see is to what extent Microsoft can differentiate itself from the rest.