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Microsoft has lost its grip on the ecosystem

Tags:
Vista Capable,
Touch Diamond,
XP,
Vista

David Meyer ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 30 May 2008 16:07 BST

... less highly specified than the Linux flavour. For many users, the choice will be simple, and it will be Linux.

Not content with introducing an entire generation to free operating systems through the Eee, Asus has now struck two deals with DeviceVM, the makers of a lightweight operating system called Splashtop. The deals will see Splashtop — under the guise of 'Express Gate' — embedded into all Asus's motherboards and many of its upcoming laptops. Splashtop uses a Linux stack and, because it is designed to be instant-on, it will dissuade many users from booting up their PC's main operating system — usually Windows. It's not even clear that Windows XP could be massaged into a Splashtop-style embedded configuration. The company has no answer to Linux's extreme configurability, a configurability that plays very well in a market where new niches for embedded, high-performance software are suddenly fashionable.

The picture surrounding Microsoft's handset play, Windows Mobile, does not look any rosier. The company's most significant partner in this market is the manufacturer HTC, which makes most of the Windows Mobile phones that get rebadged by operators.

HTC readily admits that it wouldn't exist without Microsoft, but it recently forced the software giant into a spectacular own goal. At the start of April, Microsoft unveiled Windows Mobile 6.1, the highlight of which was supposed to be Internet Explorer Mobile 6. Microsoft claims this version will finally match up to the PC version of the browser in terms of rendering, usability and features, but it is hard to tell exactly how accurate this claim is, as the mobile browser will not come out until later this year.

So, when HTC launched its Touch Diamond phone at the start of May, the device came with Windows Mobile 6.1 but — horror of horrors — no Internet Explorer Mobile. Instead, it came with Opera as its browser. The Touch Diamond is likely to be a popular handset, so a whole generation of Windows Mobile users will be introduced to Internet Explorer Mobile's biggest rival.

Speculative as it may be, it is not difficult to imagine a scenario where Microsoft rushed out Windows Mobile 6.1 under pressure from its biggest handset manufacturer ally, but without the shiny new browser. HTC wins; Microsoft loses.

On their own, the actions of Intel, Asus and HTC suggest slip-ups by Microsoft. But together, they form a clear and significant trend. Linux and Opera have been given a tremendous boost by these actions, and this could not have happened if Microsoft still had its legendary control over the ecosystem.

Bad news for Microsoft? Perhaps not. It can only be good for everyone — including the company itself — if it finds itself forced to respond to market forces instead of manipulating them. A reconnection to the principles of competition, of listening to customers, of innovating in ways that benefit users, not itself, can only be healthy in the long run.

In the short term, this medicine will taste sour. But it's time for a cure — or kill.