Handle With Linux

Microsoft is really going for it, they are trying to mimic the success of Linux and other operating systems which are popular on servers. They are trying to shape new windows based operating systems build for the purpose of running on embedded devices. They are trying to build windows for low end hardware and in the process they are destroying there own business model.

It's obvious what is happening here:

For years customers have complained about the weak points of windows operating systems but Microsoft was making money selling it's software in the unfinished state it had. The customers kept buying as Microsoft revamped the interface of it's operating system, not changing to much on the architecture.

Then the world started changing around them, the way computers are utilized is changing at great speed.
Computers are everywhere these days and so is the internet, the personal use of computers is no longer limited to a device on one place in the house. Everybody in the modern world is carrying a computer around in the form of a mobile phone, computers are in everything, your tv, harddisk recorder, and your car.

These computers are often used in completely different use cases than the old pc model, it's communication and specific purpose applications instead of writing letters and doing your household spreadsheet update.
Windows is based completely on the old model, that's what has made microsoft big. At least after they became the winner on the PC platform with ms-dos. The main selling point windows has had for years was it's user interface, the graphical interface makes it easy to learn using a computer because it's intuitive if you get over the point of learning basic operation (point and click that is) you don't have to remember commands,command syntax or program names to keep using it. Extending your knowledge is relatively easy if your used to the interface, you just click on what you see and register what happens.

The problem with the graphical interface is that the only thing efficient about it is learning curve.
Graphical interfaces eat resources and navigating true a graphical interface can be done fastest with keyboard shortcuts(which you have to remember). The mouse is not a fast tool it's an easy tool.
The point is that if you're used to computers with graphical interfaces it's very difficult to start learning a command line interface, it's like learning using a computer all over again only the hard way this time.

Now the world is changing completely, the user interface is moving away from the operating system. The user interface most users are confronted with most of the time nowadays is no longer bound to the operating system. It's in many cases bound to the use type. For instance when you use the internet your interface is more related to the website you see then it is to your operating system, if you put a internet user on a mobile phone running any type of os and a browser they'll know how to use it. No matter if they have used windows or any other operating system for internet, they know the internet. If you have a hard disk recorder or a washing machine there's a big change there is a operating system on it and the interface presented to you is based on standards, you know the icon for record and you know the icon for play. Therefore it makes no difference to you what os it's running.
This is part of the reason the iphone is so successful anyone can operate the internet on an iphone it doesn't have to look like windows to do that.

Microsoft is seeing this too, what is happening here is what happened many times before in computer history.
The environment is changing and what has been your unique selling point is becoming less and less important.
And now they start doing what customers have been crying for for years, build a lightweight version of windows (what do they call it winmin or minwin or something), build a secure version of windows (and call it vista), build a shell for windows and the equivalent to the shell scripting possibilities (try powershell), build vserver capabilities into the windows nt kernel. But why would you use windows if it's trying to mimic linux in all it's capabilities and leaving the user interface all windows administrators are used to behind?
Who is going to pay for an inferior copy of Linux, less stable, build forever on the same old architecture and you'll have to learn how to manage it all over again.

They are not getting it wrong this time, just right too late. Of course they are going to see a peek in sales again as they introduce their new windows versions into the market. But the consumers and IT managers are not stupid, just lazy and calculative like they should. Lazy to learn a new interface? yes! That's one of the weak points of Vista. To expensive to migrate, teach all your people a new interface and learn command line administration. Well if you compare such a scenario to migrating to a free operating system you'll see the numbers just don't add up for windows.

For that reason windows 7 maybe has a small future in slowing down windows XP sales and microsoft will try it's old marketing techniques and FUD, but it wont work forever. The good times of selling a new gui interface to the same old crap will be over soon. minwin, embedded windows,powershell,windows server forget it.