Five Microsoft Predictions for 2011

Here are top five Microsoft Predictions in the coming year.

1. Windows 7
   will continue to sell huge. As you may know, it's Microsoft's
   best-selling operating system ever. It's also Microsoft's best OS ever.
   And that last fact, combined with the fact that Windows XP is on its last, creaky legs, will keep Windows 7 selling like crazy.
   
   
   
   


2. Windows Phone 7 will make real inroads. Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft's latest attempt to compete with the iPhone and Android smartphone platforms.
   Early returns on the phone are encouraging, but Microsoft has a long
   way to go, as it's way behind the two leaders. I think, however, that
   the phone's sleek design, and the large number of application developers
   Microsoft has signed up to build apps for the phone, will make it a
   player. I don't know if it will threaten iPhone and Android next year,
   but Windows Phone 7 is a solid product out of the gate.
   
   
   
   


3. Microsoft's move to "the cloud" will continue. In this context,
   the "cloud" is the encompassing term for more and more computing
   functionality moving to the Internet, instead of being done on your
   computer at home. Microsoft has cloud versions of Office and many other
   products (think "Google Docs", where you the documents are stored
   remotely, on a Google server, rather than your local hard drive). Those
   offerings will get more sophisticated in 2011, and more usable.
   
   
   
   


4. Very little will happen on the Windows 8 front. Microsoft is
   always working on the next new OS, but I think Windows 7's successor,
   Windows 8 (or whatever it'll be called) will be held off for awhile.
   This is due mainly to two things: 1) Windows 7 needs a lot more adoption
   time. It's not entrenched enough in homes and businesses, and Microsoft
   doesn't want to confuse the public by offering another OS so soon, and
   2) It's got bigger fish to try. Tremendous resources are being devoted
   to technologies like mobile and cloud computing, leaving fewer folks
   working on a new OS (especially when Windows 7 is doing so well. After
   the Windows Vista disaster, Microsoft couldn't get a new OS out fast enough. That's not the case anymore).
   
   
   
   


5. Steve Ballmer resigns. This is the prediction I'm least confident
   about. Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, hasn't advanced the company very much
   since he took over for Bill Gates a few years ago. There's pressure on
   him to increase Microsoft's profits more sharply, and that hasn't
   happened under his watch. If 2011 is stagnant, he may decided to take
   his billions and go home.