'The Cheese' No Longer Stands Alone

Microsoft, though it enjoys the lion's share of browser users and though Excel remains king, the competition is heating up.  

Microsoft like so many great beginnings had a serendipitous one, it managed to corner the pc market business market through a small R&D purchase.  Its ability to service nearly an entire generation's computer needs is a feat few brands and or products have been able to do, with the exception of maybe Edison's light bulb or Graham's telephone.  How did Microsoft take over?  Apart from IBM's heavy endorsement the success came from the unexpected demand in personal computers.  The '90's in many parts of the world even the former Soviet Block represented a time of peace, prosperity and exponential technological growth perhaps most visible within homes.  With rising global standards of living suddenly you had personal computers invading bedrooms and living rooms alike taking primarily children and teenagers hostage.  Microsoft's operating system was installed in every pc.  Every time you turned on and off your computer you were reminded all this was made possible by Microsoft.  As a child even if you managed to miss Microsoft's Anti-trust cases or its subsequent softer suite products, its Internet Explorer left an indelible impression.  By the late nineties competitors were left crippled as MS provided Internet Explorer installed on new computers, even the net appeared to be run by Him.  With a powerful product and attentive audience needing parenting, Microsoft led.  Many reasonably argue quality has been compromised and competition is gaining strength, but this in no way subtracts from its unprecedented reign in the space of pc's.

Two main factors bring us to a current environment where Microsoft recognizes and can do little to stop the competition.  Gen X and Y are grown up, savvy computer users and while they know Microsoft did its best to raise them, they are demanding more and discovering new technologies.  Secondly, a Post 9/11 generation has several new role models in place.  To a great extent the latest generations have no fealty to Microsoft unlike the 70's and 80's babies.  In addition to the two factors aforementioned, Microsoft is simply focused in a different direction leaving us all asking the Google dollar question.  Where is it headed?