Microsoft Death by Apple and Android

October 13, 2010
Russell Fish

Background

Microsoft historic success has been due to:

- Besting OS competitors 3 decades ago by lashing company to IBM hardware,

- Welding Windows to subsequent IBM clones so any competitor had to best both MS and Intel,

- Tying up all PC OEM makers (similar to Intel PC strategy).

What Changed

1. Computers went from desktop to laptop to netbook to mobile (most specifically iPhone, iTouch, iPad, and anything Android).

-          Apple created a computer segment that avoided Wintel obstructions.

-          High growth computer market is now anything:

  portable,

  wireless,

  light weight,

  convenient,

  fast, and

  inexpensive.

2. Unix - A free OS that can be compiled for any microprocessor breaking the Wintel death grip.

-          iOS offers a fast portable hardware/software platform and a moneymaking app plan for developers.

-          Android offers a free portable software platform and its own app plan.

3. ARM - A second tier microprocessor came back to life as the premier low power, low-cost microprocessor.

-          Runs Android or iOS at 1/10th the power of Intel offering.

-          INTEL has no effective low-power response. (Acquired Infineon as desperation move.)

-          Apple bought the lowest power ARM design house, locking in proprietary hardware advantage.

4. The Cloud Software moved to cloud servers.

-          Clients are becoming little more than graphic engines attached to smart terminals.

-          The important standard is no longer the OS but rather the http interface and the local executable platform.

-          JavaScript, Ruby, and Python are OS independent.

-          In this environment, Azur is me too.

Therefore

MS is either:

-          Chained to deficient legacy hardware (INTEL),

-          Forced to compete against free software (Android) running on commodity hardware (ARM), or

-          Doomed to compete at a disadvantage to the integrated hardware/software solution (Apple).

Possible Winning MS Strategy

-          Compete on even footing with Apple's A4 strategy by welding MS software to a MS microprocessor architecture.

-          Render free software mute, by offering performance only available on MS hardware/software system.

-          Compete from hardware advantage on server cloud with embarrassingly parallel apps. Map/Reduce and apps using Quantum Adiabatic Algorithm fall into this category.

The Challenge

Strategy only works if the hardware/software combination offers significant advantages not available from Apple or Android platforms.

Mapping the Challenge to TOMI™

1.      TOMI™ the Milliwatt Microprocessor crushes the lowest power microprocessor in the space, Apple A4.

-          TOMI costs are 1/10th of comparable technology due to DRAM fab.

-          Microsoft can replicate and one-up Apple™s A4 strategy and regain control of application delivery by offering application performance only available in combination with TOMI.

-          Apple will be outflanked.

-          Google and Amazon will have no possible response other than inventing their own microprocessor.

2.      Microsoft can regain advantage in the server cloud with the massively parallel TOMI DIMMs running virtualized embarrassingly parallel applications.

-          A TOMI DIMM with 8-core 1G chips offers 128 processors per DIMM.

-          That is over twelve thousand processors on a single 19ā€¯ board consuming less than 400 watts.

-          Google™s 2U server farms will be overwhelmed.