Summary: Analysis generally agrees that Microsoft is in serious trouble as Android continues to emerge as the de facto platform and not even zero-cost Windows will counter that

TODAY at PC World/Curry's (UK) there were many people handling Android devices and hardly anyone around Windows devices (these shelves are unattended). The Vista 8 fiasco rendered Windows rather unwanted and unloved.

Microsoft's Windows strategy is going nowhere and a belated writeup about Steve Ballmer leaving (leaving the software Mafia amid investigation of Microsoft's practice of bribing governments) blames him for not moving along with the emerging trends. All Microsoft could do was use zero-cost tactics (e.g. in netbooks) and allegedly bribery too (negative cost). Now Microsoft considers giving Windows RT/Phone for free, showing its sheer antitrust hypocrisy. As USA Today put it, Microsoft is 'Scroogling' itself with attacks on Google. As the author points out: "That title belongs to Microsoft's Scroogled campaign, which aims to turn the tide of public opinion against Google in the style of classic Washington DC attack politics."

Charlie Demerjian, whom Microsoft offered to bribe in exchange for positive coverage of Vista (which he had strongly condemned), says that "Tablet OSes killed Windows 8 and Microsoft with it" [1]. "I said it before," wrote Sosumi in our IRC channels (citing Demerjian), "scrap Metro and the NSA and while at it, also scrap the mobile aspirations and focus on making NT a great OS and on bringing the office tools to android, gnu/linux, etc... or they'll eventually go under, which at this point isn't bad either... one thing about surface tablets not selling is that major retailers are selling them at heavily discounted prices just to get rid of them" (true based on what I saw today at the store, where despite seemingly subsidised hardware customers remain apathetic towards Windows).

Bribery is not a sustainable strategy. It's expensive, never mind illegal. In his latest GNU/Linux-bashing article (no link), Microsoft Jack boasts negative pricing as though it's acceptable. ⬆

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Tablet OSes killed Windows 8 and Microsoft with it

   Windows has failed, PCs are dead, and the misery that is Windows 8 is to blame but why? There is one possibility that occurred to us that no SemiAccurate writer has seen posited yet, tablet OSes.
   
   Lets go over a little history for those new to the game or who read sites that are afraid to lose ads if they point out the emperor has no clothes. That for the record would be most computer related sites, Microsoft spends a lot and that has direct influence on content. Go back and look at the wonderful reviews of Windows 8 especially how the big analyst houses had rosy forecasts, and how everyone with an ounce of common sense saw two trains speeding towards one another. You might want to go back and look at how a site promoted Windows 8 around launch and then retracted it when such abject BS was no longer tenable. Keep it in mind when you read their reviews and analyses, most sites nowadays are directly bought and paid for. Things like CNet’s Best of CES come to mind here.
   
   From before day one SemiAccurate was critical of Windows 8 and Surface, we were the first to point out how serious ‘partner’ enmity was over that disaster was. Windows 8 can not compete in the tablet world for technical reasons, and will never be able to bridge the gap. Partners are in an even worse position, Windows tablets are financially untenable and they know it. With Windows 8, Microsoft has failed. When the numbers came out, they matched our predictions almost to the unit.