Get out your party favors, Microsoft is finally ready to party down with what the company describes as its “Next generation OS.” Appropriately dubbed Windows 8 OS, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer compared the launch of the Windows 8 as the most significant event at Microsoft since the introduction of Windows 95 nearly 20 years earlier.
Microsoft is putting out its best china and crystal wine glasses for this bash as there is a lot at stake for Microsoft’s future, and that of its stakeholders. It is also rolling the dice with its introduction of its own entry into the crowded touch- friendly tablet market. Dubbed the Surface Tablet, Microsoft is doubling down with its ambitious introduction of its new operating system while simultaneously announcing its entrance into the highly competitive tablet market. Microsoft’s plans to join the fray are leaving its strategic business partners feeling a tad ambivalent about Microsoft’ arrival into the hardware business.
Some of Microsoft’s long time partners such as Acer and Toshiba are concerned about the prospects of Microsoft becoming additional competition for computer manufacturers struggling to maintain price points in a declining hardware market and taking a big bite out of the traditional PC market. The industry is experiencing further declines as mobile devices continue to gain in popularity. It is speculated that it Microsoft’s decision to introduce the Surface Tablet at the party that HP has decided not to join the festivities later in October.
