| selnor1983 said: But all this means nothing. As the OP ws asking is Microsoft still a cashcow? Well my answer shows yes. Xbox is CURRENTLY in profit, so that means Microsoft is a bigger cashcow now than before 2007 thanks to Xbox. |
Actually, the OP was asking if WINDOWS is still the cashcow it used to be.
And the very obvious answer is of course: No. Microsoft has long realized that they will sooner or later loose the OS war to Linux, simply due to its versatility. (Already today, 2-3 times more devices running Linux are being sold than device running Windows) That's why Microsoft started diversifying many years ago, they soon realized their cashcow is not going to be around forever. In recent statements they actually hinted that they intend to be more of a hardware/services company than a software company, because they know that Windows will be dying out. (My personal prediction is that they will actually give Windows away for free in a few years, but that even this step will not stop the inevitable)
Windows will die very slow though. The only segment where Windows is still relevant is classical, x86-based desktop PCs. And in this segment, Windows will stay king. The big question is: When will classical, x86-based desktop PCs die out? Probably not within the next 10-20 years.
