Who is the toughest competitor for Microsoft?

[realwarder]

Unix-based operating systems. Their much better then windows-like operating systems. Apple uses unix for it's operating systems (BSD). Google uses Linux for it's operating systems. Microsoft is almost the only major company not to use Unix. So, they will fall.

Actually, in Azure Microsoft and it's customers uses Linux more than Windows. On the desktop, Windows rightly remains the best OS to use. And let's not forget that Google are writing a non-Linux based OS at the moment... so who knows where 85% of mobile will go.

 

[realwarder]

My answer is Google. They already beat Microsoft in mobile and search. They challenge across more areas - business and consumer with Chromebooks, Android, Google Search, Google Apps, Chrome browser, Cloud services etc. The only thing Google doesn't have is a game console, but in every other area Microsoft is involved in, Google are very strong if not dominant. Globally they own the mobile market. They are attacking Windows by going after education. They have their plan for world domination in place. Curious to see how the market looks in 10 years.

And sure, Apple and Amazon exist, but Apple are too expensive to take say the desktop market. Amazon have cloud services but not much else Microsoft do. So it's Google who are Microsoft's biggest threat.

 

[Asbmor]

I would agree with it being Google. I was almost all in with Microsoft acouple of years agoe. Phone, laptop, desktop, game consoll, cloud services. The only thing I couldent get away from was Google Chrome. The features of Edge wasent and still isent capable of taking on my work. The lack of WebSQL, LocalStorage and WebSocket is only there for Edge, Safari, firefox and Chrome all support this but not Edge.
I am trying to keep as much Microsoft as possible, recently changed to Bing ower Google for web search and I have no reason to go back. I miss Windows Mobile, especially Continuum. I honestly belive Windows Mobile could have carved a notch in the marked with bether hardware. It would never out sell iOS ore Android, but I think it would have been important for Microsoft to show commitment and ability to re-think and give alternativs.

 

[Urbautz]

I don't think it's apple. It will be google (i hope they fail) or Amazon.

 

[AndyCalling]

The odd thing is, MS seems to believe their main target to get rid of is the consumers. Bit strange, but it seems that MS is in the main competing against consumers in some way? Can't understand the reasoning but...

 

[anon(10172601)]

Google. Why? Because...

* Google = Cloud = Google Drive, Photos and Google Cloud = threat to Azure

* Google = AI = Google Assistant = threat to Cortana

* Google = Productivity = gSuite = threat to Office 365

* Google = Mobile = Android = no current threat because MS is a bunch of spineless jelly filled doughnuts in this sector

* Google = OS = Chrome = threat to the mighty Windows. Note: if Google ever creates an Android development IDE that runs on Chrome, it's lights out for Windows in the Education market, and once you lose the younger generation you eventually lose ALL markets.

One might argue that Google built this monster on the back of web, but I argue they built it on the back of mobile. It's the crazy popularity of Android that has catapulted it to the top of all these other market sectors.

Microsoft's missing the boat on mobile will be its eventual demise, or at least its catalyst into obscurity and irrelevance. Unless Microsoft can find some footing in mobile its days are numbered. For those of us who bet our careers on Microsoft, we all just better hope this Andromeda device isn't just a rumour. It better be real. It better be good. It better be well supported and marketed. Or else we'd all better face up to the fact that we need to retrain in everything Google.

 

[Jeffery L]

So I'm going to answer this question a little differently. I think it makes sense to look at Apple, Google, and Microsoft by their primary business model. Apple primarily makes money by selling devices. They get you to buy more of Apple devices by making Apple services integrate easier on Apple devices. And of the money they make from devices, the vast majority comes from the iPhone. Google primarily makes money from advertising. Their goal is to get your eyeballs looking at a screen through Google stuff. Gmail, chrome, and android are the biggest in capturing your activity and leveraging this in advertising. Google can make so much money this way, android can be made open source and given away without licensing fees. Microsoft, on the other hand, makes money primary from licensing fees through cloud services, server products, Office, Windows OEMs, etc. They have successfully monetize software over the decades. Google essentially decided monetizing software is not worth it and to just depend on advertising.

What I see as a potential threat to Microsoft is their dominance in the PC operating system. Android has a small chance of becoming a desktop operating system. So I guess I'm saying Google is the biggest threat to Microsoft. There are so many people using android phones, I can see Google making a desktop version of android, and people would jump on it. The advertising and open source business model worked great for android phones. I could see that continuing on to the desktop. I know they have ChromeOS for desktop, but ChromeOS is so limited, I can't see it gaining too much market share. Making a unified Android for desktop and phone would be a big threat. I thought Google was doing this in a project called Andromeda. I guess it was canceled. But that doesn't mean they will not try again.

 

[David van de Water]

Goverment because the monopoli position in the past, Microsoft themselfs, consumers.

 

[Ryujingt3]

Themselves.

All they do is shoot themselves in the foot. Come out with something great and half-baked. Let everyone else leap frog them.

This. Completely.

 

[Lobo Technician]

I agree that currently Alphabet/Google is the most threatening competitor to Microsoft.