Microsoft is going through a cycle that may be typical now: suffering through perception-hell in a period after a major version of Windows ships. The level of negative perception that Microsoft is facing today isn’t really different from what they were facing in 2008. In the era of Vista, where it seemed like to many that Microsoft would never again ship a version of Windows that was decent, and could maybe get people actually excited about about the product. And then Windows 7 comes along and literally obliterates almost everything that Microsoft was negatively perceived of. I expect exactly the same thing when the number 8 comes along to sit next to the word “Windows”.

This goes back to what I said in one of my first posts. What people say about Microsoft today will be absolutely irrelevant when Windows 8 comes around later this year and solves Microsoft’s problems. At this point, its a force of nature, something to be expected.

Will post some more thoughts about other stuff later on.

Theres no doubt in my mind Android is up there, and its unstoppable.  There isn’t much in the way Apple or RIM can do to stop the hundred of millions of (Android) phones being manufactured. But thats okay for Apple, because their making quite a decent profit out of it, so that would even lessen their motivation to stop Android, its not like it benefits Google (how they say their making money off it, its total BS, Rubin hesitated so much when trying to answer that question, in the same way Joe B. did, except nobody cared how Rubin behaved).

So that brings me to this point: options and competition only moves the industry forward and everyone benefits.

Even in the U.S. the number of people who have yet to buy a smartphone is jaw-dropping, so this war between all these companies is far, far from over.

Everyone just likes talking about today, and who’s dominate today. But, as history has shown too many times before, anything can quickly change during the future, and what may be called “dominate” today could end up as a distant memory in the future.

Windows Phone 7 still has a strong chance, in the same Android always did during it’s (not so humble) beginnings, which already seems to be a distant memory for so many. Ironic, almost.

One last thought for this post: Today may not matter as much as a very different tomorrow. Could’ve said that about Android in 2008.

Not going to point who said just, but there are exactly spot on. And this pretty much explains modern technology journalism.

For years, Microsoft has had an amazing team of designers deep within the Entertainment and Devices division responsible for all of the UIs and User experiences to come out of the division (Media Center, Xbox, Zune etc.)

Microsoft hired a Nike shoe designer by the name of Albert Shum to take on the role of creating a design language for a next generation mobile OS that would be a complete restart for MS. One could say thats how desperate they were. Another could say Microsoft was betting on the future of mobile experiences, just like the GUI with Windows 1.0 and later versions of DOS that utilized a GUI.

This is the result of Shum’s work: “The Metro design language” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Design_Language Every single little detail of the design has significant and powerful meaning behind it, and to judge it without understanding or appreciating what Metro is all about, would almost be a crime. There is real powerful meaning behind the typography, only one element of Metro.

Windows will continue to be dominate and powerful for a long time. This can be explained in these conditions.

1. Microsoft continuing to maintain an unbreakable and powerful relationship with PC OEMs.

2. Microsoft continuing to reinvent Windows and keep it relevant by introducing new desirable features (Windows 7).

3. Microsoft aggressively advertising  Windows, thus informing people that Windows is still relevant and matters.

4. Having a leader who knows what they are doing and can ship a product that people want/need on time (Steven Sinofsky).

Given that these four points are true and in full effect today, Windows will continue to dominate computing for a long time.  But what could go beyond Windows inside Microsoft? Windows Phone. Slowly but surely, Windows Phone has the strong possibility to dominate the smartphone market one day. It took Windows 5 years, wonder how long it will take Windows Phone.

First off, I’m really excited for IE9.  IE8 is a terrific browser. Although, it is missing a few key features and could use a huge speed bump (which is what half of IE9 is all about). IE9 promises to deliver a modern and competitive browser, and with Microsoft updating IE9`s rendering engine, Trident 5.0, every 6-8 weeks, I cant wait to see how much further they’ll improve things going beyond the beta.

The second product, is the biggest one for me, on a personal level. Going back to 2009, I was hoping for Windows Phone 7 (WP7) -what was then called Windows Mobile 7- to be Microsoft’s one and only ultimate answer to iOS and Android, and to the smartphone market at large. It wasn’t.

Instead, its the beginning of something far more larger and important than the iOS and Androids of today which may not exist in the far future, or at least, be as dominate as they are today. Windows Phone 7 is a bet for the long term future of the smartphone market. I was slightly disappointed and confused when they first announced Windows Phone 7, largely because it was almost nothing as I imagined it to be.

But then, I watched videos and read about the history of the group of (new) people who are managing the Windows Phone 7 team. It didn’t take long for me to discover that many of the people leading this team are some of the most important people in Microsoft’s long history. As months went by, I began to realize the beauty of the “Metro” UI design language in WP7. It was truly something unique and different, but more importantly; the beginning of something better and iconic.

Had Microsoft gone done the Google and Palm route of “lets just use the same style iOS has”, it really wouldnt be anything special. Instead, Microsoft, or more specifically, J Allard, hired a Nike shoe designer by the name of Albert Shum. It sounds crazy, and almost stupid. But then I watched videos of Albert talking about the Metro UI and how its relevant to a product like Windows Phone, and suddenly, my mind was blown. I couldn’t believe how wrong I was. It made me remind myself of the idea of being prejudice, and how wrong it is. After listening to what Albert Shum had to say about design and WP7, it was clear to me, this man and his team was responsible for creating the UI that will become as iconic and well known as the Windows UI.

A lightening bolt then hit my head; the only thing that matters about Windows Phone 7 is the people who are running everything behind the show. These people are dedicated, passionate, patient, and confident that they will change the world through the influence and inspiration of excellent design and the idea of mass market. Windows Phone 7 is so much more than the 2010 release happening later on, its the beginning of a silent revolution. Well, silent for now that is.

Anyways, to sum things up, I have fallen in love with Windows Phone 7, not because I forced myself to, but because I learned that its so much more than some v1.o release without copy and paste and multitasking. Its the “Metro” UI, combined with the fact that this is the first Microsoft product to combine all MS services and products, and even 3rd party services. Its something truly exciting and unique, I cant wait for this revolution to begin.

So Finally, another major and important product is Kinect. Its the first time the Xbox will be going mass market. I’m interested to see how it will do in the market and what it means for the future of other MS products (Windows 8).  Im a little worried that the $299 bundling with the lower-end 4GB Xbox 360 S model might make casual gamers stare more closely at the Kinect-less, bare-bones $199 4GB model. But, its still a system that gets sold, regardless.

So yesterday, the AllThingsD conference took place with Apple CEO Steve Jobs. And apparently, the man thinks Windows will significantly decrease in popularity over the years due to smartphones and non-PC devices. While I do believe the future of computing is mobile and connected, this statement is an awfully hopeful and flawed one.

To say that Windows will decrease in popularity means that Microsoft will not come out with another version of Windows (version 8). I don’t know if Jobs has realized, but the man running Microsoft’s Windows division is a born leader and he doesn’t play around. He is the man who was responsible for making Windows 7 an unbelievably enormous success. This man of course, is Steven Sinofsky. Go back to 2008, when the Vista hate was large and strong, very few people expected Windows 7 to turn the Windows brand around, and guess what? It did.

Sinofsky and his team understand that the PC world is changing. In their minds, tablets are just another form of PCs. And if that means revamping the Windows UI in version 8, then so be it. Look at Windows 7 and you can guess what radical changes Microsoft will make to Windows 8 so that it will the best OS for tablets. Sinofsky has one of the best track records of delivering and shipping extraordinary products within Microsoft. And like I said before, the man doesn’t screw around.

Windows makes Microsoft $19 billion per quarter, so to think that Microsoft wont aggressively respond is foolish. It’s not just Jobs that is under-estimating Microsoft, it’s the entire industry. And like I said in my last blog post, we have no clue whats cooking up in Redmond, none of us have no idea how Microsoft will respond, because we`re just spectators. Ignorance and prejudice is prominent in technology journalism. What we’ve gotten over the past couple of week is all these Apple apologists writing about Microsoft`s future and they have no idea or back-round knowledge about the company; the insight they provide is laughable.

So yes, its fun and easy to point at Microsoft and say “haha, your losing!”. However, in reality, its more along the lines of “haha, you losing…. for now!?”. The iPad sells 2 million in two months, and all of a sudden, the PC is dead, when Intel has reported that 1 million PCs are sold everyday. I’ve just about had enough of all these “Microsoft is dying” stories, its starting to get pathetic and annoying. I’m not saying Microsoft is perfect, Steve Ballmer definitely has some explaining to do. And that’s why I’ll be watching him during his interview at the AllThingsD conference.

Market value is one way to measure how valuable a company is. Although, the money used in market valuing is thin air; it doesn’t exist, to those companies at least. Apple is closing in on Microsoft’s market value. Now, stock prices go up and down all the time, and it really only matters if you’re an investor.

So why am I talking about the stock market? It’s because it’s a sign. It’s a sign that Microsoft is transitioning from being the dominate bully to the underdog who innovates to get back to the top, and does good things for the costumer, not so they can protect the dominate products they have. Windows 7 and Office 2010 are great products, but they’ve been around for such a long time and get updated only every 3 years, thats its hard to get too excited about it for an extended period of time. Don’t get me wrong, both Windows 7 and Office 2010 are exciting products in their own ways, but we wont see the next iterations of these products for years, and the excitement has settled because we’ve known all about them for a long time.

So what do we do until then? We get fresh, exciting and innovative products like Windows Phone 7 and Project Natal.  These are the kinds of products where you see Microsoft doing what I mentioned above. Risking to spend billions to benefit their users.A lot of things will change. Events will happen where we will Microsoft has gotten their “mojo” back. It’s those moments that Microsoft and its users and followers have to look forward to.

To fellow Microsoft users/enthusiasts and yes, even fans: The future is probably not as dark and confusing as we or anyone may think. If we were to ask Steve Sinofsky (leader of Windows division), Joe Belfiore (lead program manager for Windows Phone), Albert Shum (lead designer and user experience design for Windows Phone) or Steve Ballmer (you know who) how the future looks, they will answer positively, not because its their company and they have to, but because they already have it all planned out. Heres to a better future for Microsoft.

I’m not the kind of immature fan who blindly and religiously follows a company or defends it at all costs. No, I’m not that kind of fan. I’m a fan who can realize when my company is failing and where they need to improve. The great thing about companies, especially one like Microsoft, is that there’s always room for improvement, there’s always a chance to do better. And that’s how I keep going with this.