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I completely understand capitalism and how technology companies work.

Yes, MS is not a hardware company (xbox and surface not withstanding), but guess what, the end consumer doesn’t give a rats hairy butt.. that’s the facts.

The reality is, mature software, other than incredible niche software, is by and large a $0 game, that’s its value... don’t believe me, go look at the app store, nearly ALL of it is free now, very very few have an up front price of even a $1, other than some incredible niche products, because, folks just won’t pay for it, so the model changes and you make it up in other ways, advertising, buy ups, subscription costs, etc, but the actual software itself is free.

The OS is a free product for the consumer, if MS wants to keep playing in the space, they are going to have to accept it, pure and simple.. People are not going to pay Microsoft $100 or $200 for an OS upgrade, its not going to happen.. businesses may, and manufacturers may pay them, but the general typical user is not going to pay MS to upgrade anymore... its just a matter of time until MS realizes this, if they haven’t already.

MS cannot change the marketplace, no matter what they may want to do for their bottom line. Do you think MS wanted to have its OFFICE on Android and IOS? Let alone have to give it away for FREE?? Hell no, and they tried for years not to, but guess what, reality is, that’s where consumers are...

Capitalism is a two way street, a company may not like having to give something away, but if that’s where the consumers are on something, that’s what they have to do and figure out a way to make profits in another way.

The funny thing about capitalism is, the consumer doesn’t care about your profits, they only care what you are willing to provide for them at a price they are willing to pay, and for the end general purchaser, the effective price of an OS is ZERO. MS will continue to get money from OEM’s they really don’t have a choice, as the consumer market isn’t going to buy UNIX PC’s that offer free OS’s, and while Chrome is nice, its not really going to take over either... And MS will probably still be able to get licensing fees out of corporations for upgrades, but the typical individual, just isn’t going to pay them.. the market has move,d and MS has to figure out a way to make that work for them.

Yes, MS is not a hardware company (xbox and surface not withstanding), but guess what, the end consumer doesn’t give a rats hairy butt.. that’s the facts.

I understand what you are saying, but Microsoft actually makes most of its money selling to business, rather than consumers, and in the light of that won't be changing the core model of software sales to businesses. That too is a fact.

This is why Microsoft has developed such an extensive Cloud ecosystem, as they do see subscriptions as the future way to sell services to business and consumer customers. Additionally, software assurance/volume licensing to business is a huge revenue stream for them, rather than individual sales.

Even so, when it comes to numbers alone, Microsoft is a long way from being overtaken by Apple, any UNIX or Linux variant:

Now, I don't think they have ANY room to rest or expect that to continue! So I do agree with you they need to continue to provide what the market--and by that I mean BUSINESS and consumer--needs. The market is made up of many players. Still, as you say and I'll correct a little, the market doesn't give a rat's a$$ about Microsoft's business model when they see something better.

I used to work (not directly--but using their stuff) for Digital Equipment Corporation. Remember them? I was a PDP/VAX guru. It all came crashing down in about 6-7 years. I constantly am reminded of that as I work (not directly) for/with Microsoft...