The winds of change blow and sometimes suck back

Did anyone notice the earth begin to shift under their feet month ago, when Nokia and Microsoft announced their partnership? Probably not.

Likewise, no one is paying much attention to the changing wind. In particular, what omens are being blown in with the announcement by Samsung that it will carry Microsoft Windows on its tablets, in addition to Android? For Google and Apple, these are ill omens. For people considering an investment, this is an opportunity.

Everyone who has discounted Microsoft has stopped thinking of the long game: what is the world going to be like in five years? Let me draw you a picture of the future:

In the future, you are going to carry your computer in a holster. When you walk in to work, your desk is going to be clear except for a wireless keyboard and a flatscreen monitor. But no tower computer. Not even a laptop.

In the future, when you sit at your desk in the morning, the first thing you will do is take your smart phone from your hip and plug it into a small docking station. This will connect you immediately to the monitor and keyboard. And now you have your computer.

Just a few years from now, your phone will have sufficient computing power and sufficient memory to act as a full-fledged desktop computer replacement. You will store all your files and data in two places: on the cloud for backup, and on your hip for immediate local access.

This isn't a big prediction. It's not a stretch of the imagination. But its implications are monumental, because everything that was previously on your desktop will now be on your phone, including all of your business applications.

That's right. Within the next few years, your phone will not only contain your spreadsheets and documents, but it will contain your word processing and spreadsheet software. Your email client. Your text editors. Everything.


And where do you think they're going to get this software? What one company is best positioned to provide full powered software programs to the next generation of phones and tables.

You guessed it: Microsoft.


Microsoft is going to be the butterfly of this decade. It's had the snot kicked out of it by pundits and hipsters alike, every since it missed the boat with smart phones. Those who are wiser than other in the ways of the mobile revolution have completely written MSFT off.  I suspect they are going to be eat crow soon.

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