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Does the Operating System Really Matter in the IoT?

The average user probably has no idea of the incredible compute power at their fingertips when they stare at the Bing.com website.  That was my thought as I stared at row after row of thousands of servers inside a Microsoft datacenter.   You see I recently was given the opportunity to tour a Microsoft datacenter while attending a partner conference in Bellevue, Washington.   Having seen many datacenters over the years, I paused as I read the invitation thinking that I had not seen a Microsoft datacenter so I certainly wasn’t going to pass this one up.

As our tour guide took us through the datacenter I was quickly reminded just how far we’ve come in the last few years in respect to Datacenter technology both in cooling and power efficiency as well as compute power pushed down into a small foot print.  With focus on the capability of placing 1280 servers into a 40ft shipping container and making it portable as well as energy efficient, I could see that Microsoft was doing it extremely well.   The tour finished up and I was then told that we had only seen 1/10 of the building and that this was only an R&D datacenter which is 1/10 the size of the production datacenters.  That actually made my head hurt just a little and I realized we are truly ready in this day and age to move everything to the cloud.

Microsoft has 10 production datacenters in the world that support services such as Office 365, Azure, Skype, Bing, Xbox Live, Hotmail and other hosted services.  I’ve seen some great datacenters however I was blown away by the volume and size of what I had just seen and I had only seen 1/10 of the 1/10 of the 1/10 which is difficult to even wrap by techie brain around.  So I can’t imagine the average Joe user having any idea of the compute power they have access to when they fire up their computer or tablet.  Throw in the other big guys such as Google, Apple, Amazon, HP, IBM and so on and you quickly realize that I do believe we’ve reached a point in history where the Operating system on your personal computer might not matter anymore – or does it?

“Free” Operating systems have existed for years but it wasn’t until just recently that Microsoft decided to change their strategy and I honestly believe it’s in respect to Cloud computing versus solely being a pricing strategy.  It’s more about market share and getting you to the Microsoft Cloud vs you ending up on the competitions datacenters.   The price of personal computing devices has fallen to the point that you can buy a 7” tablet for $70 these days.  Doesn’t mean you will have a great computing experience but it does get you connected to the cloud quickly and at a very cheap price.  Throw in the Google Chromebook strategy of a $250 laptop that connects you straight to Google services and you now have Microsoft’s attention – even if they do poke fun at being Scroogled.

However does Free Operating systems and Cloud computing mean that the paid for Operating system is now dead?  No way.  Does it still matter?   Yes! It still matters and it matters a lot. I personally feel most people will have different computing devices for different needs and that’s where the Operating system will always have a place to live and continue to grow. That’s also where the Windows Operating system choices shine best giving device developers a head-start with hardware driver support and application compatibility like no other O/S on the planet.  Tie those local O/S features to the cloud features like Microsoft Azure and you have an amazing infrastructure and support team that can get your device launched quickly and affordably. 

When it comes to the IoT or Internet of Things, this is where the market is changing dramatically and it is now time for Microsoft to adjust and move quickly.  They’ve owned the Desktop for years and still hold 90% of the market however today’s world is more about the Internet of Things and getting devices connected to the cloud.

It’s for this reason that Microsoft did just announce lowering the O/S pricing (For Direct OEM’s) on sub$250 devices which are focused on low-cost – low performance – cloud devices.  It makes perfect sense and I suspect Microsoft will drop the price further and make it free as they are doing with the WindowsPhone O/S in India.  I can see Windows 8.1 powered by Bing being a free product with focus on getting you connected to their giant datacenters.  However if you want a powerful desktop that can run millions of applications locally as well as high end graphic applications including high end games then the full use and full feature of Windows 8.1 operating system will be your best choice.  Most will have multiple devices such as a high-end desktop computer followed by a tablet as well as a multipurpose laptop.  Either way you slice it, Microsoft has an option for you and one that will always matter.

The huge advantage is with the family of Microsoft Embedded Operating systems which when connected to Microsoft Cloud services such as Azure and System Center they become more than a simple compute device.  They become true intelligent devices with analytic power and data knowledge to help your business grow with the future.

The Operating System still matters however it’s up to Microsoft to adjust to certain markets and make it matter more than ever.

 

References:

Microsoft takes on the Free O/S

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57620388-75/microsoft-takes-on-the-free-os/?part=rss&subj=latest-news2&tag=title