Anticipated Android Apps
2011 has almost come to an end, and we’ve already seen some great Android apps come out this year. But 2012, which is just around the corner and it looks like it will be another eventful year for Android. Now that the latest OS version, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), has hit the market, several device makers are expected to release ICS handsets for a ready consumer market. LG is the latest to reveal its plans around ICS, kicking into high hear during the second quarter of next year. Among the first phones to get the upgrade are the Optimus 2X, which made waves as the world’s first dual-core smartphone earlier this year, and the Optimus LTE. Others in the Optimus lineup, including the 3D, Black and Big, will also receive the ICS update by Q3 of next year.
Android’s competition in the mobile and tablet market, Apple has had a long head start in mobile apps over it’s new archival Google. However, new data shows that the number of Android apps has grown 127 percent since August and offerings in Google’s Android Market should outnumber the total for iPhone apps by mid-2012.
2012 has some great apps in store for the open-source mobile platform. (more…)
Android Steals Market
New data on mobile usage shows the number of smart phones continues to grow rapidly, increasing 12% from June of 2011 to 87.4 million in Sept. of 2011, and that the Android platforms continues to grain market share, hitting 44.8%. The data, which shows a three month average for the period ending Sept. 2011 and is based on a survey of over 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers by the comScore MobiLens service, is notable because it once again highlights the growing importance of the Android platform for the mobile strategies of media and entertainment companies. (more…)
Android > Phoney 7
A business that harasses customers will soon lose customers. Microsoft has repeatedly violated this rule by suppressing competition. The result is a huge body of customers/consumers who are ready to bolt at the first sign of an alternative. Witness the avalanche of consumers who have chosen Android/Linux smart phones instead of stupid phones with Microsoft’s stuff on board.
Larry Page commented on that when he discusses Google impressive growth,
“Rather than seeing, for example, Microsoft compete in the marketplace with their own smartphones, they’ve really continued resorting to legal measures to hassle their own customers, right? So it seems kind of odd. And we haven’t seen the details of those total agreements, and I suspect that our partners are making good deals for themselves there.”
Android/Linux is on most smart phones these days and Phoney “7″ is on 5%, the opposite situation we see in the retail shelves of personal computers. The difference is consumers have a choice in smart phones. They soon will have the same choice in all personal computers because the suppliers who are making money using Android/Linux are not beholden to Microsoft and can make personal computers of all kinds to compete with Microsoft’s legacy stuff that’s too bulky, hot, noisy and unreliable. Folks who love Android/Linux on smart phones know there are better ways to compute. That knowledge is spreading quickly. This Christmas we will see Android/Linux taking up lots of space on smart thingies and notebooks and desktops in retail shops.
We all know how popular smart phones have become today and with their rapid development, new and latest mobile phone operating systems are also advancing. Thus, it was not so long ago that the Windows Phone 7 OS came out for the recently released Windows Phone 7 units. But, there is no doubt that the Android OS has been here longer and if we put the Windows 7 OS in comparison with the Android OS, the latter would surely be better. The in fact quite a few reasons that the Android OS seems more competent and is simply still far better even after the release of the Windows 7 OS.
In fact at this time it would seem pointless comparing the Android OS with Windows 7 for smart phones at such an early stage. Windows Phone 7 still actually has to make its place in the market and prove its capability. Thus there is no chance that it could instantly beat the Android OS.
Taking the homescreens of the two OS for instance, Android had always been using the iOS approach for its smart phones where the homescreen could be filled with as many apps as a user could find. Thus in fact the Android phone could even hold up to seven different homescreens each being filled to brink with numerous Android apps, widgets and other useful tools.
The approach Microsoft took for the Windows Phone 7 homescreen was to merely include tiles over the homescreen which themselves would be filled with apps and other such stuff, while they could be updated via the web. This approach does not seem to be too unique; in fact it seems alike what Android has to offer through its widgets. Thus it seems that the OS system by Microsoft is already lacking the innovation needed.
Thus if we begin our further comparison between these OS, there are a lot of factors that make Android the better OS.
* Much more features included in the Android OS:
If we let alone consider the features, the Android OS is in fact overflowing with them and new ones keep on getting developed and are available for the Android users. Even though it is still new, the Windows Mobile 7 OS is at a serious lack of some new and unique features.
* The Android OS is more customizable:
It already seems that the Windows Mobile 7 OS is rather rigid and would not offer the users much flexibility. This means that it could not be matched with the customization options that Android OS users are able to benefit from.
* More apps available in the Android OS:
Having a hundred thousand apps through the Android OS is quite an immense number for Android users to choose from, with new ones regularly being added. When it comes to the Windows Mobile 7, the users would merely have hundred such apps to select from which is quite a minimal number as compared to what the Android OS has to offer. Thus judging from all of this, it is pretty obvious that currently Android is surely the better OS around.I hope basic comparison chart also will help you understand better.
Animals that are kept in captivity for most of there life, often cannot survive out in the real world, as they now have to think for themselves and find their own food. So its understandable, that the freedom that Android brings may be rejected, by those who are not accustom to choice or who are to lazy to responsible for themselves. But have no fear, Apple and Microsoft will save you from the responsibility of choice. For the rest, for you brave open minded souls embrace the power or choice…embrace Android.
Apple Mac Malware
Malware that targets Mac OS X isn’t anywhere near catching up to Windows-based malware in terms of volume and variety, but it seems that OS X malware may be adopting some of the more successful tactics that Windows viruses have been using to trick users. Researchers have come across a sample of an OS X-based Trojan that disguises itself as a PDF file, a technique that’s been in favor among Windows malware authors for several years now.
The new piece of malware hides inside a PDF file and delivers a backdoor that hides on the user’s machine once the malicious file is opened. Once the user executes the malware, it puts the malicious PDF on the user’s machine and then opens it as a way to hide the malicious activity that’s going on in the background, according to an analysis by researchers at F-Secure. The Trojan then installs the backdoor, which is named Imuler.A, which attempts to communicate with a command-and-control server.
That server isn’t capable of communicating with the malware, however, the researchers found, so the malware is on its own once it’s installed on a victim’s machine. What’s not clear is exactly how the malware is spreading right now, what IS known is that this disables Apples built-in malware protection
“This malware may be attempting to copy the technique implemented by Windows malware, which opens a PDF file containing a “.pdf.exe” extension and an accompanying PDF icon. The sample on our hand does not have an extension or an icon yet. However, there is another possibility. It is slightly different in Mac, where the icon is stored in a separate fork that is not readily visible in the OS. The extension and icon could have been lost when the sample was submitted to us. If this is the case, this malware might be even stealthier than in Windows because the sample can use any extension it desires,” the analysis by F-Secure said.
Windows-based malware variants have been using the same sort of techniques for hiding themselves for a long time now. They often use common file extensions such as DOC, PDF, XLS and others to entice users into opening the malicious file. In some cases, the malware may not have the proper icon to go along with the fake file extension, as is the case with the Mac OS X Revir.A malware that F-Secure identified. It’s a simple trick, but it’s still quite effective and users have shown themselves to be willing to open these files, regardless of the potential consequences.
Notably, the Trojan horse bails and deletes itself if you have the Little Snitch app installed.
F-Secure offers removal instructions if you fear you’ve been infected; the fix involves deleting entries from your browsers’ .plist files. Check out F-Secure’s page if you’re concerned, but you only need to worry if you recently installed Flash Player from a download that you didn’t get from Adobe’s website.
Apple iOS exploited
A major security flaw in Apple’s iOS operating system that could allow hackers to remotely gain unauthorized access to an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad has been uncovered by a security expert. Described by Forbes as a “serial Mac hacker,” Accuvant LABS computer security researcher Charlie Miller has uncovered a security flaw that allows hackers to build apps that look legitimate and pass through Apple’s App Store approval process. Using a code-signing vulnerability, however, the malicious apps will automatically connect to a remote server following installation and download new unapproved code that might grant hackers access to system files, personal data and a host of unauthorized functionality. Read on for more.
Apple’s closed App Store approval process has been touted by security experts and pundits alike as a much more secure option than an open system like Google’s Android Market. While Apple has been largely successful in keeping malicious software out of its iOS App Store, this newly revealed vulnerability illustrates that no system is ever fully secure. “Now you could have a program in the App Store like Angry Birds that can run new code on your phone that Apple never had a chance to check,” Miller told Forbes in an interview. “With this bug, you can’t be assured of anything you download from the App Store behaving nicely.”
Miller isn’t just talking the talk, either. The security expert actually planted an app in Apple’s App Store that utilizes the exploit he detailed. Miller submitted the app to Apple for approval using his developer account and, following Apple’s standard testing and approval process, the app became available in the App Store. Miller then recorded a video illustrating some of the many functions a hacker would be able to perform using this exploit, which include executing a payload that will give the hacker complete control of an iOS device from a remote terminal.
The security expert’s app has since been removed from the App Store and his developer account has been suspended. Miller’s video follows below. Miller plans to describe the flaw in detail at the SysCan conference in Taiwan, but the gist is that mobile Safari’s “Nitro” JavaScript engine, released with iOS 4.3, requires the privilege of running unapproved code in a region of the iPhone’s memory. Miller’s exploit extends this privilege to other apps, which are usually barred from running unapproved code in the same way as Safari for security reasons.
iPhone users needn’t panic; the offending app is already gone, and Miller expects Apple to squash the security bug to prevent legitimate attacks. Still, this exploit proves that the App Store’s strict security measures aren’t impenetrable. Security researchers have been saying this for years, but Miller has actually demonstrated it in the real world.
In a way though, you have to agree that Miller did violate the very specific developer program agreement by hiding the PoC inside a legitimate application. That probably wasn’t his smartest idea, but then again it’s helping Apple and he’s not doing it in a malicious way to infect people – he’s doing it as a security researcher.
Apple should be more proactive on working with people like this, people who are actually fixing bugs in their products for free and improving the user experience. It’s the way Apple operates though, secretive, exclusive, domineering etc. If you don’t do things their way, screw you. The way in which Miller uncovered the flaw once again shows his technical brilliance – something which Apple really should be harnessing rather than turning away.
A lot of people noticed changes with iOS 4.3, but couldn’t actually figure out what was going on. Well that’s what we know in the public realm anyway, no doubt the bad guys had their eyes on it and were digging in with much more malicious exploits.
It basically seems like a way to bypass any kind of code validation by Apple and execute arbitrary code from an attack server – dangerous indeed.
Researcher Cracks Lion
No system is fool-proof….period and thought your Mac was secure running Apple’s latest operating system? Think again. Turns out that in some respects Lion is actually less secure than previous version of Mac OS X, due to some permission-tweaking by Apple that has opened up a way for an attacker to crack your password on your Lion box. The flaw was discovered by an Australian researcher who has previously published a guide to cracking Mac OS X passwords. Sounds like Apple had better get a patch out for this. Once someone has physical access your toast.
An Australian security expert respected for his work testing the defences of Apple software has published a method which appears to allow an attacker to break through the password defences of Cupertino’s latest Max OS X Lion operating system.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Patrick Dunstan is currently an information security specialist at the University of Adelaide, although he also works as a guest lecturer at the University of South Australia. Dunstan had previously attracted attention in late 2009 with a blog post explaining how a user who had already gained access to a Mac OS X system could extract a user’s password on that system.
In a new blog post this week — first reported by Secure Computing Magazine last week — Dunstan published an update to his technique. However, this time around he discovered a startling new fact with respect to Lion’s security protection — according to the researcher it leaves a crucial step out which could allow remote access to user passwords on the system.
In previous versions of Mac OS X, in order to access a users’ password, an attacker would need to break into what is referred to in Unix-based operating systems (such as Mac OS X) as a ‘shadow’ file — a file which stores critical data but can only be accessed by users with a high privilege — such as root access.
“So for all modern OS X platforms (Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion) each user has their own shadow file (hash database) whose data is accessible only by the root user … or at least it should be,” wrote Dunstan in his post. “It appears in the redesign of OS X Lion’s authentication scheme a critical step has been overlooked. Whilst non-root users are unable to access the shadow files directly, Lion actually provides non-root users the ability to still view password hash data.”
This means, according to the researcher, that it might be possible for an attacker to crack a users’ Lion password by attacking their system through a Java app hosted online. The attack vector would still require the owner of the computer running Mac OS X to allow the Java app to run — but it is possible.
Dunstan noted that due, no doubt, to Lion’s relatively short time being available for use, he could not find any major cracking software supporting the ability to crack encrypted passwords in the operating system — but he has published a simple script which allows users to do so. It is not yet clear whether Apple is aware of the issue, but a temporary workaround allows users to secure their system through setting different permissions on a certain file.
The news comes as Mac OS X continues to be subject to fewer security attacks than Microsoft Windows. Security researchers have stated in the past that there could be a number of reasons for the appearance of heightened security on the Apple platform, ranging from its Unix basis, which allows a high degree of fine-grained permissions to be used on files and applications, to the relative dominance of Windows in the desktop PC market.
However, researchers have also speculated that attacks on Mac OS X will increase in future, along with the platform’s growing popularity and use on mobile devices such as iPhone and iPads.
As this attack would likely require a user to allow an application to run on their system before it could succeed, I would regard it as less dangerous than many other security headaches out there, which would require no support from a user. However, what Dunstan’s blog post demonstrates is that Mac OS X is not inherently safe from security problems. They do exist on the Mac; and I’m sure we’ll see more of them as time goes on; especially aimed at devices such as iPads.
The issues described in this post have now been resolved by Apple. Users running OS X Lion 10.7.2 or security update 2011-006 are no longer affected by the vulnerabilities detailed below (CVE-2011-3435 and CVE-2011-3436). For further details on this security update please see Apple’s advisory.
For further information: http://www.defenceindepth.net/2011/09/cracking-os-x-lion-passwords.html
Apple vs Android
Steve Jobs’ legacy at Apple Inc. goes well beyond cool gadgets, a thriving retail chain and a music empire. He also launched the company’s all-out legal war on Google Inc.
In the last months of Jobs’ life, Apple unleashed a patent-suit blitzkrieg on its Silicon Valley rival, filing 10 lawsuits in six countries that accuse the Internet search giant of stealing its smartphone and tablet computer technology.
The campaign is rooted in Jobs’ belief that Google and mobile device manufacturers that use its Android software copied key design and technology features from Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
“I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this,” Jobs told author Walter Isaacson for his recently released biography. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product.”
He then vowed to battle Google until “my last dying breath.”
Google and manufacturers using Android are vigorously contesting Apple’s claims, which could take years to play out in court. But one thing is certain: There is a lot at stake for the company Jobs built. If it is unable to protect the iPhone’s distinctive look and feel, lower-cost competitors imitating its technology could threaten the future of its most profitable products, analysts say.
“Unless they can keep Android at bay, they cannot sustain their incredibly high margins,” said Florian Mueller, a patent specialist who has been closely following the disputes. “They’ll have to compete with much lower-priced devices with essentially the same features coming out of China and other places.”
Alternatively, victories by Apple would enable it to extract hefty ransoms from any phone maker that uses Apple-like technology, or even force its rivals to water down or remove popular features from their smartphones, including screens that respond to multiple finger touches, the graphical display of text messages, and the way users send email and browse the Internet.
That type of technological rollback, analysts and patent attorneys say, could demolish much of Google’s recent success in the $160 billion smartphone market, and gain Apple an unparalleled advantage in the industry. The market is growing rapidly as many consumers dump simpler cellphones for the more powerful and versatile smartphones.
“Some of the revelations from the Jobs biography suggest that this is almost a religious war,” said Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Co. The question is whether Apple’s battle is based on a rigorous legal analysis of company’s patent holdings or part of a personal vendetta by the company’s late co-founder, he said.
Apple’s aggressive legal attack comes as it is losing ground to its rivals in the smartphone industry. Samsung Corp., whose devices run Google’s Android software, dethroned Apple in the most recent quarter to become the world’s largest vendor of smartphones, accounting for nearly a quarter of handsets sold last quarter, compared with about 1 in 7 for Apple, according to data from Britain-based Strategy Analytics.
Apple has hired some of the nation’s top patent lawyers, including William F. Lee of WilmerHale, who helped win networking chip maker Broadcom Corp. an $891 million infringement settlement against rival Qualcomm Inc., and Harold McElhinny of Morrison & Foerster, who led Pioneer Corp. to a $59 million judgment against Samsung.
In recent weeks, Apple has been successful in temporarily banning sales of Android-powered tablets in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. The company is now involved in lawsuits covering dozens of patents, some of which date to the technology created for 1990s-era personal computers designed a decade before smartphones were invented.
But what may look like a shotgun approach may actually be a carefully crafted battle plan. Apple is using its initial round of lawsuits to see which of its many patent claims can survive intense legal scrutiny, analysts said. The ones that are successful will become the spearhead of Apple’s litigation strategy.
“Once they’ve found the battle-tested patents that can survive challenges,” Mueller said, “they’re going to assemble all of them, put the winning team together and enforce them against everyone.”
Although Apple’s patent war stretches around the globe, the heaviest assault is in the U.S. The company is currently locking horns with Samsung in separate federal lawsuits in Washington, Delaware and Northern California, where Apple’s attorneys have demanded court orders preventing Samsung from selling its smartphones and tablets in the U.S.
“This kind of blatant copying is wrong,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said in a statement. “We need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”
Google has called the patent attacks “bogus,” but in August it made a major move to defend itself, announcing the largest acquisition in its 13-year history by paying $12.5 billion in cash for Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., one of the leading Android manufacturers and the holder of 17,000 technology patents that Google could use as ammunition to fend off the lawsuits.
Google allies Samsung and HTC Corp., two major device makers, are also striking back against Apple, filing countersuits that ask courts around the world to ban Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices. Each patent case can cost upward of $8 million, according to attorneys and analysts said.
So far, Samsung has had mixed results with its legal fusillade against Apple, with courts in Italy and the Netherlands initially denying its motions to bar sales of Apple’s recently released iPhone 4S.
Samsung has denied that its phones infringe Apple’s patents, and has instead accused Apple of illicitly using Samsung communications technology in multiple iPhone, iPod and iPad models. The company said it has spent tens of billions developing its own digital technology in recent years, and has amassed nearly 30,000 patents in the U.S. alone.
Apple “continues to violate our intellectual property rights by selling these products,” Kim Titus, director of public relations for Samsung Telecommunications America, said in a statement. “The courts will find Apple has indeed been free-riding on our technology.”
But many of the technologies that these patents protect are so abstruse or vague that companies may end up running afoul of the law without even knowing it, said Bijal V. Vakil, a partner at law firm White & Case in Palo Alto, Calif.
“It’s become a virtually unmanageable task to go and see if you have the freedom to operate,” he said. “Procedurally it would be impossible to check all of (the valid patents) – even large companies can’t afford to do that.”
Many organizations around the world fear competition. They are scared that another bigger badder organization is going to come along that can offer the same features and benefits but will offer them: quicker, cheaper, with more customization, with better customer service, etc. Competition is actually a good thing, in fact it’s a great thing.
Without competition Apple would have never created their Ipod, Microsoft would have never created Windows, and Google would probably be non-existent. Competition is essential because it leads to one very important thing, innovation.
People are always looking for products with more features and capabilities, products that cost less but can do more, and products that just plain solve their needs/wants better than any other product can. When companies compete, consumers get what they want.
Competition pushes you to be more creative and innovate, and to truly master your skill set. A lack of competition may lead to your skills getting stale or hitting a plateau. Competition sharpens your skills and ultimately helps you achieve long-term success.
Wi-Fi Use Climbs
Right now there are 1.3 million public Wi-Fi spots around the world, but Informa reckons that’s going to jump to 5.8 million by 2015 with tablets and smartphones driving the deployments. This is not surprising to find, as Android over takes the iPhone and iPad. Since purchasing my own Android phone I can say I am setting at my desktop 30% less.
Those figures don’t include the 4.5 million “community” hotspots – privately owned but publically shared – the 5.8 million hotspots up and running in 2015 will be available to anyone who wants to pay, but most will be run by mobile network operators who want to offload as much of their data traffic as possible.
Informa, which compiled the data for the Wireless Broadband Alliance, spoke to 259 network operators around the world, and discovered that tablet computers already account for a tenth of hotspot connections, while smartphones account for 36 per cent and laptops less than half (6 per cent are unaccounted for).
Network operators are very happy to offload traffic onto Wi-Fi, so China Mobile is planning to deploy more than a million hotspots in the next few years, and Japan’s KDDI has announced plans for another 100,000 within the next six months. In the UK things get a bit weird thanks to our regulatory environment, but we too are heading in that direction.
The Wireless Broadband Alliance is pushing its single-sign-on standard to make it easier for devices to authenticate themselves, so users can roam onto Wi-Fi connections without having to ask, though if they’re switching regulatory environments that might come as a shock.
Getting seamless roaming means adding the capability to handsets and access-point hardware, which is what the Alliance hopes will be promoted by this report.
Windows Patch Tuesday – November 2011
It is that time again! Adobe, Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla all released updates on Tuesday to fix critical security flaws in their products. Adobe issued a patch that corrects four vulnerabilities in Shockwave Player, while Redmond pushed updates to address four Windows flaws. Apple slipped out an update that mends at least 17 security holes in its version of Java, and Mozilla issued yet another major Firefox release, Firefox 8. If there have been 17 security holes in Java just since the last release If that doesn’t convince a person to uninstall Java, I’m not sure what will.
The only “critical” patch from Microsoft this month is a dangerous Windows flaw that could be triggered remotely to install malicious software just by sending the target system specially crafted packets of data. Microsoft says this vulnerability may be difficult to reliably exploit, but it should be patched immediately. Information on the other three flaws fixed this week is here. The fixes are available via Windows Updates for most supported versions of the operating system, including XP, Vista and Windows 7.
Adobe’s Shockwave update also fixes critical flaws, but users should check to see if they have this program installed before trying to update it. To test whether you have Shockwave installed, visit this page; if you see an animation, it’s time to update. If you see a prompt to install Shockwave, there is no need to install it. Mozilla Firefox users without Shockwave Player installed may still see “Shockwave Flash” listed in the “Plugins” directory of the browser; this merely indicates that the user has Adobe’s Flash Player installed.
The vulnerabilities fixed by this update exist in versions ofShockwave 11.6.1.629 and earlier. The latest version, v. 11.6.3.633, is available here. I’m sure it has its uses, but to me Shockwave is just another Adobe program that requires constant care and feeding. What’s more, like Adobe’s Flash Player, Shockwave demands two separate installation procedures for IE and non-IE browsers.
Hat tip to the SANS Internet Storm Center for the heads up on the Java fix from Apple. This update, available via Software Update or Apple Downloads, essentially brings Snow Leopard and Lion up to date with the Oracle patches released last month in Java 6 Update 29 (Apple maintains its own version of Java).
If you use Mozilla Firefox or Thunderbird, you may have noticed that Mozilla is pushing out another major upgrade that includes critical fixes to these programs; both have now been updated to version 8. If you’re still running Firefox version 3.6.x, Mozilla has updated that to3.6.24. Perhaps I’m becoming a curmudgeon, but I’m growing weary of the incessant update prompts from Firefox. It seems that almost every time I start it up it’s asking to restart the browser or to remove plugins that no longer work with the latest version. I’ve been gradually transitioning more of my work over to Google Chrome, which seems faster and updates the browser and any installed plugins silently (and frequently patches oft-targeted plugins like Flash Player even before Adobe officially releases the update).
I switched to Google Chrome when it first came out ago. I love it. It’s faster and makes updating easy and effortless. I still have Firefox, but Chrome is my default browser now on all my computers.
Android disrupts market
In 2011, Android/Linux smart phones displaced Apple, Nokia and RIM smart phones in the market but they did more than overtake. They pulled away.
Look at the numbers. IDC reports that in 3Q 2011, 118 million smart phones were produced. Apple, Nokia and RIM accounted for only 45.7 million of them. Samsung and HTC accounted for 36.3 million with 175% annual growth rate. The former market leaders were not only overtaken but left in the dust. They could not outperform dozens of newcomers using FLOSS swarming over every region and every niche in the market.
That’s what we should be seeing in the market for PCs generally but competition is stifled by lock-in of OEMs, retailers and businesses. It’s about time that changed. In Q2, the world shipped 91 million notebook/desktop PCs. Change will come but it’s too slow for me. While FLOSS is taking over the mobile space, it will penetrate the monopoly more slowly, one purchase or installation at a time. In Q2 50 million PCs shipped with “7″. A lot of the rest shipped with GNU/Linux or FreeDOS or no OS. I expect a few retailers will experiment with Android/Linux on ARMed PCs, then GNU/Linux on ARMed PCs and finally GNU/Linux on x86/amd64 PCs. It will take a few more years but it will happen. Microsoft’s entry into ARM with “8″ and Microsoft’s current advertising campaign for “7″ shows Microsoft sees it coming. The stalling of PC sales while smart thingies take off shows the market is on the edge of change.
I predict that Microsoft will not be able to grasp/hang on to the fast-moving train that is the mobile ecosystem. One of these days it will come crashing down.
When someone asks about what phone they should get, I always tell them to get an Android as it is the most open device on the market and has plenty of options.
