Again this is not good as it sounds. A percentage of the loss of desktop to Linux goes to Windows server for thin terminal provisioning. This is in fact written in the IBM redbook for migrations.

So what you are talking about lines up to possible Linux growth going on.

Money in the bank only counts while people trust the bank.

As I said, Mr. Pogson, you have to consider the whole ecosystem. You “cannot see the forest for the trees” as is said. Hope and pray for Microsoft’s demise as you wish, but, at the end of the day, it is only the money in the bank that counts on the scoreboard and Windows is far, far ahead of whatever might be in second place.

The founders and directors of Microsoft, and many who came after, have long since moved their wealth to safe havens and Allen, Gates, and even Ballmer will never want for anything again, be that a fine meal or a 777 private airplane.

But the server division seems to be flourishing, and compensates for the decline in the client division. So long for Linux and MySQL, or MariaDB if you must, beating Windows on servers and databases.

Ah, and MS is coming to tablets again. Less than two months to go, and all OEMs are already prepared with their 8 tablets. Including Samsung.

Not for the client division and the whole operation showed a loss last quarter.

2011 operating income down 5% from 2010
2012 operating income down 6% from 2011

Meanwhile the world is growing and more people are using more IT. That’s not robust, is it? They are not just having random bad quarters. They are having consecutive bad years.

Market growth is apparently marking time due to some buyers holding off for the availability of Windows 8, Mr. Pogson, but overall shipments are still strong and, more importantly, profits at Microsoft remain robust.

Also, if you look at the entire Windows ecosystem at Microsoft, namely client OS, server OS, office automation, development tools, and other products that are used in conjunction with Windows, you can see that even revenue and profit growth are both increasing.

In general, profits from PCs in these areas continue to overwhelm the meager profits that can be attributed to phone and tablet OS. Apple will likely continue to take the lion’s share of profits from tablet and phone device sales while service providers such as ATT and Verizon will make tons of money selling minutes. Some content providers like Amazon and Barnes and Nobel will also make some hay from their specialized tablet devices. The rest of the players are scrambling for the peanuts not consumed by these elephants.

Meanwhile, this just in, “more small cheap computers selling than big expensive computers”. When a channel is as big as the new technology, one can expect a few losers. Consumers have choice and one of their possible choices is to buy A instead of B whereupon B remains in the channel unsold.

“Tablet PCs are the fastest growing application for touch, with 2011 shipments tripling to 79.6 million units. Growth continues to be strong, and NPD DisplaySearch forecasts that more than 130 million touch screens will be shipped for tablet PCs in 2012″ see NPD DisplaySearch 29 August 2012

Meanwhile, growth in Wintel machines is negative…

I should point out that “elephant in the room” doesn’t mean what you think it means.

An “elephant in the room” is an obvious truth that people wilfully ignore, or do not see, or do not want to discuss.

A proper usage of the phrase would be “Linux advocates say Linux should be taking over the world, but the elephant in the room is that Linux just isn’t superior to Windows or Mac OS”

“800lb gorilla” is the phrase you’re looking for. Or use “Chipzilla” when talking about Intel.

Besides, we are in a down economy worldwide. Who can afford $1300 Ultrabooks and thousands of dollars for server software

At least Google came up with more original names, then: 3.1, 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP, VISTA, 7 or 8

I think Clarence is jealous of the funny names, “Why can’t M$ Windows be cool like Android?”

Unsold small cheap computers continue to pile up in the channel and distributors are applying a financial laxative to get them moving. Where will it all end?