That's the core idea behind Microsoft's Surface tablets but, as we saw with the Surface for Windows RT a few months ago, its ARM-based nature resulted in some substantial drawbacks.
Close behind is Microsoft's Media Player, with 38%, then QuickTime, with a distant 14% share. (Apple disagrees that its share is so low.) That, despite such gimmicks as a Disney promotion on boxes of Frosted Cheerios cereal giving away QuickTime software.
The two companies are tied for third in the market behind Apple and Microsoft.
Finally, says Mr Gibson, Nintendo will fight hard to keep its lead in the handheld-console market, since it is in third place, behind Sony and Microsoft, in household consoles.
Some analysts now say internet advertising revenue will drop about 20% this year - a blow Yahoo can ill afford, having already slipped behind AOL and Microsoft's MSN in the internet-portal race.
This kind of research has become a major cornerstone to the philosophy behind software development at Microsoft.
Unfortunately they had to demonstrate their new cutting edge smartphones with one hand deliberately tied behind their back by Microsoft.
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For now, Microsoft can hide behind the software industry's shirk-wrap license policy, which disclaims all liability for software errors.
The results show Google leading the way in innovating new safeguards, Microsoft running just behind, and Firefox sorely lacking in several significant areas.
"Because Microsoft is so behind in monetization in online business, they've gotta try tricks that few have tried, " said Citigroup analyst Brent Thill.
Nokia has been working behind the scenes on its Microsoft smartphone partnership, however, and issued a press release Thursday to detail its efforts.
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On online services microsoft is pretty behind Google and we still dont know if this phones are going to be able to use any google services.
FORBES: Nokia CEO Clarifies Battle Against Android, Clears Up Misconceptions
Partly as a result, the PlayStation 3 has lagged behind the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 in sales--even as analysts credit the PlayStation 3 with giving Blu-Ray an edge over HD-DVD.
Behind the scenes, companies like Microsoft and Google were lobbying for the holiday to be pushed through.
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Year-to-date Apple is down 5%, besting the market but still behind its arch-rival, Microsoft, which is even money.
It has interested analysts because both Yahoo and Microsoft have fallen far behind Google in capturing the Internet search engine business.
And despite coming out with a tablet years before anyone else, Microsoft has been left behind on this front as well.
Android operating systems have the largest share of the smartphone market worldwide, followed by Apple's iOS platform with systems from Blackberry, Microsoft and others far behind.
In October it remained fourth -- ahead of Facebook and behind only Google, Yahoo and Microsoft -- with 98.5 million unique users, according to comScore, which measures popularity within the digital world.
After several years of lagging hopelessly behind in the cool factor, Microsoft has a chance to score with enterprise IT groups without permanently alienating employees who love iPads and iPhones, or Samsung phones and tablets running Android.
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With the distraction of Microsoft's unsolicited proposal behind us, we must redouble our efforts.
But lest you think Svensson's brain has been bent by too many hours behind his joystick, consider this: Microsoft's share of the market has been growing steadily since 1995 as its games have improved considerably.
Microsoft is widely criticized as being behind the curve on developing an operating system for tablets.
While they were stuck in a tiny, shrink wrap box, Microsoft had left that box far behind.
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Microsoft and Automattic, the company behind WordPress, announced their partnership at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference on Monday.
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As Microsoft slowly leaves the legacy world behind in order to keep up with its rivals, a tension will be introduced into the market along a fault line I highlighted in a previous column: the x86-ARM divide, which falls at the bottom of the stack shown in the graphic at the top of the page.
In a head-to-head battle with Apple, Microsoft is fighting with one arm tied behind its back.
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That puts Sun behind IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Compaq and Dell.
Google and Mozilla use the VP8 (royalty free) codec, whereas Microsoft and (I assume) Apple are behind H.264.
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