Microsoft wants ARM machines to be locked in Windows 8 mode, probably to block Android. From what I can tell, it goes both ways. Existing Android tablets are not Windows8-certified, so they won't run it.
Microsoft being the runner-up in the tablet market, I find the move puzzling. What do they have to gain? Why would vendors want to lock themselves in the hands of Microsoft, given MS's past behavior?
More puzzling yet: what is the force in the Microsoft DNA that prompts them to systematically return to this kind of anti-competitive behaviors as soon as they get a chance?
Remember the BCG matrix? I think Microsoft is desperately trying to keep Windows in the "cash cow" quadrant, while the consumer is starting to look at it as a "dog." For teens and people in their 20s, Windows is the OS that your mom and dad use. I just think the product has run its course. Just like GM couldn't revive Oldsmobile, Microsoft (the GM of the software world) can't revive Windows. Android and iOS already own the tablet/handheld space. That war is over, unless Apple and Google seriously stagnate. Microsoft had more than their fair share of shots at winning that and failed miserably, because their approach was always one of expanding lock-in to Windows rather than really building stuff that people enjoyed using.
I mostly agree, especially your last sentence. With the exception of our Exchange/AD environment at work (which everyone uses Macs on top of) I only boot Windows when some piece of software I can't get around requires it. I've used a combination of OS X and various Linux flavors to do everything for a few years now and haven't missed MS one bit.
My father on the other hand (who told me I was nuts back in the 90's when I explained how Linux/OSS would change everything) still clings to Windows even though it's a major source of frustration for my folks. I would even raise the age you posited, as I am in my early 30's (though it could just be that I'm immature).
I disagree with your assertion that the war for mobile is won, however. I think MS is down, but certainly not out. If the last 10 years are any indication, things can turn around in the blink of an eye.
People pretty much never change the operating system of their ARM devices anyway. They are a lot more heterogenous thing than PCs and getting any OS to run on some specific ARM device is always quite big a task. There's of course some examples of this happening, say TouchPad or N9 Android ports, but these devices already ran Linux kernel.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Even with locked bootloaders on Android devices people are finding ways to install custom builds of Android. Why not custom builds of GNU/Linuix, FreeBSD or even Windows.
How many people do that to their PC? The vast minority. The situation that is on phones and tablets isn't all that different than what people do by choice.
The majority of people don't care. If the people don't care, why would a company do it?
Sorry, but I did it (the tablet I'm writing this on runs a custom OS). The only reason for Microsoft to forbid changing the OS is to limit competition and thus harm the consumer who will have less, inferior (because if you have no competition, it's no longer worth investing in improvements) choices.
what is the force in the Microsoft DNA that prompts them to systematically return to this kind of anti-competitive behaviors as soon as they get a chance?
Microsoft being the runner-up in the tablet market, I find the move puzzling. What do they have to gain? Why would vendors want to lock themselves in the hands of Microsoft, given MS's past behavior?
More puzzling yet: what is the force in the Microsoft DNA that prompts them to systematically return to this kind of anti-competitive behaviors as soon as they get a chance?