Should Microsoft be worried about burning OEMs?

Posted by hammydbest on June 19, 2012 06:55 pm 39

Everybody seems to be saying that microsoft should be worried about burning bridges with OEMs by creating Surface... But I'm not quite sure why they should be worried, its not like OEMs have anywhere else to go.

For desktop computing (traditional desktops and laptops, including the new crazy concepts coming for Win8), there isn't really another option: obviously they can't use OS X and Linux has never been successful enough on a large scale with consumers for it to be a viable option.

For tablets (i.e. ARM architecture similar to current tablets), there seem to be two price brackets: the iPad group and the Kindle Fire group. For those attempting to compete with the iPad, Android hasn't really had much success so OEMs will have to go to Windows 8... Besides, assuming Windows 8 gets widespread desktop adoption (which it almost certainly will, given MSFT's dominance in desktops), then consumers will surely be looking for it on these $500 tablets.

For the cheaper, Kindle Fire priced tablets, with the costs of licensing, I doubt this is going to be even viable for OEMs. Amazon may be able to sell at cost, and Google may be willing to too (we'll see next week), but I'm not sure that OEMs can drive the cost down without sacrificing quality, making Windows 8 seem unlikely to hit these devices anyway...

I just don't really see how it would hurt MSFT if they piss off a few OEMs... Its not like they have anywhere else to go... What do you guys think?

EDIT: A lot of you guys seem to be making the case for MS doing this to get OEMs going, and that's great, I completely agree, but I was kinda trying to ask: if they do piss off OEMs, why should MS care...?