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Microsoft Office has an overwhelming global presence in businesses large and small. Estimates range from “81% of companies” to “holding steady at 94 percent for years”. Google Docs is making inroads but currently controls less than 10% of the market for office applications by any measure (and Google’s momentum has been slowed by publicity over Google Drive privacy issues and the failure of Google+ to make any headway against Facebook).

[An aside for nostalgic lawyers: WordPerfect is currently estimated to have a worldwide market share of 0.35%.]

Almost half of Microsoft’s profits come from Office. Word and Excel are deeply embedded in the business flow for almost every major company; inertia and the need for compatibility will ensure that it continues to be dominant for many years. […] continued

An updated version of Microsoft Security Essentials is being installed automatically for anyone currently running the free antivirus program. It is being pushed out silently by the Automatic Updates system and will likely be completely invisible to most of you. It does not require a restart after the update is installed.

One recent report showed that Microsoft Security Essentials has become the most popular security program in North America and second worldwide. MSE is one of Microsoft’s best program designs precisely because it is nearly invisible when it is doing its job: it installs with two or three clicks and no restart, and there are virtually no popup windows calling attention to the program when it is running, unlike every other antivirus program on the market. […] continued

Microsoft and Google each introduced services this week that are copies of Dropbox in rather precise detail.

Taken together, these services represent a fundamental change in the way we use technology. Here’s my best effort to sum it up:

Storing files on one device or in one physical location is now just another option – and not a very useful one.

We are using multiple devices in multiple locations: our own computers at office, home or on the road; smartphones and tablets; and borrowed and public devices. These services (and all their less well-known competitors) give you equal access to those files at all of those locations on all of those devices. […] continued

Let’s gather up all the things that are on the verge of changes large and small. It covers just about every category.

The common thread is that not one of them is ready now.

Everything is in play. Anything that you buy now will seem like a poor decision in hindsight within a short time.

I’ve written about all of these things before but it’s interesting to put it all in one place.

DEVICE CHOICES

The biggest change is right in front of you all the time now. It’s the dawning realization that not everyone needs a computer. A computer is a massively overpowered and overcomplicated device for people who want to browse web sites, check Facebook, read email, and watch TV shows – and that’s all the technology that a lot of people need. […] continued

We have a long relationship with the Windows Start menu. It was introduced in ancient times in Windows 95 and expanded to two columns in Windows XP. We are emotionally attached to it at a deep level, as you will discover when you try to adjust to a different concept in Windows 8.

Here’s a secret: most of you don’t use the Start menu for much of anything.

The right column is useful enough. You probably click on the Start orb to get to the power button to shut down or restart the computer. Occasionally you have some reason to open Control Panel. […] continued

Previously:
Windows 8 And Post-PC Computing
Windows 8 And The Metro UI

Windows will continue to be the dominant platform for enterprises and professionals but it runs the risk of becoming irrelevant – or at best, just another equal but decreasingly important option – for a generation growing up with no particular loyalty to it. Enterprises have already had to accept the nearly instantaneous explosion of tablets and smartphones that are way outside their normal security comfort zone, and anyone outside of an office already has a tenuous relationship to Windows at best.

Windows 8 will be the reinvention of the entire concept, a bold move being led by smart people. […] continued

The Start screen on your Windows 8 computer will look something like the screen above.

If Microsoft is successful is finding a place in the market for mobile devices, this is what the Start screen will look like on your next tablet:

And the Start screen on your next phone will look something like this:

The look will be consistent. The gestures will be the same. The places on screen to swipe or touch will be the same and the same things will happen when you swipe them. Photos and apps and more will be seamlessly connected to all your devices as well as the cloud. […] continued

The logo for Windows 8 that was unveiled over the weekend symbolizes a lot of things that will have a deep effect on you sooner than you think. In a couple of weeks Microsoft will unveil a “consumer preview” of Windows 8 and begin a drumbeat of publicity that will lead up to the launch of the new operating system at the end of the year.

Behind the scenes, manufacturers and developers are being urged to join in a radical reimagining of the entire Windows ecosystem. It is a bet-the-company moment on a scale that is rarely attempted by any corporation. […] continued

Are you a Facebook user? You probably noticed the significant makeover to your Facebook page on Wednesday. Your news feed is now formatted a bit like a newspaper or online magazine, with “top stories,” a “ticker” feature on the right, “smart lists” on the left, and what appears to be some new methods of filtering the feed to show you a small portion of the flood being posted by your six hundred friends. That’s not all – there are more tweaks already in place.

Those are the minor changes.

The big changes will be announced at a Facebook developer conference on Thursday – likely to include various hooks into music services, possibly some kind of connection with Hulu, and perhaps new “Read,” “Listened,” “Watched” and “Want” buttons to sprinkle around on other sites and tie back to Facebook. […] continued