Google Android is now the biggest threat to Microsoft. To try and displace Microsoft on its home territory, Google took the attack vector of mobile computing but ensured their mobile operating system was scalable. Clever Google. Sure, we want you to use Android on mobile phones, Google might say, but it works equally well on tablet computers and netbooks. And, you know, if one day you want to , it wouldn't take much to make it fit. Things will be easier to manage if Android is on all your devices, and Android is a touch-friendly, Internet operating system from the ground-up--unlike clunky old Windows.

But that's in the future. Possibly.

Microsoft is a one trick pony that's shackled to another pony called Intel. Whenever it tries its hand at computing not built around x86, its failures are more numerous than its successes. It's had success in the gaming arena, but that's the exception rather than the rule (and its big trick there was extend its PC knowledge into manufacturing consoles--the first Xbox was nothing more than a PC you could plug into your TV).

The danger posed by Android for Microsoft comes not only from the fact that it's a new operating system that's fast gaining ground. The chief danger is that Android is platform independent. Like all versions of Linux, Android is equally at home on ARM-based processors as it is on Intel or AMD chips. Google is not only churning up the operating system landscape, but digging deeper to turn-over system infrastructure too. x86 is no longer the sure bet it used to be. We might soon be seeing as part of the movement into the cloud.

It remains to be seen how much of a corporation's IT structure will be infected by the virus that is Android. I don't believe Windows will be getting wiped from desktops or file servers any time soon. However, we are undoubtedly experiencing the most diverse computing landscape in perhaps 15 or 20 years. This brings with it challenges but also plenty of opportunities for those able to spot the trends.