A really impressive move on Microsoft’s part would be a migration…
A really impressive move on Microsoft’s part would be a migration to a UNIX-based OS, a la Nextstep. The company could still implement its plans to utilize virtualization to support legacy products, while officially joining the rest of the computing world. Better still, perhaps they could implement a compatibility layer, a la Wine, for all of their legacy apps.
Another advantage: development doesn’t start from scratch, and at least the large number of Windows developers that would be left hanging yet again (forced to learn yet another new skill to keep up) would this time be learning skills that would remain largely persistent in the future.
Crazy? Maybe. Windows has had a good run, but moving away from the single-user mentality is critical at this point. What better way than by embracing a proven platform?