Microsoft Armed and Equipt

Prepare ye for the coming of the new Microsoft.(MSFT Quote)

For some, it's fun to trash new Microsoft products like Windows Vista and talk up hip new productivity tools such as Apple (AAPL Quote) iPhones and Google (GOOG Quote)Apps. But we here in the world of the little man know better: Eventually these other offerings may grow to be a serious threat to Microsoft, but when it comes to the tools small businesses use to keep running, our business is still Microsoft's to lose.

Just look at the numbers: For all the breathless marketing of the iPhone and the Mac, as of earlier this summer, iPhone subscribers totaled just 2.5 million, company executives said, and the share of the Apple operating system was only 7.5 percent of the total, according to Net Applications, the Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Web applications developer that tracks operating system deployment. ...