In the long run, Microsoft will destroy both Apple and Google. They're just waiting for the hype around iBullshit and Android systems to die down (and it really is dying down).
At the end of the day, no sane programmer would prefer the current state of things in iOS and Android to Microsoft's .NET. It's amazing to me that Apple with all that money still hasn't invested in a decent IDE for programmers to use. Unreal!
Microsoft just needs to stay the course and be a bit more sympathetic towards its userbase who are truly sick of all these fucking changes that keep popping out of every corner every year.
They've got the right idea and base framework in .NET. They just need to spend time making it better and even easier than it is. Apple and Google will struggle with keeping programmers happy. The next generation of programmers will not accept having to learn as much as iOS and Android require. They will choose .NET. Microsoft just needs to make some decent devices at cheaper prices so Apple and Google lose their market-share (and that's bound to happen at some point).
A tablet or a phone more expensive than Apple's and Samsung's is not what Microsoft should be making.
I think you got things wrong my friend.
The future of the software is about open source projects that you could easily grow and build. If you don't like it, you will fork it and make it for your own use. That is why .net is not as huge as Microsoft hopes for and that is why it never will. That is why Android is scucessful, open source operating system based on Linux. Now I can give you 100 projects like this:
Firefox, Chrome, Apache, MySql, Linux, Cloud Computing, ... all open source.
The old Microsoft closed source ideology will not work in future.
The huge success of Microsoft in the desktop is due to the fact that it is very hard to replace it because it is famous not because it is good.
Also as I said, Visual Studio is a great tool but don't under-estimate the power of other companies and other open source projects.
Windows is going down in Server and Embedded market. 5 years ago, at least 30 percent of projects were using windows CE, now nobody uses windows on any embedded platform. That is huge market man. Also windows have failed on the tablet.
If I read your post I would have thought that you work for Microsoft, I have been to their few shows, they all talk like that.