Bert I am a Microsoft developer and I swear by their development tools. Even Microsoft understands that the conventional "OS" ground is shifting beneath them. I predict in 10 years, it will not be PC's but rather computing devices/services that will be front and center. Microsoft still has not made a shift from it's PC centric business model, but they are making some progress. Please take some time to read about Microsoft's Azure Services Platform

I also suspect that the push back of Windows Mobile 7 is also related to the delivery of Windows 7...the realization that the footprint of Windows 7 needs to be small enough to fit on a mobile device. This means an app written for Windows 7 will also run on a device. From a developer's perspective, this will do a lot for MS's platform success: developers don't have to develop and maintain 2 different versions of their applications for devices and for pc's.

The question is "has the train already left the station?"

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." ~ Alvin Toffler