There are a number of points of view when it comes to determining the future direction of how the average consumer will most commonly interact with a personal computing device, whether it be the next 5, 10 or 20 years. When Bill Gates revolutionized the PC industry with the development of software, or Windows operating system, designed to run over the already prevalent DOS, this heralded a new beginning in the way a vast majority of people interacted with computers.

Windows rearranged the interface of where man meets computer, although some controversy exists as to where this new template, or designed originated. Many claim Gates borrowed the idea for Windows from Steve Jobs, founder and developer of Apple’s operating system – also window-based. Nevertheless, Gates introduced the concept to an already established market of IBM / PC users. This brought Microsoft towards the forefront in personal computing innovation and near monopoly of what software ultimately made it and succeeded in the marketplace of Windows-based PC products. This includes the emergence of Internet Explorer web browser, a software that eventually eclipsed the original innovator and one-time market leader, Netscape. Another example is the MS Office Suite that also eventually too market control from Corel’s Wordperfect Suite.

Yet, as IBM and DOS gave way to Microsoft and a whole new generation of cost-efficient PC manufacturers, so now it seems that Microsoft is giving way to the next wave of innovation in PC computing. What may have started as the simple and even inconspicuous success of the Apple iPod in music players, has eventually morphed into a world-wide rush and huge market acceptance of similar Apple products such as the iPhone and iPad that once again have revolutionized how the general public interacts with personal computing devices. Only this time not so much in the manner of a desktop PC limited to productivity software, but by way of highly mobile, multimedia, productivity and internet search capable devices.