2009 is slated to be the release of Windows 7, possibly as early as October, maybe a little later. Whatever the case it’s going to be a significant release as Microsoft has to overcome their negative image brought on by Vista, tackle Google head-on with their various online initiatives and hopefully prevent Apple making any more inroads into their consumer sales.

The global economy however is going into recession, and no matter how much better a release Windows 7 is than Vista, nothing reduces interest in technology like the fear of losing your house, or job…

However, bad though a recession is for huge companies like Microsoft, it could actually be better for them than their main competitors, Google and Apple.

Google’s revenue is based solely on advertising which could be hard hit as the economic outlook worsens. A lot of Apple’s revenue is from high-end consumer goods, or luxury items such as iPods and iPhones. The advantage Microsoft has here is that they cover all basis, from dirt cheap computers all the way up to the high end stuff.

Of course, this is a very simplistic way of looking at it.