The ball is now on Microsoft's hands as the company scrambled to eke out a place in a mobile computing world increasingly dominated by Apple and Google.

On Wednesday, Microsoft is set to release a preview version of the new Windows 8, which the company said will work on conventional desktops and notebooks while at the same time will try to assume its role as the new kid in the block in the mobile devices realm.

That means the new Microsoft operating system will span two different computing infrastructures, both of which, analysts said, Microsoft was familiar with but appeared to have lost its touch along the way.

Microsoft's innovations transformed the personal computer as a normal and affordable household and business device, raking in for the company billions of revenues that for a time propelled its founder, Bill Gates, as the world's richest.

Many tech experts also credited Microsoft for inventing the tablet computer, which when the company introduced failed to take off.

And those were the bygone days as nowadays millions of consumers perform their computing chores on-the-go, giving rise to the rule of Apple's iPhone and iPad and later on rival smartphones and tablet computers powered by Google's Android.

As these gadgets emerged as the preferred tools for both personal and business computing, and with consumers snapping them up by the millions, Microsoft's edge in the business gradually declined as mobile devices started cannibalising PC sales.

By the end of 2011, sales of smartphones actually exceeded that of PC sales, according to IDC, and experts believe that it's only a matter of time before tablets would overtake PCs sales figures, a scenario that would further relegate the sector to irrelevance.

Microsoft has been working hard to reinvigorate its Windows business, following earlier flops on the Windows Vista that according to the Associated Press prompted many in the Microsoft crowd to ditch the OS and turn on to Apple's revamped lines Macs Mac notebooks.

But the company stayed fighting with the Windows 7 selling more than 500 million copies since its launch in 2009 and its Office Suite continuing to deliver considerable revenues but its future remains blurred, specifically on how it will play in the mobile computing field.

Analysts said that Microsoft has no one to blame but itself, largely for coming late into the game and in part for its failure to implement adjustments as the tech world clearly alters its landscape.

This time around though, Microsoft is banking on Windows 8 to redefine its current role in the industry and analysts agree that it would be a make or break for the software giant.

"Microsoft's future path is riding on Windows 8 and its success ... and this is a chance for Microsoft to re-establish itself in a market where it's becoming increasingly irrelevant," Gartner analyst David Cearley told AP.

A hit or a miss greeting Windows 8, its fully operational version due for release later this year, will also determine the fate of major PC vendors like Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which last year have admitted that their businesses were impacted by smartphone and tablet sales.

Early reviews of those who tested the new Windows OS provided positive feedbacks while media reports indicated that Microsoft will roll out a complete overhaul from its previous platforms.

The new Windows 8, both in looks and functions, could spar it out with Apple's iOS and Google's Android, reports said.

But those good words so far would have to be validated by actual experience of the regular users, which in turn should spur the actual upswings in sales figures that Microsoft hopes would follow Window 8's release this year.