There are reasons that Windows is still the most prevalent operating system in the world.  Primarily is the fact that from the very early days, Windows was easy to get and install, either legally or illegally. Anyone who has been a longtime Windows user probably at one time or another gone both routes but really, the early piracy of the operating system did more to spread it than anything else.

Getting your hands on a cracked version of Windows was as easy as going to your friend’s place and making a copy of the disks. Hell, anyone from that period will still remember the “famous” release of Windows that only needed a series of  0′s to make it believe it was a legal version.

OEMs around the world pumped out machine after machine with Windows installed on it. It didn’t matter where you turned, chances are if you were looking at a computer it had Windows installed.

However, there is a price we all paid, and still pay today:  Constantly having to be on guard for all kinds of malware. While there has been a marked improvement when it comes to security in Windows 7, the fact is that Windows is no longer the only target of choice for malware creators.

Now we find ourselves moving quickly into a more mobile world where things like smartphones and tablets are gaining incredible marketshare.

It is a market where the major battle is between Apple and Android, however with Apple they control the complete ecosystem from the hardware to software which makes it a little harder for malware to gain a foothold.

Instead the real target is going to be Android because it is suffering from the same thing that painted the target on the back of Windows users – market saturation.

With Android what we are seeing is very similar to the early days of Windows. Just as almost every computer sold had Windows installed on it, we are seeing the same with Android. Handset manufacturers around the world are pumping out millions of smartphones powered by the little green robot.

Also just as Windows in those early days was a security nightmare, so is Android today. Already we are hearing about malware that can record and save your phone calls, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Yet neither Android or the smartphone manufacturers seem to be doing anything to deal with the problem; much like Microsoft in its beginning.

It is almost as if the concern to get the smartphone operating system out there on as many handsets as possible and as quickly as possible never mind the potential dangers; gain, much like Microsoft in those early Windows days.

The problem with this is that smartphones are much more our identity wallets than computers ever were, and for the most part we use them to do things without thinking. The majority of everyday smartphone users are probably under the illusion that smartphone makers, and by extension Android, wouldn’t purposely leave them open to attack.

Microsoft has learned the security lesson the hard way, to the point where in 2002, Bill Gates put a freeze on all development until every single product had passed a revamped coding security standards (one of the reason for the delay leading to Vista) referred to as the Trustworthy Computing initiative.

One of the standing jokes whenever an OS flamewar blows up was how people bragged about how Mac and Linux never get malware. The most logical response to such claims was that neither of those operating systems had enough of a market share to make it worth any malware creator’s time.

This has to a degree been proven true as we see Apple gaining marketshare as well as an increasing number of malware attacks aimed at Macs; but Apple isn’t alone. As Android continues to pump out millions of handsets, it is positioning itself as the market leader and as a result painting a bigger and bigger bulls eye on it’s back, and by extension, the backs of consumers.

It would seem that Android is being pumped out by the millions without any apparent concern when it comes to protecting the consumer. This will make it target number one for malware creators and as a result we are seeing the beginning of what could be a security disaster.

Android could avoid this by simply looking to the past and what happened in the Windows world, but somehow I don’t see that happening.

[Cross-posted at Winextra]