In a note to clients — as reported by “Barron’s” (http://macte.ch/epv2W) — UBS Securities analyst Steve Milunovich says Apple’s iOS is the “new Windows” (he means that as a compliment). He says the Cupertino-based company is “winning in personal computing.”

“Apple is gaining as the ratio of total notebooks to iPads plus MacBooks peaked at over 30x in 2006 and is now just 1.6x,” Milunovich says. “Not only could iPad maintain half the tablet market, but MacBooks might steal a significant number of Windows PC users.”

The analyst thinks Microsoft is late to the game with its Surface tablet computer and Windows 8 for other manufacturers’ tablets. He thinks the company will struggle to make inroads against Apple’s “first-mover” advantage in the category.