Great article over at Newsweek about the Lost Decade of Microsoft. I’m fully aware that Dan Lyons is Fake Steve, but that doesn’t change that fact that his insights are often right on the ball. I’ll also fully admit that I have no love for Microsoft – I appreciate that they bring competition to the industry, but honestly, over the last 5 years at least, if not longer, that competition has been limited and mouldy. This is a company that has been lacking direction, focus and ability to “wow” for far too long, riding on its coat-tails and existing product marketshare without innovating. To quote Dan Lyons:
Now, instead of being scary, Microsoft has become a bit of a joke. Yes, its Windows operating system still runs on more than 90 percent of PCs, and the Office application suite rules the desktop. But those are old markets. In new areas, Microsoft has stumbled.
The best thing that could happen to Microsoft at this point would be to replace Steve Ballmer with someone who actually understands the technology they’re trying to sell.
