Silicon Insider: R.I.P. Microsoft?. After Dominating the Technology Industry for Years, is Microsoft Poised to Collapse? [bBlog: The sales, marketing and business weblog | XPLANE]
The story’s ostensibly about MicroSoft, but its broader than that; it’s
also about taking things — including corporate franchises — for
granted.
Great, healthy companies not only dominate the market, but share of
mind. Look at Apple these days. But when was the last time you thought
about Microsoft, except in frustration or anger? The company just
announced a powerful new search engine, designed to take on Google —
but did anybody notice? Meanwhile, open systems world — created
largely in response to Microsoft’s heavy-handed hegemony — is slowly
carving away market share from Gates & Co.: Linux and Firefox hold
the world’s imagination these days, not Windows and Explorer. The only
thing Microsoft seems busy at these days is patching and plugging holes.