I don't see how they could have done otherwise.

They are delivering very little in the way of innovation and have no real focus as a business.

From my angle their products are less impressive than their peers in each market segment, with the possible exception of the Office franchise.

I have an Xbox 360, which I like, and I manage a SharePoint platform as my job. SharePoint has its moments, but overall it's solid and it works. It's good. It's a standard Microsoft product. Mlah.

But when it comes to computing resources that I own and manage, there's no value on the Microsoft platform any more. We have 3 Mac laptops at home and a Mini for the TV. I have an iPhone despite already having a work-issued BlackBerry (RIM is another story).

The value I get out of OS X may be things the consumer can't see or doesn't see soon enough before purchasing a PC or a Windows Mobile device. Things like antivirus and malware. Things like integration between hardware and software, to which anyone who has used gestures on modern MacBook can testify. Things like instant-on when waking from sleep. Things like simple backups and restores, and transferring user data and configurations from an old Mac to a new one.

I'm sure a lot of those things that differentiate Apple's offering from Microsoft's will not last for a long time. Windows 7 will close the gap. But I'm enjoying these features now and have been enjoying some of them for years. Why wait?

Microsoft will not stand still, and neither will Apple. But unless something happens at the DNA level in those two organizations, I expect Apple's offering to actually increase the gap, because that's been the trend since OS X was introduced in 2001. Windows XP was introduced later the same year . . . and I'm using it here at work to post this.

The fact that I'm using an 8 year old OS at work fully underscores the challenges faced by Microsoft. We have no plans to upgrade. None.

So Apple is the platform of innovation. They're innovating at the OS level and people who innovate are drawn to the capabilities to afford. The next generation of software is being brought about on platforms other than Windows.

Machiavelli nailed it in 1505 and in 2009 Microsoft is suffering the effects. A long but poignant quotation:

"It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from the fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them." (http://gojomo.blogspot.com/2002/06/machiavellis-innovators-d...)

The guys who got rich at Microsoft are still there, strangling the place because they only know one way to get rich and damned if they're going to throw that away. The smart guys take off, unwilling to be stifled, so you're left with worker bees who nod when told to nod.

The best thing that could happen for Microsoft would be a new senior management team. The second best thing would be to force them all to use any products other than their own.