<p>Barrons, I realized that as I wrote, “Even after its lackluster performance in the past years -where MSFT tracks the indicators.”</p>
<p>I am not on a crusade to defend Microsoft, and I know that volumes have been written about their predatory tactics. However, when looking at the past 30 years, Microsoft should be high, very high on any list of the companies that have modeled our ways of using technologies. What is even more remarkable is that most of their competition during the same time has not fared that well. The streets are paved with people who USED to work for the companies who marketed Wordperfect, DBase, Lotus, or Mosaic. We may not agree nor applaud how Gates ended up winning the word processor, the spreadhseet, the database, and the Internet, but he DID. </p>
<p>Also, it is correct that Microsoft might no longer lead in innovation, but it is a lot harder to innovate when a company controls 50 or 90% of a market. A company that controls 1 or 2% of a market can have a stellar year and still control less than 5% -hint … Apple. </p>
<p>It is a lot harder to stay on top of the mountain than climb it. :)</p>
I guess it depends on your definition of innovation. My definition requires an innovator to have an original idea regarding an invention of substance. Can you name anything of substance that originated from Microsoft? I can’t. </p>
<p>Let’s look at a few software innovations and see who came up with the idea or developed it first.
Disc Operating System – Microsoft bought the code from some other company
Spreadsheet – Lotus (not Microsoft)
Word processor – Wang (not Microsoft)
Graphic User Interface – developed at PARC XEROX, mastered by Apple (not MSFT)
Local Area Network – Novell (not Microsoft)
Internet Browser – Netscape (not Microsoft)
JAVA programming language – SunMicrosystems (not Microsoft)
Internet Search – many companies started, mastered by Google (not Microsoft)
And that’s all I could think of for now. </p>
<p>What does this all show? Microsoft didn’t innovate in the early years when they did not have all of the market. In fact, their corporate culture is to copy not innovate. They are very much like the Chinese government, expect they are not as obvious about it as are the Chinese.</p>
Microsoft controls nothing. Microsoft employees don’t march into Compusa or Bestbuy with machine guns and force you to buy their product. People buy it off their own will, despite the fact that they ***** about it to no end. If they didn’t offer a decent OS, no one would buy it! Simple as that. And if you are so unsatisfied with their product, why don’t you come up with your own? This whole notion of a company ‘controlling’ a percentage of the market is Marxist fallacy.</p>
<p>Until recently every PC sold came with Microsoft software installed. Most still do. It was something M imposed on the hardware firms and they had no real alternative.</p>
<p>Personally while I admire BIll Gates for his business sense- I don’t have any Microsoft products and I do just fine :)</p>
<p>( I also know several who had the good fortune to retire from Microsoft 10 years ago- and the money that they earned gave them the flexibiltiy to make a contribution outside the computing industry)</p>