To quote: The biggest problem Microsoft has, I think, is that there is nothing they’re working on these days that makes a person like me look at them and think “damn, I wish I was working in their ecosystem.”
This. This is it. You can't qualify it or put in more concrete words what it is that's missing, but there's something missing. Much like Nokia has been kind of missing out for a decade, and definitely ever since iPhone came.
The common pattern with companies that are missing out is that they're lured into it by their heydays. They used to be really successful and many still are, despite this, but there's that something missing, everyone can sense it, and it's only a matter of time when the void bursts in and the stakes of reinventing themselves go all-or-nothing.
With Nokia that is happening pretty much as I'm writing. Microsoft's ship is bigger and their product line is more versatile, so it'll be many parts going under at different pace while some parts might still be raising up.
I find the Azure platform very compelling and C# a very productive language. The upcoming enhanced support for asynchronous programming in C# 5 is something I wish JavaScript would have for Node.js programming.
I'm quite sure those aren't the only things at Microsoft that are compelling and productive. However, being good doesn't preclude being simultaneously on a downward slope. You have to be riding on the right wave, or better yet creating the right wave yourself, to succeed. And I see Microsoft floating steadily on their surfboard while several waves simply pass by.
This. This is it. You can't qualify it or put in more concrete words what it is that's missing, but there's something missing. Much like Nokia has been kind of missing out for a decade, and definitely ever since iPhone came.
The common pattern with companies that are missing out is that they're lured into it by their heydays. They used to be really successful and many still are, despite this, but there's that something missing, everyone can sense it, and it's only a matter of time when the void bursts in and the stakes of reinventing themselves go all-or-nothing.
With Nokia that is happening pretty much as I'm writing. Microsoft's ship is bigger and their product line is more versatile, so it'll be many parts going under at different pace while some parts might still be raising up.