Sorry, but I just find this statement hard to agree with. Microsoft is forever shipping some "game changer" "pretty soon now", but they haven't managed to change any games in a very long time now.
If Microsoft, or anyone else, has some revolutionary thing, it will be interesting to see it when it happens. But I am certainly not anticipating any such event in the next year.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digita...
It still makes the iPad look half baked.
but as is the way with MS they killed it and settled for mediocre.
I'm beggining to wonder if MS are actually scared of being innovative.
This might actually be a pretty good summary of MSFT's corporate culture.
The impression I always get from the inside is that it's a company dominated by middle managers. They've got so many PMs in so many layers that you'd wonder if it's just PMs all the way down.
The combination of mature, gigantic company, lack of strong leadership, and extremely generous benefits has combined to create a population of people who are there for the stability and extremely afraid of rocking the boat or killing the golden goose.
Making futuristic looking concept movies is pretty easy compared to actually making and shipping a physical product.
Anyway, thanks for the maximum 4 downvotes HN.