Probably the best line from the article.

The point about stack ranking - good observation. I've heard about it for years from MS people as well as mini-MS and such. It struck me as problematic even back then. In one way it's "just another internal policy", but it's pretty obvious it's going to create internal competition, which is the last thing a company needs.

I remember around 2000 or so - when the DOJ trial was going on - the stuff coming out of MS was "we're the underdog - we see everyone as competition or potential competition" (paraphrasing, obviously). I don't know where that mindset went, but the last decade, they've not really acted like it.

Gosh, I'm not saying this well. They have acted like it, but haven't chosen their battles well, perhaps. Trying to compete in dozens and dozens of competitive landscapes at the same time has led to little focus. Yes, "Office and Windows" are cash cows, but the respect (and fear) for MS is largely gone - they've squandered their image playing "me too" catchup in too many fields, and they've got a long way to go to be the leader in any field that they once were.

At least one tech generation, probably more, never experienced MS as the big leader to be feared - back in the mid 90's, any conceptual startup had to consider "what if MS gets in to this market?". You had to be able to answer that question. I doubt that's a question anyone has asked themselves in at least 10 years, if not more. Replace MS with "Google" or "Apple" and that would instantly make sense to today's crop of startups. But if you said MS, no one would even take you seriously.