“I can’t help but think that Microsoft, like IBM before it, is indeed afflicted with a deadly corporate disease of which it is totally unaware, one that might lead to its eventual downfall. As Microsoft has repeatedly demonstrated, corporate paranoia is a tremendous strength when it comes to defending a dominant market position. On any reasonable timeline—years, even decades—things look rosy,” John Siracusa writes for Ars technica.
“Microsoft’s mistake is subtle, but potentially fatal. It’s the seemingly reasonable assumption that defending its market position is the most important goal of any corporate strategy. Microsoft will fail by succeeding. Through it’s competent, intelligent, practiced execution of a well-honed plan to maintain its dominance, Microsoft will assure its eventual demise,” Siracusa writes.
“Put simply, to win in the long run, Microsoft must be willing to risk losing it all. It must be willing to put all its chips on the table, to throw away decades of hard-fought victories, proven technologies, and market-leading products. It must be willing to do what the long-extinct corporate giants of the past were not,” Siracusa writes. “This is in direct opposition to their historic defense of their position at all costs. Maybe not today, maybe not next year, but at some point, risking it all will be the correct choice—perhaps the only choice. Will Microsoft be willing to do it? More critically, will Microsoft even be aware that this is an option? Or will the minds in Redmond grind down their gears while attempting to choose from a set of options that does not contain the sole winning strategy?”
Full article here.
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