notes.husk.org. scribblings by Paul Mison.

Dick Brass in an editorial for the New York Times:Microsoft’s Creative Destruction.

After my post about possible iPad competitors, it was suggested that I was premature in ruling out Microsoft, with a link to a Gizmodo story about the Courier tablet project. However, years of experience have led me to dismiss anything Microsoft produces as a mere demo; for example, WinFS never shipped. Even if Courier does form the basis for a device’s OS, I don’t see the company being able to abandon the well-worn Windows metaphors.

Meanwhile, this editorial is a good summary of the problems Microsoft has. Sure, it’s still profitable (on the back of Windows/Office), but even their one undeniable hit of the last decade, the Xbox, isn’t dominant in the same way, and they have plenty of failures to point to. Perhaps the most telling quote is just after the one I’ve used above:

“Despite the certainty that an Apple tablet was coming this year, the tablet group at Microsoft was eliminated.”