The Old and New Microsoft: Tragedy or Triumph?

When Gates and Allen founded Micro-Soft nearly four decades ago, they couldn't have known that their company would rise to heights such as it did. Now a 200 billion dollar enterprise, Microsoft is a giant in an industry where giants are rare and perhaps ephemeral. A company doesn't get so far without burning a few bridges, and Microsoft burned their competitors with such artful spectacle that they became a force to be reckoned with.

That Microsoft, dear readers, is no longer with us. 

I tend to imagine about the existence of small a group of people (probably not so small by the looks of it). Some are successful, others destitute, and the rest in between. They're completely sane, completely normal people except for one thing; they flinch, shiver, or curse in anguish at the mention of Microsoft's name. I imagine them flying into a fit of rage, breaking things and scaring their kids. And you know what? I completely empathize with them, for these are people whose hopes and dreams have been blown away by the big, bad Microsoft.

Do you think lawsuits about rounded corners are bad? Try having your customers bullied into boycotting your products, or having your distribution channels cut off. When my colleague referred to Microsoft as the "mobsters of the tech world", it was no unfounded accusation. Do you remember WordPerfect? ...or Netscape...or RealPlayer? They're just a few of the threats that Microsoft identified and extinguished using dubious business practices.

Those practices, along with notoriously buggy software earned them perhaps the sourest reputation of any software firm in existence. You don't have to look far to find some geek with a seemingly never-ending stream of bad things to say about Microsoft. If you've ever seen them referred to as Micro$oft or Microshaft (and others that are a bit inappropriate for this blog) then you know what I'm talking about. Apparently, Microsoft took notice of this too, because for better or for worse, they've started turning things around.

At around the same time Vista was released, we began to see a brand new Microsoft. The attention they paid to improve the cosmetic appearance of their Windows product line perhaps mirrored the intention to improve the company's overall image. In retrospect, the most significant accomplishment for Microsoft in that year might not have been the introduction of their new OS, but the launch of the now dead Zune media player. Significant because almost every major product that Microsoft has on the market today, even Windows, can be tied back in some way to the Zune. Moreover, Zune (both the media player and the accompanying services) embodied much of what the new Microsoft represents; it was consumer-oriented, innovate, sometimes brilliant, but also tame and confused. Did it want to set its own trend, or become just another Apple imitation?

When Windows Phone was unveiled, it was a wet-dream to Xbox gamers and Zune users like me (yeah, I rocked a Zune HD). Somehow Microsoft had managed to adapt the Zune's innovative UI to the smart phone in a way that made sense, but more importantly, we began to catch a glimpse of a vision of the sort of consumer-oriented company that Microsoft could become. A device that could integrate Xbox, Office and the wonderful Zune experience? In my pocket, you say? "Well, sort of," was the eventual reply. While the idea seemed golden, its execution left much to be desired. What's more, the first version of Windows Phone while beautiful at first glance was deficient of some very basic smart phone features. A step behind.

Soon enough, Windows 8 was announced, and Windows Phone users like me (yeah, I own one too) rejoiced. "Finally, Microsoft has seen the light," we thought. The convergence of services that we expected with Windows Phone would finally happen. We would have a PC that would play well with our game consoles/home entertainment systems, and now our phones. Instead, what we got was a confused product trying so hard to be the best of two worlds that it was better at none. 

The convergence that we thought would come still hasn't arrived, or at least on a level that other companies in worse positions haven't already gotten to. Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 should have been a marriage that made entwined lovers blush; instead we got a few frills here and there, nothing truly special. It's nice that I can buy music once, and use it on my phone, PC and home entertainment system, but hey, Amazon solved that problem ages ago (well, at least if you live in certain places). Am I wrong to expect more from the world's largest software company?

I've found that the new Microsoft has never failed to supply me with disappointment, something that was never the case with the old Microsoft. The disappointment, I think, comes from wasted potential. Make no mistake; Microsoft's more recent offerings have all been good (sometimes great) in their own rights, but they could all have been much better if not for one or two brain-dead blunders that seem to plague every single one of them. The funny thing is, Old Microsoft wouldn't even care. While New Microsoft is wrapped up in delivering shiny, functional products to consumers and possibly getting on our good graces, Old Microsoft would have probably annihilated the competition ages ago and just handed us Windows CE on a brick. 

In the grand scheme of things, the new Microsoft is better for us, if only because they haven't (or couldn't have) killed off the competition. Who knows, with the direction they're taking Xbox and its services, they might even eventually get this whole consumer market thing right.

See? I'm falling for it again...