You're right about fear. People who don't admit their fear, do something to mask the fear. MS is masking their fear of being ridiculed for ugliness by focusing

You're right about fear. People who don't admit their fear, do something to mask the fear. MS is masking their fear of being ridiculed for ugliness by focusing unduly on design. The result has been "form over function." And now, MS pays lip service to productivity. They also focus intently on security to avoid being ridiculed for unsecure software (viruses, bugs, crashes compared to Mac and linux). The result? Closed Windows Phone and Windows Apps which unfortunately doomed both; and forced updates with intrusive data collection. Last but most important, MS's is as fast as a tortoise compared to Google, Apple, Amazon... They can't seem to make up their minds on features, app and OS design - hence the multiple reboots of Music turned Groove; Universal apps/Metro apps/UWP; Wp7,8,8.1,10->?, skype/message app, Metro skype and now UWP skype. For a company which built itself on compatibility, the constant change in direction is death by a thousand cuts.