The analysis fails because it looks only at technical and cultural determinants for what is primarily an economic process. To counter this with my own dubious

The analysis fails because it looks only at technical and cultural determinants for what is primarily an economic process. To counter this with my own dubious and oversimplified explanation, Microsoft did not fail because it has created a monopoly, a walled-off ecosystem they control, and they managed to protect it in most desktop segments. Google has it's own monopolies, as do all of the successful companies that are still around. Microsoft's failure to extend their monopolies into mobile and web costed them the crown of the tech industry, but they're far from dead. Apple rebooted solley on it's iPhone walled garden - their desktop was moribund and the iPod, while an inovative product and short term cash cow, was not conducive to a monopoly, so it was quickly duplicated and made obsolete. Yahoo was not able to create and maintain its monopolies, so it's dead.