I've been thinking for a while that Microsoft may have carved out a niche of letting others do the innovation, and then copying them and improving on it, not un

I've been thinking for a while that Microsoft may have carved out a niche of letting others do the innovation, and then copying them and improving on it, not unlike Japanese companies. Windows Phone/Mobile, Surface, Xbox, Search Engine, and Azure are all effectively this model. Hackers place a high value on innovation, but continuously increasing revenues with this 'embrace and extend' + kaizen model seems to work for them so far.