> the single factor determining Microsoft’s future: if the company can navigate the move from the desktop to mobile, it will succeed; if it can’t, it will fail.

> the single factor determining Microsoft’s future: if the company can navigate the move from the desktop to mobile, it will succeed; if it can’t, it will fail. Sounds fair, but the vultures have been circling a long time now. Here's one of my favorites, from a former head warning of the dangers of open source: http://www.synthesist.net/writing/onleavingms.html http://www.synthesist.net/writing/onleavingms.html Sure, he hits some good points, back in 2003. Then the poor, failing company saw a decade of earnings most successful companies would kill for. Counting up reasons a company will ultimately fail rarely reveals the day or the hour. IBM also saw some dark days. How many products did they base their entire business around that have since become obsolete? Though I have only a loose grip on what their core business is anymore, I have no doubt that they'll be here next year. I'm more suspicious about the new restaurant down the street. A new restaurant has to make brilliant decisions every week. Microsoft can probably be stupid for thirty years. A certain amount of capital buys you a hell of a lot of indulgences.