Financial Times: Is Microsoft Toast?

Microsoft is toast, or at least browning rapidly, according to an editorial published by the Financial Times of London. Thomas W. Hazlett, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, wrote that Appleis growing Mac platform, the emergence of the Mozilla Firefox browser, and even Googleis market leading position in search engines are all indicative of Microsoftis decreasing relevance to many.

"The range of product innovation chipping away at the large, increasingly vulnerable incumbent [Microsoft] is impressive, and the diversity of organizational innovation more so," wrote Mr. Hazlett. "Apple is today on the upsurge because its personal computing systems have been vacuum-sealed, and because the company has – to the point of fetish – delighted in producing its own devices. While either was a distinct liability a decade ago, when Microsoft blew past by seizing the scale advantages of iopeni operating system software, Appleis obsessions look smart now."

At the same time, he said, Mozillais strengths lie in its Open Source nature, meaning that Microsoft is facing pressure from both Appleis old-school in-house approach as well as Mozillais new-school model.

All of this, according to Mr. Hazlett, is making Microsoft compete harder, which benefits consumers. This, he said, is something that the antitrutst case against Big Redmond in the US never accomplished.

The full editorial offers a much deeper analysis of the situation, including much more thought on Apple specifically. We recommend it to anyone interested in the business aspects of the tech market.