Seemingly all of a sudden, Microsoft is releasing innovative new products that even impress hardcore Microsoft haters. The Borg is back in town.
Microsoft Kinect could be a game changer, as could their massive R&D into universal translators, bioprogramming, virtual reality. Microsoft is also making a big push into the cloud. Windows 8 and Surface, I predict, will catch on big. Internet Explorer 10 is really nice, I’m hearing. And Blue Screen of Death and massive security holes are a thing of the past. Microsoft is reinventing itself and is thinking years ahead anmd taking chances.
What happened to the staid, colorless, bland, third-rate Microsoft that we used to know? Why is even the mighty Woz worried that Microsoft has become more innovative than Apple?
Microsoft generally is behind the curve on new innovations. But when they get mobilized, watch out. Back in the 1990’s, Microsoft missed the first wave of the Internet. Bill Gates realized what was happening and ordered the company to focus on Internet products, which it did. A huge company basically turned on a dime. I’ve mocked Steve Ballmer for being directionless and clueless. However, it’s clear now that for the past few years Microsoft has been working ferociously hard on new products and that we’re just now seeing the first major results of those efforts.
Long have I hated Microsoft. For decades their bloated mediocrity infuriated every fiber of my being. Like Adam Sandler and leaf-blowers, for a very long time, they represented everything that was wrong with today’s world. But just as Adam Sandler went and made Punch Drunk Love, over the last few years, Microsoft has released a body of work that even I must grudgingly admit is interesting, innovative, and sometimes downright visionary.