Microsoft tried to compete in every technology market simultaneously - spreading the inhouse talent too thin becoming nothing to anyone.
The few really good products they had (SQL Server, OneNote etc.) got lost in the noise. Everything became unstable, clunky, complicated and inconsistent.
Most kids leaving school now think Xbox when they hear 'Microsoft' - not really the legacy Microsoft deserved.
(it could all have been solved by splitting the company up in to 4 - OS/tools, Gaming, Apps, Online Services and letting them compete in their own vertical spaces without having to do things the Microsoft way - SQL Server running on Linux, VS on OSX etc.)
Google haven't fallen in to that trap - they are not competing in every single market - when they do compete in a new market they don't dilute their existing product quality - and there is a cohesion to the product strategy.
OneNote is a ridiculously good organizational tool if used properly, hell I think it should be a forked OS. Could solve the whole "bookmark org" problem, integrating with offline content, etc. But, its not the most user-friendly for its capabilities (re: not non-technical necessarily, but, it certainly requires investment of time).
Xbox may not be the legacy they deserved, but better them leaving school thinking of microsoft with something positive that they enjoy, than something which they mock and is easy to pirate (well was when I was at high school) like windows xp.
The few really good products they had (SQL Server, OneNote etc.) got lost in the noise. Everything became unstable, clunky, complicated and inconsistent.
Most kids leaving school now think Xbox when they hear 'Microsoft' - not really the legacy Microsoft deserved.
(it could all have been solved by splitting the company up in to 4 - OS/tools, Gaming, Apps, Online Services and letting them compete in their own vertical spaces without having to do things the Microsoft way - SQL Server running on Linux, VS on OSX etc.)
Google haven't fallen in to that trap - they are not competing in every single market - when they do compete in a new market they don't dilute their existing product quality - and there is a cohesion to the product strategy.