In simple terms: Redmond has failed abjectly in their on-going attempt to largely cram the (PC) desktop environment onto a handset… Yet; aside from giving Microsoft credit for trying, at some point in time it should’ve been obvious (perhaps several release-cycles ago) that said strategy is not; has not and/or will not work period (on a mass consumer scale no less).
Fast forward to their next attempt: Windows 8 (on a table no less this go-round) and for those who care to give this matter any further study… they might conclude that by the time said OS is released… the company is essentially going to be leap-frogged / passed again (certainly, at a minimum, by Apple).
Netscape; Novell; Sybase and/or a number of others are not going the way that Microsoft has seen prove effective previously; e.g., kill the competition via outspending and/or loss-leadering them (this is a remote possibility at best with Apple or Google anytime in the near future as it now stands / continues to progress).
From Beat Week Magazine: http://goo.gl/syalN