Dead? I know you're making a dramatic overstatement, but as long as Bill Gates is still Chairman of the Board, I hardly think they're dead. How could you not even include Gates' diminished role in your list of reasons why they're "dead?" Gates is clearly the evil genius behind Microsoft. Look at the early flopping around of Vista and the Outlook slowdown fiasco - clear evidence that Gates isn't paying as much attention as he once did. He conquered the industry and doesn't much care any more - now he's off to conquer disease and ignorance and perhaps even world hunger some day.
Microsoft dead? Not yet. If they were dead, NOBODY in their right mind would be buying Vista - but just try buying a new PC without Vista... Lame maybe, big and increasingly incompetent, clearly - but certainly not dead.
Dave Whittle - Former IBM OS/2 Evangelist