"Associated with every strength is a weakness. For companies in the business of plying client software, Microsoft has been able to eat them alive. They can keep trying three and four times but they win and the reason is their huge distribution advantage in that world. They always bundle. Even if they don’t get it right, they bundle it with Windows, they bundle it with Office."
The difference now is that Microsoft is competing with a new generation of software companies who do not navigate the waters of client software and don't have to protect a franchise there. "With companies like Webex and Salesforce.com, it isn't about the technology on the desktop, it's about the technology in the cloud and accessed through a simple browser."
Of course, the only company that has as much money as Google to spend on new markets is Microsoft itself. So for many the question is first, whether the software-as-service push will eclipse the on-premise model. And if so, will Microsoft let others cannibalize its business or will it do it itself.
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