On surface it might seem that Microsoft keeps missing the technology waves, change in consumer attitudes, don’t have their blind-spot covered but if you look deeper – it is clear that the company has become a victim of its own success.

Over the last 3-4 years, the decision making process of Microsoft has started to resemble that of Boeing, not that there is anything wrong with it but Boeing has only one competitor, worldwide while Microsoft gets poked from all different directions. It is not that people at Microsoft are not coming up with interesting products or concepts, the problem is the timing .. it is taking years before something gets out in the new “decision-by-committee” corporation.

That has made the company lethargic and it just can’t play well in the Internet economy. IE is perfect example of this .. given the monopoly, they have been just sitting on their previous versions for ages. IE6 was launched in 2001 and has over 25% marketshare. IE8 was just launched last month. This lack of foresight has given the opening to the likes Opera, Firefox, Safari, and now Chrome to keep etching away marketshare.

Microsoft has the resources to fight back but it will need a different mindset, borrow something from the yesteryears to make it competitive and nimble again. Unlike the airline industry, number of competitors in this space are only going to great larger and stronger.

Same is true of their story in mobile. Lack of comprehensive strategy has left them on the sidelines for now. Can it bounce back? It will take a little bit more than a few reorgs to prepare the company for a prolonged fight.