Daring Fireball: Microsoft's Long, Slow Decline

Daring Fireball: Microsoft's Long, Slow Decline: "They’re a software company whose primary platform no longer appeals to people who like computers the most. Their executives are either in denial of, or do not perceive, that there has emerged a consensus — not just among nerds but among a growing number of regular just-plain users — that Windows PCs are second-rate. They still dominate in terms of unit-sale market share, yes, but not because people don’t recognize Windows as second-rate, but because they don’t care, in the same way millions of people buy metric tons of second-rate products from Wal-Mart every hour of every day.

That’s the business Wal-Mart wants to be in — selling a zillion cheap low-margin items and turning a profit on volume. That’s not the business Microsoft is in."

Poor Microsoft, they aren't in the business they believe they are in. That is probably the most dangerous place to be. This is a classic mis-management by mis-measuring problem.