It's hard to see Microsoft recovering from this. You've outlined a set of problems that boil down to politics, and they inherently need political solutions this side of Chapter 11 or 7.
More specifically, Microsoft is a company selling products with a foundational technical component, but its run almost exclusively on political rather than technical merit.
I've said about much of the company's history that one of its secrets of success was writing software that basically worked (i.e. doesn't GP/segfault) ... I wonder how close the company is to losing that more and more often. A problem with e.g. the KIN, although it was rumored that was pushed to market simply to satisfy a contractual obligation to Verizon Wireless.
Which brings a final point: the politics is directed almost entirely inwards. Microsoft's long history of screwing partners is not doing it well in the devices and services world it's trying to compete in.
I suppose it could retreat to Windows on the desktop and servers/Office/enterprise in general and play that game out (a bit like IBM), but I suspect would take a massive political effort to constrain the company's ambitions prior to it getting a lot more thoroughly crushed in the marketplace.
More specifically, Microsoft is a company selling products with a foundational technical component, but its run almost exclusively on political rather than technical merit.
I've said about much of the company's history that one of its secrets of success was writing software that basically worked (i.e. doesn't GP/segfault) ... I wonder how close the company is to losing that more and more often. A problem with e.g. the KIN, although it was rumored that was pushed to market simply to satisfy a contractual obligation to Verizon Wireless.
Which brings a final point: the politics is directed almost entirely inwards. Microsoft's long history of screwing partners is not doing it well in the devices and services world it's trying to compete in.
I suppose it could retreat to Windows on the desktop and servers/Office/enterprise in general and play that game out (a bit like IBM), but I suspect would take a massive political effort to constrain the company's ambitions prior to it getting a lot more thoroughly crushed in the marketplace.