Let’s be honest, Microsoft is the richest overachieving underdog in tech history. If tech companies were people, Microsoft would be the guy who trips over his shoelaces, spills coffee on his shirt, forgets his lines at the meeting and still gets promoted to CEO. No one knows how, but we all nod and cheer.
Take Clippy, for example. That overly enthusiastic paperclip who popped up at the worst times with terrible advice. “It looks like you’re writing a letter,” it would chirp, as you screamed internally and clicked “X” for the tenth time. Clippy became a meme before memes were cool. And yet, while Clippy retired to the nostalgic land of corporate shame, Microsoft just kept cashing checks.
Remember the Zune? Of course you don’t. Microsoft’s noble but doomed attempt to dethrone the iPod arrived fashionably late to a party that had already ended. It was brown. It had buttons. It made you question whether music really mattered after all. While Apple was selling sleek innovation, Microsoft was out there peddling a digital potato. And still—still—they somehow made billions elsewhere.
Then came Windows Vista, the operating system that looked nice but functioned like a caffeinated jellyfish. Every action prompted a pop-up asking for your permission, like a paranoid butler double-checking if you really wanted to breathe. Vista was so widely disliked it became a verb. “Don’t Vista this project,” people would say. Microsoft simply shrugged and moved on.
And who could forget Internet Explorer, the browser everyone used once, just long enough to download a better browser. Developers didn’t just stop supporting it; they actively sabotaged it. Still, Microsoft laughed all the way to the bank, probably using Edge (which is basically Internet Explorer after therapy and a wardrobe upgrade).
Let’s not skip over the Windows Phone, though. Microsoft saw Apple and Android dominating and said, “Us too!” The world responded, “No thanks.” It was a sleek device with no apps and no future. It was like showing up to a Formula 1 race on a Segway. But again, Microsoft wasn’t fazed. They buried it and built something else.
That something was Azure. While most of us were distracted by gadgets and gadgets-that-want-to-be-gadgets, Microsoft quietly turned cloud computing into a gold mine. Azure now powers everything from major corporations to the AI models that are probably helping your fridge talk back to you. It’s not the coolest technology product, but it prints money.
Then came the partnership with OpenAI. Suddenly Microsoft was cool again. Like, really cool. Their investment gave them a stake in the future of artificial intelligence—and in some ways, control over it. It’s as if your grandpa bought shares in TikTok and now he’s on the board of directors.
Speaking of surprise power moves, Microsoft also bought GitHub. That’s right, they acquired the platform beloved by the same developers who used to roll their eyes at anything remotely Microsoft. It was a classic strategy, if you can’t win their love, just buy the neighborhood.
And what about Teams? The collaboration tool that installs itself faster than a teenager dodging chores. You didn’t ask for it. You didn’t want it. And now it opens every time you blink. Somehow, Teams became the de facto way office workers yell at each other over webcams.
Then there’s Microsoft Office, which now lives on a subscription model. Yes, they found a way to make you pay for Word every single month. And we do it. Willingly. We hand over our credit cards to edit documents that still somehow lose formatting when you paste in a photo.
Even Xbox, which once caught fire both literally and figuratively, is now a gaming juggernaut. Microsoft turned it into a Game Pass service that rivals Netflix, except instead of canceling shows, it just lets you replay Skyrim until the end of time.
So how does Microsoft do it? Simple. They fail often, fail publicly, and then succeed even harder. They don’t chase trends, they quietly become the infrastructure those trends need. While Apple is busy making titanium phones and Google’s off in its AI lab reinventing email for the fifth time, Microsoft is over here running your office, your cloud, your code, and now your chatbot.
In the end, Microsoft is proof that you can trip, crash, reboot, and update—and still end up leading the market. They are the Rocky Balboa of tech, knocked down repeatedly, but still standing when the final bell rings. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be persistent, and maybe own half the world’s productivity software.
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Honestly, I liked the Zune better than the iPod. Of course, smartphones ultimately replaced both. I never had a Windows phone but knew a couple of people that did. They loved them. Seemed like it was lack of third party support more than anything that killed that one.
I've had a love/hate relationship with Windows over the years. Windows 3.1 (and earlier) were pretty awful. Windows 95 was incredible for its time. Windows 98 was really just a perfection of what Windows 95 started. I skipped Millennium Edition. Windows XP was also pretty incredible for its time. I skipped Vista. Windows 7 was ok..not really an improvement on Windows XP as far as I was concerned but at least it added good 64-bit support. Windows 10 was ok to start with but the aggressive auto updating and continuous bloat made it worse over time. And I'm not really even sure what the point of Windows 11 is except forced obsolescence.
At the end of the day though, Microsoft's success lies more in smart business decisions than in technical brilliance.
And I'll never pay a software subscription. I'll pay for an update if I really want it, but not a subscription. LibreOffice is just fine for me.
My friend David loved good windows phone but after awhile got cheesed off with it but can’t recall why; maybe the updates became fewer and other phones on the market eventually led him away from it.
I tried libreOffice in the past. But I couldn’t make the switch. I think MS Office is still the best office software.
I use Mac, even on Mac I dolike using Pages, Numbers, Keynote. MS Office is much better. But I don’t like Windows.
This is funny. I like the comparison. I'm not sure if I've used Windows Vista, but upon reading this statement, I thought for a second whether you mean "slow moving" or "fast" in reference to "caffeinated jellyfish". Turns out it's like an anxious person. Haha
i hate it when they made us pay for Microsoft office. i switch to libreoffice.
What? Microsoft has failed to dominate? It should have been the leader of technology. I remember that back then, when we were in elementary school, it was Microsoft that we the king of computers. What happened that it slipped off the way up?
We can say that Microsoft is innovative and visionary. However, it is a bit late in catching up with the trends. Microsoft is disciplined and combative like the Germans. This is what keeps them standing.
Hahaha clippy!! I remember it, everyone was trolling and joking it already 20 years or more ago lol
Windows Vista has been an other epic fail
Microsoft has done a ton of bad decisions. I don't think there has been many good products outside of Azure that they have released. I do think that Windows as an Operating System is going well, but everything outside of that and Azure seems to be a miss.
First mover advantage!
Their coolest product for me nowadays is visual studio code. I hated visual studio the original behemoth that came on more than one CD and you needed most of your hard drive clear to install it. You could use it to write in a million different languages when I only needed it for one.
VS Code is fab though.
Yes, I really like VSC. I use it almost every day.
Me too!
Don’t know if you ever watched the IT Crowd, one of our best TV shows ever? Anyway, there was an episode where the two main characters come across a bomb disposal incident in the middle of their city. The robot breaks down and Moss offers his help, “What operating system does it run on?” and the army officer replies, “Vista!” - they all run for their lives!!
I have heard about the show, but never watched it. Maybe I should.
I think you’ll love it!
Never used Windows Vista as I knew it had some problems, but I think the best ones were Windows XP and Windows 7.
Greetings. That is very true. We don't have to be perfect, but to let that energy of continuing be with us. it is so interesting to see how Microsoft turn's things in good styles.
And right now, nobody will have to say "don't vista this project 😁
In life, it's so better when we rebrand ourself, and think ahead of time. Have a splendid weekend.
Microsoft release a windows os for smartphone. I think they were cool but function wise i not sure. I almost bought one but instead got android !
We have seen many such companies that have not changed with the times. Today, their software is not being used at all and people have stopped using it. Now, the way things are being developed in modern times, people are working more easily with it, so its use is increasing.
!PIZZA
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@danzocal(3/10) tipped @geekgirl
Come get MOONed!
Many companies should take a lesson from Microsoft
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First mobile home hahaha 😃👍