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There has been a lot of commentary on the departure of Lenn Pryor from Microsoft.

This is sort of an unusual topic for me, as for years, people have heard me preach that I would never work for Microsoft. But I am now saddened to see some of the signs of decay and inertia that have affected other large technology giants.

It was an innovative company. Parts of it still are. Microsoft dominates large portions of the server market, as well as having a complete control of the desktop ecosystem. All other desktops are “me toos”, although the Apple crowd will dispute this. But Apple develops many things because they know that Microsoft will, not because they are being innovative.

So, what now? A new OS? New Apps? What is Microsoft going to do to define the next 20 years of computing?

Or will they? Or have they run their course? Are they a foundation, not a spire?

Microsoft will be re-born. As what, I don’t know. But in 10 years, it will not be the same company we have known for the last 20 years.

Or it will be gone.