Something old - New comment on Blame it on the Coconut Cream Pie!

MFW has left a new comment on your post "Blame it on the Coconut Cream Pie!":

Microsoft's big problem is that it hasn't created any revolutionary new products in years, arguably since the original Office suite, in fact.

Basically, it has completely missed the Internet revolution. Browsers, Portals, Search, Email, Online Commerce, Music Players, Video Games....every single one of these categories is dominated by a non-MSFT company which beat Microsoft to the punch and gained first mover advantage:

Browser - Netscape
Online Retailing - Amazon
Online Auctions - EBay
Video Games - Nintendo/Sony
Music Players - Apple
Search - Google
Online Payments - PayPal
Portals - Yahoo
Email - Hotmail
CRM - Oracle

Ten years ago, Microsoft had the potential to win every single one of these markets if it had thought fast enough and innovated fast enough. It didn't, and now it is paying the price.

Look at this year, for example. Microsoft's three big releases are non-compelling upgrades to two of its own products (Vista and Office) which most consumers probably won't buy, and a two years too late entry into a music player market (Zune) that is already dominated by Apple.

That is why the stock has been stagnant for the last five years; because the market doesn't reward technology companies that do not innovate and create compelling new products.

So to everybody out there complaining about the stock price....go out and create something new and revolutionary. That's how you'll get the stock price to rise...not by whining about it and spending all the company's energy on bureaucratic infighting.

(I know, I know, we've heard this feedback a thousand times. Thing is, your "first" list actually isn't the people who did it first. They just did it best first.)