Has Microsoft Gone Bankrupt?

So Microsoft has begun cooking up a new version of Windows "for consumers." Due out next year, it's code-named Millennium, perhaps because it gives the company up to 1000 years to ship it and be on time for once. The new slogan? "It Just Works."

Hmmm. Check Microsoft's archives and you'll find a press release from June of last year touting the then-forthcoming Windows 98.

The mantra? "It just works better."

Is something that "just works" really an improvement over something that "just works better"? Maybe the next step is "works--just." This recycled sloganeering appears to be a symptom of Microsoft's monopoly-era blues. Having vanquished most of its competitors by borrowing their best concepts, it now has to steal stale ideas from itself or buy fresh ones on the open market. Microsoft may have billions of dollars in its exchequer, and will rake in billions more, but when it comes to intellectual capital, the company looks strangely bankrupt.

Not Invented Here? Great!

Microsoft's flagship product, whether Basic, DOS, or Windows, has always imitated something invented elsewhere. Word was a knockoff of similar programs that ran on early Xerox operating systems. Internet Explorer used Mosaic code and Netscape concepts. Games like Flight Simulator were developed away from the Microsoft campus.

Sure, products like Excel were moderately innovative. The company has also introduced the occasional clever feature--like squiggly-line spell-checking. But Microsoft's list of failures is long and ugly. It includes nearly every CD-ROM or Web site the company has ever created, save for Encarta. That's probably because content requires a different kind of creativity than cranking code.

So does user interface design. After swiping as much as it could from the Mac, Microsoft ran out of victims. The all-too-original Microsoft Bob begat the feckless Office Assistants. The goofy Windows CE arrived to a collective groan. Then came Active Desktop, which was so roundly detested it was killed in its infancy.

Millennium Messiah?

And who's in charge of Millennium's new look? The same genius who gave us Active Desktop. Fortunately, the look and feel of the operating system ultimately don't matter much. Most people see their browser and their word processor far more than their desktop. All they really care about is that the OS "just works."

Good luck. Back at "It just works better," we were told our machines would boot and shut down faster; instead, PCs took longer to boot and sometimes wouldn't shut down at all. And that's not the only false assurance we heard.

Promise: "Native support for USB, which makes adding hardware devices as easy as plugging in a toaster." Reality: No toaster I'm aware of occasionally fails to recognize the electrical system.

Promise: "...users can speed up their systems so programs load faster." Reality: Any seconds saved will be lost to the painfully slow defrag utility that does the optimizing.

Promise: "Enhanced performance and reliability." Reality: "Microsoft Technical Support Ready for Windows 98 Launch; More than 1000 Support Engineers Standing By."

Now comes Just Works 2000, for which the claims are so modest, you wonder why anyone would bother upgrading. Home networking is supposed to be easier; there's a bigger focus on digital media and games; and you'll allegedly get a "premier home online experience," whatever that means. But when it comes to security, an increasingly ominous worry in an interconnected world, the company is silent.

And then there's "It Just Works." According to the press release, "This promise will be delivered upon by the advancement of the PC's self-healing functionality, in addition to providing a simpler setup and a great out-of-the-box experience." Our motto here at Full Disclosure: "Won't get fooled again!" If "self-healing functionality" means you still have to heal a balky machine yourself, and "simpler setup" amounts to having to type in a shorter serial number, don't say I didn't warn you.

Microsoft may have billions in the bank, but when it comes to intellectual capital, the company looks strangely bankrupt.