Steven Lauren: Has Microsoft finally gotten their act together?

Something amazing seems to be happening at Microsoft. Maybe it's the pressure they are feeling from Apple, Google and Mozilla? Maybe it's new management or R&D staff? I would hope that it has nothing to do with Gates' departure and the psycho Ballmer taking over 100% - but who knows? As much as I admire Bill Gates and what he has built and done for us, as well as what he is now doing with the vast fortune he has amassed as a result - Ballmer is, after all, a business guy and not a tech guy. Maybe that is the shot in the arm this company needed? A balance against ingenuity via a consumer based direction?

I state my case:

1) The Zune HD is a serious contender against the iPod. It's functionality, integration and especially it's stunning display are a vast improvement over it's brown, boxy, 'who cares' predecessor. Unfortunately the iPod, iPhone and particularly iTunes have such dominance that it could already be too late.

2) the Xbox - one of the few successes to come out of Redmond in recent years has gotten even better with Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Zune integration - as well as video on demand.

3) There appears to finally be a deal struck between Yahoo! and Microsoft that could prove to be valuable to both companies and provide stronger competition against Google in particular.

4) Speaking of Google - who would have thought that Microsoft's "Bing" search would be such a growing success? A brief spike... sure... but it is STILL growing in share. The photo and mapping features have improved dramatically over the old Microsoft/MSN search and they are cleverly adding features that make it stand out against Google rather than trying to beat them at their own game. They have also just released an integrated partnership deal with Wolfram Alpha of all sites!

5) Microsoft is also finally venturing into making versions of it's productivity suite (Office) online - as in cloud computing/Google Docs online. The difference here is that the user will have both offline and online versions integrated together should either fail or be inaccessible. Obviously this would also be integrated with Windows Mobile.

6) Speaking of Windows Mobile... well this is a problem for Microsoft. As if the iPhone and Blackberry/RIM weren't strong enough we now have Google Android and Nokia (don't laugh - they are still #1 in the world). Having said that - the Mobile 6.5 is a pretty damned good improvement even over 6.0 and they have finally gotten the message an created a marketplace for Mobile Apps.

7) Windows 7. Need I say more? This is what Vista should have been in the first place. Still, better late than never... and pretty much anyone that has used it (and is not a Mac Head or Linux/open source loyal) has agreed that it is a job well done. Finally. Hell there are even XP converts... lol

In conclusion - it's nice to think that they may have finally gotten their sh*t straight over at Microsoft. Still, in this modern age of rightful mass migration to Apple, open source/free software and cloud computing is it too little and too late? Only time will tell. Safe to say they aren't going anywhere no matter what.