I think an even better question is, were they ever?

Just read an article in Fast Company about how Microsoft just took another “$300 million risk” on a new campaign from Crispin Port + Bogusky.  The really have their work cut out for them… how do you make a nerdy narcissist lovable again?  These are the guys behind several genius campaigns like the Burger King turnaround, and Bogusky is famous for his anti-smoking Truth campaign.  I think Bogusky is more likely to pull it off than anybody else in the business, but I think he’s likely to fail.

There’s only one thing that can make Microsoft cool again: more death.

Think about it - the vastness and arrogance of Microsoft is the very thing that the hip world loathes.  Most people like to root for the underdogs, not the bureaucrats.  Yet the xbox division is doing quite well despite the loss to the blu-ray standard in HD optical discs.

Microsoft should focus on Enterprise solutions and Office, and splinter everything else into separate brands.  Take the name Microsoft out of it completely.  Did you know Boston Market is owned by McDonalds?  I didn’t.  Totally different industry, I know, but the point is… there’s a reason I didn’t know that, and you probably didn’t either.  

Why not make a separate, consumer OS (xbox OS?) that’s fast, slick, and breaks new ground in UI?  ”Start” over.  Create a compatibility layer, like Apple did in OS X to transition operating systems and then processors - if Apple can do it, why can’t Microsoft?  Arrogance, that’s why.  They truly think they have the best product because they are stuck in a world of numbers - most desktops, most dollars.  That doesn’t necessarily translate to best products.

Don’t get me wrong - I don’t want Microsoft to completely fade - the worst I’d wish on them is to become an Enterprise only provider of software. As much as I love and admire Apple, their “genius bar” attitude pisses me off too.  I have to pay $100 a year for the right to “schedule” dropping off a faulty product to be fixed?  You have to be kidding…but I digress.  I hope the new Microsoft is one that embraces innovation while not wielding it’s power in an almost Communist way to crush competitors.  Monopolies are not good for technological innovation.