http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7477113.stm

This is a much better article, the hits and misses (or should that be misses and hit).

To summarize:

Hits

Dropping out of college
Signing deal with IBM
XBox (still not made any actual money?)
Predicting computer in every home (but not actually supplying them)

Misses

Fixing Spam
The internet
Failing to innovate
Bad security
Being antagonistic to the community

P.S. Both your links go to the same place.

To Mr. John Batelle:

I don't remember anywhere in the history of Windows where I ever had to pay $600 for a client license. Not even Windows Vista Ultimate FPP retails for that much. Talk about misinformed.

To Mr. Mitch Kapor:

Stop the whining and move on. IBM destroyed your baby, you refused to adopt 1-2-3 to Windows when Mr. Gates pleaded.

This was a great documentary anyway and it has given us insight into the Company that Microsoft is, its not about being "I must beat the competition to a pulp", its about innovation, vision and strategy. Those are things the Competition does not see, in addition to reluctance of not keeping at vision. Microsoft could have given up after Windows 2.0 286/386. But they kept at it, kept improving it and believing in the industry from processor to memory. That is why Microsoft is so successful. Not the non-sense spewed by Open Source Propaganda and journalist who have never even sit in front of a PC.

The Company's focus on melding the best of technology and business with the power of evangelism is another reason why Microsoft software continues to dominate.

@Andre,

feel free to detail any "innovation, vision, & strategy" MSFT EVER had.

it may take you awhile, so Al will check back next week.

@Andre Da Costa: Evangelism has less to do with MicroSoft's success than deals with hardware providers. Apart from the naked server set, few people actually buy MicroSoft operating systems for a new installation or to replace non MicroSoft software, and MicroSoft is far from dominant in the naked server market. The picture is more favorable to MicroSoft in the office suite arena, where its consistency across software types arguably made a difference (a lesson it now seems to have forgotten). Even there, familiarity with the MicroSoft brand through near-monopoly of desktop operating systems and those much maligned "bloatware" trial offers that come with the hardware were probably much bigger factors in getting acceptance for its office products.

Here we go again like most of the articles

Someone says something good about MS and 15 Linux guys jump all over him.

So lame and don't bother commenting as I'm not going reply...

Thanks for adding your "BlahBlahBlah" ... if that's any consolation.

Interesting documentary and interesting blog comments on "How a Geek Changed the World." personally I missed the live airing and only found out about it when my daughter had come home from school (she had watched it during her business management class) I then watched it through iplayer but am not at all surprised that you tube had the whole thing in 7 seperate parts...

Your forgot to list "Bob" and "Clippy" in the misses.

However, someday soon, someone will get avatars right - would they be hits then? :)

While Joe continues to obsessively post on the life and past of Bill Gates, perhaps the real Microsoft news is this;

Neowin.net forum member posts first review of Windows 7 Milestone 1 Build 6.1.6519.1

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080122/neowin-forum-review-windows-7-m1/

Quotes from the link; "Black fumes were reported escaping Steven Sinofsky’s office earlier this morning after news Microsoft has delivered a Milestone 1 build of the next version of Windows to OEMs spread like wildfire in a dry grassy field on a hot summer’s day."
--------------------------------------------------
And so it seems, with this build out before October, as Joe did speculate, the Windows Seven release schedule, moves up a few notches.

The days of MS losing endless money on projects such as the XBox and the Zune, may be coming to an end. Last quarter marked the first quarter that Windows group had a decline in profits, which will become more of a future problem for Microsoft. MS has always beaten expectations when its come to profits. This could be the start of the long decline in profits on its Windows group, and then followed by its Office software. The fact that approximately 4% of its desktop user base has moved to alternative operating systems since the advent of Vista, does not speak well, for Microsoft increasing its profit ratio.

And that would mean, that MS will no longer be able to grow profits like it has in the past, or do anything for the stock price. Therefore, we see why Bill and Steve wanted to buy Yahoo, and get into online advertising, to offset the predicted decline of its two cash cows, windows and office. It will also be why Xbox and Zune, will not funded the way they once were, with big losses anymore.